by David Alvord
It must've been hard for Mitt to swallow his pride and back the man who, only months earlier, called him a flip-flopper. It must have taken a great deal of humility for Romney to back McCain after he drummed up that fake story about Mitt not supporting the surge. Perhaps the hardest blow to Romney was when McCain won the nomination, not by being the conservative, but rather by being the moderate. The conservatives: Romney, Thompson, and Huckabee, all split their votes (Romney having won most of them). The split of the conservative votes left McCain as the last man standing but hardly the man who most Republicans wanted. It must have been hard...
But Romney has come out for McCain...and it is time that we follow his example. We back McCain not for the man, but for the principles and for how he'd govern.
Why did Romney back McCain? The cynical answer would be that Romney wants to be Veep. Perhaps this isn't necessarily a bad idea. After all, many question whether McCain, if elected, will seek a second term. Romney would be the next in line. Also, if Romney truly believes that conservative principles are what America needs, he would want to be next to the man who holds the nation's highest office. Romney must realize that a conservative Vice President could offer good counsel to the POTUS.
But to back McCain, Romney, and the rest of us, will have to ignore some deficiencies in our candidate. We will have to ignore McCain's global warming pitches. We will have to forgive him for screwing up campaign finance. We'll have to get over all the times he has been a thorn in the side of conservative lawmakers. And we'll have to forget how he treated our candidate of choice.
Why?
When in comes to taxes, abortion, gay marriage, guns, and health care, would we not have a better chance with a McCain presidency than with an Obama presidency?
The appointing of court justices are another big reason to support McCain. Between Obama and McCain, who would you guess would appoint the more conservative judge? And the President is not limited the appointment of court justices, he also appoints innumerable government positions. Would not our flawed candidate do better than Obama?
Romney's reason for supporting McCain is simple: we are at war. Whether or not you think that we should have gotten into Iraq, you should agree that we would be better off with a free Iraq than with an Al Quaeda-run Iraq. McCain has staked his whole political career on Iraq. You have to admire him for that. Iraq is a terrible problem! Any person who wants to take on that war deserves our respect. Can you imagine someone inheriting the civil war from Lincoln? Who would want that job? Yet, John McCain is not only willing to step up to the plate, he is also willing to finish the job the right way.
I urge all readers to carefully consider supporting John McCain for our nation's highest office...if our man Mitt can do it, so can we.
