McCain vs. the Democrat

There are a number of conservatives (or as I like to refer to us, "Romney Republicans") I've heard from recently who are considering what to do as we start to shift our focus to the general election and the contest vs. whichever Democrat wins their nomination.

Some have suggested that we "sit out" this election or even vote for the Democrat this election. The rationale is that McCain has in most ways shown himself to have liberal tendencies as well as temperament problems towards people who oppose him. The thought is that it would be better to have a Democrat in charge and have to take blame for the problems that would arise from their liberal policies, rather than have that blame assigned to a Republican president who pursues similar policies.

That would be a fairly compelling argument, but I'm increasingly confident that I will not only vote against the Democrat but for McCain.

Here is my rationale in a nutshell. 5 words: "War on Terror" and "Supreme Court." The argument some are making as described above is based on "short term pain for long term gain." However, the War on Terror and Supreme Court are two issues that would mean that a Democrat in the White House would instead mean "short term pain and long term failure" that would be incredibly costly to the United States.

Take the War on Terror. Of all the differences between the two parties right now, perhaps nothing is more dramatic that the issue of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the General War on Terror (GWOT). Obama and Clinton have both said essentially that they will retreat in Iraq. McCain has been one of the strongest supporters of our efforts to adjust and win there. In my opinion, retreat in the face of terrorists will dramatically multiply our struggles in the GWOT going forward, and will increase our risk of future successful terrorist attacks on American soil. The cost of having a Democrat in the White House right now could be devastating in terms of the negative effects of retreating, and this impact could take years to try to reverse and cost us greatly over the long term.

Then the Supreme Court. Because there are only 9 justices, and they serve essentially for life, the impact of even 1 or 2, much less 4 nominations can last for years, even decades. The next president could have this many nominations to make. If a Democrat makes these, you can guarantee liberal nominations will be made. If McCain is making them, while we may not trust him as much right now as we would have Romney, he has committed to nominating justices "like Roberts and Alito" who have been good nominations for conservatives. Most certainly we would be better off by far than having a Democrat make these nominations.

Just on these two issues, I think we should support McCain for this fall.

That said, it also points out just how critical it will be for us to support Republicans for Congress and the Senate this fall. This will be critical.