Conservatives Warn John McCain

Washington, DC (TLS). A coalition of conservative groups has warned Republican Presidential candidate John McCain concerning his support for measures that would eliminate so-called '527s'--those groups that were created after the McCain-Feingold law to silence free speech went into effect. 527s began to spring up as a direct result of the provisions of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law, which had the chilling effect of silencing free political speech. The 527s found a loophole in the law which allowed them to raise funds for candidates and policy measures without having to adhere to the provisions of McCain-Feingold.

The Liberty Sphere has learned that McCain has sponsored legislation that will effectively put an end to 527 organizations. We also happen to know that McCain has accepted contributions from these very organizations that he claims to stand against.

Hence, the conservative coalition sent McCain a warning--stop with the senseless attempts to silence free political speech or face defections from the ranks of supporters. In short, McCain supporters can easily go elsewhere, withdrawing their support from McCain entirely.

The Liberty Sphere thinks that such withdrawals of support are long overdue. McCain has made no friends among those of us who stand solidly for free speech and 2nd Amendment rights. Not only did he and Liberal Democrat Russ Feingold fleece the American public by passing severe restrictions on free political speech in the name of 'campaign finance reform,' but he also co-sponsored a bill earlier this year that would have silenced bloggers who encourage citizens to contact their lawmakers concerning pending legislation, unless those bloggers get 'permission' from Congress first. Ultra-Liberals Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Barack Hussein Obama, and a host of other Democrats supported this measure, which was defeated by an amendment offered by Senator McConnell and others that stopped the ominous Nazi-like assault on speech.

And this is not all. McCain is given the lowest rating possible by Gun Owners of America, which has graded him with an 'F-' on gun rights.

Of course, McCain is not alone on that score. ALL of the top tier Presidential candidates in both Parties have also garnered an 'F-', including Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Barack Hussein Obama, and others. Even Mitt Romney's support for gun rights has been tentative through the years.

Conservatives are quietly looking for a place to land as they look ahead to the 2008 Presidential election. Clearly as it stands now, most of us who refer to ourselves as Conservative/libertarian voters are mentally marking 'none of the above' when it comes to the leading contenders in both Parties. Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Barack Obama, and Mitt Romney simply do not have the solid conservative track record to win the support of most of us, particularly those who live in the heartland, the South, and the western Mountain states.

We are whistling in the dark if we expect John McCain in particular, who has a long track record of votes in the Senate, to suddenly change his ideological core. While McCain can be admired for his unwavering support of the War on Terror, including its tributary in Iraq, conservatives find him hard to stomach on just about every other issue.

In short, I really do not expect him to heed any warning from conservatives.

Read more of the warning to McCain here:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=/Politics/archive/200702/POL20070214b.html