It’s true that while John McCain would have been an awful president, he still would have been better than Obama. And he doesn’t mention the most important consequence — the Supreme Court picks. McCain wouldn’t have chosen ideological totalitarian hacks like Sotomayor and Kagan. On the other hand, Obama has done more to discredit leftism and to revive the hunger for small government than would have been possible had McCain won. Either way, it’s water under the bridge now, and all we can do is try to get it right next year.
11 thoughts on “Rethinking John McCain”
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Plus a McCain Presidency would’ve left the Leftist myth of the New Camelot under Obama unchallenged.
I have an online friend who voted for the One explicitly on the “worse the better” model. He wanted to remind Americans, and the world, why an actively Progressive White House is pretty much always the worst alternative. He’s very happy with how Obama has lived up to his expectations.
You know, that didn’t work well for DC Comics with the Knightfall storyline. After it was over, people bitched about how dark it was, and they said “that’s what you all asked for!”
If it had been Hillary v McCain, I would have voted for Hillary, but when it became Obama, I voted McCain, because just staying at home wasn’t an option, because I knew then that Obama was THAT BAD!
I must admit that for me Obama made it an easy vote for McCain.
I voted for Palin, McCain was just her running mate.
There’s no way in hell I would’ve voted for Obama or Hillary. Next year, Obama himself could stand in front of me with a million dollars in one hand and a gun in the other and I still wouldn’t vote for him.
Given McCain-Feingold, I don’t see any reason to think a President McCain’s theoretical Supreme Court picks would have a high regard for the Constitution. (Although it’s arguable they might be better than Obama’s actual picks.)
I’ve been making this very point about the 2012 election to the “purists” who won’t vote for anyone out of the Republican camp. While I get the appeal of Ron Paul and his libertarian roots, I just can’t see throwing the election to Obama by voting for Paul if he goes third party.
Do we really want to see 2-3 more SCOTUS seats going Blue if Obama has four more years? Any one of those could permanently shift the Court waaaay Left for decades. While it may already be too late as it is, this would absolutely guarantee the shredding of what’s left of the Constitution.
If you buy into the idea that it’s already too late, and that we can’t recover from the damage that has been done over the last four decades, then voting your conscience, and hoping the inevitable crash isn’t too painful, is a logical option. I haven’t quite reached that point, though. I still have the remote hope that we can dig ourselves out. Letting that hope rest with the Stupid Party is making for sleepless nights of late, however….
The point I want to bring across about the Supreme Court picks is that the Left makes it all about Pro-Choice.
The Left wing goes with judges who are about the Living Constitution. The Right wing judges are about Interpreting the Law as Written, including abiding by standing Supreme Court decisions unless their is overwhelming reason (and the right case) to overturn them, which means Pro-Choice is defacto safe whether you get Lefties or Righties on the court (I am talking to you Pro-Choice Libertarians out there).
Hence the choice is not between Pro-Choice and Pro-Life on litmus tests for the Supreme Court, the choice is between judges who are off in the Ozone Layer of the Outer Stratosphere and judges who are grounded in the Constitution, which impacts gun rights, property rights, the right to choose or not choose to buy health insurance.
Tell me, isn’t the Affordable Health Care Act in conflict with Roe-vs-Wade on I-get-to-do-what-I-want-with-my-own-body grounds? If the Supreme Court upholds Affordable Health Care, will this torpedo Roe-vs-Wade?
Larry J;
Yes, I voted for Palin and that old guy too.
Mr. Sand;
That was my first thought as well. McCain’s problem is that he lets personal pique overcome what ever conservatism he has. McCain-Feingold wasn’t about support control of people for him, it was about making people who pissed him off shut up. He also likes to get good press and I can certainly see him picking a proglodyte for SCOTUS just to get favorable editorials in the NY Times.
So does that mean you will vote for Gov. Romney if he is nominated? Or just vote for some third party candidate with no chance of winning?
During the entire Sotomayor nomination flap, I could never figure out why people thought she was all that bright. She always struck me as an airhead and a hack, because of the “wise Latina” meme from numerous speeches, and because of that one instance where she outspokenly advocated judicial activism.