Ensuring Romney's Defeat

Vanity | 11-14-11 | Antoninus

[Antoninus]

The time has come for all of those who are serious about 1) defeating Mitt Romney, and 2) defeating Barack Obama to get down to business.

Within the Free Republic echo chamber, we will have a limited impact on this election. However, Jim Robinson has done us the favor of making FR a nearly Romney-Free environment, so we can be fairly well assured that those here now are of like mind in the goal of nominating a legitimate conservative as the GOP standard bearer in 2012.

I am proposing that a few motivated and well-informed activists, using FR as an information nexus, can have a disproportionate impact on the coming primaries. Mitt Romney's record is a target-rich environment but unfortunately, many if not most conservative voters have no idea how bad he is. Since the liberal media certainly won't tell them until Romney is the nominee, and the so-called conservative media have shown themselves to be paid shills for the GOP establishment, the task falls to us. Fortunately, we have the tools at our disposal to do the job.

I propose the following strategy:

Step 1: Spread the word about Liberal Mitt to every conservative we know via social media.
We need to do this to counteract the bombardment of "Romney is the inevitable nominee" stories that are coming. Also, it is important to drive Romney's poll numbers down as low as possible immediately prior to the primaries when voters will begin to become seriously engaged.

To accomplish this, we need to use social media. Sure, you can use email lists to do this, but in my experience, fewer and fewer people pay attention to FWD emails. They are not a terribly effective way of spreading news and information these days. Social media, on the other hand, is much more personal and has the potential to reach millions of people with your message. If you are on Facebook and Twitter, you are already aware of how to do this. But here are some additional tips.

1.) Seek out places where conservatives congregate on Face Book. Here are a few:

• Positively Republican (.5 million followers)
• Freedom Works (1 million+ followers)
• For America (1.5 million followers)
• Rush Limbaugh on Facebook (1 million followers)

There are dozens and dozens of others as well, but this is just a sampling. "Like" these orgs and then immediately begin posting comments stating your disgust with Romney and links to articles and videos which smoke him out as the liberal he is. Again, this is nothing more than getting information out to people who may be bandwagoners and who may be flipped once they learn how bad Romney really is. It's amazing how many eyes you can open just by posting an article on Romney's pro-abortion, anti-2A, pro-illegal, or anti-family stands.

2.) Post articles on your Facebook wall that the your circle of friends can see that discuss certain specific aspects of Romney's record that will make him objectionable to conservatives. Rather than the catch-all "Romney is a RINO" articles, find ones that address specific issues. These aren't hard to find--the Free Republic Romney Truth File is loaded with them. This way, you can post an article per day during the run-up to the primary, culminating with a summary judgment that Romney must not be the Republican nominee.

3.) Post comments that say that you WILL NOT vote for Romney if he is the GOP nominee. This is very important because the Republican establishment is counting on the herd falling into line after they force Romney through the primaries. If many vocal conservatives say they will not vote for Liberal Mitt under any circumstances, the front-running sheeple will start to lose that sense that Romney can actually win. We know that he can't win, but THEY are still operating under the media-led belief that he can. That notion must be exploded.

Step 2: After the first primaries, conservatives must coalesce around one candidate.
I am currently a Santorum supporter. However, if Rick finishes outside the top three any of the first three primaries, I will transfer my support to the most formidable non-Romney Republican. It is important that many people agree to do this and then be VERY vocal about it. The only way Romney can win this is if the conservative vote remains split for too long. If we unite, he can't win. Period.

I don't want to end up with John McCain, part II, running against Obama in 2012. The best way to avoid that is to make sure we knock Romney out early. He's got the money to last a long time in the primaries and drain the other candidates coffers, so it is very important that we demonstrate the futility of his continuing as soon as possible. I have already pledged that I will not vote for Mitt Romney under any circumstances and I mean to keep that pledge. However, I would much rather be working for a conservative Republican candidate in 2012 than plugging a 3rd party.

Let's work now to make sure the media doesn't get to pick the Republican candidate in 2012. Otherwise, we may be looking at a situation where Obama wins with 40% of the vote. That is a nightmare scenario that we can avoid if we do what we have to do to get people informed.

[true believer forever]

Don’t you mean you will be voting for Obama?

Sitting It Out = A Vote for Obama.

Didn’t you learn anything from 2008?

[Sun]

Another suggestion might be to write letters to editors, or call local talk shows, particularly if you live in one of the early-primary states.

Talking points in editor’s letters, and talk shows, should be short, so we should pick out what we feel are the best ones.

We can get the best talking points, right here on FR; in fact, here’s a good source I got from one of our FReepers:

Romney scorecard

http://klsouth.wordpress.com/top-posts-essays/the-romney-rino-scorecard/

[mkjessup]

Pinging the old Duncan Hunter list to see if there’s any interest from you folks in putting this strategy into effect.

I'm in for sure. Add me to your ping list, and thanx!

[roamer_1]

Sitting It Out = A Vote for Obama.

You obviously have a hard time with mathematics.

Didn’t you learn anything from 2008?

Yeah - I found out that most freepers will vote for anything, and call it conservative... McCain is a sworn enemy of conservatism, and HAS been for years.

This election will be no different - No one in the 'top tier' is remotely conservative. If there is a conservative in an alternate party, I will vote for him happily, but I will not give a liberal appeaser my vote simply for the sake of unity behind the big rhinestone "R", so save your breath.

[GulfBreeze]

ping

[RasterMaster]

Remember this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bX2hkmE5zA

Mr. Bain Capitol now claims China is a big threat and “not playing by the rules”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh2jJSsncHQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bX2hkmE5zA

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/11/02/hunter-romney-should-denounce-bain-capitals-chinese-ties/

Just another Jean-Fraud Kerry if you ask me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRT6CnCK348

[Saundra Duffy]

You forgot the part about trashing Romney’s faith. You can get a lot of pointers here on this site.

[campaignPete R-CT]

I would contact the campaign of your choice ... a local office in IA (not Des Moines) and find somebody to do phoning with. A pre-pay cell phone with an Iowa number is necessary. I like the verizon pre-pay at Walmart $2/day plan. what state do ya live in? If you’re call Sioux City, have a Sioux city phone number. They have lists at the satellite offices.

Florida is a TV ad content. Romney has the money advantage to spend the $5 million on the airwaves. In Iowa the local conservative activists are organized and have a huge impact in a 100,000 person event. It takes less than $1 million to compete. Mitts money won’t help him much in IA and SC. He needs to be defeated there.

If Mitt survives as the frontrunner after Florida, I would not count on anybody stopping him. Even Facebook pages.

[Kevmo]

conservatives must coalesce around one candidate.
***Duncan Hunter. Sure, I like this strategy. ;-)

B4DH

[campaignPete R-CT]

#48.
you guys ever run a presidential campaign state effort? Ever been to Iowa caucuses? A few million facebook friends ain’t gonna lead to much cuz the won’t get fanatically active like the ronPaul folks .... and even a few millon Paulinistas barely kept ronPaul above 10%.

FLA Nev and Maine are the last states before the whole thing becomes a big media event.

[Joann37]

I get it; everyone here hates Romney. And yes, your guy (Santorum) would make a great POTUS, but he’s polling at about 3%.

So wouldn’t it make sense for people here to say who they ARE supporting other than Romney?

I adore Duncan Hunter, and wish that he, Jim DeMint, Paul Ryan or someone with those politics were running for POTUS. But they are not. So what’s your Plan B other than eviscerating Romney?

[gidget7]

I and others from MA know very well what is bad about him. We are and will continue to spread the news far and wide!

[campaignPete R-CT]

STEP 1 is to defeat Romney sufficiently to knock him out of the race. This differs from the way Dole was defeated in NH in ‘96. He recovered and went on to be nominated.

STEP 2 only after step 1 is complete, at that point the Republican party folks can get about the business of finding a nominee that is acceptable to the conservative grassroots. Frankly, people who are not involved in the party will have little influence over who that nominee is. My guess is that if Romney is stopped ... Newt will get it. But at least at that point the race for the nomination becomes a free-for-all and a real contest.

My own opinion is that until step 1 is completed, everthing else is bullshit.

And whoever starts to run a close 2nd to Mitt in NH, I will support him. I won’t support anyone running at 12% there. It accomplishes nothing.

[Antoninus]

Mitts money won’t help him much in IA and SC. He needs to be defeated there.

I agree. And I think he will be. My preference is that he be defeated back to the stone age in those states and poll in the single digits.

If Mitt survives as the frontrunner after Florida, I would not count on anybody stopping him. Even Facebook pages.

Do you not understand why I am recommending this? It is simply because activating people on social media is the quickest, cheapest, most effective way of creating a buzz that can really do in a candidate with as many flaws as Romney.

There are three things keeping Romney's campaign afloat right now. 1) Money, 2) Ignorance about his record, 3) The air of inevitability that the media is creating. We can't do anything about #1. We can do a lot about #2 and #3 using social media and that's what I am proposing we do.

That said, I don't discount the other ideas that you have laid out here and would encourage those who are so inclined to go that route to do so by all means.

[dfwgator]

Of course the media has all of their exposes on the LDS waiting for Mitt to be the nominee.

[Antoninus]

Florida is a TV ad content.

Allow me to point out one thing. A typical TV ad in a local market is seen by how many? A hundred thousand at a time? Meanwhile, the FB groups I've posted on this link reach hundreds of thousands of eyes with each post. Plus, social media posts have the advantage of having an actual person behind them, not "paid for by Harold McGuirk for Senate".

I think we make a grave error if we don't take advantage of an opportunity that's been dropped right in our laps.

[rogue yam]

Cain is conservative. So are Bachmann and Santorum. What are you talking about?

[rogue yam]

So what’s your Plan B other than eviscerating Romney?

Cain, Perry, or Gingrich. What's yours?

[campaignPete R-CT]

if any activity is targeted at GOP voters in Florida ... it will be a big help. if you can do that on facebook, excellent! state specific activity is best.

I won’t matter much what the conservatives in Indiana think of Mitt if the contest ends on 3-13.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)_presidential_primaries,_2012#Calendar

[roamer_1]

Cain is conservative. So are Bachmann and Santorum. What are you talking about?

Conservatives have the ability to serve all three factions of Conservatism. None of the above are able to function as CiC- none have military or foreign policy experience... And that's just for starters...

I am not a Military/Foreign Policy type - But I do understand that I shouldn't expect these conservatives to take a back seat... nor should fiscal/libertarians or the Christian Right. And these are perilous times abroad as well as at home - To loft a candidate with no experience in this area is not just poor judgement, it is downright dangerous.