Posted on 03/30/2012 2:25:10 PM PDT by Ben Barrack
Conservatives are disheartened. It's becoming increasingly apparent that Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee in the fight to defeat Barack Obama. If four years of Jimmy Carter so awakened Republican voters that they nominated Ronald Reagan, why has nearly four years of Jimmy Carter on steroids so sedated Republican voters that they've decided to nominate the equivalent of Gerald Ford as the best option for defeating him?
In large part, the establishment insists on it and, like Obama, seems disinterested in the will of the people. This establishment is so invested in Romney that it is overlooking the potential consequences of one very real possibility.
What if he loses? The establishment's credibility will have been torpedoed. Yes, at great expense, but torpedoed nonetheless.
If you thought the Tea Party was angry in 2009, just wait until 2013 if Barack Obama is sworn in for a second term after defeating Mitt Romney. For starters, conservative voters will be outraged at any Republican Senator, Congressman or Governor who helped shove Romney down their throats. Accountability could take on an entirely new meaning and those elected leaders will have their feet held to the fire like never before. Romney's name will be added to the long list of liberal Republicans who couldn't seal the deal. Any attempt by establishment elitists to point to Goldwater as evidence that conservatism can't win will be met with sardonic laughter that hopefully drives a stake through the heart of the argument.
Consider the example Fast and Furious, an operation that is not only being revealed as something akin to Watergate with murder but could very likely implicate the heads of nearly every major department and agency in the Obama Administration, to include DHS, DOJ, the FBI, and the State Department. There have been multiple reports that House Speaker John Boehner has asked Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) to back off of his investigation, ostensibly because of how high it could go.
While appearing on the Fox News Channel, Judson Phillips, the founder of Tea Party Nation was visibly frustrated at the lack of interest on the part of Republican Party leadership relative to being more aggressive with Attorney General Eric Holder. Judson went on to say the following:
“What my friends in Washington tell me is that Boehner says what he learned from the 1995 government shutdown is ‘you never pick a fight with the president.’”
If Romney loses to Obama, Boehner will be forced to pick that fight.
If Judson is correct, it points to Boehner being more interested in running out the clock – with the November election representing the final whistle – than in a dogged pursuit of justice, regardless of where it leads. Avoiding a showdown could conceivably allow Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to skate – depending on their respective levels of involvement – instead of facing impeachment and removal from office for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Boehner has most certainly come across as disinterested in commenting on the scandal publicly and won't deviate from a short statement of support for what Issa's committee is doing. It would seem that Issa is wrestling with quite the Executive Branch behemoth and could use a greater show of public support from the House Speaker.
If there are any stories the establishment wants to see go away after the election, the ones about Obama's Birth Certificate, Social Security number, and Selective Service registration are at the top of the list. Such concerns are irrelevant, they say. Besides, the election is less than one year away and it's pointless to entertain the notion. The implication is that Joe Arpaio's investigation, even if it yields anything of substance, will be anti-climactic because Obama will be out of office and everyone will have moved on.
That is, unless he wins. Then what? If you thought the Birthers were loud before, just wait and see what happens if Obama is reelected.
Not only will the Birthers – who generally don't come across as avid Romney supporters – have four more years to continue their incessant drumbeat of demands for answers to their eligibility questions but the establishment that has made every attempt to ignore them will have been roundly defeated and, consequently, forced into a position of having to listen. With the wind knocked out of the establishment, its members will also be barraged with demands that they reconcile with their base (not the other way around) for supporting yet another in a long line of incredibly pathetic candidates. As much as the elites won't want to admit it, the Republican Party agenda could be set by conservative voters who were ignored by an establishment that still doesn't get it.
Tolerance will be in very short supply.
The sad prospect of Romney as the nominee is seemingly trumped only by the prospect that Obama could get a second term, which is made more likely, some believe, if Romney is nominated. Establishment, general election Republican losers like John McCain and Bob Dole have endorsed Romney, as have Governors Chris Christie and Nikki Haley. Tea Party favorites Marco Rubio and Christine O'Donnell have as well. A dangerous type of groupthink seems to have set in among Republican politicians that has generated a bizzare coalescence around a liberal candidate when the time is ripe for a conservative one.
For crying out loud, serial liar Howard Dean said the Democrats fear a face-off with Romney most over all the Republican candidates. Those of us who understand liberal tactics know that Dean means the exact opposite; that's why he said it. It'd be like a head coach proclaiming that his team fears facing his opponent's back up quarterback in an attempt to fool the other coach into starting him. Republican elites aren't as smart, apparently. They've been told by Howard Dean that their third string quaterback gives them their best chance and, by gum, they believe it.
Something else almost certain to happen after Romney's nomination; his religion will be thoroughly vetted by the liberal media. Most Americans know little to nothing about Mormonism but that is all going to change with Romney's nomination. According to a Gallup poll, 22% of Americans are hesitant about voting for a Mormon. Some argue that Mormonism is antithetical to Chrisitianity; some argue that it isn't; still others don't much care. One thing is certain. Everyone will know more about it with Romney as the Republican nominee for president. That, too, should be a good thing no matter what side you're on.
Don't lose heart, conservatives. Instead, check out Romans 8:28, which says:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
In 2013, the Republican elites could find themselves at the intersection of 'be careful what you wish for' and 'sleeping in the bed you made.'
I hope they're preparing for both.
Ben Barrack is a talk show host on KTEM 1400 in Texas benbarrack.com
Conservatives don’t want “what is good for conservatives.”
We want what is good for the country. Four more years of Obama could be downright catastrophic for the country, no matter how “good” it might be for conservatives.
Good one!
However, it could very well happen, God forbid.
Obama is “preying “ so we must pray harder!
There is no, none, nada, zilch good that can come from this lamebrain remaining POTUS. Any Republican will do less damage to the nation. Hell, Dennis Kucinich would do less damage to the nation.
The night Obama was elected was the worst night of my life. I was ill. I knew who he was, and what he could do. The Republicans in the House & Senate have not only done nothing to stop him, they have enabled him. These are horrible times for this country. We have never been this close to self destruction. NEVER! Last month a former Russian(now American) asked me why were allowing Obama to destroy our country. He was mortified!
Lying scum, OR the devil incarnate.....some choice we have...a chance to survive, or virtual annihilation!!
The Tea Parties should have been picketing the GOP in the House & Senate!!
The ABO vote is the largest bloc out there. If they all vote a conservative ticket with Romney on top and we win both houses Romney will be forced right. The I’m not voting crowd should at least vote for conservatives for Congress. I won’t make a case for voting for Romney because he’s such a devious bastard I can understand where they are coming from. But my opinion is like I said, Obama is simply doing too much damage a la LBJ and the Great Society. Some things can not be recovered. Obama has to go.
Keep your pants pulled up cause some people do feel that way. I don't agree with them but I see where they are coming from. As to those who say "Romney can't win" I don't know what that is other than wishful thinking for those who think he's worse than Obama. After 4 years of Obama as the adversary almost any Republican who isn't a total circus clown (Ron Paul) has at least a 50% chance. It's only Romney's negatives of 'aloof rich dude' and 'tepid support from conservatives' that even give Obama a path to victory.
stephenjohnbanker: Romney might move to the right, for purely Machiavellian reasons.
I agree, see I don't think he's a liberal, I think he's a guy who will take any position that he thinks would help him win at any given time, so his words are almost meaningless. In office I guess he would want to be popular so there's a chance he won't screw us over. I don't ascribe to him any special menace as some of my fRiends do. Unfortunately politicians like him are a dime a dozen. His daddy issues are also common due to all these dynasties we have.
Auh2orepublican: I think that “winning by losing” is just a way for losers to look for a silver lining. Hindsight’s 20/20....
True, my alternate reaity assessments could be way off (I certainly wouldn't have argued for Clinton in 96 (some people really hate Dole, I don't, and we already had Congress). And I agree Obama has got to go.
For 2008 though, I don't know. I voted for McCain. Obama was harsh medicine to be sure, Obamacare and Kagan and Sotomeyer were a hard price to pay for recovering Congress. But recovering Congress was neccessary. I don't know if it could have happened in the near term if McCain had slipped by. Chemotherapy for the Pelosi tumor?
If he gets in 4 more however I suppose I'd rather have taken my chances with Pelosi and McCain.
“I agree, see I don’t think he’s a liberal, I think he’s a guy who will take any position that he thinks would help him win at any given time, so his words are almost meaningless. In office I guess he would want to be popular so there’s a chance he won’t screw us over “
There is only a chance he won’t screw us over. With Obama, we know he wants to destroy our free enterprise system, bankrupt the treasury, and make us slaves to the State.
If we survive this....IF.....we need to try to purge the GOP of RINOS. That should be number one on the agenda. Then we Tea Party the MSM.
When you say ‘I’ you obviously mean ‘A Republican candidate’
It is very difficult for me to identify myself as a Republican. I don't automatically consider it MY winning just because a Republican won.
The last few years of GWB POTUS did that in for me. But the past 15 months I notice the Republican party seems to have a deep wish to lose.
I hate to put things in terms of Nazism, but there is a reality here: in 1932, a majority of Germans did not vote for Hitler's party (meaning they did not vote for Hitler as Chancellor, in essence). But they did not clearly align themselves with a party that could stop him. Therefore, they just a surely voted for him as if they had pulled the Nazi lever.
I don't like Romney. I voted for Newt. But in my view, anyone who does not vote against the only REAL option other than Obama in 2012 is no better than those who refused to stop Hitler. Churchill allied with Stalin, saying that if the devil himself was opposed to Hitler, Churchill would have to make some favorable references to him on the floor of Commons.
Purist conservatives, the holier than thous, better figure out that we will have ONE chance to stop Obama, but many, many chances to slow down or stop Romney.
Well done!
Soetoro cannot be given another term, period.
” Purist conservatives, the holier than thous, better figure out that we will have ONE chance to stop Obama, but many, many chances to slow down or stop Romney.”
The truth.
Nobody at FR has been more critical of McCain and Romney than I have been. Reality is reality, and Obama is already making deals with our enemies, predicated on his second win.
Turner thinks Romney is a "problem solver" and "manager." Obviously, that means he's not an ideologue or polemicist or visionary. That's both good and bad. Harding was excellent at cutting the debt and he was no visionary. So I can see a hundred ways Romney could be a successful president, but only one way the U.S. ceases to exist as a truly free nation---with Obama's victory.
I wouldn't vote for Stalin as POTUS. Voting for Stalin and then disowning his resulting atrocities by claiming he is ‘better than Hitler’ is immoral and worse downright dishonest. That is below my threshold of acceptability.
Wasn't Poland under Soviet rule for another 50 years?
As I recall GWB second term there was plenty of ‘chances to stop or slow down GWB’."See you at the signing " was a great example of a time when we had to. The result was the destruction of the Republican party where Democrats were beating Republicans on every single issue 2 to 1 even taxes and the WOT. We ended up with Obama and a Democrat super-majority in congress run by Pelosi that was able to to many of the things they always wanted. Repeal of DADT was one of the last ones.
Even taking back the House in 2011 resulting in a similar result, having to fight and weaken Republicans who end up caving to Obama anyway.
History shows that having to fight your own side just makes the enemy invincible. That is a very poor plan.
SOL....do you know a FReeper more conservative than me?
Please name him. 60,000 posts of despising RINOS, and pounding on the House & Senate as gutless, spineless whores. We can’t allow Obama back in without a fight. Civil War would become ontological certitude. HORRIBLE $hit would transpire!!
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