March, 2008
Can McCain Draw the Far Right?
Ryan Pahota
Stimulated by a recent discussion with my roommate (a hardcore Libertarian) and the refusal of the Far Right and Conservative Talk Radio such as Rush Limbaugh to support McCain, I as well as many other members of the GOP nation wonder if McCain can appeal to the Far Right. This refusal to acknowledge that “Mac is back” stems from McCain's diversions from the party orthodox, such as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (better known as “McCain-Feingold”). BCRA sought to “get the money out of elections” by placing caps on donations to campaigns and restricting use of certain types of political advertisements, provisions that many conservatives consider unlawful limits on free speech. Other topics such as immigration reform and the Bush tax cuts make McCain an unpopular maverick in the eyes of the GOP rank and file.
With the withdrawal of Mitt Romney to prevent further party the GOP is forced to yield to McCain, who has effectively clinched the Republican nomination by the convention delegate counts. Thus the question is, where do conservatives go from here? Some, like myself at first, wanted to stay home in 2008 and come back in 2012, believing that voting for President this year would be picking our own poison. However, my roommate brought up a good point, a non-vote is essentially a vote for the Democratic Party and the various policies they would enact. That would mean that all the conservative ideals I hold dear will be tossed aside for the more liberal plans of the current Democratic slate.
Therefore, I believe that this election could be the choice of the lesser of two evils, upon the resolution of the Democratic race. Conservatives must then decide who will support most of their agenda now, between John McCain or Hillary Clinton (D-NY) or Barack Obama (D-IL). Who is willing to defend a strict interpretation of the Constitution? Who is willing to practice conservative fiscal spending? Who is willing to stay in Iraq to prevent a power vacuum from completely destroying the Middle East?
Can John McCain win over disaffected conservative voters? I believe he will, out of a preference to electing a Republican over having Obama or Clinton in office, and the fact that voters usually return to their party during elections. Senator McCain is hardly perfect, and perhaps this election will serve as a reminder of many time Presidential candidate Jerry Brown (D-CA) and his lamentations of elections often being a choice between the “evil of two lessers”. But for conservatives, given the choice between McCain or either of the remaining Democratic candidates, the devil in McCain that they do know is far preferable to the devil they know in Hillary Clinton and the devil they don't in Barack Obama.