I wasn’t trying to present that list of dark corners in the Republican Party as a coherent “coalition,” I was simply trying to say that as the (viable) candidate who inspired the most vocal dread from “conservative activists” John McCain may be poised to bring a more reasonable tone to the GOP. My problem with that is that he will make the GOP more mainstream without really bringing limited government types back into the fold.

In short, everyone saw the GOP shakeup coming, and I genuinely hoped that when all was said and done, the libertarian wing would emerge in a relatively better position. Although I commend Ron Paul for sticking with the Republicans rather than making a third party bid, it looks like his faction is going to stay on the outside looking in.

Dude, seriously, you need to leave the “rape and pillage” medieval Viking monster schtick to me.

Just sayin’.

Well, I’m definitely not a troll. I mean, I may pillage a town or two now and then and eat babies occasionally, but, hey, who doesn’t? But you are so far off on trying to pigeonhole me. I am in my mid-twenties, not my early twenties, and I certainly am not well-meaning. You weren’t even close on that one.

“I’m not supposed to weigh in on this, but I think you have the Democratic candidates mixed up there, dude.”

I’m not sure exactly what you mean by that, but I assume you are saying that Obama is more liberal than Clinton. I won’t argue that, but I still think he has a better chance of pulling off a win in November than Clinton does, at least in part because he does a great job of appealing to the idea of change. I think the winner of this year’s election will be the one who can convince the most people that he (or she) can change the way things are going in Washington. We won’t know until it happens, though.

True. And yet I’m going to go ahead and guess that, based on the phrasing of that comment, you’re either either the best troll we’ve ever had, or you’re a well-meaning white guy in his early twenties. (You might even be “very, very white”, whatever that means.) Of course, I have been wrong before.

“Whether or not the Dems are smart enough to pick Obama is another question, though. If they had chosen anyone even slightly less liberal than Kerry last time around, we would have a Democrat in the White House right now.”

I’m not supposed to weigh in on this, but I think you have the Democratic candidates mixed up there, dude.

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How exactly does stating that I am dissatisfied with the current batch of presidential hopefuls make me a “scared racist white guy”? Last time I looked, every person I have criticized on this site is very, very white. And even if they weren’t, I am criticizing based on policy, not on race. You don’t even know what my race is. Uninformed, knee-jerk reactions like yours are a big reason this country can’t get over the race issue. Yes, there are plenty of racist people still out there, but not all of them are white. People like you need to stop spouting off your hateful, vitriolic garbage and start thinking for yourselves, instead of relying on second-hand opinions about the world.

And Olly, you’re right. “Lied” was a poor choice of words on my part. “Ambiguous” would have been a better choice. I don’t feel as though McCain is being really upfront about what he really believes because he is trying to be everything to everyone right now. I used to like McCain, and would probably have voted for him in 2000 if had won the Republican bid. I certainly would have preferred him over Bush. I don’t consider a Bush a true Republican. He obviously doesn’t ascribe to the ideas of small government with limited intervention in citizens’ lives, or having a reasonable, balanced budget.
I may still vote for McCain, but not until I feel like I really know where he stands on things. Right now he is just staying a bit too ambiguous for my taste, but I understand it’s necessary to appeal to a broader voter base. But I agree that this election is the Democrats’ to lose. I think if Obama gets the nod, he’ll go all the way. Clinton might not. There are just too many people who don’t like her. Whether or not the Dems are smart enough to pick Obama is another question, though. If they had chosen anyone even slightly less liberal than Kerry last time around, we would have a Democrat in the White House right now.

My professor in Game Theory is sure it was Karl Rove in the back pulling strings to catapult McCain over Romney on Super Tuesday.

Has Anne Van Den Nouweland gone off the deep end?

“Now, I personally feel like the Republicans ought to throw away a few more election cycles chasing after the fading glory of the Tancredo/DeLay/Fallwell[sic, but he deserves no better]/Abramoff coalition because…”

Excuse me, the what?

Don’t get me wrong, by the way: there genuinely are issues where McCain is at odds with the Republican base. (Primarily immigration and First Amendment stuff.) My point was just that he hasn’t really been trying to cover these differences up - mostly because it wouldn’t have worked. The problem with being a career Senator is that the voting record follows you around.

(And hey, demagogues are people too, y’know.)

You heard it here first: there will not be a third G.W. Bush administration.

EDG: which issues has McCain lied about? If you’re talking about his vote against the Bush tax cuts, I think his justification for it is quite principled. (Representing the limited-government party, Bush just submitted the first $3 trillion federal budget. Golf clap, everyone.) I’m not a big McCain fan, but the Republican candidate with the mysterious Damascene conversion was Mitt Romney, not him.

Anyway, barring a complete Democratic meltdown, I think the race is theirs to lose. Of course, the same was true in February 2004.

I’ll leave you to decide what that means.

i think they’ve decided to “give this one to the dems” so they can be blamed for all of the disasters of the bush/cheney/rove presidency, and be stuck cleaning everything up for the next 4 years. and they THINK they’ll get it back the following term.

but they are completely out of touch with the majority of americans (as usual) and baraq will be re-elected in 2012!!!