Which begs the question: How will Santorum supporters react if he falls back to his historical norms? What will they do if somebody besides Rick wins the nomination?
Will they still vote GOP up and down the ticket?
I'm concerned. It's like when Tebow lost in the playoffs. It's an enormous emotional hit to go from being so high, to landing back on earth.
Maybe, but an added factor is that Romney has been put on the defensive and forced to spend lots of money to defend himself in a state he should have been able to count on winning.
A defeat in Michigan could be a knockout blow for Romney. It was worth the effort by Santorum even if he fails, and if he wins, the scenario of the Republican establishment hunting for a better candidate than Romney becomes more than mere talk.
67 posted on Friday, February 24, 2012 4:36:08 PM by onyx: “Come on, cripplecreek. For the past 53 days I've been busy with our FReepathon thread, but you've been quite divisive in your support for Santorum against all his rivals. If Romney wins MI, it won't be Mariner's fault or the fault of anyone here.”
Onyx and Cripplecreek, I'm getting into this with a lot of hesitation, but I believe something does need to be said.
The short-term goal is to defeat Mitt Romney. The medium-term goal is to defeat President Barack Obama. The long-term goal is to defeat liberalism and send it to the ash heap of history.
Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have those same three goals.
I've seen some pretty serious bitterness on Free Republic against Rick Santorum. I can understand why Santorum supporters — and I count myself in that group — want to respond in kind.
That is not helpful. Newt Gingrich is not the enemy. Unlike some of his supporters, Gingrich is not an enemy of Judeo-Christian culture. If he were, I'd be saying some very different things.
17 posted on Friday, February 24, 2012 3:43:03 PM by Mariner: “Which begs the question: How will Santorum supporters react if he falls back to his historical norms? What will they do if somebody besides Rick wins the nomination? Will they still vote GOP up and down the ticket? I'm concerned.”
I share your concerns, Mariner.
Much depends on the name attached to the question of “if somebody besides Rick wins the nomination.”
I've been trying hard on a number of church-related websites where I am personally known to make a case that a Christian conservative can vote for Newt Gingrich. I am not happy with what I am hearing; too many people who respect me are telling me that I am nuts and no Christian should ever vote for Gingrich. The question of personal morality is, I suspect, part of why polls consistently show that a significant part of Santorum’s support will go to Romney rather than Gingrich if Santorum drops out — such voters need to be educated that Gingrich, not Romney, is a pro-life candidate.
I know some of that talk will go away if Gingrich actually is the nominee. I can make a good historical case that the Reformation would never have succeeded without the help of some grossly immoral civil rulers who supported the followers of Luther and Calvin for their own reasons, and the same could be said of the Counter-Reformation. There's a long history of Christians making common cause with people who share our political agenda even if they don't share our faith. But I'm having considerably more trouble making that case this year than I had four years ago with regard to Sen. McCain in the genera election, even though we actually have some fairly good reason to believe that Newt Gingrich, unlike McCain, has actually repented of his past wickedness.
Antagonizing social conservative voters is not a recipe for Republican victory, and I fear what will happen if something isn't done soon.