As I recall, McCain didn’t say he would appoint judges “like” Roberts and Alito, he said he would appoint judges “with the characer of” Roberts and Alito, which struck me as a pretty empty promise. Everyone assumes that presidents will appoint judges of good character. It’s their legal philosophy that is of concern.

Unsurprisingly, you recall wrong. What McCain actually said was that both Roberts and Alito were “the model for my own nominees” not in terms of “character” (you made that part up) but rather, in terms of their “judicial ability, experience, philosophy, and temperament.” Note in particular the word “philosophy.” Where have I heard that one before? Oh yeah, in your own comment above about what mattered, as opposed to character.

Given that you now know that you and McCain agree on the need for more Supreme Court Justices who share Roberts and Alito’s judicial philosophy, and not just their character (though admittedly, that would be nice, too), and that McCain intends to make good on this promise by limiting his appointments to those with “a proven commitment to judicial restraint” rather than letting the next Souter slip through on “a hunch, a hope, and a good first impression,” can I count on you to do the right thing in November, rather than continuing to lamely protest the outcome of a primary in which you couldn’t even be bothered to participate? Perhaps I should remind you that your original excuse for bowing out of the Republican Party was the Bush prescription drug plan (which McCain opposed)?

If the answer is no, then with all due respect you haven’t just abandoned the Republican Party; you’ve abandoned conservatism altogether.

1. Conservative Approach: vote for McCain, who is obviously the more conservative candidate of the two.
2. Liberal Approach: vote for Obama, who is obviously the more liberal one.
3. Pontius Pilate Approach: throw away your vote, either by not voting at all or by casting a vote for someone you know damned well has no chance of winning. Then, when the country goes to hell in a handbasket, slap a smug bumpersticker on your car advertising that you are not to blame because you technically didn’t vote for whoever happens to be in office now.

Since this is a two-way race, the third option is equivalent to saying “I will not vote for a guy who does blah blah blah, I’ll split my vote between two guys who did.”

I’m half tempted to repeat my prior observation that saying “Carter gave us Ford” is as stupid as endorsing polio because it took polio to get us the polio vaccine, but as a commenter noted in that thread, the analogy was actually unfair to polio. Reagan was a rising star before Carter, so the notion that it took Carter to get us Reagan is purely speculative, while it is crystal-clear that were it not for polio, Salk and Sabin’s efforts would have been spent elsewhere. Moreover, just as the polio vaccine didn’t cure its present victims or bring any of its past victims back, four years of Carter caused (and, every time that asshole travels abroad, continues to cause) a hell of a lot of damage that eight years of Reagan, four more years of Reagan-lite and eight years of Bush have been unable to reverse. If Carter and Reagan really were a package deal as you claim, then from a conservative perspective, we’d be a hell of a lot better off today if neither had been elected rather than both.

They say that those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. Unfortunately, that’s not quite true. In reality, those who vote as ignorantly as you advocate doom us all to repeat history.

-defended Kerry and insulted those who questioned his military record

-voted to restrict political speech

-championed amnesty

-hates tax cuts

-described Christians as hate mongers

-called for an end of torture, although our troops endur the same sort of treatment as part of their training

-will not drill in ANWAR

-isn’t a leader so much as someone who plays to the media

Anyone who has faith in McCain will be bitterly disappointed. Carter gave us Reagan. Better an Obama than McCain.

Nixon gave us Ford.

Heaven help us if McCain is elected. He can’t even confront Obama about his lies how can he confront our enemies?