Not much time for commentary today, but I did not want to go without sharing the following:

What is undeniable is that the single greatest threat the United States faces is that in four years, Iraq is abandoned, chaos and genocide take hold there, and the great expenditure of precious American blood and treasure there is rendered a waste. In four years, Iran can have a nuclear weapon. Both of these events will have wide ramifications. The nations of the Middle East and Far East can see a United States weakened and unreliable, and they will look elsewhere and to other means to defend their interests. Meanwhile, Iran, China, North Korea, Sudan, the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Myanmar regime, Putin — I’m sorry, it’s a long list; I might have missed some — can be relied on to take advantage of our absence from the field to advance their own positions.

Because America will be perceived again to be a nation without a spine, a nation that chooses to lose, a nation that will not fight for its ideals. Is it the sixth or seventh time in the last four decades? Vietnam. Iran. Lebanon. Somalia. Al-Qaeda and Saddam in the 1990s. Our enemies know that list very well. It is their mantra, the weakness they see in us that strengthens them and keeps them going.

This retreat will be bigger and more devastating than any of those, because this time, there will be no disputing that they are correct. When the American right as well as the American left has chosen surrender to global enemies rather than set aside its domestic political fights, then America has no right to claim superpower status, and the American dream is at an end. We will become, like Europe, a sump of ideals.

Whatever else John McCain may or may not be, there is no denying that when it comes to a vigorous, sensible prosecution of a war that is fundamental to the continued existence of western ideals, the single most important issue of our day, he is committed and he is the only candidate still standing who can be relied on. He may be a severely flawed champion, but right now, he’s the only one willing and able to fight that battle. America needs him.

That means conservatives of all stripes, who pride themselves on being rational adults who have set aside childish things, need to begin acting the part.

Balance here.

John McCain may not be the choice many of us would have made as the GOP nominee, but I for one will not sit home, nor will I spend the balance of the election cycle complaining about his ascension.

While none of us knows the final outcome of the election in November, if the GOP goes down without a fight then shame on us.

If you wish to follow the results of the following states primaries,

On February 9, Republicans are holding caucuses in Kansas and Washington; Democrats are holding caucuses in Nebraska and Washington; and both parties are holding primaries in Louisiana. For the Republicans, as many as 74 delegates are tied to Saturday’s events, while 158 delegates are at stake for the Democrats.

they will be available this evening here.