Several recent rallies that featured Sen. John McCain in attendance showed that young conservatives have had it making excuses for his repeated selling out of his own party.
It would be wrong to ignore his record as a POW in Vietnam and the over five years of his life that he sacrificed for his country. However, though he has never been as conservative as many of his counterparts wished, he always was reliable to stand by Republicans even when he disagreed with some of their stands.
That has changed over the last two years, epitomized by his dramatic thumbs down vote that saved Obama’s disaster called Obamacare and partnering with Democrats on an amnesty plan for illegal immigrants.
Young conservatives’ disgust with McCain became evident at the Turning Point USA high school leadership conference in Washington D.C. last week, attendees met him with a round of boos.
During Senator Rand Paul’s speech, he addressed why Obamacare repeal had failed. “And guess what? The reason we didn’t repeal is that we have six or seven Republican senators who got cold feet,” said Paul. He then directly named McCain bringing on a new wave of boos.
Those young conservatives realize that no one from within their ranks has ever obstructed and sold out the conservative cause more than McCain over the past several years.
This past June, President Trump reminded an appreciative audience that with a simple “thumbs down” McCain effectively torpedoed conservatives push to repeal Obama’s signature health care plan.
McCain has not only disagreed with Trump but has become the guest of choice on MSNBC as he shows his disdain for the President. Recently he wrote of Trump: “He seems uninterested in the moral character of world leaders and their regimes. The appearance of toughness or a reality show facsimile of toughness seems to matter more than any of our values. Flattery secures his friendship, criticism his enmity.”
The love loss is mutual when it comes to Trump’s words about the Senator. After a Trump rally in 2015, McCain said: “This performance with our friend out in Phoenix is very hurtful to me. Because what he did was he fired up the crazies.” Trump wasted no time as he tweeted back almost immediately demanding that the Senator apologize for his “crazies” remark and called McCain a “dummy” for graduating last in his class at the U.S. Naval Academy.
McCain hasn’t reserved his attacks for Trump alone. The New York Times reports that McCain’s new memoir reveals that he regrets selecting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008.
The Senator acknowledges that his battle with brain cancer will probably make his book The Restless Wave his last. On the day he announced the release of his book NBC News reported that McCain told those close to him that he didn’t want the president to be invited to his funeral.
He has also said that he wants a McCain person to be appointed to his seat when he dies. Though many are hesitant to respond to McCain due to his illness, young conservatives don’t seem to mind saying what others are thinking – a McCain person would be willing to alienate conservatives and bash both Trump and conservatives like Palin.
One conservative journalist said: “Watching John McCain over the past week has been kind of like watching one of Muhammad Ali’s last bouts. Sure, McCain may not have been the most consistent conservative, but there’s no doubt he’s very often fought the good fight. Yet, the events of the last few days have made it clear he’s held on too long.”
To make matters worse, McCain has taken to praising Obama as he denounces Trump. During an interview with the London Guardian, McCain said America would be better off with Obama as president. That’s a far cry from what McCain told Politico in May of 2016. At that time he told the reporter that in spite of their differences he would stand by Trump if nominated.
When asked why he would endorse Trump he said, “Because I’m a proud Republican. I am a Ronald Reagan-Teddy Roosevelt Republican and I support the Republican Party. And the Republicans have chosen the nominee for the party. I think that makes sense.”
Since then, McCain said he could not support Trump as President and seems to be prepared to carry that through to that time when cancer takes him.
Sad.
~ American Liberty Report
