John McCain

Our featured Presidential candidate for today is Republican Senator John McCain.

When did I first hear of him? I don't know. It was before he ran for President in 2000, I can tell you that. And, back in those days, the conservatives I knew spoke pretty highly of him. But that was before McCain-Feingold and his other "maverick" positions.

My reaction to him is love-hate. He got a 0% rating from the National Abortion Rights Action League, and that's good. And there are times when he tries to sound like a raw-meat-eating conservative, as when he called Michael Moore a "disingenuous film producer" (got that right). His voting record is fairly conservative, if you compare it with that of most Democrats. But I'm not sure if I can trust him to fight for conservative principles.

He voted against the Bush tax cuts, yet he says that we should extend them. He opposed the Marriage Amendment, yet he acted brave when he told Chris Matthews and the University of Iowa that marriage is between a man and a woman. He lambasted Jerry Falwell as an "agent of intolerance," and then he gave the commencement address at Falwell's Liberty University. On crucial issues, he appears to go with the winds that can get him elected.

And yet that is not entirely accurate. He has suffered politically for taking certain controversial stands. He voted for the immigration bill when most Republican candidates called it "shamnesty." He has stood by the Iraq War surge, even though the war is no longer popular. He reminds me somewhat of Bush, who is ready to fight to the death for some principles but not others.

On the cultural issues that concern me, such as the appointment of conservative judges, my attitude is mixed. He was part of the Gang of 14. On one hand, the Gang was a good thing because it got Bush's judicial nominees on the bench. On the other hand, it allowed Democrats and RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) to filibuster in "extraordinary circumstances." I just wish that McCain were more of a fighter. Thus far, I like the way that Bush handles the judges issue. He nominates a conservative, and he doesn't give a flip what Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer think. But I can picture McCain nominating a so-called "moderate" to appease the Democrats.

And I do not really like some of the legislation that bears his name. For example, take the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. I agree that lobbyists have a disproportionate amount of influence in American government. But the McCain-Feingold law banned political ads a certain number of days before an election. I'm sorry, but the First Amendment does not say, "Congress shall make no law abridging free speech, except for speech 60 days before an election." I am baffled that some are willing to throw the Constitution out the door for the sake of a "progressive" cause.

He has made me think about the issue of torture. I do not find some of his arguments convincing. He says that torture yields bad intelligence because the tortured will say anything. But are we releasing the detainee right after he gives the bad intelligence? I think that is an important question. McCain also says that torture will encourage other nations or terrorist groups to torture American captives. Excuse me, but what makes him think that they won't do that anyway?

Perhaps his most convincing argument against torture is that it goes against who we are as a nation. He said in a debate that, when he was tortured in Vietnam, what gave him and his fellow POWs comfort was the realization that Americans would not do the same thing if the situation were reversed. For him, we are hopefully a nation that takes the higher moral ground. I'm not sure how idealistic his view is. I remember Tom Tancredo saying that America used torture in World War II. I don't know if Tancredo had facts behind that or if he was just shooting from the hip. But, overall, McCain does give me food for thought.

As far as persona goes, he seems to be a nice guy. He could get different material in terms of comedy, however, since he used the same "drunken sailor" joke in two debates.

One thing that concerns me is that he left his wife and children for another woman. His first wife waited for him when he was in Vietnam, and he left her. Look, I don't know the complete story about his situation, but I think that the Republican Party has degenerated in what it morally accepts. We are supposed to stand by marriage, and yet we support candidates (e.g., Newt Gingrich, Rudy) who committed adultery or got a divorce. Bush, Sr. made a big deal about character in the 1992 Presidential election. When did character stop mattering?

I'll vote for McCain against any Democrat, since he is good enough in terms of conservatism. But, in the primary stage, I wonder if we can do better.