Conservative Frustration with McCain and Why It is Illogical

I finally got a facebook account, which is why I haven't blogged recently. I actually prefer facebook to blogging, but I don't intend to shut this blog down. For the moment, a few thoughts on the presidential election:

I know a lot of conservatives who are less than thrilled with John McCain and are instead looking to side with Ron Paul and make sure that McCain never makes it to the White Houes. As a memo to such conservatives, Ron Paul is not going to be running for president come this fall, but I don't think that this frustration actually reflects a distaste for McCain so much as it demonstrates the precarious predicament of the Repulican Party.

These people; these Million Strong Against McCain; these supposed idealists searching for ideological purity in an age when that is not possible prove only one thing: Following five years of utter failure on the part of the Republicans, McCain becomes an easy scapegoat for those who want to jump ship. He might not be the best choice to use as a scapegoat, though. Surely he's had is falling out with the Republicans in the past, but ninety percent of the time, he has been right.

Guantanamo has been a disaster for America's reputation abroad; so has waterboarding. McCain was not afraid to oppose either when his party had the audacity to defend the place and practice like artivles of faith. When Republicans were crusading for a border fence and even had a candidate running for president who made this the first agenda item on his platform, McCain had the courage to stand up to the idocracy. When every politician in Washington calls ethanol a solution to the fuel crisis, it is McCain who says no, it is part of the problem.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not an idealist. I think that McCain has his flaws and I think that, come November, I will still vote for him but will be much more disillusioned with him than I am now. The politician who ended up defeating McCain in the Republican primary has taught me to be disillusioned over the years, and, whatever bad things you might say about McCain, one thing I have no hesistancy to say is that, in 2000, he probably would have been a heck of a lot better than the other guy.