That idea constitutes a terrible disservice to the American people.
Not a single sovereign citizen has cast a vote, and will not for months.
We're not the Soviet Union, where a small clique of Politburo members decide who can be considered candidates, thereby pre-determining the outcome.
Or, maybe we now are...
It has nothing to do with “Politboro members,” for pity’s sake.
It’s about saving the Party to prevent 8 years of the growth of totalitarianism like we’ve never known in this country. More than during Roosevelt’s tenure and even more than during the last Clinton regime.
(If you believe that I’m over reacting, look at the limits Pelosi has put on debate and amendments in the House. Add in the cameras that have been erected on street corners and highways. Look at the grip that gay-rights, atheism and scientism have on the media, science reporting and the blogosphere. Worse, look at the way the discussions on this forum about whether Mormonism is Christianity have ripped the foundations from under less thoughtful believers and provided fuel for those atheists and anti-religionists. I’ve just spent the weekend taxing back and forth between the “bioethicists” and the “value voters.” I’ll take the least thoughtful among the latter over the clique that runs the former.)
I would have the men choose to withdraw on their own, for the good of the Party. Then, they could work as guiding statesmen. Or gadflies if necessary.
Imagine the stand that these honorable men could take as self-sacrificing, as giving up their runs at the Presidency to stand for unity and the core values we hold in common. (Even Guiliani proved he understands what those values are - if he doesn’t understand *why* - on Saturday.)
The limits imposed by campaign finance laws would be lifted the second they withdrew (and that topic alone would provide a few sound bites). They could speak at venues like the TAL banquet for the right and truth, rather than being restrained by their potential partisanship.
I dispute the assertion that speaking as Mrs. Schlaffly did - or to attend on his on dime as so many, including my husband, did (spending money for a hotel room and a full day each way in airports and on airplanes) - is insulting or demeaning. It would have been the ultimate act of resistance toward the would-be “Politboro.”
Flip, even I was interviewed - by a Japanese television reporter - in the lobby outside the auditorium.