Jan 31 2008
McMentum
The far right, as evidences by the ever shrill and panicky MarK Levin, is learning a very tough lesson. As I pointed out in an earlier post the hyper-partisans left and right have been competing to see who can insult and repulse the moderate middle the most (for daring not be ideologues and instead supporting traitorous ‘compromise’). So far the far right is winning in the battle of who can be most repulsive, since the more the NRO crowd screams the more endorsements and momentum McCain picks up. Check out this list of endorsements:
And that is not all – more are sure to come. Gallup is saying that since Rudy has left the race and endorsed McCain, McCain is seeing a huge lift in the national polls (and I assume state polls too):
In Wednesday’s release, the gap between McCain and Romney was 11 points (32% and 21%, respectively). Mike Huckabee is holding steady in third place at 17% in the current numbers. Giuliani was included in the Jan. 28 and 29 interviewing, but removed from the ballot last night. The one-night interviews from Jan. 30 — with Giuliani out of the race — show a substantial increase in McCain’s support, suggesting his lead will likely expand in the coming days. Wednesday night’s interviewing also was the first conducted following McCain’s win Tuesday in Florida.
Romney is losing ground fast. And the more the hyper-partisan cry and lash out at the impure on radio, TV, newspapers and blogs the more support they chase to McCain. McCain is not my first choice – he is way down my list. I don’t think he is conservative enough – just like many others. But my criticism is not laced with angers and insults at people who disagree, and that is the difference. The tone of the nation has changed, it is not interested in anger and insults. If you have to say things like “McSnide” and “McLame” then you have lost the debate and the attention of too many Americans to be considered relevant.
Those ranting the most are the ones causing the result they dislike so much. It reminds me of when a baby pulls their hair but it does not know it is their hand causing the pain – which makes the cry, which makes them pull all the harder, which makes the cry more! Talk about your self generating feed-back loops.
Those feedback loops of anger and angst towards the none believers has chased a clear and serious voice from the GOP – The Anchoress. And in her usual gifted manner she speaks clearly of the undemocratic thinking that is the force behind the hyper-partisan purity wars.
I stole this from Victor Davis Hanson who watched the Democratic debate:
If one studies carefully the Clintama answers on the war on terror, illegal immigration, and Iraq then the magnitude of Republican infighting seems surreal. The gulf between Hillary and McCain is Grand-Canyon like. This debate came down to Obama, talking in vague generalities about change, still without offering any specifics on anything that might be construed as hurtful and thus force him down from Olympus to the messy smelly world of mere mortals, and Hillary’s Bill-like ‘I did so much and suffered so much for all of you’ sanctimoniousness, coupled with ‘George Bush did it’ — and always that disturbing cackle. To the extent that there is any plan detectable in the generalities, it is get out of Iraq regardless of the conditions, expect that Syria and Iran will be in bad trouble if we leave (go figure), and keep illegal immigration mostly at the status quo of 700,000 a year coming across and another 11-16 million already here. When you have so many identity pressure groups who are single-minded in what they want-La Raza, the anti-war zealots, the Black Caucus, feminist pro-abortion zealots, unionized teachers and government workers-you have to say everything and thus nothing.
If McCain gets the nomination, I would have to believe that the Republican sit-out would only last midsummer until they could not take Sen. Clinton no more, and thus like Lancelot at Camlan belatedly enter the fray.
Terrye,
It’s fine that you are a party voter. I am not. I am a principle voter. The RNC and DNC for all practical purposes have become one as far as idealogy. That can only be bad for America, as I’m sure we will find out through the next 5 years. You may call HNAV’s post a ‘rant’, but every statement was true. Quite different, by the way, from McCain’s ‘rants’ against Romney. America will survice no matter who is elected. The point is to limit the damage to where hopefully it can be corrected. I see at least one of the major parties being eliminated within the next decade, to be replaced with a party consisting of adults, hopefully within my lifetime.
I am not a party voter. I am an Independent. I supported sending those young men and women into a war. I want to see their mission completed. That is my number one priority. I think that anyone who would talk about principles, while they say they would sit home and let a Democrat win knowing full well what that will mean to the sacrifices of those young people…well do not do that and then lecture me about principles.
I remember Romney running to the left of Kennedy when he was trying to win a campaign. I remember Romney lobbying for embryonic stem cell research before his principles changed and he became a strong pro lifer. I remember Romney tap dancing around the war before he decided to run and once again did some tap dancing.
As far as McCain’s rants about Romney, how can anyone listen to the stuff that has been said about McCain in recent weeks and complain about his rants about anyone? I mean really?
And when did McCain say we need to embrace failure? What does that even mean?
No, what we have here are some people who are pissed off that the majority of people have not voted the way they wanted them to, so they are attacking everyone and everything.
And btw, from what I hear it is McCain who is not the party voter. That seems to be the number one complaint about him.
I have said before, I will vote for the Republican nominee and against the Democrats, if that is not good enough for HNAV and Mark…then I guess that is just too bad.
I think both Terrye and Hanson have good points about (1) just how much worse Obillary Hillama would be than even McCain, whom I dislike strongly, and (2) McCain’s success is less an endorsement of McCain and his policies than a failure of the conservative wing of the party to produce a potential candidate with the stature and charisma to unite the party and inspire both conservatives and moderates in ways that would advance conservative ideas.
What is clear is that McCain will not win in November against either Clinton or Obama unless the conservative wing of the party supports him enthusiastically and with money. Even then, I think he probably loses to Obama. But, to have a chance, he must unite the party and generate real enthusiasm.
He may think his stand on defense will keep people on the reservation, and it may, but it won’t generate the enthusiasm and money he needs.
Conservatives need to reach out to McCain and offer enthusiastic support, but only on a couple of pretty reasonable conditions:
1. He commits in writing to nominating and supporting conservative judges in the Roberts AND Alito mode.
2. He commits in writing to making the Bush tax cuts permanent, to making permanent the full repeal of inheritance taxs, to not raising taxes in other ways, and to vetoing tax increases passed by the Democrats.
3. He commits in writing to overhauling campaign finance reform, based on the experience of the past decade, in the direction of less regulation of speech and restriction on amounts of gifts, but requiring absolute and instant transparency so that all gifts of whatever amount are immediately publicly reported.
4. He commits in writing to seeking energy independence through a combination of flex-fuel requirements, nuclear power, and market incentives.
5. (The tough one) He commits in writing to immigration reform based primarily on serious border control, effective deportation of illegal alien criminals, attrition by enforcement of employer sanctions and denial of other than emergency public services — all of which positions have majority support — BUT with a provision that the longest term illegals who have spotless records and who actually learn English and renounce any former citizenship will receive permanent visas and have a path to citizenship. That’s further than I want to go, but I could live with it as the alternative to Hillary and Obama’s opening the floodgates, and, I think it’s the kind of compromise that would appeal to a majority of Americans who favor immigration but really are concerned about the burden of illegal immigration on society and social services.
HNAV,
Don’t blame me for McCain – I dd not and do not want him. It was the ugliness of the far right (which you so well exemplify) that pushed all the moderates away from the strong conservative values. The name calling and denigration by the hyper-right on Miers and Dubai Ports and most importantly on Immigration did nothing but marginalize the hyper-right and create a moderate backlash which had led to McCain.
Duh!
Terrye,
I did not say I would sit out, but I can guarantee a large percentage of voters will. What I find most frustrating is where I hear/read that everyone is supporting McCain because they believe he is the only candidate that can beat either Dem nominee. I maintain that McCain is the LEAST likely to beat either. He is dishonest and using tactics (democrat playbook) that most of the country (not just conservatives) abhor and despise. If McCain gets the nomination, the MSM will destroy him and the Dems will win. The MSM wants a Dem in the WH at any cost, and will do and say anything and everything in order to accomplish their goal. McCain will be the easiest to destroy due to past issues and current temperment. That is really my only point, and I believe that is EXACTLY what you do not want to happen. Sometimes reality sucks, but it is what it is. Still, America will survive.
WOA!
I read HNAV’s comments and I hardly think he was jumpin’ ugly on McCain. Talking about a politician’s record is not ugliness — unless the record itself is ugly.
Look, McCain deserves what he’s getting from the right, which is a lot kinder than he’s been to them. I don’t trust him at all — not at all — not even with our national defense. Now I know some will jump ugly on me for saying that, but when I consider how he courts the MSM and the Democrats, how can he ever be trusted to do the right thing? How can I be sure he’ll be the rock-solid Com-in-Chief when we all know how the Left feels about all things military? And isn’t national security about the only reason conservatives are even considering McCain at all?
I’m serious when I say that I think McCain has a serious personality problem. His conduct with Romney the other night was manic, as in “affected with or marked by frenzy or mania uncontrolled by reason.” This is NOT what I want in the White House.
I’m voting for Romney next Tuesday, a person who does not thrill me, btw. I don’t know for whom I’ll vote next Nov. Mahmoud A’jad’s threat/promise to produce nuclear energy next year certainly gives me pause. I feel certain Romney can meet that challenge. Can McCain?
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So, can we talk about Romney’s record like that? Hell no. He is the sudden conservative vanguard, actual record be damned.
I think there has been gross misrepresentation of McCain’s record. It is like all the people who loved Fred Thompson even though he worked with liberal Democrats like Diane Feinstein and supported McCain/Feingold. However, those same people would often say that McCain’s part in McCAin Feingold was an assault on the Bill of Rights or something equally hysterical.
I think that if Romney were to win the right would turn on him too. Just like they did Bush or Graham or McCain. The idea that McCAin has been mean to the right is just ludicrous. What are they, babies, helpless little infants who have to be coddled all the time and anyone who does not coddle them is mean to them?
All they do is bitch all the time about everything. Bitch Bitch Bitch.
Kitty:
How can you listen to the hysterical crap from the right and talk about McCain having a serious personality problem? I am serious.
Would people like Ted Olson and Rudy Giulliani and Rick Perry support a crazy man? I don’t think so. I do not think McCain is the one with the personality problem.
Terrye, what “hysterical crap from the right”?
I based my assessment of McCain on my years of listening to and watching him. I don’t need someone else telling me that; I don’t even know IF others agree with me or not. But I’m very serious when I say that I think the guy’s unhinged.
Who knows why others are supporting him. I can only guess that they are more fearful of HRC or Obama as president.
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I believe the “hysterical crap” from the far right is that before they will vote for Obama, Hillary or McCain, they will sit this election out…and regroup for the next congressional elections. Becuase they believe any one of these 3 combined with DNC control of both houses, is going to be such a disaster for this country that the wheels are going to be coming off it by the time the next elections roll around.
And who are the democrats going to blame then?
AJ, trust me, you are shrill. Every post (recently) screams about the far right. You’re obsessed with it.
Now, please get a few facts about me straight, OK?
1) Yes, I have called some politicians RINOs because that’s what they are! When did speaking the truth become “denigration”? Only in the world of someone who can’t stand criticism!
2) I’m not a Republican, so don’t expect me to toe the party line. You’ll be sorely disappointed.
3) I called McCain a scumbag (several years ago) because he is. It seems that there’s a lot of johnny-come-latelys that are just now figuring that out about McCain. I personally could care less. I don’t vote for scumbags of either party. (Which means I would never vote for Hillary either.)
4) How is the claim that not voting for McCain will destroy the country any less desperate than the claim that not supporting Romney will? ISTM that both arguments are silly in the extreme. The country will survive no matter what happens in November, and the truth is, no one knows who will be the nominees in November much less who will win or what will happen as a result of that.
Interesting…
AJ has misjudged my political convictions.
Kitty states it quite well…
But isn’t this the same liberal poster named TERRYE that posts at the CQ?