McCain's loss a Boon for Conservative Movement

McCain's loss on election day is best thing to happen to for the conservative movement since the 1994 congressional elections.

The bland, middle of the road milquetoast campaign he ran and the inevitable loss that was its result has served to directly repudiate the belief of non-conservative republicans that they can win by playing a game of me too, and by excepting the premises of the left and simply applying a pseudo- conservative spin to them in order to make them more palatable to the base. McCain's standing on global warming policies being one of the most apparent and his failure to fight to the end to defeat the housing market bail out another. When we except liberalism in even the smallest amount it's no different than handing our executioner the axe or the noose.

In today's political spectrum you do not win by reaching across the aisle unless you are reaching across with a bat and beating the crap out of your opponent. McCain's loss should put that argument to bed and tuck it in for good. McCain reached across the aisle proudly and got his arm broken for it.

To win you must delineate the differences between you and your opponent. You must speak from principled beliefs. It is not enough to just attack your opposition. You have to show the electorate what you have to offer instead and it cannot be a watered down version of what the other guy is saying. These principles have to be in place before you start to campaign. They can't be formed as you go along. McCain spent the last 8 years opposing Bush and his party at nearly every step then turns around and has to change his mind on nearly everything in order to get in line with his base. It only served to make him appear disingenuous at best and a slave to political expediency at worst. Offshore drilling and McCain Feingold are obvious examples. McCain's change of heart on the Bush tax cuts was another. While Palin was a nice gimme for the conservative base McCain failed to recognize that people don't vote for the bottom of the ticket, they vote for the top. Ronald Reagan as the VP would not have secured the conservative vote unless McCain promised to die the day after the inaugural.

But we owe McCain a debt of gratitude. He dug a grave and pushed in the moderates of our party and then jumped on top of them. Our job now is to support those who would grab the shovel and finish the job. Just as long as they don't throw in a flower first.