Citizen McCain

With Mitt Romney's withdrawal from the Republican race, the nomination of Senator John McCain is all but assured.

I disagree with Senator McCain on any number of points, but I have to give him credit for the virtue of tenacity. A few months ago, his campaign was broke, he was a distant fourth in the polls and few people gave him much of a chance. He hung on, the same way the younger John McCain hung on back in the POW tiger cage in North Vietnam. I have not forgotten that he was brutally tortured for refusing to give his country's enemies what another Senator, John Kerry enthusiastically gave them willingly and for free.

That kind of tenacity and courage can take someone a long way in uncertain times.

Senator McCain today addressed the CPAC convention, right after Mitt Romney announced he was suspending his campaign, and it was obvious that he made a honest effort to appeal to the party's conservative base and appeal for unity, including having ex-Senator George Allen of Virginia introduce him.

It was a decent speech, but whether it was sincere or merely red meat rhetoric to satisfy the base remains to be seen.

I fully understand where thinkers like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Mark Steyn are coming from when they decline to support McCain. As Mark Steyn said today on Laura Ingraham's radio show, if we're going to have attempts to give 11 million illegal aliens amnesty, spend billions on global warming, impose tax hikes and mount major assaults on freedom of speech, he'd rather it was during a Hillary presidency when the Republicans in congress could attack these things as the opposition rather than during a McCain presidency when they would be compelled to go along because of party loyalty.

It's no secret that neither Senator McCain nor Mitt Romney were my choices for president.I've already given you an examination of where I think a McCain presidency would be similar to a Clinton presidency, and some important areas where they would differ.

One important area,of course is in the War on Jihad. As opposed to the anti-military and feckless attitudes posed by Hillary and Obama, a President McCain could, I think, be relied on to take this struggle to the enemy and to do what it takes to win it, unlike the present occupant of the White House. Whether he would also bring in cabinet members and advisers to provide the sagacity and the strategic dimensions necessary for victory and to deal with the economic excesses of the Bush Administration is another question, and a lot will be revealed by his choice of a running mate, his foreign policy team and his cabinet.

Those choices will reveal a great about whether Senator McCain was sincere in what he said today. If he is, he is worthy of support - especially given the alternatives.