Political Punch
Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper

« Previous | Main | Next »

McCain Wants to Clone Alito and Roberts

February 02, 2008 9:14 PM

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal's John Fund and Robert Novak reported that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had allegedly privately told conservatives that he would seek Supreme Court Justice nominees like John Roberts, but Samuel Alito might be a judge too far because Alito "wore his conservatism on his sleeve."

The McCainiacs denied it all vociferously, with former White House aide, now McCain dude, Steve Schmidt saying, "It’s absolutely false. Sen. McCain was instrumental is helping confirm Justice Alito. We relied on him a great deal during the confirmation process to reassure the American people that Alito was the kind of justice America needed. John McCain was a warrior to get Alito on the bench."

(Schmidt worked on the Alito nomination for president Bush. He told me, "I know who did what.")

The National Review's Byron York asked McCain about it directly. "Let me just look you in the eye," the Arizona senator said, "I’ve said a thousand times on this campaign trail, I’ve said as often as I can, that I want to find clones of Alito and Roberts. I worked as hard as anybody to get them confirmed. I look you in the eye and tell you I’ve said a thousand times that I wanted Alito and Roberts. I have told anybody who will listen. I flat-out tell you I will have people as close to Roberts and Alito [as possible], and I am proud of my record of working to get them confirmed, and people who worked to get them confirmed will tell you how hard I worked."

"I don’t get it," McCain continued. "I have a clear record of that. All I can tell you is my record is clear: I’ve supported these guys. I went to the floor of the Senate and spoke in favor of them. It’s in the record, saying, ‘You’ve got to confirm these people.’"

Tonight at a packed rally in Atlanta, McCain repeated the call for clones.

"I want to assure you that one of the great accomplishments of President Bush is we now have judges on the United States Supreme Court and judges who strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States of America," he said at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. "Two of the best of those are Judges Alito and Roberts.  You can be very proud of them. My friends, I want to tell you, I will try to find clones of Alito and Roberts.  I will try to find people just like them."

Will stem cell research opponents take offense?

- jpt

February 2, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (7)

User Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Sen. McCain has just provided the most clear and unmistakable reason why people should NOT vote for him!

Posted by: chuck | Feb 5, 2008 9:27:14 AM

I am having a hard time choosing between McCain and Romney. McCain wants to stay in Iraq forever and Romney believes Native Americans are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel ! Will have to think on this a while .

Posted by: notsojake | Feb 4, 2008 12:25:41 PM

McCain is not a true conservative, and he is not a true republican. Come on he was comtiplating running as Kerry's running mate. He sponsored the Amnesty bill, he sponsored the attack on the first amendment. yes he is a war hero but that does not qualify him for President!

He sides with Kennedy

He believes Global warming liberal hysteria.


If you want a true leader and not ignorance and socialism you will vote for Romney!!

Posted by: spock | Feb 3, 2008 11:08:13 PM

McCain is there because Republicans don't have the backbone to support a real conservative against Hillary Clinton. Look at Romney and McCaine getting owned in the following clip:

Posted by: Rob | Feb 3, 2008 1:29:14 AM

MIke Huckabee: nice guy, a lot of fun-not the sharpest pencil in the drawer. Some of his answers on foreign policy and the economy are scary. He could propel us into a depression. Is that the legacy you want to leave your children and grandchildren? (Romney was valedictorian, and has a joint MBA/JD from Harvard. He launched Staples and Dominos. He eats economics for breakfast).
McCain: thank-you for your service in the war, and we have compassion for your horrendous experiences in it. But the Presidency? This would be another very scary choice because:
1. McCain has a violent temper. He has screamed the “F” word frequently at his fellow congressmen. By his own admission, he loses it…a lot. Some feel that there is residual psychological damage from his years spent as a POW. One congressman put it this way “You don’t want that guy anywhere near a trigger” (that includes nuclear triggers of the Presidential kind)
2. McCain admits he know almost nothing about the economy. With our country teetering, we need a savvy, sharp, economocally brilliant President. Asia is at the door. A depression is not out of the question. We don’t have time to mess around with bigotry. We need someone who can turn this economy around-fast.
3. McCain and Hilary are very good friends. They went to Estonia together as Senators and held a drinking contest. This level of maturity is reserved for the immature, not people who want to run the (currently) most powerful country on the earth.
We no longer have time for high school popularity contests. We desperately need a real leader with serious intelligence.
We have friends who know the Romney family well. They really are wholesome. They will not bring scandal to the White House. They will keep it “white”. Mitt is not in this for the fame or power. He didn’t take a salary in Masachusetts, he won’t as President. He simply wants to help, and he knows how.
The smartest thing we could do for our posterity is to vote for Mitt and encourage others to do the same.

Posted by: midge | Feb 2, 2008 11:54:08 PM

The liberal media is always trying to find a way to talk against Republicans. McCain is a conservative Republican with real political experience, Navy service and strong conservative beliefs. The media is so busy trying to start a conflict they are not doing actual research.

True Republicans know that McCain will be the obvious choice to beat Clinton or Obama...don't waste your votes on Romney or Huckabee. Vote McCain '08

Posted by: Ann | Feb 2, 2008 10:12:07 PM

Q: "Will stem cell research opponents take offense?"

A: Of course not. They'll just vote for Barack Obama instead.

Posted by: Tom J | Feb 2, 2008 9:50:24 PM

Post a comment





 

POLITICAL VIDEOS