Monday, January 14, 2008

What unites Republicans? Disdain for Republican Candidates

John Hawkins writes today to take a piss at another Republican Presidential Candidate; this time John McCain is the lucky dog. Apparently nominating him would be a disaster for the Republican Party.
I don't believe in protest votes and besides, the presidency is bigger than any one issue. Still, when you set up a situation where people on your own side are perversely incentivized to sabotage the candidacy of your party's President over the biggest domestic issue of last year, you're not just asking for trouble, you're begging for it.

What kind of trouble? Millions and millions of Republicans staying home, conservatives putting equal priority on fighting the Democrats and fighting against the ideas of their own candidate for the presidency, a third party effort, fund raising for Republican candidates dropping even lower than the anemic level it's already at and perhaps losing an extra 2-3 Senate seats and another 5-10 House seats -- or perhaps not.
What's interesting about the tone of this article is how it seems like the Republican Party controls the nomination, not the people. What are primaries for? I mean if a bunch of Republicans show up and vote for McCain as their nominee, doesn't that imply they are also willing to vote for him for President? I get that some Democrats may move over and vote for a loser, but I don't think they are statistically significant.

Frankly, given the articles I've been reading, it's unlikely the Conservative Base is going to be happy whatever happens.

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