“I’ll simply vote third-party like I did in 2008.”
Great, so we have YOU to thank for Obama.
(not that I ever liked McCain, but voting for third party got us Bill Clinton, Dem Congress and Obama — will some people never learn?)
As I said, I am hoping for a strong conservative Republican, who is also able to get the support of independents to beat Obama. Some fuzzy RINO couldn’t beat Obama.
I live in a strongly red state — my vote didn’t matter. But even if it had, I still think it was more important to punish those who nominated McCain than to stop Obama.
Agreed. I still kick myself for thinking Perot could actually win and denying Bush senior my vote.
If McCain had won we wouldn’t be looking at Republicans gaining seats this year. He’d be driving conservatives and Independents even further away from the party the way he did in ‘06 and ‘08. I voted for Palin but don’t fault people who couldn’t vote for McCain at all. Long term we’re better off he lost. If yu want to blame anyone, blame voters who selected McCain and Obama in the primaries.
Far as this ‘12 soeculation goes some people think America will want a colorless candidate. Jump from one extreme to the other. This is the argument the guys at Powerline advance for guys like Mitch Daniels. Some think you need a charismatic candidate to combat a charismatic candidate which leaves only Palin. Then you have the old northeastern club leaning toward Romney. With Perry winning a new front is opening up. He’s establishment but managed to claim somewhat believably to be against the establishment. He has ties to insiders and represents one of the most populous states, but he also has ties with the tea parties. Barnes probably thinks they’ve stumbled on the ideal candidate that isn’t named Jeb Bush.
I have doubts. Just as Jeb’s name bars him from running Perry being from Texas so soon after Bush may not play well. Plus while I supported him over KBH or the Truther that doesn’t mean I buy entirely his conversion. He was smarter about it then Romney, Romney’s 180 to being a conservative was a joke. Perry’s been able to make the transition seem seamless.