Conservatives Freak Out Over McCain's Likely GOP Nomination for President

Last night, not too long after John McCain was declared the winner of Florida's Republican primary, National Review's Michael Graham wrote an item called, "It's all over."

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Assuming there is no shocking revelation or health issue, the GOP nomination is over. Conservatives need to start practicing the phrase "Nominee presumptive John McCa...."

Sorry, I can't say it. Not yet.

But it's true. When the campaign comes here to Massachusetts on February 5th, I'll proudly cast my vote for any option on the GOP ballot other than You-Know-Who. But it will be a futile gesture. Mr. "1/3rd Of The GOP Primary Vote" is going to be the nominee.

It was easily one of the more grounded responses from a conservative blogger in response to McCain's success. The War Room's Alex Koppelman did a great job pulling together some of the "greatest hits" from the far-right last night, all of which, with varying degrees of subtlety, reflect a conservative base that considers the Arizona senator an absolute disaster for the party and the conservative movement.

Given this, I can't help but notice just how feckless the hard-right wing of the Republican Party looks today. The anti-McCain contingent of the GOP, at least at first blush, looks like it should be a force to be reckoned with. Rush Limbaugh, Tom DeLay, Rick Santorum, most of the Fox News crowd, most of the right's talk-radio hosts, and nearly all of the leading conservative bloggers consider John McCain completely unacceptable.

And yet, here we are, looking at a political landscape in which McCain is the undisputed frontrunner for the Republican nomination.