PETER ABEL OP-ED: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

The moderate Republican blogger opines about Sen. John McCain's win yesterday in the South Carolina Republican primary: "So after eight years of waiting, my main man — Senator Johnny Mac — finally won a primary in the very state that, in 2000, helped set the course for the so-called Bush presidency. Good for John. Unfortunately, I fear the most challenging days of his campaign are in front of him, not behind him. The contemporary Republican establishment does not like McCain and is expected to pull out the stops to derail him leading up to Florida and Super Tuesday. And if the Senator from Arizona still manages to win Florida despite that opposition, watch out. The week from Florida to Feb. 5 will get very ugly, to the point that some of us will be looking over our shoulders, fearful that the alert hairs on the back of our necks pre-sage the rise from the dead of the pre-reformation ghost of Lee Atwater. What’s more, regardless of what the GOP Establishment thinks, the boost that McCain’s 2008 S.C. primary victory gives him among Republican voters could have precisely the opposite effect among Democrats. BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) Democrats will remember, all too well, South Carolina’s role in their nemesis’s march to the GOP nomination in 2000 and, from there, to the White House. In turn, that memory will make BDS suffer[er]s question the judgment of S.C. Republicans and thus force them to question the candidate for whom a majority of S.C. Republicans voted this year. Other Democrats — who are not fond of Bush but don’t froth at the mouth every time they hear [h]is name — will fear McCain for different reasons, namely: He is the one Republican candidate who consistently keeps pace with Sens. Clinton and Obama in head-to-head polls for the general election."

Mr. Abel continues his commentary: "I won’t attempt to talk the Republican establishment or BDS suffers out of their opposition to McCain. They’ve already lost their collective minds. But I do want to make a special appeal to non-BDS Democrats, whom I believe are still grounded in reality and who, at the end of the day, are not that much different than their moderate GOP counterparts like me. Those Democrats should support McCain – if not in votes, then in dialogue – for two key reasons. 1. McCain raises the ire of the contemporary Republican establishment because he rejects their meaner instincts. As I’ve written before, McCain decries torture while the Establishment excuses it. He fights pork-barrel spending while they enable it. He calls for policies to combat global warming while they deny it. He seeks reasonable compromises on immigration policy while they stoke fear and prejudice. 2. McCain represents for Republicans what Obama represents for Democrats: a meaningful step away from the last 15-plus years. I’m not saying either man will revolutionize partisan politics as we know it, but both promise (at a minimum) evolutionary progress toward a different America. And if we truly believe country is more important than party, then we owe it to ourselves to boost the two candidates who (among all their peers) represent the best hope for moving us in a post-partisan direction, regardless of our individual party loyalties. That’s my argument. Take it or leave it…but at least, consider it."

My response: I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican, as I have voted in each party's primary in recent election cycles. Sen. Obama (the remaining presidential candidate that I like the most on the Democratic side) will probably win our home state of Illinois. The last Illinois poll that I saw showed him 2-1 over Sen. Clinton, who was born here. My vote is thus more needed in the Republican presidential race, and I'm leaning toward that primary. I've narrowed my list down to Sen. McCain and Rudy Giuliani, followed by Mitt Romney. I disagree with Sen. McCain on abortion, torture, and illegal immigration. Mr. Giuliani's position on illegal immigration doesn't satisfy me, and I have issues with his personal life and some cop cases he supported as New York mayor. Mr. Romney has election-conveniently flip-flopped on issues.