I don’t believe Democrats are all that united around either Democrat choice and are simply basing all their hopes on McCain dying in office. Rather sick reason to vote, but I think this is what’s happening; they’re voting for the old guy so they can get this election over, the Clinton’s out and begin campaigning for 2012.

If McCain (a budget hawk rather than a tax cutter) makes us the “balanced budget” party, that’s all for the good. If McCain keeps us in a place where a strong, aggressive defense manned by a smart and powerful military and is an essential part of our national policy, that’s all for the good. If we wind up muting the shrill cries of the Al Gores of the world by balancing environmental and commercial concerns instead of treating the issue as a zero-sum game, that’s all for the good. If we wind up with a compromise package on immigration reform, that’s certainly better than what we’ve got now! And if McCain somehow gets us past the electoral cul-de-sac that is abortion, that’s all for the good (I don’t think that’s within his capabilities, though).

This is an important concept. Goldwater was an insurgent against the Rockefeller-type establishment. So was Reagan. Nixon was practically a socialist when compared to the current conservative ideal (price controls, massive govt. social programs). The ‘conservative movement’ got alot stronger with the Reagan presidency and later the ‘94 congressional takeover, but modern conservatives have never owned the party. Bush 41 was not a ‘movement conservative’ and Bush 43 really isn’t either, though they both embraced some of the movements principles.

BTW, John Bolton is the only contemporary Republican I’ve heard refer to himself as a ‘Goldwater conservative’, though I’m sure there must be others.

It is a reminder of something that Jonah Goldberg writes about often. The purpose of the party is to win elections. The purpose of the idealoges is to win the arguments. The conservative movement is adrift because those of us who care more about the issues, have made two fundamental mistakes.

1. We accepted almost anything and anybody with an “R” associated with it as a conservative. Bush has been as far away from a conservative during his time in office as any President since Nixon. Bush’s expansion of government powers, his expansion of goverment influence in education and health care, his overall reckless spending, and his failure to enforce the immigration laws are a far cry from conservative. And, of course his aggressive foreign policy isn’t conservative either (although I support him on it). And, don’t get me started on the pork whores in congress. Bush and that crew have surrendered the Republican claim to “fiscal responsibility” forever.

2. We were afflicted with BDDS - Bush Deranged Defense Syndrome. We didn’t attack Bush when he started doing stupid stuff - far ahead of 9/11 because we felt defensive towards him in the aftermath of Florida and rabid partisan attacks from day one. We allowed our oppostion to the democrats to push us closer to Bush as he drove the Republican Bus off of the cliff.

3. We accepted the “half loaf” the administration offered. Good judges, guns, stem cells, and lower taxes were offered up while the government wasted trillions of dollars and expanded the welfare state and the entitlement mentality, putting us one step further down the road towards socialized medicine.

So, what do we have to do? If McCain is the nominee, then we need to seriously consider sitting out the election. The Republic can survive 4-8 years of either the shrew or the Manchurian candidate. But the party couldn’t survive a President McCain. A gigantic defeat of a McCain while the conservaties sit on their hands and sit out the election would be just what the party needs in the form of a reality check.

If McCain takes the nomination, it will be fun to watch how the NYTs, the LA Times, the Boston Globe and other left leaning media turn on him as he goes up against the Democratic annointed one. He will no longer be the “favorite son”, he will be the road block to the D’s trip to the Oval Office. And they will slaughter him.

The Republican Party has been trying for the last decade to become the party of inclusion; you don’t agree with us? Fine, we have a seat at the table for you and so we will not convert you, we will become like you so you feel more at home. This policy is what Reagan changed. But Reagan is gone, and the powers think it is time to go back to a kinder, gentler party, the party that gave us Gerald Ford and Bob Dole, both losers.

Either way, with HillBilly/Obama or McCain, those of us core conservatives will lose.

Now McCain is saying on TV that he will get OBL. If he has the knowledge of how to do that, why has he not shared that with President Bush? Is it not his duty to give closure to all the families of those who died on 9/11? My guess is McCain is so vindictive he would really withhold information from the adminstration to further his own career.

No, I will not vote McCain. Not on March 4 and not in November.

I agree the republicans blew it. They were elected to shrink the size and scope of the Central Committee and they didn’t do it. They acted just like their ‘brither’ across the aisle. The 2006 election was a repudiation of their lack of courage and will. I think if McCain is the nominee there will be another, more substantial, message of discontent to the Republican Party.

JMHO

Now the more pressing question: where’s a physically fit, anarcho-libertarian nihilist supposed go? I didn’t leave my party; it left me.