McCain Becomes Border Hawk as Hayworth Closes In

In writing any article on John McCain it is almost obligatory to mention his war record as one of the most prominent members of the “Hanoi Hilton” club. He deserves every American’s respect if not reverence his for heroism.

But that does not make him a conservative.

John McCain has found himself in a fix in his contest with Arizona conservative J.D Hayworth. How does a four-term Republican U.S. Senator with an abysmally liberal domestic record redefine himself to voters as a Reagan conservative? He came to Congress in 1982 as just that, but by the end of the Reagan years he was already moving left on his domestic record.

These days McCain is out busily rewriting his political history on the “I am not a maverick, I’ve never been a maverick, I don’t even know a maverick” Campaign Express.

But how does he un-write McCain-Feingold, the very bill that enabled Barack Obama to out fundraise him according to some estimates by 8 to 1 in the 2008 presidential contest? Mark Levin calls McCain’s eponymous campaign finance bill “the most brazen frontal assault on political speech since Buckley v. Valeo.”

Let’s look at a couple of things you may not know about John McCain:

Indian Gaming: McCain, a lifelong gambler, is largely responsible for the creation and expansion of the $26 billion-a-year Indian gaming industry. He has had questionable ties to the lobbyists and the tribes they represent. The argument here is that gaming brings revenue to poor Indian tribes. Take a look around a few reservations sometime and see if it’s worked.

He has joined with the ACLU to grant due process to terrorist combatants.
He has used his Vietnamese nightmare to put the kibosh on waterboarding, a method far removed from the daily torture he received from the North Vietnamese.

Along with a lot of other Republicans, John McCain became Washingtonized years ago.  Next Exhibit: Cap-and-Trade: Let’s get this straight: cap-and-trade – any cap-and-trade policy – is a whacko “greenie” idea meant to regulate every drop of oil you buy or consume, and how you use it. Sound conservative to you?

Recently McCain has taken to attacking Hayworth for his “connections” to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Let me say this: If J.D. Hayworth has ever been criminally connected to Abramoff, then John McCain should be in federal prison for his ties to Charles Keating. The truth is that neither Hayworth nor McCain were criminally involved with either man.

And now suddenly John McCain is a border hawk. He is calling for the troops on the border that he decried for so many years, and he is even turning his head to the occasional racial profiling that may result, because illegal traffic is “becoming” increasingly dangerous.

Is this the same John McCain who co-drafted McCain-Kennedy, the broadest pro illegal immigration amnesty bill in history? Suddenly – presto-chango – dangerous criminals are crossing our borders? Where has he been for the last twenty years? Well, in Washington, that’s where.

Naw, this couldn’t be because McCain is in the fight for his political life and Hayworth is closing in on him.

Yes, Senator, we should have troops on the U.S. border with Mexico and this time they should actually carry loaded weapons like real soldiers.

John McCain is a wealthy man and there are many ways in which he can serve his nation, but, frankly, he would be more help to conservatives if he only signed on as a tour guide at the Vietnam Memorial.

End Round One: What to Expect Next in the Healthcare Takeover

Obama thug, David Axelrod

Dennis Klein of the American Spectator hit it right on the money with today’s article, “Democrats Break Ground.” Liberal Democrat leaders had to sacrifice the meat of their totalitarian agenda to position their Healthcare bill for a vote this week, but the infrastructure is now in place for complete destruction of the health care industry.

Immediate changes are not forthcoming. Americans will wake up, January 1, 2010, seemingly unscathed by the takeover of 1/6 of the U.S. economy, only to be spoon-fed changes over the next seven years, until they no longer own their own lives. Look for mainstream media to run stories questioning all the Republican hubbub. They run stories saying, “Healthcare reform is here and it didn’t hurt a bit,” and many milquetoast conservatives will buy it.

Now comes the kabuki, or perhaps more appropriately, the old Rock ‘N’ Roll Hoochie Coo. What you are seeing here is old-fashioned Chicago-style politics at work. Obama’s chief knuckle-dragger, David Axelrod, scoffed at the Dems sagging poll numbers on Meet the Press, Sunday, saying that the 2010 election is a “world away.”

The PR blitz will be dazzling, aided by virtually every media outlet in America. They’ll get you laughing first, with Letterman and John Stewart making snide jokes about Republicans, and taking tongue-in-cheek jibs at liberals and Obama. Then the conservative media, with perhaps the exception of Limbaugh and a few other stalwarts, will move on. Bill O’Reilly has left the planet. He’s having a love affair with Michelle Obama these days.

At the end of the day, I blame the Republicans for much of this, which is why I am no longer a member of that party. It was their lavish spending and oddball alliances that laid the groundwork for the Democrat takeover in 2006, and brought us to the brink of economic disaster. Bush’s TARP bailout displayed the brilliance of an after-sentencing investment with Bernie Madoff. There were scandals and sellouts at every turn — Randall “Duke” Cunningham and the Abramoff Scandal, McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy — and many of them are still at it. Now Lindsey Graham is running around with Greenpeace and Sierra Club stickers on his bumper.

One would certainly hope to see the people wake up and throw all of these bums out for a clean start, but it won’t happen. No doubt 2010 will ferret out some of the worst of the Democrats, but the problem is institutional. I don’t know if it’s in the DC water supply or what, but a congressman gets elected nowadays, and forgets who elected him 10 minutes after he hits town. It’s also pandemic. People don’t vote. Less than 38% of the American electorate turned out in the 2006 mid-term election.

When a congressman or senator is elected it should entail a risk. Poor results should garner early retirement. In my district I like my representative but I want him out; he’s been there too long, and he ran a “term-limits” campaign. Remember those guys?

Every congressional vote should send a message home, “I remember who elected me, and why I’m here.” Every election should be a mandate: “Do as we say, or face the consequences.” Until this is the case the American public has no reasonable expectation of change in Washington.