The American Conservative asked 18 conservative and independent "thinkers" how they will vote on Nov. 4. Their answers might surprise you.
(Hint: They do not like John McCain ... at all)
Out of the 18 "thinkers," five are voting for Barack Obama, four refuse to vote and three are reluctantly punching the ballot for McCain (who finished just head of Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin and raking leaves.)
Here are the opinions (emphasis mine):
Obama (5) -
John Patrick Diggins
Republicans have no trouble losing a war and calling it a victory, and some of them are voting for McCain for that reason. Obama, in contrast, is stuck with a war he opposed, and politics may force him to stay the course. Still, I prefer the professor to the warrior.
Francis Fukuyama
I’m voting for Barack Obama this November for a very simple reason. It is hard to imagine a more disastrous presidency than that of George W. Bush. ...While John McCain is trying desperately to pretend that he never had anything to do with the Republican Party, I think it would a travesty to reward the Republicans for failure on such a grand scale.
Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn
Without doubt, my decision to vote for Barack Obama for president began when I watched his televised speech to the Democratic Convention in 2004. Today on the cold page of the computer printout, it loses something. Outside of the electrifying moment of his delivery, the speech contains less than I remembered. But what is there explains the reverberations in so many parts of my inherited mental and moral universe.
Obama’s telling of his—and our—American story rang true to our struggles, ideals, and times, from his opening expression of “deep gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention” to his closing prayer that out of trouble and cynicism “our country will reclaim its promise.”
Scott McConnell,
(The Neocons) had dreamed up the Iraq War to transform the Middle East, argued it was pointless for Israel to make peace with the Palestinians, agitated for attacks on Iran. Without repudiating them directly, Robert Gates and Condi Rice eased them from the stage.
John McCain wants to bring them back, in triumph, on horseback. Unlike Bush, McCain is a neocon true believer; Wilsonian bellicosity has visceral appeal for him. A McCain victory would mean, in short order, an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Robert A. Pape
My respect for Obama rests on three main points. First, he has consistently demonstrated clear-eyed judgment on the most important national-security issue of our time—Iraq. In October 2002, when 70 percent of the public and most Democratic politicians supported the war, Obama delivered one of the first high-profile speeches against the invasion. I had just joined 32 scholars of national-security affairs in the New York Times sounding the same warnings. But Obama did more, putting his future political career on the line for the best interests of our country.
Second, Obama has developed an important new “Over-the-Horizon” strategy for achieving America’s core national-security goals in the Persian Gulf without provoking terrorists or overstretching our Army. From my work on suicide terrorism, it is clear that America’s military presence in Muslim countries—especially heavy combat forces—is a powerful factor in the rise of anti-American suicide terrorism around the world. The Persian Gulf, however, is too important for the U.S. to cut and run. We need a new strategic approach to the region, one that moves American combat forces “off-shore,” relying primarily on air and naval forces stationed on ships or bases on the periphery of the Arabian Peninsula. Obama’s policy is heading precisely in the right direction and is crucial to our future security.
Third, Obama is committed to approaching global threats with global solutions, encouraging multilateralism and dialogue where possible. With America’s abysmal reputation in the world, this is truly a needed change. International opinion polls show that majorities or strong pluralities in most countries oppose Iranian nuclear weapons. This is not simply an American or Israeli obsession. But we need a new diplomatic approach to develop sound American policies that take advantage of this underlying international consensus, working with others in a meaningful way, precisely the new direction that Obama is calling for.
No vote for president (4) - That's right, "No Vote" has more votes than McCain
Rod Dreher
Declan McCullagh
Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.
Gerald J. Russello
McCain (3) - Note, these are his supporters
Reid Buckley
I am plenty mad at the Republican Party and would enjoy watching the entire double-talking leadership and its unctuous apparatus throughout the states fried in oil. I still disagree with maverick McCain plenty on the issues, and every time he says “my friends,” I wince almost as wretchedly as when George W. Bush ends his sentences with that awful moue of his upper lip, producing a smirk which in turn suggests a revolting fullness of self-satisfaction.
A major gripe about the good senator is that he has not set forth a coherent agenda. What does he plan to do about anything? What vision does he have for our country? He is running on his decency, and though we Americans admire moral virtue, in the dragpit of Washington politics, decency can be an impediment.
Kara Hopkins
When John McCain appears on screen, all vacant grin and Eeyore cadence, I reach for the mute button. I hate his wars. I don’t trust his maverick pose. When he says “my friends,” he doesn’t mean me. But I am voting for him.
Call it damage control. Come January, the Senate will be firmly in Democratic hands, perhaps with a filibuster-proof majority. And if current projections hold, some 30 House seats could shift left. Republicans face a long exile from the Hill—not that their presence has made much difference. They colluded with an ostensibly conservative president to launch a war we cannot win and swell federal spending by 40 percent.
Peter Wood,
McCain? An old man with tangled roots in America’s past. He trusts his intuition way too much and like the elder Bush is often a sucker for liberal bromides that he doesn’t recognize as such. I see him as a very flawed man and a flawed candidate...
Bob Barr (2) -
John Schwenkler
Leonard Liggio
Chuck Baldwin (2) -
Joseph Sobran
Peter Brimelow
Ron Paul (1) -
Daniel McCarthy
Write-in my friend (1) -
Steve Sailer
So, there you have it. Some of the best conservative thinkers have weighed in, and they are ... conflicted? Not really.
Final Tally: Not McCain = 15, McCain = 3
Remember, this is not some left-wing thought piece or an attempted spin from a "balanced" publication. This is the same publication that just published Pat Buchanan's tear down of a potential Obama presidency, "An Empire We Can't Afford."