I'm very interested in finding out where conservatives stand.  There was so much vitriol spewed at McCain late last year as the immigration issue roused many in the slumbering majority.  Now those that led the charge to put a stop to the quick and quiet passage of a path to citizenship are the same voices that are saying that McCain won't be so bad.  Or at least he's more palatable than either Obama or Clinton.

I hear what's being said on the Internet, radio, and TV, but I'm very curious about "Joe Conservative" and what he's thinking.  If he's thinking what I'm thinking, then he's teetering on the fence.  It comes down to a vote against socialism, or taking a stand for conscience and by-passing a vote for the 'maverick' and choosing a vote for the 'matador' - ole!  Taking a pass on choosing a president wouldn't mean by-passing choices further down the ticket, but that's just me.  Many others would, if opting to stay out of the presidential pick, just stay home altogether.

What's a principled person to do?

I just have not been convince that a vote for McCain-Feingold to take away my free speech rights, a vote for McCain-Kennedy to dissolve our borders and overrun our beleaguered infrastructure, or McCain-Lieberman to take my hard earned money and spend it on the fantasy that we can stop the seasons from cycling (oh, I guess the new 'pop' term for seasons is "global climate change" sorry, I'll try to keep up...).

Speaking of this last issue - I heard a great interview on NPR today about Kristen Byrnes.  She's a teen age girl who decided to dig into the numbers around climate change research.  She has come down decidedly against the notion that humanity is the cause of temperature changes.  You would can visit her web site and get a real education.  It's too bad NPR had to end their interview by stating that she's really wrong and thay know better.

Now just to balance these views, the strongest things that would say to vote for him is the fact that we are a nation at war.  I don't question his ability to work with the military to actually let them win the war.

And the last area I would like to put out for your consideration is the selection of judges.  Our highest court will have one thing in common with a President McCain - 7 of the 9 will be over 70 when he's in office.  Now I realize that a Democrat will make distasteful nominations, but these nominees have to pass the Senate.  And McCain isn't guaranteed to make any better selections.  It's clearly not something McCain will actually fight for since he didn't want to fight for judges when he was on the front lines where his vote would actually count.

I've been trying to find viewpoints that shed some light on where conservatives are.  Will principle cause them to pass by the presidential race, or will the conservatives in the Republican party don their clothespins and head into the polls to actually pull the lever.