McCain - Slip... Slidin' Away

The two most recent political polls our (Rasmussen and Zogby) show a continuing slide for John McCain. Maybe Rich Miniter is right. He will be out by Fall. F. Thompson, still undeclared, seems to be hanging around in a statistical tie with Romney and McCain beneath the still front-running Rudy.

How is Rudy’s continued popularity possible when Republicans are supposed to abjure his social views? I think Hugh Hewitt puts his finger on it:

This realism about the next decade is very much alive within large numbers of Americans, and it is what secures Rudy’s position at the top of the national polls and which presents the greatest challenge to Romney and eventually Thompson –they have to persuade the security-conscious voter that they are at least as reliable as Rudy in a crisis. If the country is struck a blow even greater than 9/11 –and many of us think such an event is inevitable– will Romney or Thompson be able to meet or exceed Rudy’s almost certain-to-be ferocious response to our enemy abroad and vigorous repair of the damage at home?

Hugh goes on to link this problem – an internal jihadist threat – to a strong stand on immigration. Although I have tremendous sympathy for the poor of Mexico and Central America, I basically agree with him. Hugely difficult as it is, if we don’t know who is in our country, we are not safe in the modern world. A national identity card – as so many nations now have – is the bottom line first step. You can’t even give amnesty without it, assuming that is what you want to do. Sorry, but I have little respect for those who feel this is an invasion of their privacy. They are living on a rigid ideological Pluto (which, I remind you, is no longer a planet). Actually, fairness itself dictates a national ID when there are so many other forms of ID out there from driver’s licenses to credit cards. At least there will be some hope of accountability in the madness. And, please, spare us the cliché-ridden nonsense that the federal government can’t do anything. It can when it puts its collective mind to it. Don’t believe me? Go here. Or here. The idea that the federal government can’t do anything is just as dopey as the reverse.