Chapter 72: That's What I've Been Saying...

Finally, there's something I can point to that supports what I've been telling people about John McCain: He's a conservative, not a moderate. He's probably more conservative than President Bush in many areas.

Of course, I could have done the investigative work myself and misleadingly taken credit for espousing this viewpoint -- which is not exactly new, merely not commonly reported. But why bother right now? I'm not voting for him in the upcoming primary. I can wait for the national election if he's the Republican nominee, which I now think is how it'll work out. I've said before that McCain is a noble politician, and I still believe that. I respect this man. I'll have time to do the research.

Anyway, back to my point. The New York Times published the op-ed by Adrian Woolridge that I linked to above and added an "Editorial Observer" opinion piece by Francis X. Clines about the senator and his appeal to South Carolina primary voters.

I wish I had written this paragraph from Woolridge's piece:

There is a reason Republican primary voters are so confused by Mr. McCain. He is a Republican who is disliked by the hard core of his party but loved by many independents and Democrats. He is almost universally regarded as a moderate and a maverick, a combination that independents love and conservatives loathe. The trouble with this widespread understanding of Mr. McCain’s politics is that it is entirely wrong.

He goes on to explain that McCain's squabbles with other conservatives have been primarily to battle for principles he believes are not conservative enough. "He opposed torture because he thought it was a violation of the American tradition of human life and human rights," Woolridge writes. (As a moderate, I agree with him.) McCain's opposition to Bush's tax cuts were because he felt Congress was spending too much (that's a discussion for another time), and he promoted immigration reform "because he thought the 'conservative' alternative (encouraging illegal immigrants to go home) is unworkable economically and dubious morally." Yeah, I can see that, too.

What I like about McCain is that he is intelligent and takes reasoned stands on issues. Democrats could learn a lot from him, and I hope they do. And fast, because I think one of them is going to be running against him for president throughout the summer and into November.