Democrats for McCain – The Movement

While it’s being largely ignored by mainstream media (MSM), there seems to be a considerable movement afoot among several groups of democrats to elect John McCain for President, and that cause seems to have been taken up by the McCain camp as well. My curiosity was peaked after getting a phone call over the weekend from the new grass roots organization “Citizens for McCain” that was formed last week by Joe Leiberman. It wasn’t a generic recorded message, either, it was a real person with a great English accent who knew my name and ingratiated me to the cause immediately. As an independent, I was on his list, as it was a bi-partisan effort and a very good one.
Being the curious person I am – yes, curiosity may have killed the cat, but at least he knew what he died of – I did the math. Exit polls have indicated that up to 29% of Hillary supporters have said they would vote for McCain, depending on whose exit polls you’re looking at. While I personally think that figure may be high, if you consider that over 18 million people voted for Hillary it would only take around 5% of those voters to constitute a million votes for McCain. JFK won the 1960 election by only 100,000 votes. Hmm, that got my attention and made it very easy to see why the McCain camp would pursue the issue. This is the stuff victories are made of, just as it was in the 1980 election. According to the Washington Post, “Twenty-six percent of Democrats crossed party lines to vote for Reagan in 1980 after a bruising fight for the Democratic nomination between President Jimmy Carter and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) — a battle that lasted all the way to the convention. “
As I began scouring the internet, I googled “Democrats for McCain”, and got over a million hits. Some of the articles concerning Democrats jumping ship for McCain dated back to 2006, so it’s not a sudden thing brought on only by Hillary’s speech on Saturday. But it was certainly spurred into frenzy by her speech, as evidenced on her own discussion board with many comments like “My sons did sign waving for her here in Wisconsin and Obama supporters yelled all kinds of nasty things at them and flipped them off when they drove by. We have Hillary bumper stickers on our car and Obama supporters would be rude to us because of them. But not once have I or my family been rude to an Obama supporter. I will never vote for Obama and support this kind of hatred.” I thought, could the behavior of Obama’s supporters have caused part of this uprising?

Most believe the Hillary supporters are just being spiteful, but it seems they have a plan. From the website United4McCain.com, a Michigan group of Democrats:

“In your home states, vote Democratic for all of the Senators and Representatives that are running for office this year. Do not punish them for the sins of our party hierarchy. This plan will only work if we have a majority of Democrats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Do your part to get every Democrat, EXCEPT OBAMA, elected to office this year. And then vote for McCain for President. You will have to split your ticket when you go to the polls. Yes, this is a labor intensive hassle, but you are doing it for your country. We must do what we must do to save our country from inept leadership.”

Some sites are subtle, some not so much, like PUMA (Party Unity My Ass). You can buy yourself all manner of bumper stickers and t-shirts touting “Democrats for McCain” at dems4mccain.com. All in all, Obama’s favorite and most successful strategy – the internet – is becoming littered with problems for him.

There’s a lot of debate going on all over the discussion boards as to why a Hillary democrat would support John McCain, and the hundreds of answers I’ve personally read vary widely from spite born out of losing to hatred of Obama and his supporters, all the way to policy issues, credibility, judgment and trust. Some say it’s because McCain is more Democrat than Republican, a line used often by conservative Republicans themselves.

As an Independent, I don’t get much flack for my support of John McCain. Because I’ve declared myself an Independent I’m entitled to vote either way. But declared democrats jumping ship – now that’s a rat’s nest. Or to be more politically correct, let’s say that will prove to be divisive, bitter, and damaging to the Democratic Party.

This commentator’s conclusion is that while Hillary and Obama were similar in their views on the issues, they were not similar in their values, experience for the job, or ideals. That match up more closely relates to Hillary and McCain, and therein will lay the choice for these Democrats in exile. We all know the stock market runs on emotion, and I have long said so does a Presidential election. Hillary supporters who voted for her because of her stand on the issues will probably continue to support the Democratic Party and Barack Obama. But those that supported Hillary based on character, experience, and emotion may well slide across the aisle to John McCain, and if the exit polls on the subject are any indication, we may very well see a replay of the 1980 elections.

Don’t discount a “movement” in America – it’s the very thing they attribute Obama’s success to.

Democrats for McCain UPDATE

After posting the blog yesterday, I actually found a comprehensive list of websites devoted to Democrats electing John McCain for President. I applaud and support their effort and wanted to give everyone the list:

“HRC Supporters for John McCain.
Join the team.

http://www.clintondems.com/
http://www.swingcrats.org/
http://www.clintons4mccain.com/
http://www.donedems.com/
http://www.pumaparty.com/
http://www.hillaryunited.com/
http://www.savagepolitics.com/
http://www.nowewont.org/
http://www.shutthefreudup.com/
http://www.pumapac.org/
http://www.millionwomenmarch.blogspot.co/…
http://www.obamawtf.blogspot.com/
http://www.rezkowatch.blogspot.com/
http://www.pumapac.blogspot.com/
http://www.mccaindemocrats.blogspot.com/
http://www.worstlittlecaucusintexas.blog/…
http://www.caucusconfession.blogspot.com/
http://www.caucuscheating.blogspot.com/
http://www.florida-michigan.blogspot.com/
http://www.politicaldiscontent.blogspot/….
http://www.independentsformccain.blogspo/…
http://www.misshillaryclinton.com/
http://www.democrats-against-obama.org/
http://www.writeinpartyusa.org/
http://www.knowobama.org/
http://www.mudanpoliticalblog/
http://www.mccainb4obama.com/
http://www.hillaryisourchoice.com/
http://www.no-obama09.com/
http://www.demsformccain.webs.com/

The list seems to be growing by the day, and the added support to the McCain campaign is welcome!

McCain Pins the Tail on the Donkey

John McCain must be a whiz at solitaire. It doesn’t seem to matter to him what the media, the polls, the opponents, or even fellow republicans say about him. He’s on a quiet mission, and the big poker game on the democrats’ side of the room be damned. It confuses the American public on occasion when McCain doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of support among his fellow politicians – republican or democrat, because we’ve all been programmed to believe the most exclusive club in America meets on Capital Hill and apparently McCain is not always a welcome member. So why is that?

For decades now, we as taxpayers have handed over our hard earned tax money like sheep to the government, and never questioned where it was going to any real extent. Now comes John McCain on the scene, another of those elected officials we voted into office, and he says he wants to be our President. He says that rampant wasteful spending on special interest projects is being snuck in by these people we voted in and trusted, and he says as President he will not only put a stop to this travesty by vetoing every pork laden bill placed in front of him but he will – pay attention here – “MAKE THEIR AUTHORS FAMOUS”. In other words, McCain wants to do more stop the porkers, he wants us to know exactly who they are – and that’s the part that hurts him in political circles. Nobody on the Hill wants to be exposed by name as a porker, so they poke at him with a sharp stick like he’s a rattlesnake about to bite them – and he is, and they’re afraid of him.

So exactly what is pork barrel spending and why should we care about it? By definition, a “pork” project is a line-item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumvention of established budgetary procedures, according to CAGW or Citizen’s Against Government Waste. These projects must meet at least one of the seven criteria established by the CAGW and The Congressional Porkbusters Coalition in 1991. The criteria is so simple to understand, even a Congressman should get it. It’s pork if it’s:

1) Requested by only one chamber of Congress
2) Not specifically authorized;
3) Not competitively awarded
4) Not requested by the President;
5) Greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding;
6) Not the subject of congressional hearings; or
7) Serves only a local or special interest.

The 2007 Congressional Pig Book identified 2,658 projects at a cost of $13.2 billion in the Defense and Homeland Security Appropriations Acts for fiscal 2007. 24 of these projects alone account for $2.4 billion. That figure is down from the 2006 figure of $29 billion, the drop attributed to the efforts of three republican senators who prevented the enactment of nine appropriations bills in December of 2006, and two of those senators have already publicly endorsed McCain for President.

On the other side of the room, Barack Obama is proud of the pork he brings home to his allies and donors in Illinois.

“My philosophy was that, if money was being distributed, then it would be inappropriate for me to not get my share for my district,” Obama, now one of the U.S. Senate Democrats’ leaders on ethics reform, said in an interview. “Did I think it was the best way to prioritize government spending? No.”

From the Chicago Tribune:

“The Tribune analyzed 119 grants in which Obama steered more than $6 million for Chicago projects between late 1999 and late 2002, the heart of his Statehouse career and the center of a state government frenzy in which Obama said the pork-barrel process was “wide open.”Typical of his grants was the $5,000 Obama delivered to the South Shore Public Library for chess equipment, books and knitting supplies, or the $5,000 to help the Sir Miles Davis Academy plaster and paint walls and repair windows.Obama steered $75,000 to a South Side charity called FORUM Inc., which promised to help churches and community groups get wired to the Internet. Records show five FORUM employees, including one who had declared bankruptcy, had donated $1,000 apiece to Obama’s state Senate
campaign. As the grant dollars were being disbursed to FORUM, the Illinois attorney general filed a civil lawsuit accusing the charity’s founder of engaging in an unrelated kickback scheme. Just days after the suit was filed, Obama quietly returned the $5,000 in donations. “I didn’t want to be associated with money that potentially might have been tainted,” he said. FORUM founder Yesse Yehudah, who unsuccessfully ran for state Senate against Obama in 1998, denied wrongdoing and, without admitting guilt, settled the attorney
general’s lawsuit by paying $10,000 to a charity. He declined to comment. One of those long-time supporters was Rev. Michael Pfleger, the politically active leader of St. Sabina Church. He gave Obama’s campaign $1,500 between 1995 and 2001, including $200 in April 2001, about three months after Obama announced $225,000 in grants to St. Sabina programs.Another supporter, Henry English, made two donations to Obama totaling $900 in 2001 after Obama helped send a $50,000 grant to a non-profit group that English ran, the Black United Fund of Illinois.

The Chicago-based Muntu Dance Theatre received a $4.5 million
grant to help pay for a $10 million cultural center. Obama’s mentor in
Springfield, state Sen. Emil Jones (D-Chicago), sponsored the grant. And at the time $2.25 million of the grant was disbursed, Obama’s wife, Michelle, sat on the non-profit dance group’s board. Also, interesting to note, this African American Dance Theatre is also one of Obama’s personal tax deductions listed under “charity”.”

Last June Obama released a comprehensive list of his earmark requests for fiscal year 2008. It comprised more than $300 million of our taxpayer dollars for pet projects like these above for his state. In other words, Obama squeals like a pig – a pork barrel pig, even while he admits it’s not the “best way to prioritize government spending”, he does it anyway.

Simply put, a large number of our officials – Obama and Clinton included – are guilty of the same thing that our five year old is guilty of in the grocery store. You know what happens – you get to the check out counter and find all manner of cookies and candy in the cart that the child has snuck in when you weren’t looking, and he’s hoping you won’t notice and just go ahead and pay for them anyway. This is what our elected government officials are doing to us, and John McCain promises not only to take away their goodies when he’s President, but to call them out and give them a spanking right in front of us all. He won’t win any popularity contest on the Hill with this promise, but I’ll bet he gets some votes with it. He sure gets mine.

Women and the Maverick

Women are the newest kids on the block when it comes to voting, and that’s a historical fact. Women weren’t given the right to vote in America until almost mid 20th century, and now in the early 21st century the political arena is replete with women to include a woman running for President, and as my granddaughter might say, how cool is that for our side. As a woman myself, I swell with pride at the very thought of how far we’ve come in such a short time, because we earned it! But I won’t be voting for her – this woman running for President – because my country is about more, a lot more, than pride in my own gender.

My country is about our husbands and sons voluntarily shipping overseas to war with a distinct possibility of not coming back home. It’s about the price I pay for gas to travel 50 miles one way to take care of my 90 year old Mother who lives on social security and can’t afford a new Easter dress. It’s about my government spending more money than I can make for ridiculous causes like studying the DNA of bears because someone slipped a check into the right hands on the senate floor. It’s about the fact that we can’t afford health insurance premiums that present more like extortion payments than health coverage, and even if you pay the extortionists God help you if you actually file a claim. No, the problems of my country transcend any personal pride I may have in the gender of a candidate in this 2008 Presidential Race.

I need a President who will fight for me, not just stand behind a podium and tell me they’ll fight for me, but really bust in on day one and get the job done. I don’t need a President that says I have to buy health insurance – excuse me, what I have to buy is groceries for my family and I could do that more easily if I weren’t paying $3.50 a gallon for gas at the pump. I have to pay my home mortgage, and I could do that a lot more easily if I didn’t have to pay more taxes to finance more pork barrel spending for the government. I need a President that understands my need to feel secure in my own home, and on the streets. I need a President that’s not afraid to go against the grain on Capitol Hill and do what’s right for me.

Honestly, and in my own defense, I’ve never voted for a Republican in my life, and I’ve been voting for 35 years. However, I’ve never considered myself a Democrat, either. I’m one of those American voters that try very hard every four years to strip all of the candidates of their labels – republican, democrat, liberal, conservative – and judge them simply for who they are today, who they were yesterday, and what I believe they’ll be tomorrow. I try to judge their abilities knowing that I’m not voting for the King of a Monarchy here, only someone who will fight with Congress and the Senate to try to make my country more solvent and user friendly for the next four years.

John McCain really comes off as a quiet candidate with very little to say lately. That may be because he can’t get a word in edgewise between Clinton and Obama, but I digress. I had to really search out his record and his policies because there are many and span a lot of years, but when I did, of course, I found he isn’t really such a quiet man and never has been. He’s been quite the “Maverick” on Capitol Hill for decades now, and how odd is it that during an election year when everyone is screaming “we need change” we’ve overlooked something in John McCain – you don’t get a reputation as a “Maverick” for wanting to implement the same old thing. No, the very definition of a Maverick would be one that not only talks change, but sets about to create change. While “the kids” promise and hope for change, the “old man” has already earned a long standing reputation for fighting for and bringing about change. It doesn’t matter to me if he crosses every aisle in the world to accomplish that, and I’m not offended that he would unite with a democrat or an independent or a liberal to do that. After all, isn’t that an example of the unity that we are seeking??

I don’t agree with all that John McCain says. If I did, I’d worry about myself. But I’m smart enough to know that I’m not qualified to debate him about some of the issues we disagree on. Thus, I bow to his expertise in those areas, as he is far more credible and knowledgeable on certain issues than I. The war issue, for example. As I’ve said in previous posts, we can argue the principles of war all day long, but the magnitude of realtime military knowledge and strategy it takes to wage a successful campaign in Iraq or anywhere else would absolutely boggle the minds of the vast majority of us. And if I have to place my trust in anyone concerning these very sensitive matters that our sons and daughters very lives depend upon, you can bet I will place it with the man who knows the most about it. No question that’s John McCain.

At a time when we are attacking and dissecting every aspect of the candidates’ personal histories and lives, it seemed a shame to me that we completely skipped over March 15th. March 15th marked the 35th anniversary of the homecoming of an American hero – John McCain. And in visiting the McCain website I was privileged to get a glimpse of that soldier that he was then. So, before we all get back to the slamming and bashing and wailing and gnashing, please take a moment (if you haven’t already) to look at a man’s history who has overcome more adversity in his life than you or I will probably ever see.