An adviser to front-running Arizona Senator John McCain says McCain, notoriously plain spoken, needs to "acknowledge tension" with
conservatives in his upcoming appearance before the Conservative Political Action Committee's 6,000 delegates this week in Washington.
"Put it up front," says this adviser of the McCain CPAC appearance. McCain simply "doesn't agree" with conservatives on everything, yet feels
strongly that he, like a number of those in his audience, was a "foot soldier" in the Reagan Revolution and is indeed a conservative. In
fact, it is exactly this side of McCain -- the long opposition to government spending as well as the militant support for the hawkish side of
national security issues like the Iraq War surge plus his consistent pro-life support and a pledge on the appointment of conservative judges
that won him the endorsement of the longtime-conservative Manchester Union Leader in the run-up to McCain's New Hampshire victory.
This McCain adviser also pointed out that Ronald Reagan's relationship with conservatives at times had rocky patches, notably over the
nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court. A meeting with then-White House political director Lyn Nofziger was recalled in which
unhappy conservative leaders were briefed on O'Connor. Afterwards there was to be a photo op on the White House grounds, a moment Nofziger
deputy Lee Atwater was instantly warned would backfire. Atwater was told that conservatives were so unhappy with Reagan over the O'Connor
nomination they would not hesitate to say so if asked by the press -- even on the White House lawn. The photo op was canceled.
While there is a point to all of this, and in fact there were other moments in the 1980s when conservatives were gritting their teeth about
Reagan, the questions conservatives are asking themselves is how to deal with the prospect of a President McCain -- assuming the Arizonan
does indeed wind up victorious in his drive for the nomination and carries the day over either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. |
