Posted by
Steve on Thursday, March 15, 2007 2:20:53 AM
Today, I heard Hugh Hewitt talking about Senator McCain his guests. One was the Mayor of Anaheim, the town I grew up in. The Mayor was supporting Senator McCain. He was saying that Senator McCain's record is that of a conservative. That is true on its face. But not true if you look at recent history.
When I first came in contact with Senator McCain, he was running for Congress for the first time. His story was compelling and he seemed like someone I could trust. As a Congressman, he stood for conservative ideals all of the time. His voting record was one of, if not the, most conservative in the House of Representatives. When He ran for Senate, I supported him completely. He did not betray my trust those first few years. Then he got bit by the Presidential bug.
When the Presidential bug bit him, he decided he needed to become more liberal. He did not want to just be more liberal, that would destroy his chances with the Republicans. So, he decided to become a "maverick". A maverick is someone that takes controversial positions on some issues. Senator McCain did just that. Unfortunately for the country, he picked the wrong issues to become more liberal in. One was judges.
For over 200 years the standard for approving a judge in the Senate was a simple majority. When Harry Reid became minority leader, he changed that to 60% or 60 votes. When Republicans decided to fix the issue and decide it Constitutinally, Senator McCain decided to step in. He formed the gang of 14. The gang of 14 did approve some controversial judges that should have been approved. But it left on the table the 60 vote margin needed to approve any judge. As a result, many judges have remained unapproved to this day.
Another example is on the issue of gaining information from prisoners. Senator McCain led the charge to disarm our interrogators when gaining information from prisoners. In the process, he made the US look stupid in front of the whole world. The entire time the issue was not torture, it was Senator McCain needing to look like he was important.
Senator McCain has become an unreliable conservative vote. He votes conservative most of the time. But, just when you have to have his vote, he turns tail and runs. You cannot count on Senator McCain in the Senate. If you cannot count on him when the chips are down in the Senate, how can you count on him when the chips are down if he were President. You have to have a reliable person as President of the United States. Senator McCain is unreliable. I know of what I speak. I live in Arizona. I met him running for the house. I have watched his career for over 25 years. Senator McCain has the Republican leadership in the state. He does not have the Republican voters in the state. He will find that out when the Republican primary comes around.