Sunday, February 03, 2008

Romney or McCain? Or the alternative...


I came across this article from the New York Observer (Oct. 22nd 2007), that claims McCain dislikes Romney, for the following reason:

What Mitt Romney Doesn't Need: A Furious John McCain
If John McCain thinks he deserved just a little better from Mitt Romney, well, it’s pretty understandable.

Five years ago, Mr. Romney’s political career was on the line. Just a week before the 2002 election, he found himself one point behind in the race for governor of Massachusetts, and his Democratic foe was about to receive some high-profile campaign assistance from Hillary Clinton.

And so Mr. Romney called in his secret weapon: Mr. McCain, who in those bygone days was the most popular national political figure in Massachusetts, where he scored a 65-11 percent favorable rating in a fall 2002 poll.

As the cameras rolled, Mr. Romney paid tribute to Mr. McCain’s “straight talk.”

"That's the kind of leadership we need in Massachusetts—not a curved talker,” he said, taking a shot at his gubernatorial rival. Mr. McCain also lent his voice to automated phone calls that flooded Massachusetts, and Mr. Romney pulled out a last-minute victory.

But now Mr. McCain and Mr. Romney are running against each other for the presidential nomination, and it’s Mr. McCain who’s calling Mr. Romney the curved talker. His exasperation has begun to boil over. In Sunday night’s debate in Orlando, Mr. McCain reacted harshly to Mr. Romney’s suggestion that his rivals are less pure conservatives than he is. [...]

The article goes on to say that in 2005, Romney called McCain's immigration plan "reasonable", but later on when they began competing as rivals, Romney began calling it “amnesty” for illegal immigrants.

You can read the rest for details, it's written by a McCain supporter I believe, so be warned. ;-) I haven't verified every detail, but it would explain a lot of things. It also touches on an accusation that has followed Mitt throughout his campaign: Flip-Flopping.

Most of these flip flopping accusations are about liberal positions Romney used to hold, which have been displaced by more conservative ones. Romney claims that with age and with his experiences as Governor, he has become more conservative as he has grown into an understanding and appreciation of the conservatism of Ronald Reagan.

Many would say this is plausible. Many say this is not flip flopping, to move from one position to another; it's only flip flopping if you move from position "A" to position "B" and then BACK to "A" again.

Mitt's detractors maintain that he pretended to be liberal to get elected as governor, and now uses conservatism to get elected as president. But his father, George Romney, was known as a moderate Republican, so many would say it is plausible he was really more liberal in his youth.

I for one can't read his mind. And even now, not all his positions would be considered conservative. While he may have become more conservative on some issues, I think of him as being overall more moderate than hard right. He has explained much of his reasoning about his positions quite clearly; some people believe him, some don't.

Neither McCain nor Romney is perfect, and I have some reservations about both of them, although I still favor Romney. I don't know which one will come out ahead in this. But whatever happens, my GUT instinct about all this is... vote for the Republican. Whichever one wins. Here is a good explanation as to why:

The GOP: what's good for business is good for America
[...] Voting for a Republican is a crap-shoot just like business - and life in general. You pick your cards and roll the dice and hope for the best - but you've made the effort to remember which cards have already been dealt and you make an educated guess.

Voting for a Democrat is not a crap-shoot. You know for sure that you're going to get more commie crap. So my educated guesses have nearly always led me to vote for Republicans. Yes, deep down inside, I have ideals and wish for politicians who understood the wisdom of the Founders' limited government Constitution but we've strayed so far off course over the centuries that just a modicum of Americanism satisfies me nowadays. [...]

That's it in a nut shell; the rest of Pat's post spells it out, and it's those very thoughts that have been nagging at the back of my mind in all of this primary political juggling. Reading it spelled out, it's like someone turned on the windshield wipers, and the view is clear once more. I can see the way forward; I'm going to vote for the Republican in November, hope for the best, and do what I can to make the best happen. That's bound to be better than the Democrats certain alternative. If you aren't certain, follow the link and see.
     

5 comments:

Richard said...

McCain is an absolute abysmal imbosol!! He’s a RHINO republican and tried to shove amnesty down our throat 2 times with "HIS OWN BILL". HE IS FOR TAXING USA companies only to solve a so called GLOBAL warming problem. Well what about the rest of the WORLD? You people drink the kol-aid of the press and are completely UNINFORMED.

ROMNEY is this COUNTRYS BEST HOPE.

You want to know something else, STUPIDY BREADS ITSELF. You will believe anything someone tells you if you are uninformed and that is what the liberal media is counting on.

DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK!

John McCain should be renamed as JUAN McCain. Have you noticed who his heading up his HISPANIC outreach group for this race. If not, Google "McCain and Dr. Juan Hernandez.

I WILL NOT, SHALL NOT AND CAN NOT VOTE FOR JUAN McCain, I would rather the Republican Party dissolve, period!

TOP TEN REASONS JOHN MCCAIN IS NOT A CONSERVATIVE:
1. John McCain teamed with Ted Kennedy and attempted to give amnesty to every illegal alien in America, and even wished to grant them access retroactively to Social Security benefits accrued under illegally used numbers while here against the current law.

2. John McCain (along with the regular cohort of lefties) removed your right to speak out against political candidates (including him) through advocacy ads in the 30-60 days before a primary or general election. The infamous McCain-Feingold legislation proves he couldn't find an originalist judge if the man was sharing a pair of pants with him.

3. John McCain considered leaving the GOP to become an independent caucusing with the Dems, and only balked when Jeffords beat him to it. Daschle and others swear its true.

4. John McCain proved himself to be a populist anti-capitalist when he called the pharmaceutical companies "the enemy" during the most recent South Carolina debate. George Will is even wondering why John is a Republican and hasn't switched yet.

5. John McCain has swallowed the "Man Made Global Warming" pill whole. He has teamed with Lieberman to offer legislation to create a carbon cap and trade system that the Congressional Budget Office believes will add energy costs to each family of between $560-1800 per year, with the money raked in dispersed out in R&D grants, or government pork barrel goody contracts as I interpret it.

6. John McCain voted against the "Bush" tax cuts more than once, voted for amendments to keep the death tax alive, and along with our faithful Governor Pawlenty calls huge tobacco tax increases "fees".

7. John McCain believes waterboarding for US Servicemen is normal during training for capture situations, but calls it unconscienable torture when applied to important organizational terrorist figures caught plotting to kill Americans. This American serviceman disagrees.

8. John McCain supported gun control measures with rules that would have effectively shut down gun shows and gun sales between private parties. He teamed with Andrew McKelvey's Handgun Control spinoff called Americans For Gun Safety. A real champion of the little guy our McCain. Gun Owner's Of America rating - F

9. John McCain has stated he would vote for the international anti-sovereignty Treaty of The Seas if it was "tweaked" a little. This compact would give an international body the jurisdiction to dictate naval forces movement, oceanic weapons and technology testing, and set and collect fees and divy up rights and royalties to all energy resources found and recovered at sea in current international waters. One country, one vote. How do you think Iran would vote for our rights to traverse the Straits of Hormuz?

10. Midwest Jay really can't stand the guy, and he reminds me too much of a pissed off Huck-a-jerk without the Chuck Norris sidekick. Leading a fighter squadron gives you leadership experience to lead a fighter squadron of 24 guys. Reagan made war bond films. Who cares. American hero or socialist? Probably both.

Chas said...

Fine. Tell it to all the folks voting for Huckabee, even though he has no chance of winning. They are insuring a McCain victory.

If you would rather see the Republican party dissolved, than vote for McCain, I can only say Hillery and Obama agree with you. In fact, they are probably counting on it.

I'm still pulling for Romney, polls aren't always accurate or unbiased. I understand what you are saying about McCain, but believe it or not, it CAN be worse. I hope we don't find out first hand.

Anonymous said...

Even if McCain is everything everyone ever said about him: it makes him a career politician with a temper, a man more insterested in his own position and maybe a pet project with his name on it, than actually getting anything done.

With Clinton or Obama in the White House, there will be no impediments at all between the Legislature and Administration, and great pressure for them to implement every single self-destructive social program they've been promising for 40 years.

McCain is my second to last choice, (I just can't do the Ron Paul thing), but if he's nominated, I'll damn sure get out to vote for him... just, please, don't let him be nominated ; )

benning said...

Considering how McCain treats those who disagree with him, even if they have never asked for his support, his supposed anger with Romney is not a surprise. You have to wonder, though, how McCain could have been in politics so long and not understand that his opponent will oppose him. McCain comes off as immensely silly. As well as small and curmudgeonly.

Chas said...

McCain's temper really could work against him. I read a study in a book about optimism and elections, that shows how the most optimistic candidate usually wins, and why. I'm going to do a post about it soon.