Where are the conservatives?

As I sat and listened to the conservative "talking heads" this weekend after the Nevada caucus and South Carolina primary, something struck me as quite odd. All of the pundits kept saying how much they liked this year's crop of GOP presidential hopefuls. Furthermore, they all believed all of the Republican candidates were conservatives! Nothing could be further from the truth. Senator John McCain is soft on immigration, terrible on campaign finance, and would rather cut spending than propose common sense tax cuts (though he has stupmed recently that we need to make the Bush tax cuts permanent now that a recession looms on the horizon); Mitt Romney, though likeable, is only new to the conservative movement. Much like Senator John Kerry, Governor Romney has flip-flopped on a number of issues, especially on life and civil unions. He's trying to make himself appear as a conservative, but his record, especially as Governor of Massachusetts, says otherwise. Mike Huckabee, who plays a good bass guitar, is a closet liberal who has social conservative tendencies. He raised taxes as governor of Arkansas a number of times, his record on spending is horrorific, and is positions on illegal immigration as Governor of Arkansas are unacceptable. Besides, he does not play well outisde of the South. Rudy Giulinai, while tough on crime, borders, and terrorism, is really soft when it comes to the social issues, i.e., gay marriage, abortion, etc. One wonders if social conservatives can stomach him. Though he says he would appoint strict constructionists to the bench, you have to wonder. Finally, there's Fred Thompson. Senator Thompson, arguably the most consistent conservative of the bunch, is about to drop out of the race after a number of disappointing showings: Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan, Nevada, and very conservative South Carolina. Thompson's campaign never had "that fire in the belly" one needs to run for the highest office in the land. His positions on most of the issues are solidly conservative, unfortunately, his campaign was quite weak and never caught fire. I look for him to withdraw and support McCain in the next few days. I wouldn't be surprised if Thompson was McCain's running mate if McCain won the nomination. Unfortunately for conservatives, there is not a good, reliable conservative in the race.