In response to the title of this post, my answer is “I sure hope not!”. Bruce Bartlett over at Townhall.com unfortunately disagrees with me, and it appears he is ready to throw in the towel. His recent article is titled Conservatives for Hillary?, and much as the title suggests, Mr. Bartlett advocates Conservatives abandoning the Republican party and latching onto Hillary Clinton.

If I am right, conservatives are going to have to make an important decision at some point. Do they go down with the sinking Republican ship or do they try and have some meaningful influence on the next president by becoming involved in the Democratic race?

Yes it is true, there are no Republican candidates currently in the race which have the general public truly excited. I am not quite ready to call it a “sinking Republican ship” though. Mr. Bartlett on the other hand, is already looking for his life preserver:

At some point, politically sophisticated conservatives will have to recognize that no Republican can win in 2008 and that their only choice is to support the most conservative Democrat for the nomination. Call me crazy, but I think that person is Hillary Clinton.

It is ironic that I am currently reading Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right by Bernard Goldberg at the same time I read this article. Mr. Bartlett is the epitome of what Bernard Goldberg refers to in his book as “Wimps to the Right”.

By advocating abandoning the Republican party because “they cannot win”, Mr. Bartlett is showing he has more in common with Hillary Clinton then he even realizes. Much like Hillary, Mr. Bartlett has decided that it is much easier to sway your decisions with public opinion rather than take a stand for what you believe in.

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Election 2008