And that's what's so incredibly frustrating in all of this. In the CPAC Straw Poll before this most recent one in Memphis, Tancredo had taken 5th place and beat out Mitt Romney. He wasn't invited to the convention in Memphis. Does that surprise anyone?
Not that I even think that Tancredo would be the man for the job, but he'd sure as heck fire up debate, and the GOP leadership doesn't want that. Despite the fact that it would catch fire with voters across the country, they're afraid and want the big business bucks.
Real conservatives like Mike Pence get thrown under the bus while the dandy RINOs ride off into the sunset.
This border issue is killing me. Until we get a real conservative in the White House, nothing is going to happen. Ever. There has to be leadership from above that gets the wheels rolling. Or we get hit with a terrorist attack, and then maybe something happens, simply because the backlash against doing nothing would be too much wasted political capital.
Either one would be not only acceptable, but positively electable. That they're being actively stepped-on by the beltway types irks me to no end.
"they're afraid and want the big business bucks."
And are perfectly content to see their country turned into a 3rd world dung-heap to remain in power. Guess they don't really care of what material the proverbial hill is constructed, so long as they're appointed king...
Before everyone dumps too much on President Bush, I think it helpful to remember the choices of electable conservatives we had in 1999-2000. My first choice was Dan Quayle, but although I am a Hoosier and know what a great conservative he is, he was permanently tarnished as a dim-bulb by the media and likely wouldn't have managed to win the general election, even if he had garnered enough support from the party.
The American public is NOT really conservative. Most of them are middle of the road types who don't pay too much attention to politics. In order to get their votes, the first thing a candidate has to do is not scare them. I realize this flies in the face of what conservatives think, but I feel it's the truth. Someone like Pence might be able to convince the public of the correctness of his positions without being demonized.
He is, however, working under the handicap of not being nationally known. Major media rarely interviews him, which indicates to me he is pretty good on camera.
His best shot might be as a vice-presidential candidate, but who knows what will happen in the next year? He might break out and garner a lot of support.
Pence is a loser who blames Dubya for making hime vote for every budget. Pence will not be facing Dubya in 08 and he better start to figure that out. The Republican candidate will be facing a rat...not Dubya. Losers aways blame others for their failure. Tancredo could have run for Gov of CO but he chickened out when the polls showed voters hated him statewide.
Kerry showed you can't win elections by blaming Dubya for the sins of the world. Pence and Tancredo need to come up with reasons why people should vote FOR them. I don't think they are smart enough to do that.
They are throwing themselves under the bus.