McCain Emerges as G.O.P. Choice

With Mitt Romney finally stepping out of the race to lead the Republican Party, John McCain is now guaranteed to take the nomination. Why Huckabee remains in the race is anyone's guess.

Romney has made it clear that he is stepping down in the hope of unifying the party:

Senator John McCain all but captured the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday after Mitt Romney withdrew from the race, saying the war in Iraq and the terrorist threat made it imperative that the party unite.

However, I notice that people like Malkin are refusing to heed such calls and are still insisting that McCain is not their candidate.

I respect his decision to stand in the lion’s den, and I agreed with much of the speech. I found myself nodding as he touted his opposition to ethanol subsidies, national catastrophic insurance, and the Medicare prescription drug benefit. But I don’t for a minute buy his claim that he “respects the opposition” of his staunchest opponents, especially the anti-amnesty crowd. These are folks he has cursed and likened to Bull Connor-style bigots. He has done nothing to rid his campaign staff and finance board of the most extreme open-borders zealots.

I said he needed to do more than mouth the Right platitudes.

Still waiting.

And, again, it's the subject of immigration that has them frothing at the mouth.

And this is despite the fact that even Bush is said to be expected to endorse McCain for the presidency:

President Bush is to speak to the group on Friday and will indirectly vouch for his old rival for the 2000 Republican nomination, according to a text of his remarks released by the White House. “Soon we will have a nominee who will carry the conservative banner into this election and beyond,” Mr. Bush is to say.

Of course, the thing that McCain's nomination signifies, and the reason that it generates such fury amongst Malkin, Limbaugh and others, is that it perhaps represents "the beginning of the end of Christian fundamentalism incorporated into national politics."

As a non-Bush, even anti-Bush Republican, he resembles something of a throwback to another generation.

For while it may be hard to remember now, there was a time when to be a leading Republican did not mean "doing God". It did not mean embracing a "pro-Life" stance as an article of faith. Nor did it entail any obligation to introduce faith-based groups, prayer sessions or any other forms of religious devotion into the structures of the administration.

For so long in the Republican party these people have been calling the shots, and it's been impossible to imagine a Republican candidate who had not won the approval of southern Evangelicals. Mary Dejevsky ruminates on the consequences of this:

And if he does become the nominee, what we will be looking at is not mould-breaking, but a return to a Republicanism that predates the rise of the southern Evangelicals, on whose coat-tails George W Bush rode so successfully into office.

The significance of this reversion in changing the complexion of US politics cannot be overestimated. It would effectively mark the end of the religious right as a serious political force in Washington.

A 15-year experiment that began with the Georgia Senator, Newt Gingrich, and his Contract with America, would be reaching the end of its natural life.

With it, arguably, could go much of the political influence of the conservative south. The nomination of John McCain could then take on even more significance, ending the 50- year rise in the twin influences of the south and the religious right in US politics.

McCain's nomination represents a break with the religious right, which anyone who embraces the separation of church and state should welcome.

However, I fear that Dejevsky is missing one important point. The chances are that McCain will lose the national election, at which point I fully expect it to be argued that this happened because he wasn't acceptable to the southern Evangelicals.

And, when that happens, the Republicans will find themselves right back at square one.

Click title for full article.

Tags: McCain, Romney, GOP candidate, Republican presidential nominee, US election 2008