Evan's Endorsement

Well, the time has come to get off the fence and endorse a candidate. As I last wrote, this is not an easy decision. McCain is in almost every way a bust. In fact, there are only two issues on which he might be thought to have the advantage and I'm not convinced he does.

The first is national security. Yes, he was in favor of "the surge" before it was popular and before it proved the stunning success that it is. He deserves -- and gets -- a lot of points for that.

Yet on every other issue of national security -- from protecting our borders from invasion, to using thoughtful means of eliciting information from terrorists before they murder again, he fails miserably.

On issues related to security, such as drilling for oil at ANWR which would both lessen our dependence on foreign oil almost immediately and, by doing so, deny the terrorists a great deal of funding, he fails miserably too.

I also consider his falling for the canard of global warming, the leftist' effort to shackle "the great Satan" while allowing our enemies and competitors (and Al Gore) to continue to spew pollution at unprecedented rates, a national security failure.

The other issue is, as bad as McCain is on virtually every issue, he's still better than the radical leftists who would surrender Iraq to the terrorists, talk and talk and talk to the Iranians until they have and use nuclear weapons, if for no other reason than that the Democrats hate Jews (explained at length in my forthcoming book).

McCain, the argument goes, has the best chance of beating the radical leftists and keeping the hate-America-always crowd out of power is essential. I don't buy this argument, either. I am not impressed by polls that ALWAYS show Democrats beating Republicans early on (and the fact that a faux Republican, like McCain, is leading against Hillary changes nothing).

The issues, once actually discussed beyond the level of "hope" and "change" and "fear" on the one hand and "Christmas presents under the tree for the children" on the other, sees the Republican close the gap and take the lead as the election turns from polls to ballots.

Romney is right on taxes. McCain not only was against Bush's tax cuts, but slandered those who disagreed with him. The idea that he's now seen the error of his ways because "they worked" only further calls into question his judgment. After all, tax cuts ALWAYS work. They worked when JFK cut taxes and they worked when Reagan cut taxes and they worked when Bush cut taxes. McCain's insults are just the icing on the cake.

Romney shares McCain's understanding that we are in a war against Islamic fascists -- something the Democrats don't get (for that would be "racist"). He is also more likely to appoint the right judges.

I like Mike Huckabee personally. He's engaging. He is straight-forward, just like a guy who has nothing to lose and, of course, it's because he has nothing to lose. I'm not thrilled that he is running interference for McCain, perhaps in the hopes of being asked to be McCain's number two or perhaps just for his ego.

But Huckabee's continued quixotic quest means that McCain would not even win the Republican nomination if he weren't playing tag-team with McCain,

I think Romney's vigor, experience (McCain has never run a business or been in the position of running a state) and demeanor make him a better candidate than the elderly and battered McCain whose flip-flops are not only more than any that could be said about Romney, but far harder to explain.

Romney is far from the perfect candidate in my book. But in every way he's better than McCain. I will, of course, support McCain with all of my heart if he's head-to-head with people I recognize will destroy this country with their socialist agenda, their international cowardess and their disdain for the American people. But this race is far from over and, for all of the reasons listed above and more, I ask that you vote for Mitt Romney on Tuesday and beyond.