I haven't blogged in well over a year, but now I'm back. Let's see if this one sticks.

It is a huge understatement to say that I am incredibly disappointed. As I type this both Drudge and Politico are calling Florida for McCain. To be honest, at this point I'm way past disappointed, I'm flat out angry!

Admittedly I didn't work as hard as I could have for the Romney campaign and maybe more effort on my part may have had some impact, but realistically it probably wouldn't have changed the outcome in Florida, which brings me to the point that I am most angry about. Conservatism, at least in Florida, and probably in this country, is dead.

John McCain is an incredible human being. He endured tremendous hardships in his life as a  POW in Vietnam, but he is no conservative. True conservatives believe in lower taxes every day, John McCain does not. True conservatives believe in the security of our nations borders, John McCain does not. True conservatives believe that Democrats are wrong far more often than they are right on nearly every issue on the table, John McCain does not.

True conservatism, the kind of conservatism that got Ronald Reagan elected with 88% of the vote. The kind of conservatism that believes that capitalism, free markets, and low taxes are the most amazing way to improve our economy. The kind of conservatism that believes that the easiest way to make sure that something works is to make sure that the government is as far away from it as possible. True conservatives don't side with Democrats just to be more popular, John McCain does.

True conservatism didn't show up in Florida tonight. Instead we've seen a new kind of Republican. It's called a Democrat!

OK, I’m no shrink, but there seems to be a huge outbreak of two very serious mental health issues in the country today, Bush Derangement Syndrome and Iraq Denial Syndrome. Bush Derangement Syndrome is characterized by people expending large amounts of energy trying to make sure that George W. Bush is to blame for every negative thing that happens in the world. Katrina, that would be W’s fault (OK, I’ll give you that FEMA messed the cleanup of that one, but blowing up the levees, really?). Global warming, oh yeah, that’s W too (Kyoto you know). I could go on, but I’m sure you get the point.

Iraq Denial Syndrome is very similar in that it has the same cast of characters, namely George W. Bush. Somehow between 9/11 and today people seem to have wrapped their brains around the fact that the only person who knew and believed anything about Iraq being involved in training and financing terrorists and WMDs was W and he hoodwinked all of us. All of us, including the smartest woman in the world! Man, for an idiot this Bush guy sure does have a lot of charisma! Come on people, get a grip!

Virtually every intelligence agency in the world (yep, the whole thing) believed that Iraq and Saddam Hussein not only had WMDs but that he was fully prepared to start production to make even more, including a nuclear weapon eventually. As far as training terrorists, are you really trying to tell me that those Al Qaeda training camps popped up after 9/11 or that Saddam didn’t know they were there? Come on, really? For the financing, let us please not forget the money that Saddam would send to the families of successful homicide bombers. Sounds like a fairly effective monetary award program he had going there!

Unfortunately, even with that short, pithy history lesson there are many who will continue to say that the war in Iraq is merely George W. Bush’s “Wag the Dog”.

So here we are, fully immersed in a world full of Bush Derangement and Iraq Denial Syndromes. It’s sad really, to see so many otherwise, I’m sure very bright people, struck down by these horrible debilitating diseases. Lost forever to be mocked, but its ok, it’s only by neocons like me, right?

Just a few quick thoughts about what I saw during the Republican debate from Orlando, FL tonight.

Clearly Romney, Giuliani, McCain, and Thompson are the big dogs in this fight. Everybody else is there to add some entertainment, some political gusto, and yes, even some completely off the wall rantings.

The format was great this time. By pitting the candidates against each other we actually got to see a bit of a face to face fight, instead of the across the state or across the country kind. The ability to fight, by the way, isn't all that bad of a quality to have if you're trying to get a job as Commander in Chief!

The debate tonight consisted mostly of the candidates trying to convince everybody that they and their policies were more conservative than the other candidates and their policies. Not a bad choice from the moderators because we need to really grill these guys and figure out who the REAL conservatives are. We seem to have been somewhat misled by the current version of conservative we find ourselves with.

I'll spend some time breaking down the debate in a later blog this week. Suffice it to say that three things are true after this debate. I am still a Mitt Romney fan and yes, Hillary Clinton is a Socialist and Ron Paul is crazy!

If you didn't get that, I'll explain later.

So this morning on my way to work I was listening to a little business news. Great timing on my part I think because as I pulled out of the driveway I heard the results of a poll that said that more Americans would feel comfortable about their personal money if Democrats were in the White House than Republicans!

My first thought was, OK, calm down, I couldn't have heard that right. (OK, my real first thought was pull the car back on the road and calm my wife down.) Then they went into the numbers and it all went downhill from there.

29% feel that Democrats are better than Republicans for personal finance. Only 24% feel that Republicans are better. OK, so there it is in cold black and white letters for everyone to see; the stark reality that the era of the hard working American is slipping away.

Sure, that seems like a bold statement, but follow me on this one. What is the fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats in general...Repubs want people to be able to fend for themselves and Dems want people to rely on government for their needs.

So, there you have it; 29% of the population of America feels that it would be better for their personal finance if the government was handling it than if they were. I guess I should have seen it coming when the dream of a privatized Social Security program was burned at the stake.

I’m not getting on that bandwagon. What this country needs is a good strong dose of lower taxes, better incentives for businesses, and a return to the no whining, get out of bed and go do a job and earn a living to provide for yourself and your family mindset. I’m a conservative Republican because I think that every red-blooded American should be able to live the American dream and government needs to just get out of the way!

But, alas, more and more of my fellow Americans disagree with me. I guess it is easier to just let somebody else take care of those pesky problems like retirement and healthcare. The trouble is, once they’ve got it and they screw it all up, they’re not going to give it back.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.