And I have gone on record as saying so for a long time. The conservative movement has strong intellectual leadership, but damn little of it is in leadership positions in the Republican Party.

I voted for McCain over Obama, but I have no illusions at all that McCain has a firm philosophical foundation for his flimsy and flexible conservatism. I doubt we'd be doing much better now economically if he were president.

Groucho said he wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have him as a member. The kind of person who is philosophically committed to individualism and freedom tends to view politics as a necessary evil. On the other hand, the kind of person who believes that the key to a society is a central authority running everyone's lives--for their own good of course--is drawn to politics like a fly to crap.

What should be happening right now is that the Republicans should be locating strong conservative/libertarian leadership in the House, and getting them into position for the 2010 campaign. I'm not seeing it so far.