Tom Toles for November 01, 2009

Sad thing is, there must be plenty of qualified, patriotic and non-screwy conservatives – but it’s been years since the fringe and entrenched insiders let any of them get as far as a primary without publicly kissing the appropriate behinds. The Demos have their own faults, but they don’t force candidates to grovel for Michael Moore’s or even Ted Kennedy’s blessing.

Bob Dole and George H. Bush may not have been Lincolns, but they were certainly better men before they consented to run on stands they previously and loudly opposed (Anybody remember Voodoo Economics?). And McCain accepting Palin was a humiliating public surrender more than anything else.

I recall when the Democrats’ worst nightmare was that Colin Powell might run. Then assorted conservative “leaders” went on record to make it clear Powell was unacceptable, mainly for not having a record of kowtowing unto them. Powell took the hint, realizing he’d be attacked by his own party, and eventually sacrificed his sky-high approval and credibility to prop up that other respected war hero, George W. Bush.

It seems reasonable to assume that a majority of veterans hold traditional conservative values, so there will soon be – or already are – hundreds of thousands of Republicans who’ve served in the current wars, and several times as many who’ve felt the impact through their families. The great hope of the Republican party is that they’ll be voting and even running based on the realities they’ve experienced first hand, and not on the failed theories and discredited ideas of the increasingly desperate old guard.