Posted on 01/17/2012 5:46:32 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
It would be wonderful to rally behind a solid conservative with charisma, with the intellect and oratorical skills to effectively articulate and defend a consistent conservative philosophy. But as Ann Coulter pointed out, Ronald Reagan isn't running this year.
So we're left with this lot, every one of whom is flawed in one way or another, from Gingrich's environmentalism (to the point of appearing in an ad with Nancy Pelosi), to Michele Bachmann's running a campaign so inept that her entire New Hampshire staff quit (as, by the way, Gingrich's senior staff did, too) and the Tea Party, whose values she purports to represent, urged her to drop out.
The question really boils down to priorities, and precisely because we don't have a Ronald Reagan running this year, we're left with an either/or choice: Should the priority be standing on principle, or should it be defeating Obama? I suspect that the Romney Denialists fall into the former camp and I freely admit that that's a respectable strategy. It was, in fact, the strategy in '64 and we all know what happened: Goldwater got creamed -- but it set the stage for the conservative resurgence and Reagan's election in 1980.
It also enabled LBJ to enact Medicare and Medicaid. Those contemplating staying home on Election Day rather than vote for Romney might want to consider the virtual impossibility of repealing either program today and then decide how much they relish the prospect of trying to repeal ObamaCare if Obama is reelected and his signature "achievement" becomes equally entrenched.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Mitt Romney is the worst of the Republicans running and under no circumstances will I vote for him in the Repubican primary. Stopping him before the convention should be our top short-term priority. But our top priority of all should be defeating Barack Obama, even if Mitt Romney is the candidate we run.
Yes well everyone tried to clean it up with Nixon. But he allowed the onslaught of the media to create a paranoid angry President.
Then the milk toast Ford that the establishment put up over Ronald Reagan.
It’s like deja vu, Romney the establishment Candidate against a bunch of other insider candidates. And then there is Perry.
Outside the establishment, a man with a core. Only this time we have an out and out commie/fascist/socialist/marxist progressive, hell-bent on destroying America.
The superficiality of American voters vs the committed ideologues that want to destroy us is upon us and no one takes it seriously.
No one is denying Romney, we just don’t like him. Call us the 75 percenters. Only Rombots think this has anything to do with Reagan. Newt can do the job.
My only principle is in selecting the candidate most likely to beat obama
“Newt can do the job.”
I think that Rick Santorum can do it better.
I’m voting for the republican nominee. 4 of the 5 (not Paul) will beat Obama regardless. So I am good with whoever the nominee is. Any of the 4 are 10,000 times better than Obama. And that is the choice. The republican nominee or Obama.
I am tired of this flawed “75 percenters”. (sounds like OWS) First in a 5-7 candidate race, that is pretty normal. And Romney is up around 40% now in a 5 candidate race. So how about the 90% “not Newt” or “not Santorum” voters?
At least be intellectually honest.
I am tired of this flawed “75 percenters”. (sounds like OWS) First in a 5-7 candidate race, that is pretty normal. And Romney is up around 40% now in a 5 candidate race. So how about the 90% “not Newt” or “not Santorum” voters?
At least be intellectually honest. This is not DU.
Ann Coulter jumped the shark this year, and nobody knows why or for what reason.
Ann has sold a ton of books, so loving Romney to get rich is probably not a reason.
Maybe ann loves Mitt and wants to marry the slimeball. Okay, Ann loves Mitt -
Smooch. Hug. Hug.
Mitt! I love you. Be my left-wing sweetie. Hugs.
Ann, you’re impressive with your books, but Baine vulture capital makes more...
Hugs. Smooch. Kiss! Kiss!
It is not possible to be both conservative and a supporter of Romney.
So, Gene, consider yourself insulted.
I’m glad you are tired of it, and hope you will continue to be so. Romney has broken through that ceiling, but through no accomplishment of his own. I’m not so sure he is going to get 40 percent of Republican voters supporting him. It’s yet to be seen. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to be intellectually honest in saying that a majority of Republicans, I believe over 60 percent, say 75 percent, are essentially anti Romney, but the roller coaster circus this primary has been is beating them down.
Sure now there's all sort of polls giving him a close or slight edge, but once non-political junkies get to know him through the (OM)Obama machine/LSM media prism, it's an up hill battle. He is the perfect foil to help Obama gin things up enough that his base will be so angry, they will turn out in higher numbers.
A conservative message, with an articulate person standing up passionately for America and American ideas and job creation, is absolutely necessary to cut through the crap and win over those RDs in swing states.
So the Pubbies base doesn't like Gingrich sitting on the bench with Pelosi, but those RDs probably don't give a rip. That can be portrayed as just a statement that even a Republican wants clean air and water. I doubt it has the same impact on non Pubbies as it does with the Pubbie base.
RDs would like to have the years of prosperity from the Reagan years, but more importantly, they are going to remember the prosperity of the Clinton/Gingrich years.
Put the memory of Clinton/Gingrich years against the Obama record. It plays pretty well, economically. And that's the number one issue.
Now put the Bain Capital record up(as the OM will portray it) with closed factory's and heart wrenching stories. Jobs eliminated and sent to China, while rich people pocket millions. That's not going to play well with RDs or the unemployed, and will help GOTV for Dems.
If the Pubbies base doesn't trust Romney, what makes anyone think that Dems and Independents will trust him either?
As to the GOP E picking the candidate. Yup they do that. Yop they have their reasons. Yop they put up enough money to keep enough conservatives in the field long enough for their choice to win without the majority of the vote.
Reagan broke through, but he worked to take over the party from the precinct up too. Conservatives were able to agree on him. So what needs to be done:
All the conservative Republicans need to get out there and become precinct chairmen/women, and vote for conservative leadership in the party.
Redesign the primary process, and consolidate the vote around no more than 2 candidates to put up against the Rockefeller wing's choice.
If the candidate has a good vision, can speak to the heart of the average American, and is articulate enough to get through the LSM to the average American, we all win.
If GOP E keep playing this game, they are once again going to be out in the cold where they were before Regan and Gingrich came along. And if they are so all fired SMART, how come it took Reagan and Gingrich to get them back in power?
” If the GOP doesn’t want a conservative candidate, conservatives will be happy to run a third party conservative candidate in the general election.”
Hopefully, Romney can be stopped before the convention or denied a majority of the delegates. But the most important thing of all is to defeat Obama.
Stealth Romneybots love this phrase: “But the most important thing of all is to defeat Obama.” In actualtity the most important thing is to stop little barry bassturd. That can be done by holding the House and taking ontrol of the Senate, so the more important perspective is turnout of actual conseravtive voters, to support pubbies and tea partyiers down ticket. I don’t see Milt ‘another Obama’ Romney generating heavy conservative turnout.
Stealth Romneybot? Did you read my tagline? I want to see Romney stopped before the convention. Rick Santorum is my candidate. But not only should we hope for the best, but we should prepare for the worst.
I won’t vote for Romney. The establishment, with there surrogates in the right media have protected Romney and highlighted the conservatives downfalls. They have used me enough. I’m not the wife who goes back to the husband who beats her. They want to move left with Romney, they will do it without my vote. I’m praying for a true conservative to run third party in the general election if Romney wins.
These GOP establishment types are amazing, they are as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning. Rush has been saying for months that these people have never gotten over the ‘64 Goldwater shallacking, and this is the VERY thing they use to defend a Romney candidacy, to imply that somehow any of the other candidates will amount to a Goldwater-type result.
This really is all they’ve got to defend this guy with. Just to scare us with “oh, what will 4 more years of Obama look like?” I’ll agree to vote for Romney if he’s the nominee, but I will not lift one finger to help campaign for him, and my excitement level will be below zero. And if I’m at all indicative of the sentiment of conservatives at large, I think a Romney nomination almost certainly means another 4 years of Obama.
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