Posted on 03/29/2012 11:19:31 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Republican presidential primary hasn't exactly overflowed with talent. In December, it was a roll call of the undesirable Right: Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, Paul, Perry, Huntsman and Bachmann -- a list so long and bizarre that Count Dracula could have slipped in on the end and no one would have noticed. Except, as the citizens of Chicago will tell you, the dead always vote Democrat.
Now, we're down to a final three, discounting Ron Paul, who, I'm guessing, is only staying in the race to collect air miles. Although the talent pool has shrunk, it has gotten no deeper. As Mitt Romney suffers defeat after defeat at the hands of Rick Santorum, whose chances of winning this thing aren't high, his negatives mount up, and the president looks stronger by the day. The Republican Party is divided and in danger of becoming out of touch.
It didn't have to be this way. If Sarah Palin had entered the contest, I'd hypothesize two alternative realities. One, she'd have the nomination sewn up by now. Two, she'd be running even in the polls with the president.
What have proved to be problems for the top three candidates wouldn't have been problems for Palin. For starters, she has none of Newt Gingrich's intellectual hubris. There's no way Palin would have promised to put a mine on the moon or suggest arresting judges who make decisions that are too liberal. Her conservatism is far more domestic and down-to-Earth....
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Shoulda, woulda coulda.
The conservative vote may not have been split as much with her in, but the Establishment would have ensured Romney an advantage just by carrying what are the “blue” states anyway. For example, Romney would still win just about all the Northeast states, the Island Territories, the Mormon Western States, and AZ/FL whether Palin was in or not. The exceptions are MI, OH, AK, and VA where Romney would have lost those states had the vote not been split. Given how “conservative” “red” states seem to be more Proportional and “moderate/liberal” blue states WTA, this would have probably been headed for the convention.
The rules as they stand now will prevent a conservative from ever getting the nomination. The formula needs to be reversed (Southern states need to be WTA and Blue States need to be proportional). The way it’s set up now, we have a nominee that’s going to win by not carrying a single southern state in the primary/caucus season. If Romney wern’t a Mormon, I’d doubt he’d have won any traditional Republican states.
Look on the bright side with Romney. With the long primary process he had to bend over backwards to tell everyone how conservative he is. At the end of the day, that is a good thing. And should be he become president, that can’t hurt.
Its better than the alternative, of him getting the nomination easy as a moderate.
She would have had to struggle with the idiots on our side who decided to believe the MSM narrative, or the idiots on our side who claimed she wasn't a "true conservative", or the idiots on our side who simply couldn't abide a capable woman executive, or the idiots on our side who were too neutered to come to her defense. Heck, she had all of the above right here on FR bitching about the dumbest crap. Shame on them all.
She is still a great force for good, a champion of conservative values, one who fights for them. She would have been a far better candidate than the three we have, but sadly (for us, not for her) it's not happening this year.
All of a sudden she’s “electable” to them now?
We will never know. Let’s be blunt.... the problems in our nation are far beyond the ability of one leader to fix unless that figure was a charismatic messiah that drove our fellow citizens to believe in self-sacrifice and discipline for future generations.
I don’t think any mortal in history could fix our nation. The problem is not our politicians. We are the problem.... we want an easy life and if our children and grandchildren pay for it, that’s ok with us.
We latch onto the next great hope as if they are going to reverse universal laws and our priviledged lives will continue without effort. We won’t even have to be involved.... just vote for X and he/she will take care of us!
It won’t work. Every day we are told... if only X ran things would be different. Fact... social security is broke and even FReepers don’t care. They tell us it’s not broke. They tell us the politicians (they elected) squandered the funds. They tell us they “earned it” and it’s their money!!!!! They were promised to be on top of the pyramid scheme!!!! What about my children? What about yours? My grandchildren and yours? Where is the payout for them? They don’t care. They bought into the utopian dream the politicians promised them. It’s the biggest union in the world and those of us who challenge it are scabs. Think I am wrong? You are not following the debate.
I really like Sarah and I wish she had run. However, if she had taken even 1/4 of the steps necessary to make our nation solvent it would have been a tumultuous four years and a one term proposition. There are plenty of conservatives who don’t have the stomach for sacrifice and we are the minority.
Perhaps Sarah understands these things... I don’t know. Personally, I am glad for her and her family that she did not run. Understanding the reality of our situation, you could be elected Captain of the Titanic when the stern was pointed straight up and half the ship was underwater.
America is going to elect the Captain they want. We are divided along party lines about 50/50 for those who even bother to vote. The Captain, D or R, is going to smile and promise them everything they want even as our nation disappears. We can’t even cut 10% of the budget!
Tell me where I am wrong?
Right on! Good analysis.
>> . the problems in our nation are far beyond the ability of one leader to fix
I disagree. The problem lies with an ignorant constituency. Newt is one leader who could fix the situation if moral vanity wasn’t the priority.
The President can’t impose wisdom on the ignorant.
Sorry Folks We are Screwed,I saw a Clip Of Romney walking across the Stage and I thought he was Miss America
If elected, put her in charge of US energy independence, a program with the highest priority for the next decade.
Or, at least, to nominate her for a high cabinet position.
My preference is VP, or merge the Depts of Energy, Interior and EPA into one unit and put Sarah in charge of that.
Lord, please save us from our friends.
@ Post 11
Energy should be a top priority for the next decade and Palin could make it happen. However, that assumes we have a congress that supports energy independence and a public that demands it.
Energy is not simply supply vs demand. The value of energy is measured in dollars and we are destroying the value of the dollar with our reckless spending/borrowing. Any gains in energy output will be eroded by a weakened dollar.
Revenues to the government will improve and it would promote economic growth so we should do it. However, it won’t fix our fundamental problems or change the inevitable outcome. Based on current and past behavior, we will spend the gains and still borrow more.
Again, tell me where I am wrong.
Woulda coulda shoulda... I know.
But I still can’t help wishing she woulda.
What we do have to do is, do the very best with what we have. Perhaps sanity will prevail, and Sarah Palin would get an influential cabinet position where she could do the most good. The same goes for Newt.
We need to stop this defeatist whining and get busy. We still have to beat Obama, which is not going to be easy. But with the right people behind our candidate, we certainly can do exactly that. There is no reason to claim we have lost before we even get started, since nobody has the ability to predict the future.
You are right.
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