John McCain, the Republican Senator from Arizona and presumptive nominee for the Republican presidential candidate, is not well liked by "very conservative" Republicans. He is a relative moderate in many areas. He is a far more honorable man than George Bush.
The Republican party (not necessarily Republicans in the US) is dominated by social and religious conservatives. The ones currently running the party are warmongers and imperialists. They would also outlaw abortion and same-sex marriage. As you can see here, McCain is opposed to reproductive choice and gay rights. All told, he is only a moderate relative to this incarnation of the Republican party. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both from Maine, are the true moderates, but they look liberal compared to most Republican Congresspeople.
The one thing that troubles me about McCain is that he has basically said he wants the US in Iraq for as long as it takes to finish the job. You broke it, you fix it. On some level, that seems fair. Except that American soldiers are an extremely unwelcome occupying army. The war is also costing us trillions of dollars, and an untold amount of global goodwill.
There are plenty of checks and balances on the President in a domestic setting. It is very difficult to get anything done. This is a story for another time, but this is in fact exactly the situation the founders of the nation wanted. However, Presidents are very unconstrained when it comes to foreign policy. These days, they don't even need Congress to declare war. Both Republican and Democrat Presidents have been guilty of crimes against humanity, and have got off scot-free.
In some sense, the party of the next American President does not matter. America as a country has much to learn about relating to other countries.
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