Posted on 12/31/2014 9:01:14 PM PST by SoConPubbie
I told you last night, there was only one way for this year to end on Hot Air. May one word ring in your ears as the ball drops, my friends: Romneymentum.
Hopefully you’re all already liquored up sufficiently to dull the pain.
“I know exactly what Mitt’s going to do,” [Ken] Gardner, a real estate developer who helped bring Romney to Utah to lead the 2002 Winter Olympics, told the Deseret News. “I think over the next few months, a lot of things will happen.”…
“If it’s Ted Cruz that’s the candidate, he’s in. If it’s Jeb Bush, he’s probably not,” Gardner said.
He said Romney doesn’t want to cost fellow moderate Republicans Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie support at this point in the race.
That changes, Gardner said, “if it doesn’t look like they can do it.”
Later in the piece Gardner suggests that Romney’s bored by his retirement, which naturally means … he should run for president again? What?
Actually, I’m playing a little trick on Romney-haters by linking this piece. When you think about it, this is good news for you guys, not bad. Bush is already in the race and Chris Christie, who’s cramming on foreign policy and traveling the country to pile up favors before jumping in, will almost certainly follow soon. If only one of them were running, there’s a chance that that man would underperform early against conservative challengers, sparking the type of RINO panic that might draw Romney in as a savior. With two marquee centrists running, though, there’s zero chance that they’ll both underperform. One of two things will happen: Either one of them will consolidate most of the centrist vote at the other’s expense, propelling that man towards the top of the field, or they’ll split the centrist vote roughly evenly while some conservative champion races ahead. Even in the latter scenario, though, Romney would probably stay out and campaign on behalf of Bush or Christie (likely Bush) rather than jump in to try to usurp them as centrist champion. A late entry under those circumstances would simply be too risky. Instead of gobbling up Bush’s and Christie’s support, Romney might split off only a few voters, deepening the split among centrists and increasing the odds that Cruz is nominated. Imagine that it’s September 2015 and Cruz is pulling 25 percent with Bush and Christie each stuck in the mid-teens. If Romney then jumps in, you might well end up with him, Jeb, and Christie each pulling numbers in the low teens while Cruz remains basically unaffected. (Making a splashy announcement as the self-styled party savior and then fizzling would be hugely embarrassing for Romney too, needless to say, another reason why he’d be disinclined to do it.) The establishment impulse, wisely, is always towards consolidation, not diversification. Romney getting in would confound that logic. The day Christie announces, it effectively ends the “dream” of Romney 2016.
So there’s the “good news” for tea partiers as 2014 winds down — instead of nominating Mitt Romney again, your worst-case scenario only involves nominating, um, Jeb Bush or Chris Christie, who, by the way, already lead the field. Happy new year!
Aside from winning the MA governorship, Mitt Romney has become the Washington Generals of the political world.
Time for Mitt to move on.
I doubt that even Ronald Reagan could successfully run the gauntlet set up today by the GOPe and the media (even FOX News)to prevent a conservative nominee.
The grand old party is no longer the party of limited government, conservative principals.
I submit, it is time for a conservative party with the platform we expect.
Scale back the size and scope of government, abolish the IRS / restructure the tax code (simple/fair-r-r). Slash regulation, dramatically cut the budgets of the EPA, TSA, DHS, ABC and LMNOP....slash’m.
HEY ROMNEY!!
YOUR SON ALREADY LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG AND ANNOUNCED TO THE WORLD, AFTER YOU LOST THE ELECTION, THAT YOU DIDN’T WANT TO BE PRESIDENT ANYWAY.
F. U. AHOLE. DID YOU INTENTIONALLY LOSE Á LA MCCAIN-STYLE??!!!!
Republican power boy’z will attempt to flood the coming primaries with a whole host of moderate/liberal candidates in an effort to water down the conservative message.
Mark my words, conservative candidates will come under attack from BOTH parties. They will spend millions to defeat the Ted Cruz's of the world.
Knowing what they will do to Ted my Money is on 2 Governors.
Scott Walker (Wisconsin) and Mike Pence (Indiana).
Pence is doing 9 days in Israel and refused to dine with the leaders of the other side after an invitation. IMHO he is running.
The other day "TxHurl" responded to my post on the Gov's with this...
"The left can freak out about a new untouchable. Pence is clean as Cruz. And Cruz is running under the radar. Pence/Cruz. Makes Cruz President of the Senate, and not a second too soon."
I want you and all Freepers to think of the delicious deviousness and a grand moment of schadenfreude it would be to have Vice President Cruz presiding over the Senate. To watch the Plethora of old Pharts that currently revile him have to acknowledge Constitutionally he is now in Charge in the Senate, would be worth it's weight in the Mylanta they would be taking.
Works for me :-)....
“A people unwilling to use extreme violent force to obtain or preserve their liberty deserve the tyrants that rue them” me
There is nothing wrong with Cruz. Romney is a poor presidential candidate as demonstrated in 2012.
Both in would dilute the RINO vote (which is usually the problem we Conservatives have to face until it's too late in the primaries).
No Romney, no Bush, no Christie! Chris can stay here in NJ where a RINO Governor is about as good as we're going to get compared to the alternatives (ref Florio, McGreevey, Corzine, et al).
Einstein’s definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and hoping for different results. So this time, a GOP loss will be my fault for not voting...
Cruz can take a page or two from Reagan’s candidacy. Recall how the media mocked and ridiculed Reagan, along with fellow RINO pubbies who didn’t miss a chance to castigate him. Reagan stayed focused committed to his principles and talked common sense to the people. Cruz is the only politician on the horizon who has the cajones to lead us out of the mess created by Obama’s RATS, and self serving RINOS.
Election cycle after election cycle, Texas's conservative influence has been negated. Our primary continually gets pushed out further and further by law suits from the feral gubbamint. Tactics designed to marginalize the conservative influence on the primary process. By the time Texas voters get to the polls, many times the republican front runner has been sealed.
Please add me to your Ted Cruz Ping List.
I wish our side was this smart.
He said Romney doesn’t want to cost fellow moderate Republicans Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie support at this point in the race.
Christie won't take one for the cause, so at least we have two RINOs in the race. I hope Romney reconsiders. The more RINOs the better.
Based on what I saw in 2012, I’m still waiting to see some real evidence that Romney actually wants to be president.
“I’m standing by to support a new party if Romney succeeds.”
You and me, both.
The quote certainly makes Romney sound brutally pragmatic, which would stand to reason. “Friends praise Romney’s political skill” might be a nice subtitle.
The RINOs do this in a smoky back room, where the big donors align behind a single candidate.
But we can do something similar, if the big four conservative talk show hosts, Rush, Sean, Glenn and Mark, line up behind a single conservative. They have to do it NOW. I could see Glenn and Mark endorsing Ted early. Sean might, too. But I doubt Rush will.
There will be no Romny nomination. He had and squandered his shot, and is now relegated to obscurity, MSM or not. Even the GOPe ain’t buyin’.
Mighty Mitt
Mr. trouble will not hang around,
when he hears this Mighty sound,
Here I come to save the day!
Mighty Mitt is on the way!
...
Mitt is going to save us from Ted Cruz. What a guy.
After Mitt’s last great campaign, all we can say is: YEAH TED!
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