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Monday, June 16, 2008
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Because of the Judges! Maybe Not

A lot of my Republican friends get on me for not supporting John McCain.  They got on me over and over about how I was going to throw away my vote, first on Ron Paul, and now on Bob Barr (more on him soon).  I can't support John McCain for all sorts of reasons... and I honestly have a hard time believing why many of my Republican friends would, given how their beliefs diverge in so many ways.  But despite all that, the reason I overwhelming hear the most is "because he'll appoint good judges".  Are you sure?

After his public conference call with Clinton supporters (covered extensively by Jonathan Martin) Saturday, John McCain met privately with some 75 of those supporters at his Virginia headquarters, two people who were there said.
...
Bower said he'd liked McCain's answer on judges, in which he "pointed out that he supported Bill Clinton with both Ginsberg and Breyer."

Another person who was present, but asked not to be named to avoid conflict with fellow Democrats, said he'd pressed a McCain staffer on McCain's position on same-sex marriage.

The staffer "said it was the same as [John] Kerry's position," he said.

Via Mickey Kaus.

# Posted at 12:01 PM by Nick  |  Comment Feed Link 8 Comments  |  No Trackbacks

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Monday, June 16, 2008 2:24:05 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
Yet you like the ruling that came down from the Supremes the other day granting rights to the Gitmo folks which would not have gotten through without the support of both Ginsberg and Breyer.
BJ Lillo
Monday, June 16, 2008 2:52:50 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
This post isn't about what I believe. It is simply meant to show that voting for McCain because of the judges he would pick would be stupid because there is a good chance he wouldn't pick those types of judges... especially since he'd be working with a very Democratic Congress, and is likely to make steep concessions to get other things... just like George Bush has done.
Monday, June 16, 2008 3:27:11 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
Well, if nothing else, this revelation should give you personally a reason to vote for McCain.
BJ Lillo
Monday, June 16, 2008 3:35:45 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
Not particularly... Judges are way too fickle. You can say that a judge is conservative/liberal/expansionist/textualist... but the reality is... most judges are hard to pin down, won't say anything meaningful during confirmation, and generally do what they want when they get to the bench. Hell... look at what happened with Souter, as just one example.

The reality is that I think its more important to have a President, and more importantly Congress, that won't create all these wacky laws that need to go to the SCOTUS in the first place.
Monday, June 16, 2008 3:36:45 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
Also, having supported Clinton with Ginsberg doesn't make him unique among Republicans. If I remember right, she got 97 votes in the Senate and I don't think Breyer's support was too far off that number. McCain has said multiple times that he intends to appoint Justices in the mold of Roberts and Alito. I'm guessing this was simply a case of politician-speak where McCain structured his message in such a way to play to the audience he was in to get them to believe what they want to believe.
BJ Lillo
Monday, June 16, 2008 3:40:41 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
The reality is that I think its more important to have a President, and more importantly Congress, that won't create all these wacky laws that need to go to the SCOTUS in the first place.


Amen to that. However, voting for Bob Barr just gives Obama one less vote to have to overcome. I'm not particularly excited about McCain either, but at least I have the national security angle to fall back on to justify my voting for him rather than just against Obama. I certainly understand how it would be very hard for a Libertarian to live with himself while pulling the lever for McCain even though your vote helps someone like Obama.
BJ Lillo
Monday, June 16, 2008 3:44:30 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
As I've said many times before... at some point in time you just have to say no the Republican party until the change. Continuing to vote for the other party, simply because the Democrats are deamed worse will never cause Republicans to change. I'm finally going with the right vote, and voting Libertarian.
Monday, June 16, 2008 4:04:00 PM (Central Daylight Time, UTC-05:00)
That's certainly a respectable course of action. You have to vote your consciense. I've chosen to give my money and efforts to Conservative primary challengers. I won't give money to the RNC or to folks like McCain. When it actually comes to the general election though, I vote for the lesser of two evils if necessary rather than a third party with no legitimate shot at winning the election.

It definitely will be difficult to pull the lever for McCain when the time comes however...
BJ Lillo
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