Posted on 11/09/2012 7:04:01 AM PST by C. Edmund Wright
Wow. Mitt’s a weak weenie...no wait, he’s a big meanie! Give it a f rest.
“No, the real story is that three states held votes and nobody came. Almost nobody, that is. Consider that the total turnout for Missouri, Colorado, and Minnesota combined was barely over half of the turnout of South Carolina alone and — worse yet — barely over half the turnout for the same three states in 2008.”
When, at what stage in the primary process were those elections held, before or after it seemed Romney already had an unbeatable lead? If after is the case, then was it the choice of Romney that depressed turnout, or the vageries of the primary election calendar itself.
Personally, I am more in favor of a long primary campaign period, ending just before the conventions and all the primary elections for federal offices held on the same day.
The hopscotch schedule of the primaries insures that the earlier a primary is held it is believed by everyone that it will be more important; helping to get someone a commanding lead before many of the other primaries are held. When people believe their vote will not make a difference in the outcome anyway, they tend to skip out on primary election day.
I agree. But let’s consider the possibility, for the sake of argument, that we are wrong. That a Reagan conservative, one who is well-versed and intelligent, can’t actually win.
Well, we should run him anyway.
Obviously, we can’t do any worse. We can’t do worse than Bush (92), Dole, McCain and Romney. Stating the obvious here.
But if Phil Gramm had lost in 1996 instead of Dole, what sort of trajectory would we have been on? Perhaps a completely different one.
And the final point. When it all comes crashing down, as a matter of fact, not opinion or partisanship, but as a matter of FACT....which policies will lead us out of Greece-like economy?
Only the Reagan / Thatcher policies of economic growth, entitlement shrinkage, freedom, and cutting discretionary spending.
If we don’t ever articulate those, even in a losing campaign (such as my hypothetical Phil Gramm campaign of 1996), then how do we ever start the push back? What resources will we fall back on, if we never even publicly articulate our agenda?
It seems that win or lose, we have a duty to speak the truth because if America is to survive, only the truth will allow us that.
There may have been massive fraud.
Problem is, no one here knows how to expose it, or fight it. We all spend our entire lives in the legitimate world. If we are truly up against MASSIVE fraud, which I consider entirely possible, then someone other than “us” will have to ferret that out.
But....when we finally have fair elections, hopefully we will be better informed and know how to handle them.
That’s sort of what this discussion is about.
Santorum and Romney need to disappear from republican politics.
These were right after Florida, and no, it was not quite inevitable yet that Romney was the nominee, and compared to 08, it was inevitable that McCain would be.
That’s what bugs me about Santorum and his followers. He is not a good conservative at all except on the social issues. And on the social issues, he too is a late converter. He says he takes the “slings and arrows” - which he does, because his snarling petulant holier than thou attitude NEVER wins any converts.
He is merely a preacher to the choir that for some reason wants the person who last boldly lost more battles than someone who has shrewdly won them. I agree with Santorum on all the social issues. I also know he is a pro life pro union big government liberal. He would have been a horrible candidate, and it doesn’t make me pro choice to say that any more than it makes me racist to say Obama is horrible.
Damn, that’s pretty good analogy...just thought of it.
A National Primary Day would eliminate all but the most heavily funded candidates.
Candidates like Santorum, Gingrich, Bachman, etc. never would have been a factor. Romney would've had no competition for the nomination.
How does that improve the process?
And to paraphrase the late great Andrew Breitbart:
“...the conservatives and republicans need to understand and use the new media avenues of communication now available, to get their message out. If they don’t then their message will never get to a large sector of the american people. The old methods are no longer effective and in ways outdated and useless.
And like it or hate it Pop Culture is one method in today’s instant gratification fast food got to have, see, hear it now world. Where style trumps substance unless the substance is packaged with the right “style” to reach its audience.”
Needless to say the RINO’s and DC GOP ignored him.
Your reply was short, pithy, and I’m sure you are congratulating your self on it.
It was also meaningless, shallow, illogical and counter factual. And if you think this election analysis is going to be “given a rest” any time soon, you are also delusional. I am releasing a book about it, in fact (see signature) because I think this is a vital vital conversation to have.
If you don’t want to have it, I suggest you avoid my threads for a couple years. This is what they will be about.
I’m liking just about everything you have added to this discussion...and most of all, for getting what this discussion is, and is not, about. Fregards!
I am not discounting that as a possibility. I am following a lot of those news stories.
Thank you. You are a great writer and observer, and it is an honor to receive a compliment from you.
I am just getting into that game, as you say....made some decent money this season - but let me tell you, the insiders are fearful of new talent into this game. They are wealthy. They are a bunch of back stabbing turf protecters too.
Hard game to crack, but I am trying like heck...thanks for encouragement.
You have a short memory. Newt launched some of the most vicius attacks against Romney and Santorum and basicaly created the blueprint for the bain attack ads that Obama ran against Romney during the summer.
The primary process is always vicius on both sides but only republicans seem to think that if they don’t vote in the general election they will somehow get everything that they want when the next cycle comes around. The sitouts are killing the republican party and are basically turning the country over to the democrats.
I agree entirely. Breitbart was amazing, spot on, and rightly aggressive. Alas, his website missed where this election was head, but so did a lot of other people.
We have to infiltrate pop culture. I agree entirely...but won’t be much help there.
We also have to penetrate high culture. I hate that everytime I go to my local opera’s website there is another Out Night at the Opera. High culture is overrun by fags and socialists. Same as pop culture. We have to take it all.
I think Breitbart would agree.
Yes, I think this election showed how much conservatives missed and needed a person with Andrew Breitbart’s drive, imagination, take no prisoners atttidue.
You have a short memory. Newt launched some of the most vicius attacks against Romney and Santorum and basicaly created the blueprint for the bain attack ads that Obama ran against Romney during the summer.”
We actually discussed that in this thread.
There was a time period when Newt was doing the focus on obama thing.
Then he switched gears, due to the consultants at a Super PAC.
That was a mistake. A fatal one. Not just for him, but for all of us. The moment Newt went against Bain/Romney, he won the general for obama.
It’s all clear now. (You are correct).
Would that Newt would have stayed the course before he attacked Bain.
Here is Santorum (on Specter's right) formally endorsing Spector for president at Spector's presidential launching, Spector had no chance to win but he was running a campaign focused on removing the pro-life plank from the GOP party platform.
Santorum supported Spector and his politics, until Spector left politics, Santorum then became a Romney man.
Thanks for that. My biggest disappointment, or one of them, from the primary season was this grand delusion that Santorum was such a great conservative.
In issues of unions, business, etc, he is more liberal than Mitt decidedly. His last campaign for senate was a fantasy of squishy political correct liberalism lite.
And yet, people say I’m “pro abortion” for bringing this up. Yep, and racist for not liking Obama too!! /sarc
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