Who is John McCain?

This is John McCain's description of himself from his website:

John McCain is an experienced conservative leader in the tradition of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. He is a common sense conservative who believes in a strong national defense, a smaller, more accountable government, economic growth and opportunity, the dignity of life and traditional values.

Boy, that sure sounds good. It's not really true, but let's not let facts get in the way of a good politician. What is a "common sense conservative" -- is this like the issue of Bush's "compassionate conservatism"? Isn't conservatism by its very nature compassionate? Why do we need to define it like that? Isn't conservatism by its very nature common sense? (well, common sense among thinking people).

Anyway, things I CAN like about McCain:

• He seems to have been consistently pro-life, from what I understand.
• He thinks tax cuts should be paired with spending cuts.
• He gets the backing of people who think protecting our country from Islamic fascists is their top priority.

What I CAN'T like:

• Proud of teaming with Kennedy.
• Proud of teaming with Feingold (to ROB us of free speech rights).
• He slammed us Christian conservatives and makes no effort to reach out with an olive branch (maybe he'll make Huckabee his Veep? I kinda doubt it...I think he'll pick the Florida gov).
• He was endorsed by the New York Times, who certainly does NOT have the best interests of the Republican party at heart.

Sigh. Whatever do we do? As a Christian and political junkie, I'm bummed. I love election years, love presidential campaigns, and just want to get jazzed about our nominee. Now I'm hearing the pundits say that McCain is likely 75% of the way toward the nominee. I am still holding out hope for Huckabee or Romney.