Why Jim DeMint should be McCain's running mate

There's been a lot of chatter about who John McCain will choose to be his running mate. Most worrying is the speculation about Joe Lieberman taking the veep spot.

That would be a bad, bad idea. Already conservatives are angry with John McCain. And while McCain is showing that he can win crossover Democrats, he hasn't shown that he can reach out to conservatives. When he does try to, it comes across as fake, forced. For McCain to win, he needs to be genuine. He isn't a conservative, and he shouldn't try to pretend that he is. He should just be himself, be honest and up front about where he stands, and find another way to reach out to conservatives without coming across as condescending. And the best way to do that is to choose a conservative running mate.

Choosing the person to be your running mate needs to be a strategic move, not about who you've been good buddies with in the Senate. A good politician will choose someone who can balance them out -- someone who is strong where you are weak, who can be tough on the points where maybe you're a little squishy.

And that's why South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint would be a fantastic choice for John McCain's running mate. Let's take a look at his bio for starters:

Elected as South Carolina’s 55th senator in 2004 after serving six years in the U.S House of Representatives, Jim DeMint has quickly established himself as one of the most effective conservative leaders in Washington. He was recently ranked as the Senate’s most conservative member by National Journal and as the number one senator voting for responsible tax and spending policies by the National Taxpayer Union.

Even as a freshman, Jim has shown that he has no interest in sitting on the sidelines in the Senate. Instead, he has leveraged his expertise in placing products and ideas in a crowded marketplace, gained as the owner of a small market research firm. He has become an effective national voice in Washington's fight to regain the trust of the American people, most recently on the issues of immigration and wasteful spending.

In late 2006, he was elected by his colleagues as Chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, which is comprised of the majority of Republican senators and works to shape and advance conservative legislation. He also serves on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Energy and Natural Resources; Foreign Relations and Joint Economic Committees.

Senator DeMint is a conservative through and through. He's got experience, and he'd be able to assuage the bruised egos that many conservatives are still nursing. He's a fiscal conservative, and a leader of conservatives in the Senate. The National Journal has named Senator DeMint the most conservative senator. He's been on the front lines of the fight for earmark reform. He has a life ACU rating of 98. The issues he focuses on are earmark reform, illegal immigration, and family values -- which is a good complement for McCain. Conservatives would be happy to know that there is someone in the White House who would fight for their values, and McCain would still have his moderate appeal to capture crossover Democrats.

One of Senator DeMint's strongest positions is on illegal immigration -- which is one of McCain's weakest areas for Republicans and conservatives. McCain has stood for amnesty and open borders, and many people are understandably horrified at the thought of what will happen to our borders and immigration with President John McCain. This is where Vice President Jim DeMint would be the most beneficial. McCain is now claiming that he has changed his mind on illegal immigration and open borders (to an extent), but who can actually believe that? With Senator DeMint as his running mate, there would be a lot more credibility to that claim. Consider how he fought to defeat the shamnesty disaster last year:

After the cloture vote failure at noon on Thursday, Harry Reid could not get unanimous consent to call up amendments to the bill because Jim DeMint refused to give his consent. This was extremely problematic for Reid because he wanted to get in votes on 6 more amendments before the last try at a cloture vote.

At that point, all the senators who were participants in the "Grand Compromise" AKA the "Masters of the Universe" by the opponents of the bill, leaned on DeMint to try to get him to give consent for the bill to move forward. Unfortunately for them, DeMint wouldn't budge. This essentially killed the entire afternoon that the pro-amnesty side hoped to use to shore up support for the bill.

While DeMint was gumming up the works, the opponents of the bill, including most prominently Jim DeMint, Jeff Sessions, and Tom Coburn, huddled and came up with a list of conservative amendments they wanted considered.

The "Grand Compromise" crowd didn't want a lot of these amendments to be voted on because either some of the amendments would have been accepted and it would have killed the bill or alternately, they would have had to vote against common sense enforcement measures and made themselves look bad.

Senator DeMint would be, in my opinion, the best choice for John McCain's running mate. Because, let's face it -- McCain is not now, nor will he ever be, a conservative. We can whine, bith, and gripe all day long about that fact. But it won't change anything -- he'll still be our nominee, and he won't be any more conservative. The solution for McCain and for conservatives would be to get a true conservative in as Vice President -- and Jim DeMint would easily be the best choice.

Video of the Day

Snort.

Hat Tip: Hot Air

Summing up conservative support for John McCain...

... in a single bumper sticker.



'Nuff said.

McCain channels Reagan

"We're Americans, and we'll never surrender -- they will!"



I do not agree with all of John McCain's policies. There's a lot of things about him that make me worry, albeit not nearly as many as the number I can find looking at Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. However, in the ad, McCain remarks:

I know who I am, and what I want to do, because I don't seek the office out of a sense of entitlement. I owe America more than she has ever owed me... I've been an imperfect servant of my country for many years. I've never lived a day, in good times or bad, that I haven't been proud -- proud -- of the privilege.

Can you imagine anything remotely similar to that coming out of the mouths of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama?! I think McCain was being sincere and honest about being an imperfect servant who owes America more than she owes him. While I do doubt his decisions sometimes, I've never doubted the love and pride he feels for his country -- it's overwhelmingly obvious, and God knows he sacrificed enough for her -- and when asked about that service, he says that he "failed".

Compare that to Barack "our country is mean" Obama, who regularly extolls how horrible it is and how much we need change, or Hillary "America owes me the presidency" Clinton, who positively reeks of an attitude filled with entitlement.

McCain's not a perfect candidate, and God knows he's no Ronald Reagan. But he's far to the right of our other two choices, and it's obvious he's trying to channel the conservative idol in this ad. He's still no Reagan, but in this ad, he plays the part well. It's his best campaign ad yet.

Thoughts?

Gloria Steinem and Oprah Winfrey can both go "bye-bye".

Everyone's already heard Gloria Steinem's pigheaded remarks about John McCain:

“Suppose John McCain had been Joan McCain and Joan McCain had got captured, shot down and been a POW for eight years. [The media would ask], ‘What did you do wrong to get captured? What terrible things did you do while you were there as a captive for eight years?’” Steinem said, to laughter from the audience.

McCain was, in fact, a prisoner of war for around five-and-a-half years, during which time he was tortured repeatedly. Referring to his time in captivity, Steinem said with bewilderment, “I mean, hello? This is supposed to be a qualification to be president? I don’t think so.”…

“I am so grateful that she [Clinton] hasn’t been trained to kill anybody. And she probably didn’t even play war games as a kid. It’s a great relief from Bush in his jump suit and from Kerry saluting.”

Disgusting, eh?

Oprah Winfrey jumped into the political ring a while ago, coming out for Obama. In a recent interview with USA Today, though, she threatens to hang up at the mere mention of John McCain:

What about John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee? "Oh, please," she replies. "Bye-bye."

She doesn't hang up — but the threat has been made.

Gloria Steinem and Oprah Winfrey can both go "bye-bye" as far as I'm concerned. Both women pretty overrated as far as I'm concerned anyways, and neither of them have done anything in their piddling little lives to compare to what McCain has done. Being a TV personality doesn't hold a candle to being a POW for five years; being at the forefront of the hysterical, man-hating new wave of feminism does not make her worthy to so much as kiss McCain's combat boots.

Here's a video from an A&E "Biography", showing details of John McCain's torture and captivity in Vietnam. McCain's been getting a lot of flak lately, and understandably so. I hate where he stands on certain issues as much as most conservatives do. But let's not completely tarnish his reputation; let's still remember the sacrifice he made for his country. Agree or disagree with his policies, I will always be thankful and respectful to John McCain for what he went through. The man's a war hero, and we shouldn't forget that just because we disagree with him on certain political issues.



Hat Tip: Debbie Schlussel

Hillary gives McCain a freebie

Hillary's new ad is pretty much the perfect campaign ad... for John McCain. She does a pretty damn good job of striking fear into your heart, doesn't she?



I don't know about you, but I was definitely a-scared of who was going to answer the phone. Did this ad really make you want her to be the one who answers?

I don't think so...

Hat Tip: Hot Air

Time to trust McCain

John Hawkins has done another one of his always-popular blogger polls, and the topic was John McCain. 59 blogs responded, and the poll showed that John McCain, unsurprisingly, has not yet been able to completely gain the trust of conservatives. Here are some of the results (visit Right Wing News to view them all):

Do you intend to vote for John McCain in November?

A) Yes: 40 -- 75%
B) No: 13 -- 25%

Do you consider John McCain to be a conservative?

A) Yes: 19 -- 34%
B) No: 37 -- 66%

Do you trust John McCain to appoint Supreme Court Justices like Roberts and Alito?

A) Yes: 32 -- 55%
B) No: 26 -- 45%

How enthusiastic would you be about actually having John McCain as President on a 10 scale? Think of a score of 10 as being extremely enthusiastic and excited and 1 as being about very upset and unenthusiastic.

Average score: 4.7

The answers to this poll were troubling to me, and not because I distrust John McCain. I do distrust McCain on several issues, but I am ready to put that aside for now, and other conservatives need to do the same.

All throughout the primaries, most of us in the blogosphere have been steadfastly against John McCain -- myself included. But it's time to get over the feelings that most of us have of distrust, fear, and anger about McCain being our nominee. Like it or not, he is the nominee, and we can't keep focusing on the negatives. What truly saddens me concerning John McCain is that so many of us seem only able to focus on where he stands politically. We've all overlooked the fact that the man is a genuine war hero, who has done some incredible things, and despite the mistakes he may have made with various policies and legislations, loves his country -- no one can doubt that. He's a fiscal conservative, will be great for the military, and is also someone we can trust with foreiqn policy, national security, and the War on Terror.

John McCain is not the conservative dream candidate -- he's broken the collective heart of conservativism multiple times. But we need to start remembering who the alternatives are -- Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. Who, of these three, would do more harm to the country? Is it even a question?

So many are saying that they refuse to vote for McCain out or "principle", that they won't choose the lesser of two evils. But we all need to get over that attitude. We need to understand that things will not always go our way; we may never get another Ronald Reagan. No candidate, not even Reagan himself, will ever be able to measure up the the impossibly high standards conservatives are holding candidates to. Yes, we should support the most conservative candidate we can, but Americans have voted in John McCain as our candidate for 2008, and therefore, we have got to get past the animosity towards McCain.

Let's leave the whiny emotionalism for the liberals, hmm?

If we can't unite ourselves this election season, then how can we possibly win? It won't help the conservative movement one bit to give the country President Barack Obama, or even worse, President Hillary Clinton. Is that what any of us conservatives want? You may be furious because McCain has failed us on some issues, but if we don't get him into office, then we'll have a President who fails us on all the issues.

He may not be the candidate that any of us wanted, but we need to get behind him. We need to support John McCain, for the good of the United States.

Q & A: Giuliani, McCain, or Romney?

Jarrod in Texas said...
Cassy I love the blog. I'm not sure how I found it, but it's in the rotation of things I check pretty much every day. I know you are all for Duncan Hunter who I like for his actual conservative chops and I'm torn between him and Fred. Assuming neither of them makes it to the primary for my state, if you were me and potentially forced to choose between Guiliani, Romney, or McCain, which way would you go?

Also, there was a time where I thought you were the perfect woman: pretty, smart, and conservative. Now I can understand hatred for Peyton Manning, because I share it as well, but who in their right minds would not hate Tom Brady even worse? It's this unforgivable Massachusetts liberal streak in you that's the dealbreaker. Sorry.

Hello Jarrod!

My first choice, as readers of my blog know, is Duncan Hunter, and Fred would be a close second. However, if I had to choose between McCain, Romney, or Giuliani, my choice would probably be Rudy Giuliani. Here's why. Like most conservatives, John McCain is not an option. I applaud him for his service to our country, and I look up to him very much for what he has done, but I don't trust his politics for a second. I know he is great on national defense, but I don't like how he is so firmly ensconced in what Duncan Hunter called "the Kennedy wing" of the GOP.

As far as Mitt Romney goes, I don't see myself voting for him, and not because he's Mormon. I could really care less about Mitt Romney's religion, provided he isn't Muslim. No, I just don't know where he stands. He's about as slippery as John Kerry is, and I just don't know that I could have faith in his leadership.

This process of elimination leaves me with Rudy Giuliani, who I don't think has the experience to be President and isn't conservative enough. However, he is great on national defense, and accomplished a lot of good things in New York as mayor.

When it comes down to it, I won't vote for any of the three of them in the primary. However, if any of those three, including McCain, get the nomination, I'll throw my weight 100% behind that person. Any of those three would be better than Hillary. Even if they aren't the best candidate, our sole concern should be keeping the Dems out of the Presidency.

And as far as Tom Brady... what can I say? I can't help but love the guy. And while my family is from Massachusetts, I promise you there's no "Massachusetts liberal streak". ;)