The Great Debate
February 7, 2008 at 10:54 am lowdogg 7 comments
It has been addressed in the comments to my previous post, but I think it merits further discussion:
What is a conservative to do if/when McCain wins the nomination?
I have a little round-up of interesting articles that may provide some insight:
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John Podhoretz on why conservatives hate McCain. Much of this rings true, but not the part about ideological purity. Reagan said that a party could not and should not be all things to all people.
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Jed Babbin on McCain’s failure to close the deal, his possible intro to his CPAC speech, and what he needs to do to win conservatives over.
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How Campaign McCain is almost certainly more conservative than a President McCain would be. Of course, that has happened before- (Bush, Bush, Ford, etc.)
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From the publisher of the American Spectator, more on what McCain needs to do to convince conservatives that he can be their guy. It involves not asking Giuliani, Lieberman, or Crist to serve as running mates. I would consider McCain/Thompson, or at least not reject it from the get-go. Or as someone, somewhere suggested, McCain/Cheney (hah!).
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Hugh Hewitt, an ardent Romney supporter, explains how we are in too important an era to abandon ship if our candidate is not the nominee.
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The WSJ‘s Daniel Henninger explains why it is important for conservatives to engage McCain and the party to help reshape it in a more conservative fashion. This is one of the better articles in favor of remaining involved and not sitting out the election.
As I wrote above, I find Henninger’s piece the most compelling. Despite my distaste for McCain, the “let the Dem win” angle may not be the best one for the country or the party. However, as I have also written, McCain/Huckabee would not be acceptable.
Entry filed under: Commentary, Mitt Romney, Politics. Tags: 2008 presidential election, Conservatism, Lowdogg.
1.
lemare | February 7, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I can’t vote for a man who “misses” the vote on economic stimulus.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080207/D8UL6EVO1.html
I’m moving to Singapore, the last bastian of economic sanity on this globe.
2.
lowdogg | February 7, 2008 at 12:49 pm
I would actually call it the economic “stimulus” package.
I’d rather have them make the Bush cuts permanent and then slash the corporate rate.
Did you know ExxonMobil pays more in taxes than 50% of Americans!?! (http://blog.spotd.net)
That would go much further to reassure investors than rebates.
Still, I won’t be sending my check back.
3.
lemare | February 7, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Romney is officially suspending his presidential bid
4.
Lowdogg | February 7, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Fantastic speech.
From a business standpoint, I’m sure the cost/benefit analysis made continuing unprofitable, not just personally.
From a party standpoint it solidifies the strength of the GOP vis-a-vis the Dems. Their fight will continue, possibly through the campaign.
From a moral standpoint this was an act of statesmanship- Country and Principle before his own desires. There was vision, appropriate emotion (from Mitt & Ann).
It came down to Iraq. It is that important, and that is why voting for McCain (nose holding and all) is the right thing to do.
Romney 2012!
5.
TRussell | February 7, 2008 at 3:14 pm
He needs to clean up his position on Gitmo! Those prisoners get better treatment than we do from the libs.
6.
TRussell | February 7, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Romney did more to convince me about backing McCain than McCain.
7.
Sportsattitude | February 9, 2008 at 7:13 am
1. LeMare – is Singapore a suburb of San Francisco?
2. Lowdogg – if I didn’t think it would bring the government to its collective knees and also result in an IRS audit, I would send my check back. My opinion is this is the dumbest thing the government has done since the last thing the government has done.
3. TRussell – Agreed. That being said, the Republicans will not be getting my vote this season. Mitt’s departure iced that decision. I’d like to see Mitt in 2012 as soon as someone figures out why so many felt McCain and Huckabee were worth voting for…? If the answer doesn’t come by then, no sense wasting his time.