The Stampede

Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Sam Skeirik Ian Swallen

Just to be clear, the title of this article is not "Why Not McCain?," an article that would list the reasons why people should support McCain. Instead, the title of the article is "Why NOT McCain;" thus, the article reveals why many conservatives dislike McCain and have not yet thrown their support behind the RINO (Republican In Name Only) nominee.

Those who do not share a conservative ideology may not understand why John McCain has failed to gain all of the conservative support.

To be honest, on paper, McCain seems to be a perfect republican candidate, but communism also works perfectly on paper.

I know of McCain's experience in the war as a POW, and as far as I am concerned he is an American hero.

He has served the country as a member of Congress for 25 years, 20 of those years in the Senate. So he understands how the legislature works and has ties and connections with other members of Congress.

He has also praised the presidency and life of Ronald Reagan, which has become a rite of passage for any republican since Reagan's death.

But these are not the reasons why conservatives do not like McCain. Most conservatives love these characteristics. To understand why conservatives do not like McCain, take a quick look at the policies that have angered conservatives in the last eight years.

Illegal immigration is one area in which McCain crosses party lines and votes against conservatives.

In 2005, Ted Kennedy and McCain composed a bill that gives amnesty to illegal workers, commonly referred to as "McCain-Kennedy." Although the bill failed, it appeared two years later in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.

This bill would have granted amnesty to people living in the United States illegally, without much focus on border security.

It failed when conservatives flooded the phone lines and mail boxes of all members of Congress.

I was interning in Washington, D.C., in the House of Representatives at the time, and I can vouch for the number of citizens who raised a voice.

If conservatives were so against this bill, you can bet that the republican nominee would have been against it as well. Right?

Wrong. McCain wanted the legislation passed. Although some republicans have forgotten that he supported this bill, many have not and refuse to support him because of it.

Continued...

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