“Some people think that we might be better off sinking McCain and at the same time send a message that candidates of his ilk need not apply in the future.”
Uhhh, exactly whom is that message supposedly being sent to? Not the GOP, it was hundreds of thousands of primary voters that are voting for McCain. Do you honestly think they are going to believe their candidate didn’t win the general because they voted for him in the primary?
Do you honestly think 90% of the electorate will think that hard about it?
First, let me say that I was answereing your question, not stating this was my position.
As to whom the message would be sent to.......... I suspect that would be any future RINO who would know that he would be wasting his time without a conservative base. Maybe even the party machine.
This action is very appealing to me and I would probably consider it, were it not for SCOTUS and fed judge appontments, national security, etc........
But there other hundreds of thousands who never got a chance to cast an effective vote against him. Such the voters in Texas and Ohio, among others. This was due, in part, to the order of the primaries, which had mostly liberal or less conservative states up front. This eliminated many of the Conservative candidates as they lost momentum, and funding. That and the MSM, and many here as well, tendency to treat elections as horse races.