Thursday, February 07, 2008

Romney Out of Race; McCain Presumed GOP Nominee, But Are We All On Board?

Mitt Romney is out and the presumed GOP nominee is John McCain. Romney gave the best speech of his campaign today at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

Romney has spent millions of his own money to give Republicans, and by extension, all of America, a real choice. He has run a spirited campaign that didn't get as much attention when he was in the race as it did when he dropped out.

Personally, I would rather see him stay in right to the convention, and make everyone in the race for the GOP nomination compromise to some degree. But he is taking the high road, and because of his concerns for the War on Terror, he is out of it.

This is a perfect time to allow a guest columninst to apply his take on the questions.

Fred Breese is an old friend from my Marine days. We served together in New River, North Carolina, at the helicopter base that is part of the sprawling Camp LeJeune, Marine complex, then fought side-by-side in Quang Tri, Vietnam, and completed our service together in Nofolk, Virginia at the Naval Air Station.

Fred is a conservative Republican who has some questions about the state of our party, considering the split between McCain and many conservative commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others. His points deserve consideration.

McCain Drummed by the Right Wing.
Does This Mean I lose My Conservative Membership?


By Fred Breese

Leading conservatives including Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others, say John McCain is not conservative enough. He has crossed the isle time and time again. He has sponsored liberal legislation. They might be right - but consider this.

Why did we lose Vietnam? We lost because of a bunch of left wing cowards were not willing to save that little country from the scourge of communism. We did not lose that war because our military did not fight and win. We won every battle. We were kicking butt and we had the North Vietnamese on the ropes.

Yet our president and Congress pulled us out. Then they cut off funding to South Vietnam and that was the end of that. Millions of Southeast Asians died at the hands of the communist conquerors when we abandoned them.

Had they stood their ground, had they not pulled us out and cut off funding, it is likely that South Vietnam today would be a strong democracy with an emerging economy, much on the scale of South Korea.

If you did not serve in Vietnam, then you cannot begin to imagine what it feels like to have sacrificed, risked your life, and experienced the loss of friends just to watch a bunch of Washington politicians walk away from all you fought for at the behest of a bunch of cowardly protesters.

Had Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi had their way, this generation of brave soldiers would already have had the same experience. That is something I don't want any American to ever experience again.

The only Washington politician running for president, who never lost his resolve to see this war through, was John McCain. Maybe Romney and Huckabee would have taken that position, but they were not Washington politicians, so we can never know for sure if they too would have had the resolve to stay through to victory in the War on Terror.

McCain was standing behind our effort even when we were barely holding our own. McCain was supporting the war effort when it was affecting his chance of successfully running for president.

He did not waiver in his resolve regardless of how unpopular it was. Now we are winning in Iraq and he is reaping the political benefit, yet the ultra-right wing is lambasting him on every issue they can drum up. Are they forgetting that he believes in winning? Is it not important to them that without John McCain, and others on the Republican side, that we would have already lost this war? Do they really believe that because McCain is not their kind of conservative that he is unfit to be president?

Why do you think John McCain stood behind the war? Read my second paragraph again. Remember, McCain is a Vietnam vet too. He saw his friends killed too. He experienced the same frustration that all Vietnam vets experienced when our appeaser president pulled us out and our weak-minded Congress cut off funding.

He is not willing to let that happen again if he can prevent it and I, for one, support that position. So to hell with the ultra-right-wing conservatives who are going all out to discredit McCain.

I have always considered myself a conservative too, until this campaign. I was in total agreement with Limbaugh and Hannity on most things but those guys are way off target this time. If I cannot be an ultra-right-wing conservative because I don't agree with Limbaugh and Hannity then I'll have to be satisfied with being just a plain old conservative.

Domestic political issues will take care of themselves. They always do. Eventually the immigration issue will get resolved in the way the American people want it resolved. The people will speak up and whoever is president will listen because they have to if they want to be reelected.

The economy will come back as it always does. But, the War on Terror will not be won unless we have a Republican president and McCain is the best in that regard.

Both Hillary and Obama have said over and over that they are going to pull us out right away. They are taking this position in spite of the fact that we are winning this war. They want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Once again, we have our enemy on the ropes and once again a large segment of our Washington politicians wants to abandon our efforts at the behest of a bunch of left-wing cowards. I feel confident that if McCain is our president, that won't happen.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

McLame is a liar, deceiver...a "snake in the grass"......I will never vote for the bastard.........he is not the Republican nominee yet........and will be only if many "surrender" to him..........not me not ever.

Anonymous said...

its time to come home from iraq,and let them have their country back. we have lost too many soldiers and mamed many more. get out now and kick ass in afghanistan and kill bin ladin

Anonymous said...

Friends

This is an email I take no pleasure in writing...........this is not associated with my Eagles Up involvement as many in Eagles Up and Eagles in general may not agree with me....it's my own political position...I hope you will grant me some slack in stating what I believe.....it will be the last from me on personal politics.

This is about presidential candidates.........the Obama - Clinton contest goes on and one of them will win the Democratic nomination.........I could care less which one..........

It's about Senator McCain. Many of the positions Senator McCain says he supports, I agree, but I don't trust him any farther than I could throw him. I didn't trust nor believe he was truthful before the presidential campaign and watching him "purposefully lie" in front of America, distort other candidates statements, present himself as a conservative, literally made me puke.

What troubles me is not that many of my friends are moving to McCain when they really want another choice, it's that they seem to think he is the "presumptive" nominee and are surrendering as if McCain is the nominee now.........he is not....there are other choices. Personally, I'm not interested in getting on the winning political bandwagon, I'm interested in getting on the "America Wins" bandwagon.

Mark my word... McCain will be making all kind of promises to dampen his liberal positions (anti-tax cut, open borders, anti-free speech, anti-energy, global-warming hysteria, favors using stem cells from human embryos, and more, particularly the way he treated POW/MIA families during Senate Committee Investigations)...he'll sway, glide, point his finger and say anything to bring voters to his side.....he doesn't give a tinkers-damn about you and me.......again it's about power, John Kerry style.......

I will never surrender or vote for John McCain, under any circumstances............he is of the same mold as Obama, Clinton, Durbin, Reid, Snowe, Hagel.......can't trust any of them........America is not first priority, it's the party and their insatiable drive for power.

Well Harry who will you vote for? It's easy for me...If McCain is the Republican nominee I will not vote........there will be no presidential candidates that will stretch my principles that far.....If another party emerges with an acceptable candidate, I'll go there.....but never McCain, Obama, or Clinton.

Harry Riley

Unknown said...

I have always supported the RNC nominees, and have never failed to vote in ALL elections, (I am 63 yrs old!) but since Mitt Romney has been convinced to 'take the high road' I find myself in the position of being unable to vote for John McCain in good conscience.
so, I have decided I have to abdicate my presidential vote!
even my husband berates me, and says I am giving my vote away..I don't agree! I cannot believe everything I hear about McCain but I have taken the time to research his voting record, as well as watching him perform in Congress!
I might as well vote for a Dem!
I will end this with my regrets for me and for my country because I think we will be having a Democratic administration for at least four years, maybe eight!

I have to ask you this though,
Am I the only one who has a problem
with a President named BARAK HOUSSEIN OBAMA????? while we are at War with people with similar names? Yes, he's a intelligent, even handsome black man, but what is his personal agenda? remember he was raised in a strict Muslim environment where he was taught to hate Americans! He may SAY that has changed, but can we believe that? think about it, what an opportunity for people like O.B.L
to "bury us from within"
IT COULD EASILY HAPPEN !
GOD HELP US ALL!
Karen Mulhollem
karenmulhollem@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

My issues with McCain:

I. The war on terror:

Its more then just Iraq, and it will be waged long after the US has withdrawn most of our combat troops. Senator McCain created a Terrorist Bill of Rights and wants to shut down our detention center in Guantanamo Bay.

I guess we'll go back to the Clinton way of handling things, LAWYERS for the terrorists.

And during this time I never heard McCain ever call for the prosecution and imprisonment of those in the CIA who leaked classified information regarding prisons, communications monitoring, or interrogation techniques. Instead we have an army field manual that tells us what we can ask and how we can ask it.

You spoke of Viet Nam and how McCain's experiences there would prove useful today. I submit that he on the same path as the rest of candidates for president and it makes me sick. If this was WWII do you really think we would have the problems we're having there now? Oh but not a word from McCain on that issue. Instead he wants to flex his muscle and call for Rumsfeld's resignation.

II. The economy:

Twice senator McCain has voted against the tax cuts which brought us out of a recession at the end of the Clinton administration and gave us 6+ years of 3% or higher growth rate.

But the US is still outsourcing jobs and one of the biggest reasons is our draconian tax rates on corporations. We have the highest in the world and no one is discussing lowering them.

We will certainly head for another recession. On top of that we have had a "Tech" bubble, a housing bubble, and now a credit issue. And still Senator McCain voted 2x not to give anyone a tax break. But now that he is running for president the Senator states he'll make the tax cuts permanent. PROVE IT! How the hell can I trust that?

III. Our dwindling Freedoms:

McCain-Feingold
McCain Kennedy
McCain Lieberman
The gang of 14

McCain-Feingold was this wonderful legislation that was supposed to clean up Washington. PFFFF! Give me a break! Instead we have organizations like Move Idiots Forward dot org. Thanks Senator.

McCain-Kennedy or amnesty. The Fort Dix Six. Guess which border those wonderful people came across, yet the Senator won't listen to the people. In fact he told a woman at a town hall meeting that if she had a better idea, he would love to hear it.

McCain Lieberman: This goes back to your notion that the economy will magically repair itself and that Washington can pass all the legislation it wants without worrying of the impact. Well maybe one day we'll get our economy back on track.

The gang of 14. Here's the one that really frosts me! Senator McCain and his band of 13 merry morons decided to stop the Republicans from getting all judgicial nominations an up or down vote. So if you live in New London, CT and you're losing your home because someone else can build a bigger building and pay more taxes, thank people like Senator McCain.

I for one will not be voting for president in the general election. I can't tell the difference between any of the candidates. And McCain is too quick to abandon what he claims to be his core beliefs for a little publicity. How cheap the White House has become.

In fact I ask you America, is this really the best we have to offer for the most powerful position in the world?

Anonymous said...

We are about six months out from the Republican convention. It is important perhaps for many of us to adopt a "watch and see" attitude regarding McCain and his supporters. Republicans in California have been burned badly by "Arnold." We don't want to make that mistake again. California conservatives are deeply troubled by illegal immigration and the openness of the southern border. McCain has done nothing to secure our borders since 9/11. He now says he wants to "secure the border first." Well, he is still a member of the U.S. Senate. Let us see what he does between now and August to get it done! Still no fence and no barriers of any consequence. I know for a fact because I have flown that border low level in a light aircraft six times in the last two years. It is always the same - completely open. Especially in McCain's home state of Arizona. And the invasion from the south goes on 24/7, month after month, year after year. No wonder folks like me are so upset.
We are literally giving our beloved America away to illegals, drug runners, criminals and terrorists. If you are not angry like me, then you should be. Take a trip down to southeast Arizona, McCain country, and see for yourself what's going on. You may want to pack heat. Most folks there do! Will we see action from McCain over the next six months or just idle political, feel good campaign fluff? Time will tell.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry but my vote is worth something. I'm not selling it like candy at 7-11.

And I am a conservative. I don't think I'm an ultra-conservative-- but I joined the party for the sake of principles-- not for the sake of power.

John McCain has played the game for John McCain-- not for conservatives and not for the republican party. It you disagree with the party, there is a way to gracefully dissent. Instead of disagreeing behind closed doors and saying little publicly, Sen. McCain has seen fit to proclaim his disagreements loud enough for the New York Times folks to hear them.

This is not McCain being drummed out by the right wing. This is about loyalty and McCain really hasn't shown much to the republican party. He has interfered with party strategy every step of the way for the past eight years.

I'm sure he'll be loyal to the troops... them, Joe Lieberman, and the New York Times are probably the only people left for him to be loyal to.

I'm sorry but I see absolutely no positive reason to vote for McCain... during his years in the Senate, he has done nothing to show that he would all that better or different than any democrat.

The Gang of 14 stuff takes the cake... apparently preserving filibuster power for the Senate's good old boy club is more important that doing the people business and executing the senatorial duties prescribed by the Constitution of the United States.

That's the only oath a congressman, senator, or president takes: to uphold and defend the constitution.

And this is why in good conscience, I cannot vote for McCain. It's not about how conservative he is. It's about his willingness to follow the constitution.

Here I point to the aforementioned McCain-Feingold act. When asked, "what if McCain-Feingold violates the Constitution", he replies if we have to trample the first amendment to end special interest politics, then so be it.

There's something very wrong with this picture: that political goals trump the Constitution.

This is indeed a window into the man's soul... the song he sings, "I me mine, I me mine, I me mine."

Even with his opposition to the Bush tax cuts is at best disingenuous. Certainly budget deficits are egregious... but why didn't he have the cojones to propose spending cuts that would have balanced out the deficits?

Remember, "The steam that blew the whistle never turned the wheel."

The bottom line is that thus far, McCain has appeared to be a demagogue who does what the opinion polls say (except for Iraq).

He doesn't seem to have much of a head for public policy.

Let's look to see who he makes the VP... he's so old that there's actually a good chance of the VP succeeding him.

At the end of the day, thus far, I have no positive reason to vote for John McCain.

I will not vote for him for a negative reason (the democratic candidate). I have yet to be given a positive reason... all of his conservative promises are pie in the sky... unsubstantiated by his political record.

I am willing to listen to him and give him a chance to prove himself... but so far he has done nothing to earn my respect or trust.

Until he gives me a reason to vote for him, I'll abstain.

As a practical matter, the RNC needs to take a good hard look at state party rules allowing independents to vote in primaries. This is part of why we have this problem. Independents should not be voting in republican primaries. They aren't part of the party and have done a damn good job at thrusting a candidate on us that we don't want.

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