Victor Davis Hanson on John McCain

The final delegate count isn't in yet but it appears John McCain has won about half of the delegates needed to secure the GOP nomination for President. I have been hoping that as the race progresses that maybe some of the anti-McCain rhetoric would die down and we could move forward, but Victor Davis Hanson, prominent military historian and former professor of classics, thinks things have gone to far for that:

1. The McCain animus apparently transcends ideology. He has admitted his mistakes on immigration, and would not raise taxes, while his ACU ratings are good, and his ADA/ACLU scores are lousy — nearly the exact opposite of those of Obama and Clinton. Again, the anger apparently derives from his gratuitous past snubbing of prominent conservatives (especially the notion that a rude McCain didn't need them then, but a conciliatory one does now) and can't be assuaged. At this point, I take the base's claims they will sit out — or that Hillary or Obama is no worse than McCain-as genuine.

And given their furor expressed so far on the record, it would be almost impossible for them to recant, and they shouldn't be defamed or coerced to try. No doubt they will lead the charge in a year or two against the liberal Supreme Court nominations of a President Obama or Clinton, or payroll and income tax increases, or a timetable withdrawal from Iraq. Just as McCain is trying to win them back now, they will try to win back then those who are turned off by the venom expressed against the likely Republican candidate. In either case, it will be nearly impossible to do so.

I have the feeling he is right.

victor davis hanson, john mccain, election 2008