I will not, will not, vote for John McCain.
I will not, will not, vote for Mike Huckabee.
I will not, will not, vote for Ron Paul — unless he runs for Fuhrer. In which case, he’s got my full support.
I might hold my nose and vote for Mitt Romney
Jeff is a Fredhead, tried and true. His frustration with the apparent mental shortcomings of Republican primary voters bubbles to the top with this:
I have no idea what Republican primary voters are thinking — other than that they are no longer interested in conservatism, and have become every bit as statist as their progressive counterparts.
He goes so far as to threaten moving to a barren tract of land in Idaho for the next decade. But how durable will this attitude be? Right now, with the lack of a clearly identified "coronation" of a predestined candidate in either party, there are myriad supporters of various presidential aspirants scratching their heads, stamping their feet and bemoaning the fate of the nation. There are backers of Hunter, Edwards, Ron Paul, Bill Richardson and, increasingly, Barrack Obama out there wondering why the rest of the nation simply "can't get it" and see why their choice is the best.
Jeff seems to be demonstrating what will likely go down in history as the most lucid statement to ever pass the lips of David Brooks, when he said of some of the Republican coalition leadership, they "would rather remain in control of a party that loses than lose control of a party that wins." But I'm still having a hard time believing that this attitude will survive past the selection of the Democratic nominee. Once Hillary Clinton is crowned in that position, it is hard to imagine these angry defenders of the various conservative factions going quietly into that good night. Facing the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency, would Goldstein actually sit home on his hands, casting a de facto vote for Bill's wife by his absence? Would he encourage his many readers to do likewise?
I suspect that, deep down, Jeff already knows that he would face a stream of smirking progressives showing up at his lonely ranch perched high in the Rockies, dropping off piles of "Go Hillary" t-shirts for him to wear during his self-imposed banishment. And while John McCain may espouse a number of positions with which he doesn't agree, Big Mac will start looking a lot more palatable at that point.
