The American Spectator

Ever since the Super Tuesday Republican primaries made it obvious and inevitable that the nominee would be Sen. John McCain, I have been struck dumb, so far as political commentary goes. What a disappointment. What a letdown. Yes, the GOP has as many unprincipled mediocrities as the Democrats. Arlen Specter and Trent Lott come immediately to mind. Now and then, the party actually nominates one of them to run for President, most recently Bob Dole.

Regular readers know that, as recently as a month ago, I thought the Republicans were engaged in a process I called “creative destruction.” The still-wide-open field included at least two men I thought could win, and would be good candidates and good Presidents if they did: Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney.

Now what? It appears that the long Republican moment which has dominated American politics since Reagan’s first term may be over. The Democrats couldn’t bring it to an end. But the Republicans themselves could.

p> THE BEST ANALYSIS I’ve seen so far of Sen. McCain’s faults comes from Jonathan Chait in the New Republic . Chait wrote : br> /p> blockquote>The prevalent view of McCain is that he is a generally conservative figure with a few maverick stances and an unwavering authenticity…This is the consensus: McCain’s basically a right-winger, but at least you know where he stands. br> br> Actually, this assessment gets McCain almost totally backward. He has diverged wildly and repeatedly from conservative orthodoxy, but he has also reinvented himself so completely that it has become nearly impossible to figure out what he really believes… br> br> Even though it is in the public record, McCain’s voting behavior during Bush’s first term is almost never mentioned in the press anymore. Yet McCain’s secret history is simply astonishing. It is no exaggeration to say that, during this crucial period, McCain was the most effective advocate of the Democratic agenda in Washington.