I hear you! And I agree with you. I like Newt but I also fear his tendency to get loopy at times. I like him better than I like Santorum.
But who did we start out with?
With Obama hanging like an overripe fruit, we chose to send out the lame and the halt to vie for the nomination.
Huntsman?
Cain double ??
Bachmann - viable until she turned hysterical
Paul - oh, well, you know
Romney - needs another toy - might be fun to be president.
Newt - might as well
Santorum - might as well, can’t get another decent job
Perry- excellent man but negative lies and early debate flops took him down.
So we’re down to three. I will vote for who among them wins and I have zero respect for all the self righteous nuts around here who will vote for zero because they don’t like one of them.
And I agree -- the slate of candidates was weak from the start. I knew about Perry but hadn't seen him in action until the debates, and my wife and I both dropped our jaws when we actually heard/saw him. Looks like a President, but there ain't nobody home. He was the real-life version of the Dubya caricature.
Still, any one of those three will be a much better President than Obama. Romney is a funny guy. I heard him speak at the Federalist Society national convention a few years back, and he was brilliant. But how do you reconcile that with what he did as Governor?
My suspicion is that the Romney we're seeing right now is the real Romney -- pro-capitalism, etc. He talks with the zeal of someone who feels he can finally say exactly what he thinks, rather than what he needs to say/do to get elected in Massachusets. But the fact is that conservatives are fully justified in viewing him with a lot of skepticism based on his record in Massachusetts.
He can't come out and say "that wasn't the real me, this is", because that would look horrible, like he'll say anything to get elected. Which may be true. Funny thing is that it may be the truth, and he may be good once in office. But that's asking a lot of folks to take a major leap in faith. Anyway, I can't support him in the primary, but it is that hope that lets me vote for him in November if he's the nominee over Obama.
At this point, I'm not sure who I'll pull the lever for in the primaries.