Wicker touts McCain's conservative creds

OneNewsNow.com is reporting Senator Roger Wicker's support of McCain.

GOP senator touts McCain's credentials to conservatives
Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 4/4/2008 9:30:00 AM

Senator Roger Wicker is urging fellow conservatives to put aside their differences with John McCain on issues such as embryonic stem-cell research, the federal marriage amendment, and immigration, and stop questioning their support for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

Senator McCain (R-Arizona) kicked off his biography bus tour earlier this week in Mississippi, where he was accompanied for two days by Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi). McCain's campaign has dubbed the week a "Service to America Tour." Wicker says as a practical matter, McCain is trying to stay in the news headlines while the Democratic contest rages on between Senators Barack Obama (D-Illinois) and Hillary Clinton (D-New York).

Some high-profile conservatives such as Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family and commentator Ann Coulter have vowed they will not vote for McCain in the general election. But Wicker, a former member of the House and now one of the newest members of the U.S. Senate, is encouraging social conservatives who are wary of McCain to take into consideration that he has staked out a "strong" position on judicial nominees.

Wicker says the Arizona senator reaffirmed to him and others in Mississippi Monday that a major part of his platform is confirming federal judges who strictly interpret the Constitution.

"Senator McCain went out of his way to point out how unjustly Judge [Charles] Pickering [of Mississippi] was treated in his confirmation for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals," Wicker shares, "and [he] made it clear that he would appoint people much like Judge Pickering to the appellate courts and to the Supreme Court."

The new Senate member predicts there could be as many as two or three Supreme Court vacancies during the next presidential term. "I think John McCain will pick the right kind of people, much in the mold of Justice [John] Roberts and Justice [Samuel] Alito," he says.

Wicker says McCain should also be appealing to conservatives because he would keep the Bush tax cuts in place, unlike the two Democratic presidential hopefuls, who he argues would increase the tax burden on families. In addition, Wicker contends McCain will keep the country on the right side of the political spectrum -- and more importantly, keep the nation safe and secure.