John McCain is trying to appear more conservative in order to wrap up the Republican presidential nomination. His remaining major opponent, Mitt Romney, is claiming the conservative mantle for himself.
Conservative talk radio is ripping McCain and embracing Romney. The primary campaign has come down to holding the so-called "Reagan Coalition" together. The end of conservativism is at hand. The party is about to walk the liberal plank!
Who cares? A rhetorical question. Really.
When the campaign began, so many years ago it seems, the number one theme for the GOP is that no true conservatives were running among the serious candidates. McCain was no conservative. Neither was Romney. Both held conservative-ish views on some things, but not others. The other remaining candidate, Mike Huckabee, was only conservative on social issues. Rudy Giuliani on national security and law enforcement. The only true conservative in the race was Rep. Duncan Hunter, who celebrated a straight single digit.
McCain and Romney, despite the campaign rhetoric, are both pragmatists who have ideas endorsed by conservatives in some areas and not others. Just the way they are. McCain is a war hawk -- inexplicably picking up thousands of anti-war votes, one of the lone voices trying to limit federal spending and is strongly pro-life. Romney has strong pro-business policies and is supportive of the war efforts.
None of this says anything about the death of conservatism or the Reagan Coalition. It's just how the choice has worked out in this odd campaign season. Our vote for or against them needs to be on their records and their promises, not who more-perfectly upholds the conservative ideal.
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It's been a while since I wrote about illegal immigration, but conditions at the border merit a comment. News reports today say that U.S. Border Patrol agents shot and wounded a smuggler and at least one migrant yesterday east of San Diego, the second such incident in a couple of weeks. Agents had confronted them in a vehicle, and opened fire when they reversed toward one of them.
This comes after an agent was killed in late-January in the Imperial Valley desert when he was run over by a smuggler driving a Hummer, who quickly fled back to Mexico.
The Mexican government this week complained about an increase of agents firing tear gas across the border. The Border Patrol responded that there's been more cross-border violence requiring such action.
In short, it's open warfare at the border. You're a smuggler who drives a vehicle in the direction of a border patrol agent, expect gunfire as a response. Agents, reasonably, don't want to end up like their late colleague.
It's amazing that as violence increases along the border, only one candidate among the four majors remaining is committed to being tough on illegal immigration. Reality needs to be injected in this campaign in a number of areas, and this is high up among them.
