McCain at CPAC, will it be enough?
Words and more words, but what of actions?
No doubt McCain will try to reach out to conservatives. After all, we've only got two eyes to poke at and he already did that some time ago. But a speech is a very difficult way to address substantial questions about his record and things he's reportedly said before the speech he'll make at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) tomorrow.
Excerpts from several sources illustrate McCain's self-created difficulties:
“He [Michael Graham] also mentioned my abridgement of First Amendment rights, i.e. talking about campaign finance reform….I know that money corrupts….I would rather have a clean government than one where quote First Amendment rights are being respected, that has become corrupt. If I had my choice, I’d rather have the clean government.” (source)
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Fund wrote that McCain “has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito because ‘he wore his conservatism on his sleeve.’ ” (source)
And let's not forget amnesty. Mitt Romney was mistaken about what his ad said, but McCain did say comprehensive reform would require amnesty and recently said he would still sign the bill if it came across his desk.
“Amnesty has to be an important part because there are people who have lived in this country for 20, 30 or 40 years, who have raised children here and pay taxes here and are not citizens. That has to be a component of it.”
“I think we can set up a program where amnesty is extended to a certain number of people who are eligible and at the same time make sure that we have some control over people" (source)
Just because Michael Medved calls us liars for saying McCain supports amnesty doesn't make it so. It appears Medved is willing to accept McCain's definition of amnesty and use that to say that if we disagree we're just dishonest. Well, two can play that game. If we use Medved's method, we can easily call him a liar, since he disagrees with our definition of amnesty. He can't complain about that as we're using his standard by which to make the judgement.
Can any one speech overcome McCain's issues with conservatives who are threatening to stay home or even vote for Hillary? Issues that he has created by the way. At best, he may get some votes, but I doubt he can create enthusiasm beyond, you don't want Hillary or Obama to win, so vote for me. Merely saying I'm a conservative look at this or that in my record is simply not enough. We know his record and that's the problem. He needs to continue with action by making a wise decision for a VP running mate and perhaps noting others that will advise him on such issues as SCOTUS justices, at the very least.
Regarding the VP pick, maybe I've been listening to Michael Medved's radio show too much, but a McCain/Huckabee ticket is spoken of far too often there. I've resigned myself to voting for McCain should he win the nomination, but is McCain foolish enough to choose Huckabee as his running mate? If he does, that may be a hurdle that I simply can't clear and staying home would be my decision.
John McCain has made his bed and he now has to sleep in it, or remake it enough so that fewer conservatives are completely repelled at the thought of voting for him. A difficult task if words are the only thing offered. McCain talks much about how the nation didn't trust government to secure the border, that the federal government had no credibility on the issue. Well, my friend, you have little credibility yourself on a number of major issues. Good luck repairing that with enough conservatives by just making a speech.
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Filed under: Politics
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Author: Mark K. Sprengel | 7:11:00 PM |
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