Posted on 10/20/2011 11:40:57 AM PDT by broken_arrow1
The GOP could face a revolt from within its tea party grassroots base if it nominates an establishment candidate without true conservative, anti-big government values, one of America’s leading conservative pundits tells Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.
Specifically, columnist and former Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan told Newsmax that the nomination of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the architect of a state insurance plan that many say inspired Obamacare, could prompt the tea party movement to form a third party.
“It’s a real possibility because the tea party folks and the Republican conservatives and social conservatives and others are very apprehensive of Mitt Romney and they don’t feel he is really one of us,” Buchanan told Newsmax.
“They’ve got reason for that feeling and that sentiment but if they do that, if, for example … they persuaded Ron Paul to run on a third party ticket, Barack Obama would be easily re-elected,” he added.
Buchanan would certainly know. A former aide to President Ronald Reagan, he was one of the first conservative commentators to hold a prominent job as a TV commentator and syndicated columnist in the mainstream media.
From 1966 through 1974, Buchanan was an assistant to Richard Nixon, and from 1985 to 1987, White House Director of Communications for Reagan.
Buchanan ran twice for the Republican nomination for president and then in 2000 ran for the White House on the Reform Party ticket. He said he can see a third party candidate emerging in 2012 if Mitt Romney gets the GOP nod.
Of the current Republican candidates he said, “Certainly Michele Bachmann is one of us. I think Rick Perry is. I think Herman Cain is. If you are talking about a more traditional conservative certainly I would put Santorum in there.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
I rarely agree with Pat anymore but he’s right on this one.
Conservatives are tired of the GOP exploiting us for cash and votes and then flipping us the bird when it comes time to implement policy.
I’ll go fishing before I vote for Mitt the RINO
What have we got to lose. Sounds like Rebellion is Brewing. :)
You've been here almost eleven years, and you think FR is a "blog"?
As to the other part of your post, looks like Jim has already given you your answer.
I feel your pain, and I can’t blame you for sitting it out if Romney is the nominee. And I certainly hope he is not the nominee. But one hopes that civil debate about the merits and demerits of getting a President Romney would be permitted on a website dedicated to freedom.
(I am not a Mormon. I have no axe to grind from that direction.)
I looked at the video. Mitt is acting very Massachusetts in that video. He is taking the safe Massachusetts position, hardly anything bold.
Mitt is also a consummate flip flopper, we all know that. He is a political weather vane. But if the weather is blowing conservative, is being a political weather vane the worst attribute in the world to have? Or is it worse yet to have a moral compass that’s stuck, come hell or high water, on screaming liberal?
It’s a very special blog, run democratically within certain guidelines, but yes it’s a blog. A blog is a weblog, a log on the web. Stuff that goes on FR, unless zotted away, stays (that’s the meaning of a log), and Google easily ferrets out FR debate from a decade ago.
Who said I was going to sit out?
If I’m going to die, I’ll die fighting, thank you. Not crawling on my belly like a surrender monkey.
I fight leftist Democrats every day of the week and I’ll fight leftist Republicans just as hard.
A POX ON THE PARTY THAT CAN NOMINATE A KNOWN LEFTIST LIAR!!
GO TEA PARTY!!
[Sorry but it would better if the gop would lose if Romney was the candidate because it would teach the gop to not run liberal fools like Romney for president and put a real conservative instead! ]
I actually agree, they’ve rammed a series of old farts and compassionate conservatives down our throats since Reagan and now we are bankrupt and on the edge of the abyss. Romney is just a slower death.
Palin allowed she still had "hope" that the GOP would stand strong. Then Hannity asked her directly if she herself would consider a run as a third party candidate if she didn't like the GOP candidates.
"I don't foresee that right now."
That's "right now." . . .
Not saying I would support it but I could see
Romney / L Graham (Republican)
Obama / Biden or Clinton (Democrat)
Cain or Trump / Rubio
in that race I bet the 3rd party could win. I would even bet Obama / Biden would come in 3rd
You believe the wisest approach would be to push a Tea Party ticket if Romney gets the GOP nod?
That would be interesting. I wonder who the candidates would be for that ticket.
Would you want to personally run for president against Mitt and Barack, if leading lights like Palin and Cain sit back and say nothing doing?
I see you’ve fallen for the socialist/RINO propaganda on Buchanan.
Right. Get real.
At the tail end of the 2008 primaries, I had only RINOs left to vote for. Why? Because lots more people voted in the primaries for those RINOs than voted for conservatives.
Likewise, if Romney is the nominee it will be because a whole lot of registered Republicans voted for him.
So going on and on and on about how mad we'll all be if "the elites force Romney on us" is not very productive.
Talking to your moderate and undecided Republican friends about why Romney would make a dismal President is a far better strategy.
I apologize if I don’t grok the exact meaning of the irony.
But what would your campaigning look like if Mitt gets the nod? You won’t advocate Mitt, you won’t advocate Barack, so who is there to advocate?
There’s always been a clear distinction between blogs and forums. The former is mostly a monologue, and the latter is highly interactive. And most FReepers don’t take too kindly to this joint being referred to as the former. You’ve never noticed that? In eleven years?
The TEA party candidate whomever she may be. And, NO, it will not be me.
I'm not so certain about that. To be sure, many conservatives (including many FRiends here) would sit out the election if Romney is the Republican nominee, but many independents who will not vote for Perry (or Bachmann or Palin) would vote for Romney over Obama. It is an unpleasant fact that independents are the key to the election, as always. Wishing it were otherwise is fruitless. We have to find the most conservative candidate who is electable, and that means the most conservative candidate who can pull the most independents away from Obama. Right now, I don't know who, among the announced candidates, that person is.
The nomination situation is poisoned by open primaries. How badly poisoned, I don’t know. But if it becomes a notable conservative meme that voting for Romney won’t be entertained, then that has just sent a big loud signal to the primary poisoners: PUT ROMNEY ON THE TICKET! While if the conservative meme would be to put a vise on one’s nose and vote Romney, barfing all the way... that’s still bad news for Obama, and poisoning the ticket with Romney would be less likely to happen.
Does the TEA party have the discipline and will to come up with a candidate? Because many will be thinking that whatever they do, they don’t want to spoil for Obama.
Cain has a record of achievement in a difficult field (mathematics) and has had leadership positions in business and finance.
Rubio, as far as I know, has nothing like that.
But, I'm not from Florida, and there's probably stuff about Rubio I don't know.
What I DO know is that he's been a Senator for less than two years and he can talk to the landscaper and the pool boy without an interpreter.
Please fill me in on the rest.
Isn’t FR a particularly sticky forum? Giving it log like attributes? It’s the DU types who like to flush history underground. FR does not hide the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Piss on you, bot. You’re not getting the message. So I’ll now deliver it personally to you, Romney and all RomneyBots in the only language you understand:
UP YOURS!! YOU CAN SHOVE YOUR RINO WHERE THE SUN DON’T SHINE!! DON’T PISS DOWN MY LEG AND TELL ME IT’S RAINING!!
Palin would endorse Romney. She's been very clear that this election is Anyone But Obama and that she is not running 3rd party.
You can keep sending her your money though, SarahPAC would love you for it!
No way. Not Romney ever. Not Sarah Palin, not Herman Cain, not Rubio or anyone else on his ticket could make me vote for Romney. No matter who he puts on the ticket with him — I’ll just say no to Romney.
Good for you JR! It’s time to kick out the RINO lovers around here.
I guess we may have to agree to disagree about what’s wise. I’m trying to talk through the options in a civil manner and an open mind, and am put off by being called a bot. If Romney gets the nod, there are going to be a lot of Freepers that will genuinely ask the question of whether Barack Obama is worse than Mitt.
I’m not going to be goaded into writing an opus by committing to a position on Mitt. That’s stupid. My personal gut guess about Romney is that his easily manipulable character is a two sided coin. The context in which a putative President Romney would serve would make a lot of difference in how he does so. This is far inferior to a moral compass which points in godly directions (which more idealistic Mormons than Mitt would more closely approach). But is it also inferior to Barack Obama’s moral compass that is stuck on screaming (and scheming) liberal?
ALL RINOS are the enemy. Be a RINO, get the zot!!
The GOP elites also include the media types (excluding Rush, Sean and Mark) telling us who can and can't be elected.
The GOP elites were equally successful in Delaware and Nevada by NOT supporting the Republican candidates.
You are right that the numbers count in the end, but who has the bigger bullhorn and influence with the lame stream media? They want to hold their power and will trash any threat. We have to do our part, and that may be telling them to go to hell at some point.
I agree 100%!!!!!!
I'm getting pretty damn sick of that term, "purity", myself.
Bernie Goldberg and Rove, GOP elites have been using that term and its ticking me off big time. The RINOS are deflecting from the fact they have no damn standards and will compromise at the drop of a hat.
Spineless, ass kissing RINOS can take their Romney and go to hell.
Calling FR a blog is considered derogatory. I have no earthly idea how you could have possibly missed that in eleven years.
I am not robotically stuck on a position. But certain victories just are Pyrrhic — that’s how the world works. Let us certainly cheer for better candidates than Mitt Romney. I like, no make that almost love, Cain. He’s personable, he’s articulate, he doesn’t pretend to know everything, and he’s reasonable. Cain’s 9-9-9 plan has got America talking about taxes at a whole new level, and if it does nothing more than that, it still will not have been in vain.
On another hand (I’m an octopus) there’s Perry. If he shows signs of seriously grokking the illegale-amnesty political problem (whole lotta new Democrat voters there) he might regain public confidence. I like the rest of Perry’s platform.
But promising that one is going to explode in Mitt’s face like a bomb come hell or high water... I am not sure that’s the wisest statement on earth to make. That helps direct the primary poisoners, who otherwise might split between a lukewarm Republican with a checkered past like Romney and an “unelectable” extreme on the other end like Gingrich, and see their effect canceled out.
To put it differently, one might take the philosophy of Abraham Lincoln. He said he destroyed his enemies by making them his friends.
The Count appears to have had a Mormon axe to grind. Still, you’d think even “good Mormons” would have standards to maintain. It would be possible to be a “good Mormon” and refrain from boosting Mitt Romney.
Then consider how many sitters would get off their butt for Cain/Palin, and still take 6-7 percent of the indies who are in fact totally rejecting omaba.
Either way close call, would depend on how hard hitting and convincing the campaign was. Lord knows there is sufficient material in his record to sink the man. The ability to get that to the eyes and ears of the average voter is the problem.
Am I IBTZ? LOL!
For all you Romney apologists out there, I'm reminded of what a Mass. Rep. is like by observing the performance of Scott Brown.
The Mittster has had too many flips and flops. His Presidency would be about as infuriating as a McCain Presidency (even with Sarah as VP).
Oh, Wall Street loves Mitt, at the expense of Main Street.
I don't batter mine; I use honey and chocolate!
I guess I’m not as scornful as others as to what you have posted and see it as an exercise in pragmatism. There are times however, when pragmatism must be abandoned for principle, and there is no better time than now.
The Tea Party gave the Republicans the House, and they promptly squandered what they had. We are dealing from strength and the crumbs are no longer acceptable.
The Tea Party is gaining strength and this is the time to use it. We don’t need two left wing big government parties any longer. The Republicans are getting an ultimatum and if they ignore it, they will become the third party and their efforts to minimize conservative candidates will not be forgotten.
Apt comparison. Guess you and Lincoln never heard of civil war.
The way that Lincoln’s followers finished out the civil war (Abraham himself being unavailable due to his assassination) seemed to illustrate that spirit. General Lee was forgiven.
Well stated!
There’s a curious back story to this. Many Mormons believe (IIRC it’s from a Joseph Smith alleged revelation) that a Mormon is destined to become the president of the USA. So when Mitt Romney becomes a contender, these Mormons are tempted to say hey, this is the guy. Whereas, if he keeps true to his earlier liberal dogmas, he would be more like their anti-Christ.
Well, your leftist hero Mitt Romney is no Honest Abe. He’ll make no friends among conservatives. He’s a lying SOS! And you can tell him that for me next time you kiss his ass.
Kennedy? Byron White was more conservative than most of Eisenhower's, Nixon's, or Ford's appointees. Or is that going too far back?
Frankly sir, you mischaracterize by saying I kiss Mitt’s ass. I’ve never met him personally.
Because it’s your blog/forum, I tread lightly and respectfully. But saying that a Mitt presidency might not be all minuses for America, or might be less minuses for America than Obama would be, does not logically equate to ass kissing. Especially when I make it clear that both Cain and (with reservations) Perry are far better. I thought it was conservatives who were known more for logic, and liberals more for feeling. But if we put an inordinate amount of passion into our antipathy, we risk becoming like what we hate.
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