Endorsement Retraction

I tried. But I will not be able to support Senator McCain's candidacy in 2008.

Byron York interviews McCain antagonist Bradley Smith on National Review Online

The interview throws three strikes at my once stated opportunity to forgive and forget:

1) It reminds me how bad and misguided McCain Feingold was, and hw it was Senator McCain's single issue. Painful memories.

2) It says that McCain is not finished abolishing our rights of free speech. With his signature bill an obvious failure, he plans to fix it by regulating more: "These days, McCain is promoting a new bill that would subject 527s to contribution limits. Like Mitch McConnell and other reform opponents, Smith believes that that would just send the big money elsewhere, perhaps to so-called 501(c)(4) organizations, which are allowed to accept unlimited contributions and engage in some political activity. Smith also worries about future attempts to regulate political speech on the Internet, where big media companies could be given a First Amendment press exemption on speech limits, while smaller website operators might be forbidden to make overtly political statements."

3) It reminds us of the Senators ego and pettiness. I'll grant that Smith is an opponent, but there is a verisimilitude to his story about Senator McCain:

“McCain has always refused to meet with me,” Smith says. “I tried to meet him once at a public hearing. He was at the table, and I went up and I said, ‘Senator,’ and I held out my hand. And he instinctively took my hand, and then he looked up and realized who it was, and he yanked his hand away and said, ‘I’m not going to shake your hand. You’re a bully and a coward, and you have no regard for the Constitution. I don’t have to talk to you. I’m not going to talk to you.’ It was right in front of a large number of people, so I don’t think he wants to talk to me.”

American Hero -- without question! suitable for the Presidency? I fear not. C'mon Condi, run!

Politics Posted by jk at July 12, 2005 1:17 PM