"We'll always stand strong together"

Fred Thompson has officially withdrawn from the presidential race. With no campaign events planned in Florida and a top adviser explaining why Fred would make a good vice-president, one might have seen the writing on the wall. His final speech was sadly one of his most forceful, as if to lay to rest once and for all the notion that the man is without passion.

"We will always be bound by a close bond because we have traveled a very special road together for a very special purpose. We'll always stand strong together... we'll always stand strong together, and I can't thank you enough for that."

I hope that we do all stand together. And by 'together' I mean with Mitt Romney, the only remaining conservative in the race who is not required to finish first in Florida in order to justify further campaigning.

With the Fred votes now up for grabs, we have to focus on the next order of business: John McCain. Having him in the race is like having a Democrat in the Republican primary. He must be defeated as the first order of business. In order to do that, Republican voters will have to settle on a single alternative sooner than they might have wanted to.

Of course, it would be nice if pastor Huckabee realized that his own one-dimensional appeal precludes his viability, but driving McCain out of the race takes priority at the moment. So, to the conservative forces of the blogosphere and elsewhere, train your rhetorical guns on McCain and commence firing!