Posted on 01/14/2012 10:40:41 AM PST by Rational Thought
After a two day meeting at a ranch outside of Houston a group of 150 Christian leaders, business leaders and conservative activists have coalesced behind Rick Santorum.
Friday night surrogates from every GOP campaign (except that of Jon Huntsman) attended the meeting and made the case for their candidate. Saturday leaders took part in a "passionate time" of discussions about what they're looking for in a conservative leader. After three rounds of balloting Santorum emerged as the candidate leaders feel they can support.
(snip)
So what does this mean? Expect conservative groups to start individually motivating their constituents to work for Santorum. Also look for more money and resources to start pouring into Santorum's campaign.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.cbn.com ...
Whoever it was that 1st came up with the “stupid party” nickname for Republicans was right on target. GOP elephant is an endangered species.
Santorum doesn’t have a prayer (pun intended) of beating Romney for the nomination, much less Obama in the general election.
I guess “thou shalt not commit Adultry” trumped everything.
Newt is on the outside looking in at a true conservative
“Santorum won’t make it. Gingrich could.”
Agreed. Santorum will not play well in the South. There is a real cultural disconnect there, which Gingrich could bridge. I think they have a mutual assistance pact though when one or the other leaves.
Stupid party is correct. More importantly, we have really, really dumb coalitions. The Establishment has well-funded, politically savvy coalitions who know how to get things done.
Ever see the Establishment get nitpicky about their candidate? They are content to get 80-90% of what they want. That’s why they always win, and always get their nominee. Do you see them endorsing Huntsman over Romney?
Newt Gingrich gives them 90%+ of what they want, and has a chance to beat Romney. Rick Santorum can not. Neither could Huckabee have won, while Thompson could have beaten Rudy McRomney. That didn’t stop them last time around, either, from considering Thompson not good enough.
Let’s be honest about this whole thing. There are three major reasons Thompson and Gingrich didn’t get their support in the way Huckabee and Santorum did:
1.) They are divorced.
2.) Thompson and Gingrich don’t believe in handing out largesse (”Compassionate Conservatism”) they way big government Conservatives like Huckabee and Santorum do. These religious organizations/leaders are very Conservative socially; but make no mistake about it, they want the government in the business of redistribution, just not anything like the Democrats.
3.) Iowa. Religious leaders get to be king-makers in Iowa, and propel one-percent candidates to a strong finish there. It would be very hard for the leaders to give-up this power.
What a waste. The only one that can stop Romney is Newt. Like him or not, at least he has charisma and didn’t lose an election to the voters that know him best by 18 points last time around.
Santorum doesn’t have even the slightest chance to win the nomination. Rick is a good man, but possesses little charisma, no spark or excitement and the only reason people are turning to him is out of desperation. He tied for a win in Iowa only because he was the only non-Romney that didn’t get a lot of bad press - and that was entirely because no one had paid attention to him for months on end because he is so bland and boring.
Well in my part of the south (GA) it’s just the opposite. Folks around here know Gingrich all too well, and I know no one who will vote for him. On the other hand, they trust Santorum much more.
He may not be the best fiscal conservative around, but Gingrich is neither a fiscal nor social conservative.
I don't know about trusting Santorum, but you're sure right about newt. I just got back from a Jack Kingston (R, GA 1st cong. dist.) rally in Bloomingdale, and 2 prez candidates had representatives there - newt and Ron Paul.
Dr. Paul had 2 reps and his table had a steady stream of visitors. Newt's table had 1 rep who was pretty much ignored by all, except for a couple of local political candidates that briefly visited.
When speaking of charisma, I believe it's already been established that is not a requirement for victory in a Presidential election. Look no further back than “W”, the most uncharismatic, “bland and boring” candidate I can ever remember.
Santorum is very smart, an excellent debater and can articulate the Conservative ideology. While this endorsement is great news for his campaign and could end up paying big dividends in South Carolina, much of his candidacy depends on how he grows as a candidate. We've seen successful candidates come out of nowhere before.
Bottom line, I disagree with you. He does indeed have a shot and would be a candidate I would be happy to support.
The truly disturbing part of the article was when it mentioned that Mitt Romney has a lot of supporters in their group. The pure “family man” trumps all, I guess.....
I suppose divorced candidates simply need not apply.
Folks who are old enough should remember how hard Reagan had to work for three election cycles to get the Pat Robertsons and such on board who would eventually love him. Ronnie was divorced (not of his making), and got Nancy pregnant out-of-wedlock. They didn’t want to touch him for a decade.
At some point, you have to start learning the difference between having standards and being ridiculous. As the dissenting leaders in Iowa and at the meeting said: when being involved in a political process, you have to have both standards and realism.
I guess they’’ll never learn the Huckabee/Gramm/Robertston/Santorum lesson.
We’ll see. Frankly I think we are having a scripted simulation of a primary. They are going to cram Romney down as the nominee.
Yes, he did lose an election to the voters that know him best by 18 points last time around. Gingrich came in 4th place in Iowa and 5th place in N.H. after being touted the "front runner" for months. You can whine all you want that Santorum is "unelectable" but Santorum's the only one to be competitive with Romney in the primaries. Gingrich hasn't won a single county yet.
So Santorum is a “true conservative” eh?
Who voted to increase taxes by $2.3 billion to pay for an Amtrak trust fund? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted against repealing the Clinton 4.3 cent gas tax increase? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted to strike marriage penalty tax relief and instead provide fines on tobacco companies? Big Gov’t Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted to allow gas tax revenues to be used to subsidize Amtrak? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted twice for internet taxes? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted twice for internet taxes? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted against a flat tax? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted against hiring additional 1,000 border partrol agents, paid 4 by reductions in state grants? Big Gov’t Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted to give welfare benefits to naturalized citizens without regard to to the earnings of their sponsors?
Who voted to allow illegal immigrants to receive earned income credit before becoming citizens? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted against increasing the number of immigration investigators? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted to mandate discounted broadcast times for politicians? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted to impose a Federal mandate on states to force them to allow convicted felons to vote? Big Gov’t Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted for Federal funding for anti-gun education programs in schools? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted twice to make it illegal to sell a gun without a secure storage or safety device? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted against creating independent Board of Governors to investigate IRS abuses? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted to require a union representative on an IRS oversight board? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted for minimum wage increases SIX TIMES? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted for Sonia Sotomayor, Circuit Judge? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted to give $25 million in foreign aid to North Korea? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted to require that Federal bureaucrats get the same percentage in payraises as uniformed military? Big Gov’t Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted against increasing defense spending offset by equivalent cuts in non-defense spending? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted to allow the sale of supercomputers to China? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who voted for the START II Treaty? Big Government Conservative Rick Santorum.
Who’s the true conservative again? Reagan’s economics wizard Art Laffer and Reagan’s top national security advisor Bud McFarlane both say it’s Newt Gingrich.
No offense, but their cred has yours beat by a country mile.
Get serious. Santorum didn’t have million of dollars in attack ads saturating the airwaves against him like Newt did.
But still Santorum’s numbers are on the slide in all four of the latest South Carolina polls (Insider Advantage, Rasmussen, PPP and ARG).
So it took millions of bucks worth of ads to take down Newt’s numbers, but Santorum’s numbers are in free fall simply because he’s a one-trick pony, and an uninspiring one at that.
That was exactly the way that the anti-God left thinks of people of faith. The left are a scatter brained lot.
Do you have the evidence that it was the Christians fighting Reagan, instead of the anti-social conservatives?
This gave SAntorum more air time on the Sunday shows today!
Rick, Rick and Newt are the only conservatives in the race (Santorum being the most conservative), and Rick Santorum brought out a good point on one of the Sunday shows, that he was ahead of both Newt and Rick Perry in the first two primary races.
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