WASHINGTON (AP) - The independent label sticks to John McCain because he antagonizes fellow Republicans and likes to work with Democrats.
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(Photo: AP Images / Mary Altaffer)Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., campaigns at a rally Friday, April 11, 2008 in Lubbock, Texas.
But a different label applies to his actual record: conservative.
The likely Republican presidential nominee is much more conservative than voters appear to realize. McCain leans to the right on issue after issue, not just on the Iraq war but also on abortion, gay rights, gun control and other issues that matter to his party's social conservatives.
The four-term Arizona senator, a longtime member of the Armed Services Committee, criticized the earlier handling of the war but has been a crucial ally in President Bush's effort to increase and maintain U.S. forces in Iraq.
Besides the war, McCain agrees broadly with Bush and other conservatives on:
- Abortion. McCain promises to appoint judges who, in the mold of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, are likely to limit the reach of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. McCain's record is not spotless on abortion: He said once, in 1999, that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned.
But that was an aberration in an otherwise unbroken record of opposing abortion rights for women. McCain voted repeatedly to ban federal funding for abortion; he once voted against Medicaid funds for abortion even in cases of rape or incest.
He voted to require parental consent for abortion and voted to criminalize anyone but a parent crossing state lines with a minor to help get an abortion. McCain also supported a ban preventing women in the military from getting abortions with their own money at overseas military hospitals.
"I am pro-life and an advocate for the rights of man everywhere in the world," McCain told the Conservative Political Action Conference in February. "Because to be denied liberty is an offense to nature and nature's Creator."
- Gay rights. McCain opposes gay marriage. True, he does not support a federal ban on gay marriage on grounds the issue traditionally has been decided by states. But McCain worked to ban gay marriage in Arizona. He also supports the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and he opposed legislation to protect gay people from job discrimination or hate crimes.
"I'm proud to have led an effort in my home state to change our state constitution and to protect the sanctity of marriage as between a man and woman," he told CNN in March. "I will continue to advocate for those fundamental principals of our party and our faith."
- Gun control. McCain voted against a ban on assault-style weapons and for shielding gun-makers and dealers from civil suits. He did vote in favor of requiring background checks at gun shows, but in general he sides with the National Rifle Association in favor of gun rights.
When the Supreme Court held arguments last month on Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban, McCain said it was "a landmark case for all Americans who believe, as I do, that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms."
His conservatism could be a problem for McCain — particularly if this November's contest is as close as recent presidential elections, which were decided by independent-minded voters in the center of the political spectrum.
But he might avoid this problem to the extent people know him as an independent-minded politician. And many do view him that way.
"People see him as a centrist. They don't see him as a conservative," said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. Continue >>
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http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080414/31948_McCain%3A_More_Conservative_than_His_Image.htm
No NO NO. For these past years the republican establishment, has fought long and hard against John McCain. I should know because I was his campaign manager in the twin tiers area of NEW YORK State. The Bush regime filled with Masonic interests, tried to prevent the signatures that many others and I fought through snow and Ice to obtain to get McCain on the ballot from counting. We got weak border and a withering economy. The slick republican establishment has fought against McCain all the way the end the primaries up until Mitt Romney got out of the race. But McCain never needed the republican establishments help to win the nomination. McCain has ALWAYS been PRO-LIFE and has ALWAYS been AGAINST legislation that makes homosexuals worthy of special treatment. Mike Huckabee was my candidate this year, but I always liked John McCain who appeared to be most elect-able. I believe that us Christians have been duped by the republican establishment and have not analyzed the issues enough, look up voting records, we compromise our principles when we exchange them for talking points from conservative talk shows. I don't expect the liberal-minded voter care about biblical principles, and I don't expect them to care about whether Christians walk in integrity because they are not aware of the treasure house of peace, joy, purpose, resurrection holy life and power of the person of Christ directing us from the inside out. So when they attack me for expressing my love for Jesus, Christ in me loves and forgives them.
http://evolutionfacts.blogspot.com/#the_message_that_we_were_born_to_hear
Yeahn if you like bush you will love his 3rd term with Mc cain...