The GOP Deserves to Lose

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Jan 24, 2012 | Bret Stephens

[KeyLargo]

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

JANUARY 24, 2012 By Bret Stephens

The GOP Deserves to Lose That's what happens when you run with losers.

Let's just say right now what voters will be saying in November, once Barack Obama has been re-elected: Republicans deserve to lose.

It doesn't matter that Mr. Obama can't get the economy out of second gear. It doesn't matter that he cynically betrayed his core promise as a candidate to be a unifying president. It doesn't matter that he keeps blaming Bush. It doesn't matter that he thinks ATMs are weapons of employment destruction. It doesn't matter that Tim Geithner remains secretary of Treasury. It doesn't matter that the result of his "reset" with Russia is Moscow selling fighter jets to Damascus. It doesn't matter that the Obama name is synonymous with the most unpopular law in memory. It doesn't matter that his wife thinks America doesn't deserve him. It doesn't matter that the Evel Knievel theory of fiscal stimulus isn't going to make it over the Snake River Canyon of debt.

Above all, it doesn't matter that Americans are generally eager to send Mr. Obama packing. All they need is to be reasonably sure that the alternative won't be another fiasco. But they can't be reasonably sure, so it's going to be four more years of the disappointment you already know.

Is this the best they can do?

As for the current GOP field, it's like confronting a terminal diagnosis. There may be an apparent range of treatments: conventional (Romney), experimental (Gingrich), homeopathic (Paul) or prayerful (Santorum). But none will avail you in the end. Just try to exit laughing.

[Logic n' Reason]

We have to go with what we have and Newt IMO is the cream of that crop.

Where have I heard this before?????

Oh yeh...I remember.....

It was pre-general election, 2008; "We have to go with what we have and McCain IMO is the cream of that crop!"

Seems the rinos - yet again - are going to manage to snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory.

It's been said that against the stain, a sponge should be able to win...and win big!

I guess we're going to see, aren't we?

As for me???

Come Nov. 6th, I shall proudly and resolutely march into the voting booth and with as much vigor as a hanging chad will permit, vote AGAINST the stain.

It's that simple.

[Round 9]

This guy clearly is spoon fed his opinions by his peers and basically regurgitated them in this useless waste of bandwidth.

[ari-freedom]

“The usual rap on Mr. Romney is that he’s robotic, but the real reason he can’t gain traction with voters is that they suspect he’s concealing some unnameable private doubt. “

Nope. It’s because he’s another limpwristed RINO. But Stephens can’t admit that because otherwise Mitch Daniels, Christie, etc wouldn’t be on his A team.

[MindBender26]

This is Horse Hockeys.

Who does he want us to run, Harold Stassen?

[Starboard]

IMO a lot of the bickering and backbiting can be attributed to these ridiculous marathon debates that have degenerated into a political circus. Instead of the field focusing on removing Obama from office and turning the country around, every week turns into a circular firing squad, with a gleeful media providing the guns. These endless “debates” have got to rank up there with one of the greatest political blunders of all time. We need to find out who enabled this fiasco so it never happens again.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Stephens is a friggin moron. We can run Mickey Mouse and MM is more worthy of the WH than Obama.

[Biblebelter]

Finally, there are the men not in the field: Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Haley Barbour. This was the GOP A-Team, the guys who should have showed up to the first debate but didn't because running for president is hard and the spouses were reluctant. Nothing commends them for it.

When Jeb Bush,Chris Christie, and Haley Barbour are the GOP's A team, then it explains why Newt appears to be the frontrunner.

[cuban leaf]

Unknown. It’s based on reading history and following human nature.

I think we’ve been in August of 1939 for some time, and this year will be September of 1939. The world governments and the government of the US have been kicking the can down the road for too long as the problems get bigger and bigger. And every time they kick the can it is heavier and goes a shorter distance.

I think they will kick it several times this winter/spring, but I think they will be unsuccessful at kicking it out of this year. A hundred years of chickens are coming home to roost, and it is about to happen on Obama’s watch, and, him being the most inexperienced and poorly qualified in the history of the US, this will be very bad for the US, and for him.

He will not finish his term.

[ILS21R]

Wow...too much coffee.

They / they
We’ll / will

Hope there aren’t anymore.

[ontap]

There's nothing wrong with the current GOP field of candidates. The elite media liberal and conservative always go off when their chosen one falters Sorry about that...this is how the process works.The voters in the primaries choose the candidate and then the voters in the general choose the president. I'm tired of the hand wringing when we choose. Any of these candidates are far better than the first idiot occupying the office currently. Zero makes Jimmuh Carter look like a genius. Any of these candidates can beat him if the people just use their heads.When people on this site declare if a certain candidate gets nominated they will sit home that's the problem.

[ILS21R]

we’ll / We’ll

Ok folks move along now.

[throwback]

Yes Barbour of “pardoned convicted murderers” fame. Mitch Daniels with his own wife issues. Jeb Bush who is a “Bush”. Chris Christie of endless fat joke fame. Once I got to his list, I stopped reading. I'll vote Santorum, Newt, Mitt in that order. It's still better than McCain in ‘08, so far. The only person I seem to be developing a permanent dislike for is Paul. Although, some supporters on this site surely tempt me to hate their candidate.

[ltc8k6]

Well, if the nation votes for Obama again, then it certainly deserves 4 more years of the fool, and the consequences...

[andy58-in-nh]

Mitt may be a RINO (he is), but the reason that people (even other RINO's) can't seem to warm to him is the sense that he is hollow. I think that's exactly right. The man has no center, no core beliefs... other than getting himself elected.

Newt's got his own problems, but a lack of conviction is not one of them. That's the reason for his relative popularity at this moment - the sense that he's real and that he's honestly angry - as compared with Romney, who when he speaks always sounds like he's reading from a memorized script.

[cuban leaf]

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying Newt is all bad. I was actually in Seattle in the 90’s when Newt came to town. There were protesters there (many bussed in) and I was part of the “counter protester” group. I policed the “front line”, instructing every person on our side who was getting “hot under the collar” to calm down and use language and ideas against the jeers of the other side. My motto to them was, if you show emotion, you lose.

And there was a guy there with a pocket trumpet. I asked him if he knew the song “All we are saying, is give peace a chance”? He did. So I had him play it and I got a few others to sing with me, “All we are saying, is give Newt a chance”. Well the whole crowd started singing it and it really irked the other side, but we shut them up, effectively.

I share that story solely to give you some historical perspective on my attitude toward Newt. That said, I don’t think ex-congressmen make good presidents and ex-governors are much better. But I make an exception in this case because of who the particular ex-governor is.

[KeyLargo]

I guess that I sometimes reminisce about Sarah Palin, and the feeling of hope that we in the Tea Party had once.

There is still time for someone else to join this current field.

[Maverick68]

If the GOP loses, America is frakked....

[rbmillerjr]

Stephens appears to be frustrated that the chosen Estab guy isn’t running away with it.

It’s not a good idea to rant and write..

Just ask RINO Coulter.

[kindred]

Bret Stevens is not right in this matter. But the rino GOP is worthless however.
The states need to destroy the worthless fed and replace it with a small fed whose main duty to watch over the military, all other powers are to be in the states as the Constitution stipulates.

[Starboard]

“Right now you’d have to say that A-list Republican presidential contenders would rather wait another 4 years...”

By that time the country would be so broken that no one could repair the damage in one term and would likely be seen as a failure. Then it would be right back the Dems. This election is really for all the marbles.