Quotes of the day

I respect Fred Thompson’s assessment of both his friends, McCain and Graham.

Thompson remains loyal to his friend McCain, endorsing via explication of pros and cons as Thompson sees things from his own constitutional platform. Thompson readily admits he endorses McCain because of their friendship, and because of McCain’s military history. But Thompson qualifies his endorsement restating the specific constitutional matters where the two men differ.

I haven’t noticed any Thompson endorsement of Graham except when introducing him or referencing him as one of our nation’s brightest constitutional legal minds. That Graham folded instead of being consistent against Sotomayor’s confirmation was a disappointment well noted though not subsequently publicized by Thompson who always qualifies his endorsements on accurate grounds without overextending truth.

Where Graham may have admirable intellect, regardless of its use, McCain is lacking. Whether or not one agrees with them, Graham has the courage to voice his own opinion; whereas, McCain equivocates depending on what his advisers say.

McCain and Graham work well in a pack given a strong constitutional leader whom they admire in the Senate or the White House as when Senator Thompson was in office. But they are smart asses who’ve squandered their time since in the Senate. Given today’s progression of public disdain for smart ass incumbents now that the Tea Party objections to federal corruption has gained a majority support from the American citizenry of voters, the tables have turned on Republican smart asses whose vanity in power matters more than the survival of our Constitutional Republic.

Palin fans should avoid the temptation to think that she will hold McCain and Graham to the Constitutional line. Rather, they will hold the neoconservative line that immolates Constitutional Rights (McCain’s legislation to date, Bush’s DHS “solution”) and the Constitutional Balance of Powers (empowering unconstitutional executive orders such as GWB made his last weeks in office). Of course this is done “with the best of intentions” as with the establishment of the DHS. Our nation’s intelligence bureaus did not require an abusive overpowering big-brother/nanny new bureau ruling in order to protect the Constitution and law abiding American citizens. Again, law enabling inter-communications do not require a Big Brother Bureau in order for communications to flow. Legalized inter-bureau communications simply require cooperation, a matter upon which intelligence community jobs hang in the balance. But then, making communication between intelligence bureaus a part of job description wouldn’t satisfy Washingtonian D/R breeds whose focus for decades has been to renege law enforcement by reneging constitutional job descriptions from the top down in all branches of government, including the free press.

For myself, the Tea Party represents American citizens’ demand that our government officials abide and function within the Constitution which defines separation of powers, denying any one branch the powers of another, or the powers to deny/supersede the Constitution.

maverick muse on July 13, 2010 at 9:11 AM

For one thing there is little chance of Hayworth beating him,
Terrye on July 13, 2010 at 5:06 AM

Do you live in Arizona?

However, I am a hardcore fiscal conservative – and so is John McCain.

J.D. Hayworth is anything but. He championed the pork he brought back to his district. He got cozy with the power brokers of D.C. not only for his political gain, but for his personal gain, by raising money for his PAC which employed his wife.

I strongly oppose Indian gambling, not so much on moral grounds but on the inequality built into the system that has allowed small (and sometimes less than credible) tribes “game” the system enriching a very few, while the Native American population on the whole continues to exist in squalor. The federal government has a history of not fulfilling it’s treaty obligations and giving some tribes the “easy money” of gambling doesn’t do anything to fix the underlying system.

That all said, there was not a bigger booster for the few chosen tribes in Congress than J.D. Hayworth. I don’t mean booster in a complimentary way. In fact, he was Co-Chairman of the Indian Gaming Caucus in Congress with none other than… (you’re going to LOVE this one)… Patrick Kennedy. Yes, Ted Kennedy’s son.

Sidebar – one day years and years ago I was walking in the basement hallways of the Capital building when I heard a strange sound – someone imitating an Indian war chant – I turned around and it was the then-Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Bill Archer. When he was done with the chant, I realized what he was doing, because he was calling out to Hayworth and yelled, “There goes the Indian gambling lover.” Can you imagine how out of line your conduct would have to be to have the Chairman of your own committee mock you?

In fact, Hayworth used his position on Ways and Means to cut special deals for tribes (usually siding with the Democrats to get those done) and influence the executive branch to favor one tribe over another. That’s abuse of power.

And even though Hayworth touts his record as a tax-cutter, he authored the largest airline ticket tax in history and got it passed as an amendment to the 2001 tax bill with support from nearly every Democrat on the committee and only a handful of Republicans. Why the ticket tax? His amendment killed a proposed tax on gambling proceeds on Indian Reservations. So, he passes legislation that gives preferential treatment to a small group of people and sticks it to the average traveler. Even gambling operations in Vegas and other states pay taxes.

Then there is the immigration issue. All that I will say about the issue is that McCain sees the issue similar to Ronald Reagan – America is the place of freedom, the shining city on a hill. Hayworth would just as soon put out the lights of the city and paint it in dull colors and make it as unattractive as possible. I do not, for a second, believe that he has a sincere bone in his body when he talks about legal immigration. If our forebears had his attitude, he wouldn’t even be here.

Does McCain deserve to be re-elected because he was a war hero and P.O.W.? Just that alone gives him more credibility to represent us in the Senate than Hayworth, but he has done much more to deserve my support. He not only led the charge against a government take-over of health care, he used his influence to help keep every single Republican together in opposition to the bill. And, he was helpful in the election of Republican Scott Brown to the bluest of all blue states, Massachusetts, in Ted Kennedy’s seat no less.

However, putting all the policy and politics aside, the main reason I support McCain over Hayworth is character. McCain has character, and Hayworth is a character. And an angry, bitter character at that. And, without going into specifics, Hayworth is the most selfish person I know – and given the number of politicians I know, that’s saying something. And, it turns out he’s a huckster to boot.

The bottom line is that McCain has done more to protect our freedom than even Hayworth could bloviate about… and that’s a lot. And for me, I follow Goldwater’s maxim, “are we maximizing freedom?” In this case, McCain exceeds Hayworth on the test of freedom. I’m voting for McCain.

maverick muse on July 13, 2010 at 9:31 AM