Remember, “brokered” is a bit of a misnomer. Party brokers (whoever they are) may decide upon a particular alternative, but the delegates -- who will show up in Tampa largely believing that Gingrich, Paul, Romney or Santorum should be president -- may not be in any more of a mood to follow the party “establishment” than the GOP electorate as a whole is.
So while one may envision Jeb Bush or Paul Ryan emerging from the convention as the party’s standard-bearer, the possibility is real that the Gingrich and Santorum delegates could coalesce around someone like Sarah Palin. Now, for some Republicans that’s an attractive feature in the scenario. For others, it is the worst imaginable outcome. Regardless, it’s a real possibility.
Oh please don't throw me into that Briar Patch, Mr. Bear.
"Worst imaginable outcome"?? No wonder this party so rudderless.
I’m not interest in going through all this just to have another dull talking suit. If I wanted that, I’d support Santorum.
I still think Sarah has the energy, charisma and message to bring everyone on board. I don’t see how scraping up Paul Ryan or Jeb Bush is going to change or help ANYTHING - the fact is, just as the country is split in half between the brain-dead left and the right, our own party is split in half between the RINO “vote safe!” crowd and the fire-breathers who want Newt (and might tolerate Santorum) simply because they’re SO sick of these lying, weasel-y SOB’s who keep getting elected to office year after year after year, doing nothing and changing nothing (so what happened to that flat tax, huh, GWB???).
But I think it’s true - all of these people are such damaged goods now that none of them would make a good candidate. If Romney wins, Newt’s supporters (or Santorum’s) are not simply going to shrug and say: “Aw, gee. Well, we lost. Time to rally around our guy and defeat Obama!” — Sounds good, but I, for one, can’t do it and won’t do it. I’m willing to bet some percent of Romney’s supporters feel the same way.