Replies

Point made, Jim, loud and clear.

As long as we have a viable conservative candidate left in the race — which now means Gingrich — we're on the same page. We may also be on the same page later, but in any case, it's your page and your rules.

I'm not a defeatist, especially when we haven't yet been defeated! God tells me that the gates of hell will not prevail against the cross of Christ. Guys, gates aren't offensive weapons; it's Satan, not us, who is supposed to be on the defensive. We're supposed to be on the attack.

Let's get back to work.

To CharlesWayneCT, Xzins, publius321, and Engraved-on-His-hands — let's try to work as hard as we can to make sure we have a Republican nominee who we can support in the general election. You may want to take a look at my argument at these two links making an evangelical Christian case for voting for Newt Gingrich and why Romney is biblically disqualified under Romans 13, since he is not upholding justice and the only terror he inspires in evildoers is that he might have more flip-flops:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2870368/posts?page=1196#1196
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2870368/posts?page=1204#1204

If Romney wins the Republican primary, I'll figure out what to do then. For now, I'm saying lets cross that bridge when we come to it, and do everything we can to prevent that day from happening.

And by the way, I have zero problem with having Jim Robinson say what he's saying loud and clear. Experience in church politics teaches me that many of the pastors of powerful and prominent conservative churches who are willing to walk out of a denomination don't walk out until a group of more radical conservatives not only take a public stand but actually act on their claimed convictions. The Presbyterian Church in America would not have been formed without a small group of rather radical small-church pastors taking a stand at virtually the same time that a meeting of “big steeple” conservatives decided to give up the fight — and then called to apologize and say, “We were wrong” when they learned of the actions of their more militant brothers. Similar things can be said about the split in the Christian Reformed Church, and the successful takeovers of the Southern Baptist Convention and Missouri Synod Lutherans by conservatives.

I think that's Jim Robinson's role today — saying things that will cause other people to quietly clap on the sidelines, knowing they may have to follow later.

No matter what happens in the next few months, Free Republic's stand makes very clear to the Republican Party's leadership that despite what happened with Dole in 1996 and McCain in 2008, they can't take conservatives for granted.

The good thing here is that unlike what I'm used to seeing in church politics where conservatives tend to be in small churches, Jim Robinson and Free Republic are **NOT** little dogs. This site is a big dog, and it's got a very big bite.

Those in Republican leadership who doubt the power of Free Republic need to spend some time remembering Dan Rather and also reviewing the role of Perot, Buchanan and Nader. Third parties don't win in American politics, but they do punish political parties when they lose their roots. One thing we can give Obama credit for doing is campaigning and governing as a consistent leftist — and Republicans ought to be looking to Obama’s example to see what happens when sound a consistent note with their trumpet.

The best way to keep a Free Republic/Tea Party rejection of Romney from throwing the 2012 election to Barack Obama is to reject Romney now. Let's get back to trying to make that happen.