And Interlude: Abraham Lincoln

On The Daily Show, John McCain mentioned that he was proud and humbled to have the nomination of the party of Lincoln. John Stewart stopped him short, and said, in effect, that Lincoln would not have recognized the party he helped establish.

To that, some words from our greatest President are worth considering.

But you say you are conservative - eminently conservative - while we are revolutionary, destructive, or something of the sort. What is conservatism? Is it not adherence to the old and tried, against the new and untried? We stick to, contend for, the identical old policy on the point in controversy which was adopted by "our fathers who framed the Government under which we live;" while you with one accord reject, and scout, and spit upon that old policy, and insist upon substituting something new.
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Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events. - Abraham Lincoln, Cooper Union Address

What, indeed, is a conservatism that insists on warrantless wiretapping, endless war abroad, and torture? What, indeed, is a party which spits on the ideals and rules that our founding fathers held so dear?