By Mark Alexander
web posted September 8, 2008
The campaign between John McCain and Barack Obama took a turn to the right last week. After the "feel your pain" Demo-Goguery in Denver, Republicans took to the podium for some straight talk in St. Paul, and tens of millions of Americans tuned in.
Two weeks ago, there was considerable consternation in our editorial shop as Sen. McCain was preparing to announce his running mate ahead of the Republican Convention.
Why?
For the last three presidential election cycles, Democrats have run Ivy League elitists, Leftist darlings like the populist potentate of eco-theology Albert Arnold Gore, the treasonous Jean-Francois Kerry, and now, Kerry's lapdog, the most liberal of the Leftist cadre inside the Beltway, Barack Hussein Obama.
Because the Democrats have run candidates far left of center, Republicans have, by necessity, fielded candidates George W. Bush and John McCain, who certainly share Ronald Reagan's principles in regard to national security and foreign policy, but have moderate records on some domestic, economic and social policies.
The consequence of electing a moderately conservative Republican president in 2000, and reelecting him in 2004, was devastating to congressional conservatives downstream as the number of conservative Republicans gave way to an increased number of moderate Republicans who were, in significant ways, indistinguishable from Democrats. This washout ultimately cost Republicans their majorities in both the House and Senate.
The logical choice for Sen. McCain's VP from the field of contenders was Mitt Romney, but there was significant concern that, in a campaign against ultra-Leftists like Obama and Joe Biden, McCain would choose a centrist running mate.
Enter Gov. Sarah Palin.
Within minutes of confirming that Gov. Palin was McCain's VP choice, consternation yielded to celebration. Suffice it to say that we believe Gov. Palin is a brilliant choice, and speaks volumes about the direction of a McCain presidency.
Sen. McCain has been "The Gentleman from Arizona" for so long that there is some question about whether he can make the leap from Senate diplomacy to White House executive leadership. It is promising that McCain has been steadfast in his convictions for all his years in the Senate. For example, Sen. McCain has never taken an earmark while his colleagues on both sides of the aisles have been defrauding American taxpayers with every pork-barrel project imaginable.
It is also commendable that John McCain is teachable, so much so that when he finds himself in a hole, he stops digging. When deciding he is wrong on issues, such as voting against the Bush tax cuts, he is willing to change his position.
British macroeconomist Sir John Maynard Keynes, heralded by the Left, said this of entrenched thought: "The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds." When a liberal criticized him for altering his economic theory, he responded, "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"
Democrats could take a lesson on "change" from Keynes. They are mired in antiquated socialist doctrines that have never worked, and they continue to roll them out in perpetuity.
As for the Republicans, at their convention they outlined a vision for America that has a strong record of success. And make no mistake: In the next eight years, the McCain-Palin ticket has the potential to restore more than the conservative losses of the last eight years. This ticket has the potential to revive the Reagan Revolution, and I do not deliver such lofty declarations flippantly.
I believe McCain-Palin can be aptly characterized as the Bulldog-Barracuda ticket, and that prospect has both entrenched Republicrats worried about not only their diet of graft, but indeed, the future of their employment. 
Mark Alexander is the executive editor of the Patriot Post.