Mike Murray essay -- A View from the Center-Right

13 March 2009

A View from the Center-Right

--by Mike Murray

Most of the people I know who lean center-right voted for John McCain in 2008. We weren’t troubled by the fact that his stances on domestic-policy issues were moderate; ours were, too. (And in any case, his positions – though not thoroughly conservative in recent years – were a damn sight less socialistic than were Barack Obama’s.)

But what really sold us on McCain was that he was strong on matters of national defense, that he wasn’t afraid to call the fight against America’s extremist enemies what it is: A war. On terror.

Our one real concern about McCain is that he has been, ever since his unsuccessful run against George W. Bush in 2000, inclined to play footsie with leftist members of the mainstream media. For whatever reason(s), he curried their favor. And he did it by serving up pointed criticisms of his fellow Republicans.

Even though I am not a member of the GOP (I am a “lower-case-i” independent), I found that behavior troubling.

I had written in June of 2005 that the MSM’s love affair with the “Maverick” would end abruptly – should he ever become the Establishment Republican. That is, should he ever achieve the party’s nomination for president. See: Confessions of a Recovering MBA (vol. 2).

And, sure enough, the moment McCain secured the requisite number of convention delegates in 2008, the press soured on him. Consider The New York Times – which had only weeks before endorsed him for the GOP nod. The paper turned on him, hard, once McCain became the Republican standard-bearer. Front page after front page was subsequently devoted to attacking the Times’ former friend. As a group, the MSM reduced the term “Maverick” (once an expression of respect) to a term of derision.

None of that mattered to McCain’s supporters. We figured he’d finally seen the light, that he’d finally awoken to the fact that his presumed media pals only favored him when he was doing his own party harm. Now that he was its titular head, things would be different.

Well, 2008 wasn’t a Republican year. As the vagaries of election cycles so often demonstrate, the pendulum giveth, and the pendulum taketh away. This was destined to be a down period for conservatives and right-leaning moderates. Consequently, McCain lost. But, if his campaign wasn’t run with all the vigor it might have mustered – he left it to people like me to bash Obama over his Rev. Wright association, for example (see: An Appalling Silence) – at least John stumped honorably.

So when it was all over, I assumed that McCain would take a few days to decompress, lick his wounds – whatever – and then resume his elder-statesman role in the Senate, and become one of many voices comprising the “loyal opposition.” I was wrong.

Before the dust from the general-election had even settled, McCain staffers began a new campaign: one designed to protect their own reputations. Smarmy (and oh-so anonymous) flacks fed stories to the media that it was Sarah Palin who was responsible for their ticket’s demise. (It wasn’t their anemic efforts, you see.)

The world of politics being what it is, that type of CYA behavior is par for the course. What isn’t was John McCain’s reaction: silence. Until pressed for a response, he said nothing. He was perfectly willing to let the woman who had boosted his bottom-line performance by a good 10 percentage points take the blame for failure.

Conversely, McCain was actually praising Barack Obama in interviews. Once again, he was cozying up to leftist media types. Once again, he was saying what they wanted to hear. Needless to say, people like me believed we’d been suckered. (See Big John, Diminished.)

These days, what with the lousy results of Team Obama vis-à-vis its attempts to improve the economy, McCain is trying to have it both ways: He’s criticizing the Dems’ out-of-control spending (and earmarks), while simultaneously taking shots at the enemies of the Left – such as Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter (the latter through his daughter, Meghan).

All the while, new RNC Chairman Michael Steele flounders. I had high hopes for Mr. Steele. I had early on composed a piece (Man of Steele) in which I expressed a belief in his abilities. He seemed to me to be a person of sensibility, conviction, and eloquence. I presumed that he would be an excellent representative of the GOP. With his easy-going, yet determined, disposition, he seemed “an iron fist in a velvet glove.”

But he has made a royal mess of things thus far. By many accounts, he has been remarkably slow in building his new staff – after dismissing old hands. Much worse, he has stuck his foot in his mouth (hell, he has managed to get his whole leg in there) during recent interviews.

First, Steele bashes Rush Limbaugh. Not smart. Limbaugh represents many conservatives. Many Republicans. He is politically to the right of people like me. Considerably so. But even we moderates recognize his value in marshalling resistance to the dangerous policies of Obama and his acolytes.

Then, Steele took a soft position on abortion while speaking with a reporter. A pro-choice position, really. (He denied it later. But I read the interview transcript. There is little ambiguity in the phrase “individual choice.” ) Mr. Steele is entitled to hold whatever personal view he wishes – on any matter. But if he is to represent a particular political party, he is obligated to espouse its consensus positions.

There was no need for any of the hubbub that Steele has created. With respect to both Limbaugh and abortion, he only needed to say that the GOP is a big tent. And that, although there are platform stances on issues that reflect majority convictions, competing ones do exist. No two people agree on everything; likewise, no party enjoys 100% support on all issues – or for all its spokespersons.

Members of the mainstream media (working in concert with Obama Administration officials) laid traps for Michael Steele, and he walked right into them. I expected more from a man of his talent and intellect.

Bottom line: It’s not my party, Republicans. It’s yours. I realize that it’s not my place to lecture. But when you come courting center-right independents like me at election time, it might be helpful for you to know where we stand. We favor small government. We appreciate restrained spending. We demand strong defense. And we especially like people of conviction. We much more admire people who stand up for what they believe in (even when their views conflict with our own) than we do those who blow with the wind.

As a consequence, we have more respect for Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter these days than we do for John McCain.

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