Video: Citizens for McCain press conference
posted at 2:00 pm on September 7, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
Last week, I tried posting the press conference for Citizens for McCain that took place on day 2 of the Republican convention, but video conversion issues interfered with my ability to post it in its entirety. Here is the entire press conference headed by Carly Fiorina, introducing Democrats who have decided to support John McCain instead of Barack Obama:
- Ambassador Mark Erwin
- John Coale, former fundraiser for both Clintons
- Silver Salazar, Hispanic community leader in Colorado
- Brian Golden, former state representative from Boston and an Iraq War veteran
- Jennifer Lee, a Hillary Clinton campaign worker from California
- Cynthia Ruccia, women’s rights activist and former Congressional candidate from Ohio.
This was an interesting concept, and it certainly could help the McCain campaign with centrists and independents, but the reasons these people have crossed the aisle won’t necessarily thrilll the base. Most of them talked about the untested nature of Barack Obama, and how unhappy Coale, Lee, and Ruccia were specifically about the sexism of the Obama campaign and the Democrats in general.
While those topics won’t give the base any problems at all, the rest of the reasons might. Most of them praised McCain’s moderation, and one or two specifically mentioned immigration as a reason. On the other hand, Ambassador Erwin gave a great response to my question at the end about foreign policy and how Obama is hopelessly naive. It’ll make a great soundbite.
Blowback
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Treasury Secretary?
RobCon on September 7, 2008 at 2:04 PM
OT: Holy crap is Favre awesome.
BadgerHawk on September 7, 2008 at 2:04 PM
This year winning is winning. There’s too much at stake.
BadgerHawk on September 7, 2008 at 2:05 PM
Carly is just another corporate hack. The real titans of silicon valley support Obama. Perhaps the one exception is John Chambers who’s been a major McCain supporter since Romney lost.
bayam on September 7, 2008 at 2:09 PM
I hope to see Fiorina prominently displayed in the McCain-Palin administration.
SouthernGent on September 7, 2008 at 2:10 PM
she would be good in a cabinet position. not sure where though
Drunk Report on September 7, 2008 at 2:12 PM
I know what you mean, but ……. think of this, if they are coming over to McC even with such a “dangerous” Righty in Palin on the ticket, just what the heck is going on with the dynamic?
Benjamin9 on September 7, 2008 at 2:13 PM
As long as their support helps to garner votes that propel Sarah Palin and the old guy into the White House, I could not care any less about wha they say.
ManlyRash on September 7, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Dude…she nearly drove Hewlett-Packard into the ground. She’s radioactive…keep her far away.
ManlyRash on September 7, 2008 at 2:18 PM
This is the biggest under-reported story of the campaign.
It is hard to believe, but there are some Democrats with some brain cells and conscience left. Who knew?!
Huge thing going on here, even if it’s only a fraction of them.
Halley on September 7, 2008 at 2:42 PM
One of my neighbors is a staunch democrat.
I don’t mean to say that he is a yellow dog.
He is just a hard core Dem. He has always trashed every republican candidate and principle when we would have friendly debates.
He has all of the sudden started sounding like a hard core conservative.
The transformation is amazing.
I think this is happening all over this land and the press knows it and that is why they are on such an offensive campaign.
TheSitRep on September 7, 2008 at 2:46 PM
What Silicon Valley.. it no longer exists..
Having been in the electronics /semiconductor field for 25 years the negative business environment of Caleeeeeefornia has destroyed the valley’s tech industry for the most part.
What now dominates the valley is software.. all geeks all leftists like the founders of Google etc.. so to even believe stats could remotely be favorable to a moderate is a stretch…let alone a right of center consrvative..
We are talking the Bay area.. loon central..
As to Carly.. her style didn’t work but her decision to grab Compaq in the long run appears to have paid off..
theblacksheepwasright on September 7, 2008 at 3:01 PM
Half of those dem dorks went to Austin Texas.
It has become a bastion of liberal elitist. Hell even the Republicans there are libtards.
TheSitRep on September 7, 2008 at 3:04 PM
They represent the real democrat party values, too a degree.
Today’s democrats are the party of George Soros and George Loony.
Afraid to admit it and ashamed by it, but it’s the truth.
Kini on September 7, 2008 at 3:08 PM
Indeed it is.
My father-in-law, a staunch democrat, a German immagrant (legal) is suddenly conservative…. in a democratic way…. sort of….
He loves Palin. So do I.
I wish I could say the same about McCain.
Kini on September 7, 2008 at 3:13 PM
Peter Brimelow — VDare.com
Will Obama checkmate McCain by calling on him to pledge a “bipartisan” amnesty?
It’s obvious from our email that a lot of people desperately want a reason to vote against Barack Obama – as Ryan Kennedy put it: “Sarah Barracuda. All our hopes rest on thee.” — But Obama and the Democrats can easily break this momentum. All Obama has to do is ask John McCain…
DfDeportation on September 7, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Death Threats?
That says a mouthfull.
TheSitRep on September 7, 2008 at 3:29 PM
Carly fights the war on a murky front. Go girl!
Mojave Mark on September 7, 2008 at 6:03 PM
PLEASE ditch Carly Fiorina…
Her only talent is the ability to ruin companies (Lucent, and damn near HP) and to go on to a better job.
She isn’t a conservative either. She’s a Susan Collins type.
wildcat84 on September 7, 2008 at 6:18 PM
We’re going to win this election primarily on the strength of voters like this.
The only way the Republican presidential candidate could win this year is if he/she ran as a pure reformer. The only candidate able to run as that is McCain. Palin is an incredibly good choice for that mind space, which turns out to be the winning mind space this year. We’re lucky that the Democrats chose an empty suit whose reform credentials are so easily dismissed.
If the next few years are relatively peaceful, and if McCain succeeds in producing genuine reform in several key areas of government, conservatism can begin to recover on the strength of new faces like Palin and Jindal. The culture war is not over, but that’s not the winning issue this year. We’ll fight the culture war again in 2012 or 2016.
Meanwhile, we need to start cleaning house. The Ted Stevenses and Mitch McConnells need to leave, the sooner the better. Old-style power brokering will sink the party for decades if we let it fester. If the last batch of Republicans had meant what they said about reform, the Democratic party would be an afterthought by now. If we manage to elect a new wave of Republicans and they do the same as the last batch, the Republican party will become an afterthought.
philwynk on September 7, 2008 at 6:34 PM
Ed, good question, and your radio voice is good, too, fair and disarming.
No one is surprised at the non-conservative domestic reasons that aligned these Democrat Citizens for McCain behind him and against Obama. Who expects Democrats, whether moderate or liberal, to “be” conservatives for McCain?
Ed is correct to remind us now that the Democrat/Independent voters for McCain support him beyond his rationale to direct our military and national security. They not only support McCain now to get him elected, but also when President Maverick enables their mutual liberal agenda: cap and trade on petroleum industry; global warming legislation that hurts American productivity; and immigration reform amnesty with all of its welfare baggage.
We appreciate their vote for McCain, the Country First candidate. But the GOP needs to come to an agreement with the “Citizens for McCain” to align with a unified platform that will not come to blows down the road. To forge the agreement clearly now would prove bipartisan efforts not only by McCain, but amongst his coalition of supporters; moderate, feminist, Independent, RINO, conservative social & economical. Before immigration reform, we must agree together upon enforcing Rule of Law always. Maintain a unified front at the border to prosecute and/or eject illegal aliens COD to their place of origin. Equal pay for equal work experience and performance regardless of race, creed or gender is a reasonable premise to barter for their support on big domestic off shore oil drilling/refining along with streamlining immediate nuclear plant construction in every state desiring it. Agree upon what we can agree upon, and fulfill those agreements. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew.”
maverick muse on September 7, 2008 at 7:06 PM
You know what, Ed?
Every time you mention, “immigration” in derogatory terms, my eyes glaze over.
You can’t, with a straight face, tell me something shouldn’t be done.
Reform
We can’t possibly enforce the laws on the books, without jeopardizing the constitutional rights of citizens born of illegal aliens.
What would you do?
Make them wards of the state?
I will agree with one thing…Don’t even TRY to pass “comprehensive” reform.
But, reform can be compassionate…And, fair.
franksalterego on September 7, 2008 at 8:03 PM
Roger that …. gotta sabotage the marxist. We’ll figure the rest out later.
ex-Democrat on September 7, 2008 at 9:42 PM
Welcome to my party, the great Republican party. Our party was founded to free people from slavery, oppression, and persecution, we have been doing it for over 150 years all over the world from Virginia to Baghdad. We believe in the power of capitalism and free markets to improve living standards and progress for all humans. One of our party’s guiding principals is that all human beings share a inherent right to live in freedom and liberty and should be judged on their individual abilities, experience, judgement, and character. I ask you to put away identity politics while you are here. I ask you to look beyond simple DNA for what is in individual minds and hearts and debate your ideas with logic courtesy and respect. I hope you enjoy your stay with us and gain greater knowledge and understanding while you are here.
Dollayo on September 8, 2008 at 3:26 AM
Very nice post. “[F]rom Virginia to Baghdad….” Damn, that’s good, and so true.
I’ll add this about another Republican, Wendell Wilkie. He ran against Roosevelt in 1940 with a war going on around the world. He lost the election, but during the war he worked tirelessly FOR Roosevelt. Shortly before Wilkie died, he told a friend that if he could write his own epitaph and had to choose between “here lies a president” or “here lies one who contributed to saving freedom”, he would prefer the latter. Which backs up your post 100%. The Republican Party is now, and always has been, the Party For Freedom.
RickZ on September 8, 2008 at 9:09 AM
Much more interesting would be a press conference of Libertarians now supporting McCain, post Palin pick. Bob Barr was polling 5 to 6% before Palin. He’s now down to 3% in Zogby. Undoubtably, much of McCain’s rise is attributed to Libertarians coming home to the GOP, but the liberal media has completely missed this.
ericdondero on September 8, 2008 at 10:42 AM