McCain the Winner

John McCain's victory in the closed Florida primary makes him the front-runner going into Super Dee Duper Tuesday. I have to admit that I was surprised for a number of reasons: Romney's debate performance didn't seem to help him, registered Republicans across the board chose McCain over Romney, McCain managed to weather an endorsement from the New York Times, and most surprising of all, Rasmussen's polling data was off by 11%!

This result is deeply disappointing to me, and puts me in a tough situation should it lead to a McCain candidacy. I agree that a President McCain is better, all other things being equal, than a President Clinton, and far better than a President Obama. He would be correct on Iraq, on spending, and potentially on taxes. But his heresies--campaign finance "reform," opposing the Bush tax cuts, his illegal immigrant amnesty, and his global warming alarmism--would demoralize the party and potentially destroy the conservative coalition that has been key to good governance over the last twenty-eight years.

All things considered, I do not think that I can support a McCain Republican presidency. A President Obama or a President Hillary would do significantly more to rally and renew the conservative coalition for a regrouping in 2012. I can only hope that his opponent is a political hack like Hillary who will simply follow what is prudent for re-election, rather than a socialistic true believer like Obama.

It's a sad development, but I increasingly think of Republicans as "them" instead of "us."