According to George Packer, there is "little life" left in the movement that "Goldwater began, Nixon brought into power, Ronald Reagan gave mass appeal, Newt Gingrich radicalized, Tom DeLay criminalized, and Bush allowed to break into pieces." In the article, Packer says that John McCain's appeal is that he doesn't present himself as such, and quotes David Brooks in saying that McCain is "certainly not" a "conventional, establishment, old-style conservative candidate."
Fair enough, but McCain is definitely pandering to the right, especially when it comes to the courts and the judges that will inhabit them. According to Jeffrey Toobin, of The Nine fame, would-be President McCain has made "an implicit promise" that he will appoint "Justices who will eliminate the right to privacy, permit states to ban abortions, and allow the execution of teen-agers." Toobin has stated elsewhere that, once set in motion, Roe v. Wade could be undone in a year's time, its name becoming mere options for ovum-seeking sperm too tired to swim. Thus, even if conservatism is waning, its effects could linger for generations to come... literally.
in this week's New Yorker magazine
