Torch Debate: Will Conservatives Rally Around McCain?

He'll Need Reinforcements
The Mac is undoubtedly back. Currently, the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for President, Senator John McCain, has received endorsements from former Presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, former President George H.W. Bush, and countless current and former state governors and members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. With a lead in the polls in each of the states that are holding primaries in the next few weeks, it is merely a matter of time before McCain goes from being his party’s presumptive nominee to its actual one. So while the Democrats are still struggling to pick their presidential nominee and may have to wait until their convention in August to determine who it will be, McCain stands ready to be the face of a united party. However, whether the party will truly unite behind him is still up for debate.

From the beginning of the 2008 presidential race, many in the conservative wing of the Republican Party expressed reservations about John McCain’s candidacy. Whether it is the immigration reform bill that he helped craft in 2007, his initial opposition to President George W. Bush’s tax cuts, or his support of the campaign finance reform law that bears his name, conservatives can usually point to an issue on which McCain is not in line with their values. 

With respect to immigration reform, McCain is frequently labeled a proponent of amnesty. The failed Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which McCain supported and initially helped craft, would have conferred legal status on all illegal immigrants who entered this country before January 1, 2007, by making them eligible to receive a special Z visa, which could be renewed indefinitely every four years. Z visa holders would then become eligible for permanent legal residence after eight years, without having to return to their home country or pay any back taxes. It was this last provision that especially drew the ire of conservatives, as they felt that it provided individuals who had clearly broken the law with a special pathway to citizenship. In addition, conservatives did not like the fact that the bill was estimated to cost taxpayers an average of $89 billion per year, or roughly $1.2 million per illegal immigrant household, since these individuals would now be entitled to government services and benefits.

Conservatives also fault McCain for twice voting against the Bush tax cuts. The first time was in 2001, as McCain argued that they only benefited the wealthiest one percent of Americans. In 2003, he voted against them again, but cited the unknown costs of the Iraq war as his reason for opposing them. Since these votes, McCain has done a bit of an about face on the issue, as he is now campaigning on the idea that they should be made permanent. Nevertheless, conservatives are not typically known for their ability to forgive and forget, especially when taxes are involved.  To witness this principle at work, one need look no further than the outrage among conservatives at President George H.W. Bush for increasing taxes in 1990, breaking his infamous pledge that he would enact “no new taxes.” Many argue that it was this tax increase that cost Bush reelection, drawing ire from Democrats and conservative Republicans alike.       

McCain’s support of campaign finance reform has also angered conservatives. Many argue that banning the acceptance or spending of soft money by political parties, which the McCain-Feingold Act does, limits the free speech protected by the First Amendment. Soft money typically comes from interest groups and refers to money that is not donated to a particular political candidate and is not used to specifically advocate the election or defeat of a candidate.

It is also important to note that McCain’s positions on immigration reform, the Bush tax cuts, and campaign finance reform are also shared by the two remaining Democratic contenders for President, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. All three of them voted for final passage of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007. In addition, Clinton also voted against the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, and although Obama had not yet been elected to the Senate when these votes occurred, he has said that he too would have voted against them. Finally, Clinton supported the McCain-Feingold Act in 2002. 

While many dismiss reservations about McCain’s record on these issues as merely the vitriol of voices on the extreme right, like those of talk radio host Rush Limbaugh and columnist Ann Coulter, it should be noted that rank and file conservatives are also expressing these concerns.  This can be seen in the fact that only 32 percent of conservatives supported McCain in the recent Virginia primary, while only 43 percent of them voted for him in Maryland. This lack of support among the conservative base of the Republican Party spells real trouble for McCain, and he would be wise to work on gaining their support in the months between his selection as the Republican nominee and the national convention in September. For if McCain cannot convince his whole party that he should be the next President of the United States, he has little hope of convincing the rest of America.