I’m not sure about the “anybody’s better than Obama” part, at least not when you think about what happens BEYOND the next 4 years. Although Islamofascists and Democrats often seem to engage in long-term thinking, for some unfortunate reason I rarely see conservatives doing it.
Hilary Clinton can beat Obama. So what is the argument against letting her switch parties if she wanted to and become our candidate? Destroying our party brand. Putting policies into place that we think will hurt the country. But what if she got up there and said she’s changed her mind on all those liberal policies, except she still kind of likes Hilarycare and wants to keep taxes high on the rich, but she’s become pro-life, pro-gun, is a hawk on Iran, etc.
Would that be enough for you? Would you believe her? Would you trust her? If not, then how can we trust Romney when he has done the exact same thing as described above? Just because he’s had an “R” by his name for longer than her?
If we nominate a candidate who doesn’t stand up for our party’s values, then how much longer can we expect the party to represent our values? Not to mention, what if our candidate enacts these liberal policies, they fail, and the public votes us out and votes in a far-left liberal again in 4 years, maybe even Barack Obama back for a do-over. We cannot afford to elect a candidate who will fail in our name and destroy our brand.
There is a strong argument that it’s better to let Obama keep ruining the country for 4 years if our only other option becomes electing a liberal or squishy “moderate.” We will never fix our country long-term unless we can change the hearts and minds of the voters, or even just strengthen their common sense convictions so that they can’t be swayed away by charlatans like Obama.
If we nominate a conservative who articulates the conservative message very clearly, but the public rejects it and elects Obama again, then something good can happen in the long run. When Obama’s policies fail and the country does not improve, we will be able to come back in 2 years and 4 years and tell them they made a mistake by rejecting conservatism and should give it a real try. On the other hand, if we promote our party as a liberal or moderate option and win election on that basis, we will get liberal government, it will fail, and we will have destroyed our brand name. Even if we wanted to get a conservative elected after that, the voters wouldn’t trust us again.
Voting in someone like Hilary or Romney just because they say they’ve changed some of their views risks destroying the party. It would probably force us to spend a lot of time and effort building up a third party just so we could convince voters that we would stick to conservative principles consistently.
Don't put words in my mouth. I didn't write that. I wrote "any of the above"... and only six were mentioned.
Hilary Clinton can beat Obama
I certainly didn't mention Hillary Clinton. I would put her in the same dangerous league as Obama.
When Obama’s policies fail and the country does not improve, we will be able to come back in 2 years and 4 years and tell them they made a mistake by rejecting conservatism and should give it a real try.
If Obama wins a second term, I fear the Constitution is likely finished and the country cooked. Forget a redo in "2 years and 4 years". There will probably not be a sequel to 2012 if Obama prevails. The forces of American totalitarianism are already on the march and are not slowing down or turning around for such a silly thing (in their eyes) as "the Constitution".
Frankly, we may already be cooked, based on the social and financial policies and results Liberals have successfully implemented (and to be fair, with a lot of "GOP Establishment" support or acquiescence). There may not be another opportunity to right the ship in 2 or 4 years. By then, the hull will be fatally breached, the ship will have heeled over, and we will be headed toward the bottom.
In my opinion, we are facing the same appalling choices and outcomes as did The Weimar Republic in 1933 or the Russian Provisional Government in 1917. The important thing now is to stop what is headed our way, in whatever way it can be stopped - if it is not already too late.
The best chance of stopping such a disaster, of course, is with a strong conservative nominee who defeats Obama. The Senate and Congress must also be put in GOP hands, along with a majority of conservative members who can over ride the Bolshevik minority and do the desperate and painful fixes which must be done.
This is no longer about "party" or "third party" - or even working hard until we can educate enough of the currently somnolent and brain dead public to see the light and eventually come around. That can come later - if there is a "later". It is about the survival of a Constitutional Republic, and that is at dire risk now.
We had better get it right.
Where’s the ‘like’ button? That was excellent. I just got done making the same points to a fence sitter on Facebook.
Well said. Bravo.