"The Conservative Case for McCain"

[Rebel]

The Conservative Case for McCain
By MARK SANFORD
March 15, 2008; Page A10

Last week, I asked David Walker, the U.S. comptroller general, why he is quitting his job to travel the country on a "fiscal wake-up tour." His answer: Because we have only five to 10 years to address the federal government's looming shortfalls before we're faced with a fiscal crisis.

In about a decade, the twin forces of demographics and compound interest will leave few options for solving the fiscal mess Washington has created. By then, our options will all be ugly. We could make draconian spending cuts, or impose large tax increases that will undermine our economy in the competitive global marketplace. Or we could debase the value of the dollar by printing a large amount of money. This would shrink the overall value of the federal government's debt. It would also wipe out the value of most Americans' savings.

Mr. Walker is right. And I join many others in saying that federal spending is now as significant an issue as the war on terror, federal judgeships and energy independence. The U.S. stands at a fiscal crossroads -- and the consequences of inaction, or wrongful action, will be real and severe.

Fortunately, the presidential election offers us a real choice in how to address the fiscal mess. To use a football analogy, we're at halftime; and the question for conservatives is whether to get off the bench for the second half of the game.

I sat out the first half, not endorsing a candidate, occupied with my day job and four young boys at home. But I'm now stepping onto the field and going to work to help John McCain. It's important that conservatives do the same.

It's easy to get caught up in the pursuit of political perfection, and to assume that if a candidate doesn't agree with you 100% of the time, then he doesn't deserve your support. In fact, Mr. McCain is a lot closer to 100% than many conservatives realize. He has never voted for a tax increase in his 25 years in Congress. He holds an 83% lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union. He is listed as a taxpayer hero by Citizens Against Government Waste. And he is supported by noted conservatives Phil Gramm, Jack Kemp and others.

The process of iron sharpening iron is good for the GOP. But now, I believe, the time has passed for focusing on what divides us.

There is a yawning gulf between the viewpoints of Mr. McCain and those of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Nowhere is this more evident than on the critical issue of the steady collapse of our government's financial house.

Since 2000, the federal budget has increased 72%, to $3.1 trillion from $1.8 trillion. The national debt is now $9 trillion -- more than the combined GDP of China, Japan and Canada. Add in Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security commitments, and as a nation we are staring at more than a $50 trillion hole -- an invisible mortgage of $450,000 for every American family.

Hope alone won't carry us through the valley of the shadow of debt. The fact that neither Mrs. Clinton nor Mr. Obama has made cost-cutting a part of their political vocabulary is a clear indication that they would increase spending. In fact, Mrs. Clinton has already proven skillful at snagging pork. Over the past few years alone, she has attached some $2.2 billion in earmarks to federal spending bills. Mr. McCain has asked for exactly $0 in earmarks.

And while Mr. Obama's oratorical skills have been inspiring, his proposals would entail roughly the same $800 billion in new government spending that Mrs. Clinton proposes. To his credit, Mr. Obama admits that his spending proposals will take more than three clicks of his heels to fund. He would pay for his priorities with a bevy of tax increases which he hopes taxpayers won't notice.

But taxpayers will notice. Mr. Obama plans to raise taxes on capital gains, dividends and corporate profits. He wants to hike estate taxes by 50%. And he wants to eliminate the cap on payroll taxes. These tax hikes would increase the burden borne by individuals and decrease the competitiveness of our economy.

I was elected to Congress in 1994 as part of a Republican Revolution that captured control of both the House and Senate. A number of us tried to apply the brakes to the Washington spending train. We didn't succeed. Six years later, I left Washington convinced that only a chief executive willing to use the presidential bully pulpit could bring spending under control.

Now, in John McCain, the GOP has a standard-bearer who would be willing to turn the power of the presidency toward controlling federal spending. Mr. McCain has one of the best spending records in Congress, and has never shied away from criticizing government pork-barrel spending.

The contrast between the two opposing teams is stark. It is time for the entire conservative squad to step onto the field. Who will join me in helping our team get the ball and move it down the field?

Mr. Sanford, a Republican, is the governor of South Carolina.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120553936399438277.html?mod=rss_opinion_main



I pray to GOD McCain picks Mark Sanford. I don't think it's a secret how much I respect Mark. The guy is a statesman, not a politician.

[Wretched Excess]

I can state the conservative case for mccain much more succinctly;  "He ain't hillary or The BarackStar!"

sanford is a great gov, but mccain is going to carry the south anyway.  he needs a solid conservative from a battleground state.

[DixieBelle]

He totally needs a solid conservative to run with him if he wants to Barack the Vote.

*tee hee, I made a pun!

[Chris_]

He totally needs a solid conservative to run with him if he wants to Barack the Vote.

*tee hee, I made a pun!

LOL.

Yeah, he does need one, but do you think he will actually choose one?  I worry that he might choose Crist. 

[Rebel]

Scares me as well. I don't think he'll pick Sanford. Sanford is a STAUNCH fiscal conservative.

[USA4ME]

I hate McCain's guts.  Being honest I just don't know if I can vote for the a-hole.  Yes, I throughly thought through all the different scenerios, but considering he's done nothing but stab conservatives in the back, I am not overly anxious to have him in office.  In fact, all 3 of the one's left suck like hell and there's not a lot of difference IMO.  I think any of the 3 of them will screw things up, so there's a part of me that says let things go to hell in a handbasket with a lib Dem at the helm rather than a lib Republican.  Thank goodness November is still months away so I can more narrowly focus how much I'm going to hate just the winner of the 2 who are left.

.

[Duke Nukum]

I hate McCain's guts.  Being honest I just don't know if I can vote for the a-hole.  Yes, I throughly thought through all the different scenerios, but considering he's done nothing but stab conservatives in the back, I am not overly anxious to have him in office.  In fact, all 3 of the one's left suck like hell and there's not a lot of difference IMO.  I think any of the 3 of them will screw things up, so there's a part of me that says let things go to hell in a handbasket with a lib Dem at the helm rather than a lib Republican.  Thank goodness November is still months away so I can more narrowly focus how much I'm going to hate just the winner of the 2 who are left.

.

The following quote states very well why I will vote for McLame...

I love my country more than I hate John McCain.

I will puke in my mouth a little doing it though.

After McCain's speech the other day, I wonder if it would make much of a difference?  If I wanted to be subject to EU rules and regulations, I would have chosen to be born there.

Maybe McCain will extend the Bush tax cuts but even if he does, does it offset the damage done adopting a Kyoto-like regulatory system?

Even if he continues the war in Iraq until victory is indisputable, does that offset the damage done setting loose the GITMO detainees on our legal system?

For me it is going to come down to who his running mate is.

[Wretched Excess]

He totally needs a solid conservative to run with him if he wants to Barack the Vote.

*tee hee, I made a pun!

LOL.

Yeah, he does need one, but do you think he will actually choose one?  I worry that he might choose Crist. 

I was actually thinking about crist.  didn't mccain appear with romney recently?  massachusetts is not a battleground state, but he would bring economic strength to the ticket, which is almost as good.

but you would have to believe that he is truly converted on right to life and second amendment issues.

[Wretched Excess]

I hate McCain's guts.  Being honest I just don't know if I can vote for the a-hole.  Yes, I throughly thought through all the different scenerios, but considering he's done nothing but stab conservatives in the back, I am not overly anxious to have him in office.  In fact, all 3 of the one's left suck like hell and there's not a lot of difference IMO.  I think any of the 3 of them will screw things up, so there's a part of me that says let things go to hell in a handbasket with a lib Dem at the helm rather than a lib Republican.  Thank goodness November is still months away so I can more narrowly focus how much I'm going to hate just the winner of the 2 who are left.

.

I am sure once you have a side by side comparison between mccain and (probably) The BarackStar!, your choice will be pretty clear.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Talk about the audacity of hope, I have no idea why anyone sees McCain as some kind of touchstone of fiscal responsibility.  He's just obviously better than picking Dumb or Dumber.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

McCain's position on immigration is may as well be titled the Let's-Create-Another-Impenetrable-DNC-Voting-Bloc Bill and I'm worried the call for him to appoint originalist SCOTUS judges will take a backseat to his not wanting to see his McCain-Feingold baby aborted (but his nominees would still be heads and tails above the Ruth Buzzy Ginsbergs to be appointed by those other two idiots).

Yet, McCain does seem to have learned his lesson as far as maintaining Bush's tax cuts is concerned...

...AND...

...unlike even the supposedly conservative Ron Gaul (it's surrender-ist French, get it?) McCain has never proposed an earmark.

[USA4ME]

BC and Wretched, I hear what you're saying, and if I vote at all it'll be for McCain, but at this point I ain't promising anything.  I think whoever's prez is gonna raise taxes on everyone despite what they're promising now; regardless of what any of them claim we're not leaving Iraq (the Dem candidates say they will, but I don't think they will, because when things go bad, and they would if we left, the finger will get pointed straight at them and the Dem party, and they'll never get over the "weak on defense" manta in 100 years, something they want desperately to shake); and take the marxist b*tch, the black muslim boy, and the liberal Republican's top 5 USSC nominees, throw their 15 names in a hat, draw out one and read off the qualifications, and I don't think you could tell who it was that nominated them.  McCain will appease once again and nominate a lib judge if he gets the chance.

So, for the next 4 years I'm pretty damn sure it's gonna suck.

.

[Lauri]

sometimes i think it would be great if the govt ran out of money for a while.

maybe then our country would finally figure out what we need to pay for as a collective, and what we can do for ourselves.

[Wretched Excess]

BC and Wretched, I hear what you're saying, and if I vote at all it'll be for McCain, but at this point I ain't promising anything.  I think whoever's prez is gonna raise taxes on everyone despite what they're promising now; regardless of what any of them claim we're not leaving Iraq (the Dem candidates say they will, but I don't think they will, because when things go bad, and they would if we left, the finger will get pointed straight at them and the Dem party, and they'll never get over the "weak on defense" manta in 100 years, something they want desperately to shake); and take the marxist b*tch, the black muslim boy, and the liberal Republican's top 5 USSC nominees, throw their 15 names in a hat, draw out one and read off the qualifications, and I don't think you could tell who it was that nominated them.  McCain will appease once again and nominate a lib judge if he gets the chance.

So, for the next 4 years I'm pretty damn sure it's gonna suck.

.

it does suck, doesn't it?

we elected a social conservative with great domestic credentials in 2000, and then 9/11 happened. 

I think that he has done as well as could have been expected, and I think that history will judge his
presidency in a positive light.  let's face it, he democratized a big part of the middle east.

[Duke Nukum]

The amazing thing to me is how angry all three of the major candidates at this point are.

While I haven't been happy with everything President Bush has done or wanted to do (surrender to Mexico, for example) when he ran he was inspiring and uplifting.

None of these three even deserve to be elected to dog catcher.

I found Rudy, Fred, and Mitt to be way more inspiring than McCain or the Huckster.

I really don't think there is a conservative case for McCain other than he's ever so slightly better (and only at this point) than Hill Dill or Very Insane Ubama but I am hoping there can be a very strong conservative case made for his running mate.

[DixieBelle]

Gotta add "Ditto!" for me.

I love my country more than I hate McCain.