Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COLUMN: Divided base equals defeat in November
By Derek Johnston
Daily Toreador (Texas Tech)
02/07/2008

(U-WIRE) LUBBOCK, Texas — As John McCain continues to grow his lead in his push for the Republican nomination, the unrelenting and unintelligible criticism from his fellow Republicans and conservatives is a sign the American people are tired of a polarizing conservative rhetoric that won't be able to compete with a unified left-wing in November.

In a letter written from Republican Robert Dole to conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, Dole referred to McCain saying he is a "mainstream conservative" and praised McCain for supporting the party on critical legislation while Dole served as the Senate's Republican leader. This letter came as criticism from radio talk show hosts such as Laura Ingraham and Limbaugh reached a breaking point.

Ingraham blasted the Arizona senator saying: "The problem with McCain goes deeper than what he says about taxes and what he says today about immigration that contradicts what he said days or weeks ago. It's about the battles McCain chooses to fight and the enemies he chooses to make. McCain consistently chooses the wrong battles and makes enemies out of the very people he now expects to carry him to the White House."

Limbaugh is drawing the most attention for his obvious disdain for McCain saying, "McCain will kill conservatism as a dominant force in the Republican Party."

Joining Limbaugh, conservative partisan Ann Coulter went on Fox News' "Hannity and Colmes" proclaiming, "If [McCain] is our candidate, then Hillary (Clinton) is going to be our girl, because she's more conservative than he is... I think she would be stronger for our country... John McCain is not only bad for Republicanism... he is bad for the country."

The conservative talking heads back up their attacks by referring to McCain's legislative record. "McCain-Kennedy," an immigration reform bill which allowed illegal aliens already here to regularize their status and stay in the United States, is one major piece of legislation he is attacked for.

Unfortunately for conservatives and Republicans, this McCain-burning does not show a tenacious loyalty to their principles, but instead it illuminates their utter ignorance when it comes to politics. People like Limbaugh and Coulter are the face of the conservative right. And if there is anything that conservatives hate more than liberals, it's Democrats. And as McCain becomes the most likely man to be the nominee, conservative Republicans need to get behind McCain if they think they have a chance to win in November.

Conservative voices taut words like loyalty, values and principles as the hallmarks of their ideological base. They also are the people who criticize the government for not getting anything done. McCain is as conservative as anyone else. He's pro-war, pro-life and pro-fiscal conservatism. But the major factor that separates him from the majority of conservatives and what gets him in trouble with conservatives is that he is a "common-sense" conservative. He knows what it takes to get things done. His record shows he reaches across the aisle and gets important legislation passed.

But one thing McCain hasn't done is infringe on the rights of the American people. He has opposed legislation that would overturn Roe v. Wade and make abortion illegal. He voted against an amendment banning same-sex marriage. This shows while he strongly believes in his conservative principles, he has not supported movements to force them upon anyone else. While conservatives have been hell-bent on pushing legislation, which accomplishes nothing but furthering their moral agendas, McCain has kept a religion-driven agenda out of Congress and worked with his Democratic peers to get things done.

Unfortunately for Republican strategists, the major conservative voices may end up gift-wrapping the '08 presidential race for the Democrats. Pundits and partisans like Coulter, Limbaugh and "Focus on the Family" have a direct influence on the vast majority of Republican voters. The Republicans who listen to these people are going to get a message that isn't behind their Republican nominee. Without the guiding hand of their radios or Fox News, many conservatives are going to take their support elsewhere. This lack of support is going to split up the Republican vote and throw a lot of support to the Democrats.

English political philosopher John Stuart Mill once said, "conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservative." This truth is no more evident than in politics, especially presidential politics. Our government has much bigger fish to fry than banning gay marriage or abortion. We have an economic crisis, a health-care crisis and a war in the Middle East that needs to come to an end; and after all, I'm pretty sure religion is supposed to stay out of government, and I'm pretty sure pro-life and anti-gay-marriage ideals are religious ones. Just a thought.

While McCain and I don't see eye-to-eye on pretty much every issue, I could stand to see him win the November election because his record shows he puts his religious and partisan ideals aside and addresses the actual problems of our nation. But thanks to conservative whining and ignorance, I probably won't have to see him win.

Because the vast majority of conservatives in the public eye don't seem to get that the American people are tired of conservative polarizing politics and, like William Jennings Bryan, the conservative rhetoric of the past is going to be drowned out by the voices of reason who are unified toward the common cause of getting America out of this 1950s state of mind and tackling the real issues facing 21st century Americans.

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