Hope in the ashes?

When I think of the Romney campaign, or, more precisely, of the anti-McCain campaign, my thoughts turn to full-time Romney supporter Hugh Hewitt; and when I think of Hugh Hewitt, especially on this night, my thoughts turn to these lines from T.S. Eliot’s Ash Wednesday:

Because I do not hope to turn again
Because I do not hope
Because I do not hope to turn…

Because I cannot hope to turn again
Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something
Upon which to rejoice

And the reason Romney makes me think of Hewitt, and Hewitt makes me think of these lines from Eliot’s great poem of despair and conversion, is that, no matter how bad things seem for the anti-McCain side, Hewitt always finds a way to construct it in positive terms, regardless of how unlikely his positive spin may be.

So, on a night in which Romney carried a few smallish Western and upper Midwestern states plus Massachusetts, a night in which he was wiped out in the conservative heartland of the South, a night in which he lost by wide margins in several states (two to one in New Jersey!), a night in which he failed to carry California where his biggest hopes were placed, a night in which one of the tv commentators declared McCain the presumptive GOP nominee and every realistic hope of stopping McCain seemed more or less extinguished, how does Hewitt construct the situation? Not as a McCain victory, but as a “divided” GOP! He writes:

A Divided GOP.

McCain has strength across the country and a lead in delegates, but nowhere near 50% of the GOP’s votes.

Huck’s strength is the south; Romney’s the mountain west plus Michigan and Massachusetts.

Rush and Dr. Dobson are aligned against the front-runner, which complicates McCain’s task enormously. Romney and Huckabee in for the distance, and why not given the map’s much less punishing pace from here on in? Each can claim 25 to 30% of the party, and sectional strength. With Louisiana, Kansas and Washington State voting on Saturday, and Maryland, Virginia and DC next Tuesday, there are six very different electorates to decode, and beyond that Wisconsin, Ohio and Texas.

“A rough and tumble business,” McCain called it tonight in an attempt to extend a peace offering to Romney. The wrestling will continue and CPAC will be very interesting indeed.

Or,

Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something
Upon which to rejoice

Update, Feb 6, 3:00 p.m.:

Hugh Hewitt, Romney’s most committed chearleader, has admitted defeat.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at February 06, 2008 01:39 AM | Send