I am not ready yet to label myself, and I am sure not ready to support any of the folks who battled for the Republican nomination. However, McCain has to stay healthy until the convention. At his age, that's not guaranteed. Imagine if he has a small stroke, an MI or a new diagnosis of the BIG C between now and then. It could happen.

He needs Huckabee more than ever now.

He needs the 4 H's:

Health, Huckabee, Haldol (to keep from acting up) and Hillary to screw up.

How could that be DJ? You said all the polls were wrong. Run by incompetent firms that only surveyed blacks and liberals? Romney should have cleaned clocked instead of breaking even with Huckabee despite dropping serious coin and the backing of the left-wing media?

McCain has dissed conservatives for years, what makes anyone think he now believes he needs them? He actually thinks that all those 'moderates' and 'independents' will actually stick around to vote for him in November.

I do not suffer from mccain derangement syndrom....I just do not see any difference between clinton,obama,mccain. As my WWII father used to say (and he was crippled, left behind and captured for a few days by the Germans)a pow is just someone who was caught...no special thing. mccain's contempt for republicans' and his conciliatory manner towards the dems is a small example of what we could expect when confronted by the enemies outside this country....all three, clinton, obama and mccain....will reach some "accomodation" with our enemies, which will not bode well for the USA.

The answer to your question is No.

Once he clinches the nomination, he'll resume showing his true colors AND the MSM will turn on him, having accomplished their goal of causing Republican self-destruction.

DJ, I see where you are going with this. I am a conservative and not a big fan of McCain, but if he is the nominee, I will support him. Any alternative action such as not voting or writing in someone would be a waste. I did that with Perot and I will never make that mistake again. I think what the conservatives should do is suck it up and know a moderate is better for the country then a liberal. The MSM is propagating this rift between the conservatives and McCain. ww

I'll write in Fred Thompson before I'll vote for John McCain. Third party, anyone?

The left-wing strategy failed because Rush et al. incorrectly read the theme of this election cycle. The majority of the voting public, on both sides, are sick of partisan do nothing governments and wants to return to a government that will work together to solve our many problems even if it means compromise.

It was you a-holes that branded McCain with the liberal/compromise/work with the democrats label.

What is ironic is that Romney's whole term as governor of MA was filled with compromise and working with a democrat controlled state government. Based on his past words, policies and actions it is most certain that Romney would work with and compromise with the democrat controlled US house and senate.

The last line of the original article should read:

Can John McCain reach out to Conservative Republicans without throwing a punch, while withstanding a vicious assault from the right?

The answer is no, and he should not. Once again, the far-right is overestimating their importance. Half-a-year ago, they were so arrogant that they thought that no one, certainly not McCain, could possibly win without their support. Two weeks ago, they thought Giuliani or Thompson still had a chance. Before Super-Tuesday, they thought that Romney could still save them, and it was time for one last denunciation of McCain. Having been totally wrong and having been severely beaten by McCain all those times, they now think that McCain should rebuild the bridges that they burned? Sorry, boys. McCain won without your support of him in the Republican primary. He needs fewer ties to the hard right in the general election, not more.

It makes no sense to reach out to far-right Conservatives now. He should just pray for Hillary as his opponent and his hard right support will be there for him, in spades. In fact, he might even consider using Coulter or Limbaugh for a Sister Souljah moment, denouncing them as extremists, part of the problem, etc.

P.S. Congrats on winning the "wishful thinking trifecta", D.J. You deserve it.

LOL, does a bear wipe after taking a crap in the woods?

No!

He could barely control himself in his speech last night when talking about Romney. 70 years of anger just don't go away, his communication filters can only hold it back so long until it periodically erupts to release the internal pressure.

He will be labeled by the MSM as McCranky by November, and contrasted against a sensitive mother figure or a daring young hero. McCranky will then become McToasted.

FYI, you McLovers out there, McCain won with a lot fewer votes than prior nominees. He has the lowest support of a nominee in many years. Clinton and Obama are each getting more votes than McCain, and dems are out voting reps almost 2 to 1 in some states.

Where is McCain going to get his votes? Where did Bush get his votes in 2004? He turned out the conservative base like never before and barely won reelection. You think McCain can do that? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...... stop, you're killing me....

OK, our choices really suck. So, let's put all our energies into getting every Congressional seat we can. If we can maintain or even increase and take control of at least one side then we can keep a hold on whichever Bozo sits in the whitehouse.
I also think that a Dem win this year is what we can expect. So we have to do what we can.

"Clinton and Obama are each getting more votes than McCain, and dems are out voting reps almost 2 to 1 in some states."

For the preservation of the party's primary goal (DEFEATING THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE) this has to change in the general election CD.

Ed Morrissey (at CQ) said this in his morning post:

"Romney will probably stay in the race, as will Huckabee, for the next couple of weeks to see how the race progresses and to see whether he can consolidate his extraordinary support from conservative talk radio into any momentum."

This was my response:

The "extraordinary support " Romney has recieved can be better described as a class-one hatchet job on McCain by conservative talk radio, (including our resident right-wing mouth--Ann Coulter---who claims she will actively campaign for Hillary Clinton). At least Laura Ingrahm confessed she would vote for the eventual nominee, which shows "some" party sanity.

In the best interest of the Republican Party and its primary goal, (which is to defeat the Democratic nominee), this "extraordinary support " should at this point be thinking about uniting the party instead of furthering their disdain for the front-runner, which can only do more damage than good. At what point do we face this reality head on. Or is self-destruction on the agenda?

Joe Yangtree,

Conservatives were defeated. That is not the same as being "wrong."

You are right about McCain and conservatives. He thinks he can get along fine without us. I say, let him try.

Funny how McCain can't stop picturing himself with Reagan, channeling Reagan, claiming to be the second coming of Reagan. The man is an abject liar.

It's possible that you're right civildisobedience, and that McCain has no chance of winning the general election. The current environment is going to make it tough for the Republican nominee (contrary to other's previous predictions).

A little over 6 months ago, people believed that McCain had absolutely no chance

But I will say plainly, that because they have chosen to personally savage the President, to abandon the GOP when their support would have made a difference, and to put their egos and image ahead of the nation's welfare, such candidates as John McCain, Tom Tancredo, and Sam Brownback will never gain the GOP nomination, and thank God for that. Those candidates who wish to claim the GOP nod, must understand that the base of the party will never be defined by extremists, by those uncivil boors who misrepresent honest efforts to resolve issues and find solutions, or who think that angry demands and screaming rhetoric can effectively replace leadership and comprehension of the key issues.

McCain's already killed the conventional wisdom once, and could do it again.

Well, I've already said I'd hold my nose and vote for McCain but my wife, who had been sounding very much like Ann Coulter these past couple of weeks, this morning admitted that when all is said and done she too will hold her nose and vote for him.

I think a lot of the people who are so upset about McCain right now will do that too. After all, you have to realize that as bad as McCain may be, he will be orders of magnitude better than the pure communism you'd get from Bill's wife or the half black guy. Also both Bill's wife and the half black guy have pledged to lead Al Qaeda to victory in Iraq and McCain would never allow that.

Still, just once, one of these years, I'd really like to vote FOR someone.

Conservatives were defeated. That is not the same as being "wrong."

My apologies. You are correct. The first article that I cited in my first response was "wrong". Just plain "wrong" (bad thought processes, arrogant dismissals of opposition, jumping to ill-founded conclusions, etc.), and hilariously so, given the current circumstances. However, I did not intend to imply that the values that conservatives hold are incorrect.

Talk about delusional, here is Redstate's Adam C. recap of super Tuesday "Romney slightly underperformed."

That's an instant classic.

With liberals like Barney voting for the liberal extremist Obama (killing surviving aborted babies, possible 2nd holocaust, and another Iraqui genocide if he follows through with his promise), I am with Bunyan. McCain is still better than the racism, class warfare, anti-semitism, and age-discrimination of the liberal left.

"It's possible that you're right civildisobedience, and that McCain has no chance of winning the general election. The current environment is going to make it tough for the Republican nominee...."

Joe, according to RCP numbers before Supr Tues., McCain leads in the general ahead of Clinton. (exception: CNN and LA Times/Bloomburg)
LINK

Is it possible that your assumption does not hold much water given the results of yesterday?

McCain could win if he comes out and apologies to conservatives, promises that he will now enforce immigration laws and delay any talk of "legalization" for four years, and he will no longer strike compromises with liberals that go against core tenets of the party. Oh, and publicly fires his hispanic outreach director who is a Mexican citizen and runs the Mexican Government agency attempting to undermine the southwest USA by helping them illegally cross into the USA, get fake paperwork, apply for American aid, and then send the money back to Mexico.

If he does that then I would not only vote for him, I would send him money and march for him. But I seriously doubt he has it in him to reach out to conservatives and promise to protect us.

I have been waiting for him to reach out and make promises for three months, but it has been only insults. He will not only have nowhere near the turnout Bush had in 2004, he will have suicide voters attacking him.

Watch as the S.S. McCain slowly sinks below the tide of opposition and resentment while its captain yells insults at the crew standing ashore.

Barney, you're the a-hole straight up. If you had a clue about McCain and his policies you'd see it's his own actions that labelled him as kowtowing to liberal agenda... it was his own actions that make conservatives want to vomit. You're right on one thing, Romney was able to work with a liberal government. Compromising is one thing (and a GOOD thing.) McCain isn't compromising any beliefs- he just has a liberal agenda.

Good lord, have you learned nothing about generic polls? They can't even get it right just before an election. Where was the Obama and Romney surges in CA yesterday?

A poll of November is meaningless mental masturbation. You have to go state by state and look at prior results, demographic trends, recent election turn outs, etc... What states will McCain take? It ain't gonna be NY or CA come November.

the MSM will turn on him, having accomplished their goal of causing Republican self-destruction.

The MSM is propagating this rift between the conservatives and McCain.

I see a meme forming. What happened to the Republican Party? They media did it!

You guys just keep getting funnier.

Hopefully Romney keeps the pressure on McCain all the way to the convention. At 72, there's a significant chance McCain won't be viable by November. At least with Romney we would have a candidate who understands the economic and global warming issues. McCain's singular message that "I'm the oldest fart in the race" guarantees a win by the Democrat.

Again, as a conservative I will vote for McCain because a compromising Moderate is better for the country then an intolerant liberal. Always has been always will be. GWHB was a moderate in Reagans administration. It does work. I did not want McCain to get the nomination, but, he probably will and I will support him. I lost, but I am not a sore loser. ww

Im writing in Ralph Kramden in November.

JD, Romey has supported/passed:
-Abortion rights
-Gay rights
-The Brady Bill
-The assault gun ban
-Raised fees (taxes)
-Passed a massive government mandated healthcare program that forces employees to pay for employees health insurance.

And Romney is the "true" conservative? Give me a F'in' break.

Mac Lorry - "McCain's singular message that "I'm the oldest fart in the race" guarantees a win by the Democrat."

What do you know, Mac and I agree on something!

Barney,
Those are the reasons that the conservative base has been slow to embrace Romney. No question about that. However, Romney is the most conservative among the three candidates left on the Republican side.
I agree with you that you can be excited about the prospect of the liberal extremism of Obama or Hillary. You will have your chance of killing even surviving aborted babies, possible 2nd holocaust and Iraq genocide if Obama can follow with this promises. The dems are united and "pure" in their extreme liberalism.

McSnarl ? reach out ? More likely he'll lash out ...

Oh and he'll probably distort what his critics said or lie about his record in the process.

Its one thing to say he's a lying bastard but he's our lying bastard, normally those type of folks lie about their real opponents, i.e. the Democrats. But in McCain's case he lies about Republicans and his record alot more than he attacks the Dems with his snarl.

The only saving grace is that as the nominee it will either be Hillary or Obama that stands in his way so he'll snarl at them.

What a leader !!!

Someone needs to rewrite the LAI bot. This one's getting kinda stale.

Mantis,
The truth hurts. Those are the records of Obama and Hillary. Go ahead and support them, but at least be honest about it. You cannot be honest about their shit being your stuff. Your distraction tactic is getting stale also. Try to spin with some honesty.

If McCain thinks he can win without much more conservative support, he is very wrong. If his supporters expect everyone who is a Republican to vote for him, perhaps they should ask themselves how McCain has helped the party over the years. I will probably vote for him, but here in MN it won't do much. Does anyone really think the MSM will give him a pass on Keating 5?

McCain has no shot against Obama, and would need a meltdown from Hillary, which is remotely possible. Good luck Johnny, you're going to need it.

"McCain has no shot against Obama, and would need a meltdown from Hillary, which is remotely possible."

No problem......one small bucket of water will take care of the wicked witch of the east.

Obama will not stand a chance over the Clinton machine that will eat him alive over the next few weeks.

Why believe this?

'Cause this is what I posted before the Superbowl kick-off:

"As much as it would be fun to see the Giants pull out a stunning victory this afternoon, unless they put pressure on Brady early and often, the tools he has will be too much to overcome. Either that, or if Manning can sustain long time-consuming drives that keeps Brady & Co. on the bench, the game could be close at the end to pull out the upset."