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| ***Now you can do your Google searches right from ProudConservative.com*** |
| HERE IT IS....THE JOHN MCCAIN EDITORIAL By: Trent (All rights reserved) |
John McCain……John McCain…..How did it come to John McCain? Maybe I’ll get into that later, but as of
now it looks as if it’s going to be John McCain on the Republican side. So what am I, as a proud conservative to
do? I have emails and messages telling me to hop on the John McCain bandwagon. I get emails telling me that
they aren’t going to vote. I get emails telling me that they are going to vote for Obama or Clinton. I get emails
telling me that they are going to write in a candidate or vote third party. Truth be told, I don’t condemn any of
these actions. It’s up to each one of us to decide what being a conservative means. It’s up to each one of us to
decide what’s better for the Republican party. It’s up to each one of us to decide what is best for conservatives.
It is up to each one of us to decide what is best for America. And guess what? As conservatives, we aren’t all
going to come to the same conclusion. I see valid points in all of the options above. I also see cons in each of the
options above. So what am I going to do? Read on.
Now as I start going into this a little deeper, keep in mind, I am not condemning anyone for the decisions they’ve
made. I’m just giving my opinion. I’m telling you what is going on in my head. Hopefully, I will get some people
thinking. There is one thing that I must make perfectly clear before I get started. I admire and respect John
McCain’s military service and the sacrifices he has made for this nation. I honor his military career. But that does
not mean that I have to honor everything he has done or tried to do during his career as a Senator. So let me get
started.
Let’s start from the beginning. Why have I been against John McCain from the beginning of this campaign? The
same reason most conservatives have been against him. No, it’s not that all conservatives are robots that walk in
lock step. It’s that we hold a set of core beliefs. These core beliefs can not be negotiated and they can not be
compromised. John McCain went against the first amendment by drafting and pushing McCain/Feingold
legislation through. The first amendment of the Constitution is not up for compromise. McCain tried and tried to
push through McCain/Kennedy which was nothing more than an amnesty bill. He tries to deny it and say it was
not amnesty. It was amnesty plain and simple. Read the legislation. No amount of spin is going to change the fact
that it granted amnesty to 12 - 20 million illegal aliens in this nation and then gave them the opportunity to bring in
an additional 20 million people. Protecting our borders is non-negotiable. A nation without borders is not a
nation. He voted not once, but twice against the Bush tax cuts. Cutting taxes is a conservative fundamental.
What else did he do? He tried to pass off his legislation, McCain/Edwards/Kennedy as a “patient bill of rights.”
All it really accomplished was a open door for slip and fall trial lawyers to exploit the system which would
inevitably raise health care costs while diminishing services. He also drafted McCain/Lieberman. This was an anti
business bill that was based on faulty science. Bringing our economy to a halt is not conservative thinking. He
opposed drilling in ANWR. We have a huge supply of domestic oil that we can tap into so that we don’t have to
rely on and support terrorist nations, yet when it came time to allow us to drill there, Sen. McCain was against it.
When the Republicans needed his support to get some great judges approved, Sen. McCain once again teamed
up with liberals and moderates (the Gang of 14) and blocked a lot of good judges. Is anyone noticing a pattern
here? McCain/Kennedy. McCain/Edwards/Kennedy. McCain/Lieberman. McCain/Feingold. It seems as if
John McCain likes to team up with liberals. I don’t want a President who teams up with liberals. I want a
President who will fight for conservative ideals and try to defeat the liberals. “But Trent. What about
bipartisanship?” I am not for bipartisanship. I want a person that is proud of their conservative values and who is
willing to stand up to liberals and fight for what is right. When the Democrats are in power, are they bipartisan?
No, they are not. Now, of course, when there is an issue that both sides can agree on, well that’s great. I think
to myself, based on how Sen. McCain has acted in the Senate, what will he do as President. If an important
issues comes up, who will he go running to for help and support? Will it be the conservatives or will it be the
Democrats? Based on the past, one can argue he’ll run to the Democrats. He also has an undeniable temper. I’
ve seen it come out and I’ve heard first hand stories of it coming out. All the times I’ve seen it come out, it’s been
against conservatives. The stories I have heard have all been against conservatives. I’m sorry, but I’m supposed
to trust this guy?
So what are the options? I listed them above. Let me go through some of them.
“VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRAT.” I have gotten emails telling me that a person will vote for Obama or Hillary to
teach the party a lesson. I understand the sentiment. It’s telling the Republican Party, “I am a conservative. If
you are going to keep sending us moderate to liberal Republicans as candidates, I will no longer support your
efforts to block conservatives from getting in and I will do whatever is necessary to defeat the liberal Republican
you send up. When a conservative is sent up and supported, I will begin supporting the party again.” For me,
personally, this is not an option. Like I said, I completely understand the thought, but it is not something I will do.
“SIT HOME AND DON’T VOTE” I have gotten emails stating that if John McCain is the nominee, then that
person will stay home on election day. To the people contemplating this option, let me remind you how many
brave men and women serving our nation have died to protect your freedom to vote. It is our duty to honor their
sacrifice by voting. Does that mean you have to vote for President if there is no candidate you can support? No,
it doesn’t. Leave the President spot blank. However, go and vote for your conservative candidates that are
running for Congress or the Senate. Support your local and state officials who are conservative. Staying home
because you dislike the top guy is completely unfair to your local people who are conservative and who are
representing your conservative values.
“WRITE IN A CANDIDATE OR VOTE THIRD PARTY” To the people who contemplated sitting home and
not voting but who have now decided to go and at least vote for their local people, why not write in a candidate?
This way you are using that right that we hold dear, voting, and you are staying true to your beliefs. Who knows if
there will be a third party candidate? Again, the election is in nine months. A lot can happen. Normally a third
party candidate has no chance. But again, if your conscience will not let you vote for McCain and there is a third
party candidate running that you feel appeals to you as a conservative, use your vote. A lot of people call it a
wasted vote. I say there is no such thing as a wasted vote.
“HOP ON THE JOHN MCCAIN BANDWAGON NOW” I have gotten emails saying, “Trent, like it or not,
John McCain is going to be the Republican nominee. We have to get behind him and support him now.” Oh I
do? I don’t think so. I am a proud conservative. I don’t have to support anyone just because they have an ( R )
next to their name. I have core conservative beliefs and principles. That ( R ) does not affect those principles and
beliefs. And if the Republican candidate does not believe in my core values, I owe no loyalty to him simply
because he is a Republican. Why would I jump on the John McCain bandwagon now? If I do that then he is
pulling me to the left. If the conservatives choose to stay off the bandwagon, then we can force his wagon to the
right. We can force him to put a true conservative on his ticket as V.P. We can force him to our way of thinking
rather than submit to his way of thinking. If he moves towards our conservative beliefs down the road, THEN I’ll
think about hopping on the bandwagon. If I hop on now I may as well be saying to Sen. McCain, "Feel free to
move as far to the left as you want. I have no other choice but to vote for you." As long as the possibility remains
that conservatives will not vote for him remains, he will have to stay to the right.
“HE’S BETTER THAN EITHER OF THE DEMOCRATS!” So is having one arm cut off instead of both. You
won’t see me running around cheering…..”Hey, isn’t it great?!!! I only lost one arm!!” Just because something is
better than something else, does not mean I have to support it and campaign for it and cheer for it. There is no
doubt that he is better than either of the Democrats left. Is that how we really want to decide who is our
President? “Well he doesn’t suck as much as the others.” I know I don’t. I want to vote FOR someone, not
AGAINST someone else.
“HE’S MAKING AN EFFORT TO REACH OUT TO CONSERVATIVES.” He made a speech at CPAC.
Big deal. I was hoping that this would be his chance to make his appeal to me as a conservative. Am I the only
one that didn’t buy a word of what he was saying there? As I was watching the speech, I couldn’t help but feel
that he was disgusted by the fact that he had to kiss up to conservatives. I am of the opinion that if he thought he
had enough liberal and moderate support to win, he would have driven past CPAC and flipped off everyone who
was attending. I hear the pundits saying that it was a good first step for McCain to woo conservatives.
Conservatives don’t need wooing if you are one of us. The fact that he has to woo conservatives should set off
alarms in the heads of anyone who considers themselves a conservative. He said he will make the Bush tax cuts
permanent. O.K. That’s great! But why did he vote against them in the first place? He claims now that it was
because there wasn’t any spending cuts to go along with it. But at the time, he used class warfare rhetoric calling it
tax cuts for the rich. Now where have we heard those words before? Oh yeah….the Democrats. I’ll be
generous though. Let’s say I take him at his word now and that he opposed them because there were no
spending cuts to go along with it. Isn’t this just as bad? Conservatives know, that when you cut taxes, revenue to
the government increases. So even if there were no spending cuts, the government would have been better off
with the tax cuts. More importantly, the citizens of this nation would have been better off with the tax cuts. Don’t
get me wrong, I am all for cutting spending. However, that is not a prerequisite for cutting taxes. He has said he
got the message about illegal immigration and that he will secure our borders first. Listen closely to what he has
said though. He may secure the borders first, but then he is still open to granting amnesty to all the illegal
immigrants that are here. That is not what most people in this nation want. We want the borders secured and to
deport those that are here illegally. He has said he will seek the council of conservatives on issues. Sounds great.
The fact is he has not done so in the past, so why would he start now?
"HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT ANYWAY?" How is it that John McCain even had a chance to win
the Republican nomination? After the first few debates, I endorsed Duncan Hunter. In my opinion, Duncan
Hunter was far and away the most complete conservative running. I supported him and his candidacy. After
endorsing him, I received hundreds of messages telling me, "You are right...Duncan Hunter is the best conservative
in the race. But he doesn't have a chance to win. So I am voting for 'insert another candidate here.'" We had a
true conservative running. By most everyone's opinion, Duncan Hunter is a true conservative. How many of you
supported his candidacy? How many people chose to support someone who they thought "could win" over
Duncan Hunter, only to see their candidate drop out? If we are going to keep supporting candidates simply on the
basis that "they can win," we are going to keep getting candidates like John McCain.
“O.K. TRENT. THEN WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?” John McCain is not all bad. He has some
conservative values. Some conservative values does not make a person a conservative though. I am not
comfortable putting my support behind him at this point. Once again, the election is in nine months. I don’t have
to decide what I am going to do now. Have I already made up my mind to vote for John McCain? No I haven’t.
Can John McCain ever garner my vote? Yes he can. But he won’t get it by constantly telling me he is a
conservative. He won’t get it simply because he has an ( R ) next to his name. He won’t get it by simply making a
speech at CPAC. He won’t get my support by constantly saying “My fellow conservatives.” Honestly, that
drives me away from him. Most conservatives do not consider him a conservative. He needs to accept that fact.
What am I going to do? I don’t know yet. I am waiting to see how things play out. Nine months is a long time
and anything can happen. I will not hop on his bandwagon at this point in time. It is not headed in a direction I
am comfortable with. If we conservatives can alter the course of that bandwagon, I’ll consider hopping on at a
later point. Again, the only way to alter the course of his campaign, in my opinion, is to withhold support for the
time being.
I know I will get many responses to this. I welcome them all. I know some people will agree with me. I know
some people will be completely opposed to what I am saying and will insist we must jump behind McCain and
fully support him now. I hope I get some people at least thinking about their position. For those of you who say
that those of us not willing to support John McCain at present are not true conservatives and that we are foolish, I
respect your opinion. However, I do have a question for you. Why are you willing to give up your conservative
beliefs so easily and throw your support behind John McCain “as is?"
I’ll leave you with this thought. “The lesser of two evils is still evil.”
-Trent
now it looks as if it’s going to be John McCain on the Republican side. So what am I, as a proud conservative to
do? I have emails and messages telling me to hop on the John McCain bandwagon. I get emails telling me that
they aren’t going to vote. I get emails telling me that they are going to vote for Obama or Clinton. I get emails
telling me that they are going to write in a candidate or vote third party. Truth be told, I don’t condemn any of
these actions. It’s up to each one of us to decide what being a conservative means. It’s up to each one of us to
decide what’s better for the Republican party. It’s up to each one of us to decide what is best for conservatives.
It is up to each one of us to decide what is best for America. And guess what? As conservatives, we aren’t all
going to come to the same conclusion. I see valid points in all of the options above. I also see cons in each of the
options above. So what am I going to do? Read on.
Now as I start going into this a little deeper, keep in mind, I am not condemning anyone for the decisions they’ve
made. I’m just giving my opinion. I’m telling you what is going on in my head. Hopefully, I will get some people
thinking. There is one thing that I must make perfectly clear before I get started. I admire and respect John
McCain’s military service and the sacrifices he has made for this nation. I honor his military career. But that does
not mean that I have to honor everything he has done or tried to do during his career as a Senator. So let me get
started.
Let’s start from the beginning. Why have I been against John McCain from the beginning of this campaign? The
same reason most conservatives have been against him. No, it’s not that all conservatives are robots that walk in
lock step. It’s that we hold a set of core beliefs. These core beliefs can not be negotiated and they can not be
compromised. John McCain went against the first amendment by drafting and pushing McCain/Feingold
legislation through. The first amendment of the Constitution is not up for compromise. McCain tried and tried to
push through McCain/Kennedy which was nothing more than an amnesty bill. He tries to deny it and say it was
not amnesty. It was amnesty plain and simple. Read the legislation. No amount of spin is going to change the fact
that it granted amnesty to 12 - 20 million illegal aliens in this nation and then gave them the opportunity to bring in
an additional 20 million people. Protecting our borders is non-negotiable. A nation without borders is not a
nation. He voted not once, but twice against the Bush tax cuts. Cutting taxes is a conservative fundamental.
What else did he do? He tried to pass off his legislation, McCain/Edwards/Kennedy as a “patient bill of rights.”
All it really accomplished was a open door for slip and fall trial lawyers to exploit the system which would
inevitably raise health care costs while diminishing services. He also drafted McCain/Lieberman. This was an anti
business bill that was based on faulty science. Bringing our economy to a halt is not conservative thinking. He
opposed drilling in ANWR. We have a huge supply of domestic oil that we can tap into so that we don’t have to
rely on and support terrorist nations, yet when it came time to allow us to drill there, Sen. McCain was against it.
When the Republicans needed his support to get some great judges approved, Sen. McCain once again teamed
up with liberals and moderates (the Gang of 14) and blocked a lot of good judges. Is anyone noticing a pattern
here? McCain/Kennedy. McCain/Edwards/Kennedy. McCain/Lieberman. McCain/Feingold. It seems as if
John McCain likes to team up with liberals. I don’t want a President who teams up with liberals. I want a
President who will fight for conservative ideals and try to defeat the liberals. “But Trent. What about
bipartisanship?” I am not for bipartisanship. I want a person that is proud of their conservative values and who is
willing to stand up to liberals and fight for what is right. When the Democrats are in power, are they bipartisan?
No, they are not. Now, of course, when there is an issue that both sides can agree on, well that’s great. I think
to myself, based on how Sen. McCain has acted in the Senate, what will he do as President. If an important
issues comes up, who will he go running to for help and support? Will it be the conservatives or will it be the
Democrats? Based on the past, one can argue he’ll run to the Democrats. He also has an undeniable temper. I’
ve seen it come out and I’ve heard first hand stories of it coming out. All the times I’ve seen it come out, it’s been
against conservatives. The stories I have heard have all been against conservatives. I’m sorry, but I’m supposed
to trust this guy?
So what are the options? I listed them above. Let me go through some of them.
“VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRAT.” I have gotten emails telling me that a person will vote for Obama or Hillary to
teach the party a lesson. I understand the sentiment. It’s telling the Republican Party, “I am a conservative. If
you are going to keep sending us moderate to liberal Republicans as candidates, I will no longer support your
efforts to block conservatives from getting in and I will do whatever is necessary to defeat the liberal Republican
you send up. When a conservative is sent up and supported, I will begin supporting the party again.” For me,
personally, this is not an option. Like I said, I completely understand the thought, but it is not something I will do.
“SIT HOME AND DON’T VOTE” I have gotten emails stating that if John McCain is the nominee, then that
person will stay home on election day. To the people contemplating this option, let me remind you how many
brave men and women serving our nation have died to protect your freedom to vote. It is our duty to honor their
sacrifice by voting. Does that mean you have to vote for President if there is no candidate you can support? No,
it doesn’t. Leave the President spot blank. However, go and vote for your conservative candidates that are
running for Congress or the Senate. Support your local and state officials who are conservative. Staying home
because you dislike the top guy is completely unfair to your local people who are conservative and who are
representing your conservative values.
“WRITE IN A CANDIDATE OR VOTE THIRD PARTY” To the people who contemplated sitting home and
not voting but who have now decided to go and at least vote for their local people, why not write in a candidate?
This way you are using that right that we hold dear, voting, and you are staying true to your beliefs. Who knows if
there will be a third party candidate? Again, the election is in nine months. A lot can happen. Normally a third
party candidate has no chance. But again, if your conscience will not let you vote for McCain and there is a third
party candidate running that you feel appeals to you as a conservative, use your vote. A lot of people call it a
wasted vote. I say there is no such thing as a wasted vote.
“HOP ON THE JOHN MCCAIN BANDWAGON NOW” I have gotten emails saying, “Trent, like it or not,
John McCain is going to be the Republican nominee. We have to get behind him and support him now.” Oh I
do? I don’t think so. I am a proud conservative. I don’t have to support anyone just because they have an ( R )
next to their name. I have core conservative beliefs and principles. That ( R ) does not affect those principles and
beliefs. And if the Republican candidate does not believe in my core values, I owe no loyalty to him simply
because he is a Republican. Why would I jump on the John McCain bandwagon now? If I do that then he is
pulling me to the left. If the conservatives choose to stay off the bandwagon, then we can force his wagon to the
right. We can force him to put a true conservative on his ticket as V.P. We can force him to our way of thinking
rather than submit to his way of thinking. If he moves towards our conservative beliefs down the road, THEN I’ll
think about hopping on the bandwagon. If I hop on now I may as well be saying to Sen. McCain, "Feel free to
move as far to the left as you want. I have no other choice but to vote for you." As long as the possibility remains
that conservatives will not vote for him remains, he will have to stay to the right.
“HE’S BETTER THAN EITHER OF THE DEMOCRATS!” So is having one arm cut off instead of both. You
won’t see me running around cheering…..”Hey, isn’t it great?!!! I only lost one arm!!” Just because something is
better than something else, does not mean I have to support it and campaign for it and cheer for it. There is no
doubt that he is better than either of the Democrats left. Is that how we really want to decide who is our
President? “Well he doesn’t suck as much as the others.” I know I don’t. I want to vote FOR someone, not
AGAINST someone else.
“HE’S MAKING AN EFFORT TO REACH OUT TO CONSERVATIVES.” He made a speech at CPAC.
Big deal. I was hoping that this would be his chance to make his appeal to me as a conservative. Am I the only
one that didn’t buy a word of what he was saying there? As I was watching the speech, I couldn’t help but feel
that he was disgusted by the fact that he had to kiss up to conservatives. I am of the opinion that if he thought he
had enough liberal and moderate support to win, he would have driven past CPAC and flipped off everyone who
was attending. I hear the pundits saying that it was a good first step for McCain to woo conservatives.
Conservatives don’t need wooing if you are one of us. The fact that he has to woo conservatives should set off
alarms in the heads of anyone who considers themselves a conservative. He said he will make the Bush tax cuts
permanent. O.K. That’s great! But why did he vote against them in the first place? He claims now that it was
because there wasn’t any spending cuts to go along with it. But at the time, he used class warfare rhetoric calling it
tax cuts for the rich. Now where have we heard those words before? Oh yeah….the Democrats. I’ll be
generous though. Let’s say I take him at his word now and that he opposed them because there were no
spending cuts to go along with it. Isn’t this just as bad? Conservatives know, that when you cut taxes, revenue to
the government increases. So even if there were no spending cuts, the government would have been better off
with the tax cuts. More importantly, the citizens of this nation would have been better off with the tax cuts. Don’t
get me wrong, I am all for cutting spending. However, that is not a prerequisite for cutting taxes. He has said he
got the message about illegal immigration and that he will secure our borders first. Listen closely to what he has
said though. He may secure the borders first, but then he is still open to granting amnesty to all the illegal
immigrants that are here. That is not what most people in this nation want. We want the borders secured and to
deport those that are here illegally. He has said he will seek the council of conservatives on issues. Sounds great.
The fact is he has not done so in the past, so why would he start now?
"HOW DID WE GET TO THIS POINT ANYWAY?" How is it that John McCain even had a chance to win
the Republican nomination? After the first few debates, I endorsed Duncan Hunter. In my opinion, Duncan
Hunter was far and away the most complete conservative running. I supported him and his candidacy. After
endorsing him, I received hundreds of messages telling me, "You are right...Duncan Hunter is the best conservative
in the race. But he doesn't have a chance to win. So I am voting for 'insert another candidate here.'" We had a
true conservative running. By most everyone's opinion, Duncan Hunter is a true conservative. How many of you
supported his candidacy? How many people chose to support someone who they thought "could win" over
Duncan Hunter, only to see their candidate drop out? If we are going to keep supporting candidates simply on the
basis that "they can win," we are going to keep getting candidates like John McCain.
“O.K. TRENT. THEN WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?” John McCain is not all bad. He has some
conservative values. Some conservative values does not make a person a conservative though. I am not
comfortable putting my support behind him at this point. Once again, the election is in nine months. I don’t have
to decide what I am going to do now. Have I already made up my mind to vote for John McCain? No I haven’t.
Can John McCain ever garner my vote? Yes he can. But he won’t get it by constantly telling me he is a
conservative. He won’t get it simply because he has an ( R ) next to his name. He won’t get it by simply making a
speech at CPAC. He won’t get my support by constantly saying “My fellow conservatives.” Honestly, that
drives me away from him. Most conservatives do not consider him a conservative. He needs to accept that fact.
What am I going to do? I don’t know yet. I am waiting to see how things play out. Nine months is a long time
and anything can happen. I will not hop on his bandwagon at this point in time. It is not headed in a direction I
am comfortable with. If we conservatives can alter the course of that bandwagon, I’ll consider hopping on at a
later point. Again, the only way to alter the course of his campaign, in my opinion, is to withhold support for the
time being.
I know I will get many responses to this. I welcome them all. I know some people will agree with me. I know
some people will be completely opposed to what I am saying and will insist we must jump behind McCain and
fully support him now. I hope I get some people at least thinking about their position. For those of you who say
that those of us not willing to support John McCain at present are not true conservatives and that we are foolish, I
respect your opinion. However, I do have a question for you. Why are you willing to give up your conservative
beliefs so easily and throw your support behind John McCain “as is?"
I’ll leave you with this thought. “The lesser of two evils is still evil.”
-Trent
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