By Scott Tibbs, April 15, 2008
I did not need yet another reason to vote against John McCain this November, with his support for amnesty for illegal aliens, opposition to badly needed tax cuts, weak stance on opposing abortion, support for embryonic stem cell research and support for increasing the federal government's role in America's education system with the anti-federalist "No Child Left Behind" act. McCain, of course, was also the driving force behind legislation to regulate the content of political speech with the abomination known as the McCain-Feingold "campaign finance reform" law.
But now, the issue that has been the focus on John McCain's political career for the last decade has become politically inconvenient to him. You see, Mr. "campaign finance reform" himself has decided he wants to withdraw from public financing. After spending the last decade preaching on the evils of money in politics, all of that goes by the wayside when McCain realized he could raise and spend more money by not participating in a program that was implemented in order to reduce the influence of money in presidential campaigns.
The hypocrisy would be laughable if the issues were not so serious.
In the past, McCain could at least justify his frequent departures from conservatism with his reputation as a maverick. But with his flip-flop on campaign finance, the "straight talk express" apparently has several sharp turns, including at least one 180. It appears that McCain's core principles are founded on ambition for higher office or are at least negotiable depending on how it affects his electability. Conservatives often derided disgraced ex-President Clinton for the same thing, so how can we support it in McCain?
At least for me, the answer is "I cannot". That's why, even as a Republican precinct committeeman and former Republican candidate for elective office, I will vote against the Republican candidate for President. I will not vote for Hillary Clinton or Barack Hussein Obama either, so I guess I will have to wait and see who the Libertarian Party chooses as their candidate. I will vote for Mike Sodrel, Mitch Daniels and the Republicans running for office in Monroe County, but I cannot in good conscience vote for John McCain.
