Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Some thoughts on John McCain and bipartisanship

It was brought to our attention that Montana Headlines was linked to on the John McCain website (see below.) This is an honor, since MH quite a while ago came to the conclusion that John McCain was the logical nominee out of the choices available this year. (To anyone who didn't read our initial shot across the bow last December advocating a McCain nomination, don't click on the link expecting it to be a fluff piece made up of gushing talking points.)

But we would like to make some comments spurred by browsing around the blogging page at JohnMcCain.com -- we note that it includes links to some liberal blogs like the Daily Kos. Visiting the Obama website and browsing around a little, there doesn't seem to be an equivalent open-mindedness towards conservative websites on the part of the Obama campaign.

But then, that a part of what this campaign will demonstrate. For those who are concerned about the increasing divisiveness of politics in America, there is a clear choice this year.

On the one hand, we have in John McCain a Republican with a real record of reaching across party lines (even if MH wouldn't always agree with some of those bipartisan efforts.) Sometimes this has meant that Sen. McCain has earned the criticism of fellow Republicans, including MH.

On the other hand we have in Sen. Obama a Democrat who talks a good "transcending partisanship" game, but who is a conventional, down-the-line liberal without any record of transgressing even the most minor liberal dogmas.

He is, at present, trying to act like he is moving to the middle, but his past record and words militate against it being genuine. Where is Sen. Obama's record of liberals being unhappy with his votes because he reached across the aisle? It just isn't there.

Sen. Obama wants us all to get along and feel good -- but the terms of getting along seem to be that we who are a part of the center-right majority of Americans will need to strum guitars and learn the words to the old leftist songs. That's not the kind of bipartisanship that arouses much interest around here.

As Dick Morris pointed out in a sobering recent column, Obama will have no choice but to govern from the far left if he is elected President. Morris's arguments are compelling.

The far left is just not where America is -- and certainly not where we should want it to go. It's certainly not where Montana is.

Just one more reason that gives urgency to the importance of electing Sen. McCain this fall.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe I'm just feeling peevish tonight, but characterizing Obama as far-left, during the same week in which Jesse Helms was characterized as a solid, swell-guy conservative, ignoring his long history of far-right, Rebel-flag-waving extremism, seems to me a bit much.

Montana Headlines said...

Sounds peevish to me -- how remarkable is it that a conservative would think the politics of Jesse Helms to be pretty solid and that someone with voting record beyond that of Sen. Kennedy is far left?

In addition, Jesse Helms had many terms in the U.S. Senate in which he developed friendships on both sides of the aisle, developed a reputation for being a man whose word could be relied on, and who won elections with large majorities of the people of his state voting for him.

In short, Jesse Helms spent enough years -- decades even -- in the trenches to be cut a little slack, especially when he is dead and no longer a danger to anyone.

By contrast, Sen. Obama has a paper-thin record, one with far fewer examples of bipartisan cooperation than Jesse Helms developed over his years in the Senate. And unlike the departed Helms, Obama is still around to cause trouble.

Loki said...

I don't recall any articles saying Jesse Helms was a nice guy. Everything I heard on the news said he was an ultr-right bigot who was against racial equality. Ed you must give us links to these articles. It would be refreashing to read about Jesse's good side.

Anonymous said...

I found this blog from the McCain Site It looks good I wish Colorado could put together a site like this.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Kemmick,

Jesse Helms reached out and worked with Bono (U2 lead singer) on fighting AIDS in Africa. Helms reached out to SecState Albright and worked with her. Both Albright and Bono are as left (politically) as you're going to get. Has Obama reached out to any conservative politician to work on anything? Has he reached out to any conservative cause to work on anything? I think you know what the answer is.

Gary the Brave said...

Sen. McCain has been a proven conservative most of his career. Those who lament his writing of McCain-Feingold and McCain-Kennedy bills should realize these were all proposed after the 2000 election.

According to a cached page from 2004 on the website Politics 1 Sen. McCain was one of the most conservative members in the Senate but renounced ultra-conservatism because he felt the religious right had taken control (a position with which I disagree).

So, before one declares this election as a race between two Democrats, check out Sen. McCain's pre-2000 voting record.