Ambivalence Reigns

Immediately below, Matt expressed discomfort with McCain's condemnation of the NC GOP ad, while over at National Review, Jim Geraghty pointed out the other day that

the denunciation is actually good political strategery on John McCain's part.

For once, I'm ambivalent. On the one hand, I believe that John McCain's seriousness in approaching the war on terror makes it very, very important that he win. And so if he occasionally indulges in a little cringe-inducing criticism of the GOP, well, it's in a worthy cause.

On the other hand, there's the possibility that -- should he win having employed such strategies -- John McCain will interpret his victory as a mandate to continue criticizing his own party with more gusto than he does the Democrats'. And as I pointed out in a Townhall column predating McCain's clinching of the GOP nomination, such eager "bipartisanship" poses real dangers to conservatism in America.