I Confess: My Ties to the McCain Campaign
(Note: The following blends humor and seriousness together to make an important point about the nation’s future beyond Election Day.)
Today marks three weeks since I watched Mitt Romney, the candidate I supported for the 2008 Republican nomination for President of the United States, suspend his bid for the White House. His departure, although understandable, forced American conservatives, including myself, to accept that no matter what the outcome of the general election in November, we would not be having a conservative (or at least not an across-the-board one) in the Oval Office until 2013 or 2017 at best, indefinitely at worst.
While I have much disagreement with Senator John McCain (R-AZ) over the issues he has pushed and sides he has taken both in years prior and within the past year, I today feel it necessary to be honest with the American people and make public a historic decision I made in the early morning hours of Tuesday, February 26. No, I have not made a secure online donation to the McCain campaign, erected a sign in my yard, nor have I even adhered a bumper sticker to my car or other surface. Some may consider what I did even more drastic. Yes, in only my second trip to JohnMcCain.com ever (the first time was to bookmark the site months ago), I signed up for email updates from the campaign.
Shocking, I know. But I felt the time was right. You see, on November 2, 2007, I signed up for email updates from the three Republicans I at the time thought would be most likely to win the nomination: Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson. But as I’m sure you’re aware, one by one, their emails ceased to arrive in my inbox, as their campaigns shut down. My email account grew lonely, so I felt it necessary to add a familiar face somewhere between the offers for second mortgages and the requests to send money to some guy I’ve never heard of in Zimbabwe who claims that he needs my help to unlock his frozen assets. (Who am I to not believe him – he said he was a doctor! I say he must be a witch doctor, because I can’t think of any other way he could have gotten my email address without being part of some illegal scheme.)
In this campaign season, I never would have predicted that John McCain would have taken off the way he did, especially after his infamous McCain-Kennedy immigration debacle of spring 2007. I ruled long ago that his chances were slim, if not nil. Though sure enough, he took good footing to the ledges of the tiny cracks he found himself squeezing into among the wide field of Republicans he was up against; for him now, officially receiving the title of nominee is just a formality.
There is no doubt that I had hoped for a conservative to win the Republican nomination and the ultimate prize of an all expenses paid, four-to-eight-year-long stay at the fabulous Pennsylvania Avenue Suites, but now the people in America who want to see America remain strong in this world full of unpredictable challenges must act to defeat a common foe, that of full-fledged liberalism currently taking host in candidates and current U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL).
The negatives I have with McCain I have opined on many times before, so for a more positive angle, I will sum up highlights of where I can agree with McCain. In the essence of fairness, however, I will also highlight the few areas I like Clinton and Obama on in a simple list written in plain English.
McCAIN: He is committed to the cause of fighting global conflict by supporting our troops and their mission in Iraq and elsewhere, as he knows America has much to gain by combating the world’s evildoers and their supporters; he supports giving Americans control over their Social Security accounts; he says he would make the authors of pork-barrel add-ons to appropriation bills “famous”; he supports requiring a three-fifths vote to increase taxes; he supports a nationwide database for individuals convicted of sex crimes involving children and related measures to keep our nation’s children safe; he supports a missile defense system; he supports some other good ideas.
CLINTON: She said once that she ate pizza; she’s been inside of the White House; she can do a mean Margaret Hamilton impression.
OBAMA: Wore a nice tie once; isn’t Hillary Clinton; um, well, that’s about it.
It is true that many conservatives will find it difficult to vote for McCain come Election Day. While many conservatives have said that they will hold their noses and vote for McCain for the sake of defeating the Democrats’ disasterous agenda of, including other things, ensuring defeat in Iraq and hindering America’s security interests, too many have said that they will abstain from participating in this year’s election, or even cross over to the dark side. Not me. I firmly believe that if we as conservatives don’t all hold our noses and vote for McCain, we’ll inevitably have to hold on to a whole lot more if Clinton or Obama take the reigns of the nation.
No matter which liberal the Democratic Party nominates to go on to November’s election, there is one thing they will never receive from me: my vote. Well, two things if you count signing up for email updates.
© 2008 Justin Margeson for A Forum for Freedom. All rights reserved.
Today marks three weeks since I watched Mitt Romney, the candidate I supported for the 2008 Republican nomination for President of the United States, suspend his bid for the White House. His departure, although understandable, forced American conservatives, including myself, to accept that no matter what the outcome of the general election in November, we would not be having a conservative (or at least not an across-the-board one) in the Oval Office until 2013 or 2017 at best, indefinitely at worst.
While I have much disagreement with Senator John McCain (R-AZ) over the issues he has pushed and sides he has taken both in years prior and within the past year, I today feel it necessary to be honest with the American people and make public a historic decision I made in the early morning hours of Tuesday, February 26. No, I have not made a secure online donation to the McCain campaign, erected a sign in my yard, nor have I even adhered a bumper sticker to my car or other surface. Some may consider what I did even more drastic. Yes, in only my second trip to JohnMcCain.com ever (the first time was to bookmark the site months ago), I signed up for email updates from the campaign.
Shocking, I know. But I felt the time was right. You see, on November 2, 2007, I signed up for email updates from the three Republicans I at the time thought would be most likely to win the nomination: Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson. But as I’m sure you’re aware, one by one, their emails ceased to arrive in my inbox, as their campaigns shut down. My email account grew lonely, so I felt it necessary to add a familiar face somewhere between the offers for second mortgages and the requests to send money to some guy I’ve never heard of in Zimbabwe who claims that he needs my help to unlock his frozen assets. (Who am I to not believe him – he said he was a doctor! I say he must be a witch doctor, because I can’t think of any other way he could have gotten my email address without being part of some illegal scheme.)
In this campaign season, I never would have predicted that John McCain would have taken off the way he did, especially after his infamous McCain-Kennedy immigration debacle of spring 2007. I ruled long ago that his chances were slim, if not nil. Though sure enough, he took good footing to the ledges of the tiny cracks he found himself squeezing into among the wide field of Republicans he was up against; for him now, officially receiving the title of nominee is just a formality.
There is no doubt that I had hoped for a conservative to win the Republican nomination and the ultimate prize of an all expenses paid, four-to-eight-year-long stay at the fabulous Pennsylvania Avenue Suites, but now the people in America who want to see America remain strong in this world full of unpredictable challenges must act to defeat a common foe, that of full-fledged liberalism currently taking host in candidates and current U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL).
The negatives I have with McCain I have opined on many times before, so for a more positive angle, I will sum up highlights of where I can agree with McCain. In the essence of fairness, however, I will also highlight the few areas I like Clinton and Obama on in a simple list written in plain English.
McCAIN: He is committed to the cause of fighting global conflict by supporting our troops and their mission in Iraq and elsewhere, as he knows America has much to gain by combating the world’s evildoers and their supporters; he supports giving Americans control over their Social Security accounts; he says he would make the authors of pork-barrel add-ons to appropriation bills “famous”; he supports requiring a three-fifths vote to increase taxes; he supports a nationwide database for individuals convicted of sex crimes involving children and related measures to keep our nation’s children safe; he supports a missile defense system; he supports some other good ideas.
CLINTON: She said once that she ate pizza; she’s been inside of the White House; she can do a mean Margaret Hamilton impression.
OBAMA: Wore a nice tie once; isn’t Hillary Clinton; um, well, that’s about it.
It is true that many conservatives will find it difficult to vote for McCain come Election Day. While many conservatives have said that they will hold their noses and vote for McCain for the sake of defeating the Democrats’ disasterous agenda of, including other things, ensuring defeat in Iraq and hindering America’s security interests, too many have said that they will abstain from participating in this year’s election, or even cross over to the dark side. Not me. I firmly believe that if we as conservatives don’t all hold our noses and vote for McCain, we’ll inevitably have to hold on to a whole lot more if Clinton or Obama take the reigns of the nation.
No matter which liberal the Democratic Party nominates to go on to November’s election, there is one thing they will never receive from me: my vote. Well, two things if you count signing up for email updates.
© 2008 Justin Margeson for A Forum for Freedom. All rights reserved.
Labels: 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama, Conservatism, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Political Humor, Politics
posted by cptsteel31 at 4:39 AM
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