Tea party leader warns Romney: Don’t expect us to campaign for you (Iced Tea)

Daily Caller ^ | 4-13-12 | Alex Pappas

[Mozilla]

The leader of the Tea Party Nation organization has a blunt message for likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney: Tea partiers will likely vote for you, but don’t expect them to get energized and campaign for you.

“The tea party is not going to coalesce around Romney,” Judson Phillips told The Daily Caller on Thursday. “Most of us will vote for Romney, but we will not be out there with signs for him or in his campaign.”

Phillips said that surveys conducted on the Tea Party Nation website have shown that about 25 percent of tea party activists say they won’t vote for Romney in the general election.

-snip- Another conservative leader, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, struck a similar note after former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum dropped out of the presidential race this week.

“It’s difficult for us to back a candidate our constituents don’t believe in and aren’t excited about,” Perkins told CNN

[no dems]

You have to ask that question after seeing what the Romney/GOP hit machine did to those conservative who did enter the race?

Romney and his super-pac buds have run the dirtiest primary advertising, filled with half-truths and falsehoods, I can recall in my lifetime.

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O.K., so what you're saying is that "fear" kept the good Conservatives from running. You're probably right. If Sarah Palin gave any of the prominent male "Conservatives" one of her balls, they'd both have one. One thing about the sleazy Democrats; they have the balls to fight. 95 percent of the Pubbies are sissies. Like the philandering Herman Cain, who istead of standing and fighting, ran and hid behind his wife and God. If you're truly innocent, you stand and fight 'til hell freezes over. Still wonder what he did with all that unspent campaign cash.

[no dems]

It ain’t over till it’s over. You seem to be calling the Primary a little bit early.
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O.K., JRandomFreeper, listen to me please........ Lay down the crack pipe and walk away................

[RinaseaofDs]

They prefer conservatives, and they haven’t received any since Reagan.

Now they are mad.

Tell you what, send me $1,000, and I’ll send you a conservative. I can send you my account info, and you can wire it to me.

Sound OK to you?

[Agamemnon]

Let's extend this line of thinking a little more.

Assuming Romney becomes the (R) nominee, he will need to coalesce the base. He must do this convincingly for conservatives and Tea Party to get on board full throttle, not just halfheartedly.

How many of us were enthusiastic about Reagan in 1980 but thought the "Rockefeller Wing" was going to sabotage our chances when he selected GHWBush as his VP? How many of us were somewhat enthusiastic about Quayle, but not so much about GHWBush in 1988? How many of us were enthusiastic about Kemp, not so enthusiastic about Dole in 1996? How many of us were only cautiously supportive of GWBush in 2000, but roared when we learned he'd selected Cheney as his VP?

How does he get us on board? Here's a suggestion:

Run not only with your VP but with your proposed cabinet as well.

Conservatives sometimes have to be reminded that a President is not king. He can't get anything done by dictate. Above all, he must be a quarterback for the team. While a quarterback may sometimes run a ball in to the end zone himself, more often than not he strategically uses the talents of his team mates to move the ball down the field and bring about the win.

Did anyone hear Palin last night (4/12/2012) on Hannity when asked if she'd consider being Sec'y of Energy? Did anyone hear our own FReeper Allen West when interviewed on Hannity (4/11/2012) and asked whether he'd consider being Romney's VP? And BOTH essentially said YES!

Newt has practically conceeded. Are any of these folks any less conservative for facing what are becoming our realities this election cycle?

I have proposed cabinet and administration roles for persons who were Romney's rivals at some point. These are the skill sets we conservatives wanted applied to to the places of government where they'd be most effective. Instead of rivals let's make them team players:

Rick Santorum - Sec'y of HHS

Sarah Palin - Sec'y of Energy + Sec'y of Interior (merge these)

Newt Gingrich - Sec'y of Education

Michelle Bachmann - Attorney General

Herman Cain - Sec'y of Commerce and Head of GSA (merge)

John Bolton - Sec'y of State

John Petraeus - Sec'y of Defense

Ron Paul - Head of Federal Reserve (let the audit begin)

Donald Trump - Head Council of Economic Advisers

Paul Ryan - Head of Office of Management and Budget

Joe Arpaio - Head of FBI, and Homeland Security (merge these)

Dick Cheney - Head of CIA

White House spokesman: Mark Levin

And our own FReeper, Allen West, as VP.

Next: Most of these folks are honed primed and stoked from the recent primary debates. They're all sharp. Nationalize the cabinet selection process as much as the Presidential and Congressional elections.

Release every one of these folks back out onto the the campaign trail with an assignment: tackle in an "in your face" way each of these departments - stage a kick-off news conference in front of each one of them. Challenge the office holders to the equivalent of Lincoln-Douglas style debates allowing each Obama appointed office member to defend their record and their (mis)-management of their public trust.

They won't debate, you say? OK, try some new Rules for Conservative Radicals. Stalk them, dog them with cameras, shame them into the arena, watch the cowards avoid the heat, watch for and exploit their mis-steps, create and run ads based on their failures in office and refusal to be made accountable.

While this is distracting the DNCs resources, Romney can land his own punches on Obama in the same way he's managed to blow away all his opposition in the primaries. Use Romney's well funded strike teams to confound opposition at the grass roots, do what they can to discourage and depress Democratic opposition and their voters.

Face it: if Romney was able to take out his competitors in the primary don't you suppose Obama's hacks could have taken anyone of them out in the general?

Have Romney's boys sew the seeds of hopelessness and dissension in the Obama ranks, emphasise betrayal and failure of Obama to keep 2008 promises. Undermine, destroy and confound the opposition into a confused, ill-directed mass who find themselves fighting on more than one Alinskyized, freeze-the-target Presidential candidate, and instead spending their resources fighting 10+ personalities "running" for cabinet offices.

Who are the "generals" they have to call into a fight like that?

Romney and Netanyahu both began strategic business careers at Boston Consulting Group. Agree with them or disagree with them, but admit that they are patient, long range, strategic thinkers.

One of the things Romney has been able to do in large part is to keep his persona distanced from the decisively well-calculated positioning of opposition to rivals in the primaries. His name-less, face-less cloaked "hit-men" are as effective as any guerrilla force out there, but all that activity is maintained at a plausibly deniable, comfortable, arms-length distance from Romney the candidate. I dare say it puts the likes of Nixon's and Clinton's "opposition research" squads to shame.

I can see that machine going to work on Obama and leaving more than just a few lumps. Let's turn the "talents" of Romney's henchmen on to Obama, keep them disciplined, focused, and this side of doing any thing "Watergate," and let them go for the DNC's juggular.

If he's what we've got to work with this time around let's face that fact head on and let's hold his feet to the fire and make our will known as conservatives. If he's smart he'll seek our trust, and appoint many of our cabinet choices. To secure our trust he's going to have to both earn it and maintain it.

He'll go a long and convincing way to doing that by arming, deputizing, and funding the campaign efforts of his "cabinet-in-waiting."

FReegards!

[Gay State Conservative]

Run not only with your VP but with your proposed cabinet as well.

Not a bad idea but I think it's illegal.IIRC I once read that it's somehow illegal for a Presidential candidate to promise anyone a Federal job *before* said candidate has been elected...or,perhaps,before he/she is sworn in.I'm no Constitutional scholar so someone who knows more than I will hopefully chime in if I'm wrong.

[no dems]

I like Allen West, but he will NOT get any of Obama’s Black vote and possibly cannot help carry FL. But, Marco Rubio will get a whole, helluva lot of Obama’s Hispanic Vote and carry FL easily. Whoever wins FL, wins the White House.

[itsahoot]

The GOP elite purposely pushed the most liberal candidate they thought they could win. Now, Mr. Rove's words may come back to haunt him. You got him nominated, now get him elected.

Progressive/Liberal GOPe don't let a crisis go to waste either. Many here predicted exactly what we are witnessing, we never had a voice in this campaign. The ABO screed was really popular here and among our spokespeople, so there was no reason for the GOPe to even consider a real conservative.

We are supposed to warm up to Mittens after he is appointed. They have underestimated the sh#tstorm that the dems are prepared to unleash after that happens.

God help us, for we have no friends in the GOPe.

[dgbrown]

So you are willing to let the Dems rule until the the conservative education project works?

Do not get me wrong. I am tired of Washington, both Dems and Republicans. I am sick of them playing house with my money, pretending to solve problems. I would like nothing more than to have empty government buildings surrounding DC and the housing market in the same area collapse due to the reduction of government employment.

[Agamemnon]

If we hope to ever make any post-Obama era electoral eligibility hay we can't do Rubio. Here's why.

Quick look at Wikipedia says this: “Marco Antonio Rubio (born May 28, 1971) ... Rubio was born in Miami, Florida, the second son and third child of Mario Rubio (1927–2010) and Oria Garcia (born 1931). His parents were Cubans who had emigrated to the United States in 1956 and were later naturalized as U.S. citizens in 1975.”

Rubio was NOT born to US Citizens in 1971 (although they became so later in 1975), hence he’s not NBC by definition. One would have to do a tortured reading of the Constitution to say he is. Not that I don’t like him. I love him in fact.

His VP-ness would blow our case re: Obama’s NBC status, however. The only exception being that Rubio’s parents became citizens where Obama’s father never did become a US citizen. A technicality though. You need a clean and clearly distinguished pair of candidates from Obama on the NBC question in order to make a post-Obama settling of the score possible.

And with all the investigative apparatus at our disposal, only after Obama leaves office will we ever be able to make this NBC stuff stick.

Fact is if Obama was ever to be declared "illegitimate pretender" we can up-end every piece of legislation he signed and every appointment he ever made -- including Fed judges and USSC appointments. With 3 branches in our control, he'll have no friends left. See where I am going with this?

Don't want to mess that possibility up by running Rubio - he's unable to step into the Presidency of it ever became necessary.

FReegards!

[Antoninus]

It doesn't matter. The ruling elites on both coasts and of both parties will have a president they're happy with no matter who wins.

Left out in the cold? Conservatives, Tea Partiers, everyone in fly-over country.

[JRandomFreeper]

Statists have been in charge and ruling for a while now, if you haven't noticed.

I will vote conservative.

/johnny

[lonestar]

Never heard of the guy and I've attended several Tea Party meetings.

Some people aren't as important as they think they are.

[JRandomFreeper]

A crap sandwich is still a crap sandwich, regardless of how you dress it up. And guess what.... I'm not voting for Romney. Ever. Period.

/johnny

[xzins]

Your comment doesn’t make sense.

Why would someone who thinks Romney is not a conservative think that Obama is a conservative?

[Agamemnon]

promise anyone a Federal job *before*

No law against that. Nominees have to have advise and consent of Senate anyway. Recall Reagan promised to run with (liberal) Richard Schweiker as his VP in 1976 and he wasn't even the nominee yet.

Reagan's doing that in 1976 caused me to favor Phil Crane (R-Illinois) over Reagan in the primaries in 1980, and my heart sunk when he selected GHWBush (Mr. "Supply-side economics = Voodoo economics") over Crane - a natural Reagan ally for VP.

Reagan clearly knew more about what he had to do to win than I did back then.

He was no less conservative for having selected GHWBush than if he'd selected Crane. He just might not have won with Crane. On balance, 1981 - 1988 my brand of conservatism advanced, and at the end, GHWBush could only win by running on Reaganism.

GHWBush lost when he strayed back into his patrician nature and into "Read my HIPS" territory. And the reason GHWBush had to deal with (D) house and Senate is because conservatives got fat and lazy in 1986, when we lost the Senate -- and we were all so content to just leave it all up to Reagan to do the heavy lifting.

Like I said the Presidency is not the office of elected "king." President is Q-back, his cabinet is his team. WE conservatives in the trenches are his foot-soldiers.

Romney's rhetoric has been "24-7 Reagan" in this primary. It's up to us not to sit on our collective conservative asses, buy to continue to hold Romney's feet to the fire.

FReegards!

[ncpatriot]

The Tea Party will really get out and protest if Romney does not keep his promises like repealing healthcare, etc. Romney will definitely hear from the TP if he goes wobbly on anything.

I have been saving my energy for what happens after election.

[redinIllinois]

“You have to ask that question after seeing what the Romney/GOP hit machine did to those conservative who did enter the race?

Romney and his super-pac buds have run the dirtiest primary advertising, filled with half-truths and falsehoods, I can recall in my lifetime.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
O.K., so what you’re saying is that “fear” kept the good Conservatives from running. You’re probably right. If Sarah Palin gave any of the prominent male “Conservatives” one of her balls, they’d both have one. One thing about the sleazy Democrats; they have the balls to fight. 95 percent of the Pubbies are sissies. Like the philandering Herman Cain, who istead of standing and fighting, ran and hid behind his wife and God. If you’re truly innocent, you stand and fight ‘til hell freezes over. Still wonder what he did with all that unspent campaign cash.”

If you’re going to bring up Herman Cain, I’ll try to correct you again.

Do you care about the truth?

Or are you trying to help the media spread the lies?

Everybody that had known him and worked with him for decades said they didn’t believe it.

Even Ann Coulter said the accusations were utterly unbelievable.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=47857

And the Former Chairman of Board of NRA tried to get the truth out to the media, but they weren’t interested.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2816755/posts

He said that the woman who claimed that Herman Cain had felt her up, had hit on this guy the very first day he was on the job. [Sharon Bialek] And he said that she had left the company before he even hired Herman Cain.

So there was proof that Herman Cain was innocent, but the media buried the truth.

Remember Herman Cain kept saying he didn’t even know the woman?

Fast forward to the 12:30 min mark on the audio at the link above.

[no dems]

Then why in the hell did he let the old broads drive him from the Race? Can somebody tell me that? If you’re innocent, you stand like a man and say I want to meet everyone of my accusers on National TV with my Attorney and they can bring Gloria Allred and her surgically altered mouth. But, I’m going to confront my accusers and I AM NOT GOING TO LET THEM RUN ME OUT OF THIS PRESIDENTIAL RACE.

Now tell me, where is the left over Campaign money??? Was it paid out in hush money. I guarantee you that if this was Bill Clinton or John Edwards all of you who are defending Herman Cain would be singing another friggin’ tune and you’ll be lying if you deny that. Just like you’re in denial about Herman Cain.

I still say: Where are the true Conservatives who have some balls? Is Sarah Palin the only one?

[no dems]

Even Ann Coulter said the accusations were utterly unbelievable.
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Ann Coulter also said she is a “huge Romney supporter” that he is a “great Conservative”. Do you believe that?