[MrEdd]

If there is anyone here at Free Republic that isn’t fully supporting McCain/Palin after last night....I just don’t understand you.

Then I will explain it for you. I am a conservative. McCain is a liberal. An open borders liberal, as a matter of fact. If the ticket were flipped I might put up with him as VP.

I am a conservative not a Republican. I will vote for Republicans IF they are conservative. If Bush's opponent had not been Hanoi John Kerry, I would not have voted in the last election.

Islam's war against the west will inevitably bring the US a nuclear strike. Putin is moving to regain as much of the Soviet empire as he can, which greatly adds to the likelihood of various Islamic factions obtaining the capacity to move jihad to this level. The persistent open borders are a hot potato that will utterly destroy the party in power when it happens. I prefer that the borders be closed - but barring that, let it be the liberals who are destroyed if we're not going to move to prevent it.

This is as obvious and foreseeable as the earlier attacks on September eleventh. Aside from the loss we all will have of family and friends WHEN not if this happens, I recognize that the party who emerges in power will be able to radically reshape government the United States. Many on the left foresee this as well, and are actively working to keep our defenses weak.

I therefore am willing to sacrifice important pieces to win the game. Winning the white house or congress are less important than closing the borders. A candidate who could win an office, at the cost of placing someone in office that the left could justifiably claim failed to aggressively defend America costs conservatism control of the board.

By the same token I will not move to save a socially liberal republican candidate merely to defeat the democrat. Sometimes control of the board is more important than saving every pawn.

If I get a liberal in office who votes liberal while claiming (unchallenged) to represent the party with a conservative platform, then my voice is even more unheard than if a liberal democrat is in office. It means that conservatives will vote for anyone who claims conservatism, even if they are to the left of Hillary Clinton. It also means that the Republican party did this eyes wide open, believing that I (and other conservatives) would vote for a yellow dog if it was a republican. Sorry RNC that only works with democrats.

Semper Fidelis

[Aggie Mama]

I appreciate your analogy, but I think you miss the fact that if the Marxists win this election (and let's not be naive to think that they're not), they will remove the chessboard.

[Badeye]

I too, am a Conservative, and if you aren’t supporting this ticket after last night, yep, I don’t understand you at all.

Palin’s the future, McCain is the ‘vehicle’ to that future, like it or not, for the GOP and Conservatives.

I wasn’t happy with McCain as the nominee. Up until Steve Schmidt took over day to day operations, I believed Rick Davis’s ineptness would guarantee an Obama Presidency, backed up with a Democrat lunatic left controlled Congress.

Now, its quite possible McCain/Palin can win this thing, and by a margin we haven’t seen since the 1988 election cycle.

You can keep ‘politically pure’ if you wish, I can respect that to a certain extent. But the fact is the McCain ticket is no longer just about John McCain, and his antics since losing the South Carolina primary in 2000.

Its about the future of the country, Conservativism, and the Republican Party.

Thanks for your well thought out response, we can disagree politely as you demonstrate.

[griswold3]

I completely understand your stand on principle.
I won’t berate you in any fashion. I’ll assume you understand economics.
But I hope that if Obama/Biden wins that you understand what that will mean when they team up with Pelosi and Reid.
I also hope that if it goes ‘down’ you will not just be standing on the sidelines, saying ‘I told you so’.

[tickmeister]

I agree with your logic, but I think you are being too clever by half. Choices are 1. McCain for 4 years, maybe get Palin after that and have a fighting chance or 2. Elect Obama and probably game over for western civilization.

[coon2000]

MrEdd, I am a conservative too. I was unhappy that McCain was the republican choice. I have given money to Colonel Allen West, I will be giving $0.00 to my two Senators from Georgia after they jumped on board with the gang of ten over energy and drilling. I only gave to McCain after he chose Governor Palin. The thought of that numbnut elitist windbag socialist choosing Justices for the Supreme Court should be enough of a horror that you should vote for McCain Palin.

[Wonder Warthog]

Uh, you "have" heard that McCain has agreed that the border has to be closed FIRST as the only acceptable prelude to "comprehensive immigration reform". His comment was directly that "I've heard the electorate, and they want the border closed FIRST". He didn't LIKE having to change, but he DID change.

And who aside from McCain that is running for office will actually do a better job with the Islamofascists and Putin???

Bob Barr??? Ron Paul??? "Corvair-man"???

[nonsporting]

Then I will explain it for you. I am a conservative. McCain is a liberal. An open borders liberal, as a matter of fact...(followed by chess pics)

I don't understand this strategy. If McCain is not elected, Obama will be. He is an open borders liberal and an adherent of alot of other liberal/socialist policies.

By not choosing a McCain (over an Obama) we may not survive the middlegame (US vs. Russia or US vs. Iran confrontations in the next few years) to get to a desirable endgame (some conservative [Republican?] in 2012 or 2016).

To win the endgame one must have either a material advantage or positional advantages which can be converted into material advantage (queening a pawn) or mate. With Obama in the Whitehouse for 8 years, long term weakenesses are unavoidable (supreme court appointments, higher taxes, increased dependency on foreign oil) and continued exodus of American industry resulting in increased trade deficits, monetizing the debt and continued lowing of american living standards.

We need to return the congress to conservative control. We can then more effectively suffer bad executive policy, whoever might be elected, an Obama or RHINO. However, an Obama with a democrat control congress along with 2 or 3 supreme court picks will be truly disasterous for a free and independent United States of America.

Last nights speech by Palin encouraged me that there may indeed be life left in the conservatives, enough to elect McCain and produce some coat tails that could result in some conservate gains in both houses. A lot of ifs, but a middlegame course that promisses winning chances.

[WOSG]

“I therefore am willing to sacrifice important pieces to win the game.”

Like American National Security, the Supreme Court and our prosperity????

Good luck with that.