McCain Woos Conservatives With Promises On Judges

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Republican John McCain is castigating Democrat Barack Obama for voting against John Roberts as Supreme Court chief justice.

McCain offered an olive branch to the Christian right in a speech about the kind of judges he would nominate planned for Tuesday at Wake Forest University. The far right has been deeply suspicious of McCain, the expected GOP presidential nominee, because he has clashed with its leaders and worked against them on issues like campaign finance reform.

McCain promised to appoint judges who, in the mold of Roberts and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, are likely to limit the reach of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

"They would serve as the model for my own nominees if that responsibility falls to me," McCain said in his prepared speech.

Obama likes to talk up his image as someone who works with Republicans to get things done, McCain said. Yet Obama "went right along with the partisan crowd, and was among the 22 senators to vote against this highly qualified nominee," McCain said.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's rival, also voted against Roberts, although McCain focused his criticism on Obama.

Tuesday's primaries North Carolina and Indiana, the biggest prizes left in the nomination battle between Clinton and Obama, were likely to overshadow McCain's address. His advisers said the timing was not deliberate and that they accepted the invitation for him to speak several weeks ago.

McCain often is viewed as an independent because he antagonizes fellow Republicans and likes to work with Democrats. Some conservatives dislike his decision to join the "Gang of 14," a group of senators _ seven Republicans and seven Democrats _ who averted a Senate showdown over whether filibusters could be used against Bush judicial nominees.

On Monday, McCain told reporters he didn't know whether conservatives would forgive him for that decision.

"You'll have to ask them, but I think I was right to do it; we got all but two of the president's nominees through the Senate," McCain said.

Despite the controversy, his actual record is very conservative, particularly on social issues like abortion, gay rights and gun control. However, he said once, in 1999, that the landmark Roe v. Wade decision allowing abortion should not be overturned.

But that was a blip in an otherwise unbroken record of opposing abortion rights for women. McCain has repeatedly voted against federal funding for abortion; he has opposed federal Medicaid funds for abortion even in cases of rape or incest.

He voted to require parental consent for abortion and voted to criminalize anyone but a parent crossing state lines with a minor to help get an abortion. McCain also supported a ban preventing women in the military from getting abortions with their own money at overseas military hospitals.

He also has cast conservative votes on judges. In fact, McCain has never voted against a Republican nominee for the Supreme Court or federal courts, the Democratic National Committee pointed out.

"Promising four more years of radical judges who are bent on rolling back our basic rights and freedoms is just one more example of why John McCain is the wrong choice for America's future," DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney said.

Comments

[comebackid]

Have you ever seen the jump suits the race car drivers wear in the Indy 500?

After Mclame appoints his picks for the supreme court that is what the robes on the judges will look like!

They will be covered with corporate logos.

They will likely find some loophole in the law to exploit which will allow it!

[AdobePhsyko]

What are they all going to do when Sammy Alito comes out of the closet.
He sure seems to be "Light in the Loafers"
Not That There's Anything Wrong With That
Hopefully he likes men his own age ,Unlike the typical Repug Child Molester

[bija]

The fact that Obama voted against Roberts to be a judge on the Supreme Court makes me want to vote for Obama all the more!!!!

[Puller58]

McCain speaks in code. Translation: I'm one of you. Frankly, McCain will go along with whatever his handlers propose in terms of judges. I for one would like the court to reverse rulings to jolt the sheeple into realizing what the Hell happens when loonies run the asylum. After that, if they couldn't figure out how to improve government, I'd say to Hell with it.

[helonias]

Christian Right=Pharisees

[JoeBlough]

McCain isn't very good at the stuff he says he's good at, is he.

As the campaign season grinds on, it seems his brain is wearing out. By November, he'll be a rickety, old man that will require super-human handlers to keep him on course.

[elr50]

McCain already IS a rickety old man.

[dbdzen]

I'm waiting for November because if McCain wins the election, someone will file a brief with the Supreme Court preventing the Senate from confirming his election by challenging his status as a "natural born Citizen."

With Democrats holding the floor, they will judiciously choose to delay the vote and defer to the Court's interpretation of the strict criterion laid out in the Constitution. His eligibility for office under the Constitution will be struck down by the conservative, strict constructionist justices (like Scalia) on the Supreme Court because they cannot interpret the founders words to include the Panama Canal Zone, which was always an unincorporated territory. It will be ironic that the liberal justices will be the ones that save him because of their more generous "living" interpretation of the Constitution by considering natural born to mean having both or one American parent.

Anybody wanna bet? The ambiguity in the Constitution is too juicy an opportunity for history seeking litigious Americans to pass up. You could drive a semi full of lawyers through the gap. PCZ, while under US military control like the Philippines and Guantanamo, was never part of the United States.

[Agnim]

McCain's age-health (physical/mental) is FAIR game!

McCain's age-health (physical/mental) is far more important an issue for America than the HARMLESS religious rhetoric of some pastor!

[TocinoHumano]

Health, yes. Age, no. That's bigotry.

[timothe]

I, for one, would LOVE to see issues of morality decided at the state level. I think it's the best solution for conservatives and liberals alike.

Let Texas ban abortion, allow for prayer in schools, celebrate Judeo-Christian holidays.
Let California perform gay marriage, have sanctuary cities, remove every reference of God from all schools and government buildings.

Most importantly, let the people of each state decide their own morality...not a judge.

[zendem1]

There he goes again. The Maverick. He's lost that olvin' feelin"

[NWGuy]

Selecting judges who will already have their decision made before they even hear a case is not justice nor is it what this country once stood for. Promising to select judges that will make a sham of justice and make the Supreme Court nothing more than a kangaroo court is something that no self-respecting American would do. This is not the work of a patriot but only the work of a self-serving power hungry man who is interesting only in ruling, not governing.

[awcbuddy8]

Are you kidding? You do realize the Constitution is about 220 years old. If you have not made up your mind on the issues then you should not be a federal judge. Period.

[TocinoHumano]

I'm with you. If you have not made up your mind where Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and the rest of the founding fathers stood on, for example, digital copyright laws, then you don't belong on the Supreme or any other court.

[aintnogod]

Golly Gee! He's as limp as a wet noodle.

[raker]

As Tim Russert could tell you, Americans don't care about the Court, the Constitution or their rights, so drop it. Nine Alitos or Scalias or Thomases or Robertses to impose their facist pro-business anti-individual "interpretations" of the Constitution toward the destruction of American society are not important. Torture isn't punishment, don't you know. Besides, American Idol's on! There's outrage that someone sang a song with Jeebus's name in it. Grab a torch and take to the streets. Judas was an elitist! Praise Jeebus! Rally 'round the flag pin.

[awcbuddy8]

I'm pretty sure this is why Obama can't be elected president.

[TocinoHumano]

I'm pretty sure you once posted the comment "Your stupidity is hilarious" in response to your own earlier post.

I still laugh about it.

[Mike169]

I've never understood the concept of strict contructionism. We'd still be wearing tricorner hats if we stuck to that nonsense.

[TocinoHumano]

A true "strict constructionist" would argue that the Second Amendment guarantees every American the right to own a musket.

[helonias]

With armor piercing ammo?

[Janus]

KY J.D. asserts this downstream:

"As a STRICT CONSTRUCTIONIST myself, that REALLY gladdens my heart!"

So, then as such, what is your opinion of the so-called Constitution in Exile with some frequency being brayed about by the lunatics of the far-Right? I suspect that John McBush would love it if someone explained it to him, together with his lessons in Economics.

What is your opinion, as a strict constructionist, of the liberty aspect of Fourteenth Amendment Jurisprudence, that has been recognized for decades as an important part of Constitutional Law?