The McCain bashing is utterly childish. I don't like him, I would prefer at least two of the other candidates to be the nominee, if not more, and he's not perfect on issues I care about.
But only children cry and whine and sit out making a tough decision because the choice is between candidates that aren't your first choices.
I keep hearing how we are the "adult" party. I wish we had some real adults here, like those who fought WW2 and lived through the Depression, for example.
The people in the third group are those who wanted George W. Bush because of his religious affiliation--and now those same people LOATHE George W. Bush.
Maybe, just maybe, sometimes you can't get all you want. You can't have one of "our" kind--a specific religious kind. When considering who to vote for, you don't get the phone book--you get the names of those who managed to get through the system as it is.
Do we have to LIKE it? Heck no.
But this is THE choice we have.
The "strategic" voters, who think "I won't support McCain this time, and the GOP will get the message to choose a religious conservative" or whatever are living in a fantasy world wheere their message is magically transferred precisely. Do you REALLY think the GOP bigwigs are going to just CHANGE? No, sorry, they're not going to see few votes for McCain and think "Hmm, next time, a conservative is going to win the nomination," because they can't guarantee who's going to win.
Remember in 2006 when people here said it was a GOOD thing we lost because now in 2008 a conservative would be in perfect position to win the nomination? Guess that "message" didn't get sent quite right, did it?
That's because when the message is sent indirectly, which is the message sent by not voting, IT DOESN'T GET HEARD. Because the GOP will then argue as to what message was sent. Was McCain TOO conservative? Was he too old? Was he not conservative enough? Should we only choose those approved by Evangelicals (you know, like the current president they mostly loathe)?
A vote is a vote. You want to send a message, it's GOT to be on the state level, or when the national party comes calling for donations. THAT is how the message is sent--if we support conservatives in the state and Congressional level, then guess what we've got in the pool of those who will run for the nomination? (Think hard, now.)
Despising McCain is just childish. Ennobling it by claiming one is "sending a message" is nothing but self-applause.
You go right on clapping yourself on the back, now--the rest of us will be trying to stop one of two socialists from coming to power, and making sure neither gets to choose SCOTUS nominees.
I really believe you have it 100% correct.......