Gun grabber vs. gun grabber.
I cannot vote for Milk.
I will vote Conservative.
There are any number of things we can channel our energy on to be positive - a lot of people are choosing to be sour grapes / scorched earth because of Romney instead of doing something positive. Those people are our own worst enemies. We have a special election coming up in Arizona for a Congressional seat with very conservative Jesse Kelly needing our support - what if the people wasting all of this time whining and attacking Romney out of spite both here at FR and elsewhere instead worked hard to raise money, GOTV for Mr. Kelly instead? We have a primary coming up in Indiana for Senate where a strong conservative may defeat an entrenched GOP incumbent - once that happens he must get elected in November - why not focus on something like that? It would not be a shoo-in for him in the fall - Indiana can go Democrat. It does no good to win primaries if they don’t elected in the fall. Again...if all of this energy I see here on FR and elsewhere toward lashing out at Romney out of frustration would instead be focused on something positive like that an actual real difference could be made - not to mention you would have a lot more fun doing something actually constructive and positive.
Incidentally: if your goal is to minimize the damage a President Romney would do to the Republic, you're going about it the right way.
Ronmey is appeasing the Tea Party. Leaving aside what this implies about Romney as President, the way to "deal" with an appeaser is to stick to your guns and never give an inch. That way, you'll be appeased even more.
That's the only way to rein in a flip-flopper: make sure he keeps flopping your way. Appeasers can't figure out people of principle. So, if they need the support of principled people, they keep appeasing more. One thing's for sure: Romney takes the "reasonable" for granted.
Thank you, Jim. God bless.
Let's take the enemy head-on instead of fighting each other!!
Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!
Bravo Jim, well said!
Maybe we can also work for closed primaries.
We won't have the presidency, but we can have the president's ear. We should focus our energies on the Senate and maintaining the gains we've made in the house.
I, for one, will be taking heed of Newt Gingrich's recommendations and strategies over the next few years. I strongly feel that he has the right agenda. And in this balancing act of Tea Party activism, conservative philosophy, and national politics, Newt Gingrich can forge a path of reform and flush out those with treacherous intentions, if we empower him.
Our country is badly damaged. We're not going to turn it around overnight. We're not going to turn it around with the election of one president.
JR - So glad you have a central and logical plan for this call to action. I am glad to hear YOU say these things in order that many other FREEPERS might unite to defeat Obama, and continue the TEA Party fight will the eye on the presidency in the future. We must only look back to the radical of the Dem party and 1960s to see the ilk or Hillary, the anti-war movement, the black panthers, el at., have taken the reins of the Dem party so it is essential that the TEA Party’s goals remain firm and long term!
I have often thought that perhaps in the future conservatives should consider onganizing better so that we dont have so many conservatives splitting up the conservative vote allowing a moderate republican to win the nomination. I dont know how that would be done.
I’m trying to figure out how to continue the battle too Jim. I think the war aginst Romney, the GOPe and the Left starts the day after the election. We just need to hunker down and get ourselves better financed while we bide our time.
There is literally no place to rub (trust me, I’ve looked) so we just have to understand this is long campaign. 40 years.
A telling statistic for me is that in all the primaries, the GOP-e candidate never got 50% of the vote. Yet he is the nominee.
What does that tell you?
Jim, I think this is a well thought out stance and I applaud you for making it.
Im an ABO guy, not crazy about Romney but resigned to the fact that I dont feel like I can abstain, but I certainly understand where you are coming from along with the other folks who cant vote for him because of conscience.
I appreciate the olive branch and wholeheartedly agree with the idea that you have stated. We as conservatives need to unite and not tear each other apart, even if we have to “agree to disagree” on the best course of action in this Presidential election.
But one thing we certainly agree on, regardless of what any of us do with regards to the presidental election, is the need to vote conservative all the way down on every other race, without a doubt.
Mark for later, begin @ 51.
Taxman Bravo Zulu Jim!
We conservatives have been fed a sh!t sandwich, and we must make the best of it, because to not work our a$$es off to ensure the defeat of Obongo Bozo and his LIEberal/Socialist/Marxist/Fascist hangers-on will mean the end of America as we know it.
So, we spend as much time, talent and treasure as we can afford to elect conservatives in the down ticket races.
We actively oppose Obongo Bozo at every turn — bumper stickers, yard signs, street theater — whatever we can do to inform Americans how terrible the USA will become if he wins again.
After Obongo Bozo is defeated, we then hold the US Government’s feet to the fire, and use whatever legal means we can to reclaim our Constitutional Republic.
To not do so would be to capitulate to the Forces of Evil, and I, for one, am not willing to do that!
Press on, Jim, and God Bless America!
Thanks for the encouragement! We must elect real conservatives to Congress to help keep this RINO in check!
Thanks for starting this thread and allowing a freewheeling discussion. I have enjoyed reading all 1,151 post and will now give my two cents worth.
By nature we conservatives are not as cohesive a group as liberals and are less prone to compromise strongly held beliefs for a greater good. Most of us are not really good at politics because we draw such bright lines for ourselves and expect our candidates to follow in lockstep in order to be worthy of our support. We are generally more certain in our opposition to a particular candidate than we are in our support of one and thus are more willing to prefer defeat to compromise.
During this election cycle, we have seen an untold number of post declaring: I will never vote for [Bachman, Cain, Perry, Santorum, Gingrich] because they did or did not do or support something that we as individuals did or did not like. While the conservative candidates combined consistently attracted more support that Romney, we could never agree on anyone. Even after it was down to Gingrich and Santorum, we could not bring ourselves to compromise and settle on one. We can try to tell ourselves that Romney’s victory was due to some manipulation by the Republican Establishment or the media elite, but for me, the time for self delusion is past.
I have come to accept that either Romney or Obama will be elected in November and that engaging in a feel good exercise or making a protest statement with my vote can not change that fact. I will thus be voting for one of the two and it will certainly not be Oboma.
Thanks Jim. One consolation, there is still a lot of time between now and Election Day.....And I am afraid because the Reds know what will happen, they will “pull the trigger...”
For years now I have added material to the Romneytruthfile. Because of that extensive reading, I’m convinced the Mitt Romney is a flip-flopping, pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-gun control, pro-obamacare, pro-big government, 3rd way, elitist social corporatist.
I really have no doubts about that summary.
Does this truce mean I can no longer post the truth about Mitt Romney? IF so, does it mean that Romney-bots are prevented from posting positive campaign threads about Mitt Romney?
Does it mean I cannot post information positive toward the candidacy of Virgil Goode, the only conservative remaining in the race for the presidency?
For years, Free Republic has loudly proclaimed Mitt Romney to be a lying liberal of the first order. Any sudden reversal of that position would appear to impartial observers to be a sudden caving in plus a healthy dose of hypocrisy.
Is it possible for me to post truth about Romney and other campaigns and NOT bad-mouth fellow freepers at the same time? Yes, it is possible. I’m not in the habit of bad-mouthing freepers anyway.
IMHO, it’s a shame that the majority of conservative voters/very conservative voters won’t, willingly, come together and vote “a protest vote” for Virgil Goode of the Constitution Party for ‘12 POTUS! If such a political movement by conservative voters/very conservative voters really did happen, then it would, also, send a message to all of those opposed to U.S. conservatism in any way, shape, or form. It’s too bad that it won’t, actually, happen, and it’s another missed opportunity by conservatives to send a serious message to everybody else in the political spectrum. Correct, or incorrect?