I HAVE TO PASS ON "MAVERICK" McCAIN

Sometimes it is very distressing to me how short the collective memory of the American Public (aka The Sheeple, although in their current headlong rush over the cliff of deficit spending, perhaps The Lemmings is a more appropriate term) truly is. I have seen quite a few "Conservatives" lately stumping for John McCain, but mainly under the mantra of, "Well, maybe he has a shot at beating Hillary." Not "He's the best man for the job" or "He's a true Conservative." Nope, we're back to "The lesser of two evils" voting that has gotten us into the bankrupt nation $9 Trillion debt quagmire we're in.

What do I mean by short memories? How about the big Savings & Loan Scandal back in the late 80's, early 90's? You know, the one that cost thousands of people their life savings and the American taxpayer $124.6 Billion in Federal bail-outs."Campaign Finance Reform Maverick" McCain was one of the infamous "Keating 5", five Senators investigated for the million and change convicted S&L fraud and racketeer Keating lobbied Congress with.

Maybe your memory doesn't go back that far. Let's try the 2000 Presidential Race. At that time, ol' John Boy was slamming the Religious Right, decrying the dangers of "pandering" to them and calling them "agents of intolerance." This go-round, Glory Hallilujah, the Reverend McCain has seen the light, brothers and sisters, and has lately been trying to "Out-Christian" Huckabee with the help of Sam Brownback now that he's dropped out of the race.

Still too far in the distant past? How about 2001 and the McCain-Fiengold "Campaign Finance Reform" bill, more correctly known as the "Incumbant Protection Act". He kicked the First Amendment right in the teeth, yet still reained enough loopholes for himself and other long-time Congresscritters to drive a Brinks armored truck through. That armored truck keeps right on bringing in huge amounts of $$$$ to incumbents via forcible donations from unions, Indian tribes (of which Arizona has quite a few), and for the state-level GOP and Deomocrat parties.

In 2004, Maverick saved us all from the critical dangers of professional baseball players using steroids while the national debt continued to spiral out of control, our Civil Liberties were being eroded, and the "war on Terror" continued sucking the coffers dry.

From 2001 to 2005 Pistolero John got a C- rating for his stances on gun control from Larry Pratt and Gun owners of America, and from 2003 to 2005 his voting record supported the interests of the GOA a whopping 0% of time. In 2006, his support for the Second Amednment miraculously sky-rocketed to 100%. Could this sudden turn-around be as sincere as his recent religious revival, neatly co-inciding with a Presidential run?

Perhaps one can recall waaaayyyyy back to 2007 and the hideous Bush-Kennedy Amnesty for Illegals? The overwhelming majority of the American public hated the thing, and actually got hot enough under the collar to give their duly-elected representaives an earful. A great grassroots campaign started with thousands of people sending bricks to their Congresscitters to start building a wall on the border. The bill was eventually defeated but Juan McCain and Teddy (hiccup) Kennedy said to hell with the will of the people and kept right on trying to get the bill rammed through behind closed doors.

2007 also gave us a McCain who was Conservative Hawk-Man, supporting the "War on Terror". He courageously entered a Baghdad marketplace, wearing body armor and surrounded by fawning generals. At least a hundred fully-armed American troops were present in the marketplace, armored Hummers with mounted weapons were parked there, snipers lined the rooftops, and Apaches and Blackhawks hovered overhead. Upon his return, John proudly proclaimed, "Peace in our time!" No, wait, that was someone else. He proclaimed that one was as safe walking the streets of Baghdad as you would be in any city in America. (Not long after the photo-op, Muslim terrorists kidnapped and killed 21 Iraqis who had been present for the dog-and-pony show.) The aspiring Commander-in-Chief also made the courageous pronouncement that it should be left up to General Petrais to make the decision to go or stay in Iraq.

To be fair, though, McCain has done some things that I truly respect. His service in the Vietnam War is one. He also opposed GW on the Orwellian warrantless wire-tapping the Shrub Administration and the NSA are so proud of. And, in one of the debates I watched, he had the guts to come out against the use of waterboarding as torture.

Still, weighing the pros and cons, the bills sponsored with Deomcrats, the reward-lawbreakers amnesty, a small protest in favor of the 4th Amendment while ignoring the 1st, 2nd and 10th....hmmm. I just don't see him as "The Great Conservative Hope" for the GOP. More like a Bush Third Term, and we all have seen how well the first two worked out.