The GOP’s McCain divide

Re “How the voting shook both parties,” Feb. 7

Arizona Sen. John McCain’s likely presidential nomination by the Republican Party is troubling and confusing. Where are these people who are voting for him? I don’t appreciate his insistence that he will eventually unite the GOP, as if he thinks conservatives will fall in line because he has an “R” next to his name.

Conservatives vote by principle. I am a conservative first, then a Republican. If he cannot abide the governing philosophy of conservative ideals that the GOP used to believe in, my vote is not his. McCain cannot win without conservatives backing him, hence his sudden apparent conversion. Personally, I don’t believe it because, regardless of what he says, his voting record exposes him.

David Swenk

Santa Maria

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Having read the article regarding the wailing and gnashing of teeth by the Republican Party on McCain’s apparent progress toward the party’s nomination as its presidential candidate, I had to stop and think, “I’m a Republican of long standing, and I voted for McCain.” So I asked myself, “If the Republican base doesn’t like the senator, how can he be the front-runner?” Then the answer occurred to me: A majority of Republicans voted for him. Apparently the Ann Coulter crowd hasn’t figured that out yet.

David Strauss

Arcadia

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McCain? McVain? McAmnesty? Personally, I prefer McShame for consistently selling out to liberal Democrats.

Conservative Republicans have a dilemma? What dilemma? Choosing between a liberal Democrat and a liberal Democrat in Republican clothing is no dilemma. It’s no choice at all.

If McCain wins the Republican nomination, it won’t matter what name the liberal who wins goes by: Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or McCain. At least Clinton and Obama are open about their liberal sentiments. If McCain wins the Republican nomination, no one will get my vote in November. I prefer not to waste it.

Wayne D. Kerr

La Crescenta

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Is this disdain truly a reflection of McCain, or merely a reflection of the state of the GOP and its constituency?

Raul Diaz

Hacienda Heights

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I was struck by the overwhelmingly negative tone of the article on conservatives’ supposed disdain of McCain. When a candidate is running away with the nomination, surely you could have found someone who is positive and enthusiastic about him.

McCain’s success is plainly a reaction to the unhappiness in the general electorate to the disastrous run by the current Republican administration and leadership. Apparently, even a majority of Republicans are repudiating the last seven years with their support of the moderate McCain, and don’t want to reward the party with an “establishment” far-right candidate and four more years of the same.

I will happily support McCain, whose moderate positions align well for nonreligious conservatives like me. A more conservative candidate would push me over to the Democratic side (so would a McCain move further right).

And the fact that his success is giving the far-right talk radio yakkers conniptions only reinforces my decision to vote for this honorable man.

Brad Kurtz

Westchester