RESOLVED that conservative thought is and always will be about the fighting of the “long defeat”. Discuss.

“…through ages of the world we have fought the long defeat.” - Galadriel (Lord of the Rings)

“Actually, I am a Christian, and indeed a Roman Catholic; so that I do not expect ‘history’ to be anything but a ‘long defeat’ - though it contains some samples of final victory.” - JRR Tolkien

… it’s about protecting incumbents.

But now the contrast between McCain the presidential candidate and McCain the reformer can be jarring. McCain’s campaign says that he is still studying whether to forgo the public financing and spending limits he has long supported, but that he will not be handicapped by restrictions his competitors will not face in 2008.

McCain the reformer worked unsuccessfully through Congress and the courts to try to stop nonprofit political groups known as 527s from using unlimited donations to run political ads and fund other activities aimed at influencing voters in the run-up to elections. He reintroduced legislation last week to end 527 donations, but there appears to be little appetite in Congress to pass it.

McCain the candidate now expects Republicans to use the same big-money 527 groups in the 2008 elections to beat Democrats, if the groups remain legal. “The senator believes that both parties should be subjected to an even playing field. If Democratic organizations are allowed to take advantage of 527s, Republican organizations will, too,” said Mark Salter, a senior McCain adviser. The senator declined to be interviewed.

McCain the reformer relentlessly argued that six- and seven-figure “soft money” checks that corporations, wealthy individuals and unions were giving to political parties to influence elections were corrupting American politics. “The voices of average Americans have been drowned out by the deafening racket of campaign cash,” he warned just a few years ago.

McCain the candidate has enlisted some of the same GOP fundraising giants who created and flourished in the soft-money system, including Bush’s fundraising “Pioneers” and “Rangers,” who earned their designations by raising at least $100,000 or $200,000 for his campaigns.

At least six of McCain’s first eight national finance co-chairmen have given or raised large donations for political parties or 527 groups, campaign and IRS records show. In all, the finance co-chairs have given at least $13.5 million in soft money and 527 donations since the 1998 election.

They include former Bush moneymen such as lobbyist Thomas G. Loeffler and financier Donald Bren, whose personal and corporate donations total in the hundreds of thousands of dollars each in recent elections.

In key states, McCain has enlisted the likes of New York financier Henry Kravis, one of the GOP’s largest donors over the past two decades, and Texas energy executive Robert A. Mosbacher, the architect of the Republicans’ “Team 100″ fundraising machine that helped make soft money a staple of politics by raising $20 million in large donations to help Bush’s father win the presidency in 1988.

Story here, via Drudge.