John McCain,  President 2008

Flap’s Choice for the California Primary – John McCain

February 3, 2008 /

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) hugs Senator John McCain (R-AZ) after Giuliani withdrew from the Republican presidential nominee race and endorsed McCain before the CNN/Los Angeles Times Republican presidential debate at Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, January 30, 2008.

Everyone who reads this blog knows that Flap has devoted much of the last year supporting Rudy Giuliani for President. However, for many reasons (yeah, I know I owe my readers a number of post mortem posts on the Giuliani campaign) Rudy will not be the GOP nominee.

This brings Californians a decision as for whom they should vote for President on Super Tuesday, February 5th.

Flap will be voting for Arizona Senator John McCain.

Flap has written negatively about Senator McCain and I continue to believe he is NOT the best candidate the GOP could field for President. But, the remaining GOP candidates: Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul are defective in a number of ways -  far more so than McCain.

McCain is the best candidate remaining in the field and Flap urges Californians, and Rudy Giuliani supporters to vote for him on Tuesday.

7 Comments

  • Ling

    February 3, 2008 at 6:49 pm

    Well, that’s a surprise indeed. Timely endorement. And I second it. Must add that McCain being more electable in a general election against Hillary or Obama is a bigger plus for endorsing him than the fact that the other candidates are defective.

  • Luther C. Hardy

    February 4, 2008 at 5:17 am

    Dear Dr. Flap:

    Over the past year, I have read your column religiously and frequently passed on your comments to my RudyGroup, one that included those both within and without the Giuliani Campaign. Thank you for all you have done for Hizzoner! I thought you would be interested to see (below) my final RudyGram, delivered the morning after the Florida Primary.

    Cheers, Luther Hardy
    _____________________________________________
    Mes Confrères:

    When asked about the relative difficulty in writing “fiction” as opposed to “non fiction”, Mark Twain is reputed to have said (I paraphrase): “Writing fiction is much harder because an author is expected to stay within the bounds of believability.” Indeed, I have never before understood the wisdom in Mr. Clemens’s comment quite as well as I do this morning!

    It is quite simply not within the “bounds of believability”, that on the morning after the Florida Primary, I should open my missive to you all by quoting a Maureen Dowd comment on Rudy, to say nothing of actually agreeing with her! In last Sunday’s paper, Madame Snark opened her column by saying: “I expected more of Rudy.” Well, so did I!

    I simply will not sadden further this sad morning by launching into a long diatribe of all the things I expected from Rudy, except to say this: Virtually all of what I did expect from Rudy I GOT IN SPADES, from the first moment I started touting his campaign, in April 2006, through last Thanksgiving, and well into December 2007. What I got was a reasonably modulated facsimile of “Hizzoner da Mayor of Noo Yawk”, from 1994-2002, and particularly in the wake of 9-11 — the fearless battler, the Happy Warrior, who would slay a giant enemy in the daytime, and then go out in the evening and look for two more to take on, the man who gave ABSOLUTELY NO QUARTER to the Liberal Media, and expected none in return, the barely-in-control 24-hour control-freak who broke the “Ungovernable City” to his will!

    That was the Rudy who began his campaign for the GOP nomination to the veritable hoots and jeers of the Liberal Media, and in less than a year’s time, had established such a commanding lead in virtually all national polls, that that same Liberal Media was virtually forced to concede grudgingly that he was the frontrunner!

    That’s the Rudy I wanted because that’s what I thought, and still think, is desperately needed in Sodom on the Potomac, and on the national stage! Beginning sometime in mid-to-late December, however, what I got was a curiously subdued candidate. As the the NYT puts it this morning: “And, curiously, this man with the pugnacious past declined to toss more than light punches at his Republican opponents.”

    What happened? On the level of the “horse race”, I could rant on about the “windshear” effect, as Time Magazine puts it, about various events from the success of “the surge” that caused “national security” to fade as the most important issue in the race, to the Liberal Media relentlessly beating Rudy over the head in early December with a “news story” that turned out, not to be merely inaccurate and ill reported, but absolutely untrue! I won’t, however, because to do so would quickly begin to sound like sour grapes. Suffice it to say that what did happen is on its face virtually inexplicable. As the NYT puts it:

    “Voters seemed to embrace a man so comfortable wielding power, and his poll numbers edged higher to where he held a broad lead over his opponents last summer. Just three months ago, Anthony V. Carbonetti, Mr. Giuliani’s affable senior policy adviser, surveyed that field and told The New York Observer: “I don’t believe this can be taken from us. Now that I have that locked up, I can go do battle elsewhere.” In fact, Mr. Giuliani’s campaign was about to begin a free fall so precipitous as to be breathtaking.”

    What happened? On a personal level, I could say, as I do believe, that since those halcyon days of 1997, Rudy has undergone something of an epiphany, if not exactly “religious” then at least the next thing to it. After the twin “shocks to the system” of his prostate cancer in 2000 and the trauma of 9-11, through finding a wife he is so obviously comfortable with, through being knighted by the Queen and being named Time’s “Man of the Year”, to seeing his business interests flourish to an extent he could scarcely have imagined, Rudy has become the proverbial “changed man”. On the surface, that seems to explain things, but not quite: That “explains” neither the Rudy we saw in the first 10 months or so of the campaign, nor his dizzying metamorphosis in the past month to six weeks.

    To be sure, I actually LIKE the Rudy we see now! I am very much in ideological “sync” with his “twelve point plan”, and particularly with his political/legal philosophy! Alas, however, the genial campaigner of 2008 is not what this divided country needs. What this country needs, desperately, is the dauntless control-freak of 1997.

    What happened? I won’t sort any more through all the detritus of just exactly what did happen. I will, however, say this, as something of a “parting shot”: There is something we don’t know! Let me say that again, louder: THERE IS SOMETHING WE DON’T KNOW! I believe that as firmly as I have ever believed in anything, seen or unseen! There is something “behind the scenes”, something sub rosa! This “something” may come out during the balance of the campaign, or indeed it may not be known until the historians take on the campaign of 2008, perhaps years from now.

    Some weeks ago, the blogosphere was a-buzz with the “conspiracy theory” that somehow Rudy and McCain were “coordinating” their campaigns so as to knock out Romney — the tacit implication being that Rudy would take the V.P. slot on a McCain ticket. Well, I didn’t believe it then, and I don’t believe it now, but at least that’s the sort of “something” to which I refer. Perhaps, I just didn’t want to believe it. Even now, I wretch as I contemplate even the apparently forthcoming endorsement by the Media Slayer of 1997, of the Media Darling of 2008! I don’t think Rudy will actually join the ticket, but the thought even of his campaigning for the Media Darling is almost more than I can bear.

    So, as Rudy — at least hopefully — rides off into the sunset, I shall cease my RudyGrams, though I may pass on the odd article from time to time. I have thoroughly enjoyed reporting to you all, even as I had to endure the Chinese water torture of the past month, but there is no point any longer. I sincerely wish Rudy all the personal contentment and continued business success in the world. With the absolutely extraordinary life of public service and leadership he has led, he certainly deserves them both! Moreover, Rudy will always have as his legacy the shining monument of New York City, the Imperial Capital of the World, that will always bear his stamp just as surely as London still bears the stamp of Winston Churchill!

    Not quite so fast! You’re not quite rid of me just yet! Shortly, when I feel up to it, I shall deliver one last RudyGram, on the “state of the race”, as Rudy departs, stage right! You can all probably guess at least part of where I shall “come down”, but for now, I’ll tease you with two words: Michael Bloomberg!

  • Wiseburn

    February 4, 2008 at 11:14 am

    Flap,

    I guess you can’t stand to lose. Once again, you’ve hopped on the bandwagon of the media selected front runner. McCain will have absolutely no chance in November. He can’t even balance his campaign budget.

    I can understand the uninformed choosing McCain, but you’re too well read and see too much internet news to just hop on the bandwagon. Unless it’s to curry favor like the politicians scurrying around to get behind him in Washington.

    Conservatives will never support McCain. He’s stabbed us in the back too many times. Let’s hope the senate will stand tough against Hillary’s liberal designs.

    Steve

  • Naruto

    February 4, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    Good call Flap!

    Rudy was my #1 Choice, however with him endorsing McCain, the choice is clear.

    Willard is not a leader, and could never take a position that goes against public opinion.

    Leaders lead, Romney is a follower and manager.

    Rudy stands with McCain I trust his judgment, so my vote goes to McCain.