More Republican veepstakes musings

By Bruce Walker
web posted April 19, 2004

President George W. Bush must be reelected, if America is
going to win the war on terror. Is there anything which President
Bush could do to insure his reelection in 2004? The venom of the
Left, including the increasingly bizarre toadying of Ralph Nader,
has relieved the President of any need to nail down his
conservative supporters. They will be out en masse this
November. The battle will instead be one of credibility on the
war, and there is one Republican who could provide instant and
absolute credibility on this issue: Senator John McCain.

Republicans are united today far greater than are Democrats.
Conservatives greatly outnumber liberals. The battle will be
fought exclusively over those voters who consider themselves
independent by party and by ideology. Those voters are
genuinely ambivalent now. There are only two public figures that
rise, in their eyes, above the squalor of political rancor.

One of those men, Colin Powell, has served with distinction in
the last three presidential administrations. Democrats simply
cannot demonize Powell. The other man is John McCain, who
has been outspoken in his opposition to President Bush in many
areas and has been willing to support Democrat positions in
many of these areas.

Republicans have been united, however, in supporting President
Bush on the war. Democrats have had major fissures in their
party. Whatever Democrat nabobs wish to say, Zell Miller is
simply not some very conservative politician. Zell strongly
supported Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Al Gore.

Zell Miller supported Democrat takeover of the Senate after
Jeffords defection. Most importantly, his voting record is
squarely in the center of American politics. Only five out of fifty
one Senate Republicans are as liberal as Zell Miller.

Ed Koch is a very liberal Democrat, whose voting record in
Congress was strongly to the Left as almost anyone in Congress.
His success as mayor of New York was based upon support
liberal support in that very liberal city.

This fracture can be turned into a major fault line, but only if
President Bush can show conspicuously that his party is not so
divided. This can only be demonstrated by an outspoken, even
irritating, critic. McCain fits the mold perfectly. Democrats have
spent years telling the American people McCain is honest and
noble. They have elevated him to a status which cannot be de-
constructed before November.

Public opinion polls indicate that John McCain is perhaps the
most trusted politician in America. Polling data on McCain
shows fairly high favorability ratings, but the genuinely striking
aspect of these polls is the very low unfavorability ratings of
McCain. USA Today / Gallup has his unfavorability at 21% and
the highly respected Hart/Teeter poll in July 2002 showed his
unfavorability at a very low 15%.

These numbers are rock hard: Americans know Senator McCain
very well. He has been the second most prominent Republican
for years. Moreover, at least some of those unfavorable ratings
come from conservatives, frustrated that a Republican from
Arizona would be as critical of President Bush and as wrong on
several important issues.

The reality, however, is that Senator McCain's distancing himself
from the Administration makes it impossible for Democrats to
question his integrity and independence. If President Bush
tapped him for Vice President, Democrat spinners would look
ridiculous if they tried to portray John McCain and Colin Powell
both as toadies of some fiendish Bush conspiracy. Those
genuinely troubled by the war on terrorism would be genuinely
comforted by the selection of John McCain as Vice President.

Is McCain too liberal for a Republican administration? No, not
really at all. Democrats in their zeal to destroy President Bush
and hobble the Republican Party have created several myths.
One, as noted earlier, is that Zell Miller is some very
conservative Dixiecrat politician. Another is that John McCain is
a liberal.

McCain has an ACU lifetime voting record of 84% which makes
him more conservative than any Democrat in the Senate. He
supported tax cuts, supported a ban on partial birth abortion and
supported the appointment of judicial nominees by President
Bush.

There is a reason why conservatives like Lindsey Graham and
Bill Kristol were strong supporters of John McCain in the
Republican nomination campaign of 2000. They knew McCain
was honestly conservative on most issues.

McCain also would bring something that no other Republican
could bring to the ticket: instant sympathy on issues of national
security. Consider how McCain could hammer any Democrat
who started talking about Iraq as "another Vietnam." This former
POW endured years of torture at the hands of the North
Vietnamese. He knows about the sacrifices freedom requires.

John McCain on the ticket would also allow President Bush to
hammer unrelentingly the flagrant abuses of the new campaign
finance laws intended to limit the power of money in politics. The
various odious creatures intended to act as straw men for the
Democrat National Committee could be exposed to withering
and genuine outrage by the person most responsible, and most
recognized as responsible, for campaign finance reform.

Indeed, given the fact that Wisconsin is a swing state and that
Senator Feingold, McCain's Democrat partner on this issue is up
for reelection, McCain could create enormous problems for
Democrats by challenging Russ Feingold to walk the walk and
not endorse Kerry.

McCain would also help insure that Arizona stayed Republican
and helping Republicans in the presidential and senatorial races in
Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and California. Senator
McCain, like Senator Santorum and Senator Coleman, sit
astride a cluster of pivotal states which may well swing the
November presidential election.

Would McCain accept? He might. After serving four years as
Vice President, McCain would be a prohibitive favorite for the
Republican nomination in 2008. Without being morbid, any
president could also die or become incapacitated in office. If that
happened, McCain could end up as president for nine years or
more.

Aside from personal ambition, McCain surely has great
sympathy for our troops in Iraq. He has been there before. He
knows what it is like to fight a war with withering opposition by
Leftists in America. McCain also understands the high stakes of
this war. He also knows just how important he could be to
America.
 
Conservatives may gag, but they should not gag, if John McCain
is selected by President Bush to be his running mate. The
Senator is a moderate conservative who is also trusted by the
American people. We ask Americans to put their misgivings
aside during the current war, and if we ask that we too should be
prepared to put our misgivings aside. America should also see us
putting politics aside. Tapping John McCain to be Vice President
would do that stunningly well.

Bruce Walker is a senior writer with Enter Stage Right. He is
also a frequent contributor to The Pragmatist and The Common
Conservative.

Enter Stage Right -- http://www.enterstageright.com