Are you kidding me? John McCain’s new ad “Complete The Danged Fence”

Bob Bennett getting kicked to the curb this weekend must be making a whole lot of RINOs awfully nervous. They know that their gooses are cooked and are now rushing to do their best “I am a real conservative” impersonations. This is the only reason I can think of why John McCain, "King of the Amnesty People", would ever try to pander this shamelessly.

John McCain’s desperation to get re-elected is really starting to show. First he said he was never a maverick and now he is trying to play Macho Minuteman!  Go away, McAmnesty, just go away.

  

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Hot Air

Time Square Car Bomb suspect Faisal Shahzad and the Miranda question

After the early morning arrest of the Time Square car bomb suspect, Faisal Shahzad, more details are coming in [see this morning’s earlier post].  This New York Post video provides a quick recap.

The media seems to be paying close attention to the fact that Faisal Shahzad is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Shahzad being a naturalized U.S. Citizen does raise the Miranda Rights issue once again. John McCain has already spoken up on this topic.

"Obviously that would be a serious mistake...at least until we find out as much information we have," McCain said during an appearance on "Imus in the Morning" when asked whether the suspect, 30-year-old Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan.

"Don't give this guy his Miranda rights until we find out what it's all about," McCain added.[...]

"There's probably about 350 different charges he's guilty off -- attempted acts of terror against the united States, attempted murder," said McCain, cautioning that he's not privy to the charges with which Shahzad might be charged. "I'm sure there's a significant number to warrant the death penalty."

Even though Shahzad is claiming he acted alone in the attack, McCain might be out of luck here. Shahzad is a naturalized U.S. citizen and unlike the Underpants Bomber, Shahzad actually does have our Constitutional rights.  The left is already beating back McCain’s comments (see these Memeorandum discussions here and here). For a lively discussion on this topic, look at this video with Glenn Beck and Judge Andrew Napolitiano on Fox and Friends this morning.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The New York Post

Via: The Washington Post

Via: The Hill

Via: The Huffington Post

Video h/t: Hot Air

Did I miss something? John McCain: “I never considered myself a maverick”

John McCain actually had the nerve to say he never considered himself a maverick! In an interview with Newsweek the Old Maverick had this to say: 

Much as the crowd ate up her every word, Palin had apparently missed the real message this electoral season in Arizona: for his three decades in Congress, McCain hadn't gone with the flow enough, at least not enough to satisfy many Arizona Republicans. Why else would his rival, former congressman J.D. Hayworth, be billing himself as "the consistent conservative"? Many of the GOP's most faithful, the kind who vote in primaries despite 115-degree heat, tired long ago of McCain the Maverick, the man who had crossed the aisle to work with Democrats on issues like immigration reform, global warming, and restricting campaign contributions. "Maverick" is a mantle McCain no longer claims; in fact, he now denies he ever was one. "I never considered myself a maverick," he told me. "I consider myself a person who serves the people of Arizona to the best of his abilities." Yet here was Palin, urging her fans four times in 15 minutes to send McCain the Maverick back to Washington. 

You have got to be kidding me! I don't think it is humanly possible to count the number of times John McCain called himself a maverick. Yet here he is denying the name in order to look like a rock steady conservative. Shameless. Hayworth did not waste a hot second to capitalize on this new revelation. 

“It’s a word that has been expunged from his vocabulary,” Hayworth said. “If memory serves, his campaign plane was called ‘Maverick One,’ and, as I understand it, in national campaigns they spend a lot of time on that stuff.”

“If you’re scoring at home, how many reversals is this?” Hayworth added, running through what he sees as a litany of McCain position changes. “He’s moving away from legislative reversals into branding reversals. It’s the new John McCain, nonmaverick edition, for the Arizona Senate election.”

I really hope McCain crashes and burns because he truly deserves it. Not only did he just waste the major political capital Sarah Palin spent on him, he once again reminded voters what a political gadfly he really is.  If we are to have any real chance at repealing ObamaCare, then Republicans like John McCain have to be shown the door ASAP.

Speaking of Palin, I bet she is writing a very large check to JD Hayworth right now. Don’t believe me? Check out video #3 at the 3:30 mark.

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Via: Memeorandum

Via: Newsweek

Via: Politico

Via: The Right Scoop

Video: Sarah Palin stumps for John McCain in Arizona

Here is the full video of Sarah Palin stumping for John McCain in Arizona. 

It is funny watching this video and thinking back to McCain’s concession speech. Sarah was not allowed to give her short speech. Today, McCain would probably give his eyetooth to have Sarah so much as wink to his audience. While McCain is still the same man he was then, Palin has grown by leaps and bounds.

Throughout Palin’s speech notice how she tried to cloak McCain in her brand of conservatism rather than sing praises for his. Also did you notice the immediate drop in enthusiasm once McCain took to the stage?

I cannot help but wonder how different things might have gone. Had the McCain campaign simply allowed Sarah to be Sarah, rather than trying to shoe horn her into McCain flawed RINO philosophies.

While some conservatives have a major problem with this endorsement, I don’t. After reading Going Rogue, I know she is doing it out of personal loyalty. I like Palin and her brand of conservatism, but just because she endorses someone, it doesn’t mean I have to vote for that candidate. If I were in Arizona, I would have gone to the rally, cheered Sarah, listen to McCain and then gone out and support JD Hayworth.  

H/T: The Right Scoop

John McCain tries to do a “Gang of 14” on Reconciliation

John McCain is up to his old bipartisan tricks again.  This time he is trying to get together another “Gang of 14” of stop reconciliation. 

From The Hill: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is seeking bipartisan support to block Senate Democrats from using special parliamentary tactics to pass healthcare reform. 

The Democratic strategy of using reconciliation to pass changes to the healthcare bill is reminiscent of Republican attempts to force President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees through with a simple majority vote, McCain said Thursday. He implored centrist Democrats to think about the consequences. He even invoked President Barack Obama’s own words to make his case.

And McCain reminded Democrats that he was a member of the bipartisan Gang of 14, which stopped Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) from using the so-called nuclear option in 2005.

It's time for a similar gang, he said. So far, he’s had no takers.

To me, this just proves that John McCain has no understanding what is going on with the tricks being used to foist health care reform on the people.  The action does not lie in the Senate. The true threat of this bill’s passage comes from the House. Should the House vote for the Senate Bill in hopes that the Senate will reconcile it, they would have actually voted to pass the Senate bill, because Obama would signed the flawed bill into law.  I am sure there will be some motions of trying to reconcile the bill in the Senate, but it would all be Kabuki Theater before signing the Senate version into law.

If McCain really wants to use bipartisanship to stop health care reform, he had better start working with his friends in the House, because if he creates a Gang of 14 in the Senate, then he will be giving Obama a very big excuse to sign the flawed bill that the House might pass.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The Hill

Glenn Beck: McCain would have been worse than Obama

That is an interesting statement to say the least. I agree that Hillary would have been better than Obama. Even though Hillary is a bit of a leftist ideologue, she, like her husband Bill, would have been too concerned about her political backside to ever go against the will of the people like Obama does. As a result she would have backed away from really unpopular legislation like the stimulus, like cap and trade and she certainly should have learned a lesson about health care reform.

Now as far as McCain being worse that both Hillary and Obama, I not too sure I would go that far. To me John McCain has no ideological center. Rich Lowry described McCain as a political gadfly, because of his conflicting stances on various issues. I find this description to be 100% correct. As such, who knows what we would have gotten with a President McCain. Would a President McCain, stuck with a Democratic Congress, have signed the stimulus, or cap and trade or the health care bill? Who knows? What we do know is that John McCain put too much importance on bi-partisanship. While bi-partisanship is something nice to achieve, it certainly is not a replacement for strong principles.

I voted for McCain only because of Sarah Palin. I had hoped that she would have used her strong conservative principles to guide McCain. Without her, my original plan was to stay home on Election Day.

Another bit of Beck news out today is a commentary by Peter Wehner. Wehner argues that Beck is bad for the conservative movement. You can read the whole commentary here, but I will give you the last paragraph to give you a sense of what Wehner is all about (emphasis added):

I understand that a political movement is a mansion with many rooms; the people who occupy them are involved in intellectual and policy work, in politics, and in polemics. Different people take on different roles. And certainly some of the things Beck has done on his program are fine and appropriate. But the role Glenn Beck is playing is harmful in its totality. My hunch is that he is a comet blazing across the media sky right now—and will soon flame out. Whether he does or not, he isn’t the face or disposition that should represent modern-day conservatism. At a time when we should aim for intellectual depth, for tough-minded and reasoned arguments, for good cheer and calm purpose, rather than erratic behavior, he is not the kind of figure conservatives should embrace or cheer on.

Oh yes, lets all be quiet little conservatives who play by the Marquis of Queensbury rules while the left knocks our teeth out with a lead pipe. Conservatives have been playing this losing role under the wimpy GOP leadership for decades. It doesn’t work.

Think about the health care debate. What has slowed that legislation down more, the intellectual writings of say National Review or Sarah Palin’s death panels? What was more effective to the conservative movement, the arguments made by people at the Weekly Standard or Glenn Beck starting the 9/12 Project?

Conservative intellectuals have a place. They help form the basis of our arguments and dissect liberal policies. However, conservative intellectuals are no match for counteracting leftist radicals. Libertarians like Beck and strong natural conservatives like Palin, are far better suited for the task.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: CBS News

Via: Commentary Magazine