Desperate Conservatives

With the growing inevitability of a McCain nomination, the irrational base of the Republican Party will likely pull out all the stops to defeat his flamingly liberal candidacy (which, oddly enough, falls into line with the party 9 out of 10 times). In the latest assault, a rabid Ann Coulters tries to rationalize to the base that a Clinton Presidency will ultimately benefit the conservative movement more than a McCain Presidency.

Why would any Republican vote for McCain? At least under President Hillary, Republicans in Congress would know that they're supposed to fight back. When President McCain proposes the same ideas - tax hikes, liberal judges and Social Security for illegals - Republicans in Congress will support "our" president - just as they supported, if only briefly, Bush's great ideas on amnesty and Harriet Miers.

You need little flags like that for Republicans since, as we know from the recent unpleasantness in Florida, Republicans are unalterably stupid. Republicans who vote for McCain are trying to be cute, like the Democrats were four years ago by voting for the "pragmatic" candidate, Vietnam vet John Kerry. This will turn out to be precisely as clever a gambit as nominating Kerry was, the brilliance of which was revealed on Election Day 2004.