Posted on 02/26/2012 8:20:41 PM PST by ElIguana
Memo to social conservatives: In trying to understand RINO revulsion for former Senator Rick Santorum, remember that while leftists who run the Democratic Party loath you, the GOP/fiscal-conservative elite only has withering contempt for you. Isn’t that comforting?
One of my inside-the-Beltway friends is a businessman who moves comfortably in establishment conservative circles. When he tells colleagues that he’s a values conservative, he’s met with looks of incredulity that suggest they’re thinking: “But, wait a minute, you’re wearing shoes and your teeth aren’t crooked. My God, man, you have a post-graduate degree in the humanities. You’re not clutching rosary beads and your speech isn’t punctuated with ‘praise the lord!’”
(Excerpt) Read more at grasstopsusa.com ...
From the article:
Wall Street Republicans in effect are telling pro-lifers, family-values activists and the rest of us that in their proverbial big tent, there’s a tiny corner reserved for us where we’re expected to sit quietly with our hands folded in our laps, until it’s time to come out and work our tails off for whichever clueless candidate – Ford, George H.W. Bush, Dole, McCain – they choose as the GOP standard-bearer.
***My response, written several years earlier
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I’m a big tent republican.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1821435/posts?page=6245#6245
Here’s an analogy to work with. Take a small box and fill it with some rocks. Then add some rice, filling it to the top. Now take all the same stuff, but in a different order. Put in the rice first, then add the rocks. What you’ll find is that if you put in the big stuff first, the small stuff will fit around it. But if you put in the small stuff first, the big stuff won’t have room. The republican tent is the box. The Big issues are the socon issues, to be put in first. The little issues are things that can be accommodated around the bigger stuff. A candidate who tries to focus on the smaller issues first and leave out the bigger issues has no way of getting all of us into the tent. He splits the party. The candidate who gets the big stuff right and as much of the little stuff that will fit, he can fit more into the tent. We’re often amazed at how much rice can keep fitting in. Rudy Giuliani flunks some of the big issues, and on some of the little issues it looks to me like anyone else’s rice would do just as well. All that remains for us to agree on is which are the bedrock principles and which are not. Why would there be so much invective aimed at rudy from the right? Because there are some bedrock principles that he is leaving out. Bad move. I see rudybot postings all the time saying that they would vote for Hunter, and I see socon postings that say they would not vote for rudy. That’s a BIG indicator of a few bedrock principles that are being left outside the tent in order to let in some rice.
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So the elitists, the establishment GOP don’t want Rick Santorum and are working hard to tear away, peal away support away from Rick Santorum.
Increasingly, I care less and less about what the establishment Republicans think. They don’t care about America or theri constituents, only what the party wants.
It is jaw-dropping to realize that, had JFK lived long enough, today he would be a Republican. This is how far left the GOP has wandered.
I've been saying that for years!
Those who believe in nothing will always be beaten by those who believe in something, even if the something is evil or insane. The GOP has forgotten this or more likely never knew it. Their holy symbol has always been the dollar sign.
In 1996, one of Dole’s fundraisers made the tabloids, seems he and his wife had that “alternative lifestyle”. I’m sure DC is full of such types.
Excuse me? There are no fiscal conservatives in the GOP elite. They’re all a bunch of compassionate-conservative, big-government pigs.
I’m socially and fiscally conservative, but I don’t support Santorum for the nomination either. He’s not qualified, not even remotely. He has no experience running anything or governing anyone. Yeah, he knows right from wrong, morally speaking, but so what? So does my 16-year-old daughter.
We need a visionary. And according to Santorum ... he’s not it.
And their agenda is not in the best interests of social conservatives.
There is no doubt in my mind that Rick Santorum is most like Ronald Reagan out of the entire field of candidates.
Reagan was pro-working man.
He was pro-American manufacturing.
He was pro-Life.
He was pro-morality.
He was strong on defense.
He was pro-Israel.
He was PRO-GOD.
And he SPOKE on all of those issues without fear of the mass media and their assaults.
>>...There is no doubt in my mind that Rick Santorum is most like Ronald Reagan out of the entire field of candidates...<<
If only we had just one candidate with Reagan’s *LEADERSHIP* ability. Santorum is a nice guy but doesn’t really seem like a leader — he strikes me as a strong follower (nothing wrong with that) when we really need a leader.
Gingrich can articulate his point of view and dominate any debate. It would be a hoot to watch him obliterate Obama in a debate. But he comes across as talking down to and/or chastising you.
Romney simply comes across as a greasy sales-slut who will tell you what he *thinks* you want to hear. A political chameleon. I can’t trust him any farther than I could spit.
None of those exhibit the leadership qualities that just seemed natural and effortless to Reagan. He had a knack for swaying hearts and minds well into either side of the political center, leaving just the very fringe left to froth at the mouth.
However in times like these, I (personally) have made up my mind that common-sense must prevail over the strong desire to make a knee-jerk, emotion decision. To-wit: Whichever one wins the GOP nomination is the one I’m voting for against Obama.
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