'He's Not One of Us,' Conservatives Say of McCain No-Show
Randy Hall
(CNSNews.com) - Sen. John McCain's decision not to address the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., may prove to be "a huge mistake" if he hopes to win conservative support. It shows "he's not one of us," a number of people attending the event told Cybercast News Service on Thursday.
Muhammad Ali Hasan from Avon, Colo., said McCain -- the only major GOP presidential candidate who will not speak at this year's CPAC -- is making "a huge mistake" because the primary schedule right now is being dictated by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
"If they show up in Iowa, if they show up at CPAC, then everyone else ought to show up, too," said Hasan, founder of Muslims for America.
Speaking in front of the group's booth at the three-day event, Hasan added, "I like McCain a lot." He noted that the senator from Arizona "adopted a little Bengali girl who has Down syndrome, and he's clearly a really compassionate, good guy." Nevertheless, he added, McCain "ought to be here."
The McCain camp's absence was glaringly obvious, with no booth and no campaign representative attending the first day of CPAC - one day after the 72-year-old presidential aspirant announced on CBS's "Late Show With David Letterman" that he is officially running.
'Rudy McRomney'
"The fact that John McCain is not here shows that not only is he not one of us, he doesn't care to be one of us," said Michael Centanni, a businessman from Washington, D.C. "I don't know what he's thinking."
Centanni was one of several people wearing stickers displaying a circular red "no" symbol over the words "Rudy McRomney," a play on the names of Giuliani, McCain and Romney, all of whom are running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008 despite what many conservatives see as problematic records.
"The real point of the matter is that none of these three guys -- Rudy, McCain and Romney -- are worthy of our vote as conservatives," Centanni argued. "I think that much of the trouble we've had with the losses in the last election has a lot to do with the fact that conservatives at some point decided that conservative is the same as Republican."
"I think that's plainly not the case," he added. "The fact that someone is running as a Republican doesn't mean he's one of us, kind of the same reason the current president of the United States has never been to CPAC. [George W. Bush] is not one of us. No matter how much many of us wanted him to be, he never has been."
Dennis Normile, a freshman at Ohio State University, said he did not regard McCain's absence as "a big deal either way."
"I think it's a stupid move on his part, but in the end, I don't think it should really matter that much if he comes to speak or not because his record is going to be clear, and before the primary, he's definitely going to articulate everything he stands for," Normile noted.
Another OSU student, senior Lindsey Tevis, said it was "an unwise decision not to play to your constituency, but I think it is far enough ahead" of the 2008 election that if McCain doesn't turn up this year, "maybe he'll speak next year. Hopefully, he'll be a little more involved in the future."
Even though he sported a Romney T-shirt, Brandon Neeld, a senior at Florida State University, struck a forgiving note.
"I think it's a bit of a mistake on his part," Neeld said. "He needs to be courting the conservative vote, and this is where the conservatives are.
"A lot of people have questioned his stance as a conservative, they've questioned him a lot for his views in the Senate recently, and if he wants to make a statement about where he actually stands, this is where he needs to be talking about it," he added.
Among those questioning McCain's conservative credentials at CPAC was the Citizens United Political Victory Fund, which passed out a 22-page document entitled "He's No Ronald Reagan: Why Conservatives Should Not Vote for John McCain."
The report "covers abortion, campaign finance, global warming, gun control, illegal immigration, judicial appointments, same-sex marriage, stem cell research, tax relief and terrorist interrogation methods," the group said in a release.
"Conservatives deserve a standard-bearer who is committed to a conservative agenda, not one who just mouths its rhetoric," said David Bossie, president of the CUPVF. "In other words, we want a conservative optimist and visionary in the mold of Ronald Reagan. John McCain is decidedly not that person."
However, Jim McCarvey of Calhoun, Ga., said McCain's background "gives him good credentials just on the face of it."
At the same time, he acknowledged that the Arizona senator "probably made a mistake in the 2000 primaries by not being close enough" to conservatives, "a core group that might have pushed him into the presidency."
McCain's decision to stay away from CPAC was "not wise," McCarvey added. "I think by not coming, he's losing the opportunity to raise money" - and may have lost some votes as well.
"I got a message from my daughter in Seattle," he said. "She was watching the 'Today Show' and 'Good Morning America,' and she said, 'Dad, I understand this is the show you're going to, and McCain's not going to be there.'
"That's the only message I got from her, so he might have lost her vote." If that's the case, "he's 0 for 2," McCarvey added.
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