Posted on 10/13/2011 7:35:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
In 1972, Brazilian biologist Francisco Varela introduced the concept of “autopoiesis,” which explains the process by which cells regenerate and replace themselves. According to the theory, human cells die and are replaced; so every ten years or so, you are literally an entirely different person than you were before. So if you called your car-insurance company to tell them the speeding ticket you got in 1998 wasn’t you, you’d actually be right.
Seeing as how I’m reaching the end of my 30s, I figure I’m due a new body. I hope model 4.0 will be taller and skinnier; if it’s 4G capable, that would be awesome, too. Yet there’s one thing I find problematic about my impending new self: It will be supporting Mitt Romney for president.
This galls Current Me. My dissatisfaction with Romney mirrors that of many conservatives who recognize his long history as a political chameleon. As a kid, I remember the cartoon He-Man confusing me; He-Man and his alter-ego, Prince Adam, looked exactly alike, just wearing different clothes. And yet none of the citizens of Eternia figured it out. Apparently, Mitt Romney thinks in order to disassociate himself from his past political life, he just has to wear a different suit and say the word “Reagan” enough.
But we’ve figured it out. The list is well traveled: This Mitt is the same one who supported TARP; the same one who instituted an Obama-style individual mandate requiring Massachusetts residents to purchase health care; who supported “cap and trade,” assault-weapons bans, and Roe v. Wade.
His puerile attacks on Rick Perry for asserting that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” were as confusing as Perry’s awkward attempts to explain his position. Romney slammed Perry for allowing the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition, despite Latinos’ making up 38 percent of Texas’s population — yet all of Romney’s erstwhile liberal positions clearly represented naked political opportunism of an equal order.
Yet Romney is almost a lead-pipe lock to be the GOP presidential nominee in 2012. His titanium chin has plowed its way through the Republican presidential field, making otherwise good candidates occasionally seem amateurish.
And while many of Romney’s positions have “evolved” based on the office for which he is running, many of them have stayed strong throughout. In their 2007 endorsement of Romney, the National Review editors pointed out that in 1994, when he tried to unseat Ted Kennedy, “he ran against higher taxes and government-run health care, and for school choice, a balanced budget amendment, welfare reform, and ‘tougher measures to stop illegal immigration.’”
Romney’s campaigning skills have improved markedly from his first presidential run in 2008; he is currently the only candidate plausible enough to share the stage with Barack Obama in 2012. Not only are his currently held convictions right; if he were actually to make it through the primary, his past liberal positions could make him more appealing to out-of-work Democrats who are looking for a safe home.
And while Romney may not be the ideal candidate, he may just be ideal enough to win. As the old saying goes, when being chased by a bear, you don’t have to necessarily be fast — you just have to be faster than one other guy. The good news for Romney is that he’d be running against an incumbent whose approval rating is slightly lower than that of paper cuts. And this bear economy may just devour Obama as Romney jogs across the finish line.
In 2011, Republicans are sitting at the end of the bar, and it’s 2 a.m. Ryan and Christie have already gone home, and the GOP is looking for someone to keep it company. As Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You” plays, Mitt winks at them from the other end of the bar. Right now, he’s the best the GOP has; how the night turns out is yet to be seen.
In 2012, I will be writing breathlessly about how America will be engulfed in flames should Mitt Romney not be elected president. I will write endlessly about his infallibility and his impeccable conservative credentials. But thanks to science, I can be forgiven. It won’t be me.
— Christian Schneider is a senior fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute.
Nice try NR, I didn’t cancel my subscription for nothing. I will not vote for Romney no matter what. If Obama wins a second term I’ll count on a Republican congress and self implosion to stop him. I’ll go with Cain.
fumr
I AGREE!
git ‘er done!
If Mitt Romney gets picked by the lunatic fringe of the Republican party , I will be an Independent as soon as I can get to the local Voting office to change my designation.
“I will NOT vote for him.”
I concurr. I will not vote for him, even in a general election against Obama. In my opinion it would, in the long term, do less harm to allow Obama to stay in office for four more years than to have a psuedo-Republican POTUS destroy conservatism. Pragmatism has its time and place, but sticking to principle does as well. For me, sticking to principle is, in this situation, more important than pragmatism. I don’t see Romney as a “lesser of two evils.”
If Romney gets the nomination, I will either vote third party (if some conservative runs) or leave that part of the ballot blank. I most certainly won’t vote for Obama, but I won’t vote for Romney either. I will focus on getting more conservative members elected to the House and Senate.
GOP “settled for” Rinos and the base voted against the “liberal” thus we keep getting RINOs. When do we take a stand? A liberal Republican in the whitehouse got us TARP, Campaign Finanace Reform, etc., etc. etc.
Now comes a man made global warming believing, abortion supporting, government run heatlth care advocate and I am supposted to “Settle” for that and call it a choice. A wolf in sheeps clothing can be do just as much if not more harm.
We don’t need to just take our foot off the gas, we need to hit the brakes.
Ugh. Your references to “deep doo doo”, “soggy toilet paper”, and “smelling the end of our country” were . . . hilarious!
We won’t, but “the GOP” elite and talking head pundits will at least make a desparate effort to vault him to the nomination. They don’t have “settle” for him because he is and always has been their chosen one. Look for them to quietly make it known that they just won’t fund or support Cain, only mitt the twit with the executive hair.
The GOP establishment should enjoy learning to listen to the Rolling Stones “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”.
If Romney win , then Obama win. Simple as that. I want the demorats to have all the credit for driving us off the cliff.
I’m never voting for a RINO again. Ever. I’ll join all the conservatives as we put our hands in our pockets and just turn our backs. F’em all and especially the EAST COAST RINO EXPRESS. I just loved the stacked east coast audience that all decided that Romney was THE ONE when Megyn Kelly did her debate review. What a joke.
Got news for the northeast RINOcrats. We don’t give a damn what you feel. If we want our states to resemble New York, New Jersey, Taxachusettes or Detroit we’ll elect a RINO. We don’t because we love freedom and NOT the government nipple.
The tolerance level of Republican “conservatives” for the putrid smell of rotting elephant is amazingly high.
I hope all of you who choose to stay home or write in a candidate if Mitt is the (unfortunate) candidate enjoy ushering in the hell that shall inherit the country if Zero is re-elected.
Not that I desire Mitt one whit, but I ABSOLUTELY ABHOR the thought of another four years with the current usurper.
Not sure why anyone would chance having Zero for another four years...
Do you DESIRE four more years of Zero, people? Think that will galvanize enough people to do what is necessary in ‘16? Maybe THAT’S the plan?
Romney is not wanted.
We’re in deep doo doo and Romney is like soggy toilet paper; no good for anything
That’s for damned sure.
Romney is bad, bad news. I wonder what his “Health care” advisors that consulted 0bama’s “Health care” advisors are up to these days.
I am assuming you prefer Zero then?
Absolutely “no one” I talk to wants the RINO Romney for anything.
This. It amazes me. I live and work in an area with a large Mormon population and I don’t hear anyone talk about Romney, either good or bad. I never see a Romney sticker. All Romney has done since 2006 is run for President. He rarely takes a public stand on anything, unlike other potential or announced candidates, and he talks in circles.
The entire primary race, especially the debates, resembles an American Idol competition. Romney is smooth and polished and it’s obvious he has cemented himself with the GOP establishment. Romney is the obvious selection of the MSM and the DNC establishment. If the conservative primary vote remains fractured it is hard to see how Romney does not walk away with the early primaries and become the inevitable candidate. He has campaigned in the early states for 6 years and his ground game has been impeccable.
Romney is not a conservative and we are about to get screwed again.
Sorry, that was, assuming Mitt is the nomination...
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