BCT Editorial – 2/10/08

This page was last updated on February 14, 2008.

Political poison; Editorial; Beaver County Times; February 10, 2008.

The subtitle of the editorial is “Opposition to McCain shows how ideologues have distorted democracy in America.”

There two main points in this editorial.

First, we’re told conservatives who aren’t enamored of Mr. McCain are “positively apoplectic” and unjustified in our positions. Don’t you just love how all the liberals are kind enough to tell us conservatives whom we should support?

Second, the editorial refers to people who stand by a core set of principles as ideologues. Merriam-Webster’s definitions of ideologue are “an impractical idealist : theorist” and “an often blindly partisan advocate or adherent of a particular ideology.” Gee, when I was a kid, I was always taught that standing by your principles was a good thing.

One of the reasons the Times takes this position is “The United States is a diverse country in terms of geography, race, faith, income, etc., and its people have views and beliefs that don’t fit neatly into ideologues’ conservative and liberal camps.” Notice how the editorial divides people into groups to support its position. Why is it that liberals always see people as members of groups instead of as individuals? In any case it’s a bogus comment. Conservative principles transcend group membership.

Finally, I have an observation. The Times dedicated an entire editorial to conservative disfavor of Mr. McCain and how unjustified it is. Of course, the editorial failed to note the positions Mr. McCain took and bills he brokered that caused the displeasure. Some of those positions include support for illegal alien amnesty [co-authoring a bill with Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA)], opposition to the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, co-authoring with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) a bill that impedes free speech during election campaigns, and co-authoring a manmade global warming bill with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D/I-CT). Though he’s strong on national defense, Mr. McCain has sided with liberals regarding trials of illegal combatants and the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Let’s also not forget Mr. McCain toyed with the idea of being Sen. John Kerry’s (D-MA) running mate in 2004. Mr. McCain has a high ACU rating, but he’s taken decidedly liberal positions on some very important issues.

In contrast, when Democrats effectively ran Zell Miller out of the party and actually ran Mr. Lieberman from the party (He ran/won as an independent in the 2006 election.), we didn’t see an editorial remotely similar to this one. The one editorial that mentioned the Lieberman situation in passing even referred to Mr. Lieberman as a centrist/moderate even though his ADA liberal rating was 93% and he supported every liberal position except for national defense. In the Times view, a conservative can break with a fair number of conservative positions and still be called a conservative. A liberal can break ranks on only one issue and he becomes a centrist/moderate. Check that; a liberal doesn’t have to break ranks and the Times will call likely him a centrist/moderate.

The editorial refers to Mr. McCain’s “83 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union” as proof he should be conservative enough for conservatives. First, Mr. McCain’s lifetime rating is 82.3%, not 83%. Yes I’m nitpicking, but why did the Times feel the need to add a point to Mr. McCain’s rating?

Second, the editorial doesn’t tell the story of Mr. McCain’s lifetime rating. Go to the ACU website and you find Mr. McCain built up his average in the early years of his service and his rating has trended down ever since. From 1987 (his first year) through 1996, Mr. McCain had five years during which his rating was 91% or higher and he never went below 80%, for an average rating of 88.3%. The highest Mr. McCain has been since 1996 was 81% in 2000. Since 1998, he’s had ratings of 68% twice (1998 & 2001) and his rating for 2006 was 65%, for an average rating of 74.3%. The ACU hasn’t reported the 2007 ratings yet. In any case, along with positions I mentioned above, the long term and continuing drop of Mr. McCain’s ACU rating doesn’t give comfort to conservatives.