I would like a more conservative nominee.

Hopefully, developing….

If McCain doesn’t show much progress in a month, an organized protest vote for Fred might be the ticket.

I agree that candidates should be examined as part of the primary process. I’ve seen all I need to see of McCain. He’s still angry, cynical, and temperamental. All he needs to do is blow his stack in one debate vs. either Hillary or Obama, and the media narrative will be set. Look what happened to Rick Lazio in the NY Senate race when he “violated Hillary’s space”. At that point the issues will not matter any more, McCain will lose — and we’ll have at least four years of full (House + Senate + White House) Democrat rule.

Tom, I frankly disagreed with you (silently) when reading the various “Objectively Unfit Mitt” posts. I felt that you didn’t want him as the nominee, and today he withdrew. The “congratulations” were offered because you got what you wanted.

(Full disclosure — I was hoping that Romney would remain viable at least until the Ohio Primary on March 4th. I’ve never actually voted in a meaningful primary in my life, and this would have been the first time … 8^)

I think we’ll all agree that he does stick to his beliefs, the ones we like and the ones we really, really don’t.

However, I believe that he is a survivor, and that if he sees something that threatens his survival that he can’t beat, he’ll accommodate it (e.g., “secure the bleeping borders first”). Not ideal, but at least not a “bleep you.”

I believe he hasn’t had to worry about re-election, or even about E-lection, to the senate for a long, long time.

If I were McCain, I would have picked someone other than Dole and the others to back me up. But that’s probably all that was available.

He’s in the fight of his life again HRC or BOOHOO, and I hope he figures out that the way through is to find the conservative that’s always been inside him (crossing fingers, hoping).

In any event, McCain has lots of explaining to do, simply claiming he is the Repub nominee will not cut it to win in November. Here is an undeniable fact, there are more Dems than Repubs, and there are almost as many independents. So what precisely is McCain’s appeal to Dems and Independents? What will McCain claim as his difference from Obama or Clinton? Or, how will McCain claim he can do what a Dem does but better to draw their votes? How will McCain overcome Obama’s charisma when McCain doesn’t have any himself? To put a sharp point on this since when does an angry person engender leadership when he is NOT known as one who gives people hope in the future? It was very telling that Bob Dole got into the fray by sending a note to Rush to defend McCain. Dole lost to Carter and Clinton because he himself does not engender hope, while the two hucksters did.

Honestly, whether you agree or not with McCain, I think the fact he has the principles to stand by his guns is more impressive and demonstrates better leadership than

The congrats from #3 are from someone who must have thought that what I did had influence. I’ll accept his congrats, while not asserting that I have the evidence to be able to agree with him.

The Mass Resistance and other folks may have a basis for concluding that they DID have an influence. I do know they sent out 1-1/2 million e-mails to the Super Tuesday states in the 48 hours before the elections. I do know that Romney pretty consistently underperformed vs. “the polls” in Super Tuesday states. Either the polls were wrong, or “something” caused the underperformance.

That underperformance, wherever it came from, triggered a reassessment at Team Romney. Of course you’re right that it was Romney’s decision alone. But it could very well be that part of the decision equation was along the lines of “We’re going to have to deal with these Mass Resistance people every week. We can’t try to deflect what they’re saying, because we’re too far down the road in pretending they don’t exist and calling them delusional whenever we run into one. So we’re at their mercy indefinitely, and we can’t get around or past them.”

If that’s so, and they have knowledge of it, Mass Resistance has a right to crow. I don’t know whether they do, and I don’t know if they plan on crowing. I know I don’t.

But I will say, #3, we all will be very busy these next months examining in every detail the record of Clinton and Obama. The American people have every right to know who they are, what they said and what they stand for in desiring to the president.

as much as Tom may want to take credit for Romney bowing out

There is no indication that I’m taking credit for anything like that in this post, and no conceivable way to interpret anything in this post in that way.

I AM proud to have been associated with the people in Massachusetts who have been trying to tell the rest of the nation about Mitt Romney’s objective unfitness. I can only hope to have had some influence on some people, but I know (and you know) that one can’t PROVE anything.

I think you’re giving props to Romney for dropping out when he did, and for the reason that he stated. If so, I agree.

I don’t mind Huck staying in, and to be consistent, I’m sure not going to be like too many have been over the past two months, telling candidates to give it up just because they hit a bump in the road. Though I believe he’s a flawed candidate (not at the level of Romney, though), if Huck either thinks he has a chance of winning, or even to move the dialog in a meaningful way, who the heck am I to tell him to give it up? And even though he has no chance of winning and I believe he’s unacceptable, the same goes for Ron Paul.

Quite frankly I am astounded that as a Repub you would take that stance anyway since the point of having various candidates run for the nomination is to put themselves up for inspection as to whether the Party followers will accept their leadership. IF any Repub can not stand up to inspection then they have no business being nominated. The same goes for McCain or anyone else. Just because your ox has been gored doesn’t entitle you to sour grapes at those who did the inspecting. Tom did us all a service by examining Romney in detail, we as Party members, and I am a party member, are entitled to know all the details of who asks us to submit to their leadership. Warner Huston on his blog did the same for McCain. We are entitled to know them warts and all! That’s one of the few times you will ever hear me say I am entitled to something.