Well, it’s Super Tuesday and the voting has started all across the fruited plain.

America! America! God shed His grace on thee, And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.

It seems the Republican Party and the conservatives are really having a tough time this year. They could use a little brotherhood. They’ve had several good candidates running for President as have the Democrats. This presidential election season has been fun to watch.

It’s fun to see the Republicans trying to determine who is “conservative” and who is “liberal.”

But it seems the right side of the dial folks are having a tough time with some of the candidates, especially John McCain. Before McCain’s rise back into the race, they were having a tough time with Rudy Giuliani when he was leading the pack. Their big thing is these folks say candidates like McCain and former candidate Giuliani are not conservatives.

And so it goes:

“He voted against a tax cut.” “Did not.” “Did to.” “He’s been pro-life forever.” “No he has not.” “He’s for amnesty.” “No, he is against amnesty.” “He wants to build a fence.” “He’s for a timetable.” “No, he’s against a timetable.”

Back in October 2007, I wrote about supporting a candidate who you agree with 75% of the time, instead of staying home on voting day or voting for a third-party candidate and basically electing a candidate who you agree with 25% of the time. It’s just dumb, in my opinion.

I really don’t have a horse in this race, so far. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and James Dobson are all anti-John McCain folks, and they have let their audiences know that he is not a conservative…in their minds. Sure, Rush, Sean and Laura have 3 hours or so on the radio and TV each day to voice their views. That’s their day jobs.

Dobson should stick to promoting Jesus, but Jesus may not be conservative enough for these folks in 2008.

All these “views” must be making the Democrats smile.

Then we have Bob Dole to the rescue of John McCain. Dole wrote a letter to Limbaugh supporting McCain as a conservative. Then Mitt Romney insulted Dole (another anti-veteran remark from Romney) when he commented about Dole’s letter saying, Dole was “probably the last person I would have wanted write a letter for me.”

Ouch.

I checked the American Conservative Union (ACU) for answers. McCain has a lifetime ACU rating of 83. On the other side, Hillary Clinton has an ACU lifetime rating of nine and Barack Obama comes in at eight. ACU does not rate Mayors (Giuliani) and Governors (Romney and Huckabee). That’s probably good for them.

The “Big Tent” of the Republican Party may need some help to pull the zipper back open after this family feud.