More on '08

Austen Bay and Michael Barone have proposed a McCain-Lieberman ticket to which I respond: not if you want me to vote for it. McCain will never have my vote because of his egregious squashing of first amendment rights re:McCain-Feingold. The Wide Awake Cafe proposes a better ticket: Giuliani-Romney.

I’m at a loss to understand why some prominent conservative thinkers are seemingly shrugging their shoulders and jumping onto the McCain-Lieberman 2008 bandwagon. Some are of the opinion that McCain-Lieberman would make a good Republican team for the 2008 Presidential election..

I couldn’t disagree more. While John McCain served honorably during the Vietnam War that was what?…..Thirty something years ago. There have to be more achievements in his record of public service to compel conservatives to rally around him. I don’t see any. I have noticed that McCain has been on a very quiet tour through the Bible Belt, trying to make up for those uncalled for, hateful comments about Christians he made in the 2000 primaries.

I for one am not buying his apology tour but that’s not the only problem I have with the “maverick” Senator. The McCain-Feingold campaign finance regulation and his membership in the gang of fourteen (gatekeepers to the Supreme Court) are just two examples why McCain has been anything but a loyal Republican so I’m surprised that any Republicans or conservatives are even considering his candidacy.

That about sums it up. Island Passage and I have disagreed about McCain and Giuliani before. The arguement against Giuliani comprises of his liberal social views and his personal baggage; this, accepted wisdom says, will kill him in the primaries. A couple of things; first, Giuliani's baggage is not new and Giuliani can get some mileage out of the "hey we are all sinners" tapdance. Second, Giuliani has not been making a hindend out of himself in front of cameras and microphones. Third, Giuliani will track well with folks who find they are voting in Republican primaries for the first time. Folks who find the Democratic party has left them: that they may not like the war but, by golly, it is real and we need to win it.

There is a faction of the Republican party, I dislike the appellation neo-cons, the "hawks" who drive the party. "Hawks" consist of traditional Christians who support Israel for more than geo-political reasons, Libertarians who dislike the pacifism and isolationism growing in the Democratic party, and a whole other host of folks who use their eyes and ears and realise that fanatics tend to mean what they say. Giuliani's baggage is going to have less sway on the "hawks" than his track record as the 9/11 and "broken windows" mayor and the "RICO/take down the mob" cop. Romney is the bone to social conservatives without his religious views becoming the center of the election.

My dream candidate is not running. So I am prepared to be convinced by most any serious 2008 contender - but not John McCain.