As we discuss whose garbage smells better than whose, it is well that we remember the subject of that discussion is garbage.

You know, what’s funny about McCain is that I don’t think he could say or do anything at this point to bring together the conservative movement and Republican party. I don’t think there was one candidate this year who could do that. George Allen possibly could have done it, but as we know, he shot himself in the foot with that whole “macaca” statement. Even he may have had problems, as some news articles have painted him as a “less-than-refined” character.

I’m not sure what Repubs are looking for in a candidate and if that candidate even exists at the moment. I see some of the reasons why Republican lights are upset about the possibility of a McCain nom, but I don’t think ANY of them lend themselves to the hysteria that they are displaying. So…can someone explain to me why McCain is vastly different than, say, Olympia Snow or Dick Lugar, who have also broken with the party on occasion? Why don’t these candidates engender the same kind of responses?

And can someone explain to me what a “true conservative” (not issues conservatives believe in, but principals) and how the label does not apply to McCain?

Honestly, I expected this kind of squeally caterwauling from the Kos crowd. Good luck with that.

I don’t blame Bush for running in 2000 on perscription drug plan for example since the AARP crowd is the most powerful and largest voting block in America.

If a politican does not offer some goodies to them above all else, the politician will lose.

The politicans aren’t the greedy ones, the greed is in Americans who expect politicians to pander to their every want and need.

Fact is, it’s the people’s fault for demanding the government pander to the people.

It can’t be Democrats are voting for him because of the war, it this were the case the support for the war would have been a lot higher over the last six years and Democrats would have been voting out their own who have been terrible with regard to fighting the Jihadist.

In other words, all the sudden becasue of the war there are all these Democrats coming out of the closet for a Republican?

If this is the case wasn’t Guiliani the much better candidate to attract moderates and Democrats?

In any case, McCain’s media maverick position will change dramatically when the general election begins and it won’t really matter what Coulter does.

The media will not let McCain win the Presidency.

I am surprised that moderates/independents who cannot stand either Clinton or Obama do not realize how the media works? After all these years? It may have been great to get Bush but how will moderates be able to stop Clinton or Obama when the media has so much power to influence voter choice?

As of todays date, it appears almost a certainty that John McCain will secure the Republican nomination for President
(unless he self destructs between now and this coming Tuesday). Although I have strong differences with Senator McCain
as regards immigration / amnesty, I supported his candidacy in 2000 and will support him again this time around. He would
not be my first choice (Mike Huckabee would be, but I dont believe he is electable) but Senator McCain is obvioulsy a man of
principles and integrity,and that is, at least, refreshing. That he is alsothe only one of those contending who has actually shed his
own blood for his country is also worthy of my respect and admiration.

What troubles me.as a Conservative, in the contest now unfolding isn’t that my first choice (Gov. Huckabee) is not a viable candidate. Politics, particularly
democratic (small “d”) politics is,after all, all about compromise. Instead, What I am absolutely amazed (and repulsed) at is the level of
insanity John McCains impending convention victory has caused among the self-proclaimed “leaders” of my party.

Rush Limbaugh (whom Paul Begala once aptly described as a “drug-addled blow-hard”) Sean Hannity,Laura Ingrahm and
now Ann Coulter have apparently finally lost their already-shaky grip on reality. Coulter today said that not only would she vote for Senator Clinton
if McCain won the nomination, but that she would campaign for Clinton. Rush said he’d prefer Clinton, because he thought the country
was in trouble either way, and at least then “the Democrats would get the blame”.

To listen to these established “Beacons of Conservatism”, you would think Senator McCain was channeling Lyndon Johnson instead of Ronald Reagan.
Their attacks completely discount McCains 27 year record of championing small government federalism, national defense, the sanctity of life and real,
honest-to-goodness Reagan Conservatism.

Instead they lambast McCain for every prinicipled stance he took that was not in direct support of this President. Their blind allegiance to
an administration that has wrecked the party and the country and prostituted the very principles Reagan embodied, can only be a product of their
rampant egos or ideological corruption.

I am a Republican and a Conservative. Mitt Romney is neither. I will not have my affiliations defined by drug addled blowhards and I
will be voting for Senator McCain.

I see no reason to even go to the polls if McCain gets the nomination. We get a liberal for President; living in Illinois I know the Democrat (Durbin) will win the Senate seat, 317 million to six; we have a good dogcatcher and the water’s getting better. Why would I leave my cushy seat in front of the computer to go vote?

I think it’s interesting that a lot of people seem to be siding with Coulter in the logic of this, if not her literal interpretation. Maybe Coulter is more of a leader in the party than the establishment gives her credit for. This could be a problem, because I think it’s fair to say she does represent many extremist conservative views that would not fit into the middle of political thought. That middle which usually wins elections.

I’m not going to apologize, however. I don’t feel a need to, because I’ve done nothing wrong, and was only acting in response to him. I think it’s a waste of your time to bother, but if you feel a need to edit responses in retaliation, that’s fine. I hope you edit both, but if not, that’s your prerogative.