McCain? Are You Sure?

By Lance Thompson

Super Tuesday will likely decide who the GOP nominee is for 2008. John McCain has a good chance of being that nominee. Conservatives are understandably agitated about this possibility.

If you like McCain because you agree with his positions, then none of the following will change your mind.

However, if you favor McCain because of the many endorsements he has received from the media, then consider this: The mainstream media serve the liberal political agenda. They do not want the GOP to field a conservative candidate, in case our side wins. They do not want the GOP to have a strong candidate, because they don’t want us to win. When it comes to the general election, none of the media outlets that have endorsed McCain in the primary will remain in support of him. They will all be endorsing the Democrat–Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. The media endorsements bestowed upon John McCain have been awarded because he is the least conservative Republican. Those endorsements will migrate during the general election to the least conservative Democrat.

If you favor John McCain because he seems able to "reach across the aisle," consider this: In 2005, John McCain "reached across the aisle" to Russ Feingold to limit free political speech with McCain-Feinglod-Cochran. The same year, McCain reached across the aisle to Ted Kennedy to offer citizenship to illegal aliens. John McCain said he would "consider" being John Kerry’s running mate in 2004. John McCain has said that Hillary Clinton would make a good President. John McCain’s maverick status is based on his diversion from conservative principles and his embrace of liberal ideas. Instead of reaching across the aisle, John McCain should walk across the aisle and sit on the Democrat side where he belongs.

If you favor John McCain because he’s not a hard right, ideological conservative, consider this: Conservatism is the spine of the Republican party. Yes, there are Republicans who are more and less conservative, but at the heart of the GOP is a belief in conservative principles–small government, lower taxes, strong defense, secure borders, traditional values. Every election, we are urged to stray from those principles to appeal to "moderate"or "undecided" voters. When the GOP chose moderate Gerald Ford over conservative Ronald Reagan in 1976, we lost.

Those who are "undecided" about their principles are not conservatives. John McCain falls into this category. He sponsored the McCain-Feingold legislation, created to limit the effect of campaign contributors on candidates. But during the 1980's he gladly accepted cash contributions as well as other favors, such as use of a private plane, from Charles Keating, who was later convicted of fraud in the Lincoln Savings and Loan scandal that stuck taxpayers with a multi-billion dollar bailout.

Once we begin to trade principle for votes, our candidates have no basis upon which to ask for votes. The conservative principles we stand for are the very reason we can ask voters to support us, believe in us, and sustain us. Without them, we are indistinguishable from the opposition.

Just like John McCain.

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Lance Thompson lives in Idaho and supports Mitt Romney for President.

Lance Thompson
208-898-1451
lancet@q.com