We must give this much to the assault troops of columnists and talk-show hosts who suddenly, vehemently are attacking Republican presidential candidate John McCain:
Yes, he's imperfect. Congratulations on figuring that out. Of course, the Arizonan would be the first to tell you so. But your superficial analysis of the obvious is spot-on.
McCain is not the perfect conservative.
He is merely the conservative with the
best prospect of winning the general election next fall. Was the conservative
perfect ever so much the enemy of the conservative
good?
To hear the catcalls, fulminations and vituperation cascading from radio speakers, as well as newspaper and Web pages, McCain has not merely cooperated on legislation with Ted Kennedy and Russell Feingold. Oh, no. He has changed his name to Ted Feingold.
If you have read or heard criticism of McCain in the days approaching the important Michigan primary - and it is nearly impossible not to - you have witnessed the litany of McCain's conservative transgressions, repeated ad nauseam. As if we didn't know them by heart, they include:
Cooperating with Sen. Feingold, D-Wis., on campaign-finance reform. Cooperating with Sen. Kennedy, D-Mass., on immigration reform (along with, we might add, conservative icon Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.). Cooperating with seven Democratic senators (as well as, notably, six other Republican ones) in the "Gang of 14,"
which arguably paved the way for the successfulThere are others. McCain has argued to close the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay. He argued against (but later became supportive of) the George W. Bush-era tax cuts.
nomination of conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel
Alito
To hear McCain's laundry list of "Crimes Against Conservatism" repeated time and again, one would be excused for believing he is, in fact, not a conservative. Then, explain this:
As the goody bag of billion-dollar pork known as "earmarks" rapidly swelled during the Bush presidency,
the loudest voices against this most
anti-conservative vote-buying practice were McCain and U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake -
the latter a flawlessly conservative Arizona Republican who freely acknowledges
his budget-hawking hero is . . . John McCain.
And explain this:
McCain has been a consistent conservative
advocate regarding the most heartfelt cultural issue of the past two
generations: the debate over Roe vs. Wade and abortion.
Frankly, it is astonishing that a newspaper that disagrees with McCain on this matter should feel compelled to point it out to conservatives.
And this:
McCain has been a consistent advocate of free trade - an issue dear to the heart of free-market conservatives - as well as free-market resolutions to the spiraling cost of health care. McCain's health-care proposals, in fact, are anchored by the ideas of Arizona GOP Rep. John Shadegg, one of the most free-market-friendly members of Congress.
And then, of course, there is McCain's foreign policy, especially his long-standing, steadfast advocacy for a successful strategy in the Iraq war.It candidly takes our breath away to witness "true blue" conservatives actually stooping to attack McCain on this count. But, shamefully, they are.In a recent commentary on National Review Online, contributor Mark R. Levin complains that McCain seems to be taking too much credit for the "surge" of troops in Iraq early last year, and the success that resulted from it.
That is history rewritten for the rabidly anti-McCain crowd. If Levin, or anyone, can point to an elected official who risked more to make three points - send more troops, take the fight to the enemy and dump the man resisting a troop buildup, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld - we'd like Levin to point him or her out.
No, John McCain is not a perfect conservative. But let us say this about the effort to blemish his conservative authenticities:
It's perfectly wrong.
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