Misguided Sense Of Loyalty?

After Rising to Fame on McCain's Coattails, Palin Tries to Save His Political Life

Two years ago, John McCain transformed Sarah Palin overnight from an obscure first-term Alaska governor into a national celebrity when he picked her as his vice presidential running mate.
Now Palin is repaying the favor, putting her prestige on the line in an effort to help the four-term Arizona senator overcome his toughest re-election challenge ever.

The two will campaign together Friday for the first time since they lost the presidential race in 2008.

Unfortunately she probably will be able to help McCain't get back to the Senate. Sarah, Sarah, Sarah... wrong, wrong, wrong... I don't care if he's acting like a new pentecostal convert to conservatism post health care reform. McCain (of campaign finance reform, amnesty, and the Gang of 14) needs to go, go, go...

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Heh Heh... The Dems Lied To Specter

Specter Will Be Junior Democrat on Committees

Despite promises from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) would retain his seniority after switching parties, Specter will be put at the end of the seniority line on all his committees but one under a resolution approved on the floor late Tuesday.

Under the modified organizing resolution, Specter will not keep his committee seniority on any of the five committees that he serves on and will be the junior Democrat on all but one — the chamber’s Special Committee on Aging. On that committee, he will be next to last in seniority.

Surprised, Arlen?

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Hmmm... Color Me Skeptical

Jeb Bush, GOP: Time To Leave Reagan Behind

I'm deeply suspicious of any group that includes John McCain and a Bush helping the GOP regain its bearings. Mitt Romney too.

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Dear Arlen...

Arlen Specter confirms what we already knew...

Unreliable: –adjective
not reliable; not to be relied or depended on.

Synonyms:
undependable, irresponsible, untrustworthy.

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Don't Let The Door Hit You In The Ass...

Meghan McCain Slams Cheney, Rove: "You Had Your Eight Years — Go Away"

Meg, honey, you and your daddy are the ones that need to "go away." Your father is the incarnation of the reasons the Democrats won last November. He rolled over like a submissive puppy. Fortunately your papa won't get another chance at the top of the ticket - thank God. Hopefully his Senate career is almost over, too.

Simcox for U.S. Senate 2010

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Why Am I Not A Bit Surprised?

Joe The Plumber Says McCain "Appalled" Him

"Joe the Plumber" told conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Tuesday that he felt "dirty" after hitting the campaign trail with Republican presidential nominee John McCain and "seeing some of the things that take place," Politico reported.

Joe Wurzelbacher said he was specifically put off by McCain when it came to talk of the $700 billion bailout.

"When I was on the bus with him, I asked him a lot of questions about the bailout because most Americans did not want that to happen," Wurzelbacher told Beck. "I asked him some pretty direct questions. Some of the answers you guys are gonna receive they appalled me, absolutely.

But he only felt that way about half the ticket. According to Joe, Sarah Palin "is absolutely the real deal..." That doesn't surprise me either. Believe it or not, I actually hate that I was right about McCain, but like Joe I came to feel there was no other choice. Unfortunately.

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It's Time To Retire

McCain To Seek Fifth Senate Term, Sets Political Action Committee

Sen. John McCain, whose presidential bid was snuffed out two weeks ago by President-elect Barack Obama, is setting up a political action committee as a first step in running for a fifth term in the Senate.

In my humble opinion, it's time for John McCain to retire and play golf. His Republicrat message isn't one we need to encourage or prolong - certainly not for another six year Senate term. Thank you for your service John, but it's time for fresh, conservative voices.

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Paglia & Coulter Sum Up John McCain

Says Camille:

John McCain (like Bob Dole) was a major Republican misfire -- a candidate of personal honor and heroic sacrifice who was woefully inadequate for the times. McCain's lurching grandstanding during the Wall Street crisis made him look like a ham actor on a bender. In debate, McCain was always pugnacious but too often bland or rambling, and he often missed glaring opportunities to score off Obama's vagueness or contradictions.

Ooof! Knee to the groin. Point: Paglia, who also makes a keen observation about Obama's connection with Bill Ayers and how it was used (and not used) by conservatives during the campaign.

Says Ann:

If McCain lost because he ran as a conservative, then how come I knew McCain was going to lose before Brooks did? About the same time Brooks was touting McCain's uncanny ability to attract independents, I was writing, accurately: "John McCain is Bob Dole minus the charm, conservatism and youth."

Using the latest euphemism for "liberal," Brooks complains that "reformist" Republicans like John McCain are forced to run for president as smelly old conservatives: "National candidates who begin with reformist records -- Giuliani, Romney or McCain -- immediately tack right to be acceptable to the power base." (Some "tack" so far to the right they almost adopt the positions in the GOP platform!) [...]

Ironically, McCain was a liberal on virtually every issue except abortion and gay marriage, but he bashed social conservatives to his friends in the press, so they excused his pro-life voting record as a cynical ploy to get votes in Arizona.

So "reformist" evidently means a Republican who is liberal on social issues. My term for that is "Joe Lieberman." Whatever the merit of being liberal on social issues, both Joe Lieberman and the Republican Party's history suggest that the winning formula is the exact opposite combination.

Smack! She finishes him off with an iron right hook. Now let's just hope we can keep the party from lurching any more toward Democrat-lite as 2010 approaches.

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Sad But True

McCain is much less inspiring than Palin. Sad but true. It’s a good thing Lindsey Grahamnesty was one of his opening acts otherwise John would have been way overshadowed.

(Come on... you'd didn't think I'd just go along quietly did you?)

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There's A Cold Artic Wind Blowing In...

No, not Governor Palin as McCain's VP pick, rather it's chill breeze of others one by one giving in and jumping on McCain's train to nowhere. But that's fine. I always knew it would get nothing but lonelier as we got closer to November.

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Just To Clarify...

One reason I'm not shivering in fear of Obama like some conservative bloggers is that he's all talk and no substance, and that rarely amounts to much in America (as proved by my hit counter). We do love our celebrities, but the shine wears off quickly. The bigger the bubble, the louder the pop. I see McCain as infinitely more dangerous in the long-run because he's actually accomplished in the art of undermining conservatism.

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McCain Crosses The Aisle Again...

The Maverick says he would consider a pro-abortion believer for his Vice-Presidential pick. Surely you're not surprised. Still feeling good about your chances of getting those conservative Supreme Court nominees? I'm practicing my "told-ya so" dance...

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McCain Will Throw You Under The Bus For Agreeing With Him!

John McCain - who seems to have a chronic inability to campaign against his opponent - has left tread marks on the back of one his biggest supporters (and political assets), Senator Joe Lieberman.

McCain is so allergic to expressing any kind of substantive criticism about his rival for the Oval Office that one wonders if he isn't just going to concede the election sometime in October for the sake "bi-partisanship." Sheesh! Could the GOP have f@cked up worse than this?

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What Would McCain Do?

Just suppose that McCain had lost the nomination ... again ... to a more conservative Republican. Can't you just see him jumping on this bandwagon?

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McCain's Moderation? No Thanks!

Not My Kind of Maverick by Scott Olin Schmidt

With only 13 weeks to the Presidential election, I have basically tuned out. I have a hard time placing all my chips on Barack Obama's judgement, which lacking experience, is all he has to offer. And since John McCain gleefully bucks the bedrock beliefs of the Republican Party, I am turned off by his candidacy.

I like to think of myself as a moderate Republican, one who believes that the government should stay out of our pocketbooks and out of our personal lives. The values that attract me to the Republican Party are simple. I believe in limited government, personal responsibility and individual liberty. There is a role for government in providing things like infrastructure and a common military defense which would not otherwise be provided by the collective actions as individuals. But as far as the government's job, that's it.

Unfortunately, the Republican nominee for president has made his reputation as a maverick by violating those very principles. When you look at the volumes of experience John McCain has had in the United States Senate, his "moderation" from Republican values, always seems to involve extending the long arm of big government. [...]

At the Republican Convention, McCain will try to cast himself as a conservative since he has already lost the media love affair to his opponent, Barack Obama. But McCain's record - and, unlike Obama he has a long one - shows where and how he breaks from Republican values, expanding government and taking away personal liberty based on the assumption that people cannot be trusted to take responsibility for their own actions. That's a maverick trend I'd like to buck!

It cannot be said enough... Obama is no gem, but that doesn't make McCain the right choice. In politics, unlike multiplication, you can't get a positive from two negatives.

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Hey... What The Hell?

Paris Hilton's Energy Plan: Hot?

The Paris Plan, verbatim:

"Barack wants to focus on new technologies to cut foreign-oil dependency, and McCain wants offshore drilling. Well, why don't we do a hybrid of both candidates' ideas?

"We can do limited offshore drilling with strict environmental oversight, while creating tax incentives to get Detroit making hybrid and electric cars.

"That way, the offshore drilling carries us until the new technologies kick in, which will then create new jobs and energy independence. Energy crisis solved."

Then she says she is "like totally ready to lead."

"Never thought I'd say this," Connecticut energy consultant Peter Beutel told the Boston Herald, "but Paris Hilton's plan is sound."

And Rex Buchanan, an energy spokesman for the Kansas Geological Survey: "Is there something to what she says? Shoot, yes!

"Now I'm just speaking for myself and not the geological survey," he cautioned. "But we are going to need almost anything you can think of - all energy sources, alternatives and technologies - to get us through. What Paris doesn't talk about is that the electricity to power those hybrid and electric cars is going to have to come from somewhere, too.

"See what you've done? You've got me analyzing Paris Hilton's thought process."

Wayne Fields, an expert on political rhetoric at Washington University in St. Louis, said the Paris Plan probably does not drift far from the plans of McCain and Obama, or at least what either president would have to do.

"If she can articulate it, it can't be rocket science," Fields said. "But the candidates don't come out and sum it up this way, because their messages are, one, built around sound bites; two, built around oversimplification; three; built around interest groups."

Given the two abysmal major candidates, I say why not Paris? We already know about her dirty laundry. Jeebus... our leadership pool is this shallow? I weep for our future.

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Elasticandidate

Camille Paglia On McCain:

He's done so much reaching, in fact, that it's a wonder he hasn't turned into that droopily taffy-armed Pixar Incredible character, Elastigirl. As a fan of talk radio, I've had an earful for years about McCain's political zigzagging and his indifference to bedrock principle. Some might see him as a pragmatic doer; others call him a narcissistic opportunist.

As a Democrat, I appreciate McCain's refusal to demonize his opponents. As a free-speech libertarian, however, I have questions about the disturbing curbs on political expression wrought by the McCain-Feingold bill. Does the "independent" McCain in fact have any coherent system of beliefs? Or is he just a fidgety nibbler, noodler, and hot-dogger without a powerful vision for the future? His erratic campaign thus far, with staff whizzing in and out, is hardly reassuring.

[...]

McCain is such a weak candidate -- so excruciatingly tone-deaf and deficient in basic skills of public speaking and deportment -- that the Democrats will have to screw up big to defeat themselves this fall.

Election 2008... A Lose-Lose Proposition.

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I'm Sorry, Are You Talking About John McCain?

Obama: McCain Would Serve As "Loyal Opposition" In Obama Administration

Barack Obama looked ahead to a potential Obama administration and suggested John McCain would serve as the "loyal opposition, in the minority."

"It is important to have a strong opposition," he added, "keeping you on your toes" and "calling you out."

At the start of his answer Obama joked the questioner was "setting [him] up to get in trouble" possibly alluding to recent criticism from the McCain campaign that he is presumptuous.

"You know I don't know that there's that perception," Obama said earlier this morning. "It's not really clear exactly what it's based on. If I was presumptuous or taking this for granted, I wouldn't be working this hard this week. I'm beat."

Considering how disloyal McCain has proved himself to conservatism in the past (see this, this, this, and this) Obama might not have to worry about Senator F-U. After all, McCain thinks Nancy Pelosi is an effective and inspiring Speaker of the House, and the Algore is a respectable leader with laudable goals. I think it's more likely McCain would think President Obama is the greatest thing since sliced bread, at least when it comes to protecting or passing Juan's pet legistlation. That's whole-wheat bread of course, not white. Sliced with a two-edged (a.k.a. bi-partisan) knife.

ht: Get Drunk And Vote 4 McCain

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Unabashed All To Hell

More like he got bashed, by actual conservative voters:

"There's a lot of us voting against Obama more than anything else," Englekirk said to McCain. "Over the years there are a lot of issues I've disagreed with you about, and I would like to know how do you assure me and other conservatives that you will hold to our values and give me something to be excited about?"

Many in the audience applauded.

Pressed by McCain for details, Englekirk criticized McCain's support for immigration changes and campaign finance limits, his participation in the so-called "Gang of 14" bipartisan compromise on the appointment of federal judges and his "falling in with the global warming crowd's agenda."

All Mr. Englekirk got for his trouble was a bunch of "my friend" b.s.

4 Martini's from Get Drunk and Vote 4 McCain

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Bob Barr Challenges Obama's Illegal Alien Healthcare Plan

Huh! How about that? A presidential candidate who actually disagrees with his opponents and draws distinctions between said opponent and himself! You know, actual campaigning!

Libertarian Presidential candidate Bob Barr challenges Obama's plan to make you foot the bill for 12 million illegal aliens' healthcare costs:

“Neither Sen. Barack Obama nor Sen. John McCain wants to talk about immigration, but the system is broken,” says Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president. “Unfortunately, neither of them wants to take the tough steps necessary to secure America’s borders and institute a realistic policy to cut illegal immigration.”

An example of the problem is Sen. Obama’s oft-stated promise to “give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage.” Of course, “Sen. Obama doesn’t plan on giving them coverage. He plans on making the taxpayers give them coverage. There’s a big difference,” notes Barr.

But there’s an even more fundamental issue. Approximately one-quarter of those persons who are uninsured are in America illegally. “It’s not fair to expect U.S. taxpayers to pay for health insurance for the citizens of another nation. America’s bloated welfare state is expensive enough, and even after recent reforms it still creates a disincentive to work. Handing out insurance to people who have come to America illegally will encourage even greater illegal immigration,” Barr explains. “And that, in turn, will push up government health care expenditures, creating a vicious cycle of more and more spending and more and more illegal immigration.”

“Instead of increasing the reward for violating the law and America’s borders, the federal government should move in the other direction. It must stop requiring hospital emergency rooms to provide free care for illegal aliens and the courts must stop forcing states to provide free schooling for the children of illegal aliens. This means changing the law and perhaps even the Constitution, but until we do so the government will continue to create a taxpayer-funded draw for illegal immigration,” says Barr.

Barr then lays out some common sense actions that need to be taken to deal with our illegal immigration problem:

• Secure the border.

• Adopt a constitutional amendment to ensure that the children of those here illegally do not automatically become citizens. (could we make it retroactive to people born in the Panama Canal Zone? - QC)

• Emphasize economic productivity over family ties to bring in more highly skilled legal immigrants.

• Stop paying people to come here illegally: no more free health care, no more free education, and certainly no free health insurance.

I'm glad someone besides Obama wants to win this election! I wonder what John McCain thinks... rather, I wonder what Juan Hernandez thinks John McCain should think about this issue?

ht: The Other McCain

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