Rich Lowry sums it up:
McCain’s record is more conservative than that of both of those rivals, but, temperamentally, he’s a go-it-alone crusader. That’s not a good fit for leading a political party. McCain’s political persona says, “Here I stand, I can do no other.” The emphasis is always on his personal honor and integrity. When he was crusading for campaign-finance reform, McCain seemed to disdain political parties and offered in contrast his lone voice of righteousness.
This maverick spirit can be tremendously appealing. It fueled his 2000 bid, even as it ensured it fell short. It’s too early to write anyone’s political obituary. The flaws of the other Republican presidential candidates are so manifest that McCain could yet come back. But who can doubt that when John McCain essentially says he’d rather be right than president, he means it, and it could prove prophetic? http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MzFhMjRlYjk3NWJlNGQ4ODMwMjg2MjgzOWM5N2VhODE=
And just to cheer Dean and Hugh up--here is McCain at the crossroads.
As Hugh and Dean see McCain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eMkth8FWno
As John McCain sees himself (being expelled from the GOP): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH4p9BQ3V9o |
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I have no problem with what FT said ... but unless the American Spectator is completely misreprsenting what was said ... FT took the same position on abortion as RG, that drove some in the GOP to crazed levels.
In the interview, Thompson was asked: "Some conservatives got flustered by your comments on abortion and Roe vs. Wade. Would you like to explain your position on abortion?"
Thompson answered: "Government should stay out of it. No public financing. The ultimate decision must be made by the woman. Government should treat its citizens as adults capable of making moral decisions on their own."
MR, changing his mind also seems ok ... but his problem he has changed his mind on so many things and the timing of the conversion.
FT just ought to say "was my opinion then ... not my opinion now."
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I have a theory on Mitt Romney's flip flopping that keeps coming up. In business it is important to be decisive even if all of the information is not yet available. A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. Mitt Romney seems to take emphatic positions on just about every issue that comes up. Look at immigration. He is very vocally opposed to amnesty and grants of preferential treatment to illegal immigrants over other immigrants. When Romney takes a decisive position he holds true to it. At least he did as governor of Massachusetts. So while he very polished he is also not very politician like because he does not take wishy washy positions on issues.
Another theory that I wish did not have obvious exceptions is the issue possibility of a libertarian personal philosophy. If not for his state health care program he could argue that his previous positions represented a personal distrust of government decision making about a persons private decisions. While I am not a complete libertarian, I am much more more comfortable with that position than the sometimes selective government intervention some conservatives unwittingly advocate.
I guess what I really mean to say is that I am just as perplexed by him as everyone else.
Oh and to stay on the subject of the article. John McCain pieced his political philosophy together mostly from the backs of sugar packets.
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I think:
1. he and RG have made a silent pact to go all out to win themselves but if they can't ... support the other. In Iowa, SC and NH this could be pivotal
2. JM dislikes MR (who is really vulnerable on flip / flop - note ABC abortion story last night), JM is going to take him out before he goes down
3. JM and RG both believe FT is a myth and the media is going to take him apart quick e.g. look at this week's columns and comments from Conservatives; less than stellar FT inteviews and speech's to date plus the 4/09/07 American Spectator article on FT (not much noticed yet) where they highlight his past abortion positions ... is a killer for FT on this issue ... he sounds like RG
anyway that is my Grassy Knoll for the evening
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as the digging begins in ernest about FT, many of you are going to be unhappy.
on abortion ... a hot button with many people, I suggest (a) go to YOU TUBE FRED THOMPSON ON ABORTION and more important (b) read the American Spectator (clearly not a lib publication) 4/9/07 edition ... excerpted below. Fred actually sounds like RG "the ultimate decision must be made by a woman".
Monday, April 09, 2007
THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR: THOMPSON WAS PRO-CHOICE AFTER ALL
To its credit, the American Spectator kept digging into Fred Thompson's 1994 views on abortion, and--to my knowledge--has come up with the first pro-choice quote straight from Fred's mouth (in our own posts, we had relied on contemporary press accounts but had not run across actual interviews). Here is AmSpec's Philip Klein:
During his first run for the U.S. Senate, Fred Thompson said in an interview to a libertarian Republican newsletter that the ultimate decision to have an abortion "must be made by the woman."
The comments were made in the July/August issue of Republican Liberty, the official newsletter of the Republican Liberty Caucus.
In the interview, Thompson was asked: "Some conservatives got flustered by your comments on abortion and Roe vs. Wade. Would you like to explain your position on abortion?"
Thompson answered: "Government should stay out of it. No public financing. The ultimate decision must be made by the woman. Government should treat its citizens as adults capable of making moral decisions on their own."
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I have 2 big problems with McCain.
1. His support for the immigration bill and his successful attack on free speech in parts of McCain/Feingold.
2. He has major flip flops on several major issues (taxes for starters) and is very hypocritical in the way he has attacked Romney.
Romney was governor in MA and so I cut him some slack on issues as he ran for election and governed in the most liberal state in the Union.
McCain and also Thompson have thier liberal moments. However, they are from conservative leaning states.
Romney survived so that he could do the good that could be done in spite of overwhelming Democrat control. He also kept his campaign promise.
Romney will do the good that he can do. He stood up on gay marriage. He will be pro life when it counts. |
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McCain is a force to be reckoned with only when he's got his Reagon mask on. In the debate he had an almost eerie resemblance, particularly in the response to the woman whose husband died in Iraq. Any popularity he has is from his grace and maturity insofar as these are relieving reactions to the hell he went through in Vietnam. We respect him for his moderation and grace through experience and passion. For the first time in twenty years, here is a candidate who has to play the "Gramps Card"
I was arguing the Iraq War with my 80-some year old aunt who lived in Nazi Germany- she's a sweet lady, but that's a rhetorical challenge Cicero wouldn't be up to. |
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Are you kidding with step four?? Do you have any idea how incredibly dangerous that is?? When matter and anti-matter meet means mutual annhiliation for everything everywhere - the Goracle's universe, McCrank's, and ours. Didn't you see that Star Trek (the original which is the only one that matters) episode fer Chrissake?!?!?! Those two must be kept apart without consideration to cost. |
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but McCain should simply not run for President.
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Actually, if we're looking for Simpson characters to portray the current presidential candidates, I think Romney is best portrayed by Troy McClure;
"You may remember me from my previous roles as savior of the Salt Lake Olympics, and as the pro-choice Governor of Massachusetts! I can play anything you want me to play!"
RC |
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I don't agree that he only said he was pro-choice in order to get elected. I think he really WAS pro-choice in terms of politics and law, and that he has changed on that score. But he was also always pro-life in his personal beliefs, and, I'm confident, taught and led that way in his responsibilities as a Mormon leader. |
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datroy said "I actually don't think he was really pro-choice and is now flip-flopping to be pro-life. I have a feeling he was always relatively pro-life and had to say he was pro-choice to get elected in Massachusetts. But if that's the case, he should say so. Most of the country would find it funny. Right now he's only hurting himself by making it look like he's changing his tune now."
Where Mitt Romney has gotten himself in a bind is emphatically defending a position--like being pro choice. He did not merely say during his runs for public office in Massachusetts that he would do what the majority of Massachusetts voters want him to do (which is a legitimate position). He went way beyond that and personalizied it (Mitt said he would support a woman's right to choose because a close relative of his died from an illegal abortion). Mitt said that on television during the 1998 Senate debate and that clip has been widely distributed. So Mitt is stuck saying he had a change of heart recently which shifted his entire position on the issue.
I understand people change, but if Bill Clinton did something like this you know the GOP side would be up in arms about it.
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"Despite his epiphany, he kept his pledge to the electorate.
And that's supposed to reflect negatively on him?"
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Alright, even assuming, arguendo, that you're right about Romney's flip-flop on abortion, then how do you explain the 5 million other flip-flops that he's committed?
Particularly, since it seems to be despised by so many here - campaign finance reform.
Mitt Romney, not even 5 years ago, was a HUGE supporter of campaign finance reform. He supported McCain-Feingold, and proposed a bill in Massachusetts that went, much MUCH further than the McCain law.
Romney was an even more radical supporter of CFR than McCain is. Romney not only supported limiting campaign contributions, but he firmly supported limiting campaign EXPENDITURES - McCain doesn't even go that far. But, just like magic (and just in time for the election), Romney now believes campaign finance reform to be evil, anti-American, and unconstitutional.
How do you explain that flip-flop?
Dean? Hugh? Bueller? |
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It sure won't be Hugh or Dean.
Imagine: a sitting senator who doesn't like earmarks criticizing another senator who's larding up a bill with earmarks. I'm sure all of America disagrees strongly with McCain on this.
The guy has to be Grandpa Simpson.
And this must be good news for Mitt Romney!
I guess the nonstop McCain criticism from you guys won't quit until the McCain camp invites Deaqn to join one of its blogger call-ins. |
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...which was the style at the time."
Great Grampa Simpson line, curmudgeonly indeed Senator McLame. |
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Romney pledged, as a candidate for governor, that he would preserve the status quo in Massachusetts with respect to abortion laws. Realistically, given the state of public opinion in the commonwealth, he had no other choice.
Despite his epiphany, he kept his pledge to the electorate.
And that's supposed to reflect negatively on him?
I can assure you that Romney really always was personally pro-life. If he had not been, he could not have held the leadership positions in the Mormon Church that he held. |
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It makes sense if you watch the entire clip and not the hack job edited by McCain's team. |
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Wouldn't YOU be cranky if you finally realized your campaign had tanked like his has?
I'd vote for HOMER, MARGE, OR BART SIMPSON for Prez before McCain. (But I still wouldn't vote for that mayor guy that talks like Teddy Kennedy; too scary)
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I hadn't seen the 2005 clip of Romney saying he's "strongly committed" to maintaining the status quo pro-choice laws. So how does that mesh with his epiphany in 2004? I don't know who I'm voting for yet - I like all of the top 4 (and Huckabee) for different reasons, but I like Romney in debates, I'm impressed with his personal life, I have no problem with his religion. But there are wildly inconsistent remarks coming from this guy.
I actually don't think he was really pro-choice and is now flip-flopping to be pro-life. I have a feeling he was always relatively pro-life and had to say he was pro-choice to get elected in Massachusetts. But if that's the case, he should say so. Most of the country would find it funny. Right now he's only hurting himself by making it look like he's changing his tune now.
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Let's face it Dean, you and Hugh are going to call McCain as grumpy, curmudgeonly, declining in polls, finished, etc. no matter what he does. |
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First of all, he's been unelectable on the national scene for decades. Second, he's arrogantly disdainful of anyone who criticizes his ideas. Thirdly, thank God, he's alienated himself out of any hope of being selected for the #2 slot on anyone's ticket. He needs to be driven out to pasture where he can contemplate the lasting damage his campaign reform bill has done to our free speech. |
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Apparently not. To me he comes across as an angry, bitter, vindictive, foul-mouthed grump. Not my idea of a president.
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He has to attack his Democratic party clone Hillary. What do you expect from a guy who calls amnesty "banana"? |
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I agree with you on this point. John McCain does not want the crankly old man label, he needs to be positive and cheery. Frankly, that is true for all the GOP candidates. Even Rudy, who has appeal because people believe he will kick terrorist butt, has to give out a better future aura to combat the forces of the White Witch of the North Hillary Clinton and her minions. |
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