Is It Really Over?

I’m sure in the very near future we are going to see more and more Republicans either jumping ship on McCain or trying to cozy up to their nominee. Just a quick glance at National Review’s The Corner and you’ll see the process at work. I’m not understanding, though, what exactly it is about McCain die hard Republicans don’t like, but do like in Romney. It’s not like Romney is mister conservative by any stretch of the imagination. Less than a year ago he was pro-choice, pro-gay, and anti-gun and according to Christian doctrine is anything but. Now I know Romney is currently saying all the right stuff that conservatives want to hear. He’s spent millions of his own fortune trying to convince people that the 90s didn’t happen and that he was never left of center. He’s done a relatively good job of it as monumental flip-flops are concerned. But what I’m not getting is how Big Love Romney is any more conservative than someone who has been in the senate for decades and has one of the most conservative voting records out there. Why is John McCain so repulsive to Rush Limbaugh and the right wing nut jobs?

For instance, Florida exit polls provide all the proof. Romney won self-proclaimed “conservatives” 37-27, which is kind of shocking when 39% of the people who pulled a Republican ballot consider themselves moderate-liberal. Of those who consider themselves “very conservative,” Romney took home 44%. To me that’s a staggering amount for a party that prides itself as a standing firm, never retreating, flip-flopping is a moral sin kind of party.

What else is interesting is to see Huckabee still pulling 17% of the “conservative” vote. Match that to McCain’s 27% and we almost have a Republican ticket that so-called conservatives can be proud of. But when 2/5 who voted in a Republican primary, in a very southern state, considers themselves moderate to liberal, I’m not sure there’s really any reason to consider “conservatism” as a contending American ideology anymore.