Tuesday, January 15, 2008

McCain a Democratic Candidate?

I fully expect massive quantities of vitriol for even considering this topic.

I'm quite concerned that the general population follows media reports in this primary season like lemmings following their leader and hurling themselves over a cliff to their own destruction.

Today's media darling is John McCain. He's taken the forefront in the media's attention, and his poll numbers have gone up proportionally. What this reveals to me is the naiveté and intellectual laziness of a large portion of the Republican populus. McCain's record has been forgotten and all that is heard is what he is saying today. John McCain is one of those senators whom one wonders why they have not switched parties. His positions on domestic issues read like the Democratic playbook.

Can McCain be considered a true conservative? Is he really the candidate to carry the Republican banner? Many say "NO" because of his clearly liberal positions based on his record in the Senate.

McCain had been a fierce opponent of Bush until after the 2004 elections. During that election cycle, McCain had been approached about the possibility of being Kerry's running mate.

Rick Santorum maintains that a McCain presidency would be dangerous for the country. From the article:
“It’s amazing to hear what John McCain is trying to convince the voters he is all about. The bottom line is, I served 12 years with him, six years in the Senate as one of the leaders of the Senate, trying to put together the conservative agenda, and almost at every turn, on domestic policy, John McCain was not only against us, but leading the charge on the other side.”

Santorum cited the campaign finance reform bill sponsored by McCain, the McCain-Feingold Act, which limits campaign contributions and has been called by some an “incumbent protection act.”

Santorum called the act “an affront to personal freedom and liberty in this country, and what we’ve seen as a result of this misguided attempt to placate the New York Times and to help his stature within that community … is that special interests have absolutely taken over the political process, and individual candidates, unless you’re a billionaire, and parties have very little voice in the process.

“It’s a shame, but he was obviously out front on that.”

The former Senator also criticized McCain for voting against the Bush Tax cuts — he was one of only two Republicans to do so.

“The reduction in [tax] rates and lowering the rates on capital gains and dividends … did so much to get this economy up and going. [But] we would have had a much bigger tax cut if it were not for John McCain.”

Santorum pointed to McCain’s opposition to conservative positions on drug re-importation, federally funded embryonic stem cell research, immigration, the questioning of terror detainees and other issues, and said he has a “big fear” of a McCain presidency.

He asserted it would create a “huge rift” in the Republican Party, and told Levin’s listeners:

“I think he’s been solid in the war on terror … but on domestic policy, he’s very, very dangerous for Republicans.

“There’s nothing worse than having a Democratic Congress and a Republican president who would act like a Democrat in matters that are important to conservatives.”

I hope my readers will take time to really examine McCain's record. At this point in the primary season, poll show that either McCain or Huckabee could win against a Democratic Candidate. As my readers know, I support Huckabee's effective and proven leadership.

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