As if to prove Stacy's point that conservatives are better off when
Bill Kristol gives advice to Democrats rather than Republicans,
Kristol is back with another
op-ed urging John McCain to pick Joe Lieberman for vice
president. The usual points obtain: Social conservatives don't
trust McCain enough for him to name a pro-choice running mate;
having Lieberman as his first personnel choice would undermine his
promise to these conservatives on judges; this would give the
Republicans a ticket of two candidates who opposed the Bush tax
cuts but supported amnesty for illegal immigrants, campaign finance
reform, and cap and trade.
But there are two larger issues conservatives should consider.
First, for all its post-partisan appeal a McCain-Lieberman ticket
would still double down on an issue (the war) that is at best
problematic for Republicans even with Obama's lack of
commander-in-chief cred and after the surge. The failure to see
this bespeaks a conservative echo chamber that could blind McCain
to political reality as much as liberal media bias has blinded Obama. The second issue is the
near-total subordination the conservative domestic agenda to
foreign policy. Reducing the issues of taxes, guns, and babies to
boob bait for the bubbas while foreign policy trumps all will have
lasting implications for the conservative coalition.
topics:
Taxes, Foreign Policy, Trade, John McCain
