Posted on 02/18/2012 9:28:20 AM PST by PSYCHO-FREEP
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's struggles in Michigan are fueling speculation that Republicans might have to resort to a doomsday scenario and launch a frantic search for a 2012 savior at their nominating convention in late August.
Rare in the modern age of U.S. politics, a "brokered convention" could result in Republicans ditching their current crop of candidates and turning to someone else who they feel would have a better chance of defeating Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.
How did Republicans get to this point? Romney's failure to get conservatives fully behind him and put down yet another challenger in the party - this time it's Rick Santorum - is causing angst in the party.
Many senior Republicans do not think Santorum, a social conservative caught up in the U.S. culture wars over issues like abortion and contraception, has a chance to beat Obama if he wins the party's presidential nomination. (snip*)
Who would Republicans turn to if not Romney or Santorum? Think of two popular governors, Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Chris Christie of New Jersey, or former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, or even U.S. congressman Paul Ryan, author of a budget plan popular with Republicans (snip*)
PALIN OFFERS HELP
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, a champion of the conservative Tea Party movement, is making noises about being willing to "help" at a brokered convention. That notion sounds suspiciously like she would love to have her own name thrown into the mix, if even only as a kingmaker.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Knowing the current sad GOP, Daniels and Jeb would probably decline and wait for 2016. The convention may end up nominating someone like Ridge, Pataki, or Bill Frist. In other words, a designated loser who may not hamper their chances of holding the House and winning the Senate.
The caption for this photo is; Santorum defends 2008 endorsement of Mitt Romney.
[Sounds like you and Willard have something in common.]
Not nearly as much as Romney and Santoum have in common......
Did you vote for McCain?
Republicans have all made terrible mistakes. This is our last chance to, at least, speak the truth.
Does this mean that Sarah Palin or Herman Cain still have a shot?
The party Establishment has found itself tangled in its own contradictory views of which would be the best way to go - seek to hold the House and take the Senate, or abandon the House and concentrate on the Senate, both instances of which they surrender pre-emptively any serious bid for the White House.
Or a contrarian view, just let the reins of government revert fully to the Democrats in both houses of Congress, and let the White House go by default, in the hopes that the voters will be so fed up with the Democrats that there would be a shot in 2016.
This worked so well in 1936.
Perhaps they throw all their combined resources into a Romney bid for the White House, only to discover they are leading a parade that has suddenly dwindled down to a very distinct minority. Or they could try to nourish and open the field a little, calling on the few remaining candidates in the race to lay off the circular firing squad, which serves nobody, and concentrate all their fire right now at the incumbent. Ask the RIGHT questions, concerning the probability of EVER curing the spending problem, of reengaging industry to grow and develop, develop a REAL energy policy (beginning with dismantlement of the Department of Energy), get around to defining what our immigration policy shall be, including the clarification of what is the purposfully obscure definition of what is “legal” and “illegal”.
On a further note, make even findings of the Supreme Court subject to legislative, executive, and electoral review, with referendum questioning of unpopular decisions, requiring the justices make their reasoning clear and unambiguous. There ought be a “check and balance” on the judiciary, just as there is of the legislative and executive branches.
[ This is our last chance to, at least, speak the truth.]
OK, you got it! (Santorum’s Liberal voting record)
NEA
Voted for taxpayer funding of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Voted against a 10% cut in the budget for National Endowment for the Arts.
Bankruptcy
Voted for a Schumer amendment to make the debts of pro-life demonstrators not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Defense and Foreign Policy
Voted for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Voted against requiring the President to certify that the CWC is effectively verifiable.
Voted against requiring the President to certify that that Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, North Korea, China, and all other countries determined to be state sponsors of terror have joined CWC prior to submitting the instrument of ratification.
Voted for the START II Treaty
Voted to allow the sale of supercomputers to China.
Voted to ban antipersonnel landmines
Voted against increasing defense spending offset by equivalent cuts in non-defense spending.
Voted to require that Federal bureaucrats get the same payraises as uniformed military.
Voted to allow food and medicine sales to state sponsors of terror and tyranical regimes such as Libya and Cuba.
Voted to limit the President’s authority to impose sanctions on nations for reasons of national security unless the sanctions were approved by a multilateral regime.
Voted against requiring Congressional authorization for military action in Bosnia.
Voted to give $25 million in foreign aid to North Korea
Voted to weaken alien terrorist deportation provisions. If the Court determines that the evidence must be withheld for national security reasons, the Justice Department must still provide a summary of the evidence sufficient for the alien terrorist to mount a defense against deportation.
Voted against delaying the India Nuclear until the President certified that India had agreed to suspend military-to-military exchanges with Iran.
Voted against the Conventional Trident Missile Program
Nominations
Voted for Richard Paez to the 9th Curcuit (cloture)
Voted for Sonia Sotomayor, Circuit Judge
Voted for Richard Holbrooke to be Ambassador to the UN
Voted for Margaret Morrow to be District Judge
Voted twice for Marsha Berzon to the 9thg Circuit
Voted for Mary McLaughlin to be District Judge
Voted for Tim Dyk to be District Judge
Voted for James Brady to be District Judge
Labor
Voted against National Right to Work Act
Voted against Real of Davis-Bacon Prevailing union wages
Voted for Alexis Herman to be Secretary of Labor
Voted for mandatory Federal child care funding
Voted for Trade Adjustment Assistance.
Voted for Job Corps funding
Voted twice in support of Fedex Unionization
Voted against allowing a waiver of Davis-Bacon in emergency situations.
Voted for minimum wage increases six times here here here here here and here
Voted to require a union representative on an IRS oversight board.
Voted to exempt IRS union representative from criminal ethics laws.
Voted against creating independent Board of Governors to investigate IRS abuses.
Guns
Voted to require pawn shops to do background checks on people who pawn a gun.
Voted twice to make it illegal to sell a gun without a secure storage or safety device
Voted for a Federal ban on possession of “assault weapons” by those under 18.
Voted for Federal funding for anti-gun education programs in schools.
Voted for anti-gun juvenile justice bill.
Reform
Voted for funding for the legal services corporation.
Voted twice for a Congressional payraise.
Voted to impose a uniform Federal mandate on states to force them to allow convicted rapits, arsonists, drug kingpins, and all other ex-convicts to vote in Federal elections.
Voted for the Specter “backup plan” to allow campaign finance reform to survive if portions of the bill were found unconstitutional.
Voted to mandate discounted broadcast times for politicians.
Voted for a McCain amendment to require State and local campaign committees to report all campaign contributions to the FEC and to require all campaign contributions to be reported to the FEC within 24 hours within 90 days of an election.
Immigration
Voted against increasing the number of immigration investigators
Voted to allow illegal immigrants to receive the earned income credit before becoming citizens
Voted to give SSI benefits to legal aliens.
Voted to give welfare benefits to naturalized citizens without regard to to the earnings of their sponsors.
Voted against hiring an additional 1,000 border partrol agents, paid for by reductions in state grants.
Taxes
Voted against a flat tax.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for Medicare prescription drugs
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to fund health insurance subsidies for small businesses.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an $8 billion increase in child healh insurance.
Voted to increase tobacco taxes to pay for an increase in NIH funding.
Voted twice for internet taxes.
Voted to allow gas tax revenues to be used to subsidize Amtrak.
Voted to strike marriage penalty tax relief and instead provide fines on tobacco companies.
Voted against repealing the Clinton 4.3 cent gas tax increase.
Voted to increase taxes by $2.3 billion to pay for an Amtrak trust fund.
Voted to allow welfare to a minor who had a child out of wedlock and who resided with an adult who was on welfare within the previous two years.
Voted to increase taxes by $9.4 billion to pay for a $9.4 billion increase in student loans.
Voted to say that AMT patch is more important than capital gains and dividend relief.
Welfare
Voted against food stamp reform
Voted against Medicaid reform
Voted against TANF reform
Voted to increase the Social Services Block Grant from $1 billion to $2 billion
Voted to increase the FHA loan from $170,000 to $197,000. Also opposed increasing GNMA guaranty from 6 basis points to 12.
Voted for $2 billion for low income heating assistance.
Waste
Sponsored An amendment to increase Amtrak funds by $550 million
Voted to use HUD funds for the Joslyn Art Museum (NE), the Stand Up for Animals project (RI) and the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Project (WA)
Voted to increase spending on social programs by $7 billion
Voted to increase NIH funding by $1.6 billion.
Voted to increase NIHnding by $700 million
Voted to for a $2 million earmark to renovate the Vulcan Monument (AL)
Voted for a $1 billion bailout for the steel industry
Voted against requiring that highway earmarks would come out of a state’s highway allocation
Voted to allow Market Access Program funds to go to foreign companies.
Voted to allow OPIC to increase its administrative costs by 50%
Voted against transferring $20 million from Americorps to veterans.
Voted for the $140 billion asbestos compensation bill.
Voted against requiring a uniform medical criteria to ensure asbestos claims were legitimate.
Voted to increase community development programs by $2 billion.
Spending and Entitlements
Voted to make Medicare part B premium subsidies an new entitlement.
Voted against paying off the debt ($5.6 trillion at the time) within 30 years.
Voted to give $18 billion to the IMF.
Voted to raid Social Security instead of using surpluses to pay down the debt.
Health Care
Voted to allow states to impose health care mandates that are stricter than proposed new Federal mandates, but not weaker.
Voted twice for Federal mental health parity mandates in health insurance.
Voted against a allow consumers the option to purchase a plan outside the parity mandate.
Education
Voted to increase Federal funding for teacher testing
Voted to increase spending for the Department of Education by $3.1 billion.
Voted against requiring courts to consider the impact of IDEA awards on a local school district.
Energy
Voted to allow the President to designate certain sites as interim nuclear waste storage sites in the event that he determines that Yucca Mountain is not a suitable site for a permanent waste repository. Those sites are as follows: the nuclear waste site in Hanford, Washington; the Savannah River Site in South Carolina; Barnwell County, South Carolina; and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee.
If there is a brokered convention there is going to be a name put up that NO ONE expects. All in the interests of saving the party of course. The question is WHO?
I am betting on an outsider(Meaning someone not alreading running, because by no means is this person an “outsider” to D.C.)... Jeb Bush. The Buggers who put Oblidiot into power unconstitutionally, have come to realize the magnitude of their mistake (may they ALL burn in hell for all eternity) and will attempt to make it all good by putting in one from the light side of that otherwise dark entity. One of the Bush family.
Am I willing to put money on something like this? No.
But I would not be surprised to see it happen either.
Doomsday scenario? Sounds more like a salvation path to me. We very much need someone who's stayed outside the stupid circular firing squad for the past 4 months. Palin, Ryan, or Daniels would have far better chances than the current field, especially if teamed with Marco Rubio
One thing about Obama, he avoided the subject after he won the election. Santorum on the other hand, revealed that if he had the power, he would regulate gambling, behavior, etc,,, which in essence, means he will legislate morality. (Something he has past experience in)
Anyone who thinks the Left won’t take Santorum over these issues, is either retarded, or they live under a rock.
This could also be preview of the Convention. The GOP E has cut a deal for a Romney/ Santoum or Santorum/Romney ticket.
GOP insiders in PA say it is a done deal. The only thing the primaries will decide is who will be at the top of the ticket. This is their solution for preventing a brokered convention, and their combined delegates cinch the nomination for some combination of this ticket. Freiss has alluded to a combined ticket in an interview with Greta,and it was buzzing all over CPAC.
Kinda seems pointless for the “not Romney” voters to vote for Santorum since they’e going to get this dynamic duo anyway.
The things I like about Newt are that he doesn’t give a s___ about what people say about his past. Even though I view him as a political opportunist (the AGW/Pelosi crap) and a turncoat (he basically engineered the ultimate failure of the Contract with America), he’s a great debater. I do think he’d make a better VP than a P, and would pull along a lot of people who maybe weren’t crazy about the top of the ticket.
He needs to do well in California. If he can pull that off, he’ll be on the ticket, one way or another. The Pubbie ticket will need ‘star power’ in both slots to ensure success.
You missed my point.
People want all the candidates to shut up about tradition values.
The lack of traditional values is killing our country.
If conservatives weren’t such cowards, they would speak the truth about what is really wrong instead of telling our candidates to shut up.
Like somebody else I know...
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