John McCain Wins GOP Presidential Nomination

John McCain has secured the Republican nomination for President, officially.

He reached the magic number of 1191 today, mainly via the Republican delegates in Texas. They propelled him over the top and into the seat, knocking Mike Huckabee, possibly the most lovable Republican ever, out of the race.

I'll take this opportunity to congratulate McCain as well, as he has overcome tremendous odds to get to where he is today. Even six months ago, he was broke, running fourth and fifth in the polls, and on his last legs. Until he opted into the matching funds campaign that he is now violating, blatantly, and was able to secure a loan with it as collateral and get himself back into it. He's turned his back on his principles and his stances to get to where he is as well, as most of the positions he took during his time in the Senate have been reversed in the last 2 years or so.

Most notably, Bush's tax cuts to the wealthy. Voted against it twice, said he couldn't in good conscience vote for something that harmed the middle class so much. Now supports these cuts as a permanent part of the Tax Code.

He has ties to lobbyists, not just monetarily either, who basically run his campaign nowadays, he has violated the campaign finance law that he was a CO-SPONSOR for, the controversial acceptance of the endorsement of John Hagee, certified nutjob and hater of the Catholic Church. He has had numerous scandals just in the last few months, leaving aside things like the Keating 5 (Look it up, insider trading, five Senators involved, everyone went down but McCain).

McCain is going to be a tough candidate in a national election, as he is a street fighter, but I really think with everything he supports, plus the big elephant in the room I didn't even mention, the Iraq War, he is going to go down in flames this November, and whomever wins the Democratic nomination after what looks like a protracted fight, will be able to coast to the White House.

He is traveling to Washington tomorrow to get the blessing of George W. Bush at the White House, have some pictures taken and a nice press conference. Apparently it slips past the logic of McCain and his organizers that Bush has an approval rating hovering around 20% right now, so he might not be the man you want shaking your hand, agreeing with your policies and giving you his blessing to continue on with his legacy. But hey, a sitting President is a sitting President right, no matter that 80% of the country thinks he’s doing a terrible job.
I'm going to do another post on the Democratic races tonight, which are as tight as can be, but for now, John McCain gets his moment in the sun, before he is eclipsed by the tidal wave of crap gathering behind him.