No one can be surprised that a messiah figure promising change beat a senator flailing at earmarks. No one cared about John McCain’s earmarks, my friend. No one was inspired by his insistence that Barack Obama was an “honorable” man or assured by his dismissal of “some old terrorist,” named William Ayres.

They were inspired instead when the “warrior princess” began to fight the real battles the tired, old soldier was unwilling to engage.

While Sarah Palin called out the “old terrorist,” McCain smiled and shrugged. While Palin fought to make drilling for oil the legitimate issue it was, McCain insisted he knew more about ANWR than Alaska’s governor and clung to his PC opposition. And, in an attempt to further demonstrate his magnanimous reach across the aisle, he vowed to include the genius Al Gore on any Global Warming initiative his administration might advance. Inspiring.

While people were given an opportunity to vote on how they actually felt about men marrying men and women marrying women in three states, McCain was reluctant to mention the issue. Loathe to defend the sanctity of marriage between a man and woman? Unwilling to expose his opponent’s radical opposition against giving the people a vote? Remarkably, both Florida and California went for Obama and against homosexual marriage. Did those voters know where Barack stood on this issue? Did they understand his stated intention to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act in order to usher in homosexual marriage state by state? Who would have told them except Obama’s opponent, John McCain? But marriage was not worth fighting for. The important issue was earmarks, my friend … earmarks.

While a huge percent of Americans—Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike—continue to oppose amnesty and benefits for illegal aliens, John McCain refused to make it a campaign issue. Do the citizens of the United States know Obama supports driver’s licenses for illegals? Medical benefits? Open borders? Do they know that of the so-called 44 million uninsured, millions are illegal immigrants? No, because McCain refused to mention it. He was more concerned about demonstrating his compassion to illegals than defending his country against their overwhelming demands.

When an attendee at a Wisconsin McCain/Palin rally stood up to declare, “I’m mad! Fight for us!” McCain delivered his trademark Beavis and Butthead laugh, offended at the challenge, not even comprehending the gravity of the moment. The nation at crisis, he thought the race was about him.

“Fight with me!” McCain famously urged at the Republican Convention, but we quickly discovered he perceived the fight to be for his shot at the presidency, not the preservation of the union. If he had really understood the dangers, how could he have remained cavalier and unserious about so many important issues?

A loss for McCain meant a return to the rich privileges of the Senate, a beautiful, millionaire wife and plenty more opportunities to fight earmarks and reach across the aisle. While the nation reels from his weakness, we were the ones who lost, not he.

As McCain met with the president-elect this week, speculation grows on a cooperative, bipartisan effort to bring citizenship and benefits for illegal immigrants. And since all campaign promises are off and the great compromiser still boasts of supporting leftist Supreme Court Justices David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg we can likely look forward to seeing him champion more bad nominees, more illegal immigration, more foolish global warming initiatives and more attention-getting gimmicks to demonstrate his maverick madness.

I voted for him out of self-preservation, but I would not have been proud of my candidate if this misguided lion lacking courage had made it to the White House. Still, I fear he will do more damage outside the White House than inside, and that, my friend, is a bi-partisan reach we could live without.