Posted by
Glen Albrethsen on Thursday, January 24, 2008 1:19:48 PM
Here it comes again: John McCain is playing the most electable card.
No, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that. All candidates need to make the case.
As far as McCain is concerned, however, it isn't, "I'm the most electable among those who most share our values," it's "I'm the most electable because I'm willing to tick people off and vote against party and principle whenever I think it's in the best interest of the country, based on what I think is right."
Now, don't get me wrong. I don't think voting party is always in the best interest of the country, and I do think voting conviction is a sign of true leadership. However, you do have to be right more than you are wrong. And you do have to listen to your constituency, the American people, somewhere along the line.
Do I have to go through the list of recent McCain meanderings? I think they've been well represented elsewhere. They just need to be weighted against principle vs. political expediency.
My trouble with McCain's assertion is, he's not alone. Sure, there are plenty of Republicans saying the same thing, even a few conservatives among them. I'm worried about that, but the fact they are saying the same thing is not in and of itself problematic. Independents are definitely saying it, and from my own personal experience, there are plenty who do lean right, so that's not too bad. But folks, where the red flags go up like fireworks on the Fourth in my mind is when Democrats are also saying the say thing.
The more I hear from Democrat strategists, and the more they say, oh, we fear John McCain, the more I don't believe it. Why should anyone on the Republican side of the aisle believe them, particularly those who call themselves Democrat strategists?
Folks, there's a reason why these people are who they are. What kind of strategy is it to tell the opposition exactly what they don't want you to do? It might be the ultimate in reverse psychology, tell you, oh, we fear McCain, and then expect that someone among us will go, "Wait a minute, they must think he's the weakest, that's why they're playing it up."
Personally, I think it's more subtle than that.
It's a lesser of evils tactic.
Think of it. If their person can't win, whoever that is, are they going to want someone in the White House they think they can't work with, without compromising liberal principles, something that would actually cause damage to the Democrat party?
Not if these strategists are worth their salt, they won't. If their candidate can't get in, they certainly don't want someone who's going to make the Republican party look favorable, or better yet, who will actually make the conservatives look good.
This isn't a battle between Republican and Democrat anymore. Arguably, it never was. This is a battle of conservative vs. liberal, and the moderates are all waiting to mop up.
If the liberals can get anyone to lean left on anything, it is a victory. If they can make conservativism seem outdated or irrelevant, they win completely.
Let's say McCain is elected. If he does things that anger the conservative base, while pleasing the moderates and not making the liberals look bad, it is a victory for everyone but the conservatives.
If McCain proves to be the worst president on the face of the planet, who's going to be in the White House in 2012? A Democrat, because the Republican party will be even more demoralized than they appear to be now, and the conservatives will have voted against their principles, the only thing that allows us to save face.
McCain is win-win for Democrats. Either he moves people to the center because he works across the aisle without necessarily promoting party or conservative principles, ticking off the conservatives in the process and destroying the Republican party in the process, or he converts conservatives weary of fighting a war of attrition, or he destroys the Republican party because he's a bad president. He either blurs the lines, or he fractures the base completely, or both. The least likely scenario is, he unites the Republican party in a way that is detrimental to the Democrats.
The moderates have long been flying under the radar,watching as conservatives and liberals duke it out and lose credibility among the American electorate. Republicans and Democrats have long been associated as the parties of the conservatives and the liberals. That's not truly the case. While Republicans do have a tendency to lean right and Democrats to lean left, there are plenty who find themselves in the middle looking straight down the center of the road, or weaving left and right, depending on the circumstances.
If conservatives believe that conservativism is the best principle, and if they believe it must be preserved at all costs, over party and over winning the White House, they cannot nominate McCain. Even if he is the most electable.