I will never vote for John McCain. For anything. Should he become the nominee in 2008, I will vote third-party or Democrat. I feel it would be an absolute mistake to have John McCain running the country.

Ankle-Biting Pundits are saying that conservatives are warming to McCain:

A lot has changed since 2000, when Sen. John McCain stuck his thumb in every Republican eye he could find and then lapped up the drippings of approval from a national press corps, prouder than a new puppy on graduation day of obedience school. Not only is John McCain the clear frontrunner for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, but many beltway conservatives are beginning to accept the inevitability of a McCain-run party.

According to several sources in Washington, DC – all of whom have, at times said things drastically critical of the Arizona Senator in my presence – McCain is the GOP’s only hope in the post-Bush era.

“The national environment has gone to s—t and Republicans are going to take a beating in 2006,” one prominent Republican consultant – who is a movement conservative -- told me recently. “McCain is the only guy out there with the credibility to maintain Republican control in Washington.”

This has me worried. This is not say that I am ideologically opposed to McCain. We agree on the war and government spending, which are likely to my two biggest issues in 2008 should Newt's ideas and Tancredo's immigration politics not take hold. I vehemently disagree with McCain on free speech, as he wants to restrict it, especially political speech. McCain-Feingold was merely an incumbency power grab designed to keep those in power still in power. McCain himself is not even clean on corruption (link):

For other “appearance of corruption” examples, we need look no further than the father of campaign finance reform himself, Sen. John McCain. In 2001 the Brennan Center, a group that advocates campaign finance reform, held a large fund-raising dinner whose honored guest and speaker was the “straight-talking” senator from Arizona. Several big corporations—many with interests before the Senate Commerce Committee, of which Sen. McCain was then the ranking minority member—sponsored the event. These sponsors included such companies as Coca-Cola; the investment firm Bear Stearns; many top law firms with lobbying practices in Washington; cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris—yes, Big Tobacco; and even Enron, which as we know is the most evil corporation in the history of the world. The event grossed an impressive $750,000.

Now what does the Brennan Center do? Well, the Brennan Center lobbied extensively to pass the McCain-Feingold bill, an issue that Sen. McCain once declared was of “transcendent importance to me.” (An interesting choice of words, since transcendent, if you look it up in the dictionary, means “beyond human comprehension.”) The Brennan Center also provided legal services, pro bono, to defend the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold bill in court.

My biggest problem with the Senator from Arizona is this: he is a pure oppurtunist. His anti-torture amendment? It seems to have no oversight measures attatched, and is meaningless except for that it thrusts McCain back into the spotlight. Supporting Bush in 2004, but not after the 2000 primary? Gets McCain on track as a 'Bush heir,' and gives him legitimacy within the base. I am not saying that politicians should not seek oppurtunities to get attention, but they should when it aligns with principle. Accordingly, John McCain lacks principle, and is free to be an oppurtunist. Check back here when he makes John Kerry or Russ Feingold his Republican VP.

Posted by Ryan S. on Monday, December 12, 2005 at 1:05 PM | Permalink |