With a likely Democrat majority in the senate next year, I can easily envision McCain dumping any actual conservative for some 'compromise' Supreme Court nominee, like David Souter, who will be sold as a 'conservative' because he (or she) once voted in favor of one or two 'conservative' issues while on some lower court. Once sworn in, the pretend 'conservative' will promptly rule on the liberal side and declare they are 'progressive' and 'open-minded' regarding the constitution.
Too late then for recriminations and finger-pointing. Even 'I told you so' won't mean much as our freedoms are slowly contracted, by law. Although Obama scares me in his hard-core leftism, European-centered worldview and obvious naiveté, I don't necessary see McCain as a reasonable alternative.
I intend to wait awhile and see how the inevitable Obama candidacy plays out. I believe Barack Obama is a very flawed candidate in the mold of Mike Dukakis. Worse, actually. I also believe that McCain will win the election handily. If that looks like a reality in October, I'll go ahead and vote for anybody but McCain (or a Democrat). If it looks tight and McCain is trailing, I'll vote for him, with an industrial-sized clothes-pin on my nose.
However, I won't be 'overlooking' his flaws, just accepting them as slightly preferable to the Marxist alternative.
I agree. If half the dems sit out, McCrazy could win by a huge margin. He then sees this as a mandate and future pubbies see democrap lite as a way to win elections. This would be much worse than an out and out brawl against Obama.