"Proud of the GOP:" Bill Whittle's First Article for NRO

Here's his blog post describing how proud he is of himself, for getting into NRO.

And here's the article itself. I won't quote his bit on his own Palinmania because 1) that's what'll get the article clicked on and 2) I have to tell you, I love her, but I need to take a break from Palinmania. So I'll quote some McCain parts (prominently featuring Palin -- hey, she's unavoidable.)

I have personally seen hundreds of crusty, old-school paleocons who despised McCain now saying “He finally listened to us.” By picking Palin — instead of Lieberman, who we all know he wanted — he has told conservatives that he gets it. They’re not holding their noses and voting any more. They want yard signs and bumper stickers — they can’t wait to vote GOP. And the proof of the pudding is in the tasting, folks: they are writing checks.

...

John McCain got me to believe tonight what I never really believed about him before: he is serious about changing Washington. He is serious about getting the GOP back to basics. John McCain wants to repair the brand. Claiming to want to do something is talk. What I think will cause many to believe him is something more than talk: McCain decided to man up. It’s our fault. We lost the confidence of the American people. We said we’d be true to our principles, and we weren’t. The Democrats didn’t make us do it. We did it to ourselves.

That has the ring of truth to it. It is a grownup accepting responsibility for a mistake not of his making and asking for the chance to rectify it. I don’t know how much of the country will believe him. But I did.

If McCain can get close — just close — to convincing the American people that real reform is possible with Republicans and not just the Democrats, then they are left with a decision of who they feel safest with, and who actually walks the walk. The GOP owns that ground. That’s victory in November, and it’s the only way to victory in November. We are an optimistic, hopeful country. We will not prevail by convincing people why they should not vote for the other guy. People need to vote for something . I think John McCain gave us that on Thursday night.

Yes, that's what drew me in (apart from biography). One makes compromises in politics, of course, especially when a crucial issue such as war is at hand, but in these past few years we've all gotten a sick of the endless compromises. And I don't mean RINO-type compromises here; I mean compromises of integrity, having corrupt bastards in positions of power in the party, having a leadership willing to overlook some very serious rumors swirling around Mark Foley. Having to just look at Trent Lott.

You can't get rid of all of that, of course, but damn, it would be great to at least have a party trying to drive them out.

H/t Rachel Lucas, who's got a fever, and the only prescription is more Palin motivational posters.

posted by Ace at 11:03 PM

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