You seem to be whining about something but you are unwilling to say what it is, you seem to dislike conservatism but won’t be specific or clear about it, and what does “bumped” mean?
As far as the owner of freerepublic, if you had a complaint about him, why didn’t you address him?
hat's fine if it will result in a setback for the Left. Voting for a Virgil Goode because you think he's better than Romney is also being idiotic if Virgil hasn't a snowballs chance to place, much less win. If your hero doesn't make the slate, continuing to put energy into he success through the election is counterproductive - time to cut your losses and begin anew to see if you can get him on a ticket. If we will only accept a conservative idol to vote for, and cannot do what we can to stop the tyranny of the Dems, then we are doomed. If our best chance is to get more conservatives elected to the Congress, great - let's do it. let's not throw a hissy fit and ensure that the Dems get a free pass with an Obama.
I'm all for conservatism but also realist enough to know that if we don't use some of the same strategy the Dims have been using to advance their cause by fractions of an inch over a long period, and do whatever we can to try to get conservatives on the ticket, and having lost that particular battle, doing whatever we can to keep an Obama from getting a second term, then we are the useful idiots for the Democrat Party. All or nothing is a nice ideal, but reality is what reality is.
I have no problems with JR being the proprietor/owner of FR and I agree with most of what he stands for - that won't stop me from thinking and striving to get the best foothold we can get under the circumstances of the time. I will support his endeavors 100% when it looks like the result will be an advantage for us. Else, I will mention my uneasiness. Prior to the last presidential election, I did go directly to him about a few issues that I saw as likely to result in another Obama win.
I said "bumped" because I revisited the original post and noticed that the guy's inputs had disappeared. If we can't explore all sides of a debate, we become unthinking automatons and might as well turn our computers off.
If that strikes you as "whining", so be it - I will try not to engage you in any future debates/arguments/sharing of potential viewpoints.
That was just rambling nonsense, from something called a Goode, to more about a poster being “bumped”.
Best I can tell, the rambling was some kind of plea to move left, anyone so confused that he thinks conservatives would reject Ronald Reagan, could be expected to be an enemy of conservatism I guess, that is why they like to attack conservatives with the idiotic remark.
It looks like you want to promote Romney, but don’t have the courage to speak plainly.
First off, the number of people that actually run off and vote for a non factor like Virgil Goode is next to nothing. The Green Party got nearly 4 times the number of votes - and they were also an after thought. Yes, many people here were talking about voting for Virgil Goode, but not many folks elsewhere across the country did. On activist, grass roots, political sites like FR you are just going to get a higher percentage of people that insist on candidates that better represent them. And this is to be expected, afterall, that is the whole mission of conservatives willing to spend time talking politics. The general public pays about 1/100th the attention to this stuff as we do.
I think the core of this debate is this - some people, particularly the most ideological/partisan, feel their vote represents an affirmative endorsement of a candidate or set of ideas. Therefore if X candidate holds a view they find repugnant, they believe they can't vote for him or her under any circumstances. Most people on the other hand, view their vote as a choice, and basically believe as you do that wasting a vote on a 3rd party nobody that has zero chance to win is utterly silly.
Arguing with people who truly want to throw away their vote (I mean those who will really do it, not just the ones that threaten to do so out of anger that their candidate didn't win) is pointless, I've tried it now and again and you'll basically get nowhere because of what they believe their vote represents. In a general election to you, me and most people it's a choice, to those who feel different it is an affirmative endorsement. If you truly felt your vote meant you were actively supporting a social liberal Republican's position on abortion/gay marriage/etc in some urban mayoral race, you might think differently . If you view that social liberal Republican as the better choice between the lesser of two evils (better than the social liberal Democrat who is also an economic liberal and worse than the Republican on most of the issues), then you'll have no trouble casting that ballot. Most people will continue to see casting a ballot in a general election as just a choice between the only viable alternatives. In reality, the primaries are people's moment to cast an affirmative vote - and look how few people even turn out for them.
So long as our system is a winner take all 2 party system that allows no opportunity for coalition government, I do believe voting in a general election is simply not an affirmative endorsement of anything - it's just a choice between the only realistic options available. One of two people will become president under these circumstances. Even if they both suck, you are simply casting a ballot for the least bad option. In our system, that is pretty much what we are going to have to deal with in the vast majority of general elections. Reagan was the only good candidate for President in a general election in my lifetime, and I was too young to vote for him either time. So I, like yourself, and most other actual conservatives, are stuck voting against the Democrat by casting a ballot for the Republican (no matter how bad he/she is). Heck even Ron Paul, the LaRouchies, etc, have learned that our system mostly doesn't allow for 3rd party to have much success.
In the end, most people see it the way you do when it comes to NOT voting 3rd party no matter what. Just watch the election returns threads right here on FR. Most people will cheer whoever the Republican is to win, if for no other reason than to keep the Democrat out of office or give the further left party a black eye.