Here He Goes Again
Bill (of “motor-voter” access fame) lost his temper again, berating a reporter who quizzed him about the very strange support of the Clinton machine for a suit seeking to restrict caucus access for Nevada workers on the strip. He once again turned beet red, got in the reporter’s face and let go—about what we’ve seen in the Chris Wallace interview and the various rebukes to Obama on the stump.
For a number of years, Bill had seemed to take great efforts to achieve post-presidential, bipartisan “stature” by teaming up with George Bush the elder for humanitarian causes, and tried to be above the political fray, hoping to tap into the Bushophobia, and erase the bad taste of Monica and the pardons. But insidiously he is eroding all those efforts by his nasty campaigning for Hillary, and his adolescent outbursts. By year’s end he will have achieved what Jimmy Carter did in his post-9/11 slide, from elder statesman to partisan hack.
Republican Fratricide
After reading most of the McCain animus on conservative blogs, I’m a little worried that some of it goes over the top. Specifically, I am confused about statements on NRO where I write, suggesting that stopping pork barrel spending won’t improve a single American life or that McCain’s surge support is exaggerated. Stopping the bridge to nowhere or the billions spent needlessly (I can cite 100 such needless expenditures in central California) most definitely will improve far more than just a single American life. And while it is true that many candidates supported the surge, and that McCain unnecessarily in serial fashion denigrates Rumsfeld, his support for the surge was the most visible, and had a key effect in reining in other so-called moderate Republicans who were going to bolt.
McCain’s past support for the flawed immigration bill, McCain-Feingold, and opposition to tax cuts, as well as temper flare-ups at those who questioned his conservative fides are legitimate concerns. But many believe that the two key issues right now are winning, in conservative fashion, the war in all its theaters, and controlling out-of-control spending. He seems in the forefront there. Moreover it seems odd to fault him for telling the truth–however politically unwise–that all the jobs in the automotive industry simply aren’t coming back as before (given the global stature of Toyota, Honda, etc.), much less to suggest that his Michigan concession speech being (by design) preempted by a victorious rival is somehow just desserts.
I think those who might prefer a McCain or Giuliani will be perfectly happy to vote for the ticket should a Romney or Thompson be the standard bearer. But from the recent rhetoric, it almost seems the inverse is not true. And if that is the case, then a President Clinton seems to me a sure thing–which of course may be the desire— in the fashion that 1964 purists thought their loss logically led to recovery in 1968 or 1976 had to transpire to get to the promised land of 1980. I would remind conservatives, however, that we are in a war, and that sitting out 2008 might mean allowing a candidate to win (pick any of the three Democrats) who has promised to withdraw all troops in 2009, regardless of the battlefield landscape (perhaps versus a McCain Presidency who surely won’t do that).
California Tree-Fruit
I receive a lot of questions concerning why California tree-fruit, such as plums, nectarines, and peaches, continues to be in depression, when row crops and things like almonds and fresh grapes are not. Speaking as someone who grew up with the tree-fruit industry (my grandfather began farming our place in trees in 1910), I think there are three reasons.
All fresh fruit that is not storable is not so easily exported, and so misses out somewhat on the new appetites of an increasingly affluent middle class in China, India, and Korea, who are beginning to put California almonds in their rice, or use more of our walnuts or processed fruits as condiments. Second, 10-15% of all fresh fruit in the United States in the summer months is now consumed in farmers’ markets, and bypasses the old packer, shipper, broker nexus (Thank God), which leads us to the third relevant point: the new varieties that came on the scene in the 1960s were disastrous: big, shiny, watery, hard, bouncy—and tasteless, they shipped as well as they tasted awful.
Oh, to Eat an Elberta Peach!
In the old days, farming tree-fruit was an art: one had 24 hours to pick a delicious and ripe Santa Rosa plum or an Elberta peach before it went bad. Pickers used gloves; we used small padded boxes; and the fruit was on the truck within the day—or else. I can remember 20-hour days of madness as we rushed with my grandfather into the orchards to spread boxes and get them out, and hear his lectures to the picker to be sure to wear gloves and not drop the fruit from the bucket.
The result was that a consumer ate a delicious, ripe (and sometime messy overripe) tree-fresh plum or peach. It was hard to farm a 30 acre block of one single variety, since the skills involved took years to master. A single bad decision about irrigation timing, or soil fertilizaton, or thinning, or picking time, or a suddenly hot or cool day could spoil tons of fruit. The corporations, family or not, hated the hassles, and much preferred to have large tracts of ‘pick and forget’ varieties that were off the tree half green in one or two (rather than four or five) pickings. Almost anyone could manage such an orchard, and many with almost no skills did.
So with the advent in the late 1960s of varieties like Red Beaut plums (that destroyed its rival (both were picked in late May) delicious, soft old Burmosa early plum), May Grand nectarine, or Red Top peaches, the shipper had a fruit that could be picked half green and still colored much better, had a window of a week to be picked, did not bruise, had a good shelf life, and thus attracted the shoppers’ eye—until they got home and tried to eat it.
After forty years, the consumer said “no mas” and simply assumed that California plums, nectarines, and peaches were de facto unripe, hard and taste badly, if not saturated with chemicals to make them ship and look like plastic fruit. True, some have gone back to the old varieties for local consumption, but the notion that a family farmer of 100-200 acres could grow blocks of five-acre varieties, and from May to September pick and pack each day at a profit is apparently over.
They are going broke or long gone. Instead we have micro-farmers, mostly organic who do their own labor on 10-acre suburban farms for farmers’ markets, with tasty old varieties, OR mega-corporations, who own 5,000-10,000 acres of tasteless hard fruit and through sheer economy of scale still survive, though are in deep trouble since they have a product few anymore like.
(Tree-fruit farming is far more risky than Vegas gambling, as I can attest. It is not unusual to net $50,000 one year on a five-acre plum orchard, and lose $20,000 annually on it for the next seven years–due to hail, rain during bloom, shortage of bees, poor set, market collapse, changing taste for varieties, tree or soil diseases, strikes, etc.)
In the end, one would be safer playing the stock market or going to the Casino.
I note in passing that to a degree the fresh grape industry was similar, but the new shiny hard varieties like Flame Seedless tasted almost as good at Thompson Seedless (itself making an unfortunate devolution from a small, golden color sweet grape to a pumped up, girdled, gibbed-up, and water soaked monstrous, thumb-sized tasteless berry.)
The end of the Santa Rosa Plum and the Elberta Peach is emblematic of our age.
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40 Comments
David Thomson:“I would remind conservatives, however, that we are in a war…”
This harsh fact has been pushed to the back of too many people’s mind. The MSM has been very successful in keeping people focussed on domestic issues. Even conservatives are subcoming to the propaganda barrage.
Jan 17, 2008 - 12:40 pm Dave Begley -Omaha:Sen. McCain’s comment to the effect that “Detroit is never coming back” betrays his background and why I prefer Mitt Romney.
Sen. McCain (for as many great qualities as he has) has never worked in private industry for any length of time.
I full well know how long he was a POW, but after his release he worked as an aide on the Hill for a short time and then worked for his father-in-law in the wholesale beer distribution business.
The beer business is tough, but the Senator didn’t work it for any length of time.
At Bain, I don’t think Mitt Romney ever said, “The XYZ business will never come back.” Nor did he say, “The Winter Olympics can’t be saved.”
Call me a sap, but I won’t concede that America can make and sell good autos.
Same deal in Iraq. We can (and probably have) won that war when it looked awfully grim at this time last year.
My point: Don’t tell the American people they can’t do something. We can.
Jan 17, 2008 - 12:42 pm Brian Perry:Hello Mr. Hanson,
Thanks for the interesting background on tasteless fruit. I am currently doing some work for a strawberry grower/shipper gathering feedback from consumers. This grower is very good and puts out good-tasting fruit, and consumers go out of their way to let them know and thank them. Consumers have a strong positive reaction to the experience of eating these strawberries, and I suspect that like all of us, they had in some fashion resigned themselves to possibly never buying a tasty strawberry again. The consumers react as though hope has entered back into their grocery shopping life, and many compare the berries to ones they had “when I was younger”. I spoke with the grower about this, and he related the same tale you did- taste sacrificed decades back in favor of shelf life and the needs of the supply chain. He said that now the trend is toward bringing taste back, and that modern shipping methods such as immediate cooling of the berries can help with shelf life. It seems that the pendulum is now swinging the other direction, and I think that growers who bring taste at an acceptable price are rewarded. Of course, this grower/shipper pools berries from thousands of acres, so maybe no small-time farms need apply in this brave new food world.
Jan 17, 2008 - 1:31 pm BLOC:I have questions about McCain of just the sort you raised: McCain- Feingold, immigration and opposition to tax cuts.
To that, I’d add that he evidently believes in anthropogenic global warming. If so, and as president he commits himself to the kinds of “solutions” that the environmentalists say will save the world, then that’s “green pork” in abundance.
(I’m strongly supportive of developing alternative energy sources and preserving the environment — but IMO those pushing AGW are too inclined to downplay the cost of achieving their ends, which may not even be possible anyway.)
Jan 17, 2008 - 1:46 pm Bowden Russell:“Over the top”? His proposed non-amnesty “amnesty” made our blood boil.
Thus, in many conservative opinions, the man should have resigned in shame this summer, but since he has no shame like the rest of the Senate, e.g. Larry Craig, we’ll just settle for a good blog-slaughter of the man. That is what you get when you don’t redeem your honor.
Sorry, we have long memories.
Jan 17, 2008 - 9:57 pm Joe Witkowski:Regardless of you approval or disapproval of one of the 5 GOP candidates, Hanson’s point still remains something to remember: We are in a war, and the DNC candidate absolutely will bail on Iraq. Oppose those you oppose, support those you support (feverishly, if that is your desire). But come election day, just don’t decide to sit out 2008 because you don’t completely approve of the GOP candidate. Choosing the lesser of two evils (as I have heard some describe it) is still a lot better than picking someone who offers abandonment of Iraq. Please, do not sit out 2008.
Jan 18, 2008 - 7:56 am ivanhoe:The reason people like McCain are flayed for telling the truth is that many in the electorate have little enthusiasm for it, because the truth is often found on hard and stony ground, while the utopian promises of less candid politicians are music to the ears and easy picking on flat, wide paths. Just keep promising something for nothing and we rubes will continue to vote for you. That might seem a harsh judgment, but few have been elected since WWII on a platform of austerity and sacrifice for the sake of future generations.
Jan 18, 2008 - 10:02 am Dave Begley -Omaha:The jobs in the Republic of Michigan are not coming back until the current rotting union culture and management incompetence finally fades away, and Mr. Romney’s 20 billion dollar taxpayer funded CPR isn’t going to change that.
Many of us who consider ourselves conservative or libertarian and were against the Iraq War from day one can still see the stupidity of a precipitous withdrawal and subsequent likely slaughter.
At the end of the day, McCain has the best chance so far of stopping an Obama/Edwards or Clinton/Richardson ticket from totally bankrupting the country. If one listens to McCain’s stump speeches closely there is a fiscal conservative in his cranky old frame, but he also knows how the bipartisan game works, and what can be accomplished and what cannot. Its one thing to be a purist, and pine for what should be, it’s quite another to deal with what is and make the best of it.
Addendum: Caller to Rush Limbaugh on 1-18-08 recalled a PBS interview with Geo. McGovern late in life.
After he ran into bankruptcy a bed-and-breakfast/hotel in New England he reportedly said, “I would have voted differently in the Senate if I had experience in business.”
We need diversity in experience in the job of President. Sen. McCain comes from one of America’s great military families (both his father and grandfather were Admirals), but he lacks in the business experience area.
A McCain-Romney or Romney-McCain ticket would solve the problem.
Jan 18, 2008 - 11:04 am darrell epp:what do you think of hitchens’ latest anti-hilary piece? He reminds us that he wrote a book that accused slick willie of being a RAPIST (Juanita Broaddick) and nobody’s ever refuted it. I think you should write a piece about oedipus at colonus, which I just finished reading. Read about the death of free speech in Canada at the top of http://www.darrellepp.com. cheers
Jan 18, 2008 - 11:45 am richard estey:Just this week announced that the
Jan 18, 2008 - 1:11 pm John Saldutte:RAMAMPO tomato was coming back.
Like the tree fruits described by
VDH it was wiped out by corporate
farmers “pick ‘em while green, gas
‘em til they color” mentality.
Remember my late uncle Steve who
owned truck farm in western NJ -
going out on mucklands (drained
swamps) during summers and getting filthy picking vegetables. Long live the Jersey tomato !
Mr. Hanson,
Jan 18, 2008 - 8:03 pm RE:You have been one of my favorite contemporary authors for several years. You have proven your bona fides long ago. I have the deepest respect but I must disagree with you regarding Senator John McCain. I see the “War on Terror” as a multifaceted war. Gitmo, our policy of water boarding, the Patriot Act, NSA eavesdropping etc all fit within the larger strategy of defeating our enemies. Senator McCain, as you have asserted, did support the surge and as you correctly point out so have many other Republican leaders. In my opinion however, Senator McCain has damaged us in the greater war effort with his criticism of many of these successful strategies and his ‘torture’ hyperbole. It’s easy for me to say as I’ve never been tortured but I wonder if that is part of his problem. He is too close to the situation to understand just how effective we have been in gathering information without true torture. He has falsely asserted many times that we do not receive reliable information from enhanced interrogations, etc. This assertion has been proven false. Senator McCain is a patriot and I’m sure a fine man but for me and mine we will not support him for President of the United Sates. We do continue to support you, however. Thank you for your wonderful scholarship. John Saldutte Arizona
The assault on freedom of speech is at the of my list of concerns.
McCain’s demonstrated contempt for this fundamental right - be it McCain-Feingold or his attempt to ram through immigration legislation without debate is a deal-breaker.
Jan 19, 2008 - 7:35 am Fred Beloit:“McCain’s past support for the flawed immigration bill, McCain-Feingold, and opposition to tax cuts, as well as temper flare-ups at those who questioned his conservative fides are legitimate concerns.” Add global warming religion to the list. Concerns? Yes, sir. Yes, they are.
Jan 19, 2008 - 10:37 am H. Short:Doctor Hanson:
As I’ve stated previously, I have the utmost regard for your beliefs, opinions, and faith in this country. However, in regards to Mr. McCain you have not done your homework. McCain is not a hero. He was a POW, that is true. He was severely injured when his plane was shot down, he was bayoneted and beaten when he was captured. He was tortured and his injuries ignored during his first week in captivity. Then he broke.
He agreed to tell his captors what they wanted in return for medical care; and then to insure continued favorable treatment he told them who he was: the son of admiral McCain. He received favorable treatment there after. This is all well known within the POW community, military intelligence organizations, and various Vietnam Veteran associations. These are not spurious fabrications they are demonstrable facts.
He, along with Kerry, has spent his political career sabotaging government POW/MIA hearings. He is noted for insulting POW/MIA family members and pushing for the arrest of POW/MIA activists, while at the same time lobbying with all his might for dropping trade restrictions with communist vietnam. He is also noted for his spontaneous hugs and joyous greetings of former north vietnamese jailers or representatives.
His involvement with Keating and one of the biggest banking scandals of all time simply demonstrates the level of his personal corruption.
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnkerry.com/mccain_myth.htm
Jan 19, 2008 - 10:45 am L Nettles:http://www.newswithviews.com/Devvy/kidd59.htm
http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnkerry.com/ker_keating.htm
http://www.usvetdsp.com/kiley_court.htm
John McCain is a hero, also alas as was true of classical hero he is flawed.
He’s wrong on immigration and Global Warming.
So I voted for Fred today.
Jan 19, 2008 - 12:30 pm Richard R:I’ve tried to figure out how a President McCain would govern any differently than President H. Clinton. I cannot.
Clinton would remove troops from the ME “as soon as possible.” McCain would keep them there “Until they get the job done.
Taxes? Both want them raised.
Immigration? Both want amnesty and open borders.
Free Political Speech? None of that. Close Gitmo, give terrorists Habeas rights? Check. Guns? Check. Carbon taxes? Check.
The only advantage I can see for a McCain Presidency is that Iran would know deep in their hearts that if they nuked NY under a McCain administration they would cease to exist. With Clinton, they might think they would survive.
Jan 19, 2008 - 12:40 pm OmegaPaladin:I don’t think Dr. Hanson was trying to sell McCain as the nominee. More like McCain is better than Obama or Hillary. If McCain loses in the primary, he would not get my sympathy. He chose to be a maverick, and now he has to prove himself to be a Republican. If he fails, he has only himself to blame. If he wins, I think he should get our support.
It’s like Lieberman vs. Lamont.
Jan 19, 2008 - 1:15 pm Anne:Here’s an account of John McCain’s time spent at the Hanoi Hilton given by another prisoner who was there with him.
http://www.thestate.com/editorial-columns/story/287751.html
Jan 19, 2008 - 1:24 pm Dave:Someone you know well, Dr./Mr./Professor (not sure of your professional certs, so I used them all ) Hanson, says conservatism wins every time it’s tried.
The conclusion is that it is not tried often enough, lacking enthusiastic principled men to lead us there.
John McCain is a man of honor, but not a man of principle. He is not a conservative. He votes against tax cuts and for things like big government programs and, incredibly, limitations of the freedom of speech guaranteed us in the amendment.
He does what he believes is right, and that is good; he does NOT have the same reference points as I do, those of real conservatism; lower taxes, smaller government, lesser regulations, take the burden from the individual and let him be productive and it will benefit everyone. Live with limits on what government can and should do ‘for’ people (because it usually becomes doing things ‘to’ people).
I do not hold it against him for telling the truth to Michiganders; but that is not relevant, that is a campaign speech, that is not a matter of proposed policy based on strongly held principle.
I hold it against him for believing that elite government officials such as himself are better men than me, and should decide how I will live. He believes in that drivel, and believes himself to be one of the elite who should be in power.
He sees the political issues of our day ‘through the eyes of the New York Times editorial board’, as someone told Hugh Hewitt.
He is NOT a conservative. I cannot support him against Hillary, because I know full well that the outcome will be the same whether he wins or she does. She is practical enough to use our military when she sees its necessary. But neither of them will hesitate to take as much of a citizen’s earnings as they feel necessary to do, in their view, what should be done.
It’s no choice at all. Unless we get someone on our side who speaks for conservative principle, as does Mitt and Fred.
Jan 19, 2008 - 1:32 pm Jeff:McCain is right, those jobs arent coming back … as long as McCain keeps voting for higher CAFE standards and govt regulation on industry and Detroit liberals tax the life out of everyone. Plus McCains man made global warming fantasy requires the death of the auto industry …
Jan 19, 2008 - 1:35 pm mockmook:Mr. Hanson, I’m not sure McCain is a fiscal conservative.
While McCain has opposed little (by Federal Government standards) porkbarrel projects, what programs has McCain opposed?
Also, as someone else mentioned, McCain’s demagogging “torture” and “terrorists rights”, do not speak highly of him as a Commander-in-Chief.
In the primaries, we sort these things out. I don’t know of anyone who would not vote for McCain versus a Dem (if we end up in that unfortunate situation).
Jan 19, 2008 - 1:50 pm Cory:Any candidate who would push as hard as he did to give amnesty to illegals is NOT an American hero. Just like Kerry and Murtha lost their hero status after taking numerous anti-American stances, so has McCain lost his. McCain is NOT the only electable Republican running. National polls right now mean nothing. I personally would NEVER cast a vote for a liberal like McAmnesty or Huckabee. Never!
Jan 19, 2008 - 3:21 pm Sandra Mendoza:I have alwys favored financial aid for family farms because Mother Nature can get really nasty sometimes.
However, I strenuously oppose subsidizing corporate farms. For decades, Archer, Daniel Midland sponsored MEET THE PRESS, THIS WEEK, all the Sunday morning political shows, thereby avoiding any press criticism.
And Dwayne Andreas, its head, became a billionaire on government subsidies. The IRS tried to investigate his books and found such a tangle that to the best of my knowledge it gave up.
Could you write more about corporate farming? I think most Americans would favor NOT subsidizing huge corporate farms.
I have read before that the middle man usually makes all the money in farming. So, hooray for Farmer’s Markets.
Jan 19, 2008 - 4:00 pm Greg D:I would happily and aggressively support Rudy for President. I will never happily of aggressively support McCain for anything. McCain takes great joy in screwing over Republicans whenever we have the audacity to disagree with him. That, plus McCain-Fiengold, McCain-Kennedy, and ANWR are why I can’t ever happily support him.
I would vote for him against Hillary. I probably wouldn’t v. Obama. He and the Huckster are the only candidates for which that is true.
Jan 19, 2008 - 4:47 pm Papa Ray:It is a crying shame that the best man for our Country’s President is going to be decided in a few states that mostly have no idea of the danger that our Republic is in.
Fred won’t even get a chance. Yes, most of it will be his fault and the fault of his advisors for not getting out front early so that he would get recognised even though the Media is doing everything it can to make sure he is not heard of or heard from.
America will suffer for it’s ignorance and it’s stupid antique ways of picking a handful of people to nominate our Presidents.
God Help Us…because we do all we can to hurt ourselves.
Papa Ray
Jan 19, 2008 - 5:43 pm Jim Curtis:West Texas
USA
You forgot to mention McCain’s global warming hoaxing which is designed, DESIGNED to destroy American industry.
It’s kind of weak to be pounding on the bridges to nowhere strawman when you are authoring bills designed to kill our economy while at the same time advocating for more immigration, legal and illegal, to compete for industrial jobs that you are trying to expel from the country.
Jan 19, 2008 - 6:27 pm ggonzalez:Big picture:
I am not a conservative. I am a centrist who leans a bit libertarian and concerned quite a bit about the war on islamic nutjobs, which makes me an independent. If McCain or Giuliani are the Republican nominee, I will likely vote for one or the other. If it’s anybody else on the Republican side (including Fred Thomson for whom I otherwise have great respect), I will vote for Hillary or Obama. I suspect there are a lot of middle of the roaders like me. McCain’s principal handicap is his age, not his ideology.
Jan 19, 2008 - 6:32 pm Sheila:Your comments about Bill Clinton’s temper and your support of John McCain are curious to me. It seems that you could be describing the same person.
Jan 19, 2008 - 7:26 pm Nick:John McCain’s red faced temper is well known. In fact it is the main reason of several reasons why I don’t think he would make a very good President and I believe an especially poor Commander in Chief. His temperament strike me as ill equipped to handle the position.
But I do agree that he must be voted for if we have no other choice but Hillary or Obama.
But I won’t be proud of my vote. It will be just a vote for the lesser of two bad choices.
With that said I continually enjoy reading your work.
Mr. Hanson is right, better to vote for a republican in November than sit out the vote. Not only for the war on terror, but there will likely be two Supreme Court nominations in the next presidential term. Hilliary or Obama won’t put a conservative on the bench.
Jan 19, 2008 - 8:10 pm TmjUtah:Mr. Hanson -
Love your books. Esteem your scholarship. Disagree completely with your take on McCain.
The good Senator served his country faithfully and well during war. He paid a tremendous price, which I respect and would never belittle.
BUT -
He has been a DC hack since before the Keating affair and permanently disqualified himself for principled consideration of any elected position with McCain-Feingold.
I’ve voted in every presidential election since 1980. I will not cast a vote for president in 2008 if McCain (or Huckabee) is on the ticket.
If we are going to have a liberal nannystate presidency helmed by a megalomaniacal hack, I’d rather we go ahead and let the Democrats fly the nation into the ground instead of a “maverick” Republican.
I reckon it will be less expensive economically if we get Obama/Clinton straight up; big money would have more time to move immediately to safety (or try to) instead of trying to kid themselves about McCain’s potential impact…
I don’t have a dog in this race. Just less worse choices than others.
Jan 19, 2008 - 8:29 pm Brad B.:Dr. Hanson:
IMO, McCain’s problem is one of contempt - he’s shown it for conservatives on so many occasions, we don’t forget & now it’s being returned to him.
Almost as a matter of routine, McCain doesn’t engage conservative criticism, he demagogues it: he reads from the class warfare handbook to explain opposition to tax cuts; he denigrates those who oppose “campaign finance reform”, etc.
One gets the impression that he’s playing to the media - he’s been referred to in the past as “John McCain, (R) Media” - at the expense of a significant portion of the Republican base.
People seem to forget McCain’s involvement in the “Keating 5″. I know, McCain says he did nothing wrong - - - he may even be right, but that’s not the point.
“The point” is that ever since then, McCain’s been on the warpath for so-called ethics … by favoring “shut up” legislation regulating the type of people who’d dare criticize someone like him.
McCain doesn’t have a governing philosophy …. he has a faith in McCain.
Jan 19, 2008 - 8:36 pm SDN:Well, mockmook, now you do.
You see, I’ve been holding my nose and voting Republican all my life. Except for Reagan, all I’ve gotten is the back of my hand from the RINOs, and the Democrats have used the fact that we had a “Republican” President and / or Congress to duck all responsibility.
Now, we have Huckster and McShame. One of them is Bill Clinton with a tinsel halo; the other is a “maverick” who should have been stripped of his Senate seat the day after he told some reporter that he’d rather have “clean government” than the First Amendment, violating his commissioning oath, his oath of office as a Senator, and any oath he might take as President, to uphold the Constitution.
Of course, we won’t mention his good buddy Lindsey calling me a racist because I think borders mean something.
Well, to quote Abraham Lincoln, I’d rather take my despotism pure. If this country thinks it wants socialism, anti-Americanism, and tranzi foreign policy, then I say it should get it until it CHOKES. When enough Americans suffer enough, maybe they’ll wake up and realize that it’s time for another Revolution.
Slag it down and start over.
Jan 19, 2008 - 8:38 pm Bowden Russell:Joe said;
Choosing the lesser of two evils (as I have heard some describe it) is still a lot better than picking someone who offers abandonment of Iraq. Please, do not sit out 2008.
You are right Joe, but when you vote for the lesser of two evils you’re still voting for evil.
If the Republicans vote for an Amnesty-open borders nominee they’ll lose the base. So be it.
Jan 19, 2008 - 9:30 pm Geoff:Well, if he is facing a divided base, for the good of the Republic and his party, McCain should step down.
Beyond his anti-1st amendment views, McCain seems to be the type that will be influenced by establishment thinking. Maybe not on everything, but on enough things.
You can only carry the Iraq Surge and spending thing so far.
His real base, the media, will turn on him. Then where will we be? Those national polls will turn in a heartbeat.
Jan 19, 2008 - 10:25 pm TK:So McCain differs from the Dems on the war and fiscal responsibility (very debatable). In order to carry on the war in the face of a Dem Congress, he will have to jettison the latter in the name of bipartisanship. He seems to agree with the mainstream left positions on immigration amnesty, suppression of free speech, activist judges, anti-pharma, global warming etc. Looks like conservatives are stuck taking one for the team. I for one doubt if McCain will be able to prevail against a stronger Dem majority in Congress. It was a near thing in 2007 with a mule stubborn Bush.
I will chuck my vote away on a random third party (not Ron Paul) on the ballot rather than vote for McCain. One vote does not make a difference - an election that close is within the margin of litigation.
Jan 19, 2008 - 11:49 pm Karl:First, please forgive me, as i am a great admirer of your work… but when the topic switched to tree fruit, I thought we had entered the world of Chauncey Gardener… and expected the words “…all is well - and all will be well - in the garden”
or another great line from Being There.
Had to share….
Jan 20, 2008 - 9:29 am Ted Snedeker:A lot of folks have made cogent arguments against a McCain presidency, all were valid. There are two more points that I haven’t seen mentioned. The first is that John McCain, in his own eyes, is never wrong. The groundswell of outrage that stopped the Meyers nomination wouldn’t phase John McCain. The second, and more serious, is that with a McCain presidency one gets Democratic legislative initiatives signed by a Republican president. This gives Republican legislators nowhere to hide. If we are going to get a Democratic president, better that it is an actual Democrat. That way the Republicans in Congress can at least stand up against him (her) and hopefully limit some of the damage.
Both my grandfathers and my father were staunch small business owning Republicans, as am I. I will not vote for John McCain even if the Democrats go to Venezuela and get Hugo Chavez for their nominee.
Jan 20, 2008 - 2:44 pm BLOC:As distasteful as I find McCain-Feinglod, NcCain’s first stand on immigration, his faith in global warming and his opposition to the tax cuts, I’d hold my breath and vote for him if he ends up being the Republican nominee.
And I would encourage others to support him as well.
I’m basing my position on two things:
1) McCain’s commitment to winning the GWOT is unquestioned. That cannot be ignored.
2) Judges. Though I don’t believe McCain would appoint the same kinds of people to the bench I’d like to see, they’d likely be far better than the people Obama or Clinton would appoint.
I’m not into appeasement — and that’s what you’d get with Clinton or Obama, who believe it is a higher virtue to be loved than to stand firm on at least some American principles and beat the hell out of Islamofascism.
Nor am I interested in withdrawing from the process and through my benign neglect enable either of Obama or Clinton appoint judges — perhaps including a supreme or two — who through their decisions would remake our society into something far more ugly than I believe McCain’s appointments would.
Just as it’s flat dumb to use the perfect to kill the good, it’s no less so to use the good to kill the flawed-but-acceptable, especially when you consider what the alternative is.
Jan 20, 2008 - 5:25 pm hank thayer:Ladies and Gentlemen:
We are at war. It is not just the war in Iraq. It is a global war that includes Iraq, Afghanistan, and the overall war on terror. This fact must be central to our thinking in this election cycle. Concern over who will best promote the conservative agenda must be secondary to concern over winning the war. For this reason, we must support John McCain for President. No other candidate is a qualified as he is to lead this nation while we are at war.
Granted, McCain is not a true conservative. But then who is in this field? Romney and Giulliani are chameleons. Huckabee and Thompson are unelectable in the general election. And Ron Paul is insane. So there is very little chance of electing a true conservative anyway. We better all vote for the man who is best qualified to lead us during wartime. And that man is John McCain.
So set aside your outrage at McCain’s slights against the conservative movement and remember that we are at war. And give your votes and support to John McCain.
HT
Jan 20, 2008 - 9:17 pm RE:I see McCain as someone who would enthusiastically muzzle alternative media with the dishonestly named ‘fairness doctrine’.McCain shows contempt for dissenting opinions. Freedom of speech is not a secondary or tertiary issue. Where would we be in the war had the alternative media been neutered?
Additionally, his civil union with Ted Kennedy couldn’t be a bigger indication of the likelihood he’ll be a sell-out to any conservative that supports him.
Jan 21, 2008 - 9:19 am