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.
Mitt Romney Can Crush McCain
That’s the most optimistic headline I’ve seen in 24 hours. Won’t happen, but good to see it.
A month ago I told Jim Robison I wouldn’t vote for a third party, I wouldn’t want to get Hillary in as Ross Perot got Slick in. I might change my mind now. A good third party candidate might beat Hill or OB.
“McCain won 15 percent; he wasn’t expected by many Republicans to be popular in the state, given his opposition to earmarks and drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
“To have a Republican in the White House that’s against ANWR, I think there’s a visceral Alaskan reaction to that,” said Jacqueline Tupou, a Romney supporter and organizer.”
And there you have it.
Does it compare with McCain’s deliberate efforts to frustrate his own party? I agree Romney is less conseravtive than Bush and Bush has never been a conservative. Bur McCain is the head of a block of “moderate” Republicans who constitute a separate faction in the party. It is the hard core of the liberal wing of the Party. It is now poised to regain the control of the national Party for the first time since 1980. I think Romney has now committed himself to the Conservatives to the extent that McCain cannot match even if he would try. You want a conservative candidate? We don’t have that choice.
You are leaping off the bridge with your reply to my post.
I state a simple fact. In Mormon theology there is no absolute morality and there is no final judgement. This is antithetic to conservative Christian theology.
Mormons are not monsters as you apparently want to believe I believe. Atheists do not accept an absolute morality either. That does not make them axe murderers.
All the folderol about Romney changing his position is moot given his theological disposition to do whatever is necessary, within the bounds of his sense of decency, to be successful.
There are some very good reasons for Christians to refuse to support a Mormon presidency that have nothing to do with bigotry.
if i wasnt in a rock band thats doing well, or the fact my mom is disabled and i gotta help out. i would.
Now he needs to do a Reagan, 1976-1979 version. Let the election happen....and use the time to build more bridges with conservatives. I guaran-damn-tee you, come 2012 there will be a conservative hunger for a real candidate. And Mitt can be there, if he uses this time wisely.
One thing is for sure: Washington DC isn't going to give us a conservative in the Oval Office for the next four years--the coming administration, whether Hitlery, Hussein or McInsane, will make George W. Bush look like a member of the John Birch Society.
You are still speaking in general platitudes, not specifics.
You want to be "impressed" .... yet you can't accept a promise to keep government spending to the CPI index - plus 1% -- which every economic in the country agrees would equalize government revenues and outlays in about two years.
Romney said that dozens of times.... yet you have some imaginary belief that no one has proposed any specifics.
Romney did exactly that in Massachusetts, and in dozens of private companies which were bought and controlled by Bain Capital, the holding company partially owned by Romney.
The only reason Romney GOT wealthy in the first place -- (and why he was a successful Governor and Olympics director) was because of his acute ability to analyze and solve a problem.
He solved the economic mess of the Olympics.... and of indebted Massachusetts, which was $3 billion in the hole when Romney took over.
Methinks there must be another reason you don't like the man ....
The Evangelicals will never vote for Mitt. At the end of the day, they’ll wind up throwing their support behind McCain.
I don’t like it, but that’s what will happen. Romney’s campaign is over.
There’s till time for McCain to implode.
It’s funny how you never hear mention of McCain’s religion.
I can’t remember EVER seeing anything about it in a single article, newspaper, etc.
It’s at the forefront of every story about Huckabee and Romney, though, but never McCain.
Just an observation .....
Que?
Give or take a decade or two. There was nothing impressive about this guy. He proved only that he would have told you ANYTHING you wanted to hear.
Look at the things he said to become governor in a liberal state and compare those things to the things he said to become president. He'd say ANYTHING.
Obviously, talk and a ton of money wasn't enough.
Romney has always been an empty suit.
And the fact that the minority of voters that supported Fred are going to pick up their marbles and go home is almost meaningless.
The moderate independent and democratic men will more than make up for your loss. Hillary can barely find a man to vote for her fat rear end.
And, the pundits wonder why Obama cannot get more than 20% of the white vote down south. Duh?
McCain has the best chance to pick up the moderate Republican, Independent, and Moderate Democratic vote. While he may have lost the fringes, he will more than make up for with the folks that NEVER would have voted for Bush.
While you may think of him only as a RINO, in 2008-2012 that is the best that we can do since Bush messed it up.
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