Posted on 03/30/2012 2:25:10 PM PDT by Ben Barrack
Conservatives are disheartened. It's becoming increasingly apparent that Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee in the fight to defeat Barack Obama. If four years of Jimmy Carter so awakened Republican voters that they nominated Ronald Reagan, why has nearly four years of Jimmy Carter on steroids so sedated Republican voters that they've decided to nominate the equivalent of Gerald Ford as the best option for defeating him?
In large part, the establishment insists on it and, like Obama, seems disinterested in the will of the people. This establishment is so invested in Romney that it is overlooking the potential consequences of one very real possibility.
What if he loses? The establishment's credibility will have been torpedoed. Yes, at great expense, but torpedoed nonetheless.
If you thought the Tea Party was angry in 2009, just wait until 2013 if Barack Obama is sworn in for a second term after defeating Mitt Romney. For starters, conservative voters will be outraged at any Republican Senator, Congressman or Governor who helped shove Romney down their throats. Accountability could take on an entirely new meaning and those elected leaders will have their feet held to the fire like never before. Romney's name will be added to the long list of liberal Republicans who couldn't seal the deal. Any attempt by establishment elitists to point to Goldwater as evidence that conservatism can't win will be met with sardonic laughter that hopefully drives a stake through the heart of the argument.
Consider the example Fast and Furious, an operation that is not only being revealed as something akin to Watergate with murder but could very likely implicate the heads of nearly every major department and agency in the Obama Administration, to include DHS, DOJ, the FBI, and the State Department. There have been multiple reports that House Speaker John Boehner has asked Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) to back off of his investigation, ostensibly because of how high it could go.
While appearing on the Fox News Channel, Judson Phillips, the founder of Tea Party Nation was visibly frustrated at the lack of interest on the part of Republican Party leadership relative to being more aggressive with Attorney General Eric Holder. Judson went on to say the following:
“What my friends in Washington tell me is that Boehner says what he learned from the 1995 government shutdown is ‘you never pick a fight with the president.’”
If Romney loses to Obama, Boehner will be forced to pick that fight.
If Judson is correct, it points to Boehner being more interested in running out the clock – with the November election representing the final whistle – than in a dogged pursuit of justice, regardless of where it leads. Avoiding a showdown could conceivably allow Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to skate – depending on their respective levels of involvement – instead of facing impeachment and removal from office for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Boehner has most certainly come across as disinterested in commenting on the scandal publicly and won't deviate from a short statement of support for what Issa's committee is doing. It would seem that Issa is wrestling with quite the Executive Branch behemoth and could use a greater show of public support from the House Speaker.
If there are any stories the establishment wants to see go away after the election, the ones about Obama's Birth Certificate, Social Security number, and Selective Service registration are at the top of the list. Such concerns are irrelevant, they say. Besides, the election is less than one year away and it's pointless to entertain the notion. The implication is that Joe Arpaio's investigation, even if it yields anything of substance, will be anti-climactic because Obama will be out of office and everyone will have moved on.
That is, unless he wins. Then what? If you thought the Birthers were loud before, just wait and see what happens if Obama is reelected.
Not only will the Birthers – who generally don't come across as avid Romney supporters – have four more years to continue their incessant drumbeat of demands for answers to their eligibility questions but the establishment that has made every attempt to ignore them will have been roundly defeated and, consequently, forced into a position of having to listen. With the wind knocked out of the establishment, its members will also be barraged with demands that they reconcile with their base (not the other way around) for supporting yet another in a long line of incredibly pathetic candidates. As much as the elites won't want to admit it, the Republican Party agenda could be set by conservative voters who were ignored by an establishment that still doesn't get it.
Tolerance will be in very short supply.
The sad prospect of Romney as the nominee is seemingly trumped only by the prospect that Obama could get a second term, which is made more likely, some believe, if Romney is nominated. Establishment, general election Republican losers like John McCain and Bob Dole have endorsed Romney, as have Governors Chris Christie and Nikki Haley. Tea Party favorites Marco Rubio and Christine O'Donnell have as well. A dangerous type of groupthink seems to have set in among Republican politicians that has generated a bizzare coalescence around a liberal candidate when the time is ripe for a conservative one.
For crying out loud, serial liar Howard Dean said the Democrats fear a face-off with Romney most over all the Republican candidates. Those of us who understand liberal tactics know that Dean means the exact opposite; that's why he said it. It'd be like a head coach proclaiming that his team fears facing his opponent's back up quarterback in an attempt to fool the other coach into starting him. Republican elites aren't as smart, apparently. They've been told by Howard Dean that their third string quaterback gives them their best chance and, by gum, they believe it.
Something else almost certain to happen after Romney's nomination; his religion will be thoroughly vetted by the liberal media. Most Americans know little to nothing about Mormonism but that is all going to change with Romney's nomination. According to a Gallup poll, 22% of Americans are hesitant about voting for a Mormon. Some argue that Mormonism is antithetical to Chrisitianity; some argue that it isn't; still others don't much care. One thing is certain. Everyone will know more about it with Romney as the Republican nominee for president. That, too, should be a good thing no matter what side you're on.
Don't lose heart, conservatives. Instead, check out Romans 8:28, which says:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
In 2013, the Republican elites could find themselves at the intersection of 'be careful what you wish for' and 'sleeping in the bed you made.'
I hope they're preparing for both.
Ben Barrack is a talk show host on KTEM 1400 in Texas benbarrack.com
Agreed and no reason why that can’t continue in 2013. Hope it does. Hope for strong majorities in national and state houses as well as US Senate.
Take as many seats as possible and just let Obama try to fulfill the promise he made to Medvedev on open mic.
Time for a fight, my friends. If Romney beats Obama, the Democrats could cough up something worse than Obama in 2016 - yes, it’s possible.
“I don’t care about his religion. I’ve just paid attention to how Romney has run and he doesn’t seem to have any workable strategy to take the white house.”
When you have no core principles it is difficult to lead. People have no confidence in Romney because they have no clue as to where he will lead them. The electorate is looking for a new direction, but Romney can’t articulate a vision that suggests he will take them in a better direction.
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” — Lewis Carroll
In terms of fighting...I'll just say that you have to fight smart, not just hard. That means knowing which battles to fight, and which ones not to. Sometimes, fighting a losing battle can help strengthen your position, and sometimes, it can hurt you. I don't blame elected politicians who try to navigate that.
But, give the GOP some credit. They fought hard on ObamaCare, and fought hard enough that the Democrats decided to go with a "mandate" instead of a tax, purely for political reasons. And because of that, the whole thing may go down. They stymied a second stimulus bill, and have fought some other stuff as well.
Now, I do expect them to be more hardcore if Obama wins, because I expect Obama to push hard to the left. But your argument is a relative one. If Romney wins, for all his flaws, he still will be more conservative than Obama, and some of those hardcore fights the Republicans might fight and lose with Obama won't have to be fought at all.
Take Fast and Furious. Or the birther issue (which as a conservative, activist lawyer, I think is a terrible argument). The whole point of pushing that is to discredit his Administration and weaken it. That's why you want Republicans to dig in if he's reelected. But if we managed to vote him out, isn't that even better?
Maybe the best way to put this is that I don't think we can come back very easily from another four years of Obama's judicial and regulatory appointments, or whatever horrible legislation he mandages to push through. We're almost at the tipping point as it is.
Socialists make up 40% of the GOP party. We need to kick them out
If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.
Emma Goldman
Ref brainyquote.com
Semper Watching!
GunnyGism:
Voting Is For Verrry Slow Learners!
-Me
*****
The biggest benefit is mid-terms. The party of the sitting president loses congressional seats in the mid-terms. So if Obie is still in come 2014 the reps gain seats (hopefully conservatives), and 2016 is almost a definite rep win (and hopefully we don’t put together a third atrocious set of candidates). If we get a RINO in the white house the dems gain seats in 2014, and the RINO won’t be opposed in the primaries so we’re stuck with him or a dem in 2016, and if he wins again the dems gain MORE seats in 2018.
If your party’s presidential candidate sucks losing is actually better than winning.
I thank God every day that McCain / Palin didn’t win in 08.
Obama’s win has really helped the conservative...
Ok , It’s done nothing for the conservative movement and added a great deal of damage to the nation.
But - I remain as pure as a Hasidic Jew waiting for the anointed and true leader.
/ sarc
Also if Romney wins, that means it will be tough to remove him as the nominee in 2016......I’m hoping Scott Walker, once he easily defeats the recall bid, will be on his way to the 2016 Nomination.
Yeah re-elections are almost never opposed in the primary, especially not at the presidential election. And with a 2 term r-socialist guess who almost certainly gets the white house in 2020, yep a dem, with a strong majority in congress thanks to those mid-terms.
At least that's what I heard a lot of around here in 2008. Now, after severe damage has been done, we are supposed to endure four more years of sabotage "just to teach the country a lesson."
Sorry. We had that song and dance with the anti-McCain faction. And where has it got us.
Well said.
The re-election of Obama would not be good for anybody. Who in their right mind would think otherwise?
Ever thought that if Romney wins, the economy might turn around and we could get some growth going. As a small businessman who has scratched and clawed my way through the last four years, I do not have the luxury to just sitting around for another four years until the perfect candidate descends from the clouds. I will take Romney and take my chances than another four years of Obama.
Eff no it won’t be good. It will be an unimaginable
disaster.
Well, let me be the first on FR to say that Romney certainly can win. And don't bother to flood me with all the evidence that he's really a liberal -- I know all of it, I agree with it, and that's why I won't vote for him in the primary.
Nonetheless, it's silly, given such a weak and increasingly disliked president, to think that Romney couldn't hold his own in the election. I think a lot of you are just trying to justify not voting at all..
oy vey
No, re-electing Obama is and will be the end. Conservatives will never be able to get a foothold again. It will be over or there will be a war, which I doubt. I doubt it because Obama has gotten away with ruining the country and ignoring the whimper of the right.
He knows the stomach to stop him is not there.
You just go ahead and do as you’re told and don’t worry about me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.