The Iraq War IS the Republican Party.

Glenn Greenwald at Salon (day pass required) makes a really good point. A number of commentators are pushing the idea that McCain's collapse as a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination has occurred because of McCain's support for the Iraq War. That simply doesn't fit with the reality of the Republican Party.

The Republicans will not nominate anyone who opposes the Iraq War.

It is not support for the Iraq war which dooms a GOP presidential candidacy, but the opposite: any real questioning of the wisdom of the war or any agitating for withdrawal or opposition to Bush's commitment would immediately and single-handedly destroy the viability of a GOP candidacy. Ask Ron Paul, or Chuck Hagel, or even Sam Brownback, whose flagging campaign has triggered the wrath of the base despite his radical social conservatism as a result of his ongoing questioning of Bush's Iraq policy.

The war in Iraq remains popular with the GOP base. They want to stay and keep waging war. They would immediately turn against anyone who advocated withdrawal or even questioned the wisdom of staying. The Republican Party continues to be the Party of the Iraq War, and -- directly contrary to the conventional wisdom that is arising -- loyal support for the Iraq War is an absolute pre-requisite for winning the nomination.

The collapse of the McCain campaign has been caused by

his excessive deviation from the Right's mandated views -- on torture, on McCain-Feingold, and especially on immigration. [Snip]

What they (the Republican base) demand, first and foremost, is unwavering loyalty to the Cause, and that Cause is shaped predominantly by Middle East militarism, beginning with Iraq.

The race for the Republican Presidential nomination is coming down to Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and possibly Fred Thompson. All three of those have repeatedly said they support what Bush is doing in Iraq and none have made a significant move towards troop withdrawal.

That is because the Iraq war is the Republican Party today. It encompasses everything they are about. It is fear-based, resulting in an expression of racism, Imperialism, militarism, opposition to the dirty anti-war hippies, redemption for Nixon and for fighting the War in Vietnam; then it is justification for doing away the Rule of Law and with Civil Rights in America, and finally it is all financed by extreme levels of political corruption which pleases the economic conservatives and Libertarian conservative. On top of the other connections to Republicanism the location of the war in the Middle East suffuses it all with a patina of conservative Biblically-based religion. There really is an element of "the Crusader" included with the Imperialism and militarism.

This makes the Iraq War into the base justification for the conservative Republican Party of today. The Republicans will not nominate anyone to run for President in 2008 who opposes the Iraq War. McCain has other problems. He has mismanaged his campaign horribly, and then he has thrown down the gauntlet against the Republican base by supporting the immigration legislation. He won't be back.