There is no doubt that either Obama or the Clintons must be defeated next November, but, unfortunately, the task ended up in the hands of John Sidney McCain. The problem is that McCain, given his track-record (http://www.greatamericanjournal.com/archives/cols/McCainsList.htm), is walking into November with a badly splintered GOP and an alienated conservative base.

If the election took place today, McCain could get the vote of some---not of all---conservatives, but only out of dread, out of fear of whom between Obama or the Clintons ends up being the Democrat candidate. And McCain could, if dread and fear escalates to terror and panic, even get the vote of the majority of, and probably of all, conservatives, but he definitively would not get the support---that is, money and, more important, activism---from solid conservatives.

Without solid-conservative support, McCain would be walking into November with a stale GOP under his arm, an insipid, anodyne, colorless GOP bloated at the top with blueblood country-clubbers, RINOs, and the forever-present professional political-leeches. That would be the perfect recipe for disaster, as the Ford vs. Carter and Dole vs. Clinton campaigns proved.

To defeat Obama---or the Clintons, for that matter, in case the “super-delegate” sham works---John McCain must walk toward the election with a Republican Party not only solidly united, but also fired up in the belly.

To be perfectly explicit, he must rally the solid-conservatives behind him, for only solid-conservatives know how to fire up the GOP, and how to keep it fired up all the way to victory.

And there it is where McCain’s big problem resides; he has a long “rap-sheet” of very serious anti-American---hence, anti-conservative and anti-Republican---transgressions (http://www.greatamericanjournal.com/archives/cols/McCainsList.htm).

He will never get the support of solid-conservatives unless he makes up for his “rap-sheet” by embracing his “salvation sheet”.

Salvation sheet?

Yes. JR Dieckmann took the time to brainstorm and write a five-point list in the article referred to in the first paragraph of this piece, and which I reprint next. That five-point list---plus an addition to it, that I list as point number 6---could contain the salvation, not only of McCain, but also of America, and conservatism and the GOP; embracing that, now six-point, list would allow McCain have solid-conservatives coming in droves, stampeding, avalanching, behind him.

Here it goes [with my own snoopy tweaking-instances highlighted and between brackets]:

“1. Never sign any legislation that grants amnesty, or anything like it, to illegal aliens. That he will not only [effectively] secure the borders and crack down on employers who would consider employing illegals, but also conduct serious efforts with DHS and ICE to eliminate [i.e., attrite via legal unemployability] the illegals already living in our country. That he would support the cutting off of federal funds to "sanctuary cities" for [, and to states that issue driver licenses to,] illegals. America has 17 legal guest worker programs that can be used instead of employing illegal aliens. We don’t need them in our country in spite of the pro illegal propaganda some people are promoting.  [Fire his “comprehensive-immigration” (McCain’s codeword for amnesty) adviser, lawyer Juan Hernández, who is a hyper-vocal and hyper-activist advocate and promoter of illegal immigration, with open borders, blanket amnesty, driver licenses and all.]

2. Get his head on straight about "global warming" and learn the facts that disprove the myths he believes in. That he will work toward energy independence for America and promote domestic oil, coal, and nuclear [, particularly commercial nuclear fusion (a paradigm of which can be found at www.GeneralFusion.com),] development as a major priority, including drilling in ANWR, and put a stop to this insane biofuel subsidizing with our money. Recognize that corn is needed food, not fuel. We can become energy independent within a decade if we can only find the political will to do it. We have the resources right here in our own country. We need only to exploit them and use them. McCain must not allow the environmental organization to dictate our energy policies and hamper American energy independence. McCain must denounce the socialist “global warming” swindle and expose it for what it is.

3. Work with Republicans in Congress as hard as he has been working with Democrats over the past decade. In one of his victory speeches after "super Tuesday," he said he would reach out to work with Democrats. I want to hear him say he will reach out to work with Republicans. If he doesn’t want to do that, then I would suggest he switch parties right now and run against Obama and the Clintons in the Democrat primaries, and open up the field for a real Republican candidate. [Too late, America may be doomed, for as things look now, McCain will lose to either Obama or the Clintons; unless he reaches out to us, across-the-board solid-conservatives.]

4. Not try to micromanage the Islamic War [i.e., the global war on Islamofascism] and let the Pentagon and the Joint Chiefs of Staff do their jobs. Allow intelligence interrogators to do what is necessary to protect the country from terrorism, including waterboarding, and keep captured terrorists away from our country and out of our civilian courts. Acknowledge that Guantánamo Bay is the best place to keep them and is necessary for the defense of America.

5. Keep his campaign promise to veto any and all pork barrel legislation that may come out of Congress, cut government waste and unconstitutional spending programs, [appoint strict-constructionist judges,] and significantly reduce the size of the federal government. Don’t wait until his second term to find his veto pen as Bush did. He may not get a second term.“

To which I add my sixth point:

6. Embrace the personal retirement investment accounts mechanism proposed by the Rise Up America movement (www.RiseUpAmerica.us) as a substitute for the government’s about-to-go-bankrupt pyramid called Social Security. Since the infusion of those funds into the private enterprise system, rather than leaving them prey to squandering-politicians, would provide America’s economy with massive capitalization, the U.S. dollar would reclaim its due value. Furthermore, members of the U.S. Congress and some public employees have similar plans; the question arises: If it is good for our employees, why not for us, their bosses, we the people? The RUA website says on its homepage:

“Those who believe that adopting Rise Up will just make Americans wealthier and retirement more secure are missing the bigger picture. It will reduce the size of government by half; generate the biggest tax cut in history; pay off all unfunded entitlement liabilities; economically emancipate women and minorities; infuse enormous sums directly into the capital markets thereby accelerating the growth of the economy;  reduce crime, poverty and gangs; eliminate the need for government pensions and Medicare; eliminate the need for business to fund retirement needs; increase the net worth of America and Americans geometrically and promote ‘Domestic Tranquility’"

The six points above are entirely reasonable, commonsensical, and in no way “extreme”, as, grossly deceptively, the Democrats and the rest of the Left, along with the RINOs, would brand them.

All that said, no one could claim that this piece is anti-McCain. Where could he find better tips to saving his behind, winning the Presidency . . . and, in the process, saving America?

Solid-conservatives must force McCain into adhering to commonsensical policies (i.e., “making concessions to conservatives”) before November; and the sooner the better, in that order, for America, for conservatism, for the GOP and for himself.

A prominent solid-conservative columnist whom I occasionally correspond with about politics and policies, and whose name I am not at liberty to disclose, wrote me with the following savvy observations:

"I think we need to waterboard McCain into submission.  But short of doing that, I think your strategy is the right one.  We need to keep hammering at him to let him know that we want concessions from him if he wants our vote.  People certainly need to be reminded of his crimes against conservatives, but what he's done in the past is done and can't be changed [some can, for sure].  We need to let him know what we want from him in the future.  He has already conceded on the border fence saying he has learned his lesson - "the people want the border secured first."  Of course that leaves a lot to be desired and says nothing about his support for amnesty for illegals. 

But what it does show, along with other behavior, is that he is vulnerable right now; so, between now and September, we have to work on him."

The ball is on our court; we must keep the highest pressure on McCain, which he could easily assuage by adopting the six-point “salvation list” above.