DeLay Makes the Case for John McCain
IN what can be considered quite ironic, former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay made clear on Monday why moderates and centrists should like John McCain more than Barack Obama: “If McCain wins the election, we’ve got just as much work to do as if Obama won,” DeLay, the former House majority leader from Texas, told PolitickerCA.com.
“I’ve known McCain for 23 years, and McCain’s hard to swallow.”
Why is this good news for McCain in the sense that it should help him convince independents and moderates that he’s their man? Because DeLay is a highly partisan ideological conservative. The man is so far to the right, that he makes George W. Bush look good.
Now, lets take a look at the other side: Obama is supported by the MoveOn.org crowd. He is the candidate of the far left. They identified him reasonably early on in the race, prefering him to John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and others.
That should tell independents and moderates something about both candidates. If McCain is so disliked by ideological conservatives while Obama is praised and loved by ideological progressives, doesn’t that imply that McCain may likely be the better choice for moderate voters?
Absolutely not.
Liberals have been out of power for 8 years. They would have taken Hillary in a heartbeat. They just liked Obama better because Obama didn’t have the baggage of 20+ years in politics. As a moderate, I frankly don’t know what people mean by ‘liberal.’ Liberal in what way? Obama’s economic adviser is Paul Volker, and old economic hand and hardly a raving socialist. I don’t care about most socially conservative issues. As to terrorism, I find the calm, reassuring way he has run his campaign will translate well to handling defending our country.
Obama is a very cerebral candidate. Sometimes that comes off as "out of touch" or "elitist," but I will never in all likelihood be in a position to take advantage of his personality. What I care about his how he will run this country. And I have determined that he will be better at it than John McCain.
I agree that McCain poses problems for conservatives. But my goal in this election is not to see conservatives squirm. My goal is to see my country better managed. If I am wrong about Obama and he ends up being a disaster, well, that’s why we have elections in the first place.
Palin has the nerve to talk about Obama - when she infact is one step away from being a felon. Troopergate, tax evasion, witchcraft. This is the best John McCain could do????
Regarding today’s crash, this bailout is just one more example of the indivisible handjob stroking irresponsible CEOs and CFOs with billions so that they can run the American economy even further into the ground. So much for Keynesian economics. If the goal is to stimulate the economy, why not invest the money directly into the American taxpayers? The government could do twice as much good for the economy by returning half as much money (as the bailout requires) directly to the hardworking American taxpayers. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush administration.
He said "just as much work," suggesting he thinks McCain is ideologically close to Obama. If he had said, "almost as much work" your argument may have some strength, I think.
If he thinks McCain is that bad (though thinking Obama is "far left," which seems a flimsy categorization at best - not all liberals are far left), he must think they’re rather close in ideology.
Still, if I were McCain, I’d be hasty not support any praise from Tom DeLay. He still has yet to go on trial, after all.