On Feb 1, 2008 10:30 PM, Vern Green <
EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> The problem has been that McCain has been on the opposite end of many of the
> conservatives's points of view.
been opposite of his party's dogma from time to time (but really not
so often that it could explain why some fairly liberal people like
him).
[snip]
> Take the border fence. McCain fought that tooth and nail. This angered a
> great many conservativs who want the fence built. His angry outbursts about
> the subject are still well remembered.
Whatever you may think about the border fence, it is pretty useless
given the (until recently) tremendously huge economic incentive that
many Mexicans had to work in the US. Clearly, the GOP has an internal
problem here, with many rank-and-file favoring very strong measures to
curb illegal immigration while the business class clearly benefits
from the same. This is not just a McCain problem.
> McCain-Feingold is a joke to a great many conservatives as well who view the
> MoveOn.orgs as a threat. Liberals should be upset as well since it was the
> swift vote veterans using loop holes in McCain-Fiengold that helped bring
> about the demise of Kerry.
The loopholes are pretty amazing, that's for sure. The swift boaters
would not have had the effect they did, however, if it weren't for
Kerry's bizarre passiveness about the whole affair for *weeks* during
the 2004 election. Getting back to the subject, McCain-Feingold is
anathema to many establishment Republicans given the (tradtional but
not this year) advantage that the GOP has in fund-raising.
> While he claims to be a fiscal conservative, he did not back Bush's tax
> cuts. You might not like the cuts, but it is fundamental to conservatives.
OK, so here's where I think it is *very* important to distinguish
between fiscal conservatives and what I guess you could call
Republican orthodoxy. Fiscal conservatives believe in limited
spending, but also believe in balanced budgets. In many cases, this
kind of conservatism should find itself opposed to tax cuts in the
absence of spending cuts. McCain arguably makes this even worse
because he really doesn't favor tax breaks for the wealthy when there
are people who could benefit far more.
> The of course there was the band of fourteen who got together to stop any
> chance of repubicans in the Senate from using the Constitutional power to
> end a filibuster that was threatened by the democrats on judge nominations.
Gosh, I had almost forgotten that. Of course, there is a *major* irony
here since if the Republicans had (successfully?) employed the
so-called "nuclear option" back in 2005, they would not have been able
to set the record for filibustering bills in the current session.
Meanwhile, Democrats did not succeed in blocking any judicial nominees
who did not also face opposition from within the GOP.
> Essentially McCain orchestrated the gang of fourteen and the group then
> banded together sending a clear message that any attempt of a rule change in
> the senate would not go through,
Yes, but see above. The only important Democratic filibuster I know of
this year was the recently successful effort to block a
re-authorization of the FISA bill that contained language that would
have (among other things) granted retroactive immunity to
telecommunications firms that acceded to government requests to allow
(then illegal) wiretapping.
> Of course if you were just coming on the scene today and did not know of
> McCain before, then you would not know these things. He has been very good
> at covering up his changes in position on these issues.
What you say is true. McCain has not really stood proudly by his more
"maverick" positions in this campaign. Arguably this is because
somebody like McCain cannot become the Republican nominee. Whether or
not this is a good thing is another question.
jking
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