“Thank you, folks, an honest admission. And there you have it, why I will never vote for him. He is and will always be an enemy of Conservatism. “ABO” isn’t a set of sound ideological principles, it is a purely emotional and reactionary stance that does nothing to advance the Conservative agenda. The candidate facing Zero MUST possess the character, integrity, record and agenda to deserve the awesome responsibility of the office. We won’t solve the problems facing this country by substituting one abomination (Zero) for another (Willard).”
And there is why you will never get a candidate elected ever again that is your brand of “Conservative”. Your “The candidate facing Zero MUST possess the character, integrity, record and agenda to deserve the awesome responsibility of the office.” will prevent anyone from getting elected. No one can agree who meets those “qualifications”. The trashing of candidates on FR during the days of the primaries showed that clearly. No one was “pure” enough for anyone. Every candidate is human and had flaws and those flaws prevented Conservative candidates from being nominated. We ate our own and this is what we got.
I’m willing to be that if Jesus himself ran for the Republican candidate for President, some here on FR would vote against him because, gasp, he was seen in the company of prostitutes and had an IRS agent as one of his ring of advisors.
You already made my argument. Willard's NOT a Conservative. He is the opposite. What most of us here want is one who is actually, y'know, remotely one. How does it serve us electing someone who OPPOSES what we believe in ? That makes absolutely no sense.
"Your “The candidate facing Zero MUST possess the character, integrity, record and agenda to deserve the awesome responsibility of the office.” will prevent anyone from getting elected. No one can agree who meets those “qualifications”."
Baloney. We see lots of people and candidates every day who adhere to these ideals. It's the party establishment whom insist on foisting people on us that serve THEIR big government liberal agenda, and viscerally opposing individuals that stand for OUR Conservative agenda. I favor dumping Willard for Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. You run that name up the flagpole around here and see how many salute it... I guarantee you he'd get over 95% FReeper support. An instant Conservative uniter, not a Socialist divider.
"The trashing of candidates on FR during the days of the primaries showed that clearly. No one was “pure” enough for anyone. Every candidate is human and had flaws and those flaws prevented Conservative candidates from being nominated. We ate our own and this is what we got."
Because nearly all the candidate who ran were TERRIBLE. Either they didn't have enough experience to jump to the job (Bachmann), too ill-prepared (Cain), plain mediocre (Perry), too second-tier (Santorum), too damaged (Gingrich), too nutty (Paul) and then there was the worst... Willard. Remember, too, that Gingrich refused to get out in key races where his votes would've gone to Santorum and halted Willard's plurality wins (and pluralities should be unacceptable on their face -- we need closed primaries and runoffs). I've suggested we have a drafting process. No more of these mediocrities and prima donnas deciding to get in. We need special nominating conventions where the grassroots put forward names, and those chosen compete. Draft the best (Walker, Palin, et al). Because what is clear is that at least in the past 20 years, the pool of choices getting in has just gotten worse. I cringe to think what we'll be left with in 2016. Michael Bloomberg ?