John McCain « The Feehery Theory

Posts Tagged ‘John McCain’

The Poverty Numbers

September 14th, 2011 by John Feehery

They said that if I voted for John McCain for President in 2008, poverty would increase in America.

They were right. I voted for John McCain, and poverty has increased in America.

Of course, the shocking statistics about poverty in America are not a laughing matter.

Although, as Robert Rector points out at the Heritage Foundation, if you are going to live in poverty, America is a pretty good place to do it.

I was shocked to find out that when the Census Bureau makes its determination about who is poor and who is not, they don’t count the housing assistance, the food assistance and the Earned Income Tax Credit Assistance that most poor people get. If you add in all of those numbers, the poor here are much better off than the poor just about anywhere else in the world.

My friend Paul was riding the bus the other day and he overheard a conversation from one individual who was talking on a cell phone. Read more...

Tags: Census Bureau, Democrats, Earned Income Tax Credit, Heritage Foundation, John McCain, middle class, minimum wage, Obama, Politics, poverty, Robert Rector, welfare reform
Posted in Bad Decisions, Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Politics, Presidential election, Promises, Theory, Unemployment, bad news, election, poverty, spending, taxes, welfare | No Comments »

The Reagan Library Debate

September 8th, 2011 by John Feehery

Rick Perry walked into an ambush at the Reagan Library last night, as he took hits on his record, on his rhetoric, and on his philosophy. John Huntsman revived his campaign with a sparkling performance. Newt Gingrich took on the role of Spiro Agnew by once again attacking the media for asking questions about the differences between the candidates (which I thought was the purpose of the debate). Michelle Bachmann joined Herman Cain in the irrelevance caucus. Rick Santorum scored a good hit against Perry, which eliminated his chance to be named to the ticket by the Big Texan. Ron Paul went where no Republican has gone before on the libertarian scale.

And Mitt Romney won the debate.

The line of the night was Perry’s Ponzi scheme claim, an utterance that will live in infamy in 30-second commercials from every anti-Perry organization on the planet for the next six months.

The second best line came from Romney: “I don’t want to eliminate Social Security. I want to save it.” Read more...

Tags: America, Democrats, GOP, Government, health care, Herman Cain, John Huntsman, John McCain, Jon Weaver, McCain, medicare, Michelle Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, political debate, Politics, Ponzi scheme, Presidential election, Reagan Library, republican party, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Social Security, Spiro Agnew, Tea Party Republicans
Posted in Economy, GOP, Government, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Theory, election, speeches, taxes | No Comments »

The Global Society

June 20th, 2011 by John Feehery

It used to be said that domestic differences stop at the water’s edge.

That was never less true than it is today.

The fact of the matter is that foreign policy and domestic policy are the same thing.

It is trite to say that we live in a global economy. Now more than ever, we live in a global society. The country that is best able to handle globalism will be the country that is best able to prosper.

That is but one reason to be bullish on America. We embrace globalism, even when we don’t want to.

Immigration built America and it continues to do so. That is why America always changes, always adapts, rarely become stagnant and constantly improves. Sometimes the pace of change is hard for the nativists, but eventually they come around to the notion that these new arrivals can be useful in their own way.

What do I mean when I say that domestic and foreign policy are inexorably linked? Let me give you an example.

Health care is a first-class domestic issue, right? Read more...

Tags: America, Americans, china, Columbia, domestic and foreign policy, foriegn policy, German government, global economy, global society, Government, health care, Immigration, international crime, Japanese government, John McCain, Nigeria, Panama, russia, South Korea, spending
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Foreign Relations, GOP, Government, History, Politics, Theory, Unemployment, health care, spending | No Comments »

Thanks to the Few

May 27th, 2011 by John Feehery

“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”

Dwight Eisenhower, the last general to successfully run for President, said that, and as the man who was responsible for the Normandy Invasion, he knew something about war.

I was thinking of Ike and war in the context of Memorial Day and the upcoming Presidential election.

Unless Ron Paul magically wins the Republican nomination, the Presidential election of 2012 will pit two contenders who have no military experience whatsoever.

The last time that happened, Herbert Hoover ran against Al Smith in 1928.

From the end of the Second World War until 1992, every one of our Presidents had significant military experience. And then an interesting thing happened. Military experience became a liability. Every loser –George Bush, Bob Dole, John Kerry and John McCain – had significantly more military experience than the eventual winners. (Al Gore and George W. Bush basically tied, and they had basically the same military experience).

Those who saw significant military action, who saw first hand the stupidity, brutality and futility of war, could not overcome those who saw war through the glass darkly. Read more...

Tags: Al Smith, America, Barack Obama, Bob Dole, Conservatives, Democrats, Dwight Eisenhower, election, George Bush, Herbert Hoover, John Kerry, John McCain, Memorial Day, Presidential election, Presidential election of 2012, Republicans, war, World War II
Posted in Foreign Relations, Government, History, Politics, Presidential election, Theory, election, national security, war | No Comments »

Rebranding the GOP and Closing the Gender Gap

June 8th, 2010 by John Feehery

Nikki Haley, South Carolina gubernatorial election, 2010

I have a theory about the differences between a Republican primary and a general election. To win a Republican primary, you have to win a majority of white men. To win a general election, though, (and this is in Senate seats and in politically competitive House seats), you have to win a majority (or at least get fairly close) of white married women.

The gender gap has long been the bane of the GOP. Women in general have turned against the Republican Party, especially African American women, and younger single women. While the GOP has consistently done very well with white men, winning that demographic overwhelmingly for as long as I have been voting, the gender gap has kept the GOP from achieving the dominance that some have long predicted.

The soccer moms played a crucial role in propelling Bill Clinton to two triumphs in the 1990’s, just as the security moms played an equally crucial role in the two Bush victories in 2000 and 2004. White women proved to be the critical voting bloc for Barack Obama in 2008, as John McCain’s cowboy-themed maverick just didn’t click with the chicks. Read more...

Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Carly Fiorina, DeDe Scozzaffava, election, George W Bush, Government, John McCain, Meg Whitman, Nikki Haley, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Sharon Angle, Tea Party
Posted in Government, Politics, Theory, election | No Comments »

Assault on The Primary System

May 4th, 2010 by John Feehery

In the early 20^th century, in an effort to return power to the people, progressive politicians like Robert La Follette pushed hard to reform the political system by insisting that states use a primary process.

Primary elections would take power away from local power barons and give it to the people, who would then be responsible for nominating candidates to stand for election.

Most states now use some sort of primary system to nominate candidates to stand for election. In many Congressional districts, the primary is the most important election because through gerrymandering, most Congressional districts are either solidly Republican or solidly Democrat.

About 40 states use primaries, most of which are closed primaries, meaning that you have to register as a member of that party to vote in that party’s primary. Some are open primaries, meaning that you only have to declare the day before or the day of in the polling place to be eligible to vote. Only one state has non-partisan blanket primary, Louisiana. In Louisiana, candidates run unaffiliated, and the top two qualify for a run-off if no candidate breaks fifty percent in the first election. Read more...

Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, Blanche Lincoln, Democrats, election, Joe Cannon, John McCain, mavericks, primary, progressives, Republicans, Robert La Follette
Posted in Government, Politics, election | No Comments »

The Virtues of Divided Government

July 16th, 2008 by John Feehery

(This originally appeared in The Politico)

The choice this fall is not simply between John McCain and Barack Obama. It is also a choice between one-party rule and divided government. While House and Senate Republicans may do better than expected, nobody believes they will get a majority in either chamber. That means that when the voters step into the ballot booth, they have the choice of giving a blank check to the Democrats, in the form of Obama, or having a more accountable system by electing McCain.  Of course, most people don’t think about the concept of divided government when they vote. But they do think about some of the things that flow from divided government, such as oversight, accountability and our system of checks and balances.  In my 15 years as a staff member for the House Republican leadership, I witnessed both divided government and one-party rule, and I think the system works better when both parties have skin in the game. Read more...

Tags: Barack Obama, Democrat, divided government, John McCain, Presidential election, Republican
Posted in Government, Politics, Theory | 2 Comments »

Fathers and Sons

June 15th, 2008 by John Feehery

And so it goes.

Fathers beget sons who beget their own sons. Fathers die, and sons are left to either carry on their legacy or to reject it out of hand.

This Father’s Day is especially poignant for many in Washington, because of the passing of Tim Russert.

But every Father’s Day is poignant for fathers and their sons. Every son wrestles with their father’s example, hoping to improve it somehow, hoping to make their dads proud.

And every father wants the best for their sons, but they are also sons, trying to live up to their own father’s expectations.

Russert’s book put an extra spotlight on the tangled relationship between fathers and son. Russert clearly loved his father, Big Russ, but he had no interest in following in his father’s footsteps. What he learned from his father was not a profession, but a way of living with respect and dignity.