Could not have said it better myself. But...

Via Robert Stacy McCain, the great "What If":

Just ask yourselves, Perrybots, what might have been possible if some other candidate — any other candidate, perhaps one who could remember how to count to three – had an extra $20 million to spend here in Florida. But no, you spent months telling the rest of us that Rick Perry was The Only Conservative Who Could Beat Romney, an argument you didn’t hesitate to repeat as late as December, long after it was apparent that he wasn’t ready for prime time. And you still refuse to admit that you were misled, and helped mislead others, into jumping aboard that hopeless Bandwagon to Loserville. And who warned you, huh?

“What I fear will happen is that Perry will spend several months sucking up media oxygen and burning through GOP donor cash, only to collapse early next year. This will have the effect of suffocating other conservative candidates, and thereby lead to … Romney 2012.”

Mitt Romney is Obama-lite. And in turn Perry, and now Santorum are enabling Romney 2012.

But...this is not over.  Florida is one state of many.  Romney winning Georgia or Texas, much bigger prizes is harder to see.  The press want's to coronate Romney now, both the liberal Mainstream Media, and the establishment Republicans.  Only 6% of the delegates have been allocated after Florida is done.  This is not over.

Gingrich may not be a perfect candidate, but he is clearly more conservative than Mitt Romney by far, despite the occasional brain cramps.  He is a better debater and he can connect with voters in a way Romney has failed to do.

Pragmatism versus one-horse-zealotry

Heated.  Things in the GOP primary are getting heated. R S McCain is on an anybody-but-Newt tear in contrast with Ed Morrissey who thinks Gingrich would be a good battler for conservatives and a formidable foe for Obama in 2012.  Elsewhere in the blogosphere and tweet-osphere, I've seen rabid backers of Cain, Paul and Perry tear apart those who prefer another candidate.  Even Romney backers have been dismissive of supporters of other candidates.  This is a primary season, and heated is to be expected.  Everyone seems to have a horse in this race and that means they are engaged.  That's good. Uncivil behavior on the other hand is another story.  While for the most part, criticisms have ranged from viable to less than robust, the  civility has been been present.  It has not been universally so.

Step aside McCain

Going forward, the only McCain I'd consider voting for is Robert S. McCain - the other McCain. I supported John McCain during the election, but it was one of those "if this is all we've got, okay, I'll take it I guess." types of support. To be sure, by October many Republicans were feeling buyers remorse with respect to their February decision, but most still felt it was better than the alternative.

McCain obviously didn't win, but he didn't die either. He has showed up here and there, mostly it seems for the purpose of deliberately ignoring or maligning Sarah Palin. How ignoble. He has done a disservice to her and to himself as well with his lack of support for her.

Meanwhile, his silver-spooned daughter has taken upon herself the task of trashing the party of her father. The party she toyed with not voting for in 2008. Her criticisms could be considered legitimate if they were given in a constructive light. It appears though as nothing more than harping on the party. Her motivation may be that she is secretly a liberal, or that she's disgruntled by the lack of enthusiastic support her father received. It doesn't really matter though. Her input isn't needed or wanted. She's speaking for a congregation of what - 2 or 3? Rich, out of touch young, inheritance Republicans who don't really hold conservative values that dearly and don't really understand politics or economics or national security enough to appreciate conservative principles. To her I say go away. But she is not running for election, at least not for now. She is of course. entitled to her ill-informed opinions. But her father is the real concern.

During the 2008 campaign, John McCain promised he'd 'make you famous' if you were involved in pork barrel spending. With $1.8 trillion you'd think he'd be busier outing the offenders.

During the 2008 campaign, he pointed out he was the national security guy. Given the trouble with Iran, the trouble with North Korea, the problems with China, Russia and the dangers of closing Guantanamo and the possible release of internationally damaging photos, you'd think he'd be front and center on the talk circuit pointing out what should be done, and what shouldn't be done.

Instead... *Crickets chirping*. So John McCain, where have you been? Or was that all just election bluster? Did it only apply if you won? Or are the issues just not mavericky enough? Too mavericky maybe? You didn't die - so why aren't you screaming from the mountain tops about these issues you supposedly held so dear?

Now to be fair, perhaps you have been saying those things but the press was not listening and reporting. If that's the case then the press didn't like you John, and you were what they considered not a maverick, but rather a 'useful idiot'. They never were your friends. And you let them misguide you into a soft tack in the election battle. They weren't serious on questioning Obama, and they made sure you weren't either. And now that you are no longer needed as a patsy, you have been dismissed from their A-list. They understand the GOP has moved on from you, so you serve them no purpose. They've moved on too. At least until you are willing to attack Dick Cheney or Rush Limbaugh with a well-timed backstabbing. Is the media attention really worth that betrayal Mr. McCain? Was it worth it in Sarah Palin's case?

You claim to be a man of honor, but many of your actions appear to be dishonorable, and in some cases shameful.



Maybe it's just that you have simply run out of steam. You may lack the energy to fight on after the election '08 battle. In any case, you aren't doing what you said you'd do as President. But you don't have to be President to do it. You still can work on making people famous. At least the ones you aren't too cozy with. Otherwise it appears that your political career has run its course at this point. You should think about retiring. If not, might I suggest a bit of soul searching. Conservatives didn't sit out the election to be spiteful to you - they sat out because you were too moderate. Our word for that is wishy-washy. At least our nice word for it. Democrat lite is does not taste great, and it's your own fault you didn't energize the Republican base, and you didn't win. I'm not even so sure I'm still buying that Obama tailwind phenomenon story any more. Despite it all, he was catchable. You got into a reasonably tight race before the wheels came off. But they came off because of your actions, no one else's, not even Obama's.

This is going to sound harsh to someone who served his country honorably in the military and in the Senate, but it needs to be said. With all due respect, make yourself useful to conservatives or get out of the way.

As for the rest of us, we'll look elsewhere for inspiration, leadership and conservative vision - and it doesn't even matter if it comes in the form of another conservative McCain - after all, what's in a name? It's the ideas that count.