Posted on 02/06/2008 3:11:00 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Despite what the pundits, talking heads, and self-annoited experts say about the Republican race, it is more muddled and more up in the air than at any time since Iowa.
Why?
Because 60 percent of the Republican Party is against John McCain.
And the more a dour Tim Russert or an arrogant Chris Mathews says that, “the Republican race is, for all intents and purposes, over,” or this one, “it is very hard to see how John McCain can be stopped,” the more agitated conservatives get.
That translates to “we lefty pundits who dominate the TV airwaves want McCain so we will just proclaim him the inevitable nominee.”
But conservative GOP voters are rebelling against McCain; yes, he gets moderate Republicans and independents who come into the GOP primaries. But the base — conservatives — are voting against McCain.
So I ask you this question: How can the Republican Party, with a huge base of conservatives, nominate a candidate who hates them and who they despise?
This is the crux of the dilemma that is ripping the GOP apart now. Ann Coulter’s "Hannity & Colmes" diatribe was more than amusing. It raised this question: Who do conservatives hate more, John McCain or Hillary Clinton?
The question, more than any answer, is instructive: The fact that we are even talking about this shows how divided we Republicans are and how unaccepting of John McCain we will be.
We feel like he is being jammed down our throat by the left, and by the same inside-the-beltway GOP establishment that has been, frankly, wrong on just about everything from amnesty to Dubai Ports World.
The two candidates opposing McCain are both having difficulty cobbling together enough support on their own to defeat McCain; they are splitting the conservative vote and enabling a moderate-to-liberal win.
And Huckabee is clearly in the tank for McCain. Yesterday’s rigged convention in West Virginia was designed to deny Mitt Romney a “Romney Wins West Virginia” headline running all day long on cable TV. While within the rules, it was a petty, ugly example of the "real McCain" at work.
As the so-called GOP front-runner he should be above that kind of thing. But it tells us he is still more afraid of Romney than he is of Huckabee. Therefore, conservatives are increasingly going to rally to Romney from here on out.
And what Romney now needs to do is simple: pick an upcoming state — a crucial one — and make it a mano-a-mano race, Romney vs. McCain, and win it!
It is time Romney beats Mccain one-on-one because if he cannot, then McCain will win the nomination by default.
But if Romney draws the line in the sand and beats McCain, then we have a new race on our hands. The conservatives will rally to Romney and McCain could still be stopped.
So, Mitt, get going and fast.
Your task is a difficult one: take on not just McCain but the entire D.C. establishment.
Let it all out . . . get angry; show some passion. Embrace the talk-radio hosts, as they represent the GOP base.
Take on McCain and squash him, and soon, maybe in Ohio.
Make the economy the issue.
Do us all a favor.
Does your count include Huckabee giving him his 190 on the second ballot in exchange for the VP spot? If not McCain only needs 304. Most of the primaries and caucuses remaining are not WTA, so McCain can come in a strong second to Romney and still be over the top on the second ballot.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/republican_delegate_count.html
Why does Huckabee have a better chance? Because he is the only one that can beat McCain in delegate-rich southern states like Texas with 140 delegates and North Carolina with 69 delegates. Throw in Mississippi, Kentucy and Louisiana and there are more than 300 delegates left in the south all waiting for McCain unless Huckabee takes most of them.
My clients in the South told me that people have a problem with Romney because he is a Mormon. Conversely our Mormon friends vote for other Christians without reservation and Utah is the most reliable RED states in the union.
Talk about hypocrites!!!
Get over yourself.
Right now I am praying for a miracle. They DO happen.
the problem is huckabee.
Huckabee is the unelectable spoiler who is selling his religious bias.
there is a fringe that just do not want a rich mormon because they see it as a “cult”.
> Why would you think they would vote for an abortion and
> same sex marriage pusher like RINO Romney, then ?????
They wouldn’t.
But they would definitely vote for a REPENTED one who has claimed to change his ways.
It remains to be seen.
By the way, Romney was NOT a same-sex marriage “pusher”.
Same sex marriage in Massachusetts was legislated from the BENCH by a JUDGE ,and Mitt went on TV and Radio to express his outrage. I HEARD THE SPEECH! And I heard his calls into Boston talk Radio.
Mitt’s opposition to the court’s decision did not prevail in the Mass Supreme Judicial Court, however, (a foregone conclusion in a communist gulag like Massachusetts, run like a mafia whorehouse by the Democrat Machine).
“Mitt is a conservative. An ultra-conservative? No. But, fiscally, socially, he is conservative enough for a vote.”
During his 2002 run for governor, Romney supported full domestic partnership benefits for gay and lesbian couples, which had been opposed by Democratic legislative leadership, and his campaign distributed pink flyers during Gay Pride events promoting equal rights for all citizens regardless of their sexual preference.
Mitt is not conservative. He will say anything to get a vote.
There's a shock. I mean, after all, Huckster is liberal Romney with a Southern accent. He Romneyed his state party, too.
Say No to the RINO!
Romney is nuts. He LOST to McCain.
Perhaps he was on a trip with MLKing to some other planet.
Romney purported endorsements from the NRA, too.
But he hallucinated that.
Just what America needs. A chameleon who hallucinates.
Huckabee doesn't control his delegates that way, moreover McCain himself doesn't control what his delegates do on the second ballot. Huckabee can tell them he wants them to vote for McCain, but they will do whatever they want. If this thing is still open going into the convention there will be lots of small deals made back and forth by phone and at the convention.
I agree. I’m a Southern Baptist, and my fellow church goers’ attitudes about Mormons is ridiculous. If that’s the basis for their voting, it’s disgusting. It seems more prevalent in the southeast, though. I guess we’re used to Mormons here in the West.
Yes, but I think most states are not winner take all, therefore McCain should be able to get close.
The unpledged and soft plecged delegates are not going to support Romney. Huckabee will throw his support to McCain, because of the way Romney attacked Huckabee with false allegations, like the parole stuff.
Romney did play the spoiler. The only way I see McCain doesn’t win is if Romney drops out and there is enough McCain voters who weren’t voting pro-McCain but anti-Romney. These could switch back to Huckabee if there is no downside to not supporting McCain.
From USAToday, Feb 6, 2008:
“Is Mike Huckabee’s continued presence in the race hurting Mitt Romney? In our latest USA Today/Gallup poll Huckabee supporters were asked for whom they would vote if the race came down to John McCain or Mitt Romney.
The results? McCain wins over Romney as the second choice of Huckabee voters by more than a 2 to 1 margin, 64% to 28%. Indeed, McCain beats Romney 42% to 24% with Huckabee in the race (Huckabee gets 18% of the vote, Ron Paul gets 5%, and Alan Keyes gets 2%). With a narrowed-down ballot focused just on McCain and Romney (forcing Huckabee voters to choose between the two front-runners), McCain wins 53% to 30% — a slightly expanded margin.
In other words, it does not appear as if Huckabee supporters would be supporting Romney at any unusually high rate if Huckabee were to drop out of the race.
I read on WSJ today, that the testimony about the water boarding put an end to that particular meta narrative that the Democrats were demagoguing, and that the top members of the Armed Services committee, knew the truth, including Pelosi and Rockefeller.
Now, my question is, isn’t McCain one of the top members of that committee? He grandstanded on the issue as well, opposing the President.
McCain has a strategy that allows him to appeal beyond conservatives. He wants to win across the map and not just red states.
There’s only one reason Romney will never be President. There are too many nitwit pinheads that think he’ll make everyone become a Mormon.
The math proves you wrong. You don’t have the money, the organization nor the political support to beat McCain. Glad you got a mad man crush going for the Huckster. Too bad your adoration is not enough to off set the facts.
Let’s try it.
How you like them apples, McScampaign?
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