After the bitter 2000 primary battle, McCain held a grudge against the new President Bush and Republicans. He voted against the Bush tax cuts. He worked with Democrats for McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform - which conservatives believe is unconstitutional because it restricts free speech; the McCain-Edwards-Kennedy Patients' Bill of Rights - which conservatives opposed as undue government interference in the free market; McCain-Lieberman global warming - which conservatives do not believe is man-made and thus cannot be stopped; McCain-Kennedy amnesty for illegals - which conservatives are vehemently against.
On all these positions, McCain is more than moderate, he is liberal, joining up with some of the most liberal members of the Senate. Clearly he can work well with others and make compromises with the left - which I don't like, but America professes to love. Oh, and I almost forgot - McCain was rumored to be considering changing his party affiliation in 2000 before Sen. Jeffords made the leap and gave the Senate to the Democrats. McCain was also rumored to be on John F. Kerry's VP list.
He further irked conservatives when he joined the Gang of 14 - the group that forced a compromise in the impasse of judicial confirmations. When Democrats wouldn't allow the full Senate to vote up or down on judicial confirmations, conservatives wanted to go for the "nuclear option," which would only require a majority, rather than 60 votes to bring them to the floor. A Republican argument against going nuclear is that when Democrats come into office, they will also use the nuclear option for their judges. Well, we didn't end up going nuclear, but mark my words, the Dems WILL.
So these are all the things that have happened over the last 8 years to make me dislike John McCain, but then he became the Republican presidential candidate. McCain being infinitely
better than either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, I had to put aside my qualms and back him. I had to continue to defend him even though, through the course of the campaign, he pledged to include Democrats in his cabinet, considered Lieberman for VP, supported the bailout, continued to oppose drilling in ANWR, and attacked Obama for not taking public financing. All of which are anathema to conservatives, but should have endeared him to Americans looking for change in Washington.
McCain was the anti-Bush candidate, the candidate of change, the unifier, the true maverick, the bipartisan compromiser willing to throw out his ideals in the name of consensus - all of which I HATE and yet I supported him and America, wanting all these qualities, went for OBAMA!
I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS!!!
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