Not a McModerate

I am a long-time member of the Facebook group Hillary Clinton for President – One Million Strong. When I visited the group last night, I was disappointed to learn that the PUMA wing of the Democratic party had highjacked the group. In a forum discussing John McCain’s virtual townhall with independents and disaffected Democrats, an angry Clintonista said that I was wrong to call John McCain a conservative:

McCain isn't as liberal as the two Republicans I mentioned, he's a moderate and has a long history of working with Democrats and pissing off his party.

Over the last few days, we here at Clintonistas for Obama have been de-bunking some of the myths that support John McCain’s image as a moderate. Our research on gay rights, women’s issues, health care found that John McCain is, indeed, a conservative.

Our efforts aside, one need only look at John McCain’s own words. Throughout this and previous campaigns, he has called himself a conservative. John McCain at the CPAC conference in Washington, DC in January:

I am proud to be a conservative, and I make that claim because I share with you that most basic of conservative principles: that liberty is a right conferred by our Creator, not by governments, and that the proper object of justice and the rule of law in our country is not to aggregate power to the state but to protect the liberty and property of its citizens.

During his 2000 “maverick” presidential campaign, in the famous speech when he called Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell “agents of intolerance”, he also said:

Thus, I have always felt quite comfortable describing myself as a proud conservative, a proud Reagan conservative, and as a member of Congress I have compiled a record of a proud conservative.

SNIP

I am a pro-life, pro-family fiscal conservative, an advocate of a strong defense…

In response to his victory in the Florida primary in January:

My friends, in one week we will have as close to a national primary as we have ever had in this country. I intend to win it, and be the nominee of our party. And I intend to do that by making it clear what I stand for. I stand for the principles and policies that first attracted me to the Republican Party when I heard, in whispered conversations and tap codes, about the then Governor of California, who stood by me and my comrades, and who was making quite a reputation for standing by his convictions no matter the changing winds of political thought and popular culture. When I left the Navy and entered public life, I enlisted as a foot soldier in the political revolution he began. And I am as proud to be a Reagan conservative today, as I was then. I trust in the courage, good sense, resourcefulness and decency of the American people, who deserve a government that trusts in their qualities as well, and doesn't abrogate to its elf the responsibilities to do for the people what the people can and want to do for themselves.

You can watch the entire speech here.

From Fox News on Super Tuesday:

McCain struggled to close the sale with his party’s base after coming strikingly far without its solid support. He said he would extend his hand to Democrats, but “I will preserve my proud conservative Republican credentials.”

A Web ad of John McCain declaring that he “enlisted as a foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution”:



And here is John McCain’s tribute to Ronald Reagan where he talks more about his conservative values:



If Sen. Tom Coburn’s endorsement of Senator McCain’s conservative record—specifically mentioning his vote against the Medicare prescription drug benefit—isn’t enough to persuade you, perhaps George Bush’s endorsement will: