Merry Christmas, John McCain

Even though it's the day before Thanksgiving, Christmas is coming early for John McCain. That's because he's about to get a HUGE endorsement for his campaign for President... me.

Now before you dismiss my candidate of choice in favor of the Rudys and Romneys of the world, just hear me out. In addition to myself, he has also received endorsements from other distinguished members of the Republican Party. Some conservatives have been hesitant to embrace my candidate because they don't think that he's conservative enough. Let me reassure you that he's conservative, all right. He's just not militant about being conservative. And I like that.

Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), who is no slouch when it comes to conservative politics, made McCain his choice for President. And more recently Tom Kean, the former governor of New Jersey and the chairman of the 9/11 Commission, also endorsed McCain. (Pictured to the right. McCain clenches his fists like a man. Grrr!)

Now I admit that he's been on the unpopular side of some issues which I think has cost him in the early polling. For one, he teamed up with arch enemy of all things conservative, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), to sponsor an immigration reform bill a few months back. In it they advocated for what they called a "path to citizenship" but what Republicans interpreted to mean "A Welcome Mat for Illegal Aliens." I actually think the bill made sense and I'm sorry it didn't pass. (The teaming up with Kennedy makes less sense but I like that McCain can go bipartisan when the occasion calls for it).

Another reason he's been unpopular lately is because he has taken the high road in the slew of personal attacks that the other GOP front runners have launched at Hillary. Instead of taking his own shots at her, he has said repeatedly that he respects her as a person and will have a civil debate about the significant differences of opinion he has with her but that he will not engage in personal attacks. Way to go, Johnny Mac. That's what I call statesmanship. Instead of saying she is an idiot, you say that her policies are idiotic. Same effect but you stay out of the mud.

He was also critical of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during the early years of the Iraq war. He criticized Rumsfeld's management of the troops and his overall strategy. At the time, his criticism was unpopular. But time showed him to be right to question Rumsfeld's performance. As much as I liked Rummy's one-liners in the Pentagon press conferences, he made some collossal miscues in Iraq. Not only was McCain one of the first Republicans to criticize Rumsfeld, but he was also one of the first to advocate the "surge" strategy that was eventually implemented over there and that is now producing results in Iraq. What looked like misguided criticism then looks more like keen foresight and sound judgment now.

Those are some of the reasons why people aren't supporting McCain. Let's talk about some of the reasons why they should be supporting him. First of all, the guy is an honest to goodness war hero. He was a POW for 5 1/2 years in Vietnam for crying out loud! His father and grandfather were both admirals in the U.S. Navy. What's not to like about that? He's also a fiscal conservative, something that Bush has only recently decided to become after years of record deficits. I love McCain's stand against "pork barrel" spending (those unnecessary pet projects that members of Congress get to pump money into their own districts). Plus, he is both pro-life and anti-gay marriage. For evangelicals especially, those two go together like peanut butter and jelly.

In a recent Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll, McCain is in a statistical tie when put head to head against Hillary. In some states he's even ahead of her. None of the other Republican candidates can say this. McCain is the most experienced candidate with a consistently conservative record who has the best chance of beating Hillary in 2008. And that's why he has my vote. McCain is my guy!

So Merry Christmas, John McCain. Here's your gift. Hope you like it!

=MV=