McCain to Hillary supporters: I voted to confirm Ginsburg and Breyer, you know
posted at 2:36 pm on June 16, 2008 by Allahpundit
Kaus expects nothing less than a full-blown conservosphere freak-out over this. I’m underwhelmed.
After his public conference call with Clinton supporters (covered extensively by Jonathan Martin) Saturday, John McCain met privately with some 75 of those supporters at his Virginia headquarters, two people who were there said…
“He stayed for a good almost half hour afterwards shaking hands, listening to our concerns, talking to us,” said [Party Unity My Ass] founder Will Bower, who said he thought many of the people there would vote for McCain…
Bower said he’d liked McCain’s answer on judges, in which he “pointed out that he supported Bill Clinton with both Ginsberg [sic] and Breyer.”
What’s he supposed to say? He was there to woo liberals. The best he could do realistically when they asked him about judges was to point to the Gang of 14 and emphasize that he wasn’t an obstructionist when the left’s turn came to pack the Court. Which, incidentally, would be an odd thing for the right to fault him for at this point: After years of Democratic shrieking about Bush’s appointments, my sense is most conservatives believe the senate’s advice and consent should be limited to determining whether the nominee has the legal chops to do the job plus some cursory ideological vetting to make sure there’s no truly fringe kookiness anywhere in his/her closet. If the left had followed McCain’s example, Miguel Estrada would be five years into his tenure on the D.C. Circuit.
Besides, unlike immigration, this clearly isn’t a subject on which Maverick is as far left as Obama — although given the composition of the senate next year, the difference between a McCain appointee and an Obama appointee is likely to be the difference between, say, an O’Connor and a Ginsburg. The former’s better than the latter, but if you think you’re getting another Roberts or Alito under any circumstances, think again.
Blowback
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And McCain is not against all drilling or new energy sources. Even if he did support drilling in ANWR, it would not bring down the price of gas. It will take a lot more than one oil field to deal with this problem. Telling people otherwise is dishonest.
Terrye on June 16, 2008 at 5:52 PM
Legend:
Who was it that said we should lose in 06 so that we could win in 08? The idea being that once the Democrats controlled the Congress for awhile the people would flock back to the GOP. The reality of that bit of wishful thinking is that the Democrats control the agenda. Isn’t that what the right wanted?
Terrye on June 16, 2008 at 5:56 PM
And McCain was strong on the war when a lot of people were buckling. In the vast majority of votes McCain votes conservative. If that is not good enough for people, then I doubt that anything would be. The people who hate him will ignore the 80%+ record and concentrate on the things they don’t like. That is just the way it is.
Terrye on June 16, 2008 at 5:59 PM
He’s not against offshore drilling. I’ve been trying to point out the same thing for weeks, but the McCain-haters are pretty impervious to facts.
RBMN on June 16, 2008 at 6:00 PM
1. You don’t ‘deserve support’ from anybody in a political campaign. The keyword is campaign; you go out, talk to people, and you f**king earn it. McCain’s problem is every time he opens his mouth he alienates some portion of the many disparate groups he’s trying to woo. That’s the problem with trying to be all things to all people; it catches up to you. After 8 years, conservatives don’t trust him at all. He’s had a lot of fun poking them in the eye; well, now those conservatives have to choose party loyalty or screw that backstabbing jerkoff. I’m going option 2.
2. Most of the people who are vehemently against McCain never claimed to be Republicans. Or, they claimed to be conservatives first, Republicans second. Again, McCain has to earn that support. He hasn’t. Many would argue he’s gone out of his way to drive us out of the Republican coalition.
So Terrye, spare me the Soviet style demands of party loyalty. You’re not an appartachik, and you don’t have a bunch of thugs to send out and pummel the malcontents into line. What you and your bum candidate need to do, is give people a reason to vote for McCain..and you can’t do that, beyond Obama sux. Give up on the right. Take your begging to the left. Tell them McCain is for open borders; tell them McCain supports high gas prices and he wants to close gitmo. You’ll have a stampede of voters, I’m sure. Or maybe they’ll just vote for the real lib instead.
austinnelly on June 16, 2008 at 6:04 PM
Crossover voting in the primaries arguably influenced the outcome. Still fair and square, but mighty stupid on Republicans part. Think they’ll change it? Don’t hold your breath.
JiangxiDad on June 16, 2008 at 6:06 PM
And you Mccain lemmings are pretty quick to latch on to whatever pathetic rhetoric you can; McCain wants the states to decide on whether to drill? Gee, McCain lemmings, if he wants the states to decide on offshore drilling, why didn’t he say he wanted Alaska to decide on whether to drill in ANWR? As I’ve heard it, they’re all for the economic benefits..yet he couldn’t wait to stomp his big fat federal boot on their faces and declare there will be no drilling in ANWR. So you think he really wants drilling offshore? All he did was punt because the issue is radioactive right now. Let the states decide to drill..and watch how fast a federal court will probably rush in to shut it down…
austinnelly on June 16, 2008 at 6:08 PM
ANWR is not just one oil field, it is THE oil field.
It would take over a hundred other Giant-sized (100 MBO) oil fields to make up for one ANWR.
McCain is a pimp to the greenies, and a dumb one at that..
TexasJew on June 16, 2008 at 6:09 PM
What McCain is saying is that he actually did his job and voted for judges who were qualified, not those who agreed with him ideologically.
Obama, however, is a hack who only supports those who favour his agenda.
Damian G. on June 16, 2008 at 6:17 PM
American Conservative Union lifetime ranking:
Senator McCain: 82.16%
Senator Obama: 7.67%
You decide
indythinker on June 16, 2008 at 6:20 PM
I’m getting really sick and tired of people who do not support the nomination of Sen McCain being called haters. To you who support McCain without reservation, I say…..
He is not the one I and others want as President, his values and policies expressed to date are anathema to the Conservative AND Federalist philosophies. This isn’t about hate, you name callers, it’s about the future of our country. I survived Carter and I’ll survive Obama sama… but at least I’ll KNOW my enemy. McCain is apparently becoming a 21st century Trojan horse. I don’t know how I’ll vote in November, but I don’t hate the man and many don’t… so knock it off.
MNDavenotPC on June 16, 2008 at 6:24 PM
I don’t hate the man and many don’t… so knock it off.
MNDavenotPC on June 16, 2008 at 6:24 PM
Then again, many of us do..
TexasJew on June 16, 2008 at 6:37 PM
What McCain is saying is that he actually did his job and voted for judges who were qualified, not those who agreed with him ideologically.
Damian G. on June 16, 2008 at 6:17 PM
McCain is too much of a kiss-ass to send a real conservative to his wonderful Democrat friends who will be running the Judiciary committee. He’ll fold like an accordian, the old dysfunctional jerk.
McCain and his disloyalty and frantic backstabbing is one of the most important reasons that the Republicans got creamed in 2006, so this is the playing field that we have now.
He’s a weak old suck.
TexasJew on June 16, 2008 at 6:44 PM
The classic McCain-hater is the person who says there’s no ideological difference between John McCain and Barack Obama. There are some variations on that theme, but that’s my basic definition of a McCain-hater.
RBMN on June 16, 2008 at 7:12 PM
Well, would it have been to much to expect of the candidate for President of the United States who keeps calling himself the Straight Talker that he do some straight talk to them and tell them that he made a huge mistake in supporting Ginsburg and Breyer and that if elected President he would be careful to only nominate someone like a Roberts or an Alito. Oh wait, that’s what he has been telling conservatives and we wouldn’t want Mr. Straight Talk to have to be boring and just say the same thing in front of different groups now would we?
MB4 on June 16, 2008 at 7:33 PM
Yeah. To claim that John McCain has any ideology at all is ignorant and hateful.
LegendHasIt on June 16, 2008 at 7:45 PM
Well you see now, that’s pretty much all the McCain koolaid drinkers have got. That and Obama will kill you and your children and do it within four years.
MB4 on June 16, 2008 at 7:46 PM
The classic McCain-hater is the person who says there’s no ideological difference between John McCain and Barack Obama. There are some variations on that theme, but that’s my basic definition of a McCain-hater.
RBMN on June 16, 2008 at 7:12 PM
You need to tighten up your definitions..
I’m not saying that there are no differences between McCain and Obama. I’m saying that there is a huge difference between McCain and people who have a coherent conservative and free enterprise vision for this country. Obama is not a part of this equation.
if McCain loses, as he most likely will at this point, it will not be because of GWB, or Mitch McConnell or Tom Tancredo or Rush Limbaugh or Karl Rove or or any of the other boogymen that McCainites like to blame.
It will be because of McCain.
He simply reeks as a Republican candidate in the middle of a complex financial and energy crisis.
When faced with a chance to defend freedom and the free market, McCain reflexively kicks into an rabid anti-free enterprise spiel like some knee-jerk Democratic backbencher. He spews wacky cap-and-trade nonsense, globaloney crapola and anti-oil propaganda like the pandering lunatic he appears to be.
Take away the Iraq and the WOT issues, and McCain would drown in the shallow end of the intellectual kiddie pool.
He is a total embarassment to our Party.
TexasJew on June 16, 2008 at 7:48 PM
Well now you definition may be self-satisfying as hell to you, but it is rather inane.
MB4 on June 16, 2008 at 7:51 PM
And if he becomes President you probably ain’t seen nothin’ yet and he will be all “ours”.
MB4 on June 16, 2008 at 7:53 PM
Hear me, my fellow Republicans. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will support John McCain
no more forever. [updated]
- Chief Joseph
MB4 on June 16, 2008 at 7:55 PM
It may be inane, like you say, but it’s also very commonly expressed in all corners of the conservative blogosphere. It’s BDS in another form.
RBMN on June 16, 2008 at 7:56 PM
BDS is also rather inane when used on a conservative blog. A hobgoblin of small minds if ever there was one. A crutch for the vacuous in another form.
MB4 on June 16, 2008 at 8:02 PM
TexasJew on June 16, 2008 at 6:44 PM
Well, assuming Congress is still at least partially Democratic throughout all of his first term, the best we can hope for are wishy-washy “moderate” judges. Even Reagan only got one out of three right!
Damian G. on June 16, 2008 at 8:16 PM
when the mccainiacs say he’s pro life take it with a large grain of salt…
right4life on June 16, 2008 at 8:23 PM
whether or not mccain should have voted to confirm ginsburg isnt the point here. he was asked by hillary supporters about the type of judge he would NOMINATE, not vote to confirm. the fact he even mentioned ginsburg and breyer is very alarming.
so, when around conservatives – alito and roberts
around liberals – ginsburg and breyer
that is what is known as pandering, or lying. so much for the straight talk express.
i certainly understand why the ny times endorsed this man for the republican presidential nominee.
chasdal on June 16, 2008 at 8:50 PM
and you are very right to do just that. he sent up a “trial balloon” in 1999 that fell flat. he was pandering for votes and got a very negative reaction during his first run for POTUS>
chasdal on June 16, 2008 at 9:02 PM
McCain is far from an embarrassment to the Republican Party.
Larry Craig is an embarrassment, Olympia Snowe is an embarrassment, Trent Lott is an embarrassment….
I don’t think he’s the greatest candidate – he’s far from that as well – but you McCain haters need to get a grip.
Priscilla on June 16, 2008 at 10:29 PM
There you go again.
- Ronald Reagan
MB4 on June 17, 2008 at 1:17 AM
If voting to confirm Ginsburg and Breyer makes McCain a liberal, what do we make of him voting to confirm Bork?
Xrlq on June 17, 2008 at 6:40 AM
Eh, not at all. Just because the haters don’t want to be known as haters, doesn’t mean that they are not…it’s pretty easy to distinguish between reasonable criticism of the man and blind hatred.
Priscilla on June 17, 2008 at 7:23 AM
Terrye on June 16, 2008 at 5:48 PM
GITMO for all intents and purposes is a military prison.
And I’m not talking about Fred Thompson, I’m talking about McCain.
Your “well, Fred did it to” arguments bely the weakness of your arguments.
catmman on June 17, 2008 at 9:28 AM
And every other Republican voted for them, because they weren’t playing politics, and both were qualified candidates.
This is a big fat zero of a news item.
rightwingprof on June 17, 2008 at 12:58 PM
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