...and how exactly is voting like a market?

Imagine if everyone in the US had only a single dollar, and could only spend it once and that was it, no more dollars.

I could go on, but I think it is clear that the analogy between voting and the marketplace is...a little lacking.

You foolish man. You stupid man. You hypocritical hack.

Nothing hurts the cause more than apostasy by its "leader."

Obama or Clinton are infinitely superior to John McCain, a liberal pretending to be a conservative.
.

McCain will be better than either of the Democrats. We need to keep that in mind. The way to win is not to get blown out and then think Republicans will "learn their lesson." They may learn, but it could be at a steep price. The Democrats would do a lot of damage to our country in 4 years time.

I think what we should do is organize to nominate viable conservatives in our primaries for the House and Senate. Then we campaign hard for these people in November. We all need to mobilize at the local level. We need to take back our government one person at a time.

Too many people don't do their due diligence on these candidates and then complain when they don't get what they thought the were getting.

If people complain about the candidates we have no one to blame but ourselves. We chose them.

AN OPEN LETTER TO MITT ROMNEY AND ALL AMERICANS.

Dear Mr. Romney,

I was devastated to learn of your decision to leave the race for the Presidency. I know that the DNC controlled media was completely behind destroying your credibility and campaign. True conservatives like me are dwindling in number because of the continuous onslaught of liberally biased news, control of the entire school systems from kindergarten through universities. As you know, labor unions and trial lawyers constantly seek to divide people through class envy and lawsuits.

As I pay more attention to political system in this country, I am uncovering extremely disturbing information, specifically how Liberalism appears to be nothing more than a camouflaged name for Socialism/Communism. What convinced me of this was what I found on this website: [www.cpusa.org]. After scrolling down the page I was absolutely stunned to see how closely it parallels the agenda of today’s Democrat Party.

What disturbed me even more is that while spending many hours on the internet blogging, commenting, and writing letters to editors in support of you, I came across many “Liberal” bloggers. On more than one occasion I would set them up by asking them to explain all the benefits of Liberalism. After doing so I would then provide the link to the Communist Party of America website referenced above. A few of them had no reply after viewing the website but shockingly, many of them actually DEFENDED the Communist Party platform as being “good” for America. To put it mildly, it is scary to realize that there appear to be thousands, if not MILLIONS, of these “operatives” amongst us.

While at a rally for you near Tampa two weeks ago, I met a TV producer who interviewed me for a few minutes. After the interview I spoke with him for several minutes. It turns out that grew up in Czechoslovakia, most likely under Communism, although I didn’t ask him specifically. Out of curiosity, I asked him his opinion as to what was taking place behind closed doors with the media/journalism world. He asked if I remember Nikita Khruschev’s words, "We will bury you!". I told him that I did and that I remember him also saying that "we will not bury you militarily, but from within". Without hesitation, and in all seriousness, the TV producer told me that what we are witnessing, here and now, in the United States of America, is the slow, incremental Communist takeover. Even though I have long suspected it, I was stunned to hear it from an inside source.

I grew up during the cold war when we were constantly told of the dangers and spread of Communism. In fact, as children, we were scared to death of it by our PUBLIC school teachers. Can you imagine that being taught in today’s classrooms? With the spread of Liberalism and the takeover of our public schools, I’m sure that the dangers of Communism haven’t been taught for years to our children and students. As a result, each successive generation becomes increasingly aware of what it even is. My only son is 6 years old and I truly fear for his future and it is the main reason I send him to a private school that, fortunately, is run by staunch conservative and noted author. If this Democrat led Communist conspiracy is allowed to continue unabated and unchallenged, by the time my son and all children his age, are young adults it may be too late.

People are already talking about you as a 2012 presidential candidate which is all well and good, but I honestly feel it may be too late by then to stem the growing Tsunami.

There are now just two “counters” to Socialism/Communism and they are conservative talk radio and the internet. And you can see how all of the talk radio hosts who supported you were vilified by none other than the Democrat Party Propaganda Machine TV and press. I firmly believe that if Democrats win the White House this year, talk radio as we know it will be off the air before 2012. That will leave just the internet as a last bastion of hope in our fight to maintain our freedom and democracy.

I will write you in on my ballot in November and I encourage ALL truly conerned Americans who love this country to do the same. Please pass this along.

TO: Dan R.
McCain's record "solidly conservative"? Don't know what you're smoking but if you think the following list of McCain "accomplishments" is conservative, you're in the wrong party Mr.

JOHN MCCAIN...THE LIBERAL'S CONSERVATIVE

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: he wrote the bill granting amnesty to illegal immigrants (co-sponsored by Ted Kennedy).

SOCIAL SECURITY: he voted to give your social security money to illegal immigrants.
TAXES: he voted against the Bush tax cuts multiple times (he has since flip-flopped and has campaigned as a lifelong tax-cutter).

RHETORIC: he routinely engages in Democratic class warfare against big companies in America, particularly the “evil” drug companies who research cures to debilitating diseases for a profit.

ECONOMY: as recently as December 2007 he admitted “he does not know the economy very well” and needed to get better at it.

1ST AMENDMENT: he wrote the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that was declared to be an unconstitutional infringement of the 1st Amendment (co-sponsored by ultra-liberal Democrat Russ Feingold).

2ND AMENDMENT: he was called the “worst 2nd amendment candidate” by the president of the NRA.

ENERGY TAX: wrote a bill (co-sponsored by his buddy Lieberman) imposing a massive tax on energy which, according to the Department of Energy, would drastically raise the price of gasoline and put 300,000 Americans out of work.

GLOBAL WARMING: supports radical global warming legislation which involved him voting with every Democrat; think only America is responsible to take action, not other superpowers.

JUDGES: he joined forces with Democrats (Gang of 14) to block the Senate Republican’s attempt to confirm conservative, strict constructionist judges; also said Alito was too conservative for his liking.

WAR ON TERROR: fought with Hillary Clinton to demand that terrorists be given a full AMERICAN trial.

I was watching one of these angry conservatives on the ABC broadcast the other day, and I was struck by how young and stupid she was. She was proud of herself for shouting RINO at McCain, and bragged about her hatred for "Republicans in Name Only."

First of all, if you actively use the term RINO to attack others, please go home, grab a tackhammer, and hit yourself in the head about forty times because you are a MORON.

I would hope that all of us are RINOS. I certainly am. I consider the term Republican to be just that: A NAME.

Because I tend to give money to and vote for Republicans, this makes me a Republican, I guess. When Republicans start doing things I don't like (see Tom Delay and his congress full of free-spending, K-Street idiots), I stop giving money to the party and I become disinterested in politics in general. That's because I don't give a sh&t about the GOP as a party. I care about the United States.

In general, I think Republican policies give the United States the best chance to compete in the global economy and to emerge victorious on the field of battle. That's why I vote Republican.

Clearly, John McCain will be a much better president than either Obama or Clinton. He will be a good commander-in-chief for AMERICA, and he will be a tough old pr*ck when it comes to runaway spending.

Whether or not silly little boys and girls who call themselves "conservatives" like or dislike McCain means nothing to me.

Whether or not the Republican party gets blamed if things go wrong in the next four years means even less.

My conscience tells me to vote pro-life. My conscience tells me to vote pro-American military. My conscience tells me to vote for fiscal discipline.

My conscience tells me to vote for John McCain.

I am glad Huck is staying in to make it interesting and to keep the values voters agenda on the mind of platform makers. But Mac is "conservative enough" for me as well. The one who wasn't was Mitt who we eliminated. He is just enjoying the myth of conservatism created for him by Limbuagh. Not many bought into it however.

Sigh. I see by many of the responses that this article is not winning over the Shiite crowd of the Republican Party. As a self-declared moderate, I have to say that it's really offensive to keep hearing the nasty remarks from Rush, Hannity, Beck, etc. which assume that one can only be ultra-conservative or ultra-liberal. (Nor could I handle the conspiracy theory claims by Beck about how the liberal media is out to sink Romney because they know he has such a great chance to win in November.) Calm down and take a deep breath, folks. Besides, it's not like these far right ideologues are intellectuals, just big mouths with microphones. The "true conservative" isn't coming down from heaven any time soon. We might have to take a more nuanced and thoughtful approach to politics instead of reducing the party to the size of a few egotistical voices.

I ask myself, "what would Howard Roark do?"


[www.youtube.com]

Everytime I reconcile myself to holding my nose, voting for McCain, and spending the rest of November 08 curled up in a fetal position in my shower, I read a condescending hit piece by some McCain sycophant about how morally deficient I am because I would rather not vote for their self important horses-ass of a candidate ! There is another characteristic of liberals I would like to point out: the belief that you are entitled to something that belongs to someone else. These party machine types act as if conservatives owe them their support and like liberals, use fear of the other guy to get it. As far as I'm concerned, the day Romney had to drop out this election was over and the good guys lost. If American democracy has devolved to a choice between four mediocre to piss poor quality class warfare demagogues, I just don't see the point.

Mark, I understand what you are saying. However... for me, it's not so much the many liberal issues that McCain has, it's how dangerous a few of them can be. For example...I see two "most" important issues. One is the most "immediate" issue, and the other one is the most "long range" issue. The most immediate, of course, is the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, that is putting our troops in harms way everyday. But, that war, like all wars, will be over someday and our forces will come home. The most important long range issue is ILLEGAL Immigration! Making a mistake here, ( legalizing TEN MILLION, or most probably, more of them), will negatively change our country, forever! Every other issue mentioned in your article, and in some of the well researched 'comments,' can be changed or altered. But the "surge" of people, most of whom speak a foreign language, being 'authorized' as American citizens in such a short span, will be overwhelming! And, our government, at all levels, has shown us, that they do not have "what it takes", (fill in your own phrase here), to enforce any laws! Our country, will never be the same! There are no "do over's" no going back. And... remember there could be up to 80% or more of them that will be able to bring their families here! That makes the TEN MILLION number pale in comparison to the FORTY or more MILLION that could be on their way HERE!
So... with that said, I will NOT vote for McCain. (I was planning to vote for Romney). I will vote, of course, but not for liberals, after all, isn't that why I'm not voting for McCain?! I could even vote for him on some of those issues I disagree with, (because they could be corrected). But, his support for AMNESTY, (legalizing ten's of millions of ILLEGAL Aliens), prevents me from doing so! The Democrats are on the same page as McCain when it comes to AMNESTY for ILLEGAL Aliens! So, let the Democrats take the blame down the road. Let the historians tell the story how the Democrats blew it! Not the Republicans. I'll do a 'write in" vote for Romney.
Thank you1

Great article and a super reply by Dan R (comment #6). I always considered myself a strong conservative, but I must have been delusional if what Rush "Torquemada" Limbaugh and his fellow Inquisitors say about Sen. McCain is the final word. If they keep tightening and tightening the definition of conservatism we are going to end up with a country that is 95% liberal or moderate. But, hey, what the heck, the 5% conservatives will sure be pure!

Dan,

Huckabee needs 80% of the delegates, not the vote, to get to 1191. Unlike the Dems our delegates aren't generally passed out proportionally. If they were, then McCain wouldn't even be close. But getting to 1191 is not really the point.

McCain still needs 40% of the remaining delegates to get to 1191. The general belief going into the campaign was that it would end on the floor in Minneapolis.

At that point we could find a favorable candidate. It definitely wouldn't be McCain, as he obviously would have been beaten like a drum by Huckabee for months to end up in that position. It definitely wouldn't be Romney as he generally finished 3rd in 3 way contests, 2nd in two way contests and only won when no one else showed up.

It could be Huckabee, who would obviously have built momentum. But it could also be someone more palatable to the whole party such as Gov. Beasley from SC or Gov. Barbour from MS.

The important message here is, the nomination doesn't belong to John McCain because he's earned 60% of the delegates to nominate him. There are still a ton of states whose voters haven't had the opportunity to have their say. States like NC, MS, TX, KY, IN and OH, where Mr. Huckabee is likely to beat Mr. McCain badly.

Remember the winner take all Feb. 5 northeastern primaries were a construct designed for Mr. Guiliani. To date about 55% of the voters have cast ballots and Mr. McCain hasn't gotten even 40% of the votes cast. It's ridiculus to claim him to be the winner.

When you have multiple candidates for President, each candidate is going to have a strong support base who will fight for and support their candidate's position.... That is good.... Eventually however, the Party can only nominate one candidate and the one that is left standing after the primary contests is our guy.... While these candidates all will have different positions on issues with some being more liberal or conservative than others, they all belong to the same party and and should agree on a couple of basics that help us differentiate ourselves from THE DEMOCRATS.... So, what are they???

SOME BASIC REPUBLICAN BELIEFS

1) We should all believe in lower taxes.
2) We should all believe in LESS Government involvement in our daily lives through needless laws, statutes and entitlements.
3) Most all of us believe that we should take the OFFENSIVE in the WAR ON TERROR.
4) Most of us believe in the Sanctity of LIFE and that we should protect it (although there are some good card carrying Republicans who believe that the woman should always have the right to choose.
5) Most of us believe in protection of the second amendment (the right to own and bare arms).
6) Most of us believe in PROTECTING OUR BORDERS.
7) Last but not least, Most of us want solid Conservative Constructionist Nominees considered for appointments to the Supreme Court.


Virtually everyone of our candidates (Thompson, Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee and McCain and Paul) though they were and are different on some issues, support all or the majority of thes basic Republican Beliefs and would take them with them into office as an elected President..... To the Contrary, Either of the Demos that we would face would not take one of these beliefs with them to the office and we simply cannot afford that.....

I think of myself as a Fiscal Conservative and a fan of both Thompson and Romney, but neither one are still in the race.... I am angry about some of the things that happened during the campaign that I thought was either cheap, dishonest or at the very least unfair and it gave rise in my mind that I could not support one or both of the remaining Candidates as a result..... I was wrong for feeling that way.... I must support our candidate (McCain or Huckabee.... and it is looking pretty likely like it is going to be McCain) because he will bring us the major share of The Republican Basic Values that I have laid out.... Is it the most desired of conclusions for me.... Absolutely not.... But it is a million times better than Queen Hillary or the inexperienced, 100 days in the senate man, Obama....

I don't know if any of this helps you guys, but this reasoning is the only thing that has helped me maintain an Objective View Point in this Election Cycle.... I hope it helps some of you who might be wrestling with this as well.

"If these people can't eventually calm down and see that John McCain represents an infinitely better choice for president than Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, then I sincerely hope that they leave the Republican Party for good. I really do. The party doesn't need stupid, intolerant, self-righteuous schmucks like them. "

But if all the stupid, intolerant, self righteous schmucks leave the republican party there'll be no one left.

Why don't all you "republicans" or whatever the hell you like to call yourselves go hide under a desk from the "dreaded terrorists". Talk about whiny babies. "Oh protect me from the evil doers." "Go ahead take away all my constitutional rights." "As long as I'm "safe" you can do anything to trash the very constitution this country was founded on. "

As long as Exxon/Mobil/Unocal/Shell/Halliburtan and the Carlyle group are doing well. Who cares if my job's been shipped to China. If you don't like illegal immigrants don't hire them. You're all a bunch of hypocrites with your maids, landscapers and cheap immigrant labor padding your profits. Oh I forgot if you punish the employers who are expoiting these workers you'd be punishing your base.

You people don't want freedom... you want someone to dictate to you what to do and how to do it.
*%#&'n sheep is what you are.

Obama and even Clinton, would be far better choices than any of the current batch of pathetic jokes being foisted upon the American public by the republics party.

I'm sick and tired and I'm not going to take it anymore. IMPEACH BUSH AND CHENEY and haul them off to prison in shackles.