Conservatives don't hate McCain...<b>Rich</b> conservatives, and the fringe-right hate John McCain. It's both funny and gratifying to understand how at odds people like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham are with those who are their ideological kin.  If McCain doesn't deserve the conservative mantle or label, then it is quite clear that conservatives are drastically under-represented in the electorate.

We're hearing constant claims of splintering in the Republican Party, but it ought to be crystal clear to all of those who aren't inside the fishbowl: far-right conservatism has had a grand experiment as embodied by the GOP these last six years, and Americans as a whole have rejected it. There are still many true believers, but they are in either the pundit or corporate classes and haven't been on the receiving end of the drastic outcomes that their ideology has produced.

McCain is probably more of a conservative's conservative than anyone since Ronald Reagan.  Ronald Reagan was the champion of smaller government, but he also managed to back down when enough was enough.  That's not to say that Reagan's policies weren't disastrous, but in their time, they were less far-reaching than GWBush/Cheney's push to the extreme right.

What I find so comforting and inspirational about the constant nose-pinching and grimaces of the aforementioned "conservative" torch-bearers is that they're so alone.  Not only is their constituency is so small compared to their prominence, but they're finally observing the limits of their power to shape public opinion.  It's probably safe to say that America is turning back from the brink.