If you’re like me, you’re probably sitting around somewhere in
the dark, trying your best to avoid all forms of media coverage of
the 2008 presidential primary season. Maybe for the first time in
years, you eschewed the weekend talk shows, even Fox News. And
except for the crossword puzzle or the sports section, you probably
refused to even open your Sunday paper, especially if it is a
liberal fish-wrap like the AP-infested publication in my
hometown.
Yes, if you’re anything like me you are sick of seeing headlines
touting the inevitability of a John McCain nomination and tired of
hearing how conservatism is dead and that its adherents had just
better realize it and roll over. You’ve had it with pundits,
liberal and conservative alike, who pompously quote polls like bad
Shakespearian actors in an effort to influence, rather than report
so-called popular opinion.
How the devil did we get here? We knew this election cycle was
going to be a new experience, since Dick Cheney declared years ago
that he was not interested in moving up the presidential ladder,
but we thought we were in good shape. Going into the 2006 mid-term
elections, GOP fortunes were still bright; George Allen seemed
poised for re-election to the Senate and probably the 2008
presidential nod.
Then came Macaca-gate and the sickening spectacle of a proud
conservative bowing in the face of liberal hand-wringing and
pressure. Had Allen simply good-naturedly shook off the whole
controversy — a la Ronald Reagan’s “the bombing begins in
five minutes” gaffe — or refused to apologize as did George W.
Bush in the “Clymer” incident, he’d probably be well on his way to
the White House right now. Sadly, that is not the case.
Instead, we are left with a depressing scenario; a sort of
death-watch, waiting for the horribly self-fulfilling prophesies of
the media to manifest themselves. And it seems as if — as they
almost did in 2000 when certain networks called Florida for Al Gore
in order to depress Panhandle voting there — they are again
basically telling conservatives to stay home, that their votes
won’t matter.
BUT IT DOESN’T have to be that way. While there are still too many
moderates in the fold, most Republicans yet realize that the base
of the party is grounded fairly well to the right. So much so, that
our last presidential loser, Bob Dole, has stepped into the fray
asking Rush Limbaugh to go easy on McCain for the good of the party should he
gain the nomination.
If the power of the right was indeed waning, would Senator Dole
feel compelled to issue such a letter? More to the point, why does
McCain feel it necessary to put in an appearance with the
conservative base at CPAC this week?
As for me, I’ll support whichever Republican wins the
nomination, but Mitt Romney seems to be the one saying all the
right things right now. I know he is only a recent convert, yet it
is clear that although Romney may be the entity you don’t know,
John McCain is certainly the one you do. There are, however, those
who will refuse to support Romney because he once was, or is still,
a liberal.
Of course, some of them who are not old enough to actually
remember Ronald Reagan would have similarly castigated the
formerly-Democratic Gipper himself on certain issues like abortion. These folks would do well to remember
the words of the Dutchman concerning the pitfalls of a
slash-and-burn approach to politics:
When I began entering into the give and take of
legislative bargaining in Sacramento, a lot of the most radical
conservatives who had supported me during the election didn’t like
it. “Compromise” was a dirty word to them and they wouldn’t face
the fact that we couldn’t get all of what we wanted today. They
wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. If you don’t
get it all, some said, don’t take anything.
If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were
asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and
that’s what I told these radical conservatives who never got used
to it.
Wise advice from a wise man. Word is that Mitt Romney is making
great strides in California, and if he can pick off a few more
Super Tuesday states, by the time you read this the race may have
evened up. If not, we’ll have to live with nominee John McCain and
hope that a win for him in November would at least result in a
strong national defense and maybe a few crucial and competent
judicial appointments. Either way, we should refuse to be beaten
down by our betters in the media and hand the White House over to
the Democrats; a disaster which would afford us no hope at all.
It just may be that the media don’t know everything, nor can
they predict everything, even if they have ascribed to themselves
that mystical power. Conservatives need to look at themselves in
the mirror and figure out the consequences of “staying home,”
either because they’ve heard the primary race is all but over, or
worse, on November 4th.
In any case, we can always cheer ourselves up by enjoying a
little Schadenfreude at the expense of our opposition. It seems not
all Democrats are exactly thrilled with the media’s idea of the
inevitability of Mr. & Mrs. Clinton’s return to the White House
either. Misery loves company.
