John McCain's victory

With John McCain's victory and Rudy Giuliani dropping out, we are effectively down to a two-man race. Mike Huckabee might garner some delegates from some of the Southern states but it's not going to happen for him. Mitt Romney will stay in for February 5 and try to garner enough support from those who don't like McCain to block McCain's ascension to the nomination. I just don't see it happening. First of all, he'll be splitting those votes with Mike Huckabee. Second of all, he's spent millions of dollars and hasn't been able to break through yet except for a state where he had a familial connection and pandered on how he was supposedly going to bring back the car industry or a state where the rest didn't compete and he had a sizable Mormon population to support him. How is he going to win enough delegates on February 5 to block McCain? I think it's all over for Romney and that will be clear on February 6.

So now Republicans will have to get used to John McCain. It won't be easy. I have had more concerns about his candidacy than any of the others except Huckabee. I can talk myself into enthusiasm when I think about his support for fighting the continuing war on terror around the world and his inspirational personal story of honor and courage. But on so many issues he is totally exasperating. I also dislike that self-righteous disdain for other conservatives that he so often displays. Bill Bennett captures some of what conservatives like me who disagree often with John McCain but are willing to line up in support against Obama or Clinton.

"What rankles me the most is his tendency to criticize our side first. Why bash us, why not bash Hillary Clinton? He's got to have some of the fire that Democrats have for Republicans, but we don't see it," he said.

All those stories about his screaming at fellow Republicans behind closed doors when they disagreed with him are disturbing and off-putting. Can a man in his 70s change his temperament? Probably not.

"In his world, it's very difficult to have a simple policy disagreement," said American Conservative Union chairman David Keene. "Everything becomes personal. His position is right, and everyone else's is basically evil."

Lest anyone think McCain, now 71, has mellowed, he got in another altercation just last year. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, got full frontal McCain over an immigration bill, according to reports in Roll Call and the Washington Post.

McCain, who supported amnesty for illegals, accused his colleague of making a "chickensh**" argument to try to sink the bill. "F*** you!" McCain shouted at Cornyn during the negotiations. "I know more about this than anyone else in the room."

"Idiot" and "liar" are among his other favorite put-downs. McCain's "finger-in-your-eye" style has alienated even allies on the Hill.

He quips he "didn't win Miss Congeniality." But outside of wielding the gavel of the Senate Commerce Committee, he didn't win any top leadership posts, either, despite 25 years in Congress. In effect, the abrasive lawmaker was marginalized throughout his career.

While good leaders don't always win popularity contests, that's not exactly a vote of confidence for somebody who's now running to lead the free world.

McCain has burned a lot of bridges. If he does not work well with others in the Senate, including among those in his own party, how can he count on bringing them on board his executive agenda? How can he run a Cabinet and bring together international coalitions?

Well, I think we know how he can work with Congress - he'll form a coalition with Democrats and pull in enough of the more liberal and moderate members of the Republican Party to get a majority. And he'll continue to irritate and exacerbate conservatives.

But politics doesn't usually give us the best person to support. We get the least bad person running. And so, he'll still be better than Obama or Clinton. As John Hood writes,

The larger significance? I’d say we are seeing the return of the Republican party of Teddy Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and Gerald Ford. The Republican party of Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich will sit on the sidelines for a bit, perhaps to rest up for the next game. The mainstream media, a key McCain political constituency, will cheer. The conservative movement will groan, grimace, and then after Super-Duper Tuesday start talking up what they like about McCain — beginning but not ending with his Iraq policy — while turning their attention back to the manifest flaws of one Hillary Rodham Clinton.