No Runny Eggs

I can’t yet say that I will vote for John McCain (indeed, I may never be able to say that, and the scales are still weighted against), but he has reached out and started to heal the rift between him and conservatives like me. There are still a lot of items that I need to have to either have explained or forgotten. Indeed, somewhere below I have 13 reasons to say, “To hell with him”, and I didn’t hear squat on any of those 13.

At the same time, I heard a lengthier explanation of why he can claim to be member of the low-cost portion of small-government conservative. I heard that he will be open to persuasion on his liberal tendencies.

I probably will just take the next few days off of national politics and run a heap of conflicting things through my head.

OK, it’s still early, the emotions haven’t even subsided to being generously considered “raw”. Even so, it’s time to start thinking about tomorrow and what we will do now that the last person with any hint of conservative credentials has dropped out of the race. Do we now just rally around McCain because the party says so? Do we sit this one out? Do we go to the dark side and vote for the Dem just so that the Republicans don’t get all the mud?

Let me offer this for some mashing and hashing on. Think of it as part of your cathartic process:

I’m beginning to think (and I’ll grant you I haven’t finished my creative using of foul language each time I hear McCain use the phrase “My Friend!”) that our best bet might in fact be to get behind McCain.

Before Steve bans my posting privileges forever, let me explain. I think we can all agree that McCain is as close to the squishy middle as you can be and still be a Republican. I think it’s also apparent that McCain has a fairly strong following among certain parts of the Rat brigades. I think this Rat following could, especially if Hill is the Dem candidate, put a decent amount of support for McCain from the Rats. If McCain got that support and got the support of the conservative R’s, I think there is a chance he could win the November contest in what would be considered a landslide.

Assuming the above, can we use McCain the way he has been using us? Can we take his win and leverage it for a win for conservatives?   Let’s face it, the Senate and House races are going to be terribly important this year. In fact, they may be even more important if McCain gets in. They may be the groups that keep McCain holding any level of conservative principle. I believe that if McCain wins and does so in a way that I lay out i.e. large margins, he could have some decent coat tails to use in the districts that kicked the R’s out last election. Most of those districts tossed the R’s out on relatively narrow margins. Would there be enough good will with McCain to rebalance the House and keep the Senate from becoming any worse?

Could this be the silver lining?

Hot Air and others are reporting Mitt Romney will suspend his Presidential campaign, with the announcement at CPAC coming up shortly (carried by C-SPAN2). I don’t have enough time to set up a CiL, so we’re back to the old method for one time and one time only.

F*CK! FU*K! FUC*!

11:38 (all times Central and in 24-hour format) – Laura Ingraham looking real good in black. Also, a question from the Hot Air thread questions what the difference between “suspending” and “ending” is, with the immediate answer that a “suspension” does not release the delegates. Wait one while I go through the Romney roster and see what is and isn’t officially “pledged”.

11:45 – Ingraham introducing Mitt as the “conservative’s conservative” and a “class act” (she got one of two right). There’s the calm-down horseshit again.

11:47 – “What a welcome” as he gets cheered. Guess the crowd didn’t get the memo.

11:48 – (Reminder; I paraphase a lot) Blue tie (not good). Family affair, blah, blah, blah. Last year, CPAC gave me a send-off. Thank you, 11 states that voted for me.

11:49 – Thank you for showing up and speaking up. “Conservative principles are needed now more than ever…. Unless America changes course, we could become the France of the 21st Century.”

11:50 – (More paraphrasing) Only one nation has laid down millions of lives, won, and only took enough land to bury its dead, the US.

11:51 – The biggest challenge we have to face is the attack on America’s culture.

11:52 – “Culture makes all the difference…. What makes America unique?” The drive to succeed, a belief in either God or a higher calling than themselves.

11:54 – “The threat to culture comes from within…. Some think we won against (the culture of welfare), but the liberals haven’t given up…. Dependency is culture-killing.” (perhaps Mitt should have given this speech to Bush 7 years ago when he pushed No Child Left Behind and pushing more of the tax burden on the rich).

11:56 – Talking about fatherless families; sobering stats (60+% of black families, 45+% of Hispanic families, 25% of white families are single-parent families). Pass the Marriage amendment.

11:57 – The failed Europe today is the result of liberalism run amok, driving out God and traditional families. Now onto the economy.

12:45 – Sorry about that; the cable started crashing as I was about to post a rumor that Romney would endorse McCain found on the HotAir thread. Lots of expletives were tossed around the bunker, and it turns out that Romney is going home. Sure sounded like a virtual endorsement of McCain at CPAC, however.

13:13 – One last thought; I hope you weren’t counting on a very conciliatory speech out of McCain in about 45 minutes (if my watch and the schedule are right).