CINO

I"m going to pick a fight. A big one.

No, not against Democrats. Against Republicans.

I got up this morning intending to do a comprehensive fisking of Josh Marshall's latest, blunderiffic screed about the President, with an aim toward convincing those who can be convinced that the man is not a competent writer on defense and foreign policy matters.

But I can't. Not enough time. It may happen this weekend - but then, there are other plans afoot there, too.

Lileks had the line that really matters:

I’m waiting for an ad that simply puts the matter plainly: who do you think Al Qaeda wants to win the election? Who do you think will make Syria relax? Who do you think Hezbollah worries about more? Who would Iran want to deal with when it comes to its nuclear program – Cowboy Bush or “Send in the bribed French inspectors” Kerry? Which candidate would our enemies prefer?

O the shrieking that would result should such an ad run. You can’t even ask those questions, even though they’re the most relevant questions of the election.

We'd better ask them.

Here's my question; given what we know about Kerry - what he says about his own free-spending Massachusetts liberal legacy, his cozying up to the North Vietnamese as they were cramming their people into reeducation camps and boats, his two-faced views on the war (opposed to the '91 war, in favor of the current one - but only on terms under which it could not succeed), would you conservatives vote for him?

No. Of course not.

Over the last few weeks, some commentators have noticed the elephant in the living room; Bush isn't a fiscal conservative. Some of us knew that all along; some figured (rightly) he was more fiscally-conservative than McCain, some equate social with fiscal conservatism, some are Buchanan Republicans who went along to get along in 2000. And they're not happy.

Nor should they be.

But I've heard too many people calling in to talk shows saying "I'm a Republican, and I'm staying home this election. I'm disgusted by the budget". I've had too many comments like this in my blog, reporting on the feeling of too many "conservatives":

Unofficial poll at my regular morning
coffee spot: 5 out of 6 conservatives would find it easy to stay in bed on
election day. One vote for W's opponent - " a true big spender, not
a hypocrite"

Scary.

If you are a conservative, you owe it to your philosophy and your country to tell people this:

Overly-centrist Republicans can be dragged to the right. John Kerry can't be.

Budgets and deficits can be fixed. The Americans who will die at the hands of terrorists, if John Kerry's irredeemably stupid philosophy for fighting the war on terror (as a criminal enterprise!) takes control can not be.

If you think John Kerry will spend a dime less than Bush, then you should probably vote Democrat - you're just about deluded enough.

If you stay home on election day - or vote for some moonbat "Constitution Party" drone - out of a sense of injured misplaced conservative purity, and risk putting John Kerry in office, then you risk a lot more than four more years of massive spending, military decay, and out-of-control political correctness. You risk this nation's future, its civil liberties (imagine how a closet authoritarian like Kerry will react to a major terrorist attack).

And if you're willing to risk that because Bush isn't conservative enough, then it's you who are a CINO - a Conservative In Name Only.

Posted by Mitch at February 5, 2004 06:51 AM