THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 35, February 7, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
DEBUNKING THE MYTH OF MCCAIN'S "INEVITABILITY"
By Christopher G. Adamo
NOMINATING THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT: IS IT INEVITABLE THAT JOHN MCCAIN WILL WIN
THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION? WHY CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS SHOULD REFUSE MCCAIN'S CALL FOR THEIR
SUPPORT
FULL STORY:
As the “Super Tuesday” votes are counted, the latest word from the media punditry is that John McCain will take the lion’s
share of delegates, and, perhaps be well on his way to the Republican nomination. Much of his current momentum has
resulted from the misbegotten perception that he would do the best of any Republican against Hillary Clinton.
Yet such a notion is not only irrelevant to the actualities of this November’s election, it is frankly unsupportable. The facts,
when all are considered, dictate otherwise.
Consider, for example, the fate of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. A year ago, he held, with seemingly commanding
numbers, the title of presumptive Republican presidential nominee, as well as the most likely candidate to beat Hillary. His
campaign has since evaporated without ever really getting started. So much for “inevitability.”
A present day poll of Giuliani versus Hillary would make it glaringly obvious that his former electoral invincibility was hardly
the foregone conclusion that we once were told it was. And the media never even got around to pounding him on his many
moral lapses and other vulnerabilities.
Some are saying that, with the demise of the Giuliani campaign, the entire subject of Islamist terrorism and post 9-11
homeland security has left the national “radar screen.” In truth however, changes in the perception of Giuliani did not result
from nearly so tectonic a shift in public concerns and priorities, but rather as a result of the public realization that Giuliani’s
role in the terrorist scenario was far less than some had initially presumed.
More significantly, had he not spent the entire decade prior to 9-11 cozying up to those self-absorbed and inept operatives
in the Clinton camp who left the door open for the nation to be attacked, and, instead, warned of the dangers of their
carelessness, he might claim more credibility as someone who could deal seriously with such threats and vulnerabilities
before they came home to roost.
John McCain’s assertions of proficiency in dealing with terrorists are, on close inspection, similarly vacant. The constant
references to his early support for the troop “surge” do nothing to offset his dangerous affinity for terrorists whom he
believes deserve “constitutional rights.” Ditto for millions of illegal aliens to whom he wishes to grant amnesty (along with
a significant number of terrorists who might arrive in their midst).
“Maverick” McCain is popular for not always sticking with the “status quo” inside the Beltway. And, at first glance, that
seems like a good thing. But, on further examination, his penchant for bucking the system has only been exercised when
taking on the Conservatives, often providing the necessary impetus needed to “tip the scales” in favor of Liberals.
Though he promises to change “business as usual,” the record clearly shows that, among Washington elitists who
consider themselves an aristocracy with no accountability to the lowly peasantry known as mainstream America, McCain
has no equal.
Yet, now John McCain is talking of the necessity of “unifying” the Republican Party. Having so often derailed Conservative
efforts to pull back the reins on an increasingly out-of-control central government, in what sense should anyone believe that
McCain actually intends to bring such “unity” to the Republican Party, or to the country as a whole?
Given that he has displayed such an affinity for the Democratic Party, its ideologies and its modus operandi, it is impossible
to avoid the conclusion that “unity” on the McCain watch would consist of completely marginalizing the entire Conservative
wing of the GOP. This ploy, however it is presented, portends eventual disaster for McCain and any portion of the party that
remains supportive of him.
Though he has clearly invoked his plight as a POW to great advantage in the past, McCain’s incessant references to his
“war record,” already overplayed, will quickly lose their punch when the public realizes that he is no less shameless than
John Kerry in his attempts to make the events of the Vietnam era pivotal to the 2008 election. And, once the media begins to
ever so subtly suggest that he is doing so, this house of cards will collapse.
Ultimately, the utter irrelevance of that episode to the present day, and the true character of the bitter, vindictive, petty man
that McCain now is, will be a far more prescient and prominent topic on the nightly news, right up until election day.
McCain’s media friends, who so gleefully aided and abetted his efforts to betray Conservatives in the past, will be the
loudest of his critics, once his position as GOP nominee is secured. Perhaps the Republican Party insiders, who
compromised and capitulated their way into this morass, will find they have nowhere else to go, but Conservative voters will.
It seems ironic that, after having decimated Conservatism within the GOP, John McCain now calls on Conservatives to
“unify” with their fellow Republicans. Once again, after shooting party unity in the foot, the “Moderates” insist that it is the
duty of Conservatives to do all of the bleeding. Yet, that hand has also been thoroughly overplayed.
It is, after all, a result of the diligent efforts of McCain and his kind that little, if anything, remains of the GOP which might
inspire Conservative loyalty. McCain is on the verge of finding out that being “Republican” no longer means anything more
to real Conservatives than it ever did to him and his kind.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics & Political Competition:
Elections, PACs, & Political Parties
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, & Other Leftists
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
-------------------------
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY & POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES:
COMPETING SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Conservatism
Traditional Conservatism: Questions & Answers
Conservatism: Attitudes, Types, & Present Status
Constitutional Conservatism: American & British
Liberalism
Classical Liberalism: Intellectual Foundations
Classical Liberalism: Conservative Liberalism
Manchester Liberalism & Social Darwinism
Modern Social "Liberalism": Statist "Liberalism"
Radical & Totalitarian Ideologies
Radicalism, Utopianism, & Totalitarianism
Christopher G. Adamo is a freelance writer who lives in southeastern Wyoming and works in the field of industrial instrumentation.
He is actively involved in Wyoming's political process, serving as a delegate to successive Wyoming State Republican Conventions
and as a member of the Wyoming State Republican Central Committee. He has assisted Republican candidates for local and state
legislatures and for the United States Congress. His articles, which appear regularly in The Progressive Conservative, U.S.A.,
and on a number of other websites, reflect a major concern with the damage being done to Conservatism and Conservative causes by
the Liberal Leftist faction in the Republican Party as well as by the much larger and more powerful Liberal Leftist faction in the
Democratic Party. During the early and middle 1990s, Adamo was Editor of the Wyoming Christian Coalition's official news organ,
The Wyoming Christian.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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