McCain? McNot!

Programming Note: Originally posted on 01/30/2008, this post will remain bumped to the top and added too through at least February 5th

• Come on SuperDuperTuesday Republicans! Stop John McCain's RINOplasty of the GOP!

• Citizens United
  

• Michelle Malkin
  

• John McCain's Hispanic Outreach Director is Juan Hernandez, who said:

We are betting that the Mexican American population in the United States will think Mexico first.

I never knew the border as a limitation. I'd be delighted if all of us could come and go between these two marvelous countries.

There are twenty million people, like myself, who have one foot in Mexico and one foot in the United States, and we're very proud of it.

• Ace has given up and accepted our fate.

• Mark at Right View from the Left Coast still keeps the (ever dissipating) faith.

• McCain to conservatives: You're foolish. Yeah, that outta win some converts.

• McCain Says He'll Keep Using Derogatory Term For Ex-captors In Vietnam

Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to apologize yesterday (this back in February 2000: Kevin) for his use of a racial slur to condemn the North Vietnamese prison guards who tortured and held him captive during the war.

"I hate the gooks," McCain said yesterday in response to a question from reporters aboard his campaign bus. "I will hate them as long as I live."

McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent five years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp (Wow, he was a POW, how'd I miss that?: Kevin), was questioned about the language because of a story last month in the Nation magazine reporting his continued use of the slur.

Since then, reports of McCain's language have been circulating on Internet chat sites and e-mails among Asian Americans, many of whom find the the term offensive and inappropriate for an elected official.

Lovely. We want McCaingry handling diplomacy for us, right?

• Let's see... Alito is too conservative for his taste and Juan also wants to raise taxes. Conveniently though, he can't remember ever saying such things. I can see it now... more Breyer-Kennedy-Souter clones straight from the Maverick's hip pocket, probably to protect his campaign finance reform baby. But we'll be too busy writing checks to the IRS to notice...

• Gov. Schwarzenegger to Endorse McCain. This is not a good argument considering how far left Arnahld has governed. It sort of falls under the heading "fool me once..."

• Reagan vs. McCain on profits, business, and the free market ~ by Michelle Malkin

• The truth about McCain's vote against the tax cuts

• So Much for a closed Florida Primary ~ by Michelle Malkin: Michelle lays out Florida's apparent mishandling of the primary election - allowing independents to vote illegally in the GOP primary. Florida mishandling an election...sounds familiar doesn't it? McCain can win in closed primary states if the law is ignored and the ballots are stacked in his favor... Governor Crist? Would you know anything about that? Nah, of course not.

• I may not go so far as to vote for Hillary, but that option isn't off the table if McCain is our nominee:

• An excellent analysis by Hugh Hewitt (who unfortunately would still support McCain in November) on why we cannot trust John McCain to appoint conservative justices:
  

Senator McCain lacks the ear. He lacks the passion for the Court's future. His love of the approval of the Beltway elites almost guarantees a "consensus" choice for the Supreme Court if he is the one making it. And how hard could he fight for even a modestly controversial nominee? Senator McCain worked to save the right of a minority of the Senate to block any nominee --how could he ever argue against the power he deserted his party to preserve? [...]

The GOP was poised to win a crucial round in the battle for the integrity of the courts and the restoration of sanity in the confirmation process. The GOP was about to strike a lasting blow for the rule of law.

John McCain blew that up. He stood with all the Democrats and six of his GOP pals for the self-declared powers of the Senate, against his caucus, his president, his party, and the millions of voters who had worked for control of the Senate so that the courts could be protected. [...]

We have to assume that John McCain would view such appointments [to the SCOTUS] as he did the First Amendment when McCain-Feingold was being debates or the Constitution's advise and consent provisions at the time of the Gang --mere suggestions to be pushed aside if his own judgment inclined in an opposite way.

John McCain is a great American, but he is not an originalist when it comes to the Constitution. As the GOP moves toward the final decisions in its nomination process, it must remember that an attachment to the Constitution, once abandoned, is hard to reclaim. If it nominates John McCain, it sends into the fall a very weak candidate trying to rally a sullen base. If on the chance he wins --an unlikely event as he is increasingly understood to be another Bob Dole when it comes to campaigning-- no one should be heard to complain if his SCOTUS nominees come from the "center" as he seeks consensus and a second term.

• From Dan Riehl: McCain's GOP Platform

• Mark Levin: McCain is deeply flawed...
  

• An excellent point in the comments by Gekkobear at Ace of Spades:

Oh, if McCain gets the nomination, I will certainly avoid saying anything nice about him on the internet.

That would be the sort of thing he was trying to stop, so I assume he wouldn't want anyone trying to persuade people to use actions he considers "illegal donations" to help him.

So even when I have something nice to say about McCain, you can expect me to keep that to myself. I wouldn't want to offend him by accidentally making what he considers an illegal in-kind donation to his campaign. I'll work to avoid giving him that moral dilemma.

Hopefully his supporters will have at least as much respect for McCain's views and positions as I do...