Captain's Quarters -

A few good judges got tossed under the bus?

Why don't you ask Miguel Estrada's wife about the toll that takes?

Oh, sorry, I forgot. You can't.

If Goldberg is telling us not to count McCain out, John's finished, of course.

I like the man personally, but I can't get over campaign finance reform and the Gang of I4.

McCain has evolved in much the same manner as Anthony Kennedy on the Court; from a principled stalwart of the Constitution to a radical who will do what is necessary to win accolades from the gentry. He has a conservative record historically, but looking at his record over the past 10 years we can see he has clearly 'evolved' towards leftist ideology. He would not be a legitimate standard bearer for our party.

The problem, of course, is that BCRA would never have happened without McCain. It's not at all comparable to a stand on Roe v Wade, where one really can't do much to directly reverse a Supreme Court decision. This is more like a Republican sponsoring something like the Assault Weapon Look-alike Ban and then asking for conservative support for the nomination.

I've never understood how betraying the base is supposed to work as a campaign platform. Judging by the narrow way Jim Walsh squeaked to re-election in 2006 after his stunts on ANWR and this Gang of 14 fiasco, after a long string of easy victories in earlier elections, I'd say it's not good. I held my nose, and pulled the lever for him, but it was a tough call. Absent the war, I'd have not voted for any candidate in that race. Another thousand or so making that decision would have NY25 in the D column.

Captain, you missed another difference between McCain and Thompson: Thompson admits he might be wrong, as quoted in the WSJ:

"Conceding that McCain-Feingold hasn't worked as intended, and is being riddled with new loopholes, he throws his hands open in exasperation. "I'm not prepared to go there yet, but I wonder if we shouldn't just take off the limits and have full disclosure with harsh penalties for not reporting everything on the Internet immediately." "

McCain, OTOH, not only doesn't concede he's wrong on the issue, but goes around making statements like "Given the choice between the First Amendment and clean government, I'll take clean government!" That stance right there means he has violated his oath as a Senator to uphold the Constitution and should be stripped of the office IMMEDIATELY.

I haven't heard Rudy's take on it, but John McCain will never get my vote until he repeals his own law and apologizes.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned McCain's stance on "torture." I remember when this was a hot issue. I don't and don't think anyone's advocating "electric shock" or worse horrors to get info from bad guys, but McCain's approach, if I remember correctly, was nothing more than maybe harsh questioning.

Considering McCain's POW background, I can understand why he feels this way, but if waterboarding gets us the info we need, well then.

J-Pod misses the symmetry:

McCain is the more conservative but disdains conservatives.

Giuliani is unenthusiastic about conservatism but respects conservatives, at least during election cycles.

Either approach is a real problem.

On paper McCain is the better Conservative candidate, but we vote for actual people not their positions. McCain, the politician, has shown himself to be somewhat erratic - sometimes he's willing abandon positions for media popularity, other times he makes a stand on an issue (but is just wrong about it IMO). Plus I'm not convinced his personality makes him suited to be president anyway - he has way too much of the cranky old man in him. Not to mention the fact that he hasn't actually run anything on a day-to-day basic for decades. Barring a dealbreaker issue, I'll always vote for a mayor/governor over a senator/congressman.

McCain will never be the candidate. He is simply too distrusted by the base to ever get the votes. McCain is about McCain. He could care less about the Constitution and spent the last 6 years stabbing the party in the back for media time and adoration.

Just because he is semi-loved by our country club/Amnesty and Cheap Labor republicans does not mean he will get the votes of the base.

Funny thing about those Country Club folk. While they will write a check and can be counted on to attend a wine and Cheese soiree, they are noteably lacking on the ground at those political rallys in the cold rain.

The folk that turn out there are the base and we simply do not like McCain....we don't have to. We have too many other candidates less egotistical and with less a record of back stabbing.

Goldberg is just another "expert" who looks at political campaigns in terms of issues as if one could simply count them up and assign them to one column or another like check marks on a score card. I don't care about whether McCain agrees with me or not about any particular issue, he has demonstrated time and time again that he may not agree with me five minutes from now. And even if he does agree, he may not be willing to fight for it if it costs him his "media darling" status.

Right now, I like Rudy Giuliani. NOT because he has a laundrylist of issues that I like, but because he shows a willingness to present himself with all the scabs and warts in plain sight, and let people decide to support him or not. He doesn't ask me to agree with him, or even like him, but he does command my respect. And its been a long time since anybody has done that!

Giuliani's success isn't about issues, and that confuses the daylights out of experts like Goldberg. Giuliani's success is about image - the image of a fighter. Right now, Rudy looks like the only guy out there who won't be afraid to get into a bare-knuckle smash-mouth brawl with the two bordellos down at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. And for my money, that's way past due.

Fight the war here and fight the war there, and fight it with everything we have - everything!

I agree with Maetenloch that the primary issue on John McCain is one of trust. We cannot trust that anything McCain says that appears conservative today will not be conceded during bargaining with the Dems. We all know that McCain tends to be a "consensus builder" as he is a Senator, but it is exactly this trait that has kept Conservatives from embracing him. We want a conservative that says what he means and means what he says. The disatisfaction with GWB has been due to this same personality defect. And it will never win either any love from Liberals.

On top of everything else, by Election Day 2008 McCain will be 72 years old. When taken with everything else, he would have to be a perfect clone of Ronald Reagan to get my vote.

And he ain't even fit to stand in Reagan's shadow.

This amounts to "Forget all that I did, just BELIEVE what I promise I will do" for McCain.

Forget about it. Don't have a chance with me.

McCain couldn't bring the GOP from Arizona to his side, much less Arizona Conservatives.
He wouldn't be in office now if not for Arizona DIMS.

And the DIMS will vote for him in the PRIMARIES - BUT NOT THE GENERAL Election --- just to have fun with the GOP!

Rudi is a no-fly reprobate, as well.

Neither of them are capable of garnering as much as Robert Dole '96.

As for RESPECTING Giuliani, I'll get back to you as soon as I finish SO barfing!

But don't worry about me and the rest of us who refused to vote for Dole or Ford - I have names I'll be most happy to WRITE IN.

They won't win, but those who are trying to blackmail the Conservatives into voting for GOP RINOS will get exactly what they asked for.

I'm fed up with treating these turkey butts with Sunday Best manners while they smash all the stuff at the party they don't want anyone else to have a part of.

Is the anti-McCain sentiment among Republican conservatives an immature grudge, as Goldberg argues here, or a reasoned final position?

McCain, Giuliani, Gingrich, Mitt, and other RINOS -

REASONED AND FINAL!

And the list is getting to be BOTTOMLESS.

These are CORE CHARACTER issues and NOT just minor infractions.

NONE of them got on my bad side for stepping on the cat's tail! so to speak!

And I literally see no benefit to them over the DIM Candidates.

LITERALLY.

I haven't heard Rudy's take on it, but John McCain will never get my vote until he repeals his own law and apologizes.

Posted by: SDN

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APOLOGIZING won't RIGHT this WRONG!

He'll NEVER get my vote - he KNEW what he was doing and the climate he did it in!

I have always thought it was a pure act of VENGENCE towards those who refused to vote him in as President. All the while his own party wouldn't and DID NOT vote him in as Senator of his STATE! THEY voted UNANIMOUSLY to CENSURE HIM.

Rudi has shown himself capable of allowing an ELECTION to be set aside in order for a tiny few to APPOINT HIM to the position - also a total NON-STARTER!

When it took him two weeks to deliver a Democrat-style apology, on top of that!

He hasn't got a grasp on the Constitution, and his recent "FAUX PAS" only proves it.

Those two are two sides of the same identical coin.

Iron pyrite has more integrity in a one inch chunk than the two of them put together.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned McCain's stance on "torture." I remember when this was a hot issue. I don't and don't think anyone's advocating "electric shock" or worse horrors to get info from bad guys, but McCain's approach, if I remember correctly, was nothing more than maybe harsh questioning.

Considering McCain's POW background, I can understand why he feels this way, but if waterboarding gets us the info we need, well then.

Posted by: SoldiersMom

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There are very nasty rumors about McCain's internment that NOBODY seems willing to put a spotlight on, and he is willing to let stand, knowing they are out there.

There are plenty of former POWS who are willing to go a long ways further than the current standards if it provides any security for our people, without anywheres NEAR coming close to what the enemy does to our guys - WITHOUT them trying to gain info for THEIR OWN SECURITY'S SAKE.

McCain's POW experience counts less and less with me, since he mouths one thing in public and undercuts the administration with both hands, behind the scenes, and often as not IN FRONT of the STAGE CAMERAS, for his own personal aggrandizement.

What I think of him isn't fit to be said out loud anywhere on the planet.

The anti-torture bill SHOWS the WORLD what he really thinks of our troops.

It's yet another underscore to his earned reputation.

I will never vote for McCain. This is one time I will stay home if he gets the nomination.

Will no one state the obvious? John McCain seems to have no vigor or vitality left for the campaign and will certainly have nothing left for the demands of the presidency. He comes across as an addled, angry old man just going through the motions (His duty?). I don't believe that he will be a factor by the end of the year.

Will no one state the obvious? John McCain seems to have no vigor or vitality left for the campaign and will certainly have nothing left for the demands of the presidency. He comes across as an addled, angry old man just going through the motions (His duty?). I don't believe that he will be a factor by the end of the year.

Is Rose taking Carol_Herman lessions?

Enough about McCain for President. Let's get behind Fred Thompson, and he can let John McCain be Secretary of Defense.

/Mr Lynn