Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

McCain the liberal?

How bipartisan would a President McCain be, Ann Althouse asks:

Better a principled, coherent liberal whose liberal choices will, if they don’t go well, be blamed on liberals than an erratic, incoherent liberal whose liberal choices will be blamed on the party that ought to get its conservative act together.

Discussions - 6 Comments

an erratic, incoherent liberal whose liberal choices will be blamed on the party that ought to get its conservative act together.

A good reason to hope Obama wins. If you think the GOP is unpopular now, just wait for four years of McCains liberalism.

This anti-spam thingy does not work very well. I hope you did not pay money for it.

Well . . . this is the kind of thing we may have to start telling ourselves. I'd still rather do the hard thing from our point of view and fight our own liberals from within (while they're in power) and save the country the misery of real liberals unleashed. It is preposterous to think that we help ourselves or the country by losing. Only losers talk that way.

It is preposterous to think that we help ourselves or the country by losing. Only losers talk that way.

Ouch. Far from being "preposterous" it is a rational and calculated position. The reasoning has been discussed here many times. Simply because you disagree with it does not mean it is "preposterous".

As for myself, I am not all that persuaded that another Jimmy will get us another Reagan. I am a "conservative for Obama" for two reasons. First, I think it is better to be governed by honest liberals (Dem's) than dishonest ones (GOP). Second, the argument that conservatives have been successful "fighting the liberals within" simply does not hold up when you look at the actual record of GOP governance (94-06, for example). Second-in-a-half, I think the whole GOP vs Dem's (your either one or the other - or your "throwing your vote away") paradigm is dissolving. In any case, I am not a party man. I have to have a positive reason to vote, not simply an "R" affiliation...

I have to have a positive reason to vote, not simply an "R" affiliation...

So what's your positive reason for voting for Obama, as you imply you will?

save the country the misery of real liberals unleashed.

McCain is a real liberal. As opposed to Obama, who is a real socialist. American political discourse would be greatly improved if people dropped the habit of calling the left "liberals".

So what's your positive reason for voting for Obama, as you imply you will?

He is who he says he is, a real liberal/socialist. I don't think your distinction applies, or rather not all that relevant to my point. It will be the GOP, not the Dem's who finish (it is part way there now) the socialization of medicine. The Dem’s don’t have the fiscal clout, and big and small business wants it off their books – so the GOP will be leading the socialist charge for the next decade (or how ever long it takes)…

So, Christopher, there's some independent value to sincerity? One could convince oneself to cast a vote for Hitler or Lenin with that sort of mindset.

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