Why Alabama Republicans Should Vote for McCain
Danny was nice enough to give me some space yesterday to make my strategic argument for why Barack Obama is the smart choice for Alabama Democrats. My argument was based on the premise that Democrats need to do something to change the rules of a game they’ve been losing a lot more often than winning. Obama, in my mind, is the candidate best suited to do that.
Conversely, Alabama Republicans’ best bet is a candidate who can extend the status quo that has led to Republican dominance in Alabama at the federal level. The candidate best able to do that (and not solely as a result of winning by default) is John McCain. We all know the story by now. McCain was the once and future GOP frontrunner in 2008, and at this writing he looks as well positioned as anyone to win the nomination but is by no means a lock.
So why is McCain the best choice for Alabama Republicans? He is not without his own strengths, but let’s start with the shortcomings of his opponents.
Mike Huckabee is stylistically a good fit for Alabama Republicans. He’s a pastor and has a folksy blue-collar demeanor. However, his record of opposing free-trade, raising taxes, banning smoking, and giving state scholarship money to illegal immigrants is enough to take the wind out of almost any Republican’s sail. That combined with his rhetoric of merging the Constitution with the Bible is enough to alienate both Republicans and Democrats. Even if Huckabee’s Bible-based populism can survive in Alabama, I wouldn’t expect it to fly nationwide. This renders Huckabee as the least electable Republican candidate this side of Ron Paul.
Mitt Romney. Where to begin? Mitt would probably be a good President. But it’s just not coming together for him. Alabamians had a chance to vote for an ivy-league Massachusetts flip-flopper with good hair in 2004 and didn’t much like that idea. Ok, that’s a cheap shot, but that’s the reality Romney is dealing with. Oh and the whole Mormon thing is a non-starter in a state like Alabama.
Rudy Giuliani is a liberal on issues like abortion, gay, rights, guns, and immigration. No amount of quoting George Will can change that. And plus Giuliani is just a strange guy. He dresses in drag on SNL, has virtually no relationship with his kids or ex-wives, answers his cell phone while giving a speech. He’s just an odd duck of the type that won’t wear well (and isn’t wearing well) over the course of a long campaign. Alabama Republicans started voting for the GOP in order to vote against guys like Giuliani.
Fred Thompson dropped out of the race while I write this. Thompson would have been a good fit for Alabama Republicans, whether or not he had ties to the state. But after an initial flurry of interest, he quickly settled at the bottom of the pack of the serious candidates. Thompson never seemed able to decide what his campaign was about. Was he the only true conservative, the straight-shootin’ non-politician, or the wise old man? Had his campaign developed caught fire, he’d have been a perfect fit for Alabama Republicans, but alas it did not. Which leaves us with….
Ron Paul. Just to be comprehensive, I’ll deal with Ron Paul too. Most observers realize that despite his principled record of libertarianism, the only thing really holding the GOP together is their adherence to the Bush Doctrine at least as it pertains to Iraq. Paul’s loud and frequent denunciations of all things Iraq and neoconservative may warm the hearts of those on the left, but they are of course not a selling point among party regulars.
So that disqualifies everyone but McCain. However, McCain is not without his own merits. Despite what many of the conservative elite say (Rush Limbaugh, NRO) McCain is a conservative. The issues where he’s been a maverick are on process issues like campaign-finance reform and judges. And while he went off the reservation out of personal pique at the start of the Bush administration, he buried the hatchet with W in 2004 and has talked a pretty conservative game while running for President. While some may grumble, McCain is conservative enough to secure the GOP base vote in 2008, even if he isn’t quite a John Ashcroft Republican. In fact, McCain may be the only Republican who will be able to keep the base satisfied while reaching out to moderate Republicans, independents, and conservative Dems to build a winning nationwide coalition.
McCain would easily win Alabama against any Democratic nominee, combining the strengths outlined above with his attractive profile of a war hero which of course plays very well in military-heavy Alabama. John McCain will not inspire the most enthusiasm among the Republican faithful nor will he construct a new Republican governing coalition, but he is a safe choice and will at least paper over the fractures of the Republican Party. He could allow the Republicans to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in an election, which if one looks at the macro political picture, they have no business winning.
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Good work. Looks like the race between what we used to call Show and Go is on. Also agree this is the race national Democrats can only blame themselves for losing.
Comment by walt moffett — January 23, 2008 @ 11:41 am
Check out my article on John McCain and short memories
www.johnkillian.blogspot.com
Comment by John Killian — January 23, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
I wasn’t asked to write an Op Ed but I this was in my inbox this morning and I thought it might be an appropriate response:
——-Original Message——-
From: Date: 01/22/08 11:29:02
To: undisclosed-recipients:,
Subject: “Vote Republican” (written Sept. 13, 2002)
Vote Republican
September 13, 2002
Vote Republican to finally eliminate government so corporations can run America.
Vote Republican to keep growing our budget deficit that has spent the entire Clinton surplus while passing more tax cuts in the spirit of trickle-down economics.
Vote Republican to give tax breaks to the wealthy, leaving you to pay their part of the tax bill.
Vote Republican so HMO’s and insurance companies instead of your doctor can make all your healthcare decisions.
Vote Republican so drug companies can profit from privatized prescription drug benefits that seniors, veterans and other needy citizens will have to pay for.
Vote Republican so drug companies can rake in high profit margins from the rest of us.
Vote Republican so private providers can make a profit from tax-dollar school vouchers without accountability and close down public schools.
Vote Republican to privatize Social Security so Wall Street firms can profit from your retirement.
Vote Republican to put your hard-earned savings and pension funds in the pockets of CEO’s and investment firms.
Vote Republican to make it harder for investors to sue those who rip them off.
Vote Republican to help credit card companies collect on high interest debts by making it tougher to file for bankruptcy when 9 of 10 bankruptcies are the result of job loss, medical-bill payments or divorce, hitting women the hardest.
Vote Republican to deregulate electric service so big users can bargain for lower rates, leaving residential users, especially in rural America, to fend for themselves.
Vote Republican so factory farms and Big Ag can do all the farming as they replace family farms and destroy our rural communities through market manipulations.
Vote Republican for more agriculture programs like the Freedom to Farm Bill.
Vote Republican to weaken clean water and clean air regulations so your children can get used to pollution when they grow up.
Vote Republican so we don’t have to sign the Kyoto Protocol and be concerned about global warming - let other countries worry about that.
Vote Republican so Wal-Mart and other big chains can use the tax laws to completely close down our Main Street businesses.
Vote Republican if you think business first and people last.
Vote Republican to take away workers rights and reduce their benefits and wages.
Vote Republican to hold minimum wages below the poverty level for people coming off welfare.
Vote Republican to oppose a living wage that would lift families out of poverty.
Vote Republican for efficiency and profits at the expense of human beings, communities and the environment as promoted by MBA’s trained in the Chicago School of Economics, the foundation for Reaganomics.
Vote Republican to deregulate and privatize in a free market place so big businesses have little competition or accountability when setting the prices you pay.
Vote Republican to deceive voters with phony sound bites like “Right to Work” that destroys workers’ rights; “free trade” that is never fair; and “eliminate big government” so the biggest players in any market always set the rules without regulations.
Vote Republican so you pay for tax incentives given to enterprises that bring cheap jobs to your community.
Vote Republican for free trade to export good American jobs to Third World sweatshops.
Vote Republican so religious extremists can tell you how to live your life.
Vote Republican to keep sex education out of schools so our teenagers can figure out for themselves what causes pregnancies, AIDS and other STD’s.
Vote Republican to spy on your neighbors and lock up anyone that looks suspicious without a fair hearing.
Vote Republican so only a handful of people can send us to war without public debate in Congress.
Vote Republican so the Executive Branch of government can ignore the Constitution and continue to operate in secret.
Vote Republican to increase the military budget for the benefit of defense contractors whether the Pentagon needs it or not.
Vote Republican to build bigger, more powerful weapons to wipe out whole villages where some terrorists may be hiding.
Vote Republican so we can set off another nuclear arms race by not renewing and ratifying treaties.
Vote Republican so overloaded trucks loaded with lethal reactor cores in flimsy containers can drive through your community, even near your home.
Vote Republican and send our corporations to the Bahamas to avoid paying taxes.
Vote Republican to defeat any campaign finance reform that would limit the power of money in politics.
Vote Republican, which produces death, desperation and depression.
Vote Republican to ensure national decline is guaranteed!
**************
Comment by bhmhomeboy — January 23, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
3 reasons not to support McCain:
- Jeff Sessions says McCain is soft on immigration
- he did not support the Bush tax cuts
- he authored legislation to curtail free speech
Comment by Lyn Johnson — January 23, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
per usual bhmhomeboy spews his nonsense. i have yet to read a posting he has made that was not ridiculous. he never changes.
Comment by JT — January 23, 2008 @ 2:47 pm
Lyn Johnson, you can’t even make your own criticism of McCain? “Jeff Sessions says…” as if anybody in Washington on either side of the aisle takes Jeff Sessions seriously? He’s not an authority on anything, especially immigration. Quote somebody from DC with some actual sway. I’m voting Democrat this time no matter what but I’d like to think that a race against McCain would be a fairly clean one.
Comment by SamfordDem — January 23, 2008 @ 3:09 pm
The GOP’s adherence to the Bush Doctrine is the very reason for it’s precipitous fall! To get buy in for an increasingly unpopular war his colleagues in the house crammed pork into every bill they could find, abandoning all pretense of fiscal restraint, and Bush couldn’t be strong and veto the spending bills because the pork was the pay off for their support of the war. Small government fiscal conservatives like me are aghast and demoralized for having been lied to by the *supposedly* conservative politicians we once supported who have expanded the role of the federal government (NCLB, prescription drugs, McCain-Feingold) and spent our tax dollars with reckless abandon.
Paul’s consistent, principled small government conservatism won over this life long Republican. True party regulars who remember, and were won over by, the small government rhetoric of the early to mid 1990’s find his message - and the fact that he has backed it up with votes – refreshing and appealing.
Huckabee is almost a mirror image of our beloved Bob Riley. Socially conservative without question. Eager to raise taxes when times get tough. I guess you must think Riley would also be the least electable candidate (this side of Paul).
McCain is #3 on my list (ahead of Romney and Giuliani) despite his ample deviations from what a true small government conservative would do. I at least trust him and admire his devotion to our country.
Comment by Brian — January 23, 2008 @ 4:16 pm
I especially find the third to last entry in Homey’s list funny since it is the Senate Democrats who routinely kill any sort of ethics reform in this state.
Comment by Margaret — January 23, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
Chauncey, thanks for the essay.
Here are the results of the Madison County GOP Straw Poll (held this past Saturday):
Thompson 35.2 percent
Romney 17.6 percent
McCain 12.6 percent
Huckabee 12.1 percent
Guiliani 6.5 percent
Paul 5.5 percent.
Undecided 7.5 percent
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1200824174207980.xml&coll=1
Note that Sen. McCain tied for third in military-heavy Huntsville. But you may be right, we’ll see in a couple of weeks. I’m probably voting for Gov. Romney now that Fred’s out of the race…
Speaking of Massachusetts politicans running for President in 2004, here’s a quote from John Kerry, who advocated for the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong position in testimony to Congress:
“I have been to Paris. I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government and of all eight of Madam Binh’s points…”
http://www.c-span.org/2004vote/jkerrytestimony.asp
Comment by Reactionary — January 23, 2008 @ 5:10 pm
Two words why we should support McCain if for no other reason (and there are plenty of reasons to vote for him): MIKE HUCKABEE. Huckabee is a charlatan. His campaign, like Obama’s, *is* a fairy tale.
And no, Huck is most certainly NOT a “mirror image” of Bob Riley, but keep dancing with that strawman. It’s unsurprising coming from a Paulbot.
/eyeroll
Comment by Beth — January 23, 2008 @ 5:25 pm
I’ll bite - differentiate Riley and Huckabee. Show me what a true conservative Riley is.
That eyeroll thing is real cute by the way. Between that, calling me a Paulbot, and talking about a dancing strawman you *almost* said something of substance.
Comment by Brian — January 23, 2008 @ 6:48 pm
McCain-Finegold ati free speech campaign finance bill to protect incumbants.
McCain-Kennedy Amnesty bill
McCain & gang of 14 deal to block conservative Federal Judges
McCain & Democrats try to block middle class tax cuts.
Comment by JD — January 23, 2008 @ 6:55 pm
McCain-Finegold anti free speech campaign finance bill to protect incumbants.
McCain-Kennedy Amnesty bill
McCain & gang of 14 deal to block conservative Federal Judges
McCain & Democrats try to block middle class tax cuts.
Comment by JD — January 23, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
McCain is a liberal I will not vote for him. If he is in the race with either HRC or BHO there will be no need to vote as they are all the same.
Comment by Therm — January 23, 2008 @ 8:51 pm
Don’t forget that McCain voted to allow stem cell research on embroys. Too liberal for me.
Comment by Teri — January 23, 2008 @ 9:04 pm
fwiw - if I vote Republican, I’ll vote for McCain
Comment by OldCloverdale — January 23, 2008 @ 9:43 pm
Old Cloverdale,
Good idea. McCain is a badass, pure and simple. Some of his actions in the Senate do warrant serious consideration of his “conservative” credentials. But who cares? Is that label seriously worth fighting for? The criticism he receives from the Republican power structure, such as in S.C., are likely signs that he’s a good choice for the people.
His devotion and love of country are unparalleled in this election. He is a good man. I agree, if I vote Republican, I’ll vote for McCain.
Comment by Gunney Highway — January 24, 2008 @ 7:24 am
I don’t classify myself as either a Republican or a Democrat. I’m more of an independent constitutionalist. I took an oath more than once to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” as has every member of Congress and our presidents. I still stand by that oath, but it seems that many members of Congress, and even President Bush, think of the US Constitution as just a piece of paper from our past history which is to be circumvented or ignored when convenient. Ron Paul is the rare exception, and for that reason I support him above all other candidates.
We often see some Republicans referred to as “RINO”s. To my way of thinking the Republican Party, for the most part, has abandoned the principles which at one time distinguished it from the Democratic Party, and which brought about the “Republican Revolution” several years ago which made it the majority party in Congress. Thus, I think the party itself now deserves the “RINO” label.
As our former Governor GCW, said, there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the two major parties. That is even truer today than it was at the time he said it.
Comment by Don — January 24, 2008 @ 10:40 am
It has come to the attention of the public that Bush lied 935 times to sell the Iraq war/occupation. http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/74715/
McCain supports the war/occupation, which means he supports the lying that got our troops there and are keeping our troops there.
Comment by bhmhomeboy@aol.com — January 24, 2008 @ 10:51 am
Seriously, McCain? Well, then again, I guess some people might enjoy the 100-year American military presence in Iraq that McCain suggests. He also supports amnesty for illegal aliens, definitely NOT a true conservative ideal. Vote Republican. Vote Classical Conservative. Vote Ron Paul 2008.
Comment by J. — January 26, 2008 @ 12:16 am
I am a Republican. I have always been a Republican. I have donated a considerable amount of time and money to the Republican Party. However, I will not now or ever vote for John McCain. Some of you people are to soon to forget McCain’s “Affair” with the Democratic Party. His pandering(we call it Pimping in SE Bama) with his DC Liberals around the beltway cost many votes and support for the party. McCain is a Democrat in a Republican suit. If John McCain gets the Nomination for the Republican Party, I shall vote for a Democrat. At least they do not operate covertly!
Comment by Ron Watson — February 4, 2008 @ 4:24 pm
You seem to forget as a die hard REPUBLICAN!that McCain stands for just about everything that Bush does militarilly and economically. He agrees that right away to save or help the people he is so for is willing to cut Medicare just like Bush.His past history just like Bushes ethics are to be desired!Even though I don’t like Ann Colter she still has made some very good points and I’ll definitely vote for Hillary. And if youall are smart you’ll do the same. Barac might make a good Prez. one of these days but not now!! Huckabee is your best bet for the future of the people.
Comment by Chris Earnest — February 4, 2008 @ 7:26 pm