WEBCommentary(tm) - Senator McCain's Basic Flaws

After Mr. Levin noted that McCain is trying to recast himself as more conservative now that he is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, Senator Santorum frankly explained: “It’s amazing to hear what John McCain is trying to convince the voters he is all about. The bottom line is, I served 12 years with him, six years in the Senate as one of the leaders of the Senate, trying to put together the conservative agenda, and almost at every turn, on domestic policy, John McCain was not only against us, but leading the charge on the other side.”

Former Senator and leading conservative Rick Santorum: A John McCain presidency would be “very, very dangerous for Republicans.”

Last March Newsmax quoted Senator Santorum as follows: "I don’t agree with [Senator McCain] on hardly any issues. I don’t think he has the temperament and leadership ability to move the country in the right direction.”

The aged, but intensely ambitious, Senator McCain and his ally, the much younger, but equally ambitious, Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, are proud members of the Gang of Fourteen.

Advocates of constitutional fidelity need much better than members of the Gang of Fourteen as presidential and vice presidential nominees.

Paul M. Weyrich, Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Research and Education Foundation: "Remember the Gang of Fourteen? The Gang of seven Democratic and seven Republican Senators pledged that there would be no filibuster of the President's judicial nominees except under 'extraordinary circumstances.' I believe that Moveon.org and other wealthier Leftist groups would contribute millions of dollars to the seven Democratic Senators. These Senators do not have the principle of Senators such as the late Senator James B. Allen (D-AL). Senators Robert C. Byrd (D-WVA) and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and freshman Democratic Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) could balk. With adequate pressure the Senators could declare that the Bush nominee constituted an extraordinary circumstance and filibuster the nominee. If two of the seven Senators were to return to the fold Democrats would have the support they needed to defeat the Bush nominee. It would take remarkable developments to avoid this."

The Constitution provides for confirmation by a majority, not a super-majority, and the Gang of Fourteen presumptuously banded together to keep the Senate rules from being revised to conform to the Constitution.

Senator Santorum, defeated in 2006 after two terms as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania, again warned against a McCain presidency in an interview that aired last week on syndicated talk radio host Mark Levin’s show.

Senator Santorum cited the McCain-Feingold Act, the campaign finance reform bill sponsored by McCain that limits campaign contributions and has been called by some an “incumbent protection act.”

Senator Santorum classified the bill in which Senator McCain took great pride as "an affront to personal freedom and liberty in this country, and what we’ve seen as a result of this misguided attempt to placate the New York Times and to help his stature within that community … is that special interests have absolutely taken over the political process, and individual candidates, unless you’re a billionaire, and parties have very little voice in the process.

Senator Santorum: “The reduction in [tax] rates and lowering the rates on capital gains and dividends … did so much to get this economy up and going. [But] we would have had a much bigger tax cut if it were not for John McCain.”

Senator Santorum also cited Senator McCain’s opposition to conservative positions on drug re-importation, federally funded embryonic stem cell research, the questioning of terror detainees and other issues (including immigration), and admitted he has a “big fear” of a McCain presidency.

Senator Santorum on Senator McCain and the danger he posed to the Republican Party and conservatives:

“I think he’s been solid in the war on terror … but on domestic policy, he’s very, very dangerous for Republicans.

“There’s nothing worse than having a Democratic Congress and a Republican president who would act like a Democrat in matters that are important to conservatives.”

Senator Santorum explained that Senator McCain was a leader of Senate moderates who often stopped Republicans from pushing strong pro-life legislation.

So don't count on Senator McCain appointing United States Supreme Court Justices and other federal judges who will antagonize Senators with whom Senator McCain allied himself on immigration and campaign finance reform, Ted Kennedy and Russ Feingold.

America needs a president who will nominate jurists with the competence to realize that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and the courage to overrule it as well as the awareness that the Constitution never was intended to prohibit government from acknowledging God and supporting religion generally.

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.

Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.

The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.

Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.