By unanimous vote of our principals, we endorse the candidacy of Senator John McCain for President of the United States.

Why? Because in spite of our preternaturally youthful looks...we're grown-ups.

Or, if you prefer...because America is more important than any one of us and our personal feelings.

Mitt Romney delivered an amazing speech at CPAC yesterday. He proved himself a noble, good, decent, patriotic man. He showed us all that he's a man we'll be seeing a lot more of down the road, and that we'll be lucky to have him.

There were a lot of specifics in his speech, but if you boil it down, he withdrew from the race for the same reasons that we have now endorsed McCain....

Mitt Romney is a grown up.

He's a patriotic man, and America is more important to him than his own feelings or personal ambitions.

Also...

He's a realist, and he knew that, based on his performance and the fact that all remaining contests were proportional, there was no way he could win.

He's a loyal Republican, and he knew there was nothing he could do by staying in but harm the GOP's chances in November.

He's a conservative, and he realizes that the best vehicle for conservatism has been, is, and will be for generations to come, the Republican Party. (Yes, the GOP has some problems right now with its wavering adherence to some principles, but that can be easily handled by continued engagement of its rank-and-file. Third parties don't work, won't work, and only serve as spoilers.)

If there were any doubt that the man is a conservative, it should be gone after that speech. He was never a flip-flopper. He evolved to become a conservative. NO ONE speaks with that much passion for and clear understanding of conservative principles without believing them in his core. (A trained actor might be able to pull it off...maybe.)

For those of you who did not see, hear, or read the speech, your should at very least read it now. Better yet, go to C-SPAN or YouTube and watch it. I defy you not to choke up with admiration, patriotic pride, and a sense of duty larger than yourself.

I heard a woman call the Hugh Hewitt show and describe her reaction to Romney's speech. She could be heard to weep slightly as she said that, prior to hearing that speech, she had vowed that she would never vote for John McCain, but after hearing the speech, her sense of duty and patriotism overcame her sense of self-importance.

It was a genuine, honorable, and correct reaction...the reaction we all should have. And if it is not the reaction that we have, perhaps we might want to check with a neurosurgeon to find out whether the area of the brain that controls our sense of self-importance has maybe grown a bit too large in comparison to that which governs our sense of duty.

John McCain was never our first choice, for the following reasons...

1. We worried about his age, and his temperament. We saw these as possible liabilities in November, especially if paired against Obama's youthful optimism.

2. We were displeased with specific positions he has taken on several issues of importance to us as conservatives.

3. We were unhappy with the way in which he sometimes appears to almost take a certain pleasure in opposing the caucus, GOP leadership, and the conservative base.

We NEVER called him a "liberal" or said that there's no difference between him and Clinton or Obama. Such a suggestion is indicative either of hyperbole, ignorance, or an arrogant stubbornness (ironically no different than the arrogant stubbornness some have attributed to Senator McCain himself).

American Conservative Union (ACU) lifetime ratings:

McCain: 82.3%
Clinton: 9%
Obama: 8%

Okay? OKAY?

For goodness sake, he is not a liberal. For those of us who are saying that, please stop, because it's untrue, unhelpful, and it makes the person saying it sound silly.

McCain has taken some really bad positions on a small number of issues. Several of them happen to be big issues, which has been a serious problem for us conservatives.

Personally, campaign finance reform infuriates me, because it's violative of the fundamental right of core political speech. So what am I going to do---stay home and hope that Obama or Clinton gives me better? Obama or Clinton will try to add to their many advantages in speech and money by pursuing the Fairness Doctrine to destroy talk radio. They'll probably also find a way to restrict speech on the net somehow, again, in a way that advantages the left. Is that what we want? With McCain, we won't get those things, and as his allies, we may be able to convince him of the error of his ways on BCRA.

In fact, in McCain's very good speech at CPAC, he said the following:

We have had a few disagreements, and none of us will pretend that we won't continue to have a few. But even in disagreement, especially in disagreement, I will seek the counsel of my fellow conservatives. If I am convinced my judgment is in error, I will correct it. And if I stand by my position, even after benefit of your counsel, I hope you will not lose sight of the far more numerous occasions when we are in complete accord.

Mathematically, McCain is going to be the nominee. There is virtually no way around that. So, we can take him at his word that he will do as he says, or we can fold our arms, sit home like spoiled children, and then hope for the best with the man voted the most liberal Senator or the woman whose enemies suffer crippling audits, trumped-up indictments, and worse.

McCain's speech was excellent, and it was exactly what it needed to be: an olive branch.

Now, in your personal life, how many times have you had a disagreement with a friend or loved one? If you've breathed the air and had a friend or loved one, the answer is probably many. Have you noticed the effect an apology has? Even in the heat of the moment, when someone stops and says "I was wrong" or "I totally see now where you're coming from," what has been the reaction? It usually has the effect of disarming the fight. All of a sudden, instead of fire against fire, cool water flows in, and we find ourselves calmer and looking for points of agreement.

Now, how many times, when someone offers out that kind of olive branch, do we just shove it back in his or her face? Rarely. It's just not how personal interaction works.

As imperfect as John McCain is, he's on our side, and he's going to be our guy. We do not demand 100% perfection from our wives, husbands, children, etc. If we did, we would all sit alone in the dark, for there would be no associations between people.

This situation is no different. In his speech, McCain reached out with that olive branch. We should not shove it back in his face just to make ourselves feel better about our own righteous indignation.....that is the path to loss in November.

And loss in November is not just about us. It's about America.

• It's about the Supreme Court, and all the lower appellate courts.

• It's about the war the Islamofascists are waging against all of civilization, a war that Obama and Clinton are determined to lose.

• It's about the unborn, who have in John McCain a man with a lifetime of taking positions in favor of life...or allowing victory for the Democrats, who again and again plant their flag on Baby-slaughter Hill.

• It's about having a man with a 82% lifetime of taking conservative positions or allowing one of two neo-socialists to win.

• It's about the down-ticket races, where many good conservatives will surely suffer defeat if we have depressed turnout. Picture Obama or Clinton in office with super-majorities in the Congress. They'll change redistricting laws and pack the courts and we'll be in the minority for a generation or two.

Both "sides" of this question need to take a breath.

For their part, moderate Republicans need to remember that the heart of the party lies with conservative principles, founded in the ideals of classical liberalism and the American founding. They need to realize that the Arnold Schwarzennegers and George Patakis of the party are not at the heart of it, and they should not look down upon the conservative base. We had reason to be upset with McCain; they should accept that.

However, those of us who are at the conservative center of the party should not allow that upset to descend into incivility, petulance, or intransigence. McCain is going to be our nominee, and we should now work with him for the betterment of America and the Republican Party.

Moreover, if we look past those areas of disagreement, we also discover that there is a lot to like about the man. There is even, depending on how you look at it, the possibility that some of what we see as liabilities might work out to be strengths for the general election. Return to the three reasons John McCain was never our first choice.

1. His age and temperament might appear to the general electorate as experience, gravitas, and feistiness as compared to Obama's youth, inexperience, and naiveté.

2. Some of the positions he's taken with which we disagree may actually be pleasing to other parts of the electorate. That may be frustrating to us, but it could be the key to victory. He does will with Hispanics, for example, and that really could be the margin in a tight election.

3. Some of the ways in which he has behaved towards his own party will allow some voters to vote GOP that otherwise wouldn't, because they would see McCain as a maverick, not beholden solely to a cabal of evil, scheming Republican high-priests living in an underground pyramid beneath Virginia.

Frustrating not to have someone with a 99.9% ACU rating as our standard bearer? Sure. But that is not our choice now.

We can have 82.3% of a loaf, or we can have nothing. Actually, less than nothing, because the alternative is a disaster. The alternative is...

• a charming neo-socialist who will bring millions of young voters into the process, making neo-socialism attractive through his charm...a man who will, by virtue of his skin color alone, solidify the disastrous hold the Democrats have on black lives and black voters for another generation or more, or

• a pair of bloodthirsty hillbilly grifter neo-socialists who have a habit of using government power to ruin the lives of anyone who dares oppose them.

McCain has extended an olive branch. It's time to reach out and work with him for the future of America. And that is just what we intend to do.