Posted on 12/19/2007 2:43:48 AM PST by Reagan Man
The Republican Party primary has so far been an exercise in none of the above. In their turns John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney seemed to be or seemed about to be frontrunners — only to fall back as the party's likely voters got a sharper look at each of them. Even my old boss Newt Gingrich, without even announcing, had a handsome surge from 4-5 percent to 18-20 percent in February — before falling back to single digits.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
It is a Democratic bloodbath as well. Ironically all these states that moved up their primary to the early stages are gonna be disappointed when the real effort will be put in the later states in this primary.
Oh please the pubs are getting along a whole lot better than the uprisings the anointed good leader is getting. The next leader of the free world needs be tested to find if they have the character of their claims. Some of the GOP candidates can’t even remember what they did or said yesterday.
There's really too much at stake to lose this election, it would cause damage that would have serious negative consequences. But on the other hand, the end result of such a long-term realignment -- being played out to its fullest -- might just give each faction of the GOP exactly what it wants...after about 20 years of incremental changes and numerous and untold expansions of the nanny-state through our legislative bodies.
A good ol fashion brawl might be just what we need! Clean out the RINOs and spineless ones.
I fear our intra-party fury will destroy all leaders and send us off to a brokered convention — and from thence probably to defeat. If the Democrats have their candidate by February and we are campaigning harshly until August — we would surely start in a deep hole.I disagree that a brokered convention is a sure loser for the general election. It just might make us look like the more thoughtful party. The big question is how united we can become after the convention. If we're still fighting amongst ourselves after we choose a candidate, then Clinton will be president. Again.
That’s a Lott of cleaning. And the cheerleader quit yesterday to start the RINO purge.
Hey let’s all go back to a small tent and get rid of everybody that doesn’t agree 100% with ME, ME and ME. You know, it works every time it’s tried and if we just purge all those devils we’ll have fewer things to fight over which means fewer votes and of course the world will see how right we are and we’ll win, win, win. Uh huh, pass the Kool Aid.
Rep have 3 contenders relatively close in the numbers, likewise the Dems. Dem front runner and #2 seem to be tearing each other apart. Latest is a "love child" announcement about #3 contender Edwards. Are the Rep slinging mud at each other? Not that I can see relative to the libs.
Explain your "GOP bloodbath" claim, please, because I can't see it.
Not sure, true, but in recent history, a highly divisive primary DOES weaken the eventual nominee. Ford ‘76, Goldwater ‘64, fracture too slow to heal....
What united the GOP was Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Sure, elect Hillary and we will be united once again but at what cost?
You’ve got a point. I guess it is worth worrying about. I’m hoping that long before the convention enough conservatives (social, economic and security, all) come to realize that FT is the logical choice that the convention won’t be brokered. Fred is not only the most logical choice for conservatives in this election (I know, I know, DH is better, blah, blah, blah [ain’t gonna happen!]), but is capable of uniting this party and ending all the bickering.
NO ONE HAS VOTED YET!
Can’t we all just get behind Bob Dole instead? Worked in 1996. “People seemed to be content, $50 paid the rent, freaks were in a circus tent, those were the days.”
"Over the last year or two, one couldn't have lunch at the Capital Grille (a preferred dining spot for big-time D.C. Republican politicians and journalists) or other similar locations without hearing the constant complaint that the Bush White House was arrogant and wouldn't listen to their friends about Iraq and about domestic matters"
I'm sure those conversations were THE lunchtime topic of merit in all of the elite power centers including Washington DC of course. I'm not sure if the complaint is that Bush won't listen (he won't) or that the minions in those elite power centers don't wield their usual power in such matters.
I think this process is doing exactly what it should do - Vett the candidates to the electorate. Blankley's biggest complaint of all is that Huckabee's claims and statements on a great many issues are being tested and and have been found wanting. So, I guess in Blankley's preferred would we would just hold hands and get behind Huckabee and let the "professional" journalists script the examination of Huckabee to their more experienced liking. Got it.
I think the real complaint here is that these oh so professional journalists don't like losing control of being the ones to define the candidates to the electorate. The new media is whithering their power away and they don't like it one bit.
Good point. Uniting just for the sake of uniting is no solution. But surely you’re not suggesting that Fred Thompson is Bob Dole.
Oh, come on: you’re not blaming Ford in ‘76 on a divisive primary? There was was a divisive primary because Ford was the most hated man in the world.
He pardoned Nixon, that’s why, but if Reagan had gotten the GOP nomination instead, there would have been no Jimmy Carter.
1996 - yes, we united behind Bob Dole, who even picked Jack Kemp as VP for unity’s sake, but then we made the mistake the Democrat Party is about to by nominating somebody with sky-high negatives -”unelectability”.
And hers are 10+ higher than his ever were.
There are still 2 weeks left in Iowa and I haven't seen a real poll come out of Iowa in a week. I haven't seen a poll since the last debate. I figure one will be coming shortly which will have Fred moving up and perhaps McCain too. It took less than 2 weeks for Huckabee to catch fire so I figure Fred has a pretty good plan.
Look at Rudy, who is dropping fast when he once seemed inevitable. I saw a poll that had the Breck Girl up in Iowa amongst Dems when he was once a distant 3rd.
Fred has it right when he says people are to willing to call the game in the fourth quarter.
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