Is McCain worth fighting for?

To hear Rush Limbaugh, Hugh Hewitt and other right-wing talk show hosts tell it (not to mention conservative magazines like the National Review), John McCain would be such a bad president we might as well get Hillary.

And consider this list of conservative stalwarts:

Tom Coburn and Sam Brownback, perhaps the most conservative members of the United States Senate; Jack Kemp, the supply-side Reagan enthusiast; Phil Gramm, the most conservative Republican to run in the 1996 contest; and Ted Olson, the hero of the Federalist Society, who argued and won the case of Bush vs. Gore.

Oh wait, wrong list! Every one of THESE have endorsed McCain. Along with Trent Lott and Senator (and Biola grad) John Thune. And conservative icon Bill Bennett has repeatedly defended him on his talk show, Jeb Bush (my personal favorite politician) refused to endorse Romney in Florida even though by doing so he probably could have helped stop McCain's momentum in its tracks, Mike Huckabee will certainly endorse McCain the day he drops out of the race, and even President Bush in private conversations seems to be pulling for McCain over Romney.

If you DO want to stop Hillary from packing the courts with her favorites remember that not only is McCain far more popular among independents than Romney (no one can get elected depending on conservative talk-show listeners alone!), but he's even far more popular among Republicans than Romney. Electability matters!

Social conservatives: it's all about judges. Remember that McCain has supported all the good nominees, from Bork to Alito and has said he'd like to put more people like Roberts on the Supreme Court. If your refusal to support McCain leads to a Democratic victory in November, you're going to be living with the Supreme Court you deserve for the next 30 years.