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The McCain Mutiny - Part 2 of 2

 

Is it possible for principled conservatives to support, work and vote for John McCain in November?  Of course it is.  But first he has to treat conservatives as voters, i.e., he needs their votes, they don’t need his votes.


Everyone has heard the old line, fool me once, etc., and conservatives understand that John McCain now has to step up, but not with mere “trust me” rhetoric. He needs to make some firm commitments in writing – in blood if necessary.  In doing so he has to pledge to treat all conservatives, many of which are independent voters, as voters – not pesky nuisances.  He has to recognize that he is where he is because of them and not because of his fair weather media friends few, if any, of which are ever likely to vote for him

 


McCain has to offer his “President’s Contract With America” that includes:

 

1.     Pledge that his first act as president will be to sign an Executive Order requiring immediate construction of a form of fence or electronic barrier on our southern border to stop the flow of illegal aliens, after which he will focus on organizing a real national effort to make it possible for illegal immigrants to come out of the shadows and voluntarily enter a program to qualify to become U. S. citizens, or leave the voluntarily leave the country.  Those who do not wish to become citizens must apply and register as guest workers, subject to finger printing and photo IDs.  Any illegals who ignore these requirements will be deported as they are identified.

2.     Sign a pledge to NOT raise taxes and fight to make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, including abolishing the federal estate tax.

3.     Appoint a bipartisan commission to develop a program to permanently rescind the Alternative Minimum tax over a 5 year period.

4.     Pledge to find a way to strengthen and save the Social Security program without raising taxes and make it possible for all workers under 40 to have a voluntary private, personal social security account.

5.     No later than 6 months after his inauguration, send a bill to congress to permit oil offshore oil drilling and in ANWAR, including tax incentives for industry to encourage building new oil refineries and nuclear energy plants in order to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

6.     Commit to amending McCain Feingold to remove any restrictions whatsoever on our constitutional right to free speech – 24/7/365 – eliminating any 60 day “silent” periods.

7.     Send a bill to congress to eliminate all capital gains taxes over a period of not more than 5 years in order to promote a huge increase in investments by business and industry which would be limited to U. S. based projects only that will create jobs and encourage investments in American companies.

8.     Send a bill to congress that makes “earmarking” for any purpose illegal and pledge to not sign any earmarks that reach his desk.

9.     Commit to continue the military operations in GITMO and support its purposes in the fight against terrorism, and not allow captured non-combatants access to the American legal system because they are not citizens and seek to destroy the system that we have fought to protect.

10.   Pledge that on or before June 30 he will select at least 3 candidates for his vice presidential running mate from among proven, principled conservatives which might include: Governor Mark Sanford, South Carolina, Senator Jim DeMint, South Carolina, Representative Mike, Pence, Indiana, Representative Paul Ryan, Wisconsin, or other potential candidates with impeccable credentials as honest, reliable politicians who will help lead the country in meeting the challenges we face.


This is the kind of “Contract” McCain needs to offer to win the votes of all Republicans, conservatives and thinking independent voters, including “Reagan” Democrats.  Failure to adopt this bold approach will result in failure to convince voters that he has earned their votes and he’s likely to fall short of winning the presidency because concerned Americans will simply not vote in November.  He must understand that this is not a matter of “his turn”, and he must earn the support of these concerned voters whose patience has been exhausted, and cannot vote for a “trust me” candidate or be treated as pesky nuisances or mushrooms.


Senator McCain, this is your ticket to the White House in November – ignore this opportunity at your own peril.


And that’s a Reality Check.


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Contact Dan Calabria at www.realitychecktimes.com

Last Updated ( Mar 08, 2008 at 11:33 AM )


 

 

The McCain Mutiny (Part 1 of 2)

 

What’s this “mutiny” business all about?  For starters there are numerous times that Senator John McCain stuck his finger in the eyes of conservatives who were simply upholding the U. S. Constitution.  Here are some of the major issues that they find troubling.

“Earmark” spending is a favorite whipping boy for McCain.  However, spending for the right purposes is perfectly acceptable, i.e., drilling for oil offshore and in ANWAR; building new, desperately needed oil refineries and nuclear power plants, which McCain opposes!   His boasting about spending is self-serving.
 
Taxes – he voted against both Bush tax cuts - if the argument is who will raise taxes less, McCain might “win”.
McCain-Feingold - a Constitutional disgrace.  It’s an incumbent politician’s dream.  There’s no way to put enough lipstick on that pig to disguise it – it solved nothing.  In fact, campaign funding bribes are worse than ever.  Any restriction on free speech (McCain-Feingold) in the political arena is never acceptable, and cannot be rationalized or justified.  Think about it – where does it end?  This precedent shattering law slams our constitutional right of free speech by mandating our silence in the 60 days preceding an election.  Read the Constitution.  You won’t find a 60 second restriction on free speech, much less one for 60 days!
McCain-Kennedy was nothing but an attempt to promote amnesty – read the bill.  Euphemisms like a “pathway to citizenship” are a lot of crap.  There is a pathway to citizenship that’s legal for anyone who wants to enter the country.  No thinking person is opposed to legal immigration - conservatives are opposed to ILLEGAL immigration.  Read the bloody bill.  Where would these people find $3,000 or $5,000 to pay what’s prescribed – how, with what, when, where? That’s the reason why it was dropped as soon as it was exposed for what it was – amnesty.  Apparently McCain had a recent epiphany and now says we have to “secure” the borders.  As a senator from a border state for +20 years, where the hell has he been?  And now we’re supposed to believe him? It would require the “willing suspension of disbelief” to believe him - thank you Hillary! 
Regarding McCain’s primary victories, part of that success can be attributed to Huckabee’s stunt in his NYTimes interview.  Remember his ”Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan were brothers?”  That’s all it took for fringe evangelical bigots to get stirred up and we began to hear about people who could never vote for a Mormon.  They turned out and voted against Romney - not
for Huckabee.
.
The bottom line is that many conservatives cannot vote for someone who has demonstrated his lack of veracity and who seems to think it’s “his turn”.  Many  are willing to risk a couple of years of the crazy left in the White House, which will more than re-energize a currently dispirited conservative base that can be convinced to go to the polls again – as soon as there is a viable, principled candidate they can believe in and vote for.  Think back to the 1994 take over of congress and the “Contract With America” - after 2 short years of Bubba.
Reality Check - Country Club Republicans, the newly resurrected Rockefeller Republican wing of the Republican Party, have come out of the closet where they’ve been hiding for a couple of decades.  Led by the mainstream media, there’s a full court press to ensure that the leftwing is in a “win/win” position – so they’re supporting McCain…now.  You know who they are – the sacrifice anything in order to make a deal crowd.  Principles don’t matter.  The judiciary doesn’t matter.  The Constitution doesn’t matter.  What matters to them is doing the “deal” – any deal that advances a narrow agenda based on getting reelected.  They’ll not only dance with the devil, they’ll go to bed with him – and stay there.  Is that acceptable?  Not to principled conservatives.
The Country Club crowd still refuses to accept the fact that you can never sacrifice principle for expediency.  And you can’t sacrifice principle for convenience or short term political advantage, which is their primary objective. Their goal is personal power regardless of the cost to the country or the political process.  So why in the world should any conservatives support or vote for the candidate of choice of the leftwing media?  Go down the list, the NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Newsweek and Time magazines – the list is endless.  Does anyone believe they will endorse McCain in November, much less vote for him?  So while principled conservatives are lectured on the importance of being loyal, on supporting the candidate, on the resulting disaster if either Clinton or Obama takes over the White House, they’re supposed to suck it up and sacrifice principle for expediency         .  Don’t count on it.   In addition, it also raises the question, why settle for an imitation when you can have the real thing?  And that’s exactly what the leftwing media’s mantra will be in November.
Conservatives refuse to be treated by the Republicans as the Democrats treat their loyal black voters.   No thanks, we still remember the pre-Reagan era.
Could Conservatives support, work and vote for John McCain?  See Part 2.
And that’s a Reality Check.
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Contact Dan Calabria at www.realitychecktimes.com

Last Updated ( Apr 19, 2008 at 08:18 PM )