Concession Statement from the ProConPundit,
a Progressive Conservative,
To Conservative Conservatives,
Real Conservatives,
Consistent Conservatives,
Right-Wing Conservatives,
Religious Conservatives
and Authentic Conservatives...

I should have admitted this before now, so please accept my apology, my concession and the truth I should have spoken sooner. John McCain is not perfect. He has disagreed with you folks–and with me on some things that really mattered and may never be someone you can totally embrace. I also admit that, with rare exception, his strong and, self-harming, support of President Bush these eight years harms his chances in a general election. The fact that he will be the oldest person to ever run for president does not help. I concede all of this. I feel better now but conceding and apologizing was not nearly as painful as what I need to ask you. If John McCain is so flawed, who was your perfect choice and, if the stakes are so high, why didn’t they run? Why didn’t they win?

Mitt Romney wasn’t close to being your first, let alone, best choice, was he? Who was?

Bill Frist. It was supposed to be Dr. Bill Frist but he made an ass out of himself, and demeaned the stature of the U.S. Senate, interfering in the Terri Schavo matter, declaring her to have brain function, an assertion later ruled out by an autopsy. Bill Frist also presided over the Senate when it went from Republican to Democratic leadership, didn’t he?

George Allen. Then there was George "Macaca" Allen, Former US Senator and Governor of Virginia, and past football legend. He was a darling of the far right to become our president this year until he disgraced himself, embarrassed the GOP and forfeited his career in the Senate by making a nasty, racial, slur on camera.

Rick Santorum. Then there was Rick "Sanctimonious" Santorum, former US Senator from Pennsylvania. Santorum was another right wing darling. The ProConPundit ejected him from the human race when, in an effort to throw red meat to rabid dogs, declared that homosexuals were on the same rung of the ladder with adulterers, murderers, child molesters, and, I forget, barnyard animals or something. He watched his Senate career go up in flames the MOMENT Pennsylvania Democrats were willing to nominate a pro-life Dem to run against him. Note to Left Wing: If you’d have a little more tolerance for pro-lifers, a lot more Republican office holders would become radio hosts or bloggers. Scratch that.

Fred Thompson. Then there was Fred "Law & Order" Thompson. Weren’t we in trouble when a guy who retired from the US Senate because he was bored and went on to a rewarding career working 5 minutes a week with a stinging quip on Law & Order suddenly, albeit briefly, became the best hope?

Rudy Giuliani. I don't know what to say. Many of you preferred the openly liberal Rudy to the generally, genuinely conservative McCain.

Newt Gingrich. Last, but actually most significantly, there was Newt Gingrich, our hero. Mr. Speaker. A political genius, masterful historian, and brilliant guy. He inspired and engineered the historic GOP takeover of both houses in 1994, tremendous victory and backlash at the Clinton presidency. Newt was the chief antagonist of Bill Clinton and vocalizer of moral outrage against Clinton’s philandering and breaches of office, the one who pushed impeachment, but was noticeably absent from it as he resigned, in disgrace, because of his own bimbo eruptions. Gingrich, who surpasses everyone else in naming our challenges and articulates logical methodologies to our greatest days being ahead of us, broke our hearts again lacking the balls to actually do something other than talk. Newt flirted with a run, teasing us in a way that gave nasty names to girls in high school, while he racked up speech revenue and book sales. Shame on him.

Then there were the also-rans: Paul, Hunter, Brownback, and Tancredo. All of you that are righter-than-I are very smart and knew none of these guys were prime timers. That left Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. I have quite a few friends who supported Romney and there isn’t one of you that chose him because you really liked him. He was all there was to choose from as the non-McCain. Now that he’s gotten out of the race, he’s being compared to Goldwater’s 1960 graceful exit to return in 1964 and Reagan’s exit in 1976 to return in 1980. Goldwater helped sink Nixon in 1960 only to return four years later to suffer one of the worst defeats in modern American history. Reagan helped sink Ford in 1976 with a harsh and unnecessary primary challenge to a sitting president, an accomplishment he shares only with Ted Kennedy (and Pat Buchanan) in my life time. OUCH! Reagan did much better than Goldwater upon his triumphant return in 1980.

The real problem in the Republican party is not John McCain. Its that there isn’t a fresh face, forgive me, a Barack Obama. Mitt Romney was the nothing-left-to-lose reluctant choice of a small number of Republicans for a short time. He will never be president. Comparisons to Reagan in 1976 are tempting but short on facts. When Reagan folded his candidacy in 1976, he did so at the convention having come within a handful of delegates of beating Ford. He was gracious in defeat. Historical note: The ProConPundit was not old enough to drive but was old enough to chair the Mustangs for Ford at my high school in 1976. That came as a disappointment to my dad, a Chicago Democratic precinct captain. He also taught me to never kick a dog when it was down and to never be a sore loser, let along a sore winner. Sorry, Dad.

Romney was not gracious in defeat. He was introduced today at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) Convention in Washington by Laura Ingraham. She used her introduction of Romney as a nasty and immature assault on McCain. Romney, for his part, showed himself to be a silly fool and a pitiful excuse for a presidential candidate. He used his speech to bash liberals and radical Islamic Jihadists. How hard is that? As usual, he had no solutions, no ideas, no plans.
He then announced that he was suspending his campaign because if he continued, he would be aiding and abetting a surrender to terror. I think that meant because a protracted GOP nomination battle would help the Democrats win in the fall. Hello? He lost. He could not possibly have won the delegates needed to win. He got out because he did not win, could not win, and could not even be honest or graceful.

I must also concede and confess that I was and am a Gerald Ford Republican and a George Bush "41" Republican, not a Reagan Republican and not a George W. Bush Republican. I take nothing from Reagan’s tremendous accomplishments as president, but I only appreciated him after the fact. I voted for George W. Bush in 2000 even after he beat John McCain with dirty tricks in South Carolina. I felt the need to overlook my irritation with Dubya for what I hoped would be the good of the country.

I believe our country would have been better off had Ford been elected in 1976 over Jimmy Carter. I blame Ford’s loss on two things: 1) Pardon of Nixon/Turn the page mentality and 2) Reagan’s needless primary challenge to a fine man who assumed the presidency under most difficult circumstances.

I believe that President George H. W. Bush was the most experienced man to serve as President in my lifetime. I also believe that our country would have been better off had Bush "41" been re-elected over Clinton in 1992. I blame Bush’s defeat on two things: 1) He under estimated slick Willie and 2) Pat Buchanan’s needless challenge of a sitting president. Pat Buchanan has helped defeat more Republicans than he ever helped win.

Some other tidbits...
1. Exit polls showed that evangelical voters have voted: 33% for Huckabee, 31% for Romney and 30% for McCain. I was not a math major but isn’t that about a third for each?
2. Its been well publicized that Limbaugh, Hannity, Ingraham and Coultier have each threatened or joked to vote for Hillary in the fall if McCain is the nominee. If their influence could not find or inspire a conservative to their liking to run in the primary, if they could not effect the outcome of the primary, what influence might they have in the general election?
3. I listened to Rush Limbaugh yesterday and watched Sean Hannity last night. Limbaugh clarified his position on McCain in the fall. He was very clear that the priority of all conservatives should be to keep Hillary Clinton out of The White House, whatever means necessary. He specifically stated that he would vote for McCain, if only by holding his nose and calling it a vote against Hillary. I presume the same would apply should Obama be the nominee.
Hannity enumerated the many things he admires about McCain as well as his serious differences with him but implicitly stated he would, ultimately, vote for McCain. I don’t know where to find Ingraham and Coultier and am afraid to find out.
4. Speaking of consistent conservatives. A week ago, Limbaugh said that a McCain or Huckabee nomination would be the ruination of the Republican party. Today he is saying that McCain MUST name Huckabee in order to win. What’s up with that?
5. G. Gordon Liddy today declared that Republicans who turn their back on McCain in the fall are "Suicide-Bomber" Republicans.
6. Ralph Reed said that the naming of a running mate suitable to conservatives may be the olive branch needed to unite the party.
7. Former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating said that he estimates 40% of the American voting public are moderate or independent voters.