Posted on 02/01/2012 5:08:49 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
I will start this out by saying that I am usually wrong when I make political predictions (how did that Hillary Clinton-Rudy Giuliani face-off turn out in 2008?). But I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and in the off chance that I happen to be right, I just want it on the record. So here goes…
Mitt Romney will not be the Republican nominee for president in 2012. Neither will Newt Gingrich. And certainly not Ron Paul or Rick Santorum. No, the Republican candidate for president will be someone who isn’t even a candidate for president right now. It will be someone who will swoop in and snatch the nomination away, much to the delight of Republican voters who won’t much like the person who emerges with the most delegates from the primaries.
There are two ways this could go down -- one of the candidates, likely Romney, will have enough delegates to clinch the nomination by April or May. That’s plenty of time before the convention in late August for Republican leaders and their flock to determine that nobody really likes Romney and there is no possible way that he can beat President Obama. They will go looking for someone else.
Or that someone else, who is likely already working behind the scenes, will start talking publicly about Romney’s unelectability, whipping Republican voters into such a frenzy that reluctant party leaders will be forced to go along and ask delegates to change their allegiance.
Remember, candidates used to be picked at conventions. The current system of the convention being a coronation for an already-chosen candidate is a relatively new phenomenon. This would be a throwback to days gone by.
Who might that someone be? That’s the hard part. It has to be someone big. It can’t be Sen. Joe Nobody. It has to be someone known to voters, not someone who needs to introduce themselves to the nation for the first time. That doesn’t leave many options.
The logical choice is Sarah Palin. She might already be laying the groundwork for such an operation. After she announced in the fall that she was not running, she pretty much disappeared. But now Palin is slowly coming back, making television appearances and talking about the election. In a telling strategy, she has not endorsed anyone. She has expressed some support for Gingrich but has been critical of Romney. Expect that to continue as he piles up delegates.
I don’t think Palin could beat Obama, either, but she has a better chance than Romney. If anything she might excite and motivate Republicans to at least get and out vote and perhaps stop Democrats from taking back the House. Romney excites no one. Palin still has plenty of devoted followers, and she is just the type to go against the GOP establishment and attempt to pull this off.
Giuliani is another possibility. He is obviously known to everyone and is reasonably well-liked. Unfortunately, his big issue is terrorism and national security, and with Osama bin Laden dead and al-Qaeda severely weakened, Giuliani has lost his biggest selling point.
Jeb Bush? He might be a stronger candidate than Romney but I don’t think anyone is clamoring for a third Bush in the White House.
With the economy still in shambles, New York City Mayor and mega-billionaire Michael Bloomberg is another possibility. But would Republicans trust a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, virulently anti-gun New Yorker who changes parties as often as he buys a new Bentley (he is now an independent after spending his life as a Democrat but switching to Republican for his three runs for mayor)?
There are other options out there that might emerge in the coming months, but whoever ends up being the Republican nominee, it will not be someone who is running right now. You heard it here first. Unless I am wrong, which is a definite possibility.
Thanks for this thread.
HEY! MARK BERMAN! YEAH YOU! Get off your lazy butt and get out to walk and talk to us!
We see nothing but a puff piece to satisfy your editor’s deadline for a what-if, maybe, -maybe-not, fishing article. Well, we aren’t nibbling at your rusty hook, as we are a-fixin’, to commence, to begin the mightiest voter tax revolt since before FDR got Polio!
Your “possibilities” in your article are RINO re-treads. The rip-roaring Primary Campaign that is so confusing to you in the media is simply our way to convert the Grand Olde Party into the lean, mean fighting machine that will lead us out of THE VALLEY OF DEBT.
BTW, bring a thermos of coffee with you when you come to visit us here in fly over Country, as it will take a while to explain it to you. Just to get you started here’s a little poem from yours truly:
Ode to the Grand Olde Party, and their BFF, the Obamanator.
When Newt, Santorum or Paul rocks the GOP Establishment Boat,
The GOP Oarsmen pull knives from their boots.
The hacking and slashing puts extreme fighting to shame,
Never, no NEVER rock the GOP Establishment Boat!
The GOP cannot win elections, by choice of their suits,
A RINO Nominee is a Democrat, - - - - one and the same.
Two Party as One Party is what they adore.
“Never give voters a choice,” ( or politicians
Are out of life-time jobs, - - forever more).
As we pay our bills holding our noses as we vote,
The Obamanator holds his cold, steel knife
To America’s throat - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .
Somebody needs to step away from the crack pipe.
Governor Sarah Palin is a RINO retread? Huh?!
So would've you or I. Not a real high bar there, FRiend! LOL
We are not talking what will work in NY we are talking a presidential race and meeting the needs of the base and as good a fit Rudy was for NY he does nothing for the Heartland or the Bible belt that know nothing of him other a few good patriotic speeches during the Iraq war.
Those war feelings will very quickly vanish once his background and positions are known while he might be a conservative on defense he is no conservative.
Historically a Northern Republican fails to win for the Republicans...they are too liberal as a whole for the base and thus are not trusted no matter who they are.
Step back and really look at what could and actually win and get the base excited....not an other rino even one who gives wonderful patriotic speeches. My comments were not a Rudy put down but a total look at the party and its people and what wins...and we have plenty of history to look at just dry facts not the emotions of whether the man was good for your state or not (which I agree with you Rudy was good for NY which means a loser in the non North Eastern states...just the facts).
If Milt Rominy is the GOP nominee, I’m going to vote, you can be very sure I will be voting, for every down ticket slot. And in protest I shall moon the GOP establishment by writing in Jim Robinson’s name in the presidentail slot. If I am required to also write in a VP name it will be Sarah Palin. If Barry bassturd is re-elected, the only chance the Republic has of survival is to send a republican control of both House and Seante into Washington to fight the commie bassturd tootha nd nail. And if Boehner isn’t up for the job, I’ll nag him until he steps aside or runs crying from the halls.
Mitch Daniels is warming up. Gave the response to the state of the union. If there is a brokered convention, it is possible that some other candidate such as Mitch could win the 2cnd round voting, I suppose. Especially if all the candidates are so angry with each other about negative ads that each one refused to vote for the other.
Hildy is a blind partisan establishment repubican. She knows more than anyone else at FR, politically. Just ask her, she’ll tell you quick. {Oh, and I’m not pinging the bossy snob because I don’t respect her that much.]
The MSM is against Newt.
Yet as of today Realclearpolitics.com still has Newt over Mitt 29 to 28.
Now I understand why Newt is optimistic and upbeat.
Lets not panic!
LOL!
Actually, the selectipon of a candidate has almost nothing to do with laws. It is a party process.
After Mitt's stupid comments today and once the radio and the web gets done with him tomorrow that lead should grow.
No, Palin is the one that the most people want, still, and she would easily wipe Obama.
The problem is simply that Palin figured out that it was going to be a bad time to be president, and she doesn’t want to go there now.
Daniels is just about as desirable as Romney.
She was hand picked by the last RINO nominee to be his Veep.
Daniels is just about as desirable as Romney.
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Agreed, but at least he can’t be portrayed as Gordon Geko, and his record as governor is better than Romney’s, and he isn’t a gaffe a minute. Romney is kinda like Joe Biden.
President Reagan picked Bush as his VP, was he a RINO too?
Nana,
Word is already out that Donald Trump will endorse Newt on Thursday. Maybe he’ll grow some money his way as well.
The day anything crazy like this happens in the GOP is the day we're facing destruction from a commie, muslim, anti-American sitting in the White Hut, Hell-bent on America's destruction.
Like I said, just pure crazy talk.
” - - - President Reagan picked Bush as his VP, was he a RINO too?”
1.) I define a politician as anyone whose word cannot be trusted. LBJ said “We want no wider War” when speaking about Vietnam. GHWB asked us to read his lips. Both fit my definition of a politician.
2.) I define a Financial RINO as any elected Republican official who spends more money than what is taken in as income, on a fiscal, year to year basis.
On the basis of my above two definitions, ALL Republican Presidents in the last 80 years have been Financial RINO Politicians. (Consider, for a moment, what % of them promised to balance the Federal Budget).
The current Presidential Candidates claiming to be Republicans will also become financial RINO politicians if their plans to cut baseline Federal Spending below Federal income fail.
Flame or blame, the result will be the same: The US Federal Government is broke because politicians in “both” political parties spent more money than was taken in as income.
Once we get politicians in “both” political parties to stand up and accept responsibility for their sorry actions, and inactions, we can begin to solve our spending problems. By my count, NONE have done so to this moment.
If you and I, and others like us, cannot even reasonably discuss the root cause of our bankrupt Nation, then we will have a very long wait for our sorry Federal politicians to do the same.
The National Debt was created by Federal politicians in “both” political parties who approved of spending at a greater rate than the income rate. They spent it, and then cowardly assigned the debt that they created to us.
There are no sacred cows, favorite politicians, or party labels on the financial balance sheet of the United States of America that we will pass on to be paid by our grandchildren and their descendants. It is not about the political labels, it is all about the money.
Our vaunted “Two Party” political system has been a financial failure, and it is up to “we, the people,” (as Newt said recently), to reform our political system.
BTW, these opinions are strictly mine, and I would like to read yours. It would be refreshing to begin a reasoned dialog. Who knows? It might prod our sorry Federal Congress to do the same!
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