Posted on 06/17/2011 1:25:07 PM PDT by Hawk720
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour exhorted Republicans on Friday to put their ideological differences aside and rally around their eventual presidential nominee with the goal of defeating President Barack Obama in 2012.
"We are not going to have a perfect candidate," Barbour told the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans. "There has only been one perfect person that has ever walked on this earth and there's not going to be one who runs for president in 2012."
Barbour, who seriously considered a presidential bid of his own but decided against running, urged Republicans not to "get hung up on purity." Democrats, he said, are eager to see Republicans squabble among themselves and open the door for President Obama to win re-election.
"In politics, purity is a loser," said Barbour, long regarded as one of the GOP's top strategists. Whoever wins the nomination, he said, will be "many multiples better than Barack Obama."
Barbour said the current rifts within the party - divisions that pit populist-minded candidates against those backed by the GOP establishment - are nothing new.
(Excerpt) Read more at politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com ...
A Freeper whose name unfortunately escapes me once posted that the way to determine the inner truth of a headline or quote is to state the reverse. Hence:
"In politics, impurity is a winner," said Barbour.
So, how does it read NOW?
He’s right.
No Sale.
Nominate an across the board conservative or face a third party.
Sorry Haley, this is not true. We discovered already that when we unite behind a flawed candidate (McCain) we get worse (Obama). In this case, there are already at least two candidates that could be worse themselves.
FReepers Call On Barbour To Unite Behind A Conservative. [In Other Words: NO ROMNEY; NO WAY; NO HOW]
I don’t think expecting certain standards (for example, at least the party platform, consistently and honestly) out of a candidate is unrealistic.
That said, while there are some I don’t like, the only one I wouldn’t vote for under any circumstances is Romney (or his clone, Huntsman). But I know that from the outset!
And on the last campaign, even though most of us couldn’t stand McCain, I think we did go vote for him. The problem was that he was so underwhelming that only serious GOPers trudged out to vote for him; we didn’t get many independents or disaffected Dems, which we might have gotten with a better candidate.
Still, I wish Barbour et al. would stop telling us to be prepared for somebody we’re not going to like!
I agree, he is right.
Forget it, Haley.
I’m with you. If we get Romney or Huntsman, I vote GOP undercard and write in a vote for President. And don’t even talk to me about ‘a third party vote being a vote for Obama’. That’s BS. It’s a vote for the candidate of my choice.
Barbour wake up, we have the perfect candidate, Sarah Palin.
Gotta love this...
Already pushing the bogeyman argument and the “wasted vote” argument before we’ve even gotten started.
Shows you just how damn scared the establishment Republicans are...
=8-)
Talk to the hand Barbour. If the GOP elites do not let the base have a candidate they like pretty soon, they will lose the base.
Conservatives have not had a real conservative to support since Reagan. They are not asking for a perfect candidate, just a real conservative with enough backbone to stand against the sell out to Global interests.
GOP leaders big on which individuals turn it is better be worrying about giving the base a turn!
If we nominate a conservative, you bet; but no RINOS.
No, he’s wrong. Not all republicans, and especially, Romney would be “multiple times better than Obama.”
So, the deal is . . . I sign the blank contract right now, then you guys fill it in later with all of the details and stuff, and it will all be OK?
Cool.
Shut up, Haley.
Barbour is probably talking about Mitt.....all bets are off if Mitt is the nominee, many don’t want to be bitten twice like they were in 2008
So he’s basically saying “We are gonna be stuck with Romney so get over it and go vote for him” sorry no dice..I voted for McCain in 2008 because of Sarah Palin..I won’t vote for another Obama-lite..the GOP should be saying “We will make sure not to make the same mistake we did in 2008 by picking a progressive candidate” how about THAT from the GOP for once
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