As for McCain, well, he is not exactly known for going against the grain of Beltway conventional wisdom (which is decidedly liberal in orientation), so when all the talking heads were saying it was absolutely necessary, and that it would take “Bipartisanship” to get it through, McCain could not help but leap in and take a sledge hammer to his own chances.

When W and McCain came out and pushed hard for the $850bln, it was all over. That was the end of the campaign. McCain might as well have made his concession speech right there.

In her two previous sessions, Gov. Palin has in many ways gotten along better with the Democrat minority than with the Republican majority in the House (The Senate was and remains a coalition). I don’t think there’s going to be much of that bipartisanship stuff this year; the Democrats aren’t going to help her do anything that might make her look good. A political rule I always tried to live by was that one didn’t go around peeing in wells that one might some day have to drink from. Well, there’s some pee’d in wells over on the Republican side of the aisle and Gov. Palin is going to have to drink.

I suspect that this budget will be the Legislature’s budget, not the Governor’s, that passing it will be the last thing they do before they go home, and that there will be blood on the floors of the Capitol. Gonna be an interesting Session!

This here’s my argument for it. To put it more succintly, I seriously doubt they would have gotten “creamed.”

Many here are much greater fans of Gov. Palin than I am, but she is at least an articulation of nominally conservative views with real prominence in the Republican Party. Left to his own devices, McCain would have chose a liberal Republican or even a Democrat as his running mate and there wouldn’t have been even the slightest representation of a conservative point of view.

So I will accept no charge that I was anything but EXACTLY RIGHT ABOUT MCCAIN, from day 1, as were all the Fredhead bunch. Caleb (absentee), are you reading this? Told ya! About 100 times!

I have to believe that B. Hussein has a “Bruce Almighty” filing cabinet-sized compartment in his brain filled with the threat of a Sarah Palin candidacy.

Look, Palin was supposed to be style over substance in this campaign. That’s the VP candidate’s job! They are supposed to win votes for the top of the ticket. You’d think the writer for TIME would understand that a VPs political stances, by necessity, take a backseat to the top of the ticket during a campaign.

I hope that WE have learned a lesson and are true to the ideals of the Republican/Conservative brand and NEVER again allow interlopers, RINO’s, SQUISHES to dictate to US how to be what we already are!

TO THINE OWNSELF BE TRUE!

And we fell for it.

One thing everyone agrees with is that President Bush’s basement level approval ratings had a lot to do with McCain (and many other Republicans’) losses … but how many people ever note just how much McCain and his “moderate” groupies had to do with it?

Don’t get me wrong – George W. Bush’s myriad of failures as a communicator (and thus as a leader and rallying point for his party) is primarily responsible for our current predicament. He refused to defend his decisions, his people and own honor. He refused to market and defend his own policies.

But let’s not forget the key roles McCain and the “moderate” contingent he commands in Congress played in undermining the President over the past eight years.

Over and over again, McCain and his entourage happily provided “Bipartisan” cover to Democrats, lending strength and credibility to Democratic allegations and actions against the President just to get an invite to sit with Blitzer, Stephanopoulos, Russert, etc. on Sunday morning.

All I can say is; never again.

Gov. Palin also is rejecting a $25k salary increase (from $125k to $150k) and has vowed that if she can’t refuse the increase, she will donate it to charity, where it can be used to help peopls.

She is the REAL DEAL.