One Wonders

When the primaries are over -- which may not be Tuesday night, as it turns out -- the Democrats will likely be able to reconcile themselves to whoever wins. Obama fans will, I have little doubt, be able to say, "Hillary isn't my first choice, but I'll certainly vote for her over the Republican." Alternatively, Clinton fans will be able to say, "Barack -- I think he's a little green, but he's our guy and he gets my vote."

But will Republicans be able to do the same thing? I'm beginning to question that pretty seriously. Maybe I'm reading too many pundits. Assuming, as seems more likely every day, that McCain gets the nomination locked up on Tuesday, will this sow the seeds of a schism? Democrats would absolutely love that crap, let me tell you. But I simply can't believe the vitriol that I'm seeing out there on the internets about McCain. There is serious derangement going on out there in right-wing-land.

Conservatives! You got behind George Bush's dad back in 1988. He wasn't one of you and didn't make any bones about it. But he was better than Mike Dukakis and those were your damn choices. Hold your noses and do what's right. The Democrats find a way to do it, and that's how they elected Bill Clinton, who back in 1992 was not universally popular within the Democratic party, if you will recall. You're acting like a bunch of spoiled children whose toys are being taken away. See, it's not so hard to do if you give it a little bit of thought.

Could I hold my nose and vote for Romney if he gets the nomination? I didn't think so at first, but I'm beginning to come around to thinking that yes, I could. Romney's toned down some of the pandering and is getting back into Mitt-the-businessman mode. I'm beginning to think that the early primaries in places like Iowa and South Carolina give a very distorted view of the GOP -- Florida and New Hampshire seemed to not be dominated by social concerns so much as economic ones, and that's the Republican party I know and like. Most of the time. The party that makes business wonks like Mitt Romney contort themselves over gay marriage is an unpleasant and ugly one. But as we get farther away from those kinds of states, the more acceptable a guy like Romney seems to be. Of course, I still think he's more than a little bit veracity-challenged.