Reconsidering McCain

I hate when this happens. Yesterday I started a post about John McCain, but then I did some Democratic "backstory" and tabled McCain until today. Of course, all the buzz in the national media today was about McCain. Well, I WAS gonna break the story first, and here's my take on it.....

We all have our little cliched ideas about John McCain. The patriotic POW/hero who is a "loose canon". He even looks kinda whacked out sometimes. Here's page one of his own website http://www.johnmccain.com/landing/?sid=gorganic Yipes!!!!

Another thing he is known for is being "not your typical Republican". This alone warrants a second look. Here is the "issues" page from his website http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/
If you looked it over, you may feel like I do.....I don't agree with all of it. Do you need a candidate who agrees with you on everything? Do you want a candidate whose moves you can predict based on an ideology? I have my own little cliche....I like someone who "will stand up for what he thinks is right".

OK.......maybe I've become a one issue guy, that issue being Immigration. I have posted about this a few times. http://nylaw2law.blogspot.com/search/label/Immigration Congress, and all the candidates (Republican & Democrat), acted disgracefully. Except John McCain. What did they do that got my goat?
1. The Country had a serious problem that should have been addressed with a comprehensive law.
2. The issues are complicated, and the only way to solve them was with fair compromise, non-partisanship, and creativity.
3. A bill was proposed that had plenty of meat on it, and addressed ALL the issues.
4. The Republicans railed against the bill as an "amnesty" bill. However, they never addressed what to do about the 12 million people here without legal status, most of whom contribute to our economy, want to be a legal part of our society, and want to pay their fair share of taxes. They did their work so in-artfully that the bill was never seriously debated, and the Democrats never even had to state their positions on it. Actually, virtually no Democrats stated their position, and the fact is, if they had, most would have opposed the bill for being too strict.
5. Seems to me that a bill which is tough for both sides to swallow is probably a good compromise, and had the details been allowed to be worked out, OUR COUNTRY WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF.

That defeated bill was the Kennedy-McCain bill. Here's a rundown from the Daily Kos
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/5/13/112653/285 Doesn't look like an amnesty bill to me!!

In the early Republican debates, the candidates spewed their anti-amnesty rhetoric. McCain stood alone and essentially took it. Not the place to actually TALK about it. It would have been easy for McCain to stay out of the immigration fray, as ALL the other candidates did. Surely he realized that politically it could hurt him......I mean, he sponsored the bill with Ted Kennedy!! He took a novel and unprecedented path. Political considerations came second. Patriotism and the desire to help our country came first.

In my view, that is why many people are reconsidering McCain.....rightly so.