If your like me, you've no doubt been unimpressed with the current choice the GOP has ended up with as a nominee for this cycles run for the President of the United States. I realize Dr. Dobson and others are holding out H.O.P.E. that Huckabee will some how swoop in to take the nomination from John McCain but wise-up!... That ain't gonna happen.
Read On...
Huck would have to secure 83.3% of the remaining GOP delegates, as it stands right now, it's a mathematical impossibility. In fact the Party should be putting enormous pressure on Huckabee to bow out gracefully sooner rather than later so the Party may begin its united national campaign against the forces of darkness ie: the Democrat Party and its nominee. Whether it's Obama or Hillary they must be defeated for a myriad of reason I won't go into here but can be found all through these pages.
Now to my point -- I'm hearing a lot of talk (I'm sure you have to) about some conservatives staying home or sitting out this election because they're dissatisfied with the Idea of voting for McCain and to a lesser extent Huckabee. While I can certainly sympathize with this reaction I can not in good conscious recommend or condone it.
Back in the run-up to the 2006 election these same sentiments of sitting out to punish our elected (R's) ran wild though the GOP and it worked! -- as a result we ended up with a Democrat controlled Congress. In spite of repeated warnings by Rush, Hannity, Will and a host of others -- conservatives stayed home and in so doing created the scenario in which we find ourselves today!
Right now, as a direct result of this action we are looking at the potential for a President McCain and a Democrat controlled Congress!!!
As John Bicknell wrote in his CQ Politics piece entitled The Real Conservative Conundrum: A President McCain Working With a Democratic Congress -- It's a must read, you won't be disapointed!
...the new president will turn his attention to his domestic agenda. And he likely will be facing a Congress with larger majorities of Democrats than it now has. The electoral math all but guarantees Democratic gains in the Senate. The House looks pretty good for them, too. If President McCain wants legislative victories, he will have to turn to those majorities to get them enacted.The point here, and the lesson to take away from John Bicknell's piece and this one, is not to disparage McCain but to point out that elections matter!
And he will be happy to do so. That’s how McCain has always operated, and there is no reason to believe that if he becomes president, he will operate in any other manner.
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As president, with a Democratic Congress, it is the other part — the stylistic part — that will prove to be a much greater problem for conservatives.
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If he wants to accomplish things — and every president wants to accomplish things — he will have to do so on the Democrats’ terms.
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If he wants to accomplish things — and every president wants to accomplish things — he will have to do so on the Democrats’ terms.
That means his agenda will include those things on which he agrees with the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate:
• A cap and trade regime for climate change.
• Expansion of McCain-Feingold regulations for campaign finance.
• Expanded legal rights for enemy combatants, and probably the closing of Guantanamo.
• Comprehensive immigration overhaul, with a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants already in the country.
This will not be a “reaching across the aisle.” This will be a full partnership of the president and the Congress, who just happen to be of different parties. The shrunken GOP minority in the Senate might serve as a brake, especially on immigration. But it will be only a brake, not a standing astride history yelling “stop!”
Elections matter, not just the act of selecting a President but selecting Senators and Congressmen to secure a majority in both Houses of Congress.
Now! I know, I know...I can hear you all saying but, but... Steve, we have to hold these people responsible when they make mistakes or lose their way and I agree! I'm far from actively seeking any R to promote to Congress just for the sake of having a majority but it's for that reason we need to select strong conservative to rally behind and support for Congress.
There are two stories on the front page here at The Minority Report that address and introduce you to six GOP candidates for Congress. Four from Illinois, one from Kentucky, and one from Pennsylvania all of which need our help in their up coming battle for their district's House Seat. Likewise it will be our mission over the coming months to inform and introduce you to as many of these great Americans as we can.
This process starts with you, get involved locally and volunteer to help elect conservatives to the House and Senate, donate to those campaigns! If you live in a predominantly Blue area of the country, come to TMR, find a few races and candidates from other areas, and volunteer to make phone calls and donate to those campaigns!
Remember, regardless of where or not your going to pull the lever for McCain it's absolutely essential that you turn out and vote the down-ticket!
There's no law that says you have to vote or declare your intention for every spot on the ballot. Voting the under-card matters...your looking at the consiquences of not doing so. Sitting out is not an option!
Addendum by DocJ: If I may be so bold as to intrude on this piece, but I think it's important to personalize this a bit. Folks, as you know I am a self-declared Maverick Voter and so you might think I'm a prime "Red Flu" candidate on Election Day 2008. Not gonna happen. I will dutifully go to my polling place in suburban Boston on November 5th, take my ballot, write-in my first choice at the top of the ticket, and then happily vote for whom ever else has the word "REPUBLICAN" after their name on the ballot. Period. Full stop.
Now, given that it's Massachusetts I suspect there will be a whooooooooooole lot of unfilled ovals on my sheet - but that's another story.
Just saying.
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