(2008-02-04) — On the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries, Republican front runner John McCain said conservative voters should “shut up, suck it up, and vote for the lesser of two evils.”
The Arizona senator refused to specify which of the remaining three GOP candidates is the “other evil,” because he said, “my inner Reagan prevents me from speaking ill of a fellow Republican. But here’s a little straight talk: Fred Thompson is gone. I’m the devil you know, and I’m asking for your vote.”
The candidate who made George W. Bush look conservative by contrast in the 2000 primaries, said he realizes that “a lot of Republicans are reluctant to vote for me because of my stands against tax cuts, against free speech in political campaigns, against aggressive interrogation of al Qaeda terrorists, against former Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld, against drilling for oil in Anwar, and against the rule of law when it comes to illegal aliens.”
“But none of those issues is going to matter in a few years,” Sen. McCain said, “when global warming melts the polar ice caps and I’ll be the owner of ocean-front property in Arizona. So, stop whining, swallow your principles and vote McCain.”
Later, in an interview on the Straight-Talk Express, his campaign bus, the candidate extended an olive branch to what he called “the other side of the aisle.”
“I feel your pain,” he said. “Life’s not fair. But you radical right-wingers just have to play the hand you’re dealt by the mainstream media.”
McCain campaign volunteers will fan out across the 22 primary and caucus states tomorrow with free bottles of water that they’ll hand to conservatives leaving the polls to help those who voted for Sen. McCain, and who thus “threw up in their mouths a little.”
36 responses so far ↓
1 Shelly // Feb 4, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Bravo! Before this is over we may all throw up a lot.
2 JamesonLewis3rd // Feb 4, 2008 at 2:23 pm
God Bless America
3 JamesonLewis3rd // Feb 4, 2008 at 2:34 pm
I would like to see an Inter-Galactic write-in campaign for George W. Bush.
Let the real Aliens vote.
4 boberinyetagain // Feb 4, 2008 at 2:38 pm
As good a reason as any I suppose.
Funny Scott!
wv: chief durko. ..is there a candidate named Durko?
5 EXT // Feb 4, 2008 at 2:42 pm
There’s this guy up the street with an absolutely WILD imagination!
He hopes it’ll be McCain with Huckabee as VP and that stress will take its’ toll quickly. The age thing y’know.
God Save Us from wild-eyed optimists!
6 JamesonLewis3rd // Feb 4, 2008 at 3:23 pm
7 NeaL // Feb 4, 2008 at 3:25 pm
For all of the books on the Reagan presidancy, as well documented those years of the ’80s were, why, oh, why is it so difficult for anyone else to get it right?
It’s like we have the best article to serve as a template to copy and even, may I dare say, do it better. Instead we get pyrite, genuine faux pearls, Rolex watches from China, and the Brooklyn Bridge for sale.
8 da Bunny // Feb 4, 2008 at 3:30 pm
The “lesser of two evils” is still…evil.
9 gafisher // Feb 4, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Ext Re#5: With McCain’s history, his first ride on Air Force One could be exciting.
10 woodnwheel // Feb 4, 2008 at 4:10 pm
JL3: Good piece… Here’s a link to the original:
William Kristol: Dyspepsia on the Right (N.Y. Times)
For those who just can’t bring themselves to visit the New York Times’ website, here’s another good piece, this time from the Wall Street Journal: McCain and the Supreme Court.
11 RedPepper // Feb 4, 2008 at 4:27 pm
DAVID FRUM: For the record, was it you who proclaimed John McCain the coolest candidate in American history in the year 2000?
TUCKER CARLSON: I still believe that, and John McCain is way more liberal than I am on a lot of things, and very annoying about it, often, from my point of view. But as a man, name another candidate who you’d like your son to grow up to be. Name one — ever.
FRUM: You’re right, he’s an impressive guy; he’s an impressive guy.
CARLSON: So what is this about? Other conservatives do not seem to feel the way I feel.
FRUM: People tend not to love those who don’t love them back.
CARLSON: That’s very . . . deep and true.
FRUM: John McCain has made it very clear over the last half-dozen years: he does not love the Republican party. He’ll put up with it. He’ll tolerate it. If they will follow him he will consent to lead them. But he does not love this party, and the party knows it. Plus there are the substantive issues, of which immigration is far and away the most important; it is a hugely important issue.
And a bit later . . .
FRUM: McCain doesn’t just try to explain to the party why he disagrees. His method is to explain to the party why not only does he disagree, but they are racist and wrong and stupid for thinking the way they do, and people never like that.
And yet a bit later . . .
FRUM: He’s not interested in the project of saving conservatism in the Republican party. He is really trying to build a personal movement with the Republican party as its vehicle.
——————————————————
Poor David. Clearly, another victim of toxic talk show syndrome.
12 EXT // Feb 4, 2008 at 5:19 pm
McCain Candidacy Ends Global Warming!
The Global Warming high priesthood announced today it is deeply concerned that John McCain’s probability of being the “republican” (small “r” intentional) presidential candidate may destroy their church’s economic base.
Church leader algore tearfully told a press conference held in a former telephone booth in New Hope, Arkansas today that conservatives failing to drive to the polls on election day threaten to undo Global Warming entirely. To eliminate that many vehicle trips has the potential to reduce emissions to the point where donations to his cause would cease entirely.
algore was not without a solution, however. He urged Liberals to vote even more times each than ever before. Making each trip to the ballot box a separate trip to the polling place, driving the longest way around possible to offset the conservative stay-at-home factor.
He was especially emphatic that New Yorkers who hold dual voter registration there and in Florida would drive between their registered residences rather than fly. That, he said, might entail voting early in New York and having to drive at excessive speed to Florida, risking being jailed in conservative southern states along the way, if only to disenfranchise them.
algore scorned advice from some advisors that he press for absentee voting. “It’s not enough to vote multiple times for Liberal Candidates”, he said, “You MUST drive to both polling places to ensure Global Warming continues and the donations keep rolling in!”
13 onlineanalyst // Feb 4, 2008 at 5:22 pm
See what you think of this bombshell about McCain.
14 upnorthlurkin // Feb 4, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Red Pepper!! Welcome back! A few of us were worried about you….hope you stick around!!
15 Fred Sinclair // Feb 4, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I tried to post this around noon, on the prior string, now almost six hours later, it still hasn’t posted so figure it must be lost in the ether - so will try again:
The birth of Liberalism - fathered by Al Capp:
Al Capp invented the shmoo to satirize political debates about how the rise of the welfare state supposedly reduced economic incentives. According to the Li’l Abner storyline, the leaders of government and big business worked hard to exterminate the shmoo as a menace to civilization as we know it: the shmoo was simply too “nirvana-like†to be tolerated.
At the time, everybody loved the very lovable Shmoon and the few Liberals of the day made the decision to become lovable themselves by giving everybody everything; in other words, pattern themselves after the Comic Strip Character.
The Shmoo was everything to everybody, met all needs from cradle to grave. Shmoon are delicious to eat, and are so eager to be eaten that if a human looks at one with hunger, they will gladly immolate themselves, either by jumping into a frying pan, after which they taste like chicken, or into a roasting pan, after which they taste like beef. (Raw, they taste like oysters on the half-shell.) They also produce eggs, milk, and butter (no churning required.) Their fresh pelt is a perfect boot leather or house timber, depending on how thick it has been cut. Their eyes are ideal suspender buttons, and their whiskers are perfect toothpicks. In short, they are simply the perfect ideal of a subsistence agricultural herd animal.
In other words a total Nanny State. So in sixty years (1948 - 2008) we’ve evolved into a government that gives us Clinton, Inc., Obama and McCain not one of which would in 1948 have made it to sundown. There would have been three rails, three buckets of tar and three bushels of feathers. The three of them would have been tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail, never to show their faces in public ever again.
16 camojack // Feb 4, 2008 at 7:32 pm
It’s been interesting reading the diametrically opposed commentary of the punditry.
I’m still hoping for an “upset” on Super Tuesday…
17 debass // Feb 4, 2008 at 7:46 pm
It’s global smarming that’s killing me.
wv- ten ants first-class. Must be a very small airline.
18 mindknumbed kid // Feb 4, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Camo - one thing is for certain, there will be an “upset” of some sort tomorrow.
19 mindknumbed kid // Feb 4, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I think I have one thing figured out about the candidate’s illusions of Reagan. I believe they all think that they are like Reagan, only smarter, therefore they are the heir to Reagan, the “new and improved model.”Or they secretly agree with the liberals that Reagan was an idiot, but are afraid to say it because it would mean political death.
Or maybe I’m the idiot…..looking for a real conservative candidate to vote for.
20 mindknumbed kid // Feb 4, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Just shove it.
21 camojack // Feb 4, 2008 at 8:18 pm
mindknumbed kid // Feb 4, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Camo - one thing is for certain, there will be an “upset†of some sort tomorrow.
Yes. Unfortunately, we’ll probably be the ones who get upset…
22 gafisher // Feb 4, 2008 at 8:27 pm
ola re#13: “… this bombshell about McCain.”
The rumors have been around for years, but official records for both of the two Johns have apparently been tough to come by while they’ve been in the Senate. While I doubt Kerry would stoop so low, the Clintons would have no qualms about “Swift-Boating” McCain, and the Dem base would eat it up.
23 DrivebyMeteor // Feb 4, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Contrary to the “accepted wisdom”:
Sen. McCain’s readiness to be the commander-in-chief fit for today’s perils is the grand hope his supporters offer to overcome substantial conservative doubts. It’s a mirage.
Read the rest here.
24 onlineanalyst // Feb 4, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Thanks for posting that link, DbM. I was just about to do so myself. (I admire Andy McCarthy with a fervor.)
gafisher re#22: I had never seen these details before. What also struck me is the reference to Bill Clinton’s recruitment when he was at Oxford.
Is this information Hillary’s October surprise if McCain (ugh!) secures the nomination? Between the CIA connections and the FBI files, the Clintons appear to have a lock on a lot of cooperation from opponents through blackmail.
Apparently she hasn’t dossiers of oppositional research enough to harm Obama (resume too thin) or Romney (squeaky clean).
25 onlineanalyst // Feb 4, 2008 at 9:18 pm
WV: affluence is - a thing of the past if Madame Hillary has the national purse strings.
Did anyone else read her “grand plan” for “Shared Prosperity” in the opinionjournal today? Wow! It takes a Marxist …to spread the misery.
26 upnorthlurkin // Feb 4, 2008 at 9:40 pm
OLA, that editorial should scare the pants off everyone! I’m actually surprised her Thighness allowed that to be printed. Anyone with a brain can understand how vapid and empty those promises are! What do you suppose the price tag would be on all those pet projects? Socialism is too kind for this bilge….it’s Marxism/Communism at the very least!
27 mindknumbed kid // Feb 4, 2008 at 10:06 pm
Did y’all see sHrillary’s reaction to Ann campaigning for her ? i tell ya that would be hillary-ous to see. I hope Mitt kicks McVain’s butt well tomorrow, not that Mitt is my man, but looks like he will have to do…..
wv : trolled survive - but of course, they only trolls!
28 PanamaRed // Feb 5, 2008 at 12:57 am
Mr Sinclair pointed out the third rails of politics,my suggestion is that all of the current crop should get a free, tax payer subsidized ride on those rails.
As Oprah said, “He’s brilliant, he’s brilliant, he’s brilliant!” I think it was either Obama she was referring to or Manning’s pass into the end zone to win the Super Bowl.
29 Fred Sinclair // Feb 5, 2008 at 1:01 am
mkk & camo #’s 18 & 21 speaking of upsets, there was two major corporations who were engaged in takeover operations last Sunday. I caught about two minutes of the proceedings on TV, but figured to get the results in Monday’s newspaper but though I searched the business section I could find no mention of which corporation won out.
A friend enlightened me saying that the Company from New York pulled a major upset over the Company from New England. Somehow this newsworthy event mistakenly was reported in the Sports Section of the newspaper.
I love sports, especially football, when played as a sport by High School and College teams. but when businessmen show up for work in padded suits and helmets earning multi-mega million dollar salaries, there’s nothing “sporting” about it.
Anyway, I understand it was a major upset (as business takeover’s can be sometimes.)
I’m hoping and praying for a double upset tomorrow leaving Obama and Romney for November.
Heirborn Ranger
30 Fred Sinclair // Feb 5, 2008 at 2:19 am
Still one of my all time favorites!!!
Air Traffic Control down “South” in Atlanta, Georgia.
Atlanta ATC: “Atlanta Center to Saudi Air 911. You are
cleared to land eastbound on runway 9R.”
Saudi Air: “Thank you Atlanta Center. Acknowledged, cleared
to land on Infidel’s runway 9R. Allah be Praised.”
Atlanta ATC: “Atlanta Center to Iran Air 515. You are
cleared to land westbound on runway 27L.”
Iran Air: “Thank you Atlanta Center. We are cleared to
land on Infidel’s runway 27L. Allah is Great.”
Pause: STATIC………………….
Saudi Air: “ATLANTA CENTER - ATLANTA CENTER”
Atlanta ATC: “Go ahead Saudi Air 911.”
Saudi Air: “YOU HAVE CLEARED BOTH OUR AIRCRAFT FOR THE SAME
RUNWAY GOING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS.
WE ARE ON A COLLISION COURSE.
INSTRUCTIONS, PLEASE!”
Atlanta ATC: “Well bless your hearts and praise Jesus. Y’all be careful now and tell Allah “hey” for us — ya hear.”
Heirborn Ranger
31 Hawkeye // Feb 5, 2008 at 8:40 am
Well, I did my civic duty this morning and voted in the NJ primary. Of course, I voted for McCain… NOT!
32 NeaL // Feb 5, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Can anyone clearly explain why Alan Keyes is not taken more seriously?
Thanks.
33 gafisher // Feb 5, 2008 at 9:05 pm
ola Re#24: “Apparently [Hillary] hasn’t dossiers of oppositional research enough to harm Obama (resume too thin) or Romney (squeaky clean).”
Obama appears to be a real problem for the Clintons, but I’m sure they’ll have no trouble coughing up a few hairballs on Mitt if she faces him in the General Election. Actually, only one of the current Republican candidates has beaten the Clinton machine over the past decade or so, but the Romney machine has covered that front.
wv= “Tupamaros accident” — slang for what happens to Clinton opponents.
34 gafisher // Feb 5, 2008 at 9:12 pm
NeaL Re#32, Alan Keyes is shrugged off by his Party because of the minority group he’s associated with. Like another Republican Party pariah, Keyes is openly Christian.
35 Around The Campaign 2008 Sphere // Feb 7, 2008 at 3:17 am
[...] BELATED THIS JUST IN from investigative reporter Scott Ott: (2008-02-04) — On the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries, Republican front runner John McCain [...]
36 NeaL // Feb 12, 2008 at 6:29 pm
gafisher Re#34
“Minority” meaning. . . Black? Like Clarence Thomas and Condoleeza Rice? Openly Christian like just about every Republican running for nomination? I don’t see anything in your reply which answers my question, but thanks anyway.
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