I’ve been sitting here stewing in my own juices just watching the events of the last couple of days unfold. And yes, I’m still over it. But I just ran across a piece in the Spectator that really got me thinking. Why are Republicans, whether establishment types or Tea Party activists, fighting so freaking hard over this nomination?
Early on I could understand, these things had to play themselves out. But now, for all intents and purposes, we’re left with the establishment candidate Romney vs. the guy who isn’t the establishment candidate Gingrich. And let’s face it fellow grassroots, common sense conservative, that’s the only reason that Gingrich is garnering so much support. Because he’s not Romney. That’s the best I can figure.
The line in the sand has clearly been drawn. You’re either supporting the establishment’s moderate choice or you’re hell bent against him and supporting whomever pisses them off the most. That happens to be Gingrich, otherwise you’d support Rick Santorum. Ron Paul supporters, you’re an entity unto yourself.
I’ve written to this effect before, but I think we’re missing the boat. I think we’re not focused on the ultimate goal, and that’s getting rid of Barack Obama.
However, a piece in the Spectator has me looking at this in perhaps a different light. Ron Ross writes that Republicans, especially those in the establishment, need to chillax. The reason being that if the election were held today that even Charlie Sheen would beat Obama.
Here’s what the panic prone seem to be overlooking — if the election were held tomorrow, Charley Sheen would beat Barack Obama. Heck, you could even say John McCain would beat him. The point is this: the election in November will be almost exclusively about Obama. The relative importance of Obama versus fill-in-the-blank will be in the neighborhood of 95 to 5. This election will be overwhelmingly a vote against rather than a vote for. The deciding question on the majority of voters’ minds will be, “Which of these two guys is not Barack Obama.” There will be tens of millions of “one-issue voters” and the one issue will be Mr. Obama.Here’s the bottom line. I have no dog in this fight. My candidates either didn’t run or imploded on impact. I’m not comfortable with Romney’s apparent weaknesses, and despite his ability to articulate conservatism my gut tells me that a Gingrich nomination and subsequent Presidency would end in heartache as well. But the main point is this, neither one of these men, whether they’re really conservative or not, whether they’re a rino, liberal, progressive, or just opportunistic, is Barack Hussein Obama. And that’s enough for me.
Certainly it would have been nice to have a strong, conservative candidate with populist appeal to take the fight to Obama. But who the challenger in this race ends up being may mean less than perhaps it ever has in history for the simple reason that the incumbent will be Barack Obama. That one fact in itself may be our biggest asset.
UPDATE: It’s an Instalanche. Thanks Glenn.
UPDATE II: Linked at 24 Hour Campfire and Red Dog Report, thanks!
UPDATE III: Linked at Stop the ACLU, thanks!
UPDATE IV: Daily Pundit links and disagrees. To answer his question, yes, I would vote for heartache just because Satan is running on the other side. My biggest problem with Newt is that I don’t think he’s the “conservative” that some seem to think that he is.
The Lonely Conservative links and gets it:
Look, politics is tough. Romney’s PAC went after Gingrich in Iowa, and Gingrich didn’t like it. So he went all medieval on capitalism. It wasn’t until he shut up about Bain Capital that he took off in the polls in South Carolina. He went on to have a good debate and won that state’s primary. But his leftist attacks on capitalism, wealth and immigration took their toll and a lot of people started speaking out against him. It’s not like Romney hasn’t been trashed and ridiculed by a good number of folks on our side for years. I’d say that at least half of the conservative blogosphere suffers from Romney derangement syndrome. Does that make Romney the victim of a conspiracy?I knew I liked her for some reason.
http://pohdiaries.com/republicans-need-to-chillax/
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