Recently Mrs. Spiff received an interesting email. It was from a fellow Believer who claims to be politically conservative. The gist of the message was that this person had found out about a third party candidate that they felt was an attractive alternative to John McCain.
While the particular candidate involved was not a decent choice in my opinion it got me to thinking. In my mind it doesn't take much to be an attractive alternative to John McCain. There are several third party candidates that would be much better than McCain, in my view. The idea of voting for one of them is indeed a powerful draw for conservatives. However, before we sign petitions, put up yard signs, or pull the lever let us consider the big picture.
History shows us that in modern times no third party candidate has ever won the presidency. Most barely break double digits in the polls. This means that, absent a concerted defection on behalf of a huge chunk of one of the two major parties, McCain or Obama will win. Given the recent failure of conservatives and Christians to act in concert in the GOP primaries, the chances of such an defection are dim indeed.
I am no John McCain fan. See previous posts if you need any doubt removed. McCain is pretty spineless and is a crackpot on several issues. While I am not a McCain fan I am very offended and worried by Barack Obama. Let's take a look at the candidates.
McCain is not a conservative but he may well choose a conservative running mate. Obama probably has the list narrowed down to Raul Castro and Raila Odinga. McCain has a pretty solid pro-life voting record. Obama is pro-abortion. McCain has stated that he will appoint Supreme Court justices in the vein of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito. Obama probably considers the Ninth Circuit to be too conservative. McCain has clearly stated his intention to win the war in Iraq. Obama has stated just as clearly his intention to lose it.
I don't like John McCain. I have nightmares about Barack Obama. A vote for a third party candidate might send a message to the Republican Party. It might also put Obama in the White House. At this point I don't plan to vote for John McCain; I plan to vote against Barack Obama.
2 comments:
I agree. John McCain is no George W. Bush. He is not an outspoken Christian (though he probably is one in his personal life). But I disagree that he is not a conservative. McCain may be many things that I dislike, but spineless is not one of them. One of the reasons conservatives dislike him so much is that he refuses to bow to them when he disagrees. But he refuses to bow to the Left when he disagrees with them too. He's wrong on immigration, but has promised not to implement his program until we have complete border control. He's wrong on campaign-finance. Other than that, I think all of his positions are conservative, even the ones I disagree with. Unlike any of our other candidates (besides Huckabee and Paul), McCain is solid on life issues. He's solid on judges. He's solid on the war. He's solid on fiscal responsibility. He's solid on corruption. He's solid on energy independence. He's solid on religious liberties. Yes, he's even solid on border security. He's a solid candidate on every issue of importance.
Not sure that I would call McCain "solid" on energy independence. He has just recently reversed his stance on off-shore drilling and still opposed opening ANWAR.
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