02.21.08
No downsides?
There are discussions – at times, arguments – over what to do with John McCain as presumptive nominee of the GOP. He hasn’t been a great friend to conservatives, and his personal sense of honor seems far more easily crossed by Republicans than by Democrats.
Some argue that McCain is preferable to either Billary Clinton or the (presumed) Democratic Party nominee, Barack Obama. Others, such as Ann Coulter, suggest that McCain has been so hostile to his own party in recent years that at least we’d have a president we can oppose full-throatedly if the victor is a Democrat; a McCain would give the Democrats the agenda they want, and the Republicans all the blame the Democrats deserve. It’s hard enough when the media aims for that end. When a McCain would be as likely to blame and scapegoat his own party, and use his Absolute Moral Authority to paint even his most loyal adversaries as dishonorable….well, let’s say history, even very recent history, does give Coulter a point. McCain blows smoke up Democrat dresses while sliming his own side.
On the other hand…
If a Democrat wins, McCain won’t be happy. He might even become a Republican again to avenge his loss of “honor” at the despicable hands of an Obama or – can’t quite count out the Razorback Rasputins yet – Hillary. And if he wins in spite of their worst efforts to defeat him, perhaps President Mac will still remember the slights uses against him in the general election, and return to the fold.
Or at least pretend to.
Either way, something’s likely to happen this election cycle to piss off McCain, and since Romney has thrown in behind McCain (more vocally than Thompson, though less cordially than Rudy) and Huckabee is irrelevant (and becoming less likeable by the day), that will most likely come from a Democrat. One whom McCain has previously hailed for “honesty and integrity.”
We’ll see how long he sings THAT tune.
Mac will get my vote in November. He won’t be the first Republican I voted for with a nose plug in place, and likely won’t be the last. I did what I could for my primary candidates…now it’s time to close ranks, get our guy elected, and then remind him of (1) his promises, and (2) that sense of honor he keeps going on about, and (3) how hard he’ll have to work at (1) for (2) to have any meaning again.