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Ross Douthat: Everything’s Coming Up Romney [Massachusetts Dreamin']
The New York Times ^ | March 8, 2011 | Ross Douthat

Posted on 03/08/2011 12:02:49 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Last August, I wrote the following about Mitt Romney’s odds of winning the Republican nomination:

In a sense, the stronger President Obama looks next year, the better Romney’s chances of being nominated. He needs the prospect of an uphill general-election battle to keep his potential rivals for establishment support safely on the sidelines. And then he needs that same establishment to rally around him once the primary voting starts — not out of love or admiration, but out of fear of the populist alternative.

Six months later, this is almost exactly how things are playing out. In many ways, Romney still looks like an extraordinarily weak frontrunner, if he’s the frontrunner at all — defined by his flip-flops, dogged by the resemblance between his Massachusetts health care bill and Obamacare, and unable to break 20 percent in the polls. But the establishment’s preferred candidates — Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Mitch Daniels, possibly in that order, and then perhaps Haley Barbour as well — are all sitting on the sidelines (another possible establishment pick, Jon Thune, has already taken himself out of the running), and if the economy keeps growing and the president’s approval numbers stay close to 50 percent, they may decide to stay there for the duration. Meanwhile, the strongest populist candidate, Mike Huckabee, might not run either — which could leave a Republican field of Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Newt Gingrich, possibly Jon Huntsman, possibly Sarah Palin (though I’m betting against it), and then some folks like Rick Santorum and John Bolton filling out the debate stage. That’s a very weak field, and a race that Romney, for all his own weaknesses, stands a very good chance of winning....

(Excerpt) Read more at douthat.blogs.nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Issues; Parties; Polls; State and Local
KEYWORDS: 2012; dnclovesmitt; douthat; gaymarriage; huckabee; massachusetts; miltromney; miltthemagicrino; mittthemagicrino; msm4romney; nytimes4romney; nytimes4soros; nytimesagenda; obama; obama4romney; obamacare; obamasoros; palin; rinoromney; romney; romney4dnc; romney4nytimes; romney4obamacare; romneybigdig; romneycare; romneydeathcare; romneydeathpanels; romneyfakebadges; romneyfakepolls; romneyfascism; romneykilledgrandma; romneymarriage; romneypushpolls; romneysoros; romneystatism; rossdouthat; sorosagain
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Most people don't write their dreams down, like Ross does.
1 posted on 03/08/2011 12:02:52 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

0bamaCare = RomneyCare.

0bama says so.

I believe him.

I will not be shackled by Romney any more than I will by 0bama.

I will never vote for Romney under any circumstances. He is more dangerous a Socialist than 0bama, because he pretends to come from our side of the aisle.


2 posted on 03/08/2011 12:07:02 PM PST by Uncle Miltie ("And did you exchange a walk on part in a war, for a lead role in a cage?")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I am NOT voting for Romney. If, in the unlikely event he wins the nomination I am still NOT voting for him.


3 posted on 03/08/2011 12:08:40 PM PST by MeganC (Soli Deo Gloria)
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To: Mears

bfl


4 posted on 03/08/2011 12:11:10 PM PST by Mears
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The NY Times will push for Romney to win the primary, and then will turn on him for the general.

If you want to know who they truly fear, look at who they are savaging now.

5 posted on 03/08/2011 12:11:25 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: MeganC

To stay home and give obama a second term is inexcusable.


6 posted on 03/08/2011 12:11:43 PM PST by GlockThe Vote (Who needs Al Queda to worry about when we have Obama?)
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To: Uncle Miltie
Most likely, Obama's campaign organizers told him that Romney is his most dangerous opponent, and that he should try and neutralize him somehow.

Which tells us two things; A) Obama's campaign organizer is an idiot, and B) They may not be watching Palin, Bachmann, or any of the other true conservatives very closely. Which may work towards our advantage.

7 posted on 03/08/2011 12:13:30 PM PST by Celtic Cross (Some minds are like cement; thoroughly mixed up and permanently set...)
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To: GlockThe Vote

Voting for Romney in the primary *IS* giving Obama a second term.

And if RomneyCare Mitt wins the general election, what’s the difference?


8 posted on 03/08/2011 12:13:36 PM PST by MeganC (Soli Deo Gloria)
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To: MeganC
Romney is certainly a RINO, but is he a blatant, raging, unabashed, America-hating, ideological socialist?

I doubt it. Obama is certainly worse.

9 posted on 03/08/2011 12:19:43 PM PST by Celtic Cross (Some minds are like cement; thoroughly mixed up and permanently set...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Romney is the 2012 McCain ver 2.0


10 posted on 03/08/2011 12:26:33 PM PST by AU72
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To: MeganC
The major difference: A RINO can possibly nominate a good SCOTUS justice. Obama cannot.

Scalia is old. Kennedy and Thomas aren't spring chickens either. The thought of Hussein selecting their replacement is nauseating.

11 posted on 03/08/2011 12:27:22 PM PST by Dagnabitt ("Obama" - Swahili for "Fail")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Are we going to let the powers that be choose for us like they have been?


12 posted on 03/08/2011 12:32:07 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Just say "no" to Mittney.
13 posted on 03/08/2011 12:32:15 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum ("If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." -- Barry Soetoro, June 11, 2008)
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To: MeganC

I’m not a romney fan, but to compare him to Obama is ridiculous.


14 posted on 03/08/2011 12:43:19 PM PST by GlockThe Vote (Who needs Al Queda to worry about when we have Obama?)
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To: Dagnabitt; Celtic Cross

I’m not going to hold my nose and vote for Obama-lite.

If the GOP won’t put up a conservative then they have no right to my vote.

And RomneyCare, Big-Dig Mitt is not a conservative.


15 posted on 03/08/2011 12:44:54 PM PST by MeganC (Soli Deo Gloria)
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To: GlockThe Vote

“I’m not a romney fan, but to compare him to Obama is ridiculous.”

John McCain liked Obama.

John McCain likes Romney.

Ridiculous?


16 posted on 03/08/2011 12:50:11 PM PST by MeganC (Soli Deo Gloria)
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To: Dagnabitt

Exactly - I am not Mitt Fan at all, but if he wins the primary - anyone on this site staying home is as bad as the worst communist marxist voting for obama. I will not vote for him in the primary, but if he wins, i will try to help him win the general.

There is way too much at stake to allow a 2nd obama term.


17 posted on 03/08/2011 12:55:14 PM PST by GlockThe Vote (Who needs Al Queda to worry about when we have Obama?)
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To: MeganC

Yes - Kagan - Sotomayor - Holdren, Sunstein, etc.


18 posted on 03/08/2011 12:57:01 PM PST by GlockThe Vote (Who needs Al Queda to worry about when we have Obama?)
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To: GlockThe Vote

Wrong. If Romney is the candidate, NO ONE WILL VOTE FOR HIM.

We will work against him. Got that? You betcha.


19 posted on 03/08/2011 1:08:02 PM PST by Diogenesis (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I think the article is way off when it suggests everything’s going according to plan for Romney. If anything, the discontent about Romneycare has made it even less likely Romney will get the nomination. I don’t know who will win, but I don’t think it will end up being Romney.


20 posted on 03/08/2011 1:09:04 PM PST by DeskCaptain
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