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With each passing day, I feel myself drawn, like a moth to light, to the campaign for the Republican nomination being waged by John McCain. And, like the moth, I wonder, will I get burned if I venture too close? After all, for many years, every few months, the "maverick" Senator McCain would do something to tick me off. "Support the president, dammit," I would think. "Screw the terrorists," I would say. "Torture ’em till they talk, or die." And there was McCain– standing in the way. The "gang of 14"; McCain Feingold. Kennedy-McCain. This list goes on… And yet, here I am, teetering on the brink. Doug Lambert– a McCainiac? What?!
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John McCain in Franklin, NH town hall meeting.
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"But Doug, how could you? McCain?" Calm down- I’m not signed on with anybody yet. However, as I noted above, I find myself being drawn towards his camp. Why? It’s simple: the war.
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As I have repeated over and over again– the number one issue for me is the war. I recognize that it is a new world war for survival against the tide of Islamic fascism. If we lose, we die. It’s that simple. All other issues pale against this one. If we lose the war, McCain Feingold won’t matter. Neither will global warming, or a whole host of other issues. A loss of the war renders everything moot– except the Koran.
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It is a proven historical fact that when democratic peoples go to war, they lose when the popular support collapses. It thus goes without saying that it takes leaders to nurture and sustain such support. It is a lack of vocal, determined leadership in the current phase of the war that has led us to the precipice of failure. Enter John McCain. Despite the chance he could lose a fair amount of independent and possible Democratic support in his bid for the GOP nomination, he has staked his entire campaign, and using the soapbox it provides, on seeing the war through to victory. In my mind, whether he ultimately wins or loses his bid, he is providing an immeasurable service to the Nation.
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This, coupled with the fact that because of his occasional distance and dissention, he is seen as NOT being in President Bush’s back pocket, he might actually be one of only a few chances we have to keep a Democrat out of the Whitehouse in ’08. Am I upset that he sang "Bomb-bomb-bomb, bomb-bomb Iran"? Are you kidding me? As someone who has long believed that Iran IS the fountainhead of Islamo-fascism, the "head of the snake," if you will, this is welcome music to my ears. I am glad that at least one of our national leaders recognizes that problem. It doesn’t hurt that MoveOn.org is so against McCain these days either. That a group that represents, in my opinion, the "enemy within", is so opposed to John McCain, speaks volumes.
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I feel myself getting closer… will I get burned? We’ll have to wait and see.
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