Senator John McCain of Arizona has a victory that looks to be set in concrete since former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney had suspended his bid for the GOP nomination for US President. It is likely that John McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party.
Those that have attended the Conservative Political Action Conference, bitterness and distrust towards McCain were shared. This is a yearly gathering that brings the people that are most loyal to the ideology of conservatism whether it is national security, economics, or the social policy.
A group holding cardboard signs that said “Join Republicans Against McCain” and “McCain = Amnesty” would be greeting people that entered the Omni Shoreham hotel.
“He only showed up here when he realized he had no chance without conservative support, while he has poked us in the eye so many times,” said Tricia Galloway, a supporter of Mitt Romney. She added: “His dirty tricks against Romney have alienated a lot of people. They’ll vote for him, but they won’t contribute to his campaign.”
Galloway would refer to a claim McCain made before the Florida primary on January 29 saying that Romney had a timetable for troop withdrawals from Iraq.
The tactics used by McCain would not be the only issue that staunch conservatives have with him. The one issue that puts McCain at odds with conservatives would be his stance on immigration.
McCain’s opposition to interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, caps on carbon emission to curb global warming, opposition of tax cuts, and inclusion in a group of senators that prevented the GOP from enacting a rule to make it easier for Bush’s judicial picks to win confirmation have made the candidate unpopular with the conservative flanks of the party.
Some do not like the way McCain talks, either.
“He’s taken on some of the lingo of the left and that infuriates people,” according to Patrick Nee, set to be one of Romney’s delegates to represent Rhode Island. He adds: “He says that when he opposed the tax cuts, it was because they didn’t include spending cuts, but back then he said it was because it hurt poor and middle class people – that’s class warfare. On immigration, he said his opponents were xenophones and racists. He attacks the rule of law. He attacks all we stand for.”
But Nee’s friend, Christopher McAuliffe was as halfhearted in supporting McCain.
“I’ll go into the voting booth and vote for him, but I won’t do much beyond that,” McAuliffe had said. He added: “I’ll always support the nominee of the party within reason, but this scratches the edge of what I consider within reason.”
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