Conservatives are at it again: shooting our own. Posted on 04/12/2012 8:09:43 AM PDT by hocndoc
Conservatives are at it again: shooting our own.
When Conservatives decide not to vote for Republican candidates, Republicans lose. Conservatives lose. The Democrats, socialists, and atheists win. Obama wins.
Where Republicans voted in 2008, we won new offices. Where they voted in 2010, we won majorities. Conservatives made the difference in the winning races and in the lost races. Not only did we have fewer Republican victories in those races where Conservatives didn't vote, the races were decided by the least knowledgeable among us or by the Dems.
More than before, in conservative blogs and forums, I'm reading good men and women declare that they will never vote for Romney if he's nominated. They remind me that they were the ones who refused to vote for John McCain in 2008, or who (like me) voted for Sarah Palin and McCain just benefited as a side effect.
I certainly wish that Conservatives had found themselves working hard to force McCain to keep his promises for that last three years instead of watching Obama keep his.
And here come the third party rallies!
The problem is certainly the "GOP elite," and their support for Romney -- that's why Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum couldn't get a foothold, right? And why Newt Gingrich is still so far behind?
How many votes do you suppose the "elite" have, anyway?
Talk about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, yesterday, Rush Limbaugh warned Conservatives what may happen if the Republican nominee doesn't win. Yes, he titled the post of the segment "A Warning to the Republican Establishment," ending with a prediction that the Republican Party might never recover if "they screw this up."
The warning to the rest of us is ignored:
If this doesn't pan out to big-time electoral victory the way the establishment has it figured, then what will their excuse be? And I think I know. I think that if this campaign goes on and if it results in Obama winning, I think what the establishment is going to do is blame us. They're gonna blame us conservatives for once again being too rigid and too demanding and too narrow and unrealistic and all this, and telling us that we're the reason that Obama won.
Why not? That's exactly what happened in '06 and '08. (And don't forget Rush's own Chaos.) The media and the Left ate it up! The lesson learned was that no one can count on Conservatives. That's why we repeatedly watch people who should be our champions "pander" (Rush's word) to the "middle," the "undecideds," the independents.
Why not learn instead from successes, like the 2000 election, a victory that the Dems never saw coming? A good friend recommended that I re-read David Horowitz' "How to Beat the Democrats." One of the lessons is,
Lesson 3: There Is No Natural Conservative Majority (But You Can Create One through Political Action). The critical role Republican unity played in the election leads to a third lesson: There is no “natural” conservative majority.
. . . Such facts are no cause for conservatives to despair. What they are is a reality-check. If the conservative mission is to restore basic American values, the way conservatives fight the political battle will determine its outcome. There may be no current conservative majority in America, but there is a potential majority, if Republicans have the will and intelligence to create one.
David Horowitz (2002-10-06). How to Beat the Democrats and Other Subversive Ideas (Kindle Locations 842-843, 861-863). Spence. Kindle Edition.
Do we have the will? The intelligence? Can we forget the animosity we have had for each other the last year? Are we willing to say, "Let him who never had a change of heart cast the first stone?"
An estimated 56% - give or take - of the Republican National delegates have been decided, but 44% have not. The numbers aren't set in stone, yet, depending on what happens to the delegates who went to candidates that dropped out or in States like Iowa, where the actual choice will be made at caucus in June. "It ain't over till it's over."
I'm sure that I won't see Conservative blogs pulling their anti-Romney posts, but I hope to see a few willing to be positive and work together to ensure Primary victories for the remaining Conservative in the Republican Primary, in order to deny Romney an easy nomination. Is their motto, "Anybody but Romney," or is it, "Anybody but Obama?"
(Correction to last:)
The candidate (and hopefully the nominee) with the highest level profile is Virgil Goode. “Virgil Goode 2012” and there’s a wealth of background and voting data.
“And here come the third party rallies!”
Damn right!!! WTH did those complacent fools expect?
************************
Abject submission.
They are not getting it this time.
For more than a generation, I have supported each and every one of the GOP POTUS nominees. I have not liked one of them. Not one. The last three politicians I voted -FOR- were Ronald Reagan, Mike Foster and Sarah Palin. That is it, in a quarter century.
I mention this not because my single vote is that important, but because it is a canary in the mine example. For a generation I have supported a party and candidates I disliked. Intensely disliked, in all but one case, and hated in one. In this cycle, Willard is so vile on his record as a governor that NOT EVEN A SERF LIKE I HAVE BEEN will support him.
I only have one vote, but I will not be alone.
The canary is dead.
Really? REALLY!?
Running on a conservative platform? WHAT!? He is merely mouthing nice sounding words at you to get your approval and vote.
What is exessively more important is “WHAT he has done.” Look at his record, his own words when he wasn’t running. The man is a dyed in the wool socialist, (He does happen to have a rather nice, snappy looking ‘R’ by his name though, so he’s got that going for him.), a dyed in the wool gay-agenda supporter, a dyed in the wool.....
Oh bother, it’s all been said.
Romney? NO!!!!
Please, do not do that.
VOTE! Vote down ticket , vote for another party for president. Why? Deny the winner a plurality, a majority vote, a ‘mandate’.
Notice, I did not say vote Romney, as I will not. BUT, I will vote.
They are the same. The Republican party had the opportunity to push someone that would have been Obamas polar opposite. The ensuing landslide would have been EPIC.
But, instead, they push an ideologically identical socialist. That tells me the Republican Party also HATES America. They are in the same game of destruction. They just want to do it a bit slower, let you think you’ve done something to ‘stem’ the tide.
You name the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in the same breath, you say you will vote against pro-gay, pro-abortion, pro-national healthcare and socialist Obama by voting for pro-gay, pro-abortion, pro-national healthcare and socialist Romney.
Square that one up with Jesus.
I was unaware that McCain was running. Perhaps you know something I don't. Also, my comment, as well as the post I replied to, had nothing to do with McCains foreign policy.
I believe Romney will give us Supreme Court Justices that are liberal, big government supporters. Looking at Romney's record, I don't see how anyone can come to a different conclusion.
There are a group of “purists” around here who believe that one Executive is going to change America forever. They get all sanctimonious just before a general election and declare the end of civilization if we vote for EITHER the Republican or the Democrat. That way, when either candidate fails (as all men will) they can sit back smugly and proclaim, “I told ya so.”
They are not, in fact, constitutionalists. They are narrowly defined “conservatives” and when pressed can not articulate a consistent set of principles that would be acceptable to even a majority of other “conservatives”.
The closest they come is a few slogans that proudly set them apart from ever achieving majority status in a general election. The left has their counterpart and it’s why everyone knows that both candidates have to move to the middle at some point. The only ones who don’t understand that are “pure” conservatives. Whatever that is.
I have said many times and will say again now, American politics works like this:
The Democrat party commits the armed robbery and the Republican party drives the getaway car. They ride a few blocks and do it again and again and again and again. They work together. They are accomplices. They are each half of a single team. All Americans are their prey.
Like I said, I was paraphrasing from memory, so I went back and found Jim's actual post...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2871012/posts?page=296#296
It's a call to action!
I agree. Perot 2012!
I said I’d vote for Gingrich and that I’d vote against Obama.
I am trying to build a coalition for Conservatives, in light of the fact that half of the delegates. Is it possible?
Conservatives showed up to vote for Sharon Angle in Nevada, Christine O'Donnell in Delaware and Joe Miller in Alaska. It was the moderate/liberal GOP Establishment Elites that did not vote for them. In O'Donnell and Angle's cases, the GOP elites more than likely voted for their Democrat opponent. In Miller's case, he won the nomination only to be stabbed in the back by the GOP-E.
I have no intentions of playing ball with the Republican party. I quit the party after the last election. I'll vote down ticket for candidates I respect but I'll be writing in Sarah Palin or voting for the "tea party" candidate running on a different party label.
The GOP Elites can GO TO HELL!
Romney is NOT a Republican to support. He is nothing less than a politician of the caliber of Edward Kennedy.
He’ will not get my vote. Either way we lose.
You can not demonstrate anything positive or conservative about Romney.
Romney has a proven track record of pushing the leftist agenda on both social and economic fronts.
Believing Mr. Etch-A-Sketch when he says he is now a conservative is akin to a battered spouse believing the drunken and abusive partner that he or she will change their ways.
I refuse to be an enabler!
I haven’t seen any data on Republicans who voted against Angle or O’Donnell. Do you have any resources?
I do know that we had our Chaos in 2008, which knocked my State Rep out at the Primary.
I have a hard time believing that Republicans voted for Reid in November. More than likely, they decided not to vote or to go for another candidate in the Senate Race. http://www.lasvegassun.com/data/election-results/2010/general/
Yep... in 1996, I supported Dole, because I didn’t want Clinton. In 2000 and 2004, I supported Bush because I hated Gore and Kerry. In 2008, with my disgust for the GOP reaching a fever pitch with frustration, BUT buoyed by some small hope by Palin’s presence on the ticket, I held my nose as I voted for McCain/Palin because I despise Obama.
But Romney... that’s a step too far.
I’m no longer going to be taken for granted as a conservative. The GOP shows that it prizes its squishy moderates more than its conservative population. More of us than in prior years “get it” now. We understand... and are heading out the door.
What the heck does “support” mean? I don’t support Republicans. I vote for them.
I got to hear a wonderful series of Republican debates this year. Exactly what we claim to have wanted. Until we actually heard some of their stuff.
The problem? Ronald Reagan is dead. Yet every 4 years we revive him and proclaim him King of America. “Oh, he’s dead? Well surely he left a series of successors that would perfectly replicate his charming charisma and broad appeal who would carry us to infinity and beyond. No? Oh, crap! Then lets find a way to vote for Obama while proclaiming we are pure Regan conservatives.” Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Next month, I'm going to attend a local meeting of the GOP, but as an independent. There are three people -- one a Tea Partier and two estabs -- running for local committee chair. I'll be able to get an up-close look at how committed the local GOPers are to reforming. The result will guide my follow-on actions.
There are tons of people saying they will not vote for Romney because they cannot vote for a pro-choice candidate, so the onus is up to him to prove that he will stay pro-life in office. That is a huge thing for people of conscience and rightly so. How do you explain to a democrat that you cannot vote for a democrat because they are about 99% of the time pro-choice. Then you vote for Romney? Well, that IS hypocritical, to say the very least.
I understand the choice here, but there is one more thing involved. You have moneyed people like Karl Rove who have a lot of clout, who influence states’ issues by having a lot of strings he can pull. Take TX and the winner take all issue that he apparently effectively blocked. This makes it impossible for someone like Santorum or Newt to catch up, and that is the purpose. This is infuriating! There is an elitist group who can and do pull strings.
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