The Run to the Middle Begins

We shall see if the Republicans have learned anything from recent history, though my guess is that they haven't. In 2000, conservatives flocked to Bush who was less moderate than McCain, but now it looks like the honorable Senator from Arizona will be the right-wing candidate this time around.

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, a moderate Republican best known for his stewardship of the city after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has taken the first step in a 2008 presidential bid.

The former mayor filed papers to create the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee, Inc., establishing a New York-based panel that would allow him to raise money to explore a White House run and travel the country.

The four-page filing, obtained by The Associated Press, lists the purpose of the non-profit corporation "to conduct federal 'testing the waters' activity under the Federal Election Campaign Act for Rudy Giuliani."

One potential rival for the GOP nomination, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, said Sunday he was taking the initial step of setting up an exploratory committee.

Color me bored. In six years of Republican control, we've turned McCain from a moderate into a conservative. Gee, pragmatism seems to be working. Can you see why I'm tired of the GOP?

It's going to be hilarious watching the Evangelicals explain why we need to elect a pro-choice Republican to save us from a pro-choice Democrat. I eagerly await the reign of our new queen.

As Vox Day wrote back in 2003 and as he reiterated today:

Pragmatism in politics is self-defeating in the long run. It is a euphemism for the slow sacrifice of one's principles. The constant substitution of "electable" moderates for principled conservatives is what repeatedly kills the Republican Party and prevents it from ever realizing even a small part of its platform when it is in power.

Readily obvious stuff, really. I wish I could say I'm hopeful that those who bow down to the GOP will doubt long enough to ponder the virtue of whom they serve, but I try to avoid lying. I'm off to Adoration. Getting out of this mess is going to take something of a miracle.