Posted on 04/10/2012 11:48:25 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
As he approaches the task of uniting the Republican party ahead of his all but official general election campaign, Mitt Romney will benefit from the same reality that's worked to his favor the entire race -- the composition of the Republican field. Specifically, Romney is fortunate that he had to beat out Rick Santorum to claim the nomination rather than Sarah Palin.
When Romney decided to seek the presidency for the second time, his moderate to liberal record in Massachusetts was bound to trigger a challenge from the right and set up a showdown, framed in shorthand, as the establishment of the party versus the conservative base. Had Palin been in the race as the conservative alternative, it would have been very difficult for Romney to attack her given the passionate following she has among many conservatives, because he wouldn't want to risk alienating them. Even if he had ultimately triumphed after a brutal primary fight, a lot of her loyal supporters would have found it difficult to bury the hatchet for the general election.
By contrast, Santorum came into the race with a very small following and was polling in the low single digits early on. Only when a number of other hopefuls fizzled did he emerge as the conservative alternative to Romney. Don't get me wrong, as I wrote earlier, I think Santorum raised his profile over the course of the race and proved to be a tenacious campaigner. But the point is that Santorum's support was as much about him being a vehicle for those who wanted to stop Romney than it was about a groundswell of support for him personally. His defeat is a disappointment to his supporters, no doubt, but less likely to sting as badly for as many people as a Palin defeat would have. Now that the primary is over, it will be a lot easier for Santorum voters to get behind Romney in the general election than it would have been for Palin given her built in fan base.
“Four more years of Obama? That’s what you get even if Mitt Romney is elected president.”
Well, we might just get EIGHT more years. And of course if Mitt gets elected, obviously the only Republicans that can get elected are the liberal ones, so that is who will run after Mitt is out. I’m doubtful that he can win anyway.
Re: “So she had an obligation to run in 2012?”
You’re damn right, she did.
And not “to satisfy” me.
If she was animated by Conservative principles, the idea of NOT running for president would never have entered her mind.
And you care - and she cares - about abuse?
Abuse is personal.
Conservatism is a principle.
If you are man or woman of principle, you don’t care about abuse.
Instead, you improve your political skills every day.
And you draw your energy and your strength from the principles that you passionately believe in.
Bottom line....
Your candidate didn’t care enough about her political principles to even run for the GOP nomination.
Still no arrests and little interest in arson at Sarah Palin’s church, as reopening nears
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/01/sarah-palin-a-1.html
How is that possible? It is a MORTAL SIN on your soul to vote for a pro-abortion candidate.
Lets see, you have on the one hand a candidate who was pro-choice and claims to have had a moral epiphany, and promises he is now pro-life. His sincerity is questionable, but there are also political reasons for him to keep his promises.
OTOH, you have a candidate who voted to allow doctors to kill babies who survive abortion attempts, and has never changed his mind about any of it. He will have no political reasons to change.
One or the other will be president for the next four years. It shouldn't be a tough choice.
Say what you will: I don’t play rigged games, and I don’t believe Gov. Palin does either.
She still gets my vote.
Imagine if the presidential candidate was always a member of his party’s congressional leadership; a parliamentary system is kind of like that. It would be almost impossible for a regional candidate with only a few years’ experience to appear out of nowhere in a national election.
Thatcher rose through the ranks, and necessarily had time to develop both her platform and her public image before she emerged as a national candidate. She was an MP for 15 years before becoming party leader, 20 before becoming Prime Minister.
I’d rather fight, than switch.....
Actually Romney’s rivals were NEWT and Santorum. Palin decided not to run. Maybe she understood that this was Romney’s turn. Nobody knows how well she would have done.
People though Perry would do well, but he didn’t.
“Lets see, you have on the one hand a candidate who was pro-choice and claims to have had a moral epiphany, and promises he is now pro-life. His sincerity is questionable, but there are also political reasons for him to keep his promises.”
~ ~ ~
Hugin,
“Political reasons”
Yes, this is true, the basis for everything he’s ever done. Four times the switch from a pro-abort to being for life depending on the electorate.
Right now his record is that of a pro-abort, he signed
Romneycare.
What about the Mormon cult? Romney has no “grace” to see he needs God’s help.
If Santorum endorses Romney now, he might as well go ahead and start making Viagra commercials. He'll be through in politics. As usual, the RiNOs' best liars and closer con-men are whispering poison in Santorum's ear, counseling him that the policy of wisdom .... is to destroy himself for their added convenience.
Santorum, in reality, needs to hold on to his delegates until the convention and give Newt and Ron Paul a chance to hold off Willard. If there is still another warm body on the ballot on May 29, no way in HELL that that RiNO poltroon is getting Texas's 55 delegates. Put that in the bank, kemos sabe.
Good man. Me, too.
Maybe she understood that the voice on the phone knew what he was talking about, and that his promises would come true if she declared.
If Sarah Palin won the GOP nomination she would get my vote, too.
how does Mr. Obama become our dictator?>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Obama has the support of white America, and he will punish them terribly before he is done.
Huh? Isn’t she known as the “quitter”? Now Santorum is one too.
GO NEWT !
I’m with you.
I didn’t care about Sarah quitting as gov, but the two-year long “tease” threw up all sorts of red flags. I don’t trust her now.
Palin decided not to run. Maybe she understood that this was Romney’s turn
blleeech!
I don’t think it means that at all. It means that she has a lot of things she would rather do than run for any office. She has even insinuated that.
She seems content with doing other things.
“[Palin] had an obligation to run in 2012”
Palin was wise not to run this time around. The media is still too full of vociferous Palin bashers. Their noise would make it impossible for the Republican team to make their case against Obama.
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