I have told D. Byrne he is very persuasive with this Chi Trib column of today and think I’d better tell you all. He gives the case for McCain as adequately conservative and best equipped to govern, along the way making a fair try at putting Rush L. in his place:
Nothing seems to anger die-hard Republicans more than Cafeteria Conservatives — folks who pick and choose which right-wing diktat they will believe or reject.
Chief among the die-hards is Rush Limbaugh, the conservative equivalent of the Roman Catholic Church’s Curia, who deigns to define what constitutes conservative purity. No one better in the church wields the nihil obstat (nothing hinders) stamp better than his lugness. Not even medieval church censors were better at defining what is free or not free of doctrinal error.
Chiefly the McCain advantage lies here, he says:
[T]he two most important issues in the election are national security (i.e. the war on terror, the war in Iraq and the nuclear threat posed by lunatic tyrants) and the quality and philosophical grounding of the new president’s appointments to the Supreme Court and other federal courts.
It’s Islamic fundamentalism, stupid, and the courts.
Blithe Spirit 
I was shocked and sadden to read that Dennis Byrne, in his commentary of today, endorsed Senator John McCain.
Upon reading the Chicago Tribune’s endorsement of McCain yesterday, I immediately submitted this letter to the Tribune’s Voice of the People:
Dear Voice of the People:
Shame on the Tribune for endorsing Republican Senator John McCain on Sunday, January 27. He might be the media darling and hero to the Illinois Repubican combine and to country club and elitist Republicans, but John McCain is intensely disliked by “true” Republican voters. Many would refuse to vote for him, regarding a McCain administration no better than one headed by Obama or Hillary. The outcome: McCain would destroy any chance of a Republican victory in November and the party itself.
Why as a proud conservative Republican do I consider the Tribune’s endorsement of McCain (and now Dennis Byrne) repugnant? Nothing can take away McCain’s POW heroism, but as a maverick McCain has angered core Republican voters and his Senate colleagues time and time again. His record is being questioned on illegal immigration, free speech, Gitmo, giving due process rights to captured terrorists, his interpretation of torture, his interference with selection of judges, that global warming is manmade, and in his oppoisition to the Bush tax cuts. McCain’s age also rates a minus on my score card.
By endorising McCain, the Tribune conveniently overlooked one who does have a broad base of appeal — Mitt Romney. He could unify Republican voters — the fiscal conservatives, the social conservatives, and the national security hawks. As a Washington outsider of stellar character, Romney has exhibited leadership skills as a successful business man and as governior of Massachusetts; he understands economic issues; he stands for traditional family values; and he respects the military and understands the threat this nation is facing from islamic jihadists.
Given that the Tribune is promoting the perception that this nation is headed for a recession, its editorial board displayed a lack of judgment in endorsing John MCain. Mitt Romney, with his economic expertise, is what this nation needs to act decisively on matters affecting the pocketbook.
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In responding directly to Dennis Byrne, McCain’s national security credentials are lacking. McCain is for fighting global terrorism, but he has consistently been against the tools that are needed to fight terrorism here at home. Isn’t domestic security an essential part of national security, Mr. Bryne? Accordingly to McCain Gitmo should be closed, he considers water boarding torture when it has already saved countless numbers of American lives the few times it has been used on terrorists, he wants captured terrorists to be given due rights in the American judicial system, and he is an advocate of amnensty despite all his nice sounding rhetoric in trying to climb back into the good graces of conservative voters like me. Has Dennis Bryne not heard about McCain’s temper when he can’t get his way? Would a president unable to control his emotional outbursts be good for this nation? I don’t think so. And regarding any McCain appointments to the Supreme Court, it is nieve to believe that McCain would appoint conservative judges. Time and again in the past eight years he has shown himself to be more in tune with the Democratic Party leadership than with his own Republican Party. We don’t need a maverick in the White House who answers to his own dummer. We need one who will fight for Republican values and beliefs! I cannot forgive Dennis Bryne for his lack of insight into who McCain really is. Where has he been these past eight years?
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I think Rush Limbaugh has a very valid point that McCain would have all the bad instincts of Bush, without all of Bush’s good instincts. Republican congressmen are not comfortable fighting their own president, even when he strays from conservative principles (as stated in the Republican platform). It’s easier to muster a fight against a Democrat than one of your own. So if McCain, a RINO in too many respects to command my vote, were to win, the GOP would again be hamstrung.
Look what has happened to the GOP in Illinois — it’s a pitiful echo of the Leftist Democrats because it has been led by RINOS.
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