What is that smell?!

You get a whiff of that? It smells like...like...geez! What is that? Ah! I have figured it out. It's the Republican Party! The party that is asking its members to hold our nose and pull the lever for John McCain in November, but can true conservatives do that in good conscience? I am beginning to wonder if we can. To better help answer that question let's look at some of the stuff ole Johnny has done for us lately:

1.) The Almanac of American Politics says this about McCain's conservative vs. liberal voting record. Here is how they rated him in 2006- A. Economic = 64 percent conservative, 35 percent liberal. B. Social = 46 percent conservative, 53 percent liberal. C. Foreign = 58 percent conservative, 40 percent liberal. The American Conservative Union awarded McCain a lifetime rating of only 82 percent through 2007. 82 percent! And he calls himself a Reagan Conservative! What's odd, though, is that through the 107th Congress (2001-2003) he was placed as the 6th most liberal Republican senator! But in the 109th Congress (2005-2007) he was placed as the 2nd most conservative Republican Senator. Why the disparity? You think maybe it had something to do with the fact that the Presidential election was around the corner? Talk about lack of conviction!

2.) The McCain-Feingold Act is probably the most famous and high profile attack on American liberties he has ever done, if not the biggest one in the past 100 years! It was depicted in the media as an attack on "soft money" (money coming from corporations, unions, the wealthy etc), but in reality it has done the opposite. It told the American voter that you can't spend your money the way you want to. You can only give as much as we (the government) say you can. In fact, it has allowed pathetic human beings such as George Soros the chance to pump loads of money into "organizations" promoting liberalism without having to be prosecuted under McCain-Feingold! Again: a Reagan Conservative? I think not.

3.) He tried to pass immigration reform right under our noses that essentially said "screw what you want America! We will handle this!" He flat out ignored the American people, and he even had the nerve to scold us for it. To top it all off, he did this with Ted Kennedy. Why would anyone want to work with Tedt Kennedy? What has Ted Kennedy ever done with Republicans that didn't end up only benefiting the Democrats? The answer to that one is obvious.

McCain is only a "maverick" in the sense that the media loves the way he bucks the Republicans. He opposed tax cuts, then around election season he supported them. He wants illegals around, but then he says he has "heard" the American people, and has since decided he was wrong. Hey, Johnny, have you not been listening for the last several years? I do not want a maverick. I want a man of conviction who will attack the Democrats with all the might of the Republican Party. He and Obama are the same type of uniters: nonexistent ones. McCain has asked us all to accept the change in the Party, but WE don't want that change! He nor the leaders of the Party are listening to us due to their extreme arrogance, and they refuse to fight for us because they have a banana for a backbone. This will be disasterous for them if they don't wake up. We are headed for another Carter-esque administartion if the Party does not return to its roots that helped put a President in office, twice, with landslides. Reagan won because he "got" it. McCain does not.

Any man that tries to tell a state party to stop running an add that states the TRUTH about a political opponent is not worthy of loyalty (he did this to North Carolina). What makes him think he has that right? Why is HE not going after Obama? Why will HE not rush the Democrats and expose them for all that they are? Because He is practically one of them! With the exception of abortion and national defense, there isn't a dime's worth of difference between him and Clinton and Obama.

Johnny, some of my fellow conservatives may hold their breath and pull the lever for you, but do not mistake that for loyalty. That is simply their way of telling you and the Republican Party that they are giving you one in hopes you will do the same for them. For some reason I doubt you will.

As for me, I don't know yet. I have watched what he has done, and I have listened to what he has to say, and I am in no way ready to vote for him. In fact, the Party that I have been investigating is the Constitution Party, and thus far I am impressed. I voted for Bush with a grimace on my face, but this time I don't know if I can do it again. No more holding my nose; I like the smell of integrity and conviction better than I do the smell of a maverick.