Selective Forgiveness
It'd be reasonable to say that the defining issue of the Republican primaries thus far has been the debate over just how conservative John McCain is.
McCain's detractors understandably point to a number of reasons for their skepticism. They point to campaign finance reform, for example; a misguided (but well-meaning) attempt to help rid politics of money. But of course, they overextend an otherwise reasonable argument by calling it a "frontal assault on the First Amendment."
All the same, discomfort over McCain-Feingold is reasonable. But, as is generally the case, the activists push their luck. They go on to question McCain's stellar conservative record on judicial nominees and the like, based on scattered, sometimes unsourced quotes about what he may or may not have said in private about Samuel Alito. Nevermind, of course, the fact that he voted to confirm him when all was said and done.
They also question his record on economics, pointing out that he voted against the Bush tax cuts at first, and offer as an explanation a seemingly isolated quote about targeting the wealthy. Nevermind, again, then he's campaigned strongly on making the cuts permanent.
These are all reasonable causes for skepticism among highly conservative voters. What isn't reasonable is allowing these things to blur McCain's record, while simultaneously giving Romney a free pass for the same types of transgressions.
Case in point: if McCain says he'll work to extend the Bush tax cuts, and his earlier opposition makes this claim somehow suspect, why should this high level of skepticism be applied only to him? Romney's liberal positions as Governor of Massachusetts are well-documented. He spoke unkindly about the "Reagan-Bush years," was decidedly pro-choice, and supported same-sex unions. He has every right to change his mind, of course, and voters have every right to believe him when he says he has. But why is one candidate to be believed under such circumstances, but not another?
The answer is simple: voters don't actually care for Romney much. This is, and always has been, about John McCain. It is about perceived slights. It is about trying to bludgeon a man who refuses to toe the line. It's about the hopeless notion that a candidate must mirror your every belief, and never lead you anywhere you didn't think you wanted to go.
The systematic attempt to derail McCain's candidacy is unsettling, to say the least. All the more so because the far-right is so desperate to stop him that they'll deify anyone who tells them what they want to hear to fend him off.
» February 5th, 2008
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