The Phenomenon Of McCain-Hate
In the wake of Super Duper Tuesday’s primaries and caucuses, a vast phalanx of self-professed “true conservative” commentators, journalists and bloggers are engaged in a vitriolic McCain-Hate campaign designed to smear and otherwise demonize the presumptive Republican nominee. This phalanx is led by the dubious likes of Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Tom DeLay, Rush Limbaugh, and Laura Ingraham. (It’s interesting to note that not one of these self-righteous right-wing pro-war radical hypocrites saw fit to serve a single day in any branch of the U.S. military—not even the Coast Guard.)
From Spiegel Online International:
[M]cCain has no more bitter opponents than those on the right-wing of his own party. Right-wing commentators and hosts of the big radio talk shows have joined forces to create a veritable anti-McCain brigade.
For weeks now, right-wing talk show host Rush Limbaugh has agitated against McCain on his program. The closer the Vietnam hero gets to the nomination, the meaner the attacks become. McCain “has stabbed his party in the back so many times,” Limbaugh rages. “I can’t even say how often.” The radio host says that he would prefer to have his party lose the election over having it be led by McCain. “If I believe the country will suffer with either Hillary, Obama or McCain, I would just as soon the Democrats take the hit … rather than a Republican causing the debacle.”
To a chorus of boos and wailing, McCain’s main Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, weaseled bowed out of the race yesterday during his speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington D.C. The conservative elite were stunned. They have been orphaned. Now they’re a radical political wing with neither leader nor icon. The Great White Hope, “the conservative’s conservative” (as Ingraham so ludicrously put it in her introduction speech for Romney at the CPAC), the snake-oil salesman extraordinaire has vacated the political scene. Rush, Michelle, Laura, et al are alone. Their once mighty roar now sounds more like the yipping of a litter of hungry Chihuahua pups.
They have been marginalized. This past Tuesday, after all, their message of conservative ideological purity was roundly repudiated at the polls by legions of less extreme Republicans and independents all across the nation–legions of mainstream voters who cast their lot with John McCain and not Mitt Romney. (Legions of mainstream voters who had the uncommon good sense to recognize that Romney is not a true conservative at all, but a shoddy facsimile thereof.)
And all the right-wing conservatives have left is their common, irrational hatred of John McCain.
Evil, bad John McCain, who has the unmitigated audacity not to agree with the extreme views of the conservative idealists. Terrible, reprehensible John McCain who had the unbelievably bad form to serve his country in a time of war and spend five miserable years in captivity while Hannity, Coulter, DeLay and their ilk partied and fornicated their way through college at Mummy and Daddy’s expense. (A little research reveals that not all of them actually made it all the way through college, by the way.) Shameful, nasty John McCain who sometimes has the gall to reach across the aisle to solve social problems (instead of standing back to watch thousands of Americans helplessly succumb to the vicissitudes of economic Darwinism).
They hate John McCain because he has heart. They hate him because he HAS A heart. They hate him because, unlike themselves, he has courage in his convictions. They hate him because he’s his own man–because he won’t kiss their feet like that lickspittle Romney was so wont to do. They hate him because he refuses to bow at the altar of their strict conservative orthodoxy. They hate him because he neither needs, nor wants, their support.
Most of all, they hate him because they can’t control him.
And I suppose that’s the most galling thing of all.
Mr. Grey Ghost at Politik Ditto has the right idea. Captain Ed does, too.
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Conservatives are beginning to amaze me in their inability to see what’s really at stake here.
This election is about more than McCain and his inability to follow conservative principals - although he has earned the angst of true conservatives.
But how is handing all three branches of our government over to far right liberals a suitable alternative to McCain?
There is a serious difference between McCain and a pure bread liberal who is bent on destroying ALL conservative values permanantly as well as our country with them.
Anti McCain commentators such as Rush Limbaugh have ventured the idea that perhaps we should sit this election out and let the Dems have a term in office, claiming it might pave the way for a future shot at a candidate he and others will like in four years.
Imagine the damage our country will endure if Democrats control all three branches of government for 4 to 8 years.
This would give liberals what they will regard as a clear sign from America that is it ready to move sharply to the left. Not slightly to the left. It will be a flamingly liberal mandate we can’t play games with.
My daughters will come of age in the next 4 to 8 years, and I’d rather have 50% of McCains ear than 0% of a destruction bent liberal’s ear.
Cherry picking our candidate is exactly what got us INTO this mess, and if conservatives aren’t careful, they may throw the entire country into a liberal spin that can take a decade(s) to pull back out of.
There is no such thing as a quick recovery from 4 years of severe liberalism unchecked. We may be facing what will take years and years of damage to undo. What’s more, there’s no guarantee that it WILL be undone. Have conservatives completely forgotten Roe v. Wade and other extremely important issues? We need some sort of conservative edge on every core issue we can get.
Questioning McCain was right and highly useful for a time and a season. Many of us wish we had acted sooner to support Romney or Huck….
But staying home on election day allows liberals a pass to capture all THREE branches of Government. Do you want your kids growing up in “Slick Willie” on steroids environment?
I’m not asking anyone to sacrifice their own belief or convictions, but we have a serious problem here, that we can’t afford to fall asleep on.
Give it some thought, friends.
Danny Vice
Comment by Danny Vice — February 8, 2008 @ 9:47 pm