John McCain: The Final Word

A post by Maynard

A few words about my take on John McCain.

As I said in my final word about Mr. Obama, I don’t much care what happens after a candidate declares his candidacy. It’s the long history that matters, not the short seduction. Obama’s history shows him to be a water-carrier for bigoted hatemongers. And if that doesn’t make Obama a bigoted hatemonger himself, I don’t know what does.

John McCain has not been the darling of conservatives. But Maynard’s terrible secret is that he has always thought more highly of McCain than do many of his fellows. I’ll explain why.

First, a quick look at our issues with McCain. Just as Obama has spent his life palling around with terrorists and bad guys, so has McCain palled around with liberals and elitists in the Senate. He seems too comfortable with Teddy and Hillary, and his fingerprints were all over the immigration “reform” fiasco, not to mention campaign finance “reform”. He voted against the Bush tax cuts and condemns harsh interrogations of terrorists. Many conservatives wonder how this man can call himself one of them.

My attitude toward McCain is formed in the light of knowing that nobody out there is going to do quite what I want. If there is no “best”, then I must either abandon the contest or support the better man. But the national and global stakes are far too high to walk away from, and John McCain offers quite a lot of “better”.

For starters, McCain has a long record of fiscal discipline. He didn’t hesitate to expose George Bush and his own party as big spenders back when they ran the show. He also tried in vain to sound the warning about the impending collapse of Fannie and Freddie back in 2006. He’s been affiliated with the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste. If McCain’s thinking had prevailed on Capitol Hill, we’d be in a significantly better position to weather the current financial crisis.

The importance of a thrifty government that consumes a minimal portion of the national wealth cannot be overstated. Government will always be stupid and wasteful. But the smaller it is, the less damage it does, and the more freedom remains to the citizens. Better a government that squanders 10% of the national treasure than 50%.

And as for McCain’s initial vote against the Bush tax cuts…well, had I known that Bush would turn out to be among the most fiscally irresponsible presidents in history, I too would have voted against the tax cuts. To cut taxes while boosting spending is very bad medicine. I think McCain might have had some notion of where all this was leading.

The record also shows McCain has demonstrated good judgment with respect to military and strategic concerns. Considering what’s going on in the world today, this is a VERY IMPORTANT asset. For example, McCain was on top of the recent troop surge and the result that would come of it, even while so many Democrats got it wrong. He has spoken of other issues where he was ahead of the curve, going back to the disaster in Lebanon during Reagan’s term. His history shows him to be the man who, in retrospect, advocated the right path in tough situations. Of how many people can this be said?

As far as McCain’s liberal Senate friends go…well, as I noted, all candidates fall short of my ideals. President McCain will compromise in some venues, but he’s a stubborn man. We can reasonably hope that he’ll keep the nation focused on the real issues of the day, while achieving a greater national unity than has been seen in the recent era. Contrast that against the nightmare scenario of a hard-Left president pushing a Democrat majority to nail down a hard-Left agenda.

Think about the five years John McCain spent as a P.O.W. His long incarceration under conditions more terrible than most of us can imagine shows him to be a man of incredible grit. And yet, how much does he speak of these things? McCain is very much the quiet hero. See my earlier note, “What sort of man is John McCain”. It’s telling how little McCain speaks of his personal accomplishments; this is in stark contrast to so many of the Washington egomaniacs.

McCain’s humility and stamina are more than just admirable personal virtues. The world is working its way through a rough moment in history, and there are guaranteed to be trying times ahead. The national morale will be reinforced by a president who has been to hell and back and never faltered or complained. McCain will be a leader who, by his very presence, will inspire us. Whatever hard times we may face, we know he’s faced worse. If he could get through, we’re going to make it too, and we’ll do it without whining.

McCain’s great gift is to be the last man standing. He’s not the hare that sprints and dawdles; he’s the tortoise that won’t stop until he crosses the finish line. That’s how he got through Vietnam, where others would have given up. That’s how he got to the top of the ticket, after everyone else had written him off. And that’s how he will — I hope and pray and believe — win this election.

These are muddled times, confusing times, and so people who should know better are tempted by the smooth-talking empty man. We lose ourselves in the details and spin, awaiting the knockout or the “October surprise” that will end the contest. My plea to the nation is to forget all that stuff. The victor we need is the man of the long haul, not the man of the moment.

The assets John McCain brings to the table are overwhelmingly right for the era. He deserves the enthusiastic support from the heartland, and that’s what we must give him.