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The Long-Distance Runner (Be afraid, be very afraid for 2012)
Boston.com ^

Posted on 08/30/2009 10:25:41 AM PDT by Replace all Democrats

Just before Thanksgiving last year, a group of former aides to Mitt Romney convened at his salmon-colored Belmont home, many of them gathering for the first time since Romney had disbanded his presidential campaign some nine months before. Romney had invited them for a post-mortem of the election weeks earlier, the type of dispassionate assessment that the Harvard Business School alumnus so enjoyed. But over cookies, they found few of the metrics for success that Romney prized -- Republicans had been decisively thumped at all levels -- and his attention shifted from 2008 to the future.

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: 2012; atlasshrugged; barbour2012; donttreadonme; flipflopper; givemeliberty; goawayromney; gop2010; letslie4romney; lie4romney; lyingromneybot; palin2012; republican; riley2012; rino; rinosgohome; romney; romney2012; romney4obama; romneybot4obama; romneybotlibel; romneyisplastic; romneypropaganda; romneyshatepatrol; stenchofromney; takebackamerica; tanstaafl; untruthfulromneybot
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To: AnalogReigns
Pushing Mitt is an obvious attempt to block SArah.

The more they bash her the stronger she becomes.

So they will just push Mitt to insure Odumba for life.

41 posted on 08/30/2009 11:20:54 AM PDT by cliff630
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To: autumnraine
"I’m still trying to figure out why the Republicans seem to despise Sarah as much as the Dems."

Sarah's a political outsider, don't forget. The deeper they are in the "old boy's network", the less they'll like Palin on general principle.

Palin is quite a reformer, they're afraid of her.

42 posted on 08/30/2009 11:23:33 AM PDT by PreciousLiberty
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To: Replace all Democrats

We need a charming, authentically black authentcally conservative candidate to run against “O” and paint him as the “faux” candidate who is actually white. I don’t believe in characterizing people into groups and types and skin colors, but people seem almost bound and determined to use this identification (racial, gender etc.) as a major element. It is stupid but is how the current rules seem to be constructed.


43 posted on 08/30/2009 11:24:11 AM PDT by Anima Mundi
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To: Replace all Democrats

I refuse to vote for any ticket with the worthless liberal puke Mutt Romney on it!


44 posted on 08/30/2009 11:26:10 AM PDT by Beagle8U (Free Republic -- One stop shopping ....... It's the Conservative Super WalMart for news .)
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To: cliff630
Yes. I would say that Mitt is a perfect candidate for their purposes, because he can lose for a variety of reasons. The voters decided they didn't like a Mormon. The voters decided that he was too establishment. The Republicans didn't like his Health Care in MA. People didn't want a change. People wanted a change, but Mitt wasn't enough of a change. Etc.

None of the above needs to be true. But it all has some plausibility. For those of us who think the Left has an ability to manipulate vote counts, then any race that Mitt is in can be manipulated to some degree, large or small, Mitt can lose, and the talking heads cannot really be surprised. They will just trot out the ol' "Well, I guess being a Mormon really hurt his chances ..."

Mitt is a perfect GOP candidate for the Democrats, because his eventual loss can be blamed on diverse and untraceable reasons.

45 posted on 08/30/2009 11:29:31 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Play the Race Card -- lose the game.)
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To: AzaleaCity5691
What we need is a strong ethnic Catholic.

Bobby Jindal!

He is a brilliant very solid Christian family man. That he goofed up on one speech in my mind is forgivable. He could run with Hunter, Palin. They'd get my vote!
46 posted on 08/30/2009 11:29:48 AM PDT by mlizzy (Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Chapels Everywhere spells P.E.A.C.E.)
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To: AzaleaCity5691

Romney is unelectable because of his religion.

I’m no fan of Mitt, but didn’t “they” say the same about JFK?


47 posted on 08/30/2009 11:30:40 AM PDT by ASOC (Cave quid dicis, quando, et cui)
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To: PreciousLiberty

How was McCain a disasterous candidate? He spent 5 years in a VC prison camp while most of the older members of my generation were spitting on the vets who actually fought for their country rather than participating in those protest marches.

And you can complain about how the media treated her, and yes they were harsh, but she also gave them plenty of ammunition to do it. It also doesn’t help when someone from Alaska harps about socialism because Alaska has historically had one of the more activist state governments in the country and they actually take oil profits and issue a check to each Alaskan household every year. Now, taking the profits of a company and then redistributing them to the public, what do you call that?

I also question Palin’s ability to lead when she resigns 3 years in office. If she really wants to be President, why quit the job that your whole argument for the experience to be President is based upon? It does not speak well for her that she left a job that she promised the people of Alaska that she would do just because the fire was getting too hot.

I’ll be clear, I believe we need to go with someone like Haley Barbour, Bob Riley or we need to find someone who is an ethnic Catholic and who can resonate with ethnic Catholics


48 posted on 08/30/2009 11:32:40 AM PDT by AzaleaCity5691
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To: Replace all Democrats

2012 will probably be a key year for the party. Either they get their act together in the next couple of years, or it will be time to found a new party. At the moment, Sarah looks like the best bet to help make this decision. If the party leaders continue to stiff her, then I would be willing to follow her into new third party territory.

This isn’t normally something I would recommend. I don’t vote third party. But history shows that political parties eventually get old and lost and tired, and disintegrate.

Then, maybe every 150 years or so, a new party is born. The Whigs died, and the Republicans were born. The Republicans will die—sooner or later and maybe in the next year or two—and a new party will be born.

If it is to succeed, that new party will have to be fiscally conservative, socially conservative, Christian in orientation, supportive of marriage and family, and dedicated to the traditional freedoms that are in our Constitution.

I don’t mean that it should be explicitly Christian—like the “Christian Democrats” in Europe, founded in hope but since then increasingly astray. Jews and reasonable secularists and others of good will would be welcome. I think that we have to recognize the values that have been the basis of our civilization for more than a thousand years, and that were basic to the founding of America, and that came out of the Judeo-Christian tradition, drawing also on the best of ancient Greece and Rome.

Most Republican politicians think very little about such matters these days. Hopefully, if a third party proves necessary, real conservative politicians would come over from the remains of the Republican party, in due course if not immediately.

Does it have to be Sarah? Not necessarily, but I haven’t seen anyone as promising on the political stage for many years.


49 posted on 08/30/2009 11:33:49 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Replace all Democrats

What a surprise (not) to see the usual RomneyBOTs
try to put down Gov Palin.


50 posted on 08/30/2009 11:34:24 AM PDT by Diogenesis ("Those who go below the surface do so at their peril" - Oscar Wilde)
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To: ASOC

The difference is we made up a third of the country then. So while it was true that there were people who voted against JFK because he was Catholic, there were a fair number of normally Catholic Republicans who voted for him solely because he was Catholic.

The thing with the Mormons is, they are almost all concentrated in a handful of states and none of these states are really competitive at election time. On the other hand, people who don’t like Mormons are spread throughout the country and they would come out of the woodwork to vote against a Mormon candidate. Especially when a light was shone on the church.


51 posted on 08/30/2009 11:36:04 AM PDT by AzaleaCity5691
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To: ASOC

The difference is we made up a third of the country then. So while it was true that there were people who voted against JFK because he was Catholic, there were a fair number of normally Catholic Republicans who voted for him solely because he was Catholic.

The thing with the Mormons is, they are almost all concentrated in a handful of states and none of these states are really competitive at election time. On the other hand, people who don’t like Mormons are spread throughout the country and they would come out of the woodwork to vote against a Mormon candidate. Especially when a light was shone on the church.


52 posted on 08/30/2009 11:36:07 AM PDT by AzaleaCity5691
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To: autumnraine

“I’m still trying to figure out why the Republicans seem to despise Sarah as much as the Dems.”

Senator Daniel Webster (1782-1852)
“Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority. It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.”

The ‘Cuda is not one of the “they” in the pubbycrat party. If she’s the master, “they” are not. If she steps in, they all move down a notch in the pecking order, and, like Her Thighness in the last election, they think it’s “their” turn.


53 posted on 08/30/2009 11:38:03 AM PDT by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
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To: Cicero

I don’t think you want a “Christian Democratic” party in this country because “Christian Democrats” are basically just the international equivalent of the socially conservative, economically liberal American Blue Dog.

What we need to do is to go back to the message that Goldwater had in 1964 that inspired so many people.


54 posted on 08/30/2009 11:38:24 AM PDT by AzaleaCity5691
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To: Replace all Democrats
We, the Republican party

There's your problem right there.

You've got plenty of evidence right in front of you of where 150 years of the same two parties gets you. If that doesn't open your eyes, I'm not sure what will.
55 posted on 08/30/2009 11:38:44 AM PDT by mysterio
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To: AzaleaCity5691
"How was McCain a disasterous candidate?"

His policies are closer to Democrat than Republican. He's very old, too old to appeal to the youngest group of voters who in fact decided the election. His personality was also the subject of honest concern, he has a long reputation of being a hothead.

He would have been an OK President, but he stood no chance of winning against the charming Mr. 0bama and his teleprompter.

56 posted on 08/30/2009 11:39:45 AM PDT by PreciousLiberty
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To: AzaleaCity5691

Good points.


57 posted on 08/30/2009 11:40:59 AM PDT by ASOC (Cave quid dicis, quando, et cui)
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To: AzaleaCity5691

Unfortunately, Goldwater was pro-abortion. And he was unable to win because his message was limited to fiscal/libertarian conservatism.

There’s no way on earth that a conservative candidate can win without the Evangelical vote and the conservative Catholic vote. Goldwater appealed to neither.

This is a perennial problem. We need fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, and conservative libertarians all working together, or we will lose again.


58 posted on 08/30/2009 11:41:55 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: sport
I think this is an excellent point.

By 2012 all the money to Acorn, SEIU etc., will have been distributed and there will be MASSIVE voter fraud. If Congress and the Senate isn't shook up in 2010, 2012 won't matter.

As long as the Repub Party keeps open primaries, 2012 won't matter as well. By the time the bulk of the states had a chance to vote the decision was already made.

In 2008 I told myself I wasn't going to vote for McCain, but once I researched Obama I held my nose and did anyway. However, he's in there now, so in 2012 I will hold firm. I WILL NOT CAST A VOTE FOR A RINO, PERIOD.

59 posted on 08/30/2009 11:42:10 AM PDT by Max_850
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To: ClearCase_guy
The GOP needs to recognize the fact that a lot of party loyalists won't put up with the RINOs any more. Open primaries are bad. Big tent is bad. When we run RINOs, we lose. The GOP doesn't seem to grasp that this is a losing strategy. So, I will stay home and vote for no Republicans, if a RINO is at the top. Maybe Democrat landslides will make the GOP understand that their losing strategy is why they lose.

Sanity post BUMP.

60 posted on 08/30/2009 11:42:24 AM PDT by TADSLOS (Proud FR Mobster)
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