Posted on 01/05/2012 6:40:43 AM PST by Vigilanteman
Just how unserious are Republicans about defeating Barack Obama in November? So unserious that, in Iowa, at least, they came painfully close on Tuesday night to making Rick Santorum their putative standard-bearer.
Mr. Santorum, the former congressman and senator of Pennsylvania, came within eight votes of defeating former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. It was the closest finish in the history of the Hawkeye State caucuses.
Santorum bills himself as the conservative alternative to Mr. Romney. But saying you're a conservative doesn't mean you are one. (Think John McCain.)
Oh, indeed, the Virginian (ne Pennsylvanian) has the corner on the theological wing of the GOP. But Santorum is a disaster when it comes to economics. He's a recidivist big-government conservative all too prone to rationalizing his big-government proclivities.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
I agree the Commerce clause has been used excessively to justify federal intervention. The health care mandate will test what economic activity the federal government can regulate.
Still, the GOP seems intent on blowing it back to Obama. Let's get a team together and go after the Mombasa MF. Newt/Santorum, Romney/Santorum?
And Ron Paul is right on the budget. Whole departments like EPA/ED/ Gotta Go. Right now, the problem is still "serious" not "grave." If we can cut the Federal Budget by 15% in 4 years we are getting the problem 80% solved.
Right now we are playing the MSM game and looking like crap. If you want the MSM/Obama Game Plan in detail, just listen to NPR for 1 hour. Team Obama has a brilliant campaign going, as a result of which the ignorant voters who put the Mombasa MF in office in the first place, would be led to plausibly believe that everything from the earthquakes in Youngstown, to the Jobless Recession, to high gas prices is the fault of racist, crazy, evangelical, gun-totin' Republicans and George Bush. Obama is focused and campaigning his ass off. Why all of our troubles are due to this do-nothing Congress! Things are improving! Why change now? etc. ad nauseam.
Romney? Oh yeah, he's the best of a bad lot according to the MSM. Let Romney and Newt fight, OK? In My book, Newt's main problem? He ain't Cewt!
As I see it, there are only these alternatives, none of them good:
Cast your lot with Newt Gingrich and hope you get the 90s version firebrand conservative instead of the more recent version denouncing rightwing social engineering and embracing global warming.
Santorum is the alternative which easily carries the least risk. Just watching how the gay mafia and the enemedia reacts confirms it
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Gingrich’s platform on his web site is more conservative and far reaching that what Santorum is proposing. Who would be better taking on Obama in a debate?
But he was unable to deliver anything after he had his bimbo eruption and was forced to resign from the house. Hillary Clinton successfully ran against him in her first election to public office. Yeah, it was New York and, yes, New York voters are among the dumbest in the country. But, still, it is symptomatic of what has become of Newt.
If I knew we were going to get the mid-90s version of Newt, I'd get behind him in a heartbeat.
But I think the actual chances of that are only slightly better than the chances that Mitt has transformed himself into the next Reagan conservative. A catfight Kabuki dance between two RINOs is only going to help ObaMao in the fall.
Thanks! I appreciate your expertise on these legal matters.
My poorly made point was that if Obama”care” is deemed Un-Constitutional by THE NINE SUPREMES, then Romney”care” will Un-Constitutional no matter what the Mass. Supreme Court rules. Am I correct in that assertion?
No, the states can mandate health care if that is what their elected representatives and state Supreme Court decides is in accord with the State constitution. Romney care will remain.
Perry wasn’t algore’s DNC chairman for Texas.
That issue has been discussed ad nauseum and the falsehoods long ago have been corrected.
That was 23 years ago. (BTW, the entire state of Texas was for many decades a solid Dem state...it is now solid Republican.)
That very year, Perry voted for George HW Bush over Michael Dukakis.
The following year, he became a Republican.
He was elected Ag Commissioner, defeating the left wing Dem, Jim Hightower.
He was elected Lt. Governor, defeating the moderate Dem, John Sharp, becoming the first Republican to serve in that position since Reconstruction.
He has since served 3 terms as the Republican Governor of Texas.
Most recently he defeated Kay Bailey Hutchinson (establishment Republican) in a primary, whom Karl Rove, the Bushes and Dick Cheney backed to run against him.
Santorum will not attract Independents. And, he does not inspire. He doesn’t inspire me. Looking forward, Newt has the best tried and true jobs and economic plan - Reaganomics. And, he is focusing on that messaging now.
Only Newt can unite the various wings of the GOP: Tea Party, lovers of life, the conservative base, etc., and have it play well on a national level. Newt will take it to the media too challenging the premise of the media questions. The media is enemy #1, not Obama. Obama can’t stand up on his own without the media propping him up.
Btw, Newt’s ACU rating is more conservative than Santorum, ever so slightly. Its 90 Lifetime. The National Taxpayer Union gave Gingrich A,A,A,and A, his last four years in the House. That made him 11th, 4th, 2nd, and #1 most conservative compared to other Republicans. Look it up.
I like Santorum, enough. But, I don’t think he is presidential timber. Newt has led a Republican majority. Newt understands our dual enemies: the radical left secularist and radical Islam. Failure to grasp these two key issues could cost us our future. The American people will overlook baggage for accomplishments. Give Newt a war chest, the game changes. If people don’t coalesce around Newt, say hello Romney and say hello Obama because Romney cannot beat Obama.
Just my 0.02.
The anti-Perry posters think that by lying they’ll “win.”
Thanks for keeping the truth out there.
“Cast your lot with Newt Gingrich ...”
THAT is exactly what I intend to do.
GO NEWT GO........
For Perry to claim that Iowans aren't "real people," voting in primaries. Perry got dusted up really bad, went home to "assess" his chances of staying in the race.
Perry will have to appeal to a lot of us "non-real people" in the heartland besides Iowa.
Perry should have been very attractive to the Iowa voters but he, like others feeling the sting of Mitt's millions were bruised in the process to make Mitt's numbers higher than they would have been.
2% is not very impressive when you consider that Newt represented a solidly conservative constituency and Santorum represented a slightly left of center constituency for 12 of his 14 years in congress.
Still, what Newt did when he was in congress has never bothered me so much as what he has done since.
Thanks! I am stunned!
Next topic: Illegal Aliens. Using the above legal logic, can States keep their own anti-illegal alien laws ?
So, who is your candidate? And please don’t say Ron Paul. Paul-dude would get trounced worse than McGovern got trounced in 1972 or worse than Mondale in ‘84.
To make it even more crystal clear...
He couldn’t have been “the dnc chair for Gore in Texas”; there was no such thing. This was in 1988, in a Democrat primary, in which Gore was one of several Dems who were running for the nomination.
The DNC did not back Al Gore nor publicly back any particular candidate during their primaries.
The winner of the primaries and the eventual nominee was Mass. Gov. Michael Dukakis.
Having already voted twice for Ronald Reagan...yes, Perry was one of the millions of Reagan Democrats...Perry wasn’t about to vote for Dukakis, so he voted for Reagan’s VP, Bush 41.
The very next year he became a Republican.
And his electoral history as a Republican is amazing, and has been ongoing for decades.
People who don’t want to know or who simply don’t know, have claimed he should’ve seen algore as a liberal, but what Perry...as still a registered Democrat...saw was someone he believed to be to the right of most national Democrats based on Gore’s pro life history, his Southern roots, and the fact that he and Tipper took on Hollywood and the Music Industry on cultural issues
But that was his last shot as someone still trying to stay a Democrat. He gave it up.
It’s like Reagan said...”I didn’t leave the Democrat party; it left me”.
Because dumping even more of my money in the Endless New Orleans Rebuilding Forever Fund would have been better? Man, you've got to edit your talking points better.
Is there any Republican that the Trib likes? Not just Presidential candidates, I mean at all.
They are a strong voice for small gov’t conservatism, but seem to save a lot of venom for the GOP. They’ve always been after Santorum. They have a thing for Tim Murphy and wouldn’t endorse anyone for the Allegheny county executive.
Tim Murphy is very similar to Rick Santorum politically-- a bit weak on the union and compassionate conservatism type issues, solid on everything else. I really can't see why they don't like him, particularly when they endorsed the corrupt old b*st*rd John Murtha over a solid conservative challenger in his last election (2008).
The best I can figure is that they are a libertarian paper and maybe smoke just a little too much weed from time to time. I've never seen them print anything critical about Ron Paul, for instance.
Just in case you haven’t heard, Mittens lost his race to Teddy by 16 points. Can’t even beat a cold-blooded killer. Wow.
The Trib is big on population control/birth control things, so Santorum’s Catholic values on reproduction are not what they want to support at all.
To put it more succinctly, the one thing the Trib is not is pro-life.
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