Plus McCain has immigration, aka shamnesty, against him. He might stand up for himself better but I'm afraid he wouldn't be very conservative.

Too many people I know like Ron Paul. :(

I'm bummed about Fred. :(

Hi Barb,

I'm bummed about Fred, too. But I wasn't surprised that he dropped out. I think he just didn't want the job badly enough. :-(

There's one thing about the amnesty that my sister explained to me that I hadn't thought of before. Many of the illegal aliens that are here get all the benefits of being an American without paying taxes. However, if they were given amnesty, they would either stay and become taxpayers or leave and go back to Mexico. I have a feeling many would leave. And if they don't, at least we are getting them to pay taxes. I'm not saying I favor amnesty, but looking at it as a means to force them to either participate fully in the system or leave sounds logical to me. For amnesty to work like explained above, we would still have to strengthen border control considerably. Otherwise, it would become a vicious cycle.

Ron Paul...blech! Just seeing the kind of weird, nutty people who support him is enough to turn me off. Then there are the neo-Nazi supporters and the newsletters. Again, blech!

Huckabee...I don't know. There are some things about him I just don't like. Same goes for Romney. Giuliani...while he was a good mayor of New York City, he has too much baggage -- moral and political -- to be electable as President.

My mother votes by absentee ballot and she voted for McCain. I told her I may still vote for Thompson even though he dropped out. She told me I would be wasting my vote, and I know she's right. So, I will probably vote for McCain.

I could vote for just about any Repub in the general.

I used to hate McCain, now I support him. One of the reasons I came around is that he doesn't pander to theconservative movement -- I know I'm a conservative, but I'm irritated with the "conservative echo chamber" presently. McCain is prolife, his ACU rating is 83% (Thompson's was 86%), he is 100% against pork spending and he has never voted for a tax hike, ever.

I used to like Romney, but he has pandered and reinvented himself about 8 times in the last 6 months. He never mentioned the war on terror ONCE in his victory speech in Michigan.

Barb, McCain's plan was not amnesty. If you want to call it that, fine, but remember, the Sainted Ronald Reagan promoted a real amnesty plan for illegals and got it passed during his term.

McCain-Feingold was STUPID but I think it just rearranged the furniture and didn't substantively help or hurt anything. Besides, Fred Thompson supported it. So you can't say it blows the man's conservative cred.

Hi Pauli,

...I know I'm a conservative, but I'm irritated with the "conservative echo chamber" presently.

So am I, which I guess is why I hate politics so much right now. I guess it's also why lately I spend more time reading stupid gossip blogs than political blogs.

As for Romney...how could anyone think a Republican from freaking Massachusetts of all places could be the best conservative candidate?

I didn't know Thompson supported McCain-Feingold. I know the intention was good -- that is to not let special interests have so much influence. But it's hard to do that without messing with the First Amendment. Overall, I don't think the act has changed things that much, either.

I didn't know Reagan supported amnesty. I know that this illegal immigration problem has been going on for decades. I don't know what the answer is. The only thing I can think of is: build the damn wall, tell the ones that are here that they can stay if they start paying taxes and become Americans. Otherwise, go back to Mexico and don't come back.

Homeland Security has stated there are 300 miles of the fence already built. I think there is too much pessimism about the illegals thing. According to a recent ABC poll, only 5% of Americans think it is the top issue this election.

I completely realized that talk radio & National Review were off on this as I was listening to Bill Bennett's show back when the fight against McCain's plan was so hot. A caller said once, insanely "THESE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO REALIZE THAT THEY DON'T HAVE IT ANY BETTER HERE THAN THEY DID IN MEXICO!!" Obviously he has not been to Mexico in several hundred years. That was a typically crazy remark, but the thing that bugged me was that Bennett let it go. He didn't say anything to correct the nonsense. And I admire Bill Bennett very much. The conservative movement has become fanatical on this issue and sounds like an overcrowded monkey cage.

Hi Pauli,

I apologize for not replying sooner. I've been under the weather again.

I agree that was an ignorant remark from the caller and that Bennett should have challenged it. Mexico obviously has a lot of problems and is infamous for having a corrupt government. And I think the Mexican government benefits from illegal immigration most of all because it's a pressure valve. If their people can go to America and make a good living, then there's less pressure on the Mexican government to improve things in Mexico.

After Hurricane Ivan, we had a huge influx of Mexican workers. Some are still here, but many of them left after most of the rebuilding was done. (They probably went to the Mississippi/Louisiana area after Hurricane Katrina.) Although a local company put the new roof on my house, the workers were all Mexicans. Some of them looked like they were young teenagers. I don't know if they were illegals or not. I know the roofing companies had to hire extra workers to handle all the work. It seems like practically everybody had some roof damage.

Anyway, I've had people tell me that during that time, you would routinely see long lines of Mexican men at convenience stores wiring their money home to their families back in Mexico.