John McCain returned to Washington on Tuesday and picked up right where he left off. He told Senate Republicans they need to dial down the illegal immigration rhetoric, held one of those bi-partisan press conferences that everyone loves so much (Claire McCaskill, D-MO, said she was, “…tickled pink to be here on stage with him”), and launched his Country First PAC where he promises to “strengthen our party [and] better define our Republican ideals and message.”
I am curious to see what these next two years mean for John McCain. I was always one of the few Republicans who actually liked the guy, but this past election broke me a little bit. I started to see where all the criticism comes from, and if you ever want to see me wild out give me a drink and ask me aboot McCain not taking a stand against the original bailout.
The question is which issues he stands out on. I agree aboot dialing down the anti-illegal immigration rhetoric. Before da’ net nerds get their panties in a bunch, THIS DOES NOT MEAN I SUPPORT AMMNESTY. But when you look at how much support we lost with Hispanics and consider that 45% of Texas is Hispanic, we have two options: maybe think aboot not screaming “they don’t belong here” on talk radio, or switch to the hard alcohol now and drink all the way to 2012.
McCain the fiscal reformer is who I’m most interested in seeing, and am willing to give him a Mulligan for the bailout. A press conference with Tom Coburn is definitely a start in the right direction. I’ll leave you with a look at some of the waste Coburn tried to eliminate from last years $10 Million omnibus bill:
-A provision that takes about 8.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 300 million barrels of oil out of production in Wyoming, according to the Bureau of Land Management. The energy resources walled off by this bill would nearly match the annual production levels of our two largest natural gas production states – Alaska and Texas.
- $3 million for a “road to nowhere” through a wildlife refuge in Alaska.
- $1 billion for a water project designed to save 500 salmon in California. At this price, each salmon would be worth far more than its weight in gold.
- $3.5 million to help celebrate the 450th birthday of St. Augustine Florida, in 2015.
- $4 million to protect livestock from wolves that Congress helped reintroduce into the wild.
- $250,000 to help bureaucrats decide how to designate Alexander Hamilton’s boyhood home.
- $5 million on botanical gardens in Hawaii and Florida.
UPDATE: At least we’ll always have Joe the Plumber.
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