redblueamerica.com

Forget the Coulter silliness of the other day. This is really interesting. Pat Buchanan is the leading voice of the "Old Right" or the "paleo-conservatives" today. I disagree with many of Buchanan's positions, especially on the war on terrorism and free trade, but he makes a thoughtful, principled conservative case against John McCain.

And what is that case? Briefly:

• "Where Bush has been at his best, cutting taxes and nominating conservative judges, McCain has been his nemesis. Not only did he vote twice against the Bush tax cuts, McCain colluded to sell out the most conservative of Bush’s judges."

• "On ANWAR... McCain votes with the liberals, and on global warming he has moved toward Gore."

• "Ike promised to 'go to Korea' and ended that war. Nixon pledged to end Vietnam with honor. McCain says we may be in Iraq a hundred years and warns, 'there’s going to be other wars.' Take the man at his word."

Buchanan's conclusion: "McCain is running on a platform that says your jobs are not coming back, the illegals are not going home, but we are going to have more wars. If you don’t like it, vote for Hillary." You read it right. Pat Buchanan just came out for Hillary Clinton. To his way of thinking, there is simply no alternative for conservatives because there is no viable conservative in the race. And yes, I know the article appears in an issue of The American Conservative endorsing Ron Paul for president.

As I say, I don't buy it -- at least, not all of it. If you want a better grasp of the full scope of American conservative thinking nowadays, do read the whole thing.