When Ann Coulter made her infamous statement a week or so that if McCain wins the primary, she’ll vote for Hillary. At the time, I thought it was more over-the-top yapping from Coulter and I wished that she would shut up.
Now I’m wondering whether she’s right.
I don’t have the time to do write a long missive, but when you look at McCain vs. Hillary, they’re practically the same, though McCain has been more pro-life, which is an issue dear to my heart. He also has fought pork-barrel spending, which is something that I’m not sure we’ve ever seen in the White House over the last 100 years. However, his record also shows that he’s antagonistic to appointing conservative judges, though he later flip-flopped on the issue. John Fund in the Wall Street Journal points out some of McCain’s good points:
- Sen. Tom Coburn, perhaps the most fiscally conservative U.S. senator, notes that Mr. McCain fought President Bush’s 2003 Medicare drug entitlement plan.
- He told The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board last month that he now recognizes the 2003 Bush tax cuts, which he voted against, helped spur economic growth. But he has seldom repeated that in public.
- If he emphasizes his record fighting pork-barrel spending and Islamic fanaticism, he will remind conservatives of where they agree rather than where they differ.”
He certainly has his bad points, too:
- Mr. McCain bruised his standing with conservatives on the issue when in 2005 he became a key player in the so-called gang of 14, which derailed an effort to end Democratic filibusters of Bush judicial nominees.
- More recently, Mr. McCain has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito, because “he wore his conservatism on his sleeve.”
I view McCain as a Hillary-lite. That’s not a horrible thing, as I would much rather have Hillary than Obama as president.
From Charles Hurt at the New York Post, who maintains that McCain :
But as McCain clinches the GOP nomination, he will begin his usual leftward lurch.
He will return to his lifelong positions as soft on illegal immigration, skeptical of tax cuts and favoring strong federal control over things like campaign financing.
McCain’s appeal to independents and even the left is what makes him such a powerhouse in the general election.
It is also precisely what has so many in the Republican base so wildly fearful of handing him the keys to the kingdom.
…
The depressing GOP field that has paved a path to victory for McCain also gave surprising wins last night to Huckabee in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee, as well as in his home state of Arkansas.
Still, McCain has so radicalized key conservatives that some have vowed to turn themselves into suicide voters next November by pulling the lever for Hillary Rodham Clinton over him.
Should I hold my nose and vote for McCain or should I be a “suicide voter” and vote for Hillary solely because I would rather have the bad things that would happen to be blamed on a liberal Democrat rather than a liberal Republican?
Right now, the answer is no. The first day of sitting in the OVAL Office changes presidents once they realize their burden and responsbility. Bill Clinton was, of course, an exception to that rule — he was and is a small-time Arkansas crook with a silver tongue.
However, if McCain wins the nomination and turns left in the general election, then I just might become a suicide voter.
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