Good analysis. Either way, you have to question Sanford’s judgment.
As a group, Republicans are cowards. How hard could it be to stand up and say, “It looks like President Obama’s agenda is to turn America into a European-style socialist welfare state, and if that’s the case then certainly I want him to fail. On the other hand, I will do everything in my power to help President Obama succeed by cutting taxes, reducing the size of government, and restoring America to its traditional roots of freedom, liberty, and personal responsibility.”?
I agree. It’s one step forward and two back. Look at Cantor, he was doing so well and then goes squishy... but all these guys have to stop picking fights with Rush... that helps Obama and hurts us all.
Aye, that's the nub of it. If Repub politicians really did have the convictions they profess, it shouldn't be hard at all. Unfortunately, the available evidence of their actual behavior indicates the contrary.
Further, the inability, or simply refusal of so many Freepers to acknowledge and accept this glaring reality and to so determinedly attempt to kick the can down the road by insisting that "we must stop eating our own", etc., etc., yada, yada, yada means that these flawed prospective candidates will escape the necessary scrutiny early enough to prevent them from becoming the Establishment's anointed "front-runners" in the fatally rigged primary system. This is how we got stuck with McCain, Romney, Huckabee, Guliani et al. as our "favorites".
Rush recognizes that these people need to prove their bona fides now, before it's too late to stop them from co-opting the primaries. Otherwise, if we bury and ignore these peoples' flaws we're going to keep losing no matter how much we've all come together and feel good about ourselves in our misguided efforts at comity and collegiality.