McCain, Conservatism, and Pandering

The term Conservative is hard to define into a quantifiable sphere and so it is hard to measure how or if John McCain is conservative. He has always been pro life, and he has long fought for good fiscal spending. (He is a founding member of Citizens against Government Waste for instance) He has long been a proponent of strong national defense, and on the GWOT no one is more hawkish and ready to prosecute it more effectively and aggressively. The problem McCain has with Conservatives is two fold. He strayed from them on certain key issues and he did it rather loudly.

The issue of illegal immigration is his main beef with conservatives. McCain/Kennedy included a provision to allow a path to citizenship for all those that entered the country illegally. McCain has indicated that if he could that provision would likely not have been in the bill. The problem is that McCain knows all too well that crafting bills and turning them into law requires a level of pragmatism that won't always match a rigid ideology. In order for a law to be passed, it has to get through two houses of the legislature and a potential veto. Unless your party controls both ends of the legislature, the White House, and it has a veto proof majority in the Senate, you are going to have to reach across the aisle to craft legislation. That's what McCain did with McCain/Kennedy. Working with the other side used to be a noble thing, however in this day and age, allying yourself with the likes of Ted Kennedy is nothing less than blasphemy in Conservative circles.

Frankly, McCain has a more liberal position on illegal immigration than most Conservatives. Unlike most conservatives, he doesn't necessarily think that all illegals should be punished with some sort of deportation. That said, for the most part, his position is pragmatic. He believes that illegal immigration is a serious problem. He wanted to craft legislation to attempt to solve it, and he believed that flawed legislation was better than no legislation at all. In the real world of legislating, crafting compromised bills that give concessions to the other side is a reality. On the other hand, in the world of true blue Conservatives, compromise on core principles is blasphemy and a flawed bill is much worse than no bill at all.

McCain's second biggest problem with Conservatives is McCain/Feingold. On this issue, I believe that McCain became obsessed with a real problem and just simply didn't realize that his solution was no solution at all. I believe that this legislation is a well intentioned but misguided attempt to solve a problem. Rather than solve it, the bill created all sorts of new problems. (like the proliferation of so called 527's that are the hallmark of the George Soros strategy) While I have serious problems with McCain/Feingold, I don't reduce a forty year career to one well meaning but misguided bill. True blue conservatives don't see it that way. They saw McCain/Feingold as an attack on the first amendment and a betrayal of Conservative principle.

The next problem Conservatives have with McCain is the so called Gang of 14. Conservatives wanted to strong arm the Democrats into eliminating the filibuster which they believed was abused by the Democrats against strict constructionist judges. Now, I found the Dems' ploys to be obscene. Elections have consequences and Presidents choose judges that have their type of philosophy. The Democrats didn't even have enough votes to stop the judges, so they filibustered them in a cynical attempt to stop what should have been a reasonable process. That said, I saw what happened when Tom Delay tried to strong arm Texas Democrats into accepting his re districting plan. The Democrats wound up being camped out in Oklahoma in a spectacle that frankly had all losers and no winners. Political gamesmanship has no winners, and the Democrats were likely not merely going to accept the nuclear option of eliminating filibusters on judges. The whole government might have shut down and who knows what else. That was likely what McCain was thinking about when he lead a group of fourteen legislators that agreed to a vague principle of extraordinary circumstances in filibustering judges. Again, that wasn't enough for true blue Conservatives. They wanted a confrontation and compromise was blasphemy.

The problem that Conservatives have with McCain is that he would rather do what he thinks is right than what some set of conservative principles tell him to do. He is generally a conservative thinker. His record generally bears that out. The American Conservative Union gives him a lifetime rating of 82. (that's out of 100) That is certainly not a perfect conservative but generally a conservative. The irony is that every Conservative's favorite non Republican, Joe Lieberman, only got a lifetime rating of 17. Lieberman is adored by most Conservatives more than most Republicans and that's because he dared to buck his party on the issue of Iraq and national security as well. Lieberman and McCain are very similar politicians. They generally look at an issue and try do what they think is right. One is generally liberal and the other generally conservative, however ideology doesn't drive their decision making. It is quite ironic that the exact same trait that warms conservatives to Lieberman, his independence to ideology, draws ire of McCain.

Both McCain and Lieberman are exactly the sort of politicians that I admire. Both value the good of the nation over their own careers and ideology. Unfortunately, given the manner in which the campaign has been going, I don't know that I can now classify most of the conservative leaders in the same way.

This brings me to Mitt Romney. There is plenty to like about Mitt Romney as a candidate. He has a long distinguished record as a successful leader and effective manager. That, to me, is the most important trait in a President. Of course, most conservative leaders have been drawn to him for other reasons. They see him as the new standard bearer for Conservatism. To me, this is pure nonsense. Most of Romney's conservative principles have been discovered just in the last couple years. Most of the conservative establishment from talk radio, to blogs, to Ann Coulter, they are all lining up behind Romney because they see him as the Conservative standard bearer. The problem is that Romney is no more Conservative than McCain. The only difference is that Romney bowed down to most conservative principles right before he got elected. Essentially, Romney is telling the Conservatives what they want to hear. In other words, Conservatives don't mind if you pander as long as you are pandering to them.

Here is how one commenter described Romney.

ABORTION RIGHTS "I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard."

Boston Herald Debate, 10/29/02 "Roe v. Wade continues to work its destructive logic throughout our society This can't continue." Speech to the Massachusetts Citizens For Life Mother's Day Pioneer Valley Dinner, 5/10/07

IMMIGRATION REFORM "With these 11 million people [here illegally], let's have them registered, know who they are....those that are here paying taxes and not taking government benefits should begin a process towards application for citizenship."

Lowell Sun, 3/30/06 "One simple rule: no amnesty. If that [Kennedy-McCain bill] is not a form of amnesty, I don't know what is." New York Times, 6/4/07 [Romney is apparently the only remaining GOP candidate who has actually employed illegal aliens -- at the Romney Mansion]GUN LAWS

"We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts; I support them. I won't chip away at them; I believe they protect us and provide for our safety." Romney in 2002 gov. debate, Boston Globe, 1/14/07 "

I have a gun of my own. I go hunting myself. I'm a member of the NRA [for less than one year] and believe firmly in the right to bear arms." Boston Globe, 1/14/07 AMENDMENT TO BAN GAY MARRIAGE "Mitt does not support it...As far as Mitt
is concerned, it goes farther than current law, and therefore it's unnecessary." Romney spokesman, Boston Globe, 3/22/02 [As governor, Mitt Romney issued an executive order forcing justices of the peace to perform homosexual weddings, or resign. Then he ordered marriage licenses changed to read "party A" and "party B" – instead of "husband" and "wife."]

"When I was Governor, we took every conceivable step within the law to stop, block or slow down this unprecedented court decision." Speech to National Right to Life Convention, 6/15/07 "

NO NEW TAXES" PLEDGE "I'm not intending to, at this stage, sign a document which would prevent me from being able to look specifically at the revenue needs of the commonwealth" Associated Press, 3/27/02 "

Signing the pledge now sends a very clear message to those in Washington
who have voted against tax relief and for tax hikes that such actions will never
grow our regional and national economies." Romney spokesman, Boston Globe,
1/5/07

MINIMUM WAGE "I think the minimum wage ought to keep pace with inflation. I
think the minimum wage is a good thing to have in our economy and I think it
ought to be updated." Boston Globe, 10/17/94 "[T]he challenge with raising the
minimum wage excessively is it is a hurt to those that are entering the work
force, the very poor, those that are trying to get early jobs, get those first
jobs." Associated Press, 7/25/06

CUTTING SOCIAL SECURITY"I don't think you go back and rewrite the contract
the government has with people who've retired." Boston Globe, 10/17/94 "Personal
accounts would be a big plus."... [Romney]also said changing the retirement age
could be considered, as well as basing the Social Security cost of living
adjustment on a different inflation gauge. Union Leader, 6/7/07

ADOPTION NON-DISCRIMINATION Governor Mitt Romney and a legislative leader yesterday delivered unwelcome news to the Catholic bishops of Massachusetts, who plan to seek permission from the state to exclude gay and lesbian parents from adopting children through its social service agencies. The governor said he was not authorized to give such an exemption... Boston Globe, 2/17/06 "And then another slide along the slippery slope. The Catholic Church was forced to end its adoption service, which was crucial in helping the state find homes for some of our most difficult to place children... Now, even religious freedom was being trumped by the new-found 'right' of gay marriage." Speech to National Right to Life Convention, 6/15/07

STEM CELL RESEARCH [Romney]endorsed embryonic stem cell research, saying the controversial science might one day help treat his wife's multiple sclerosis...."I am in favor of stem cell research. I will work and fight for stem cell research. I'd be happy to talk to [President Bush] about this, though I don't know if I could budge him an inch." Boston Globe, 6/14/02 "

FACT: Governor Romney Opposes Using Taxpayer Money to Fund Embryo-Destructive Research." MittRomney.com A Record of Protecting Life

BUSH TAX CUTS Governor Mitt Romney refused yesterday to endorse tax cuts at the heart of President Bush's economic program...In addition to refusing to endorse the president's tax cut, the governor surprised several people at the meeting by saying he is open to a federal increase in gas taxes.

Boston Globe, 4/11/0 [Romney] said it was "absolutely critical" to renew tax cuts proposed by President George W. Bush. Letting them expire would result in a "massive tax increase" that would retard economic growth, Romney said. Detroit Free Press, 2/8/07

The commenter went on. I don't have time to check the veracity of each of the points, however there is no doubt that many of Romney's conservative positions are new found. I have been in sales for years and I know the power of telling people what they want to hear. That is what Romney is doing here. He is telling the Conservatives what they want to hear. The Conservative establishment is eating it up. They have turned this individual, who only recently became a Conservative, into the new Conservative hope. This is no different than the employee kissing the boss's a$$. That is what Romney is doing, only the boss is the conservative establishment and he is kissing their a$$es by bowing down to their principles.

The whole thing makes me sick. The Conservative establishment is rewarding the exact behavior they would abhor if it were done to the other side. They are rewarding exactly the sort of behavior that cheapens the process. They are doing it because they value ideology more than principle. Because McCain has his own set of principle and he refuses to bow down to anyone, the Conservative establishment has made him their enemy, even though more times than not he is with them. The Conservatives don't want a person of principle. They want someone that bows down to their ideology. The whole process has made cynical. A good man has been demonized because he dare stray from their core set of values. They reward obvious pandering because that pandering is directed at them. I wish it were different but my fellow ideological brethren have disappointed me.