NPR: Conservatives Not Happy with McCain's Run

Conservatives Not Happy with McCain's Run

Last week conservatives, led by Rush Limbaugh, were upset about how well former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was doing in the Republican presidential race. But while they might not want him as their candidate, they seemed to think he was at least a decent guy.

The same cannot be said about how many conservative columnists and pundits feel about John McCain. Hugh Hewitt, the syndicated conservative columnist, has rounded up some pretty hard-htting comments about McCain over at his blog on Townhall.com.

John Hawkins, of Right Wing News, writes that McCain is "a Rockefeller Republican, a Country Club Republican, a RINO, or just a toweringly arrogant, out of touch D.C. insider who seems to assume that any position he takes is right solely because he happens to hold it. However, what John McCain cannot fairly be called is a conservative."

National Review Online's Mark Steyn attacks McCain on his economic record, saying McCain "has an almost Edwardsian contempt for capitalism, for the people whose wit and innovation generate the revenue that pay for your average small-state senator's retinue of staffers worthy of a Persian Gulf emir."

Townhall's Patrick Ruffini calls McCain "a tax-loving, free speech-crushing, amnesty-awarding, big government Republican nominee."

Conservatives are having a hard time finding a candidate to back, with three of the prominent Republican candidates - Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani and McCain - having what they consider to be dubious conservative credentials.

8:05 PM ET | 01-15-2008 | permalink

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