Newsweek's wishful thinking is wrong: There will not be blood over McCain

Yes, I am very aware that many conservatives are unhappy that John McCain will be the Republican nominee for president. But they'll come around on in November, Rush Limaugh too, and vote Republican in Novemember.

Newsweek disagrees, and they seem to be hoping for GOP internecine warfare. So much in fact, the headline of their cover story is "There Will Be Blood: Why The Right Hates McCain."

Here's how it begins:

The latest Newsweek poll shows that Republican front runner John McCain holds a marginal lead among conservatives (49 to 43 percent) in a showdown with Mike Huckabee. It also shows 76 percent of all GOP voters and 69 percent of self-described conservatives say they would be satisfied with McCain as the GOP nominee, but listening to the more outspoken conservative pundits, one would hardly think he is doing so well.

Conservative pundits are torn over John McCain and the infighting is getting louder as he draws closer to the GOP nomination. Prominent hard-right pundits such as Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh have been ranting over McCain and his position in the polls while other right-wing pundits have launched counterattacks in what has become a case of a party's base bringing chaos out of order. In Newsweek's February 18 cover, "There Will Be Blood: Why the Right Hates McCain" (on newsstands Monday, February 11), Washington Correspondent Eve Conant, White House Correspondent Holly Bailey and Senior Editor Michael Hirsh look at the recent volleys between the warring conservative pundits and the ideological divide.

And here's how the Breitbart.com excerpt ends:

Former vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp, a hero to fiscal conservatives and a frequent guest on Limbaugh's show, tells Newsweek he "just finished a first draft of an open letter to Sean [Hannity] and Rush and Laura [Ingraham] and the other conservative talk-show hosts." Former senator Phil Gramm has been tasked with reaching out to lawmakers, as well as activists in the conservative movement. A senior McCain adviser, who didn't want to be named discussing internal strategy, says that Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of McCain's closest allies in the Senate, made a direct appeal last week to Hannity, the radio and TV host, who has railed against McCain in recent weeks.

In the end, Land says the GOP will do what it does best: unite. "I find it hard to believe that there are many conservatives who, when push comes to shove and they contemplate what it would be to have Hillary Clinton with the added pain of Bubba back in the White House, or Obama, that they won't eventually rally behind whoever the Republican nominee is as long as they are pro-life," says Land. "I don't want to minimize the impact of Limbaugh. He has influence. But there is a limit to where anyone can lead conservatives [if it's] where they don't want to be led."

There will not be blood, despite the drama-queen headline from Newsweek.

And conservative voters won't flock to Obama's "Cult of Change."

Technorati tags: Obama politics Barack Obama 2008 Election Democrats Hillary Clinton McCain Cult of Change Huckabee media bias Hillary