Smart Republicans will vote for McCain . . . too bad there aren't many of them out there - By Mike McClellan

I was surfing thru the Arizona Republic web site the other day & came upon this:

Smart Republicans will vote for McCain . . . too bad there aren't many of them out there

"I'm not a Republican, but if I were, I'd support Sen. McCain. But geez, even in Arizona his support is slipping. The latest poll shows him falling behind Giuliani in our state.
So McCain probably has little chance of winning the nomination. But he should.

Here's why Republicans should vote for McCain (and why they won't):

1. If you supported the war in Iraq, you know McCain was right: we need a larger force early on, something he argued for 3 years ago. If by some near-miracle the surge works( and it is Mike!), McCain's view will be vindicated.

2. He's right on torture.

3. Don't like wasteful government spending? McCain's your man. He is always at the top of the "taxpayers' friends" reports that come out each year. He has been a voice against pork for years.

4. He is clearly a conservative Republican, but he occasionally reaches across the aisle to actually work with Dems. That makes him the anti-Tom Delay. And that's a good thing.

5. Speaking of which, poll after poll indicates Americans are sick of the Delay/Harry Reid scorched earth politics that rule the government. We are sick of the hyperpartisanship that accomplishes nothing. McCain refuses to demonize Dems. Americans like that.

6. If you are anti-abortion, McCain's your man. (Good ?? Mike, why isn't Shane on

board?)

7. He's been right on immigration, too. Beyond the Enforcement Only folks, most Americans -- if you believe the polling -- want what the Senator proposed: tougher border enforcement along with a humane way of dealing with those illegal immigrants already in the country.

But I doubt the activist Republicans who'll show up at the primaries and caususes can get beyond the "Amnesty" and "Shamnesty" labels that helped deep six the one shot at comprehensive reform earlier this year.

And what McCain predicted then has come true: a crazyquilt of different local, county and state immigration policies throughout the country. Not even the Enforcement Only folks have to like this chaos.

Of course, the Kool Aid drinkers in the Republican Party are suspicious of anyone who consorts with the enemy, so they don't like McCain. But maybe some of them will be swayed by a final reason to vote for him:

8. National polls say he is the Republican best able to defeat Hillary.

Of course, the True Believers will snub McCain, nominate whomever, and rush headlong to defeat and their resulting worst nightmare: President Clinton with a Democratic Congress.

And a Republican Party with no message, no direction, maybe no purpose."

Mike McClellan is an East Valley resident who teaches high school English.