The American Spectator

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When It Rains McCain

1.31.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 6)

Also, most conservatives had never heard of Huckabee before Iowa, so I don't understand how he overcame conservative opposition when there was very little to begin with. (I think Rush only started hammering at him a couple of days before the primary.)

Klein then cites Romney's conservatism as the reason he lost to candidates who are not liked by "Beltway conservatives." He claims that Romney's win in Michigan is due to his "economic populism" rather than his conservatism. (So then why did McCain lose in Michigan?)

In fact, Romney isn't doing well now because he lacks what could be called the "Obama factor." Despite Romney's (newly minted) conservatism, conservatives just aren't really enthusiastic about him, the way liberals are enthused about Obama. Romney is indeed more of a manager than a leader.

McCain's nomination is a more serious problem than Klein thinks. It would not just be a blow to "conservative elites" as he claims, but would be a defeat for conservatism itself. Klein's attempt to mitigate the disaster by separating conservatives from conservative elites is putting a bandage on a gaping wound.

It's probably an exaggeration to say that McCain betrays conservatives at every turn. It's only at every other turn. When I think of (say) a McCain-Huckabee ticket, or something similar, I'm reminded of Nixon-Agnew. Sure, we conservatives will vote for McCain's ticket (or against Hillary's), but that's about it. Without the base, McCain won't have anyone to defend him when the going gets rough.

And it will get rough. McCain is the political equivalent of an IED. It won't be long before the media tires of him, either during the campaign or during his presidency. They'll be watching for opportunities to set his infamous temper off, and there will be plenty of those. It's unlikely that McCain will enjoy a honeymoon with the press.

The best thing McCain can do is try to mend fences with conservatives and prove he really was a foot-soldier in the Reagan Revolution. Bush lost a lot of conservative support when he proved unreliable in Supreme Court nominees (a huge issue for social conservatives), and supported amnesty for illegals (another huge issue for rule-of-law conservatives). No one defends Bush now, or claims him as one of their own, not even conservatives, and his popularity is accordingly very low.

Without the conservative base, McCain faces the same problem. The liberals and the media will be against him, as they were also against Nixon and Agnew, and the conservatives won't be around to put in a kind word. By the time McCain leaves office in four years, his popularity will be so low, you'd have to dig a hole to find it.

It's high time for McCain to make a pilgrimage to Rush Limbaugh's "Canossa." He might not need to stand barefoot in the snow like Henry IV, but contrary to Klein's intimations, the indifference of the conservative base will likely doom McCain's presidency. McCain will need to be the Unifier in Chief, not the "maverick" he always aspires to be, if he wants to be more than a one term president.
-- C. V. Crisler
Gilbert, Arizona

The numbers are in from the Florida primary and the the most important ones are the ones that the DNC says are not important. But after analyzing the "Unimportant data" it reveals that the Presidential election for 08 is over. Why? Florida is the nearest middle of the road look at America politically when it comes to voting so what happens here is very enlightening. The bottom line is that about 100,000 more Democrats voted for the top three candidates than the republicans did for their three and it didn't even matter. As they say in tennis, game, set and match. It's over and Hillary is queen.

Sell your stocks, hide your billfold, and lock up the interns. The new American motto that follows could be like George Strait's #1 selling song's title, "Just give it away"
-- Jerry Rodeheaver

Philip Klein partly misses the point, or is unwilling to broach the issue. The messenger of Conservatism in this Republican primary, Mitt Romney, had two problems. First was his background as a Moderate Republican. Many conservatives accepted his change in position to conservative as sincere, and many endorsed and supported him. At least a plurality of Republicans, however, does not appear to believe his conservative conversion story, and doesn't seem to particularly care about many conservative issues anyway. Second, and by far the greatest problem for Republicans (the thousand pound gorilla in the room which everyone is trying to ignore), he is a Mormon. It is abundantly clear that religious bigotry is alive and well in the Republican Party. From Huckabee's snide comments about Jesus and Satan being brothers, to the WSJ editorial page running a piece stating that Mormons are inherently racist (so I at least am pretty well convinced that the WSJ--an entity that one would think would be a huge supporter of Romney--editorial page is religiously bigoted), the distaste for Romney displayed by William Kristol, repeated articles critical of Romney and his religion by commentators in major neocon and conservative journals, it became clear that America in general, and Republicans in particular, would not vote for a Mormon. Credit Rush Limbaugh, Hugh Hewitt, Bay Buchanan, Douglas Kmeic, and many other conservatives who supported Romney with not being party to Republican religious bigotry. Unfortunately for Romney, they are a valiant few, but they will follow him into the breach again. McCain himself, however, seems to harbor considerable animus against Mormons, along with much personal animosity toward Romney. Don't count on McCain to automatically carry Utah in the general election, as irrelevant as it may be to the outcome. Utah has been hospitable ground for Republicans for many decades. McCain may change that, even if he doesn't destroy the Republican Party.
-- Kent Lyon
College Station, Texas

Better hope you are wrong Phil! The McCain-Huckabee-Clinton folks will not leave the country as free as they got it. There may be an end to conservative talk radio and bloggers but, if so, there will be no more American Spectator, National Review or Fox News either.
-- Charles Romer
Tomball, Texas
P.S. What do you suppose these folks' impending victories that you are celebrating will do to your 401k accounts? No impact?

Talk-show conservatives failed to stop McCain not because they were ineffective, but because there was no conservative alternative for such talk-show listeners to support. For example, Thompson got in too late and was too listless; Romney's professed conservatism is suspect in light of his very moderate, recent record as a Senate candidate and Massachusetts governor.

In the end, Sen. McCain may be a disappointing choice -- except for all the others.
-- Peter Murphy
West Sand Lake, New York

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