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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (369490)	2/1/2008 1:59:16 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1580024

Why Fox News does not like McCain. John McCain and Conservative Angst Friday, February 01, 2008 By Bill O'Reilly John McCain and conservative angst, that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo." Right-wing commentators like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are angry that Senator John McCain has become the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. They believe he is simply unacceptable. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: He has curtailed free political speech. It was called McCain-Feingold. He opposed tax cuts, one of only a few Republicans to do so. He opposed efforts to eliminate the filibuster of conservative judges. ANN COULTER: There were a lot of POWs. And maybe we can make one president who isn't responsible for campaign finance reform and who didn't vote against Bush's tax cuts. (END VIDEO CLIP) Now the McCain campaign understands that angst, but feels it can make up for lost conservative votes with independents and Hispanic-Americans. Even though Senator McCain has now modified his rather soft approach on illegal immigration, he has not emphasized that modification. And he did score well with Hispanic voters in Florida. The irony here is that the American Conservative Union gives John McCain a lifetime grade of 83 percent. By contrast, Hillary Clinton gets 9 percent. And Barack Obama is the nation's most liberal senator, according to the National Journal. So if he wins, Senator McCain would be facing a person far more liberal than he is. With Rudy Giuliani now supporting McCain and Governor Huckabee draining support from Governor Mitt Romney, there is a chance the senator could wrap up the nomination by next Wednesday morning. That's speculation, of course, as Romney is running hard, and conservatives are making a lot of anti-McCain noise. But in the end, the Republican Party, like the Democrats, will rally around their nominee as they have to. But some conservatives will sit things out, no question, as is their right. No pun intended. And that's "The Memo." Pinheads & Patriots One of the sponsors here is Liberty Mutual, and I'm very impressed by their new ad. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When it's people who do the right thing, they call it being responsible. When it's a home insurance company, they call it Liberty Mutual. (END VIDEO CLIP) For encouraging kindness and generosity in America, the Liberty Mutual people are patriots. On the pinhead front, listen to this: (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What are you screaming about? Let him talk. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Support a new investigation into the attacks of 9/11. CLINTON: Are you one of those "It was an inside job" guys? We look like idiots, folks, denying that the people who murdered our fellow citizens did it when they are continuing to murder people all around the world. So we heard from you. You go away. (END VIDEO CLIP) Right on, Bill Clinton. The 9/11 conspiracy nuts are unbelievable pinheads. — You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads and Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com foxnews.com

To: Jim McMannis who wrote (369490)	2/1/2008 3:37:32 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1580024

GOP: Stronger or Broader? By Debra Saunders Florida was big. Florida Republicans not only went for John McCain over Mitt Romney, but also, when you add the McCain vote (36 percent) to the now-withdrawn Rudy Giuliani vote (15 percent), you see a shift: A majority of Republican voters are straying outside the ever-pure conservative base. While conservative talk-show hosts and a slice of the GOP base demand all-or-nothing from GOP candidates, Republican voters in general clearly understand that, in a democracy, the all-or-nothing equation has only one sure outcome: You get nothing. Especially when your party does not represent the majority of voters. In his gracious victory speech Tuesday night, Sen. McCain told Team Romney that "the margin that separated us tonight surely isn't big enough for me to brag about or for you to despair." Wednesday night's CNN-hosted Republican presidential candidates' debate was more combative. At the heart of it lies a divide on how far a party should go. Asked which type of Supreme Court justices he would nominate, McCain picked two of President Bush's nominees, John Roberts and Sam Alito. Romney then trumped McCain's mention of Roberts and Alito by adding two more combative conservative picks, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Once again, Romney was conservative squared. Looking on were Republicans who don't want to lose their iron grip on the GOP. Jon Fleischman, publisher of the influential conservative blog, the Flash Report, told me Romney has to "define this race as a conservative versus a moderate" race. And for Fleischman, only the most conservative conservative wins. But doesn't Romney have to appeal to centrists? I asked Romney's California campaign Chairman, Tony Strickland, before the debate. Strickland countered that Romney does appeal to voters outside the GOP. "He was governor of Massachusetts, which is not exactly a bastion of conservatism," said Strickland, reciting the Romney mantra that the Mittster would be the best nominee because he has shown he can win in a blue state. I've heard Romnulans say that before. And it sounds great, if you forget that Romney was elected governor of Massachusetts when he was a pro-abortion, pro-gay rights Republican. On the McCain side are Republicans who want to expand the GOP by reaching outside the party's base. When he endorsed McCain before the debate, Giuliani praised McCain as a candidate who can help build "a stronger and broader Republican Party" that reaches out to new voters. From the perch of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library stirs a fond memory: Reagan Democrats. McCain's problem is that his rhetoric has served to inflame some conservatives, who see the Arizona senator as imperious and dismissive of their concerns. They don't like the way he confronted Bush on tax cuts and Iraq troop numbers -- and they especially don't like the way McCain denigrated those who disagreed with his pro-amnesty immigration bill. That doesn't mean the McCainiacs are pushing him to make nice. Asked if McCain has to make it up to the base, his California campaign Chairman, Bill Jones, answered that McCain has to have a "consistent message." And: "If you don't have their respect, you don't get their vote." As it is, among a resentful segment of the GOP base, McCain has neither. In part, the McCain haters resent mostly that McCain can work with Democrats. They would rather lose the election than see him win. Florida, however, shows that many Republicans have come to understand that when you aren't willing to bend, when you view compromise as disgraceful -- not a necessary part of democracy -- when you insist on all or nothing, then you get nothing. realclearpolitics.com