Sen. McCain turns his back on GOP; will they return the favor?

May 11, 2008

Some diehard Republicans like Sean Hannity (who admittedly doesn’t realize he is one) are puffed up with excitement over the long, drawn-out knockdown battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

They figure that whatever is bad for the Democrats is good for Republicans.

And it certainly looks like the rancorous race for the nomination on the Democratic side is a slow trainwreck in progress. Most polls show that about one-fourth of Obama’s supporters won’t support Hillary Clinton if she gets the nomination. An even higher number of Clinton’s supporters, usually about one-third, say they wouldn’t vote for Obama in the general election.

Taking it for granted that those numbers will decline after the nomination is settled, there is still considerable reason to think that Democrats are much weaker today than anyone expected five months ago when the primaries started.

Which is why the one-track mind of Mr. Hannity, radio talk show host and Fox News personality, envisions a glorious victory for Republicans in the fall.

The problem is that, even if the Republicans win, they have already ensured it won’t be a glorious victory. Instead it will be a victory bought with abandoned principles, lost causes, and (almost certainly) personal attacks.

John McCain, the luckiest man on the planet, only stumbled into the GOP nomination because Rudy Giuliani imploded, Fred Thompson forgot the magic words (“We have ignition!), Mike Huckabee decided to “play nice,â€