John McCain Was Not a Conservative Candidate

Shelby Steele, in a fairly recent article of his in the Wall Street Journal, gives his neoconservative opinion, which is widely shared by almost all neoconservatives, liberals, and most moderates, that John McCain is a conservative Republican.   As a representative neoconservative of some definite prominence, Steele, moreover, basically blames conservatives and, thus, conservatism for Sen. McCain’s defeat because of the latter’s (supposed) conservatism, as is noted.  

Most mainstream conservatives, including most within the Republican Party, however, have never and, furthermore, do not now consider McCain as being a true conservative.   How does one, therefore, explain this major, apparent political conundrum?

An old expression may help.  The proof is in the pudding.  Millions of conservative voters, in November 2008, either just stayed home or did not, in fact, vote for anyone for President.  So, McCain obviously lost because he was, correctly, known to be fundamentally a centrist-moderate or centrist-liberal candidate, clearly not at all truly representative of the mostly conservative base of the Republican Party.   As Rush Limbaugh and many other important conservative commentators have, furthermore, accurately stated, again and again, conservatism did not lose, rather, the observed moderation/centrism of McCain and the Republican Party’s establishment was, thus, very soundly repudiated in both the 2004 and 2008 elections.

Steele and the other people who incorrectly see what happened do now recommend more centrism, not less, more moderation, not less, as the (false) prescription for future Republican victories.  This is a significant case of both demonstrable cognitive dissonance and a monumental intellectual disconnect regarding cause versus effect.  

Contrary to what most neoconservative, liberal, and most moderate opinion fallaciously contends, therefore, very few conservatives have ever or will ever see McCain as being a solidly genuine conservative of any kind whatsoever.   He did not uphold, critically speaking, the vast majority of conservative-oriented political principles supported by most conservatives.  In the Republican primaries of 2008, most conservatives did not vote for McCain, especially when there was an alternative candidate(s).

Blaming McCain’s well-deserved defeat upon what he never, in fact, supported in any substantial and effective way, meaning actual political conservatism in the manner, at least, of a Ronald Reagan, is absolutely wrong.   Denouncing conservatism, moreover, when centrism obviously fails is a mental disconnect of a rather high order; interpreting moderation, the lack of strong conservative principles, as a sure way toward Republican Party victory, on the national level especially, is an incredible instance of cognitive dissonance beyond basic reason.