There are more—and more honorable—reasons than your either/or scenario.
Some are dismayed to the point of abhorrance at the Gramscian sabotage and sullying within the GOP leadership, whether your personal key issues are fiscal and/or Biblical (’SoCon’) reasons.
I believe it better to throw the usurpers and corrupters out than to abandon the GOP. Others believe otherwise but not all are stupid, or smart shills. In this case, dissent is not unpatriotic.
I agree with Keyes’ stated principles but not his strategies, as I’ve said elsewhere.
I wish more Conservatives would understand and stand ardently for the principles Keyes advocates.
Any other reasons you may claim are neither realistic or practical.
We go to the polls with the candidate we have, not the candidate we wish we had.
Elections are about either/or, choosing one or the other, not “none of the above”.
Elections are pragmatic things.
Elections are about confronting reality, with realistic options.
The reality is this election is McCain vs. Obama, Republican vs. Democrat. Period.
McCain may not be your perfect definition of “conservative”, but he is still the most conservative person at this juncture capable of being sworn in to office on January 20, 2009. That is the reality.
The Democrats have been so successful where Republicans have not because Democrats take every opportunity to advance their agenda, no matter how small it is. And they give no quarter to Republicans to advance their agenda on any front. The Democrats are the Palestinians of American politics.
You can speak in hyperbolic terms about McCain advancing the Democrats’ agenda, but no matter how much that even may be true, he will not advance it an iota of what Obama would. Even if we lose some ground in some areas with McCain, it is not nearly what we would lose with Obama, and those are the two choices we are faced with, and no others.
If McCain displeases us as president, then in 2012 we nominate someone else, and be thankful that at least it wasn’t President Obama during those 4 years.
“I wish more Conservatives would understand and stand ardently for the principles Keyes advocates.”
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Or, in other words, you wish more of those who call themselves conservatives really believed in the original concept of this nation. I find it revealing that Alan Keyes is almost the only national figure who speaks for the founding principles put forth in the Declaration and in the Constitution and he is considered a crackpot by the majority. This seems to confirm what I concluded long ago, the majority of “Americans” don’t really understand what this nation is supposed to be about.