Disquiet on the Right: A Danger for McCain
It is always so gratifying to see the very themes being played out here, on this site, being played out in the major media outlets as well. This time in no less a publication than the WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE. Please read this very interesting article and see Gerald Seib talking about the concerns of social conservatives this election cycle. Mr. Seib writes about the religious right reminding the Republican Party that “you can’t win this thing without us.”
~~John Cronin~~
http://blogs.wsj.com/politicalperceptions/2008/05/19/
disquiet-on-the-right-a-danger-for-mccain/
Gerald F. Seib, executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal, has been involved in covering every presidential election since 1980 and writes the weekly Capital Journal column for the Journal.
That sound you hear is rumbling among unhappy social conservatives on the Republican Party’s right wing; it spells trouble not just for President Bush, but for the party’s presumptive presidential candidate, John McCain.
At a time when Sen. McCain badly needs to consolidate the support of the Republican base before the general-election campaign begins in earnest, leaders of the party’s social conservatives are letting it be known—quietly, for now—that they aren’t happy with the way their desires are being met.
The immediate target of their grumbling is Mr. Bush, but the message to Sen. McCain is clear: “You need us in the fall, not just those independent voters everybody wants you to spend your time courting.”
May 21st, 2008 at 7:47 am
I was pleased and proud to (finally) cast my vote for Mitt Romney yesterday in the Kentucky primary. I only wish it meant more. Not really relevant to the post, but when will the Republican Party reform its primary system so that REPUBLICANS select our nominee?
May 21st, 2008 at 9:04 am
Noelle,
I think your comment is relevant. To have so many people continue to vote for several candidates who have withdrawn from the race, indicates a high level of dissatisfaction with the presumptive nominee.
I agree with your comment on the primaries. The system needs a major overhaul. The first move should be to close the primaries to registered party members only.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:51 pm
John, the second move it to have them all in one day, so Iowa is no longer the picker - but the rest of us has a say.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Leaders of the Republican party? Has anyone noticed any leadership? I haven’t. That party no longer represents my values, and how did John McCain become the #1 Republican guy? The world is turned upside down for now.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:12 pm
My states primary is at the end of this month, Romney is not on the ballot, but I will gladly write-in Mitt. I agree with Chris ….on the one day primary so everyone has an EQUAL say and also with John, this system needs a major overhaul so that the media, dems and indies DO NOT pick our REPUBLICAN candidate.
May 21st, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Lizzy, I agree. I ask all of you: “What happened to Reagan conservatism?” Answer: It was sold out for the allure of false political expediency (emphasis on “false”). Note too, that most so-called Republicans today believe what they believe for the same reason that most Russians believed what they believed in the 1960s: They are products of an agenda-driven media which does not tolerate dissent, combined with the inability on the part of Americans to think for themselves. For example, I heard recently on the Laura Ingraham show a pollster saying that the nation has moved left-ward and that Rush, Sean, Laura, et al. had to understand this “fact” and cope with it. How is it that such an idiot can be paid to overlook the obvious and to find himself on a national television show? OF COURSE, Americans have moved leftward, but what the pollster missed (and which is so obvious) is “what else can you expect with 95% of the media votes for left-wing Democrats?” (that figure is accurate and is based on a poll taken a couple of years ago). Liberalism abhors a vacuum. Indeed, without a preacher of the gospel of conservatism the VACUUM IS LIBERALISM. Liberalism is what occurs when you go by instinct and not by thought. Reagan faced much the same atmosphere, but what did he do? He EDUCATED the masses! He took his fight to the people and they realized that Dan Rather was not giving them the truth.