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For the Good of the Party

7 February 2008

When John McCain uses the phrase “for the good of the party” I have a little trouble taking him seriously. When did McCain ever do anything for the good of the party? Was it good for the party when McCain spent years ramming campaign finance reform down our throats? How about immigration reform? Was that good for the party? Then there’s the Gang of 14? Was that good for the party?

The fact is, John McCain has never cared about what was good for the party. He is only concerned about what’s good for him. Right now what’s good for him is convincing people that voting for him is best for the party. While I can see why he’d use that line of reasoning, it simply does not hold water. Never mind that he’s asking us to do what he’s never been willing to do. I submit that what’s best for the Republican Party is to vote against John McCain, both in the primaries and, should he get the nomination, in the general election.

Does anyone seriously argue that George W. Bush has been good for the Republican Party? No real conservative I know of does. Yes, he’s done a few good things. He gave us two solid Supreme Court Justices. He gave us tax cuts. And he’s at least been willing to take Islamic fascism seriously though his prosecution of the war has been far less than stellar. But he is much like McCain. He’s a “big government conservative” which is code for not being a conservative. Bush never was a conservative and neither is McCain.

It might be argued that Bush was infinitely better than the alternatives. That 9/11 changed everything and where would we be had Gore been in office? I understand those arguments and I’ve even made them. But I’m not buying them any longer. Bush has presided over the largest expansion of the federal government since LBJ! How is that good for the Republican Party or the country? It was Bush’s leadership that lead us to a resounding defeat in ‘06!

Following the ‘06 elections I was dismayed at the number of Republican elected officials who completely misunderstood the results of that election. Almost without exception they blamed GOP losses on the Iraq war. I argued then and still believe that the primary reason for those losses was the abandonment of conservative principles by Republicans in Congress. To his credit McCain was one of only a few who actually acknowledged that fact. That does not, however, make McCain a conservative. He has not repudiated a single position he held previously. He gives lip services to conservatism because it is politically expedient. There is not one shred of conservatism, or any other set of principles, at his core. He is merely self serving.

I remain convinced that what’s best for the party is to reject any candidate that is not a true conservative. Anything else leads right back to the conditions that caused our defeat in ‘06. And, as Rush Limbaugh has pointed out, if the country is to be taken down the wrong road, let a Democrat be responsible for it.

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