Well, the time has come to start writing again. After the Romney decision last week at CPAC, I needed to take a few days to regroup and figure out where I wanted to stand now. I was actually ready a few days ago to state my position on this race, but my kids have been out of school the last couple of days due to snow, and this is really the first chance I’ve had to sit down and write.

And, as it turns out, that was a good thing. Not only did it give me some free time with my kids, but I just got word that Mitt Romney is scheduled to endorse John McCain a little later; a wise decision on his part. I had decided several days ago that it was time to make that move, since Gov. Romney was bowing out. I hated to see that, but if McCain is the nominee, as Republicans, we HAVE to “rally ‘round the flag” and back our nominee.

I’m not going to be an Ann Coulter on this. I like and admire Ann for many reasons, but this is not one. Saying that she would campaign for Hillary Clinton if McCain gets the nod is just plain silly and childish. That would be like John Kerry throwing his Purple Heart over a wall or fence or whatever it was and actively protesting the United States as he did just because he didn’t agree with American policy at that time. Who in their right mind would want to be like John Kerry, at least on the issue of morality ?

I’m not even going to close ranks with Rush and say I won’t support McCain because I disagree with a few positions he has taken, important though they are. Am I to now think that an Obama or a Clinton would be more conservative than a McCain? Especially a McCain/Romney??? I think not! And , realistically, one must realize that not voting for the Republican nominee would really be a vote for the Democrat nominee. And a vote for the Democrat would really be two votes for the Democrat, one more for the Jackass, and one LESS for the Elephant.

Yes, “my friends,” the time has come to put aside the animus and pull the party together. I know I have come out hard and strong against McCain, and I haven’t said one thing that wasn’t true, nor one thing that I did not mean. Every criticism was heart-felt, researched, and cited. But that is the way politics are played here in America…especially during primary season at such a critical crossroads in American history.

Now, the events that are unfolding beg the question, “Exactly what is Romney after with this endorsement of McCain?” The answer is really multi-faceted.

For starters, I think the most likely paramount reason is for a vice presidency. I know on the campaign trail that Romney said he would not entertain the thought of a McCain/Romney ticket, but I think now that he has had some time off, clearer heads will prevail, and, if asked, he would accept the position. Why? That brings me to goal number two of the McCain endorsement:

Brining the party together. I think that it is obvious to McCain (and Mitt) that Sen. McCain is going to have a hard time with the far right. I think it is equally obvious to both that Gov. Romney was making some deep inroads into that part of the Republican base. And I also believe that both realize that McCain will not win the White House without that base vote. Pundits are trying to make a big deal out of Huckabee still getting the Christian vote, but they are failing to realize that a good portion of that would have gone to Romney, were he still in it.

If, as I am now starting to think, there is a McCain/Romney ticket for the general election, that would go a long way to healing the division that McCain unintentionally, and most certainly undesirably, has brought to the fore of Republican politics. I think that McCain/Romney would go much farther than McCain/Huckabee, as we have seen how much better Romney did than Huckabee when it was still a three-man race.

The third reason I think Gov. Romney has decided to back Sen. McCain is love of country. I don’t think that is last on Romney’s list of reasons, but I think it is very deeply intertwined with coalescing the party around the Republican nominee. If we don’t first accomplish bringing the party together, we certainly cannot succeed in bringing the country together in November.

However, I have every confidence that we will do this. Shall I let you know why? I shall, and it is very simple…we LOVE America! I know the Democrats say it, but we actually mean it, and we actually prove it. Love is not a noun, it is a verb. It is a word that requires action. And I don’t mean Code Pink going to Berkley, CA to march against the military in shameful protest. I mean positive action that actually is GOOD for the country!

If you want to see what a patriotic march looks like, look at the footage of House Republicans walking out of the House of Representatives today because Democrats have time to debate a subpoena of White House officials, but no time to debate national security in the form of renewing the F.I.S.A. act. That is what I mean by love being an action word!

We WILL come together, and we WILL overcome this Obama tide that seems to be sweeping the country. It is an aberration, and it cannot sustain itself. He offers great promise, but no plan. It truly is just more of the same old recycled Democrat playbook in a different mask. This time, it is taking the form of, drum roll please, CHANGE! But it is right out of the playbook of the Democrats. Make the goal known, but offer no way of actually getting there.

Just like last year when the Democrats cleaned the proverbial clocks of Republicans in the House and Senate. Remember that? They PROMISED we would be out of Iraq. Now, mind you, I am not for a withdrawal at this point in time…that would be foolish. However, I am saying that they got elected because they made lofty promises, pie-in-the-sky goals, but they had no plan of how to achieve them! Sound familiar?

That is exactly what Barack Obama is doing now. As Senator Clinton said in her Texas speech about Pres. Bush, Obama is “too much hat and not enough cattle.” He has great ideas of what the results will be, but he has no plan to accomplish them. And if he does, I wish he would let the American people in on it.

Yes, we need change. But the change we need is not going to be found in a Democrat president. We need good results, but we also need a plan on how to achieve them. We need a president that will guard the borders and keep illegals out. We need a president that will crack down on employers who hire those illegals. We need a leader who will be tough on national security. And we need a president who will lift us up economically and in spirit. We need to believe in America again. We want desperately to hold our heads high and be that “shining city on the hill” that President Reagan talked about.

I know that President Reagan has departed this world. I realize that the world is a much different place than it was just twenty short years ago. However, the principles that make this country great have not changed in 233 years.

Look at Reagan and Bush 41. They went into the White House not exactly the best of friends, but look what the two of them together were able to accomplish. We dismantled the Soviet Union for Pete’s sake! And, in the process, we won the Cold War. We had “trickle-down economics. People thought the Reagan administration had lost its mind. But guess what…it worked!

Let us come together in this fight for America! Let us now lift our heads high, drop petty, and even not-so-petty differences, and get behind the man that will undoubtedly be our next nominee. And let us pray for this great land, and for those who are charged with directing it.