The Emerging Right, having weighed the various actual and potential options for the 2008 Presidential Election, must endorse John McCain.

The Emerging Right didn't want to have to take this step, preferring Huckabee or even entertaining hopes of an interesting Constitution Party candidate, but since Huckabee has been thoroughly routed, and the CP appears to have too many problem, the matter was forced. The Emerging Right considered simply not endorsing anyone, for the sole reason of the character of McCain's rhetoric concerning immigration reform activists to his Right--not, mind you, because of McCain's own position on immigration itself, which is little different from Huckabee's.

There are also McCain's other deficits. For example, there is his actual position on immigration. This seems a little too risky to me when it comes to the long-term future of the county, and there are also the effects on prized urban and rural areas to think about, but the Emerging Right has no particular loyalty to any given part of the U.S., and also supposes that a little risk might be ok so long as the ER doesn't have to support it directly. The world will not end if we have a Black-Latino majority in 2100. By then technology will likely have radically transformed the situation anyway.

There is also McCain's mention of the military option vis-a-vis Iran and the rest of his militarism. The fact is, the Democratic Party of Woodrow Wilson, Kennedy, LBJ, and (looking to his African & Balkan adventurism) isn't likely to offer much more in the way of dove policies. The other option, the Constitution Party, is pledged to reneging (at least indirectly) on our NATO commitments, our commitments to Japan, and other treaty commitments. That's a little too dove for the Emerging Right. I am sure many of ER's paleo friends will disagree, but ER suspects they have gotten a little too caught up in anti-neocon, anti-American arguments. Moderation is the key for U.S. foreign policy. I think McCain will provide a sensible, moderate voice in most military and foreign policy matters. There is also the issue of ideas for Iraq, which seem like very correct ideas, well-designed to preserve U.S. military credibility, so as to allow for maximal protection of civilization from Russian, Chinese, and radical Islamic threats. In short, while McCain might be wrong on Iran, some of his other points make up for this fault, and the other actual or likely candidates are not better than McCain.

McCain's limited support for Affirmative Action, while annoying, is something of a minor issue. Most anti-AA programs originate at the State level, not the Federal, and limited Federal AA won't do much wrong.

The main thing is that McCain has, in general, the right ideas on economics. Economics is his strong suit, not his weak suit. He is the candidate of economic growth. That's what we need, not new Democrat-supported entitlement programs that will put the county in the poor house.

from themergingright's main blog at http://emergingright.blogspot.com/ .