The question is whether or not the GOP is willing to accept the facts. We are in quite the pickle without a consensus candidate. None of the others fits the bill. So if Fred is gone and there is a ceiling on the support of each of the others, where will it leave the party?
Maybe one of them eeks out the required delegates, but where will the base be during the run? Only the portion of the base that belongs to whatever faction wins will be sending money and working toward the general. It's quite possible a large majority will sit out the vote, too. Especially since our nominee, whichever left leaning one we pick, will almost certainly run back to the left in the general because all of them have been there in the past, are most comfortable there, and they believe they will need to do that to win.
In a race with leftists, we can't win with one of the left tilting baggage queens we have to choose from. In addition, we have the probability that Ron Paul will run 3rd party. We will no doubt lose many of those from the base who are still inclined to participate to a protest vote. [Sorry, but an angry, betrayed base will do things like that. Remember Ross Perot?]
So, ultimately, the party will be faced with the elephant in The Elephant's living room. The reason Fred was drafted was because, among the remaining field, no one passes as a convincing conservative and the weight of the baggage they all carry puts off large segments of the voting population for each one of them. One even has mental problems no one wants to openly discuss.
So what is the GOP to do? Without Fred or another conservative uniter in the race, we are heading off the cliff no matter whom we choose. The only possible hope may be to pray we can't pick and hope that somewhere, in a smoky back room at the convention, some acceptable solution is found. But if the consensus is that we should pick from among the candidates who ran in the race, it would have to be Fred Thompson or Duncan Hunter.
So, round and round we go...and there we are.
I agree that Fred was picked to fill a void. A void he couldn’t fill. Fred’s a lousy candidate. So it’s back to the actual candidates. I also agree that the base will throw a tantrum and help elect a DEM. But I won’t.
Exactly. Well said.