If you think McCain is a liberal, there’s really nothing further to be said.

“I don’t judge people. I just watch them until it’s time to look away. . . . I want to look away now.”

–Kristin Hersh.

It isn’t about “letting in new people” who can “get beyond the battles of the past.” It’s about returning to the real values that the good people of this country share, values that the Democrats and Republicans have both abandoned in favor of left-wing elitism and hypocrisy. It’s cute to talk about how the base has “exiled” people “whose politics seemed to be to the left of Louis XIV,” and claim that real conservatives are just battling the 1960s draft dodgers and have no real grasp on current reality. It’s cute, but it’s incorrect. It’s a good way of avoiding the real issues, though; ad hominem arguments usually are.

People have stopped voting Republican because the party was already too far to the left. If this moves it farther in that direction, we all might as well lie down and die right now.

Quick everybody! We have to save Trish! Come on, now! “Wine her! Dine her! Bring her roses! Bring her chocolates. Bring her good cheer!

But seriously, Trish–it’s not a matter of the conservatives moving to the left. It’s letting in new people like Palin and Jindal, etc. who can get beyond the battles of the past.

And, yes, if that means you have to accept people who agree with you 90 percent of the time, I say do so. When you have 100 percent agreement, you don’t have a movement; you have a cult.

The 1960s are long over, and after 40 years of this constant battling, it’s time for the people who wore their hair short and went to Vietnam to stop sniping at the ones who wore it long and went to Canada. It’s over. It’s a new century, there are new issues, and new voices are needed to bring those issues to the attention of the public. Conservatives have to speak out, and not only against the nanny state advocates, the Kossacks, and other assorted whiners, but also against some of the vile and disgusting people on their own side who have brought the movement down.

Reagan made it Morning in America. Some of his successors turned it into Halloween in America. It’s time to polish up that city on the hill again, because the shine has gone.

If the Alaska Governor is “acceptable” to what’s left of the “base,” than the base can only expand again from its now low point.

It was self-destructive of the base to try to exile people like Lindsay Graham and McCain himself, or indeed anyone whose politics seemed to be to the left of Louis XIV. For better or for worse, “the base” to many has become synonymous with old white guys who on the one hand inveigh against gay marriage and the peccadillos of the former West Wing Wanker, while soliciting men in airport men’s rooms.

Now, there is a chance that image will be shattered. If so, and if those admirers of the Sun King are confined to the margins, we shall all–all Americans that is–be better off.

I’m cautiously optimistic about that, but I will wait and see what happens in the next few weeks.

I’m going to vote for McCain either way. Having Palin on the ticket just makes it actually sweet to pull the trigger.[/serious]

BrakOBrakOBrakObama
BrakOBrakOBrakObama
BrakOBrakOBrakObama

FeeEEEEEELINGs, I have those FeeeEEEEEEEEEEEELINGS!

With an actual conservative now on the ticket? Much better, thank you.

Here’s what’s changed:

- McCain hasn’t gone out of his way to poke a stick in the eye of the base, as he did periodically in the Senate. I’m less apprehnsive about conservatives becoming a permanently marginalized force.

- The public’s fascination with Wall to Wall Coverage of The One is wearing thin. His well-hyped overseas trip did nothing to enhance his stature; in fact it was the start of a long slide in the polls. It’s a sign that the American people may again show good judgement.

- The McCain team is complementing this slide aggressively. Bernard Goldberg’s most recent book bemoaned the “Wimps to the Right of Me”. Team McCain is not being wimpy – they’ve been on the offense and forced Team Empty Suit to respond to them, including all this past week during the Democrat convention. It’s a sign that we still have some energy and creative minds to communicate the conservative message and do it well.

- The Palin selection has the conservative base more upbeat than any time since the initial talk of a Fred Thompson candidacy. If McCain wins, this will set up Sarah Palin as the likely presidential nominee four or eight years from now, and who knows after that – Bobby Jindal, perhaps? It’s not unreasonable to think that we could see almost 20 years of bright, young conservative leadership here.

(Although that would mean the end of my hopes for ST to be the first woman president. Somehow, I don’t think she will mind.)

So is the State of the Conservative Union looking better than it did six months ago? You betcha.

Well done, good sir, well done!