January 31, 2008
Decoding McCain
Let's take a look at some of what John McCain said at last night's GOP debate and see if we can figure out what it really means.
Now, suppose that the governor [Schwarzenegger] and I are wrong, and there's no such thing as climate change. And we adopt these green technologies, of which America and the innovative skills we have and the entrepreneurship and the free market which is embodied by Senator Lieberman's and mine cap-and-trade proposal is enacted, and there's no such thing as climate change. Then all we've done is give our kids a cleaner world.
McCain minimizes the implications of trying to live up to the conditions of the restrictive treaties that adherents to the man-made global warming religion are trying to foist on the U.S. Nobody has a problem adopting green technologies if that's what the market demands, what conservatives can't abide by is trying to manipulate the market using taxation. He also mistakenly mixes the idea of pollution with global warming. According to the man-made global warming crowd the problem with automobiles and industry is not the pollutants anymore (because the market demanded huge strides in cleaning up the environment) its CO2. That's carbon dioxide. What you and I exhale and what plants "inhale".
I think that we've got to return to the principal that you don't lend money that can't pay it back. I think that there's some greedy people on Wall Street that perhaps need to be punished. I think there's got to be a huge amount more of transparency as to how this whole thing came about so we can prevent it from happening again.
Notice how Wall Street is greedy according to McCain. As if trying to earn a profit were something to be ashamed of. Conservatives believe that bad decisions should be rewarded with bad outcomes. Not creating more regulations the encumber the economy or bailouts that put the burden of paying for those bad decisions on people who made good decisions.
If necessary, we're going to have to take additional actions and particularly in cleaning up a mortgage. A mortgage should be one page and there should be big letters at the bottom that says, "I understand this document."We ought to adjust the mortgages so people who were eligible for better terms, but were somehow convinced to accept the mortgages which were more onerous on them. We need to fix the rating systems, which clearly were erroneous in their ratings, which led people to believe that there were these institutions which were stable, which clearly were not.
Again, here McCain calls for a big government solution to a problem that occurred in the private sector. Maybe I'm crazy but this kind of talk from the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party is scary to me. Anyone that has ever signed up for anything online and clicked the box that says "I have read and understand these terms and conditions" without reading and understanding the terms and conditions knows how naive and simplistic McCain's approach is. As if that were going to solve the problem. Here's a thought, people should hire lawyers to inspect legal documents that bind them with certain responsibilities.
In response to his voting against the Bush tax cuts because at the time he said that "they favored the wealthy too much" McCain dodged with this answer:
Actually, I think lower and middle income Americans need more help. Obviously, I think that's the case today. That's one reason why we're giving them rebates.
This right out of the liberal play book of class warfare. It's based on the false assumption that the rich are rich on the backs of the poor. This is probably the most heinous lie of leftist thinking. Wealth is created. We are no poorer because Bill Gates is rich. In fact Bill Gates employs a hell of a lot people that perhaps wouldn't be working if not for his innovations and leadership. Not only that, as a country we might be significantly less developed technologically and therefore have lower productivity if not for Microsoft. That's just a tiny example, but taken in the aggregate, big business is what makes our country thrive and creates an environment for small business to prosper. Rather than back off from the populist/leftist rhetoric (that Hugo Chavez might blabber on with), last night McCain entrenched himself in this false ideology.
And as far as Washington politics is concerned, I think my friend Governor Huckabee, sir, will attest the millions of dollars of attack ads and negative ads you leveled against him in Iowa, the millions of dollars of attack ads you have attacked against me in New Hampshire, and have ever since.A lot of it is your own money. You're free to do with it what you want to. You can spend it all. But the fact is that your negative ads, my friend, have set the tone, unfortunately, in this campaign.
Here's McCain acting offended by Romney who had the temerity to spend his personal fortune on this campaign. Remember that in addition to his obvious contempt for the wealthy, McCain isn't big on freedom of political speech. His McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act is an affront to the first amendment and limits who can say what within a certain time of an election. Besides that McCain is the pot calling the kettle black because it was he who lied about Romney's position on a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq on the eve of the Florida primary. A lie so egregious that almost every pundit, even the liberal ones that love McCain, called him on it. Yet McCain continued to lie about it even after Romney refuted the charge and essentially called McCain a liar. McCain doesn't like negative ads because he can't run on his record which is far more liberal than most Republicans think it is. His lifetime ACU ratings are deceptive because he's been in the Senate so long that his more recent liberal votes don't yet outweigh his earlier more conservative positions.
I led the largest squadron in the United States Navy. And I did it out of patriotism, not for profit.
Again, look at what McCain thinks is a cardinal sin: making money. While I respect anyone that puts on a uniform and serves the country honorably, like McCain did, that doesn't automatically qualify you to be a great president. I think we Cuban-Americans know a thing or two about that.
Oh, I'm sure that, as I say, he's a fine man. And I think he managed companies, and he bought, and he sold, and sometimes people lost their jobs. That's the nature of that business.
Here again the knock on big business. For the record, Romney made his personal fortune by buying sick companies, turning them around and then selling them for a profit. Many times those sick companies needed to lay off workers. That's why they were sick. I don't think there is a reader of this blog that would shed a tear for a single Federal employee who lost his job in a wave of government layoffs intended to make the bureaucracy more efficient and less expensive. Apparently McCain would.
These are the things that John McCain said at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on a night he was supposed to be REACHING OUT to his conservative base. Imagine what he'll do once he doesn't have to appeal to us.
Ladies and gentlemen, if a big government, anti-business, class warfare candidate is what you think conservatism is today then certainly the movement is dead or at least on life support.
To me conservatism is about doing what's best for the country, not what may (debatably) help win an election. If the way to win an election is to pander to people's worst instincts by blaming the free enterprise system and the first amendment for our country's troubles, then I'd rather lose now and regroup. The American people have shown time and again that when they are exposed to the reality of leftist policies that they reject them.
If you live in a Super Tuesday state I urge you to read the debate transcript and see what Romney had to say. The consensus is that he won the debate. While question marks surround him as well, he has at least articulated a conservative message and shown an awareness of what makes McCain a bad potential president and contrasted himself accordingly.
Posted by Henry Louis Gomez at January 31, 2008 03:12 PM |
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.babalublog.com/cgi-bin/mt/hut.cgi/7245
Comments
The "Great One" offers some excellent analysis and historical perspective, too many to list, including Hillary and McCain having the same temperament and McCain abusing the English language just as Bill does (depends on the what the definition of "is" is). Here's one,
"Of course, it's one thing to overlook one or two issues where a candidate seeking the Republican nomination as a conservative might depart from conservative orthodoxy. But in McCain's case, adherence is the exception to the rule"
http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NDEzMDYzZjBkMDNhYjk0ZjdhZmJlZWNkMWQ1NjI4MGI=
My conclusion thus far is that if McCain becomes president, he'll ruin both the party and the country. If a Democrat becomes president, he/she'll ruin the country for four years, but the GOP may still live to fight another day and undo the damage.
Posted by: jluix ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.babalublog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 31, 2008 04:51 PM
Henry makes some compelling arguments against McCain. I agree we wouldn't be left with a desirable option if it's McCain vs Clintonia. However, that decision would be easy for me to make for one simple but overarching reason:
National defense and the securing of our future generations against Islamofascism.
Nothing else matters if Democrats who want to cut and run take over and allow Islamofascism to spread. Forget about the economy, climate change, etc. John McCain understands the threat our civilization faces. I'm not sure Clintonia does. On second though, I do know...they don't understand.
Posted by: Robert at January 31, 2008 05:04 PM
Here are the other nuggets.
"And what of managing for profit? When did free enterprise become evil? This is liberal pablum which, once again, could have been uttered by Hillary Clinton."
"It's also irrefutable that McCain is abusing the English language (Romney's statements) the way Bill Clinton did in front of a grand jury. The problem is that once called on it by everyone from the New York Times to me, he obstinately refuses to admit the truth. So, last night, he lied about it again. This isn't open to interpretation. But it does give us a window into who he is."
"McCain-Feingold (restrictions on political speech), McCain-Kennedy (amnesty for illegal aliens), McCain-Kennedy-Edwards (trial lawyers’ bill of rights), McCain-Lieberman (global warming legislation), Gang of 14 (obstructing change to the filibuster rule for judicial nominations), the Bush tax cuts, and so forth. This is a record any liberal Democrat would proudly run on."
"He supports closing Guantanamo Bay, which would result in granting an array of constitutional protections to al-Qaeda detainees, and limiting legitimate interrogation techniques that have, in fact, saved American lives. Combined with his (past) de-emphasis on border-security, I think it’s fair to say that McCain's positions are more in line with the ACLU than most conservatives."
"Why recite this record? Well, if conservatives don't act now to stop McCain, he will become the Republican nominee and he will lose the general election. He is simply flawed on too many levels. He is a Republican Hillary Clinton in many ways."
Posted by: jluix at January 31, 2008 05:05 PM
"For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others."
- Benjamin Franklin
All I will say, Henry, is that your arguments are not falling on deaf ears.
Posted by: machete at January 31, 2008 05:44 PM
Thank you sir.
Posted by: Henry "Conductor" Gomez at January 31, 2008 07:22 PM
McCain scares the hell out of me, so Romney it is. Hopefully the party will be able to regroup by 2012.
Posted by: Ziva at January 31, 2008 08:22 PM
Forget 2012. Forget the polls. Think about Romney standing at a lectern debating Hillary. He'll dismantle her and be the gentleman all the while.
Posted by: Henry "Conductor" Gomez at January 31, 2008 08:26 PM
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)