We Need Conservative Champions

Before I get too many comments about the previous post, reminding me that McCain was our candidate this election and that, let's face it, he was part of the problem, I'd like to turn that argument inside out.

McCain was not the cause of the problem. He was the result of the problem.

If you read the article linked in the previous post, you'll see that the writer believes that the Conservative message is what's losing elections for Republicans, and he is convinced that the "new" voters for Obama indicate a popular trend left.

In that post I expressed my sharp disagreement with that superficial thinking. Unfortunately that shallow conclusion has been embraced by some "influential" Republicans, and so-called Conservatives, mostly of the Country Club variety.

And proof of that was the candidacy of John McCain. McCain is the result of Republicans already being poisoned with this nonsense, and rather than nominating a real Conservative, they hedged their bets. They abandoned principles to win.

And we see what happened.

McCain has made enough compromises with Democrats that he couldn't entirely condemn their thinking and their agenda. He has voted with them, he has agreed with them, he has stood with them against his own party. That makes some pretty soft ground on which to take a stand. He is not Conservative enough to clearly differentiate himself from them. And when he tried to, he couldn't do it with the passion of a true-believer, because he isn't one.

The difference between the public's reception of him and The Beauteous Sarah makes the point. She is the real thing. And they love her.

If anyone doubts that she was a good part of his success in doing as well as he did against the Left/Media machine, he's probably past his Conservative sell-by date, like George Will and the tea-cup-pinky elitist, Peggy Noonan.

Anyone could see how she energized not only the Conservative base, but everyone who saw her. That so many who never saw her had a bad impression of her is because the Media saw to it they did—with an endless barrage of scurrilously negative coverage.

Some in the Republican Party have already drunk the poisonous Kool-Aid that insists we must modify and moderate our message if we want to win elections.

But that is not the cure. It is the disease.

Yes, we are going to have to find a way to neutralize the media. But we also have to start nominating people who believe in and can articulate the Conservative message with clarity, passion and conviction. No more "pragmatic" compromises.

Then we'll start winning elections.

The Gunslinger