Posted on 10/20/2011 11:40:57 AM PDT by broken_arrow1
The GOP could face a revolt from within its tea party grassroots base if it nominates an establishment candidate without true conservative, anti-big government values, one of America’s leading conservative pundits tells Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.
Specifically, columnist and former Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan told Newsmax that the nomination of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the architect of a state insurance plan that many say inspired Obamacare, could prompt the tea party movement to form a third party.
“It’s a real possibility because the tea party folks and the Republican conservatives and social conservatives and others are very apprehensive of Mitt Romney and they don’t feel he is really one of us,” Buchanan told Newsmax.
“They’ve got reason for that feeling and that sentiment but if they do that, if, for example … they persuaded Ron Paul to run on a third party ticket, Barack Obama would be easily re-elected,” he added.
Buchanan would certainly know. A former aide to President Ronald Reagan, he was one of the first conservative commentators to hold a prominent job as a TV commentator and syndicated columnist in the mainstream media.
From 1966 through 1974, Buchanan was an assistant to Richard Nixon, and from 1985 to 1987, White House Director of Communications for Reagan.
Buchanan ran twice for the Republican nomination for president and then in 2000 ran for the White House on the Reform Party ticket. He said he can see a third party candidate emerging in 2012 if Mitt Romney gets the GOP nod.
Of the current Republican candidates he said, “Certainly Michele Bachmann is one of us. I think Rick Perry is. I think Herman Cain is. If you are talking about a more traditional conservative certainly I would put Santorum in there.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
I rarely agree with Pat anymore but he’s right on this one.
Conservatives are tired of the GOP exploiting us for cash and votes and then flipping us the bird when it comes time to implement policy.
I’ll go fishing before I vote for Mitt the RINO
What have we got to lose. Sounds like Rebellion is Brewing. :)
You've been here almost eleven years, and you think FR is a "blog"?
As to the other part of your post, looks like Jim has already given you your answer.
I feel your pain, and I can’t blame you for sitting it out if Romney is the nominee. And I certainly hope he is not the nominee. But one hopes that civil debate about the merits and demerits of getting a President Romney would be permitted on a website dedicated to freedom.
(I am not a Mormon. I have no axe to grind from that direction.)
I looked at the video. Mitt is acting very Massachusetts in that video. He is taking the safe Massachusetts position, hardly anything bold.
Mitt is also a consummate flip flopper, we all know that. He is a political weather vane. But if the weather is blowing conservative, is being a political weather vane the worst attribute in the world to have? Or is it worse yet to have a moral compass that’s stuck, come hell or high water, on screaming liberal?
It’s a very special blog, run democratically within certain guidelines, but yes it’s a blog. A blog is a weblog, a log on the web. Stuff that goes on FR, unless zotted away, stays (that’s the meaning of a log), and Google easily ferrets out FR debate from a decade ago.
Who said I was going to sit out?
If I’m going to die, I’ll die fighting, thank you. Not crawling on my belly like a surrender monkey.
I fight leftist Democrats every day of the week and I’ll fight leftist Republicans just as hard.
A POX ON THE PARTY THAT CAN NOMINATE A KNOWN LEFTIST LIAR!!
GO TEA PARTY!!
[Sorry but it would better if the gop would lose if Romney was the candidate because it would teach the gop to not run liberal fools like Romney for president and put a real conservative instead! ]
I actually agree, they’ve rammed a series of old farts and compassionate conservatives down our throats since Reagan and now we are bankrupt and on the edge of the abyss. Romney is just a slower death.
Palin allowed she still had "hope" that the GOP would stand strong. Then Hannity asked her directly if she herself would consider a run as a third party candidate if she didn't like the GOP candidates.
"I don't foresee that right now."
That's "right now." . . .
Not saying I would support it but I could see
Romney / L Graham (Republican)
Obama / Biden or Clinton (Democrat)
Cain or Trump / Rubio
in that race I bet the 3rd party could win. I would even bet Obama / Biden would come in 3rd
You believe the wisest approach would be to push a Tea Party ticket if Romney gets the GOP nod?
That would be interesting. I wonder who the candidates would be for that ticket.
Would you want to personally run for president against Mitt and Barack, if leading lights like Palin and Cain sit back and say nothing doing?
I see you’ve fallen for the socialist/RINO propaganda on Buchanan.
Right. Get real.
At the tail end of the 2008 primaries, I had only RINOs left to vote for. Why? Because lots more people voted in the primaries for those RINOs than voted for conservatives.
Likewise, if Romney is the nominee it will be because a whole lot of registered Republicans voted for him.
So going on and on and on about how mad we'll all be if "the elites force Romney on us" is not very productive.
Talking to your moderate and undecided Republican friends about why Romney would make a dismal President is a far better strategy.
I apologize if I don’t grok the exact meaning of the irony.
But what would your campaigning look like if Mitt gets the nod? You won’t advocate Mitt, you won’t advocate Barack, so who is there to advocate?
There’s always been a clear distinction between blogs and forums. The former is mostly a monologue, and the latter is highly interactive. And most FReepers don’t take too kindly to this joint being referred to as the former. You’ve never noticed that? In eleven years?
The TEA party candidate whomever she may be. And, NO, it will not be me.
I'm not so certain about that. To be sure, many conservatives (including many FRiends here) would sit out the election if Romney is the Republican nominee, but many independents who will not vote for Perry (or Bachmann or Palin) would vote for Romney over Obama. It is an unpleasant fact that independents are the key to the election, as always. Wishing it were otherwise is fruitless. We have to find the most conservative candidate who is electable, and that means the most conservative candidate who can pull the most independents away from Obama. Right now, I don't know who, among the announced candidates, that person is.
The nomination situation is poisoned by open primaries. How badly poisoned, I don’t know. But if it becomes a notable conservative meme that voting for Romney won’t be entertained, then that has just sent a big loud signal to the primary poisoners: PUT ROMNEY ON THE TICKET! While if the conservative meme would be to put a vise on one’s nose and vote Romney, barfing all the way... that’s still bad news for Obama, and poisoning the ticket with Romney would be less likely to happen.
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