I knew I liked Romney *UPDATED*

Romney is as gracious in defeat as I’m sure he would have been in victory. Here’s Wizbang:

Mark Halperin at The Page says Romney will drop out of the race. His announcement could come at his CPAC speech at 12:30pm. This means that McCain is definitely the Republican nominee because Huckabee doesn’t have any chance sidetracking him. McCain speaks at 3:00pm today.

Update: Halperin is on Fox now and says three GOP sources have confirmed that Romney is dropping out. It’s disappointing to say the least, but I understand why he’s doing this. He may not make the announcement at this speech today, but at the very least he could make some strong signals of his plans.

Bill Kristol predicted that he would announce that he’s pulling out of the race at today’s speech.

Update II: Karl Rove is on the phone with Fox News and says that he’s hearing as well that those inside the Romney camp understand that he’s going to drop out.

Update III: Fox has confirmed that Romney will suspend his campaign. Romney is taking the high road in order to protect the country from a Clinton or Obama administration which would really hurt the US. (Emphasis mine.)

Read the rest here.

Ann Coulter can become a shill for Hillary, but I’m hoping others recognize that, no matter that McCain is not a conservative purist, he is still better than Hillary would be or, God forbid, Obama. And as I’ve said before, for all that Obama presents himself as a “unifier,” his hard left politics preclude him from ever unifying anything. McCain, however, who is a true centrist, may be just the person to heal some of the wounds this country has been feeling following two extremely divisive presidencies. I say that being fully cognizant of his many failings, both personal and political, but I’m a pragmatist, and refuse to lose sight of the fact that McCain is not just a little better, but is far better than the alternative.

And if you have doubts, think “Supreme Court.” Even if he doesn’t appoint strict constructionist purists, as Bush was able to do with Alito and Roberts, even if he appoints softer constructionists, they will still be better than the hard left activists that Hillary or Obama would try appoint. Assuming a Democratic presidency, if Republicans are anything less than 51% of the Senate, especially since many are RINOs, even if they prevent a serious activist, they’ll still end up allowing a soft activist onto the Supreme Court. With McCain, the worst we’d get would be a soft strict constructionist.

UPDATE: Don Surber writes eloquently about Republicans’ need to get over it:

Much has been written about McCain-Feingold and illegal immigration.

At some point conservatives must stop the teeth gnashing — and that time may not arrive until August — and ask themselves what besides his Vietnam service has John McCain done for the country?

They will find that 82% of the time he has been there for the conservative movement.

He has been there 100% for the troops in Iraq. His support of the troops begins with a letter that says, “Dear son …”

UPDATE II: For reasons entirely unclear to me, I popped up in high standing on Patrick Ruffini’s Romney Wire with this post. If you think I deserve that position, please feel free to click here, an act that will perpetuate my standing.