Senator John McCain in South Carolina

I’ve always had a pleasurable time listening to the McCain articulate his governing strategy and of course a little straight talk. In a blogger’s conference call that seemed dominated by the same Conservative publications that declared his campaign dead several months ago.

The Senator sounded full of energy and unusually excited going to his fourth event for the day, stepping off the plane onto the town of Rock Hill, South Carolina. McCain is also sporting a full entourage touring the first primary in the South with native Senator, Lindsay Graham, Attorney General Henry McMaster, and a his latest major endorser, Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.

This was major news for the Conservative community as Coburn is a champion for pro life movement, a staunch opponent of this years comprehensive immigration reform, and runs a close second in the Senate for being one who seeks to reduce pork spending. Coburn was elected in Oklahoma as an anti-establishment candidate but in his time of service in the Senate, he has become a hero of the grassroots and Conservatives alike.

Coburn’s endorsement comes as no surprise for me as many of us remember the backlash Senator McCain received for the comprehensive immigration bill and Coburn’s articulate message to then heal wounds within the party.

McCain talked briefly on Michigan and Romney. Speaking on the economy the McCain defended his rhetoric which was vastly differed from Mitt Romney saying, “I have to tell people the truth… I’m excited about job creation.” McCain pointed out that “they were old jobs,” and offered a common policy solution through educational programs and job training at the local level. And with all due respect to Romney becoming rich in the private sector, I think McCain, Jack Kemp, and his Conservative economic advisers have everything under control.

While McCain didn’t seem bitter, it did prove a worry that I’ve had for some time about Romney. I’ve always believed he believes what he says, and I cannot say the same for Huckabee or Rudy, however I wanted to know why. While seemingly minuscule it goes to show the integrity of the man and how strong his Conservative resilience will be when presented with Liberal legislation. All that being said, Romney was promising Michigan to bring back old jobs that are now in other countries. This line of logic runs very contrary to supply side economics and a capitalist mindset. It was concerning that Romney, the man who spent the most time in the private sector (with both successes and failures), did not join McCain in petitioning people to allow the free market to work.

Romney might have just won Michigan, already spending records amounts of his own money to do so, but I’m sure this has caused a serious wedge between him and fiscal Conservatives.

A question was posed to McCain on the subject on rather or not he would be able to advertise in Florida and beyond with his campaign finances. It seemed like an all too familiar answer when McCain replied, “We have been.’ McCain went on to praise online fundraising and assuring that “the money is going to be there.”Matt Lewis of Townhall.com, who notably sounded like he was in a hallway or a bathroom stall was the first to touch on Senator Coburn’s endorsement and asked what McCain’s strategy is going to be in obtaining the votes from people who are otherwise reluctant to vote for him. McCain sung Coburn’s praises, “I can’t tell you how much I respect him. He stood up to the powers in the Senate… to be the guardian of the tax dollars. He shows courage.” With Coburn by McCain’s side, I can’t help but believe that the immigration question will prove not to hinder McCain in South Carolina townhall meetings. Lewis also discussed the push polling against McCain done by a non-profit organization, Common Sense Issues, Inc. The group, which was revealed through investigative searches and not by their own front, is saying that these calls are “educational conversations” and are unique per the individual, however many in South Carolina are reporting that McCain’s name is brought up with some serious and false allegations. McCain had this to say, “We hear it’s pretty nasty. I hope the people of South carolina will accept it and we don’t believe they will.”

The Attorney General is conducting an investigation into these claims.
Human Events‘ Jennifer Rubin then chimed in with another Romney related question. “Romney is accusing you of being a pessimist…” McCain reinforced his straight talk credentials, “I have to tell people the truth. I’m excited about the future,” then going on to talk about what he saw at the Detroit auto show, “I saw new techonology. I saw new jobs. I’m the greatest optimist on the automotive industry jobs.”

The economy becoming an ever growing issue, Rubin followed up (with a not-so follow up question), asking what McCain would do as President for the economy. McCain touched both long term and short term implementations to his Conservative economic agenda. His policies included, “make the tax cuts permanent, implentment educational programs, and cut spending.”

I was surprised with how passionate McCain was about allowing the private sector to work with community colleges in offering little to no cost job training and educational courses on jobs that would be sustainable through our future. McCain would be only the second Republican to talk about education to this degree drawing stark differences between him and Huckabee, who seems to want to supplement education believing that it a right that ought to be maintained and administered by the State.

McCain pointed out a reality that many of us take for granted, “our technology advances have generally led the world. It’s very rare that another country leads.”

Now to be fair, McCain made a statement that sticks out in bold, “We’ll get through this recession.” He spoke in almost a present tense. Now I realize that he was moving carrying a cell phone while be directed here and there, however it was said and he would be the first or second candidate, depending on how you read Senator Clinton’s statements, to state that we are in a recession. However to that, McCain shows optimism and has a pose of realism about him. Determined realism.

Michael Goldfarb, Online Editor for The Weekly Standard, wanted to talk about the environment and economic policies, which revealed an intelligent and free market McCain. It seemed like an attempt to both collect information and expose an area where the Republican base and McCain don’t exactly agree, however McCain did a remarkable job in citing that 1) there was no harm in implementing green enviromental policies, which McCain also pointed out is a growing issue with young Conservatives and 2) a Carbon Tax, which Goldfarb suggested, would go against Conservative economic thought. Overall, Goldfarb was pressing to see if it was an issue McCain was willing to discuss and McCain said in short, “yes.”

McCain came across very busy and very much alive.

We’ll have to see where McCain falls in South Carolina, however I cannot see a stronger organization on the ground. It all comes down to whether or not Huckabee supporters will stand by him in light of his revealed record.

Tags: Economy, John McCain, Lindsay Graham, Primary, South Carolina, Tom Coburn

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Election 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.