Despite the fact that Republicans have "chosen" their presidential nominee early, and the battle rages on in the Democrat camp, a Republican win is far, far from assured.
Brent Bozell's piece in the Washington Post on Mar. 9 encapsulates the reason a John McCain victory in November is a long shot:
Conservative leaders, particularly those in talk radio, cannot and will not be silent. They will not betray their principles and their audiences. Tens of millions of activists turn to them for guidance. These activists could be, and need to be, McCain's ground troops, but unless and until conservatives believe him -- and believe in him -- they will not work for his election. McCain may have the Beltway crowd in his corner, but grass-roots conservatives aren't sold.
Yet through his surrogates, McCain is attacking these leaders. This is beyond folly. It is political suicide.
For 20 years, the moderate establishment of the Republican Party has told conservatives to sit down, shut up and do as we're told. History shows that sometimes we bite the bullet. But not always. I absolutely guarantee that this year we cannot be taken for granted. This is a movement fed up with betrayals, and they've come one after the other.
I, too, have bit the bullet for the Republican Party. I've also bit my tongue and sometimes even helped carry the water.
So why would I and many other conservatives be unwilling to shut up and do so in this important presidential election year?
Just as Bozell said: I've had it up to HERE with the betrayals.
We gave the Republicans a shot at glory back in 1994 when we put them in congressional power for the first time in 40 years. They did a good job...for about 100 days. Once the Contract With America was dealt with, they seemed to lose their way. They went back to the same old cowed servitude before their liberal media masters, and started acting like they were in the minority again.
Then came the presidential race of 2000. George W. Bush wasn't the first choice of many conservatives; I know he wasn't mine. But he became the party nominee, and he said almost all the right things to engender confidence in him from us.
But except for the War on Terrorism, which has been prosecuted well, and a mostly good record on judicial nominations (remember the Harriet Miers fiasco?), I could best characterize Bush's eight years as "a lot of missed opportunities for greatness."
And the congressional Republicans. After 911, instead of nobly mobilizing to defend the country, they saw the war as an excuse to push through unprecedented wasteful spending. They figured that since a war was on and there was patriotic fervor, we wouldn't notice if they wasted a few hundred billion to bribe their own constituents.
And we've still had RINOs in our midst like Arlen Specter and John McCain himself who have worked against the president on important items, against their own party leadership, and definitely against the conservative agenda. We've seen these RINOs push big government, big education, undermine the appointment of constitutional judges, stab the First Amendment, and push amnesty for illegal aliens.
So conservatives are sick and tired of it.
I may find yet enough party loyalty left in me to get out and vote for John McCain in November (I don't really have anyone else to vote for). But get excited? Contribute money? Hand out literature? Sorry, I just can't bring myself to do it.
As Bozell said of Rush Limbaugh and others, I too will find it very hard to restrain the urge to rip McCain at almost every opportunity. How do you NOT say what's in your heart? How do you fail to speak the truth about the counterproductive policies of a liberal, even when he's in your own camp?
Some are calling on McCain to reach out to conservatives, to "say the right things." At this point, I don't believe I could respect myself if (a) McCain said them in the first place, and (b) I believed them. With the chain of lies and betrayals from the Republican Party cited above, I'd be a chump to believe anything short of actions. And I don't think I'm alone in that resolve.
So that puts Republicans (and conservatives) in a bad place. The Republican Party needs us conservatives to win. But they've misused, abused and taken us for granted for so long that we'd be idiots to believe anything they say.
But if the Republican Party doesn't win the White House, we get a far worse dose of the liberal rot we abhor.
Do we stand on principle? Do we suck it up to minimize the damage of the next 4-8 years?
John McCain and the Republican Party have made a difficult bed for us all. And I'm afraid we're going to have to sleep in it.
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