McCain and Huckabee- Conservative Saviors?

Not that it's going to matter much in the primary today, but it's not all a rosy picture for John McCain and Mike Huckabee. I am dismayed by the insurgence of “Heart over Head” politics that seems to be winning the political day. “Change” is the buzzword, but nobody can define it. This summer, the population overwhelmingly shot down the idea that Johnny Mac proposed- de facto amnesty for millions of illegal aliens. Now he is the supposed front runner for the Republican nomination? Is anybody else flabbergasted by this? Here is an excerpt from an article I read from Thomas Sowell on RealClearPolitics.com:

“John McCain trails the pack in the temperament department, with his volatile, arrogant, and abrasive know-it-all attitude. His track record in the Senate is full of the betrayals of Republican supporters that have been the party's biggest failing over the years and its Achilles heel politically.

The elder President Bush's betrayal of his "no new taxes" pledge was the classic example, but the current President Bush's attempt to get amnesty for illegal aliens, with Senator McCain's help, was more of the same.

President Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon probably cost him the 1976 election and cost the country the disastrous Carter years.

McCain's betrayals include not only the amnesty bill but also the McCain-Feingold bill that violated the First Amendment for the illusion of "taking money out of politics." His back-door deal with Democrats on judicial nominations also pulled the rug out from under his party leaders in the Senate. The White House is not the place for a loose cannon.”

I mentioned at the beginning of my post that there is presently a movement toward “Heart over Head” politics. If this is the case, then Mike Huckabee must be the poster child for it. Dick Armey said just today:

“With his jokes and folksy patter, he (Huckabee) presents himself as affable and friendly, but only by sowing discontent and disunity can he hope to split off enough of the party's base to win the nomination. Yes, despite the sunny rhetoric, Huckabee's act is little more than another strategic political ploy. Thus, he has worked to make his small-minded populism a credit by pitting his socially conservative supporters against the GOP's business wing. One of his favorite lines is that he represents the interests of "Main Street, not Wall Street." But this assumes that the interests of the two are not in alignment, that somehow, one group can only gain at the expense of the other - never mind that the jobs and livelihoods of America's workers and small towns are tied inexorably with the larger economy. It's a dark form of class warfare shrewdly masked by his sunny chatter.

Of course, his genial demeanor and willingness to overlook both principle and fact is indicative of a distinct and disturbing trend in American politics. Huckabee seemed to come from nowhere in the race, but he is not just a lonely, surprise candidate, but a symbol of the new wave of feel-good conservatism, which seeks not to deal in policy that works so much as policy and rhetoric that provide emotional gratification.

Huckabee comes off as the self-esteem candidate, in which merely feeling good is the core of the message. He's not the only Republican making a practice of peddling cotton-candy bromides. As FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe recently pointed out, former Bush speechwriter and Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson has been pushing a similarly foolish agenda: inspiring, heartfelt--and utterly ineffective.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself. I predict that whether or not Romney wins today, he will push hard and be victorious in Michigan. The love-fest between Huckabee and McCain will end after today since they both need to win SC. Thompson is also going to take the gloves off. The bottom line is this- if you think the fight for the Republican nomination has been tough so far, you ain't seen nothin' yet.