McCain long ago represented something 'fresh', but in 2008 voters instinctively saw MaCain as the ultimate boring Washington insider, too old and uninspiring to carry the mantle of conservatism... or be President.
What WERE Florida Republican primary voters thinking when they selected McCain over Romney or even Mike Huckabee ... both of whom at least would have been able to communicate the conservative message.
Uh, oh! You said “Romney”. Look out, here come the slings and arrows.
To Florida voters, he seemed so young and spry...
Exactly. Our nominee should have been Mitt Romney.
Fred Thompson would have been great, too bad that either the energy wasn’t there, or something else was lacking. Imagine a Thompson/Palin ticket ...
A Republican with a backbone...who’d a thunk it?
I disagree about Romney. He only became a conservative because it was convenient at the time. His past indicates otherwise. Duncan Hunter was the only truely consistent conservative running. And conservatives did not support him and chose to select a bunch of used car salesmen.
Maybe conservatives need to take a good hard look at themselves and, as a group, come together to support the real conservatives and not just those who catch the eye of the MSM.
That sums it up rather tidily!
All this applies to the two scoundrels that, willingly or not, castrated the Republican Party!
Hopefully our next president will be the governor of this very state in which this conference was held.
This election was lost long before Florida. Romney and Huckabee are just as unlikely to win.
The Republican party needs to go through self cleansing.
We need to fire the careerists and vote in ideologues.
The same mentality that gave McCain the nomination, is the same mentality that WILL NOT CHANGE THE TOP LEADERSHIP IN THE HOUSE AND SENATE.
By that I mean Bonehead from Ohio and McConell from Ky.
Great guys, but not the right conservative leadership for this time.
If Bonehead and McConnell are still in power after leadeership votes next week,
that will be a sign nothing has changed. Yes, I know some lower level leadership spots are changing, but the top level MUAT change as well.
If McCain does get the GOP nomination, the big question will then be:Does McCain lose in November by more or fewer states/Electoral votes than Bob Dole lost (31-19 States/379-159 Electoral Votes) in 1996?
And would have provide the same results, it would have been a cold in H' and still would for me to vote for the big government huckster, and willard is nothing more than a closet liberal.
It really does not matter how old McCain is, the main problem with him is that he was not and is not a conservative.
"His proposal for amnesty for illegals. . . . CHECK
His support of global warming, cap-and-trade programs that will put another burden on our economy. . . . CHECK
And of course, his embrace of the bailout right before the election was probably the nail in our coffin this last election. . . . CHECK
And he has been an opponent of drilling in ANWR, at a time when energy is so important. . . . CHECK
It really didn't fit the label, but he was our package." . . . CHECK
I heard that Lindsey Graham had a “pleasant” 20 minute conversation with Obama the other day. He is a broker for a McCain-Obama meeting in the near future to possibly discuss a roll for McCain in the new administration.
Yet, Lindsey Graham escapes DeMint’s wrath. It’s time to go for it all the way, take names and hold nothing back or else we will never be rid of the decease that has infiltrated our party.
QUICK! Post the “beating the dead horse” graphic!!
Well, I agree with DeMint... I actually blame Bush more than McCain. But, McCain WAS just a promise of “More Bush”...
These guys were elected to lower taxes and control spending... One part accomplished, one part blown...
Add to that, a neccessary but less than successful war, and a President who decided he didn’t have to sell his plan to the people anymore... and, you get a disaster that couldn’t be overcome.
I take a lesson from watching the Dems in the past 8 years. After Kerry lost, many on their side said the needed to MOVE to the MIDDLE. In some ways, they did.. they allowed (even encouraged) moderates in Congressional races.. They let LOCAL politicians shape their own message to allow victory at their level. But, on the National scale, the moved FAR LEFT. And, it has worked.
I am worried, that with the rapid increase in the numbers of Latino voters, the electorate has moved far enough Left that there is no way to recover our Republic. But, the answer is not to move there with them. The ONLY answer that works in the long-term is to convince more of them that conservatism works.
yeah, because Romney is just so darn conservative. /sarc