Why Conservatives Detest John McCain

Senator John McCain is the kind of person one really would like to support, if only he weren't so-well-ornery. He's a war hero with a remarkable life story. If he had a personality and political philosophy to match, he would be unstoppable.

It's not just that he has a tendency to want to poke conservatives in the eye just for the joy of hearing them yelp. It's other, more serious things.

First there's McCain's tendency to want to suck up to the main stream media. Most people who call themselves conservatives are used to being called names by the left, especially in the media. In fact, we find it an affirmation when someone screams, "Racist!" or "Sexist!" or "War monger!" at us. It's a sign that we're doing something right.

Not McCain. McCain likes, apparently, being fawned over by the likes of Tim Russert and Chris Mathews, so much so that he will say just about anything to get that fawning, even attacking his fellow Republicans. A Republican who does that is called a "maverick", the idea being that "independence" is a thing to be admired when it comes to kicking your friends in the shins. Of course there is "independence" and there is the curious kind of political tourette syndrome that McCain seems to have.

McCain also likes to co-sponsor liberal legislation with Democrats. Most notorious was McCain-Feingold, an assault on free speech disguised as campaign finance reform. McCain-Kennedy would have provided amnesty to millions of illegal aliens who had broken the law by entering the country without a proper visa. McCain-Lieberman was a global warming bill that would have imposed mandates on limiting greenhouse gasses.

Despite building up his image as the "straight talking" Senator, McCain is not above a little hypocrisy and even double dealing. In the 2000 Campaign against George W. Bush, McCain complained about unfair attacks on his character from Bush affiliated groups. But while McCain was doing this he was authorizing push polling that suggested that Bush hated Catholics.

In 2008, McCain issued a lie that Mitt Romney was in favor of a time table for withdraw from Iraq. Despite being called on the lie, even having Romney's words specifically read to him, McCain insisted on repeating the lie and refused to apologize.

Of course this may not matter. For some reason, unknown to anyone with common sense, McCain might just become the Republican nominee in 2008. The race is far from over. McCain's last serious opponent, Mitt Romney, can still pull things out, despite McCain's recent win in Florida. But the awful possibility is there.

It does not matter because McCain is right about at least two issues that both of his possible opponents, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, are very wrong about. McCain is on the right side of the War and the right side of government spending.

McCain has been a lion about the War on Terror, even publically supporting the surge campaign in Iraq when most pundits thought it was political death. He can be trusted to prosecute the War on Terror wherever it takes place, using whatever it takes. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are appeasers, to put it politely, who have publically sworn to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq and support measures to hamper efforts to hunt down and deal with terrorists.

McCain has also been a constant champion against wasteful spending, especially the pernicious practice of earmarks, even before such became popular. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have promised massive spending increases, paid for by massive tax increases. And Clinton is especially a pork queen, grabbing hundreds of millions of special projects in her state.

It is true that McCain, in the past, has been very weak on cutting taxes, going so far as to oppose the Bush tax cuts. But he has, apparently, changed his mind and is supporting tax cuts, including making the Bush tax cuts permanent and extending cuts to corporate taxes. He deserves the benefit of a doubt on this subject. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have promised huge tax increases

McCain has also recently come out for funding the President's Vision for Space Exploration. That's a good start, though he also needs to support space commercialization. But McCain's position is far superior to those of Clinton or Obama, who have promised to cut space exploration and are silent on space commercialization.

Make no mistake. In the opinion of this author, Mitt Romney is the far superior candidate. Romney is not only far more reliably conservative than McCain, but he has a better temperament. Romney has none of McCain's unsettling personality quirks. He also comes across as young, articulate, and well manned. Despite current polling, Romney is far better positioned to beat either Clinton or Obama.

But the fact remains if McCain becomes the nominee of the Republican Party, he is deserving of winning. For all of his flaws, he is far better than the alternative. And if he becomes President, conservatives can keep a close watch on his administration, rising up as needed when McCain's more pernicious impulses create bad policy, being supportive when he is on the right track.