Is John McCain a "true" conservative?
Is John McCain a conservative? I think he is and in a good way. I should know, I'm a bleeding heart liberal who is a tree hugger who thinks government can help people. With all the noise from the "pundits" on the TV political shows the term "conservative" has been bandied about by everyone including McCain himself. I felt the definition of a conservative as one who espouses personal responsibility and government policies that promote moral behavior seemed to fit my own idea of what their philosophy encompasses. There is also a strong feeling that government should stay out of the way. All the Republican candidates talked so much about Reagan that I expected him to be channeled right into the debates. Funny they didn't mention the "compassionate conservative" George W Bush. I wonder why?
I would define Conservatism as "maintaining the current order." I don't draw a distinction between this political definition and my tree hugging sensibilities especially when it comes to the environment. McCain has broken with his party over some important issues such as drilling in the Artic, bet that annoyed Cheney and Bush, the oilmen. He is also been very vocal on global warming. A maverick in the best sense.
During the New Hampshire primary season I remember watching Mitt Romney flail around about the torture debate and waterboarding. He was completely unable to comprehend that simulated drowning might constitute torture. He was going to ask the "experts" whoever they may be (Marquis de Sade?). McCain to my great delight is very articulate on this matter after enduring torture for 5 years. This is not a popular position to take for the republicans.
So who is criticizing McCain? Who are these stalwarts of Conservativism? Rush Limbaugh (recovering Drug Addict), Ann Coulter (always fashionable in a black cocktail dresses), Tom Delay (my all time favorite smiling mug shot photo), and "family values" experts like James Dobson. Also a collection of radio and TV personalities who see "Nuking" Iraq as a thoughtful foreign policy.
I'd vote for the guy but the 100 years in Iraq and total victory (whatever that means) does not sit well with me. Obama is my candidate and hopefully the democratic machine will realize that he is the only candidate that can win against a man like McCain. I have reasons for supporting Obama, but I'll save that for another posting.
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On a trip to Great Britain while he was President of the United States, Bill Clinton had a meeting with Queen Elizabeth.
During that meeting, he asked her, "How does one manage to run a country so smoothly?"
"That's easy," the Queen replied, "You surround yourself with intelligent ministers and advisors."
"But how can I tell whether they are intelligent or not?", asked Bill.
You ask them a riddle," she replied, and with that she pressed a button and said, "Would you please send Tony Blair in."
When Blair arrived, the Queen Said, "I have a riddle for you to answer for me: Your parents had a child and it was not your sister. It also was not your brother. Who was this child?"
Blair replied, "That's easy. The child was me."
"Very good," said the Queen. "You may go now."
Sizing up his wife's chances in her presidential bid, and thinking back on that meeting, Bill Clinton spoke to Hillary. He said to her, "I have a Riddle for you, and the answer is very important. Your parents had a child, and it was not your sister, and it was not your brother. Who was that child?"
Hillary replied, "Yes, it is clearly very important that we determine the answer. Can I deliberate on this for awhile?"
"Yes," said Bill, "I'll give you four hours to come up with the answer."
So Hillary called a meeting of her campaign team, from top to bottom, and asked them the riddle. But after much discussion and many suggestions, none of them had a satisfactory answer. She was quite upset, not knowing what she would tell her husband, the former President. As Hillary was leaving her meeting she ran into her most formidable challenger to her Presidential Nomination, Barack Obama. So she said, "Mr. Obama, can you answer this riddle for me? Your parents had a child, and it was not your sister, and it was not your brother. Who was the child?"
"That's seems pretty easy," said Obama, "I think the child would be me."
"Oh thank you," said Hillary. "You may just have ensured my nomination for the democratic candidate for the Presidency of the United States!"
So Hillary went back to Bill and said, "I think I know the answer to your riddle. The child was Barack Obama.!"
"No, you dip!" shouted Bill. "The child was Tony Blair."
The bottom line... guess where we're headed if we have the two of them running the country, again.
From Me: No one is really ready for this election: May the best candidate Win and may all of us learn to accept who it may be. Remember we do still live her in the United States, I said accept not agree with who wins....