WASHINGTON, February 21, 2014 –
Posted on 02/22/2014 1:39:31 PM PST by onyx
WASHINGTON, February 21, 2014 –
Hang around Republican circles long enough and you will hear, “We have got to stop these circular firing squads.” The logic is simple; Republicans are killing themselves with internecine wars instead of going out and defeating liberals.
It is a great theory. Perhaps the best word for it is theory. As conservatives are discovering, though, what Republicans who complain about the circular firing squad really want is a semi-circular firing squad. These voices in the Republican Party want conservatives to stop shooting at them, while they try to take out insurgent conservatives.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz is probably the poster child for the semi-circular firing squad right now. Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the left do not have to lift a finger to go after him. The Republicans are doing it for them.
Steve LaTourette is allegedly a Republican. He is a former representative from Ohio and his primary claim to fame is serving for eighteen years in Congress without any major accomplishments. He founded the badly misnamed “Defending Main Street” PAC after he retired from Congress to become a lobbyist. Defending Main Street PAC is allegedly a Republican PAC, but it’s mission is not to defeat Democrats; it is to stop the influence of the Tea Party. LaTourette’s PAC is mostly funded by big Wall Street firms and left wing unions.
And LaTourette has made it his mission to go after Ted Cruz. He was recently on MSNBC in full semi-circular firing squad mode. He claimed it was “reprehensible” that Ted Cruz forced Republicans to live up to what they claim to believe and said that Ted Cruz should be forced out of the GOP.
Famed Conservative William F. Buckley founded the National Review. Today that once conservative standard-bearer is little more than a mouthpiece for the “Republican Establishment.” Mona Charen, a National Review writer, this week went on the attack against Cruz: “Cruz Aims at His Own Side — Again. He may be doing more damage to the GOP than are the Democrats.”
PLEASE Read More: It's worth it
rofl
Uniparty
Romney attacked everyone including Sen. Thompson.
________________________________________
In 2008 Romney managed to keep some Conservatives from even participate in GOP debates..
Duncan Hunter was locked out a couple of times and Ron Paul was too..
Both exposed Willard as the liberal he really is..
At an early debate when Congressman Hunter mentioned the Kennedy wing of the republican Party, he was not just talking about McCain..he was also including Romney from MASS, a a good buddy of Ted Kennedy...
Willard was gunning for Congressman Hunter and the other Conservatives who refused to sell out..
It’s warm, and going to get a whole lot warmer in the next year, yes. The GOPe is not going to go quietly into the good night.
The big problem with these old Bulls is the same problem Obama has and practically all Democrats...The United States Constitution. Precious few of We The People's elected help solve the nation's problems...they just help themselves...get re-elected.
Conservatives do this. Just hang around here during the GOP primaries and watch us destroy the more conservative candidates while the establishment moderate pulls ahead of them all. It’s a bloodbath. It’s not enough to support your candidate - we have to destroy the other conservatives. I don’t think conservatives rally around the next guy like the left does either.
This is guesswork, but at the outset let’s assume there are 6 viable candidates and 4 of them are conservative. Not one conservative will hold more than 20% support while one of the two moderates will never fall below 30-40% support. The other moderate is normally a throw-away and any support he has always goes to the other moderate when he/she drops out. This is not always true for supporters of a conservative. The math is hard to beat - especially when you watch the conservatives attack one another while milquetoast stays above the fray with the support of the MSM.
My numbers are pure guesses based on past performances, but this reflects the reality of the McCain and Romney nominations. We will likely see it again because the left supports it wholeheartedly.
The GOP base is about ready to start their own party
That we must do that is a sobering reality.
well, when the rinos and gop-ers and liberal plants surrender, we’ll be done.
I wish the RINOs would leave the Republican party and join the Democratic party and moderate them. I’ve had enough moderation on the right, I want the same amount of ideological purity as the Democrats have demanded of their party since Klinton.
Never forget why the RINOs are in the game. They have acquired very nice sinecures, and are not about to put them at risk by having to start seniority over again in a new party.
But I’m with you, I wish they’d go. The alternative is, we have to go. It occurred to me a couple years back that, in reality, it is we who are the RINOs.
The 2012 Republican debates were a complete fiasco. As one candidate diminished, another took his place — until that one got drummed out.
None of them were what would be considered top quality.
At various points, about 6 different individuals were considered the ‘frontrunner’ for a few weeks, at most. It was a disastrous lineup from the start and it finished with Romney.
2008 wasn’t much better with McCain.
Half of those claiming to be conservatives in 2012 were far from it, in reality.
==
Maybe, the new primaries schedule will improve things.
In 2008 and 2012, my state primary was so late in the spring that it didn’t matter who we supported. The nominee was already determined weeks before.
No argument from me - the compassionate conservatism branch is quite fixed among “conservative” leaders. However, the argument that a candidate who is somewhat or even mostly conservative is better than the alternative did not carry much water around here.
Too many seek perfection and it’s not going to happen. It depresses me to say this, but a truly conservative President would likely be a one term proposition in today’s climate because America has lost it’s willingness to buckle down and do the right thing. There are too many fingers in the pie that need to be removed gradually and it’s unlikely to happen. We can’t even get the GOP-held house to cut entitlements. Too many people are afraid of the repercussions even as they acknowledge we must cut spending to survive.
It's quite sad to watch it die this slow, pathetic death.
The GOP base is about ready to start their own party.
Yes, the Tea Party.
We all agree that the primary schedule favors the RINO establishment candidates. Having more conservative states that a GOP nominee will win vote when it matters would be a recipe for success.
With that said, Reagan would get nuked on FR today over immigration, his former DNC membership, and many of his decisions as governor of California. That is a fact few acknowledge.
It gets harder each cycle. Conservatives have fractured over numerous issues while the left strengthens their odd coalition.
The big money, lobbyists, business elite and so on are more important to the GOP politicians than the grassroots people and their principles.
When an individual is deep in credit card debt, they need to stop using the card and pay off the debt.
Boehner, McConnell and Cornyn with their recent votes on the debt ceiling just decided that their answer was to increase the credit card limit.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.