The future of the GOP

Many conservatives are quite unhappy with the prospect of John McCain becoming the GOP nominee, me included. The question becomes "Will John McCain destroy the Republican Party"? The short answer is "no". McCain, who is probably more ideologically similar to Eisenhower, Taft, and Nixon than Reagan, has given conservatives something to rally around as we struggle to take back the Republican Party from the moderates and liberals who have dominated this election cycle. As George Shadroui suggests, "should McCain pick, say, Fred Thompson as his running mate, he would solidify many conservatives who have their doubts. And McCain will need a southern anchor to give him national appeal -- Huckabee will drive off the business constituency and Romney, well, he would have trouble exciting social conservatives as well as the south, as his election results have shown. Well spoken, thoughtful and engaging, Romney could be the future star of the party, but it looks like he won't do it this year. And watching the debate the other night, one cannot imagine Romney and McCain on the same ticket". If McCain wants to be president he'll need the Straight Talk Express to turn to "right" as he courts conservative voters. He needs to articulate his vision and drive it home on a daily basis. McCain also needs to realize that the media will turn on him the moment he's nominated. While the media has given McCain a pass during the primaries to focus their energies on tearing down Giuliani, Huckabee, and Romney, they won't be so generous when he faces off againt either Clinton or Obama. The bottom line is that if Senator McCain wants to be president he will need to energize the conservative base.