Posted on 11/14/2011 5:52:10 PM PST by Antoninus
The time has come for all of those who are serious about 1) defeating Mitt Romney, and 2) defeating Barack Obama to get down to business.
Within the Free Republic echo chamber, we will have a limited impact on this election. However, Jim Robinson has done us the favor of making FR a nearly Romney-Free environment, so we can be fairly well assured that those here now are of like mind in the goal of nominating a legitimate conservative as the GOP standard bearer in 2012.
I am proposing that a few motivated and well-informed activists, using FR as an information nexus, can have a disproportionate impact on the coming primaries. Mitt Romney's record is a target-rich environment but unfortunately, many if not most conservative voters have no idea how bad he is. Since the liberal media certainly won't tell them until Romney is the nominee, and the so-called conservative media have shown themselves to be paid shills for the GOP establishment, the task falls to us. Fortunately, we have the tools at our disposal to do the job.
I propose the following strategy:
Step 1: Spread the word about Liberal Mitt to every conservative we know via social media.
We need to do this to counteract the bombardment of "Romney is the inevitable nominee" stories that are coming. Also, it is important to drive Romney's poll numbers down as low as possible immediately prior to the primaries when voters will begin to become seriously engaged.
To accomplish this, we need to use social media. Sure, you can use email lists to do this, but in my experience, fewer and fewer people pay attention to FWD emails. They are not a terribly effective way of spreading news and information these days. Social media, on the other hand, is much more personal and has the potential to reach millions of people with your message. If you are on Facebook and Twitter, you are already aware of how to do this. But here are some additional tips.
1.) Seek out places where conservatives congregate on Face Book. Here are a few:
• Positively Republican (.5 million followers)
• Freedom Works (1 million+ followers)
• For America (1.5 million followers)
• Rush Limbaugh on Facebook (1 million followers)
There are dozens and dozens of others as well, but this is just a sampling. "Like" these orgs and then immediately begin posting comments stating your disgust with Romney and links to articles and videos which smoke him out as the liberal he is. Again, this is nothing more than getting information out to people who may be bandwagoners and who may be flipped once they learn how bad Romney really is. It's amazing how many eyes you can open just by posting an article on Romney's pro-abortion, anti-2A, pro-illegal, or anti-family stands.
2.) Post articles on your Facebook wall that the your circle of friends can see that discuss certain specific aspects of Romney's record that will make him objectionable to conservatives. Rather than the catch-all "Romney is a RINO" articles, find ones that address specific issues. These aren't hard to find--the Free Republic Romney Truth File is loaded with them. This way, you can post an article per day during the run-up to the primary, culminating with a summary judgment that Romney must not be the Republican nominee.
3.) Post comments that say that you WILL NOT vote for Romney if he is the GOP nominee. This is very important because the Republican establishment is counting on the herd falling into line after they force Romney through the primaries. If many vocal conservatives say they will not vote for Liberal Mitt under any circumstances, the front-running sheeple will start to lose that sense that Romney can actually win. We know that he can't win, but THEY are still operating under the media-led belief that he can. That notion must be exploded.
Step 2: After the first primaries, conservatives must coalesce around one candidate.
I am currently a Santorum supporter. However, if Rick finishes outside the top three any of the first three primaries, I will transfer my support to the most formidable non-Romney Republican. It is important that many people agree to do this and then be VERY vocal about it. The only way Romney can win this is if the conservative vote remains split for too long. If we unite, he can't win. Period.
I don't want to end up with John McCain, part II, running against Obama in 2012. The best way to avoid that is to make sure we knock Romney out early. He's got the money to last a long time in the primaries and drain the other candidates coffers, so it is very important that we demonstrate the futility of his continuing as soon as possible. I have already pledged that I will not vote for Mitt Romney under any circumstances and I mean to keep that pledge. However, I would much rather be working for a conservative Republican candidate in 2012 than plugging a 3rd party.
Let's work now to make sure the media doesn't get to pick the Republican candidate in 2012. Otherwise, we may be looking at a situation where Obama wins with 40% of the vote. That is a nightmare scenario that we can avoid if we do what we have to do to get people informed.
Obviously being hateful and nasty attracts very few people to a cause. Hating and name calling are not the tactics employed by good people, or intelligent people fot that matter.
Romney WSJ Nov 11
great 3 1/2 minute video Romney 2005
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204505304577004352121240264.html?KEYWORDS=Romney
Romney is not all that much better than BO.
I think it all boils down to this. After IA, NH, NV, SC and FL have voted then there will be at least a couple of conservative candidates who have not finished in the top three in any of these primaries. It will then be time for conservatives supporting these also-rans to re-direct their support to one of the conservative front-runners.
i respectfully object to the strategy.
If Mitt is not defeated early (IA & SC primarily), then he wins. So the important anti-Mitt activity needs to be focused on those 2 states.
50 of the 99 IA counties will have fewer than 1000 caucus attendees. If ya can find 50 people to get a pre-pay cell with an IA phone number and do the calling ... that one project alone will have a big impact.
100,000 is the caucus attendee total in IA. When the show gets to FLA, too many voters (2 million) ... not possible for grassroots stuff to have an impact.
Your view of this is almost the opposite of mine. Mitt will have a small but highly-motivated group of ground operatives in every state. I think this will be more effective in IA than in FL. In FL what is needed are tens of thousands of individuals each talking to people they know or live near. That is grassroots politics and that is what we conservatives will have to use to defeat Mitt.
“..one of the biggest liabilities of Mitt Romney’s health care law in Massachusetts: the fact that health-insurance premiums in Massachusetts have skyrocketed since the law was put into place..”
Good article. Thanks. Let me see if I can find the FR link.
Pinging the old Duncan Hunter list to see if there’s any interest from you folks in putting this strategy into effect.
I appreciate your ideas and your determination to sink Romney at eh polls.
All anyone of us need do is read: “Can Mitt Romney Serve Two Masters?” by Tricia Erickson. Not only does she, the daughter of a Mormon Bishop, who has left the church to become a Christian, give a very comprehensive history of the Mormon Church, she delieveers a complete history of Romney’s political and pre-political careers.
I manage to avoid “FWD” by cutting and pasting with my own subject typed in. I think most people read my emails.
just a couple of important suggestions. Let’s go get ‘im, folks! They are really pushing Romney now.
I’m in.
Go somewhere else, Troll! Go where the scumbums go!
You are confusing Can with Perry. Cain does not do gaffes, nor does he do women!
Newt really reeled you in, a nice fat cat fish like you! You’d better do your homewowrk on that man. He instituted the Federal Department of Education, where you were obviously indoctrinated.
The money is rolling in big time to the Cain campaign since the Evil Left threw false acusations at him. You wouln’t know a fine man if the scales were off your eyes
Mr. Cain started with virtually nothing. He got out thetr and people liked him and liked what he had to say, so he began winning one straw poll after another. He’s still winning them. Now the campaign is now worth better than $9 Million, most of it in the past few weeks! And we true conservatives keep pouring it to him!
I think Obama has pretty much maxed himself out!
Mr. Cain has been proven time and again that he is a great delegater, so he will pick the best vice president, never fear.
Now you are outa here, you scumbum!
Thx for the ping, but barring a third party candidate of conservative caliber, I will be sitting this one out. There isn't a Conservative in the race.
Could you explain in a little more detail how this could be done? I have been looking everywhere for national phone banks for IA - like they had in WI - and so far have found none.
Are you allowed to post on the IA board here if you don’t live in Iowa - those people seem pretty important to me.
Any insight you can give me I would greatly appreciate.
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