The conservative movement is lying prostrate before John McCain, a position they’ll be in more frequently if he wins the election. Today they are begging him not to choose Tom Ridge or Joe Lieberman as his running-mate because they are both pro-choice. The latter is also a Democrat.

David Limbaugh is typical:

The prospect of an Obama presidency is so horrifying that many conservatives have temporarily put aside their misgivings about McCain to focus on defeating Obama.

They hold their noses on McCain’s immigration record, his campaign finance reform zealotry and his newfound acquiescence to the propaganda narrative of environmental extremists. But they are profoundly appreciative of his tougher stance against tax increases and mindful of his undeniable superiority over Obama on foreign policy and national defense. Recent world events, including Russia’s naked aggression against Georgia, magnify this already-glaring contrast.

But while national defense necessarily occupies the front burner, McCain would make a fatal mistake to assume that social issues, especially abortion, are ever off an equally blazing front burner for an inestimable number of social conservatives

This is really pathetic. So, the prospect of Obama is so horrifying that the movement has swallowed its tongue on campaign-finance (which they call free-speech), on immigration, and on environmental regulation, but the vice presidential pick must be pro-life or else… what, exactly?

Limbaugh has just made it clear that conservatives will put up with anything from McCain. Why, then, should McCain listen to him?

In March, I wrote that appointing conservative judges would undermine McCain’s own legislative career. I also said that he wouldn’t owe the conservative movement anything:

Judicial nominations were one of Bush’s reliably conservative selling points. But McCain is not similarly beholden to the traditional Republican base. Bush could attribute his 2004 victory to evangelical Christians, and he received support from movement conservatives throughout his presidency. This will not be McCain’s story. When he called evangelical leaders “agents of intolerance,” he became a media darling. Over the past seven years, McCain’s leading critics have been movement conservatives, and he won the nomination of his party against the bitter opposition of talk radio. Bush could be persuaded that the health of his party depended on judicial appointments that satisfied his core constituency. McCain’s career has taught him that success comes from ignoring or opposing conservatives. Far from looking out for their interests, he will be focused on his own—safeguarding the measures that defined his Senate career.

The months since securing the nomination can only have taught McCain that the conservative movement is his loyal dog. He can beat them, put them in a cage, refuse to feed them and they’ll still fetch his slippers. All the voices of talk radio that opposed his candidacy now endorse him. National Review will still endorse him.

But the whimpering about Lieberman is particularly hard to take. Today, Kathryn Jean Lopez reposted an anti-Lieberman article from 2000. Asking, “hasn’t the McCain camp read this?”

I’m sure they have. But I’m sure they have been reading most of what appears on the Corner. And they know the conservative movement can be pretty flexible when it comes to the Connecticut Democrat:

Eight years ago, the Right mocked Lieberman’s half of the 2000 Democratic ticket as “Loserman.” But instead of viewing his 2006 campaign with detachment, leading conservatives rushed to his aid. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and National Review ignored the Republican candidate, Alan Schlesinger, and endorsed Loserman.

[snip]

Larry Kudlow, who in 2000 derided Lieberman as “a typical Northeastern Democratic liberal,” has done a perfect 180, recently describing Lieberman’s remarks to Commentary, as “a tour-de-force speech that impressed me once again with the brilliance of Joe Lieberman. Frankly, he would make a good president. Undoubtedly, he will have a major cabinet post if John McCain wins.”

That last quote was also posted on the Corner.

So, again, what difference does it make if John McCain picks Tom Ridge or Joe Lieberman? Back any of these conservatives into a corner and they’ll admit McCain probably doesn’t care about the social and cultural issues. The vice-presidential pick is usually driven by a desire to send a certain message, or put a new state in play. National Review and talk-radio will endorse John McCain even if he puts Hillary Clinton on the ticket. Who is willing to refute this?

It seems like all this pouting is to save face. There isn’t one principle over which the institutions of the official conservative movement would break with the Republican presidential nominee. Abortion, free-speech, the environment, regulation, taxes, immigration. The Democrat alternative will always be too “horrifying.” Because we can’t have wind-surfer in the Oval Office – no matter what.

This suggests a few things to me. One, if no one is willing to lose it, the imperial presidency is just too powerful. Two, for whatever reasons – financial interests, commitment to militarism, intellectual timidity- the conservative movement is now constitutionally unable to break with the Republican party. It is no longer a movement and, under McCain, it won’t be conservative either.