While it's far too soon to declare John McCain the Republican nominee, his victory in South Carolina(a state that soundly rejected him eight years ago) certainly gives him a great deal of momentum and makes his nomination a real possibility.

Now, McCain is not my favorite Republican. Out of the 2008 Presidential candidates Fred Thompson takes that honor, with Mitt Romney coming in a close second. McCain certainly has good qualities to him. His first good quality is that he's not Hillary Clinton. I think Republicans should bite the bullet if the choice is between a maverick Republican, and a socialist from New York. McCain's resume is not all bad. His ACU rating is 82, not stellar but he's not in Susan Collins or Olympia Snowe territory either. He's been solidly pro life, he understands the threat the country faces from Islamic extremism. It's hard to see the United State relaxing its guard or slacking off the offensive if McCain were president. He's also one of the few Republicans in Congress who seems to understand that the government spends way too much money and needs to exercise some fiscal restraint.

Those are all good things, but there are some things that have conservatives riled up, and rightly so. First and foremost is immigration. He can deny it all he wants, and swear that he's learned his lesson, but McCain supported amnesty. Call it comprehensive immigration reform, call it plain stupid, it's what he supported. He now swears that he will secure the border before he makes any move to deal with the millions of illegals who are already here. I can't help but think there is something less than honest in that statement.

He voted against the Bush tax cuts both times, but now says he supports them, and says his position hasn't changed. It's not very likely that McCain voted against the tax cuts because he is a tax and spend liberal, but he has changed his position and should at least admit it. Romney admitted his change on abortion, while McCain stubbornly holds onto every position he has. Some might call that principled, others would call it vanity. McCain seems to believe that if he believes in it then it must be the right thing to do. Take McCain Feingold for instance. He doesn't care that he restricted free speech by getting it through Congress(President Bush was spineless in signing it into law, and the Supreme Court was brainless for upholding it as constitutional) all he cared about was he believed there was too much money in the American political process, and he did something about it. The important thing was he got what he wanted.

Is a McCain nomination inevitable? We'll have to wait and see how he does in primary where independents and Democrats can't vote in a Republican primary. Would a McCain nomination be a disaster for the Republican party? No one can question McCains patriotism, his strength on foreign issues(and despite the polls Islamic terrorism is far more dangerous to America than a shaky stock market) yet the fact that he has spent eight years as the medias favorite Republican should give us pause. They loved him because he was a maverick. Will they love him if he becomes the standard bearer?

The GOP could do better than McCain. After all, Romney is perfectly capable of bringing the GOP factions together and winning the general election. But if McCain is the nominee there's no reason for the GOP to rent its clothes and go into mourning either. After all, he isn't Hillary.