Right. It’s here. Today is the day John McCain will get his biggest chance to speak directly to the conservative base of the party and try to convince them (us, I guess, but he’s already convinced me) that he’s the guy to vote for; that “suicide voting” for Hillary as a conservative is insane, that John McCain will hold together the “house that Reagan built”.
He’s going straight into the belly of the beast — he’s speaking in front of CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference.
These are the hardcore conservatives. These are my brethren. My disgruntled brethren.
All I ask for both CPAC attendees and those who aren’t attending, but are CPAC sorts, who will see McCain’s speech, is to just listen to him. Give him the benefit of the doubt. For decades we have argued that conservatives are, contrary to common wisdom, more open-minded than liberals.
So let’s try to live up to that. Let’s prove it. That’s all I ask. I know many of you are having trouble swallowing some of McCain’s remarks and actions in the past. But McCain’s conservative record is there; he’s almost always in the 80s on conservative watchdog lists such as the ACU rating list, and almost near zero in the liberal column. Yes, he worked with Ted Kennedy on legislation. Do I like that? No. Do I think it’s that big a deal, though? No, no I don’t.
John McCain is an honest-to-god hero, a man who has accomplished more than any ordinary politician (are you listening to me, Ann Coulter, you stupid stick-figure bitch? *grumble* — sorry, I’m a Malkin guy, Coulter is just too stupid for even me to stomach, no matter how great an attack dog she is). This is a man who was offered release from a POW camp — and let someone else go in his place. Ask yourself — do you think Mitt Romney would have ever done that? Do you think Mitt even could have done that? Mitt Romney, who is stupid and sufficiently out of touch with reality enough to think that he can compare his sons campaigning for him for president to soldiers fighting in Iraq?
All I’m saying, my fellow conservatives, is that this man deserves to be listened to, at the very least. And not booed as soon as he takes the stage. I know he finished dead last in the CPAC 2007 straw poll, but times have changed, and McCain is our best chance to get a Republican (and, in my mind, a conservative) — frankly, in objective reality; the reality that exists outside of talk radio — into the White House.
Just listen. Keep an open mind. Please. I beg of you. I know, I know what McCain said about Alito. It sticks in my craw just like it sticks in yours. I know that we all know he made the wrong decision in limiting political free speech with his campaign finance “reform”.
But, for the love of God, do you think Hillary or Obama would appoint better justices to the Supreme Court? Do you really think that?
And I want you to do one other thing, my brethren. I want you to think about what happens if we get hit again on American soil by Islamic terrorists. I want you to ask yourself whom you’d rather have staring down the tyrants of this world. Who is more likely to blink first while staring down Islamic extremism? McCain, Romney, or Huckabee?
You know the answer.
Just listen. It’s all I ask. I have the greatest respect for CPAC, and I wish I was attending this year.
Listen. Examine his positions. Try to get past stupid things like the Alito remark. Try to remember that Reagan put liberal justices in the Supreme Court who have proved disastrous for conservatives.
Just listen. And no matter how much you hate that “maverick” label on McCain, do your homework. Look at his votes. Pick up a rating sheet from one of the conservative watchdog groups and scrutinize his conservative rating.
Just. Listen.