Conservatives should hold our noses and vote for John McCain.  I have a Democrat friend who can't stand W., didn’t much care for G.H.W. Bush either and practically loathed Reagan.  The only Republican I can imagine him voting for is McCain. Attracting such support will be essential for victory this time around.  Besides, it is impossible not to respect the maverick senator; he gave nearly all in service to our country at great personal cost to himself, which no one can deny.

I don't agree with him much of the time, but he clearly follows his convictions and is practically the anti-­Clinton when it comes to not being a focus-group driven opportunist and mega-pho­ny.  He is genuine to a fault.

Most importantly, McCain gets it with respect to recog­nizing the imperative, post-9/11, to dramatically change the Middle East.  His criticisms were tactical, and time has proved him more right than wrong.

He's the party's best, per­haps only, hope at keeping the White House and pre­venting the insanity that will ensue from a leftist Democrat trifecta of control over the legislative, judicial and executive branches.

Tampa Tribune – 19 January 2008