October 12, 2008
"I will be proud to have lost with Sarah Palin"
Mark, writing about how certain "conservative intellectuals" are jumping ship...
....As for the "old" vs the "new" McCain, I've had little use for either, as NR subscribers who read my cover story on him from eight-and-a-half years ago might dimly recall. I support him faute de mieux, and that's it. Clearly, he's found it difficult (to put it mildly) to make the transition from running against his party to running for it. There's a lesson there: "Maverick" is an attitude, not a coherent worldview, which is why McCain has been unable to make maverickiness (maverectomy?) into a viable electoral platform. Of course, "hope" and "change" are attitudes, too, but so fluffy as to float free of the constraints of reality.
But, if the combination of gazillions of dollars in illegal foreign donations, Acorn's Dig-Up-The-Vote operation, a doting media that would embarrass Kim Jong-Il and the Republican nominee's inability even to speak up on issues where he was right all along (like Fannie Mae), if all that is now unstoppable, I will be proud to have lost with Sarah Palin, who (unlike Brooks and Buckley) runs a state bigger than most European Union nations, has fought an honorable campaign, and has been responsible for such energy and enthusiasm as the ticket can muster.
Given that neither of us are likely to be in the club-car caboose with Brooks et al come January, if she's ever in New Hampshire, I'll be happy to thank her and buy her dinner at the state's least worst restaurant. Which should set me back all of 12 bucks, but it's the thought that counts.
Amen, Brother Mark. Can I come too?
Look folks, things are bad. Everything is probably going to go by the board. I shall go down honorably, spitting my contemp for David Brooks and Christopher Buckley.
BUT, the birds still sing,, the sun still rises, and......there is, awesomely, Jewgrass Music! Enjoy.
Posted by John Weidner at October 12, 2008 08:37 PM
The problem with McCain was always bigger than winning or losing the election. The problem is that the conservative argument never gets heard. It never gets heard because it is never made. Even if Ronald Reagan had lost to Carter in 1980 he still would have been a more consequential figure than a victorious John McCain.
Posted by: Mike Plaiss at October 13, 2008 06:45 AMMcCain has some good instincts, but no philosophy. No system.
I think Palin has much better instincts, but still something of the same problem. Governing a state is sort of like being captain of a ship in a fleet, (before the invention of radio---think of Captain Aubrey and a fleet sailing to the Indies.). A captain only has responsibility for his own vessel, and he may not even know where the fleet is going! His duties are mostly obvious.
The president is like the admiral commanding the whole fleet. His responsibilities are qualitatively different. He has to deeply understand the objectives of the government back home, and then apply them to totally unexpected circumstances.
Palin should be reading RJ ;-)
Posted by: John Weidner at October 13, 2008 10:27 AM
