It’s not because he’s a war hero, although he is. Courage and determination such as he showed during seven years of captivity says a lot about a man.
It’s not because he’s a great conservative. He’s not tremendously conservative on most domestic and social issues. In fact, I think he pays too much heed to the Lame Stream Media when developing his positions.
It’s not because he’ll appoint conservatives to federal judgeships. I think he’ll appoint sort of middle of the road conservatives, but he’ll be able to get them through the Senate, which is vital.
It is because I think he has it right on national defense and the military. The one thing that the President must do is ensure that we have a strong military and that the military is used to protect us against those that would harm the nation and it’s citizens. You can stretch that definition as far as you want, but in essence it comes down to foreign nasties, both state and non state actors.
I’m sure that the Republican purists won’t agree with me, including some who think that we need a “lesson” of four years of a hard left Democrat President and Congress. I don’t know that we can survive the structural damage to the country that such a “lesson” might cause. Jimmy Carter was not only a feckless leader, but he did serious damage to the US military that took years to repair. To allow that sort of thing to happen while we are at war is just plain stupid.
McCain understands that and understands support for the military. Remember, it was he that early on in the Iraq Campaign warned that there weren’t enough troops in country to suppress insurgents.
When it comes down to it, he’s the best choice available. No candidate is ideal and in an ideal world, I wouldn’t vote for McCain. To paraphrase Don Rumsfeld, “You go into the general election with the candidate you have, not the candidate you wish you had”.
If that doesn’t convince you, try these on for size.
Attorney General John Edwards
Supreme Court Justice Charles Schumer
Supreme Court Justice Hillary Rodham Clinton.
I’d go on, but you get the point and I’m getting ill.
“Supreme Court Justice Hillary Rodham Clinton” ?? dude i wont be able to sleep for weeks, thats scary.
A military is a wonderful thing but it has to be fighting the right war. McCain should know all about that. Surely the British wished they had more regular troops to fight the insurgents at Lexington et al. Maybe they realised in the end that they would never have enough.
Even though it was a great moral victory for the Colonials, the British inflicted more casualties. In the end, the British decided it wasn’t worth the effort to keep the Colonies under their control. The difference being that the Colonials weren’t engaged in a war to destroy Britain. In case you haven’t noticed, the Iraqis have decided they don’t want al Qaeda or Iran running their country, thank you very much. That’s another difference that seems to have escaped the Defeat Now party.