No amount of heated-discussion will change that.

Thank you my friend for all you do!

Once again, sorry if I offended you. That was not my intent.

I wont comment further for fear of losing a decent friend.

My Conservative credentials outweigh many and I do support McCain - call it what you may, however there is no fallacy in that logic and it is close to belittling to suggest that someone is less Conservative or not Conservative at all for supporting McCain.

Come on… Think past the ABC’s of politics… please… Do us all a favor.

I have always considered myself an Independent, but in recent years have realized that I was just a Conservative who had not made up his mind yet.

I have to take exception with you on something; the Republican Party must not pander to the moderates. Forgetting its base is what got the party in the mess that its in right now. For proof of that all you have to do is look at the grassroots effort of conservatives rising up through blogs, talk radio and by calling, emailing and faxing their elected representatives to make sure that the amnesty bill would not pass.

You’re candidate John McCain’s campaign is falling apart because of the sole fact that he has completely alienated the Conservative base of the republican party. He has been trying hard to sound like a conservative, at times, but has shown that he is nothing more then a liberal country club republican.

John McCain is no Conservative.

I know that to win a presidential election, you need the support of those in the middle as well as a few from the opposite party, but that’s not the way you win primaries. Democratic candidates need to appeal to the loony left in order to win their bid, then come more center in the general election. Same holds true for Republicans, except they have to appeal to the Conservative base of the party, something which McCain has been unable and dare I say unwilling to do.

McCain is now trailing in not just the polls, but the more important factor of money raised — he even had some staff quit over completely wrong stance on that horrible immigration bill. The press loves him — and of course they would, as the mainstream media loves liberals.

Three of the Senators running for the president voted for the amnesty for illegals bill —- McCain (R), Clinton (D), and Obama (D). hmmm what does that say? 80% of the population opposed this bill, and vowed that any Senator who voted for it would be removed in ‘08. Why can’t the so-called conservative take the hint?

The man he succeeded in office as Arizona Senator, Barry Goldwater, now that’s a Conservative — Mr. Conservative to be exact. He embodied what conservatism was all about: the individual over the ‘state’, personal liberty and freedom to choose. John McCain — not so much.

John McCain thinks he has a free pass to label himself a Conservative since unfortunately Goldwater himself urged McCain to move to Arizona and then gave him his blessings to run for his seat. He also does have an [R] after his name and is a POW. While his military service is applauded and much appreciated, none of those things make one a Conservative.

As I said before John McCain is a liberal Country club republican and NOT A CONSERVATIVE. He’s a big government guy who favors federal power to stifle dissent and views with which he disagrees. Case in point:

1) His recent votes on cloture for the immigration bill.
2) McCain/Feingold bill - (though I will admit my guy Fred Thompson was in favor of it too at the time.)

3) Even though he was a POW himself, John McCain has purposely intervened with the National Park Service to terminate the leases for veteran’s groups at the Vietnam War Memorial who set up sites devoted to the cause of the POWs yet to be brought home from Vietnam and Laos. This is because he himself was one of the people who has helped cover up the truth about the abandonment of these men.

Throughout his history as a US Senator John McCain has repeatedly shown a great amount of arrogance and a condescending, if not down right arrogant attitude to anyone who disagrees with him on almost every issue. Time and time again, through his very own actions, John McCain has shown himself not to be a conservative. And he is now wondering why his campaign is falling apart.

Ali, sorry to turn this thread into a bash McCain post — but I cannot with good conscious call myself a Conservative and an American Citizen who cares about the direction of his country — while supporting John McCain or any “fake” conservatives like him.

If the republican party is to have any hope it needs to not just listen to the Conservative base but actually become a Conservative party once again.

Pandering to liberals and moderates is only going to make things worse.