McCain's most important pre-convention speech

Three of Arizona’s elected delegation have been invited to speak to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) annual convention this week.

On Thursday Congressman Jeff Flake has been invited to speak on the subject “Is the GOP still lost?” Flake will join 3 others and is scheduled to start at 1:35 pm. On Friday Trent Franks has been invited to speak on “Future of the Life Debate” which is scheduled to start at 3 pm.

The speaker most will be waiting to see will be on Thursday at 3 pm when Sen. John McCain gives what will probably be the most important speech he will deliver between now and the Republican Convention in Minneapolis – Saint Paul September 1-4.

McCain has become the overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination after Super Tuesday, but McCain still is getting bludgeoned to death every day by conservatives who are threatening to sit out or even vote Democrat to prevent McCain from being the leader of the GOP for the next 4-8 years.

By now everyone knows about the constant beating McCain has been taking from conservative talking heads and grassroots activists. His best hope for winning them over is with a speech that makes them feel a lot more comfortable than they do now.

While a stellar speech is not guaranteed to get the conservatives in his court, a lackluster message will guarantee they will not be. The Republicans are already facing an uphill battle this year, in what seems to be an approaching Democrat wave. If their top ticket is not acceptable enough to them, many conservatives may stay home which will have devastating results down ballot.

After talking with a few conservatives in state via email, it is clear McCain needs to realize how important this speech is. It is also clear McCain needs to reassure the conservatives on two key themes.

First is illegal immigration. This is the topic most conservatives are uncomfortable with. After his disastrous McCain-Kennedy immigration bill which is in part what derailed McCain’s campaign early, he really needs to hit this one out of the park. McCain needs to tell conservatives not only that he has heard them and will secure the borders first, he then needs to answer the question on what to do with the illegals already in the country. If McCain is unable to say I have heard you, and there will not be an easy path to citizenship for those who are here illegally, then McCain might as well stay home and not bother showing up. Anything less will be unacceptable and may do more damage with this group than help.

Second are judges. McCain, one of the legendary “Gang of 14,” needs to reassure voters on his conservative history. Most conservatives do not realize that the “Gang of 14” actually came together and voted for cloture on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito. McCain needs to show how this worked to secure the conservative Alito and prevent a filibuster, and how he has always and will always nominate judges in the mold of Alito and Antonin Scalia.

I also thought McCain needed to address the life issue, but most conservatives I heard from disagreed. They said some years it may have been more important, and while he should touch on it, it does not need to be addresses as much as the previously mentioned issues.

Can McCain win them over? Well, time will tell, but one thing is for sure, if McCain goes before the group and is not willing to put these issues to rest once and for all, it could be a long fall for Republicans.