Say Anything Blog

For conservatives, no “character assassination” is necessary, just the truth about his stance on the issues.

The secret of financial success:

If you can’t afford it, you don’t deserve it.  Even if you can afford it, that’s no reason to buy it.

I’m not sure how much actual “agreement” there is here, pp.  The Dems hate McCain because he’s a Republican, and the conservatives dislike him because he’s not a Republican, in the way he votes.

The secret of financial success:

If you can’t afford it, you don’t deserve it.  Even if you can afford it, that’s no reason to buy it.

NYT—that hotbed of Conservative thought, would go so far as to label RINO’s as Conservative. 

I am shocked, shocked.

McCain’s ACU Ratings

It is intellectually dishonest and misleading to state Conservatives, on the other hand, are disturbed that he is not 90% - 100% conservative.

It’s far worse than that.

First, a rating of 82.3 is not really that high.  It puts Senator McCain in 39th place among senators serving in 2006, the latest year for which the ACU has its ratings posted online.  For that most recent year in particular, McCain scored only 65, putting him in 47th place for that year.  Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE), for example, scored 64 and 75, respectively, in 2006.

Generally, McCain has voted less conservatively in more recent years.  His average for 1990-97 was 88, but was only 74 for 1998-2006.  Below are his yearly ratings since 1990.

McCain is all over the map on ACU ratings, dipping in the following years when he stuck his middle finger in his Republican constituents’ eyes:

2006 65

2001 68

1998 68

But what do these low marks represent, protection for the banded snail darter?  National highway system?  Earmarks for the sewage treatment system in Intercourse, PA?

No.  When McCain has stuck it to us, he has stuck the knife in our backs and twisted, often part of a very small swing vote that could have resulted in a Conservative victory. 

But no, he was busy 69’ing with Daschle, Schumer, Kennedy, Feinstein and those other icons of moderation.

What this means is that McCain’s ACU ratings since 1998 put him on the liberal side among Republicans.  The few Republicans consistently more liberal than McCain would be Chafee (formerly R-RI), Collins (R-ME), Snowe (R-ME) and Specter (R-PA). One could expect senators from northeastern states to be more liberal since their constituencies demand it, but McCain represents the fairly conservative state of Arizona.  (Arizona’s other senator, Kyl, has a lifetime rating of 96.9, and half the representatives from there have ratings of 94.7 or higher.)

As Ann Coulter has pointed out to us, McCain has been voting Liberal in a Conservative state.  He is getting a lot of the heavy lifting done by the crossover vote from Liberals and Independents.

If he has been that unresponsive to his Conservative constituency now, what sort of control will Conservatives have over him, once he sits in the White House?

Does anyone remember the rage engendered by the seeming tone-deafness of Bush, McCain, Martinez and Grahamnesty when pushing their abomination of Amnesty for Illegal Aliens?  How they had the temerity to insult those who fought this massive giveaway of a country as being bigoted, racist and so on?  It took a superhuman effort over a period of time to kill that beast.

McCain was at the head of the Give-away-America pack, insulting those who resisted him.

You think you will be able to rein him in on ANY point of importance once he has your vote / virginity / dignity in your back pocket?

If you do you are a fool, or a Liberal who anticipates just a thing occurring.

But then again, I am repeating myself.

...for great justice

Move_zig:its intellectually dishonest

Excuse me!  When I point out - quite accurately, that conservatives are disturbed that he is not 90% -100% conservative, thats a statement of fact, and you know it. 

You are free to refute and statement I make or challenge any data I include, but you are not entitled to know my heart and mind.

I frequently disagree with your statements, but I would never stoop to challenging your sincerity.

"Here lies, in honored glory, an American soldier, known but to God.”

“As a conservative, I will not be overly enthusiastic about voting for John McCain on November 4 - but I will be sprinting to the polling place to do so!”
Matthew May, conservative commentator, The American Spectator

When I point out - quite accurately, that conservatives are disturbed that he is not 90% -100% conservative, thats a statement of fact, and you know it.

I think “distrustful” would be more accurate than “disturbed”.  The truth is, McCain has earned our distrust.  It’s not really about any particular number, it’s about what he has done and not done.  It’s about his voting record.

The secret of financial success:

If you can’t afford it, you don’t deserve it.  Even if you can afford it, that’s no reason to buy it.

robert108:  ... and John McCain’s conservative voting record of 82.3% is not better than Barack Obama’s; a man who - in two short years - has earned the highest liberal voting rating that the ADA can bestow?

"Here lies, in honored glory, an American soldier, known but to God.”

“As a conservative, I will not be overly enthusiastic about voting for John McCain on November 4 - but I will be sprinting to the polling place to do so!”
Matthew May, conservative commentator, The American Spectator

pp: True enough; I would also favor McCain over Vlad Putin, but that’s not relevant to McCain’s voting record throughout his career, and how it relates to conservatives mistrusting him.

The secret of financial success:

If you can’t afford it, you don’t deserve it.  Even if you can afford it, that’s no reason to buy it.

Excuse me!  When I point out - quite accurately, that conservatives are disturbed that he is not 90% -100% conservative, thats a statement of fact, and you know it. 

That’s BS.

No Republican is 100% conservative. The Republican party has a problem with McCain for two reasons:

1. While he has a lot of small votes for Conservative priniciples, he has a lot of large votes against them. A vote to to cut 100k out of a pork filled bill means jack crap compared to his amnesty bill.

2. The glee he has in shifting left for adoration. He ENJOYS pissing off his base. It’s not a simple, “I believe this is right” measure. He goes out of his way to anger right wingers.

robert108:  ... and John McCain’s conservative voting record of 82.3% is not better than Barack Obama’s; a man who - in two short years - has earned the highest liberal voting rating that the ADA can bestow?

No, it simply isn’t. Barack Obama has a record of voting. McCain has a vote of legislating. Barack Obama may consistantly vote to the left, but he has never authored anything worth mentioning. The only thing Barack has to his credit on offering is the completely lackluster “accountability and transparency” measures he’s put forward. Contrast that with McCain’s amnesty, patient’s bill of rights, McCain-Feingold, etc, and McCain is easily to the left of Barack Obama.

When we look at the “socialist paradise” that is Cuba, we must remember that a sizable share of the misery those people suffer is directly attributable to Che Guevara bringing Castro into power, and giving him many of the policies that have caused so much pain. The real symbol of Che should be the raft, to remind us of all those who have died on rafts in the ocean trying to escape the Cuban nightmare and get to freedom. And had he not been killed, begging for his life like a coward, he would’ve done the same thing again and again in countries all throughout Latin and South America. His actions have inspired terrorists across a continent and caused countless deaths.

Moreover, how would the piece energize liberals? It puts McCain on par with Clinton?

When we look at the “socialist paradise” that is Cuba, we must remember that a sizable share of the misery those people suffer is directly attributable to Che Guevara bringing Castro into power, and giving him many of the policies that have caused so much pain. The real symbol of Che should be the raft, to remind us of all those who have died on rafts in the ocean trying to escape the Cuban nightmare and get to freedom. And had he not been killed, begging for his life like a coward, he would’ve done the same thing again and again in countries all throughout Latin and South America. His actions have inspired terrorists across a continent and caused countless deaths.