Methinks not, and I can point to McCain's repeated abandonment of his bogus "secure the borders first" rhetoric for starters.  We all know McCain's rhetoric when he does say he'll secure the borders is purely symbolic. 

Ed knows how important that symbolism alone is, McCain surely knows it too, and both know how charged this issue is and what a minefield it is for McCain. Yet McCain dares to abandon the "secure the borders first" rhetoric in regular intervals, even knowing that he may well lose the election as a result of angering people who demand immigration enforcement.  So the idea that McCain knows when to make a tactical retreat is ludicrous, approaching an insult to our intelligence.

Would anybody go to Vegas and bet their life savings on it?  I wouldn't bet more than $5 on it.  McCain is exactly the kind of arrogant, egomaniacal, intemperate twit who would go in and try and change up the GOP platform to suit his needs, and to presume otherwise just because common sense says he wouldn't shows a total lack of understanding of what  John McCain is.

I want to take a look at one other bit from Morrissey's post before I go on, so let's do that,

How many Republicans bother to read the party platform?  Most of the delegates won’t make the effort, mainly because it does nothing to bind candidates to the party positions.  Few if any voters of either party will even skim the party platforms, and even the media will use it only as a reference.  It’s a document meant for activists within the parties to stake out ground and for factions to demonstrate influence over the direction of the whole.

This is where Morrissey has it wrong, the McCainiacs have it wrong and the GOP or DIE brigades have it wrong.  This year, these things matter.  In the past decade, maybe two decades, any other year, Ed would be absolutely correct, the platform wouldn't mean a damned thing, and it would mean little more than a tiny core of activists and insiders jockeying for power.

This year is different, we've had a major shakeup in the GOP as a result of the collapse of Bush and the loss of the Congress in 2006, and it shook the party to the core.  We now have a er, Mexican standoff between the different factions of the GOP.  Everyone is feeling betrayed by the current leadership, and everyone is using the threat of walking away from the conservative coalition to try and get the out of control GOP leadership back in line.  Having any major faction in the broader coalition abandon the GOP would spell disaster for the GOP, and the nation at large, and anything could set any one of them off.

Beyond that, people like Mike Huckabee and McCain are actively encouraging this crackup of the coalition, as neither are conservatives and hope to create new coalitions by breaking apart the old order.  A major change to reflect the platform of John McCain would be a symbol to some factions within the GOP that indeed, McCain and non-conservative factions have succeeded in wresting control from them. 

That would spell electoral disaster for the GOP at large in 2008, much of the conservative base has already abandoned McCain as is, he isn't pulling in much money, he has little to no grassroots support, and has been largely abandoned by 527's.  Support for Republicans is weak already, alienating traditionally reliable supporters on the level McCain has already is a really big problem, and may have consequences downticket as well.   Even changing a symbolic measure like the otherwise ignored GOP platform could be the catalyst that shatters the already fragile coalition. 

So I have to ask, what will McCain's game be?  Does he see his candidacy primarily as the means to shatter the coalition with the hopes of creating a new one in his Mavericky image?  Or does McCain want to win the election, either by creating a new coalition or playing a careful game between being the moderate/independent while paying the bare minimum in political dues to the coalition?