McCain and the Republican Problem

[welsh]

I was watching the last big Republican debate- the one they held at Reagan Library and it dawned on me why the Republicans are in trouble. I also thought that it ironic that this library that served as forum from the debate was not filled with books (and thus suggestive of scholarly learning and intelligent discourse) but the fuselage of a jumbo jet, a former Air Force 1 (and thus suggestive of power, prestige and a giant phallus).

Each of the Republicans was basically saying that they were the better conservative than the other. Ok if that shit works. But in the process of comparing their conservative credentials it seemed that each of the Republicans was saying "Vote for me because I have the biggest conservative dick."

Now lets go back a bit in history say- the last three decades.

Reagan - huge deficits, huge spending, stupid wars, human rights abuses. These led to economic crisis during Pappa Bush. Let's leave the scandals or the "I forgot... ohh.. i don't remember" problem of a president teeting on Alzheimers. I know Republicans love Reagan, but having gone through those years, seriously, the guy was an asshole.

Then came Pappa Bush. And to be honest I liked him. I liked him enough to vote for him against Clinton. He won in the Gulf, kicked Saddam's ass, didn't get us bogged down in a long war, didn't fuck up the end of the Cold War. Sure he raised taxes but the economy was beginning to recover under Bush.

Clinton- fiscally balanced the budget, economic growth, reduced poverty, no stupid wars. Republican has a pissy fit over his blow job, but ok.

W Bush- the dumb one. Disaster.

ANd yet here in the debate and others, the Repubicans seem to be saying that they're going to keep doing the same thing. Forceful foreign policy, stick with the war, deregulated government (whoops- did that lead to a recession, oh well).. etc.

Don't they get it- the conservative agenda has essentially been fucking the nation in the ass for 30 years and the Americans are starting to realize that it really hurts?

So people ask me about McCain. And to be honest, I like the guy. Its his party that's fucked up. And while I like his independent streak and support some of his policies- lets face it, the guy is old and he's going to put in party people who are probably going to continue the same old 'lets fuck the country in the ass' and give money to our corporate allies.

Is it any surprise that the word of the campaign is change.

The Republican race

Cannon to the right of him
Feb 14th 2008 | RICHMOND
From The Economist print edition

Conflicting signals for McCain

Get article background

A GRUMPY protester stood outside a museum full of fighter planes where Senator John McCain was about to give a speech. “No to amnesty” said his home-made placard. Mr McCain has resisted securing the border for ten years, he fumed, and his plan to give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship is a disgraceful reward for criminal conduct.

Yes, because the answer there is to cut them off, create a population of individuals without legal rights within the US. Or perhaps they plan to deport 12 million people?

Sorry, but dogmatic ideology will not resolve this problem.

So whom will he vote for in November? Well, the Democrats are all socialists, he says, so he'll reluctantly have to pull the lever for, er, Mr McCain.

Damn those socialists! Sorry, but the democrats are not even social democrats.

This anecdote could illustrate either of the two most popular theories about the front-runner for the Republican nomination. One is that since many conservatives detest Mr McCain, they will stay at home in November and the fired-up Democrats will thrash him. The other theory is that Republicans will rally round their leader to keep those ghastly lefties out of the White House. Mr McCain can certainly take heart from the knowledge that some of those picketing his stump speeches plan to vote for him anyway. But his problem with conservatives is nonetheless acute.

In many ways, it has been a good week for Mr McCain. After winning primaries in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, plus a caucus in Washington state, he now has, by CNN's estimate, 827 of the 1,191 delegates needed to clinch the nomination. His closest rival, Mitt Romney, dropped out of the race last week. His only remaining challenger is Mike Huckabee, who charms the heck out of evangelicals but cannot plausibly overtake him.

So why can't McCain wrap it up?

Still, as Mr McCain admits, the race is too interesting for comfort. Mr Huckabee shows no sign of dropping out. On February 9th he won Louisiana (narrowly) and Kansas (handily). He is a more gifted orator than his rival, and with Mr Romney gone, is collecting protest votes as well as his usual tally of born-again Christians.

And to be fair, Huckleberry is a pretty good talker.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a meet-up for red-meat conservatives, he gave a flame-grilled speech. He playfully quoted Ecclesiastes: “A wise man's heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man's heart directs him toward the left.” He said Americans would welcome a hungry immigrant who knocks on the front door, but God help you if you break through a window in the night. He lambasted the government (ie, Mr McCain) for putting a ladder up against the window. And he thundered that any judge who invokes international law to decide an American case should be “summarily impeached”.

Never mind that the US is obligated to follow certain international law by the constitution... damn those activist judges who can read the Constitution's plain meaning!!!

And sorry Huck but Americans don't want to feed the hungry immigrant who comes knocking on the door. If they did, they wouldn't make it so damn expensive for immigrants to immigrate.

Mr McCain, who is 71, sounds tired on the trail. The younger Mr Huckabee sounds like he is having fun. He plays each crowd like a laughing, cheering, “Amen”-hollering violin. He pokes fun at the national media for not taking him seriously. But he offers profoundly unserious policies, such as raising military spending from under 4% to 6% of GDP while simultaneously abolishing income tax. As he said in another context, “Folks, I didn't major in math. I majored in miracles.”

To bad he didn't major in reason or he'd have figured that his recipe was a financial disaster. Fiscal conservative, please...

The question is not whether Mr Huckabee can win but whether his campaign will hurt the eventual nominee. On the one hand, the competition should sharpen Mr McCain's skills and keep the Democrats from hogging the evening news completely. On the other, a long fight could drain cash and energy that Mr McCain will need to fight the general election. Plus, if Mr Huckabee irritates him enough, he might lose his temper.

Last I heard McCain's campaign might be in financial trouble.

Mr McCain has the tricky task of mending fences with conservatives while continuing to attract moderates who applaud his stances on climate change, immigration and torture. His speech to CPAC was humble, yet firm: “I have made many mistakes. You can attest to that...but need not.” He stressed where he agrees with conservatives, on abortion, national security and government waste. He yielded little in other areas, saying he does not make promises he does not intend to keep. He was booed, but also cheered. “Well, he's just convinced me,” said June Nichols, a former Giuliani supporter.

Which is why its kind of unfortunate that McCain is a republican. Or maybe its unfortunate why the Republicans have gotten so conservative.

Among the conservative elite, Mr McCain's most implacable foes are those who make a living by mouthing off. Talk-show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh loathe him. But Republicans who have worked in government and understand the need for compromise are flocking to his side. President Bush all but endorsed him this week. On the stump in Virginia, Mr McCain was flanked by two former governors, which was all the excuse he needed to tell a joke about two jailbirds in the prison chow line. “The food was better here,” one says, “when you were governor.”

For what little they are worth, the polls suggest that Mr McCain would beat Hillary Clinton but lose to Barack Obama. The badges and bumper stickers at CPAC offer a clue as to why. Anti-Hillary slogans are plentiful and angry. “Life's a bitch; don't vote for one.”

Misogyny and fundamentalism tend to go together in traditional societies like Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran...

“Happiness is Hillary's face on a milk carton.” But your correspondent saw only one anti-Obama badge, the mild “Obama? You gotta be kiddin' me.”

Hmmm.. Considering the willingness of the candidates to continue Bush policies-

Republicans find it much harder to attack Mr Obama. This is partly because he is black, but also because he is unsullied by scandal and because they don't hate him as they do Mrs Clinton. Which is why Mr McCain hopes to face Mrs Clinton in November but expects to face Mr Obama.

And if Clinton drops out, so goes the target of Republican hate.

But then.... what else do the Republicans have?

 

[The Vault Dweller]

This election is going to be very ugly. The Democrats are split not only equally between two candidates, but both run a huge risk of losing votes due to unmentionable biases. One against a female president and one against a president that isnt caucasian.

The Republicans aren't any better off. They're split between (I assumed this would happen a long time ago) the extremists who want the zealot Huckabee and the moderates who want the respectable McCain.

It's a damn shame too. I expect the Democrats to endorse Obama and the Republicans to endorse McCain. While I've always leaned to the left I've always felt that what the nation really needs is a good moderate candidate that would form ideal agreements between the two sides without alienating anyone. Thus I'm actually considering voting for McCain who is very mild in his convservativism and not Obama who is quite extreme in his liberalism. Of course I still don't agree with most right stances on issues so my opinion is currently deadlocked.

I'm not looking forward to voting. Who knows though maybe McCain will be forced to take hardline ideals to appeal to the rest of the Republicans and I won't want to vote for him anymore.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller

 

[Mord_Sith]

Times like this usually I like to comment saying that I'm glad I'm Canadian, however we've been running a minority government for so damn long now that nothing gets done, and Harper's screwing us up six ways from sunday.

Canada no longer can be seen as impartial due to Harper
Canada is seen as the US bootlick due to the recent border issues being bowed under.
Canada has turned it's back on it's long defended green policy
Canada STILL hasn't seen a major improvement to the judicial system which is why that lout was voted for in the first place!

Grr....

 

[MrBumble]

Canada still has the hottest and smartest chicks in the world...That's more than enough.

 

[Mord_Sith]

Not for a celibate fellow...

 

[welsh]

@Mord_Sith-

Dude, don't be celibate. Unless, its not self-imposed.

@ Vault Dweller-

Vote McCain? Look, I like the guy, but seriously, he still comes to the game with a lot of Republican baggage and if you listen to the debates, he's just offering more of the same.

Main problem- he's willing to stay in Iraq indefinitely. Now at $13 million an hour, I see that as a lot of wasted money that might be better spent doing something really important- like rebuilding the economy and preventing a bigger recession than we're in.

 

[Mord_Sith]

It's something I've decided a long time ago Welsh, but that 'tis my business and I seriously doubt that there is any argument against it that I haven't heard yet.

Anyhee back on topic shall we?

 

[Tagaziel]

At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a meet-up for red-meat conservatives, he gave a flame-grilled speech. He playfully quoted Ecclesiastes: “A wise man's heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man's heart directs him toward the left.” He said Americans would welcome a hungry immigrant who knocks on the front door, but God help you if you break through a window in the night. He lambasted the government (ie, Mr McCain) for putting a ladder up against the window. And he thundered that any judge who invokes international law to decide an American case should be “summarily impeached”.

That's so stupid it's not even funny.

 

[welsh]

@ Mord_Sith - Yeah, like you really elected to be celibate.

Sure, ya did..... If you want to call your relationship between you and Mrs. Palm and her five fingery friends "celibacy" fine.

just remember- that self imposed celibacy leads to becoming one of these guys-

Violently Horny.

(you really don't want to hang out with these assholes, do you?)

@ Vault Dweller-
Dude- you'd have a better argument if Guilliani were still in the race. Note-

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekSxxlj6rGE[/youtube]

Worse yet-

McCain guys have to deal with this-

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IYrI-3ksyk[/youtube]

McCain Mamma?

 

[Mord_Sith]

*shrug* Believe what you want Welsh...

 

[welsh]

@Mord_Sith-

Dude, well honestly, celibacy was what the guys who weren't gettin any called it.

I also suspect that sexual frustration leads to violence. I mean look at all the school shootings of the past few years. Check out the killers and ask, "who would sleep with those guys?"

That said, this is distracting from a political discussion. Perhaps it would be better if we cut this discussion and placed it into its own thread.

 

[The Vault Dweller]

@ Mord_Sith - Yeah, like you really elected to be celibate.

Sure, ya did..... If you want to call your relationship between you and Mrs. Palm and her five fingery friends "celibacy" fine.

Hey come on he may be deeply religious and feel it's the right thing to do. Besides religious or not I can imagine it having a huge amount of practical benefits like not having to waste time/money trying to woo the opposite sex or having therapy when it doesn't work.

just remember- that self imposed celibacy leads to becoming one of these guys-

Violently Horny.

Hey I'm a virgin and I've never come close to killing anyone.

I also suspect that sexual frustration leads to violence. I mean look at all the school shootings of the past few years. Check out the killers and ask, "who would sleep with those guys?"

I thought alot of women are turned on by men with power?

Maybe a better question would be "how long is there penis and did it make them jealous?".

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller

 

[Maphusio]

Canada still has the hottest and smartest chicks in the world...That's more than enough.

Seriously! What is with that? Youtube "Canadian Girls" ... Ohhhh Omar Goodness made the best song for the best Canadian girl ever...

Anywho, I clearly have made up my mind in this regard. For me, over the past 9 years or so I have found myself leaning further and further toward the left end of the spectrum... I just can't abide by what the conservative party has done in my relatively short lifetime.

Welsh went into detail about the past 30 years for the conservative party and how bad things have become in America... From the largest creditor nation to the largest debt nation... In roughly 30 years. Sure, the world changes, markets change, but I can't help but look at that one semi constant piece of the puzzle (conservative party).

Maybe its because I'm a kid? The youth tends to be more liberal... Maybe not though.

 

[Goweigus]

pitch in my 2cents
Ron Paul was actually a good friend of Reagan
Met him shook hands and all that good stuff they knew each other

not sure what that means to anyone else though

 

[bazola]

Going to make this my first post. Long time lurker, first time poster. And when I say long time, I mean really long time.

I'm extremely left wing, and I fully support obama. That being said, I have no problems with conservativism. The problem is what the conservatives are conservative about.

If the US legalized weed, ended foreign wars, and fixed the economy, I would switch to the right. Unfortunately the right seems determined to annihilate the economy in favor of stupid wars, including the war on drugs.

The biggest problem with McCain is that his entire campaign is based on the premise that he is an honest war veteran. That is it. He has no other qualities. And unfortunately, many months before the general election his honesty is already in serious doubt.

To me there was a clear change when he became the republican front runner. I loved McCain in 2000. Unfortunately, he seems to fully support the idea of an imperial president, and that is just not the way conservatives should be. I want the government out of my life, and out of the lives of brown people worldwide. Mccain went from being a moderate who understood my problems with the right, to being a supporter of the very ideals that led to an insane president for 8 long long years.

If the government is going to be in my face, the least it can do is give me healthcare.

 

[welsh]

Hey let's be fair to McCain though.

I admit, I am leaning left. In the past I leaned moderate and when I was pretty young I went conservative. But over the past 12 years or so, it seems the conservatives are driving into a whole and have serious blinders on.

If you want to compare the US in terms of the Human Development Index, we're at about 12 and given the potential of recession, we're sinking. The Canadians have a better quality of life than we do, so do the Australians. Not to do smack on those countries, but seriously, the US was deep in the top ten less than a decade ago. We're slipping.

That said, lets be fair to John "the Mac is back" McCain. He's opposed torture, he's gone after fraud and corruption, he's targetted private companies that swindle the government. He's opposed (at least in the past) the role of the Christian right in the Republican party. He's had a record of bipartisanship. He's been realistic on foreign policy, opening up diplomacy with Vietnam. He actually pushed for practical immigration reform. I applaud this guy for taking on his own party for doing stuff that he thinks is right.

The problem with McCain is that he's selling himself as a conservative even as he continues to attract moderate and more liberal Republicans to his position. He campaigns as if he's a repetent sinner asking for conservative forgiveness.

Its his support of the war that will make or break him. If the war does better, he might do ok. If not, I think it will hurt. The country wants change.

As for the war...I admit to continue to support the war in Iraq, I don't support how the Bush administration managed to fuck it up so badly- not when we're paying huge payoffs to contractors and failing to give our soldiers the backup, numbers and support they need. And despite their campaign pledges, I suspect that once in office neither Hilary nor Obama is going to find it easy to get us out of Iraq.

But at least with both Obama and Clinton, the presidents have pressure to fulfill a campaign pledge to back out. This is important because it might allow the US to move away from its current policy for something more moderate. With McCain with a commitment to Iraq that might last decades.

Let's be fair, Iraq has the second largest supply of petroleum. That's strategically important to the US, to Europe and especially to China and we are still years away from viable alternatives of fuel. This source needs to be secured to keep fuel prices stable while the alternatives to oil are developed.

That said, the Bush administration has, because its ideological support for an extreme form of economic liberalism, has allowed the war to continue and in the process our foreign polciy is used to offer subsidies to private companies that have made huge profits on the war. That's the problem with Bush policies. Its not just about conquest and control, but its about extraction and wealth redistribution, to the hands of government allies. Meanwhile-

(1) Our eye is off the ball where it counts
(2) we can't respond to other issues in a meaningful way.
(3) our military assets are wasted
(4) money that could be used for improving the US and making this a more vibrant economy and a better place to live, is pissed away.

With McCain, we're likely to see 4 more years of Bush policies. With Obama and Clinton we're likely to see the war finished.

 

[Moving Target]

Yea...McCain.... I'll throw in my support to the guy. I've liked him since 2000 (the year I started REALLY realizing that "apolitical" doesn't cut it in this country, maybe not anywhere) and it's been a sad thing to watch him cave to pressure from his party with regards to torture.

And all this is coming from me, a guy who voted for Nader in 2000 (yes, yes, heap your blame of the loss of the election to W on me.... after all, it's not like the candidates were busy trying to out-bland each other and ennui was keeping a huge chunk of the voting public at home) so the Greens could get official recognition as a national party. Didn't work, and this year there's no fricking way in hell I'll be voting Green, but I still believe in the Greens' principles and ideals, and as a matter of fact would register as Green if it meant anything.

Back on topic, though.... Welsh, you hit the nail on the head so hard with regards to the "Republican problem" of this year that the nail went through the board, the hammer smashed the board into tiny splinters, and the hammer slipped from your grip because of the force applied.

Basically, they're running into the same problem, with different terms, that the presidential nominees ran into in 2000. In that year, it was "Who can unite this country and turn away from the bi-partisanship of the recent past?" Hence W's big fat lie of being a "uniter, not a divider," and Al Gore being cast as the continuation of the arcimonious split begun by none other than the GOP during that "Contract with America" Newt Gingrich-led nightmare.

In the case of the Republicans this year, they've got to look like they're the most conservative. Though of course they don't MEAN conservative in any sense beyond what the Neoconservatives define as conservative policy. And most of those policies are anti-traditional conservative- military expansion, cutting back on rights to privacy, massive spending in certain areas of the economy and so on.

McCain, the poor bastard, has to pander to these nuts for the nomination, since they still run the GOP. Whereas in the general election, such saber-rattling will get him nothing but trouble, especially with the moderates he does best with. It's going to be a hard sell for him.

I'm really worried about the next eight years. Regardless of who's elected, there are certain realities we've got to deal with. One of the biggest is the Iraq war, but there's also deregulation of nearly everything from the FCC to the SEC to the EPA to the education department.... Name a department tasked with regulating something that could potentially harm people living in this country, and for sure it's been deregulated, if not gutted, by this administration. Then there's the many problems with the armed forces, international trade imbalances, and our laughable foreign diplomacy.

I'm most concerned that these issues can't even be dealt with in 8 years.... Even being generous, I'd be surprised if half of the problems could be fixed in that time. After all, these agencies and approaches were built up over a period of many decades. It only makes sense that it'll take a long time to re-build them.

So I'm even looking forward to the election cycle after this one, and actually secretly hoping that things are a bit fucked up.... because in this country, when things go well, people slack off and think that things can't get worse, no matter who one chooses. Though more than that, as I said, I'm afraid, I hate seeing what's been happening to my country. It sickens me, really, and what makes it worse is that I have no idea what I can do to make it better.

 

[welsh]

Hey Moving- I admit I liked McCain- in 2000. Now, given the Conservative record, and with the problem of rebuilding the state- I can't see the conservatives or the republicans doing it.

Take for instance universal public health. One of the reasons Europeans are doing so well, based on HDI scores, is the rather generous public health programs they have. These programs eat taxes, sure. But in terms of GNP, these programs costs roughly half of what the US pays in health care costs. Last I checked, I think European countries were paying something like 4% of GNP on public health while the US was shelling out 8% of GNP (and we have a damn big GNP).

We have an aging population that is going to increase health costs in the years to come and I can't see the republicans chucking that buck on big business. Average working folks are going bankrupt, and yet, thanks to the GOP, can't declare bankruptcy anymore.

Like I said, I like McCain, and would have liked him in 2000. But now, I don't think we can afford him.

 

[Ah-Teen]

I'm just pissed that Romney didn't get it. At least he's not a boob.

As for the rest of you commies. Fuck Obama. He's an extremist bigoted boob that talks all pritay. (tends to swing them less edumicated voters out there... god damn you Texas)

Anyway, screw you all, I'm gona go snuggle with my boyfriend.