Our Man McClintock

Three Views; Three Writers; One Great Man

Conservatism Starts at Home

by Lance Thompson

Conservatives have been wailing plaintively about presumptive GOP nominee John McCain since Mitt Romney withdrew from the race. Their complaints have ranged from mild annoyance and talk of "sitting out" the election to overreactive threats to vote for McCain’s opponent. Nothing on this continuum will be helpful in November.

However, if these disaffected conservatives are truly searching for a candidate who represents their views, I suggest they look a little closer to home. For example, conservatives in California’s 4th Congressional District–yes California has conservatives–have a terrific candidate in State Senator Tom McClintock, who will be running for Congress this November.
Tom McClintock came to the attention of a nationwide audience during the California gubernatorial recall election of 2003, when he was rated best qualified and most capable of any of the candidates, and earned 21.7% of the votes for Republicans (Arnold Schwarzenegger claimed the rest and won the election).

Tom McClintock is a knowledgeable advocate of conservative policy and fiscal restraint. During his nineteen years in public service, he has been a tireless champion of lowering, limiting and reducing taxes. He was Director of the Center for the California Taxpayer, a project of the National Tax Limitation Foundation. He favors a border fence and tough enforcement of immigration laws. He is hawkish on national defense and funding for the military, but is a vigilant critic of big government and its attendant waste. During his years in the California Assembly, he spearheaded efforts to return $1.1 billion in tax overpayment to Californians.

In short, Tom McClintock is the rock solid conservative leader that disaffected Republicans have been seeking during this campaign.
Voters in California’s 4th Congressional District live among some of the Golden State’s most spectacular scenery, including the Sierra Nevada, great conifer forests, and desolate lava beds, in addition to the state capital and the Gold Country. Those voters now have an opportunity to claim an even more valuable resource–a stalwart conservative candidate ready to represent them in Washington. Tom McClintock is the genuine article, a conservative who is unyielding on principle and indefatigable in the political arena.

For the rest of the nation, the Democrats in Congress are wallowing in a legislative quagmire of their own making. They will be vulnerable to conservative challengers. So if you’re a conservative who’s been whining about John McCain, the pity party’s over. Find the Tom McClintocks in your own district or state. They will be running hard and they will need your support.

Tom McClintock has worked hard to earn the votes of Californians. He won’t let them down. If you’re in California’s 4th District, give him your vote and support. If you’re elsewhere in the country, send conservative candidates to Congress this November, and keep McClintock in good company.

The Little Conservative That Could

By Rose Pedenko

Who is Tom McClintock and why should you care? In 2003, he ran against Arnold Schwarzenegger in the California Recall Election. Since that time, we wrote two articles entitled The McClintock Factor and The Giuliani Factor, respectively, to describe the phenomenon of choosing a candidate based on “electability” rather than competency to hold office.

Shortsighted politicians and pundits alike deprived the electorate of the best possible Republican candidate by shoving a moderate candidate down star-struck throats. The result -- California’s fiscal crisis under Governor Terminator now exceeds the disaster under his recalled predecessor, Gray Davis. Had California Republicans united behind the true fiscal conservative, Tom McClintock would have been the Governor of California and the state on the road to recovery. Instead, we have become asphyxiated by our resident RINO and the liberal gasbags in the State Assembly. We now know, without a doubt, our theory proved correct.

Why should you care? The Republican Party is splintered and conservatives have lost their way. Tom McClintock has always been the proverbial GOP Elephant in the room. He doesn’t pretend to the personage of Ronald Reagan bandied about by other candidates. McClintock is the genuine article – a true disciple to the traditional principles of our constitutional government. He chugs up the political ladder because he truly believes he can make a difference.

Tom McClintock advocates that “the fundamental design of our national government is to maximize individual freedom and minimize the burdens of government on our people. Government is not our nanny and our national treasury is not a grab-bag for politicians .” It is heartwarming to listen to a man speak of being part of a generation that knew a time when it truly was morning in America . The Republican Party needs more Tom McClintocks, and they need them now.

If we could bottle McClintock’s optimism, the nation would be drunk with pride. In his Congressional announcement speech, he stated that “Californians know him, and they know he has always steered a straight course, never wavered from the principles that united all of us as Americans,” and that he would not rest until those principles have been restored to our government.

As Tom McClintock rises from the ash heap left by misguided California Republicans, he will push himself up Washington’s Capitol Hill -- not just because he can, but because every fiber of his being says he must lead Americans back to that morning in America.

Tom McClintock: A Specialist Who Really Cares

By Tanya Simon

Say “HMO” and far too many Americans think chamber of horrors.

The same can be said for our present Congress. A large number of the men and women who fill those august seats have proven themselves to be like the principals of health maintenance organizations: gum-chewing garage mechanics trying to pass themselves off as brain surgeons.

Tom McClintock (R-CA) this past week announced he is running for Congress in California’s 4th District – and Tom is no grease monkey. He is a career politician, a great conservative and a noteworthy patriot who has always had only the best interests of this state and his constituencies at heart.

He is a staunch supporter for the defense of our borders. He has always stood firm against tax increases, succeeding, for example, in leading the effort to stop former Governor Gray Davis from repealing a reduction in vehicle license fees, as well as arguing for spending cuts.

McClintock ran for governor against Arnold Schwarzenegger. He lost to the actor at the 2003 recall election (after Davis was ousted). He lost his bid again in the 2004 general election, and Arnold was re-elected.

The world is aware of how the “movie star” votes have disastrously affected California. Our state faces a $16 billion deficit crisis – far worse than when Davis was in office. I pin the blame directly on the voters who allowed themselves to overdose on a celebrity glitter high – when they reveled in the fantasy that electing The Terminator would be “…so groovy, dude!”

Today, like Peter the Fisherman, all the “dudes” who voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger deny, deny and deny complicity for the mess we’re in. I and other sensible conservatives voted for Tom McClintock for governor both in 2003 and 2004. We knew this state would suffer a fatal hemorrhage if a garage mechanic rather than a specialist was elected to “heal the patient.” Now the patient is on life-support.

I and so many others continue to believe in and support Tom McClintock. He will, without question, be an excellent and a necessary addition to the United States Congress – a Congress which, evidenced by their ineffectiveness, have become this nation’s Jiffy Lube.

Tom McClintock knows this. In his words:“The fundamental promise of our national government is to protect our basic rights as Americans: our freedom of speech, our property rights, and our right of self defense. We want our Constitution back.”

Tom McClintock is the specialist we need – and we need him and others of his experience, skills and dedication now more than ever.

http://www.lowdowncentral.com/feature-article/2008/3/10/our-man-mcclintock.html