Two comments left at Quick’s; first, Billy Hollis:

I don’t trust McCain to do anything he says if he thinks doing otherwise will get him good press and good mentions in the history books.

…Hanson says that McCain’s betrayal on tax cuts, immigration, and McCain-Feingold are “legitimate concerns”, but we should balance that with McCain’s support for the surge and his desire to get control of spending. But I believe that if the New York Times pounds on McCain enough, he’ll find a reason to go back on those principles, the same way he jettisoned free speech to get good press over campaign finance reform. He sucks up to journalists, and I don’t trust any politician that sucks up to today’s leftist hacks.

As I stated as plainly as I could at QandO, I won’t vote for the man against any Democratic nominee. I’d rather see a Democratic president that might rouse the poltroons in Congress to rediscover their principles than a Republican president who would quite likely sell out freedom and convince the Republican poltroons to go along with him.

Amen to all that. And this one’s mine own:

…Europe Lite, here we come.

And then there’s this: “…with the willing help of a party that has forgotten the principles it once stood for.” Forgotten? They’ve all but specifically renounced them. To hell with ‘em. I, like Bill, will wait until I’m given something to vote FOR rather than against. As an old girlfriend of mine used to say, you get what you settle for. I’m done with “settling” for the lesser of two evils.

A petulant, childish response to an imperfect world? Perhaps. But you don’t elect conservatives by voting for liberals, no matter which party they represent or how that party tries to obscure the truth about what its candidate really stands for. Dubya’s inept reign ought to be object lesson enough of that.

If this country is ever to be turned aside from the nanny-state/socialist path it’s on and put back on something resembling a Constitutional footing– and I seriously doubt that it will — it’s going to require statesmen, bona fide leaders, to point the way. But all we have available to us now are mere politicians.

These are sad, trying times indeed for anyone concerned about meanly losing the “last, best hope of earth.”

We’re marching hard and assiduously in precisely the wrong direction, and right now I don’t see much reason to expect a turnaround anytime soon.

Lambs to the slaughter, that’s us.

Update! “‘We are not blind to the obvious,’ said one senior campaign adviser (of Fred’s -M).” Nor am I.

Updated update! Via Glenn: message of hope, or forlorn self-delusion?

You can still have a huge impact–one way or another–on who becomes the next President; Senator, you can still be the next President. That is far too valuable to abandon the playing field to some two-bit Arkansas shyster now.

The bottom line is that you are still the standard bearer for the vision of the founders and of the vision of Reagan. We need that vision right now. The longer you can stay in and get your message out there, the better.

Take Huckabee out; the rest will take care of itself. And let’s see what your count is in February. It is not too late to win this election; just ask Rudy Giuliani…

Thanks for continuing to fight the good fight.

We’ll see, I suppose.

Update to the updated update! Unsurprisingly, GOP-forever shill Bill Kristol goes a-whistlin’ past the bone orchard:

So the conservative commentariat should take a deep breath, be a bit less judgmental about these individuals–and realize that there is not likely to be a second Reagan.

There most certainly isn’t — not so long as people like Kristol are willing to sell out conservative/Constitutionalist principle to vote for the GOP, no matter how much elbow grease its overlords expend on polishing up the same old RINO turds, anyway.