Barack Hussein Obama

I just read a blog where the Obama is called BHO. My first though was his initials are almost HBO. My second thought. if you leave out the H--which you might not want to do because you always want to remind readers that his middle name is Hussein--his initials are BO. The comic posibilities are endless.

Compromise

I dislike McCain as much as the next conservative, and I've been seriously considering voting for the Democrat candidate for president. On the other hand, I don't think we conservatives should commit to vote against McCain just yet. Instead conservatives should create a short, reasonable list of our most important conservative demands. If McCain promises to meet those demands then conservatives should back him wholeheartedly. If he refuses, then McCain has indicated he will continue to put his thumb in the eye of conservatives, we should refuse to vote for him, or we may even vote for the Democratic candidate.

Here is my list.

1. Promise to veto any immigration bill that is not enforcement only. Promise to wait a least two years after an enforcement-only bill is passed before signing any sort of amnesty bill.
2. Choose Romney or Thompson as his VP. (Huckabee is a deal-killer).
3. Apologize for smearing Romney (this is more of a personal thing.)
4. Apologize for criticizing Alito.
5. Name 3 to 5 candidates for the Supreme Court and make a promise to choose from that pool of candidates if there is a vacancy. (Putting Michael McConnell at the top of that list would go a long way).
6. Promise to keep Gitmo open.
7. Stop insulting capitalism.

You could rearrange the list some, but these are the things that come to my mind. Of course, 1, 2 and 5 are the most important.

McCain-Kerry

I'm sorry, but contrary to what some talking heads think, it is significant that Kerry-McCain was considered a feasible ticket, regardless of who approached whom. Even if Kerry approached McCain, the real issue is that Kerry thought he could approach McCain with the VP spot, and that he thought McCain may well accept. It is a big deal when a party nominates a candidate who looks like he could abandon that party at any second, even if it wasn't the candidate's original idea.

Romney's Problem

Lots of conservatives have complained that Romney was not aggressive enough in the debates. I too wish that Romney was more aggressive in taking on McCain. I think part of Romney's problem is that, while he's running for president, he is simultaneously representing the Mormon religion to people who may never have had any prior contact with Mormons. Those people, as Mitt is fully aware, are going to form an opinion of Mormonism based on whether or not they like him. If he is too negative, or too cantankerous, he leaves a bad impression of Mormons. (What would you think if John McCain was the only Mormon you'd ever met?) But I agree that Mitt has been too controlled.

Religion in the South

I know Democrats are always saying that people in the south are racist bigots. I've been to the south a number of times and my family lived there for two years, and I just never really thought that to be true. There is still a lot of racial tension in the south, but for the most part, I think southern whites would support a black conservative--assuming he was a viable candidate--over a white liberal.

Now it looks like a large number of southerners are bigots, not about race, but about religion. Huckabee is doing very well in the south, not because he is conservative but because he is non-Mormon/anti-Mormon. The amount of southern hostility to Mormons is quite depressing, especially since this is mostly a one way street. Utah Mormons overwhelmingly supported Bush in 2004, giving him his highest margin of victory in any state. In contrast, Evangelicals prefer liberals to Mormons.

I think we are witnessing the end of the Republican Party and even marginally conservative governance.