Posted by
David Smith on Sunday, February 03, 2008 2:17:38 PM
Maybe Mitt Romney had it right when he stated, "If the New York Times endorses you, you're probably not a conservative." Today the Los Angeles Times joined their Big Brother from the northeast in endorsing Sen. John McCain in the California (and effectively, the national) Republican Primary.
The article lists McCain's opposition to abortion and gay marriage, simply saying that these are "two positions we reject." It goes on to list the Arizona Senator's support of immigration reform, his version of which was soundly defeated by a massive uprising of all Americans, not just Conservatives and Republicans, who crashed the U.S. Capitol phone system in voicing their opposition to Senator McCain's immigration bill last year.
So basically, the Times excorciates McCain on issues that he holds to conservative positions on, and praises him on matters where he is opposed to conservative positions. Were this a Democrat that we were referring to, they would support abortion rights and gay marriage and the Times would sing their praises quite vociforously.
Now, nobody on the Republican side of the political spectrum has ever said anything bad about McCain's record of service. Quite the opposite, in fact! Whenever I hear conservative talk radio hosts like Hugh Hewitt and Michael Medved speak of John McCain, they are appreciative of his military service, the enviable record of his family in military service, his suffering torture at the hands of his Vietnamese captors, and his time served in elected office. But this is not a "get out of jail free" card. They usually follow up this praise immediately by pointing out the poor record of collaborating with Massachussetts Senator Ted Kennedy and others in putting forward legislation that undercuts the conservative agenda and its values.
McCain-Kennedy.
McCain-Feingold.
On and on. It only gets more and more obvious when major national publications like the Times (either one at this point!) and members of the Kennedy family (California Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneger--OK, related by marriage!) begin endorsing you for President.
How obvious does it have to become?
Senator McCain is an experienced public servant. But if more States like California did not allow independents to vote in the Republican Primary, I believe that we would see McCain squarely out of this race because I suspect that independents are carrying his campaign at this point. I can only hope that my hunch is correct, that conservative Republicans in California show this to be the case, and that the rest of the country begin to pick up on it.
But don't expect to hear such talk from the Times--either one of them!!