Originally Posted: June 15, 2008

Title: John McCain: Blog 1

With the upcoming elections I have had numerous conservatives and Republicans ask me if I will be voting for or support John McCain for President. Before anything else let me say I appreciate Senator McCain's military service. John McCain is a war hero and is deserving of our gratitude and respect.

However, as a conservative and as one who believes in a limited constitutional government, I cannot and will not support or vote for John McCain. Our political views are just too different for me to support Senator McCain. In this, my first blog about McCain, I will show two of the numerous reasons I will not be casting my vote for McCain.

Those of you reading this who follow politics probably already know what I am about to say: McCain-Feingold and McCain-Kennedy. If the national Republican party was still a truly conservative party these two bills would have been a fatal blow to the senator's presidential hopes.

Along with many individuals in this country I am concerned with the grossly ignored problem of illegal immigration. So what was the Republican Presidential hopeful's answer to the problem? Get together with one of the most socialist liberal senators and offer the illegals amnesty. Senator Kennedy said of the bill, ""Those who have lived here, who have basically played by the rules, worked hard . . . they, I believe, ought to be able to adjust their status," Am I the only to realize that entering the country illegally is not "playing by the rules"? I am not for amnesty for illegal aliens – John McCain is. Thankfully, after the American people heard and understood this bill the outcry was so loud the bill never became law.

Secondly, McCain-Feingold, The bill that denies free speech and ignores the first amendment, is an accomplishment for the senator. While this bill is disguised in the words of "soft money" and "527-oranizaitons" the bill basically limits some organizations from purchasing political ads within a certain period of time before an election. Evidently Senator McCain believes the government has the right to tell organizations when they can exercise their right of free speech. John McCain believes in trampling on free speech and ignoring the first amendment – I do not.

These two bills alone are enough to have me vow to never vote for McCain. Sadly there are other things and I will look at these on my next blog. Oh – and before I end this I should not fail to point out that both of these bills were supported by President George w. Bush with McCain-Feingold being signed into law.

I look forward to hearing from my conservative friends. Perhaps those of you who support McCain can convince me to rethink my stance. I seriously doubt it, but you can try.

Let the debating begin…