I've been trying for the life of me to figure out why Republicans don't like John McCain. For a while it was my own thinking that was messed up. I kept referring to the people who don't like McCain as conservatives, but then it dawned on me that it's not conservatives who don't like McCain it's Republicans. Once I realized that not everyone who's conservative is a Republican it became clearer to me that the neoconservatives were the ones throwing hissy fits about the soon to be Republican nominee. The argument that McCain is not conservative is one of the biggest misconceptions of political ideology I've ever seen, and it alludes to a much bigger problem brewing in the Republican ranks.
With all that aside for now, since arguing the conservativeness of John McCain is for another rainy day, I discovered today what might be the real reason people don't like Sen. McCain. The fact that he doesn't care enough about this country to even show up for work. He's missed more than half the votes in the senate this session and last night missed the economic stimulus vote. Every senator showed up, even the Dems who were running for president, but not McCain. The one person who has their race rapped up and probably has the most time on his hands, not to mention he was also in DC at the time of the vote, didn't find it important enough to show for work. How serious can we take him as president? We've already had 7 years of a disengaged, lackadaisical president. We can't do anymore.
Maybe the neocons are on to something about McCain. Maybe it's not all politics, maybe it's actually someone's record-- a voting record that is conservative when he bothers to exercise it.
2.07.2008
The Maverick at Work
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3 comments:
I posted about McCain missing the economic stimulus vote over at RFL. It was one of those votes where he was damned either way.
Kerry and Edwards did that stuff all the time in '04. McCain, Clinton and Obama will do it many, many times this year.
I've told you before the first time I realized I had policy differences with McCain. Back in 2000, when I was comparing the candidates, I learned that McCain wanted to prohibit corporations from expensing advertising costs as "business expenses." I knew right then and there that he wasn't my guy.
Antipathy for McCain amongst the Right goes deeper than that, as you know.
Gang of 14 for starters. Campaign Finance and his assault on political free speech. Opposition to the '01 and '03 tax cuts, opposition to abolishing the death tax, opposition to drilling in ANWR, the re-writing of the Army Field Manual, his desire to bow to global pressure to close Gitmo, his opposition to necessary interrogation tactics, his incessant need to be liked by the Media, his supposed 'Straight Talk,' his temper, et al.
Of course, things, times and realities change. And I'm now prepared to go to war. This is campaign McCain must win.
It will be interesting to see if McCain's glowing media coverage continues.
Will Chris Matthews still love Juan McCain even when he's running a competitive political campaign against a Democrat?
Kent, I agree the neoconservative dislike of McCain goes much deeper than his voting record, which he only exercises when he feels like it. But he was in DC at the time of the vote, and he was the only senator not to vote. In fact he has missed more than half the votes this session. When Kerry did this, the right painted him as lazy and uncaring of the issues affecting the people. Now when it's their guy not showing up to vote, it's okay because "[i]t was one of those votes where he was damned either way."
You're going to war? When do you leave for Iraq or Afghanistan? Campaigns are not wars, not even close.
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