Mychal Massie sees it all:
This is a ruse, a con, and in brief, an attempt to hustle the voters. GOP leadership is trying to “Bob Dole” us. They have, in effect, met in the smoke-filled back room of a private club and decided amongst themselves who they want in 2008. Their problem is how to deceive the voters into believing that said pick is of the voters’ choosing.
Their solution: hand pick the candidate, truncate the primaries, shove the candidate down our collective throats vis-à-vis the media’s promoting, interviewing and discussing (ad nauseum) McCain, Romney and Giuliani, but in such a way as to always have Giuliani shine brighter. Then, when he has garnered the nomination, we the voters will be told, “Yes, it is true he is a little more moderate than we may like,” but if we don’t vote for him, Hillary will win and hell will freeze over.
To which, allowing that same has no basis in theological truth, I respond, “If there be a hell on earth, and it freezes over because I vote my conscience and Hillary wins, I’ll walk on ice until the party lets the voters truly have a say.”
If the Republican Party was actually trying to win this fall, they would pay attention to the way even conservative commentators are declaring that they will sit it out rather than vote for Giuliani, McCain or Romney.
But, as I’ve written repeatedly over the last two years, this is the Lizard Queen’s election. It’s the Democrat’s turn again, so the GOP has to throw up a sacrificial lamb. I guessed it would be Pataki, but it turned out that he’s not even electable enough to serve as voter bait.