Want things to heat up fast? Tell me to “chill.”

Note to all of you “pragmatists” out there using a variety of words to convey the admonition to those of us who oppose a McCain nomination to “calm down” or “just chill.”

Screw. Off.

Using either of those belittling, condescending phrases strongly implies that our concerns are not really concerns and that we’re just being hysterical by simply opposing. Not the way to enter into a rational debate, folks, and all it does accomplish is to put a virtual, “Hi, My Name Is Arrogant Jackass” label on your shirt. Try actually addressing the concerns we have by showing us how they’re no longer an issue. So far I haven’t seen any of that.

Speak of the devil…

Guess what robo-call just landed on my answering machine at home? Why, it was Senator “I’ll build the g*ddamned fence” McCain himself asking for my vote next week. Starting already – should be a fun week for phone calls. I’m trying to figure out a way to get that call recorded and put up here on the blog.

McCain sounded like he was reading a script by rote, with no feeling in it at all. Said all the right things, tho: nominate judges like Roberts and Alito, secure the border first before talking about anmesty “legal path to citizenship,” lower taxes, reduce overall government, defeat the enemy.

Do I believe him? Hmmm.

Hewitt advises keeping an eye on the big picture

Hugh Hewitt is a man whose opinions I generally respect. I’ve had moments where I disagreed with him, strongly, and I certainly didn’t agree with his advocacy of Romney when Fred was in the race. That said, it’s usually wise to listen to him and give his comments a thorough thinking over. Today, amid the (let’s face it) carnage wrought by Super Tuesday to the Romney campaign, Hugh makes the point that after this is all decided, it will still be necessary for members of the GOP to get behind the nominee.

At the same time, Romney and Huckabee ought to begin to note Senator McCain’s lead and urge their followers to recognize that if they cannot come back they and their followers will have to come in and join the party’s eventual nominee.  Senator McCain would do well to make a similar statement though his lead is significant and his collapse unlikely.  Putting Humpty Dumpty together again cannot wait for St. Paul.  Each of the three need to strike some common chords again and again, beginning with why the GOP needs to retain the White House, regardless of who its nominee is.

There are seven reasons for anyone to support the eventual nominee no matter who it is:  The war and six Supreme Court justices over the age of 68.

Hugh’s right that there’s a bigger picture here. And, yes, I’m on record right here on this blog as saying there’s no way I’d vote for a McCain/Huckabee ticket. Ask me to pull the lever on that ticket right now, right here, and I’d very likely put my hands in my pocket. In case you’ve not gotten the message, I’m angry at my fellow conservatives over the state of things this morning. As angry as I am, I still recognize that anger is usually a bad mental state in which to be making important decisions. (Doesn’t make me less angry, at the moment, to have that thought.) But Hugh’s correct that I have complete confidence that any Democrat elected to the presidency would hose up the war, big time. That’s not something I will let happen lightly.

As to those judges, however…  Hugh himself is the primary drummer in the beat that is sending the truth about McCain’s attitude about judges. He is the reason we don’t have more of them confirmed right now and I’m supposed to believe he’ll somehow change once he’s elected? And that border security thing isn’t just about immigration, mind you. It’s a part of the war and McCain’s laughing about getting serious on border security as it is. If he was that serious about the war, there’s be no question that the border fence should be built – today – and damn the immigration reform.

Yes, I will give his comments serious thought. Just don’t be expecting me to jump for joy.

Super Tuesday aftermath

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, John McCain won some serious territory in yesterday’s primaries held in over a score of states. While Romney also won some states, so did Huckabee and Romney’s wins didn’t have the delegate count that McCain’s victories held. There’s no putting any other face on this than that the day hurt Team Romney.

And I’d like to just briefly address something: Huckabee’s and McCain’s campaigns are denying a backroom deal to cover for each other when and where they can. They’re lying, both of them. McCain delegates themselves are reporting that McCain’s campaign told them the best thing they could do was to throw their votes in with Huck’s people in the hopes of keeping the state out of Romney’s hands. Some are saying this is “strategic voting” or “just good politics.” Funny, I thought we were trying to get an honest read on which of these candidates has the most support among Republicans, not trying to game the system. There is no chance – absolutely none – that Huckabee is going to win this nomination, all the bravado of yesterday being completely beside the point. He does not have the support to pull that off. So the best chance he’s got is to play the spoiler on McCain’s behalf and… what? What has he been promised. I’m guessing a nice VP’s chair. Time will tell.

There’s no doubting, however, that a large number of Republicans are supporting McCain. I’ve made it clear why I can’t really understand that and if more of my fellow Republicans are willing to ignore the blatant free-speech violation of McCain-Feingold, the blatant attempt to ram an illegal alien amnesty down the throats of Americans, the kneecapping of a Republican Senate trying to get judges confirmed, the oncoming hobbling of this nation’s energy supplies, and the echoes of the opposition’s class warfare themes than not, then there’s going to be very little I can do to convince them. There is no argument that McCain has been either instrumental or personally responsible for all of these things and yet my fellow Republicans flock to his banner as though none of it makes any difference.

Perhaps that’s it: none of those things is really important to most Republicans. If that’s true, then I have no idea what this party stands for any more.

And if that’s true…

Next week’s Virginia primary going to show heavy turnout

There’s going to be a heavy turnout in next week’s Virginia Primary. Assuming, of course, the people who were calling up furious that their polling places weren’t open yesterday remember to show up next week – the date long scheduled for the primary in this state. According to the VA State Board of Elections, about 700 people called in complaining that their polls weren’t open. Funny that they’d take the time to look up the phone number of the SBE but they couldn’t do a simple search for the primary date.

Should be interesting.