Tea party dilemma: What to do about Mitt Romney

Politico ^ | 06/24/2011 | Kenneth Vogel

[Hawk720]

The anybody-but-Mitt Romney faction developing within the tea party may pose a problem for the former Massachusetts governor’s presidential ambitions, but some tea party organizers worry it could also backfire against the movement itself.

Romney, the current Republican front runner, is viewed skeptically – at best – by many tea partiers. And disagreement over whether to actively oppose him threatens to undo the uneasy truces forged in the run-up to the 2010 midterms and undermine the fledgling movement’s influence in the GOP.

The possibility of Romney winning the nomination is even reviving debate about whether activists should embrace, or even form, a third party – an idea that until recently had been dismissed as harmful to both the movement and the GOP.

“I honestly don’t know whether the movement will perform well” in the presidential election, said Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, a national coalition of local groups. “I don’t think anybody is looking for a third party candidate, but anybody who would count out that possibility, I just think is ignorant.”

Another tea party leader, Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, describes the presidential election as a potential “Achilles heel” for the movement, which arose in 2009 in opposition to what its activists saw as unchecked government spending and expansion under President Barack Obama.

“Our power comes from the fact that we’re not dependent on anybody to be the leader,” Kibbe told POLITICO, conceding the tea party’s diffuse and decentralized nature may be better suited to congressional races than presidential politics.

[Sloth]

No dilemma here. Romney will not receive my vote, period. Just as McCain didn’t in 2008.

[EternalVigilance]

"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the rest is in the hands of God."

-- George Washington

[MEGoody]

And disagreement over whether to actively oppose him

No need to actively oppose Romney. Just loudly and strongly support the good candidate(s).

[TommyDale]

They call seceral times per week. I want to know how they got my mobile number.

[MEGoody]

I am letting them know that Romney is a dealbreaker, and so should all freepers.

Then I know who needs to take part of the blame if Obama gets re-elected.

[Radtechtravel]

Fret not thyself of evil-doers, fellow Freepers.

We have nothing to fear but non-voting conservatives. This politico article is another fine example of “projection”, i.e., stating for fact one’s own fears. It is much like any hypocritical moralizer who constantly harps on a given issue because he, himself, is struggling with the same temptation and, therefore, figures everyone else is, too.

Politico is afraid of the Tea Party and they want a lot of others to fear it. So they constantly hypothesize scenarios whereby their wish will become reality. Therein lies the seeds of self-destruction of Politico’s influence, if it ever had much at all.

If the Tea Party is a real GOP force, Romney cannot get past the GOP Primary. It becomes a simple question of who will win the nomination. The present trend is any GOP candidate, strong enough to win the nomination, will whip BO’s assets in the Electoral College.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I’m backing Michelle Bachmann but I’m going to stick my neck out and predict that Rick Perry gets in the race by end of August and will steamroll over everyone else to win the nomination. Rommney will be kicked to the curb. Even if Perry does not run I still think Rommney will fade. Bachmann will win Iowa and she is coming on strong in Fla. If all Rommney can win is NH he’s toast.

[Jim Scott]

It's the old 'divide-and-conquer' strategy. The GOP establishment (with the Democrats cheerleading on the sidelines) are trying to use the premise that Mitt Romney is the 'designated candidate' of the RNC elites and if the TEA party folks want a 'seat at the table' (of GOP power) they had best not oppose him. Classic case of the tail trying to wag the dog. the TEA party has enormous power to change the face of the Republican party. The Republican elites know it, and they are frightened. If the GOP hierarchy is effectively overthrown by the TEA party and a genuine conservative presidential candidate (Palin, Bachmann) is nominated and elected, there go all the cushy government sinecures, lobbyist slots and lucrative consultant fees for the hitherto well-connected Republican insiders such as Karl Rove. How much access or influence would a Charles Krauthammer or George Will have with the TEA party people who would begin to populate positions of power? This is what worries the GOP elites. The viability of the Romney candidacy is the line in the sand, as it were. To use another metaphor, The RNC hierarchy is going to live or die on that hill - and so is the TEA party. If we buy into the meme that Romneys nomination is somehow inevitable and if we want to stay connected to the big boys in D.C. then we TEA party people had better get on board, then it's over and we're back to 'business as usual' in Washington - and the steady demise of our great nation.

Because we do have a mutual interest in seeing Obama gone from office, they use the scare tactic that 'we can't afford' not to nominate good old, safe, 'moderate' Mitt Romney. That a solid conservative such as Sarah Palin (my choice), Michelle Bachmann or Herman Cain is too unique, making such a candidate supposedly 'unelectable'. The Big Scare continues: nominating anyone but a nice, safe 'moderate' (Romney) will 'guarantee' another four years of the Kenyan Marxist in the White House. Yada, yada, yada. I don't buy it for a moment. Nice, safe 'moderate' Republicans lose to liberal Democrats like Obama. Too much is at stake, now. This election is it. The TEA party will live or die by the 2012 presidential election. It will either be subsumed by the GOP hierarchy and metaphorically emasculated or it will overthrow the Washington D.C. Republican elite's machine and nominate a true conservative, forever changing the dynamic of party politics in the GOP. It's up to us. Mitt Romney cannot be the 2012 Republican presidential nominee and if he is, I, along with many other conservatives, will not vote for him. The elites need to realize that nominating Romney is a losing proposition for the Republican party, not the other way around. Nominate a real conservative and we'll open our wallets and crawl over broken glass to vote for that candidate. Nominate Romney, wallets snap shut and we vote for 'anybody but Romney' - and effectively withdraw from the Republican party. I don't want to see that happen and I hope the RNC elites get the message, soon.

[Diogenesis]

Exactly.

In addition to Romney's fake polls, fake badges,
fake endorsements, fake fake fake taxes called "fees",
Milt Romney and Bill Hudak
are now linked to the creation
of several fake 'Tea Party's, including one
which attacked Gov. Palin from Texas in June (see post 11)

[EternalVigilance]

If the GOP hierarchy is effectively overthrown by the TEA party and a genuine conservative presidential candidate (Palin, Bachmann) is nominated and elected, there go all the cushy government sinecures, lobbyist slots and lucrative consultant fees

I don't know of any reason to believe that any of that would go away under Palin or Bachmann. They play ball just like the rest of them.

[FrankR]

I don't understand the delimma...just don't vote for the sucker. I don't think any conservative can win without the TEA party movement.

We cannot allow the left to pick our candidate and "mccain" us again...or it will be either Huntsman, or Romney.

[DesertRhino]

“Gerald Ford was no Mitt Romney.”

Yeah,,, Gerald Ford actually served in the military. NO member of the Romney clan has ever served our nation. All the way back to 1840.

To me, this alone makes him unfit. The candidate alone i could excuse. But for some reason, that whole clan is above service,,,in the civil war, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and the Muslim/Arab wars. I’ll never vote for him.

[ansel12]

I don't know of any reason to believe that any of that would go away under Palin or Bachmann. They play ball just like the rest of them.

You would be more credible if you weren't a Party Chairman campaigning here for your own anti-Republican, Political Party, and concentrating heavily on stopping Governor Palin.

Your tag line disguises that, it would be so easy, and so HONEST, if you put the fact that you are a professional political hack for a third party, into your tag line.

[RichInOC]

Take him out for a couple of Irish Coffees?

[Republic Rocker]

Yes defeat him..., if not support him because I wake up every morning with the frightening thought that a leftist is running my country and getting another term with 4 more years of lame duck status means radical actions that we may NEVER undo...... stop Obama at all costs is now how I see it. Any moderate is a HUGE victory for America.

[Grumplestiltskin]

“The Third Party threat is real. The nomination of Romney would enact the threat.”

I’m wondering if Romney wouldn’t come in third in a 3-way race, given a strong 3rd-party contender.

“It’s possible for a Third Party candidate to win over one third of the vote, especially if the opponents were two candidates so similar on so many big issues. The real problem would be winning 270 votes in the Electoral College, which would throw the entire election to the House.”

And would that be such a bad thing, considering who controls the House now?

This might actually become the “pathway” for a 3rd-party candidate to actually win this time around.

If that were to happen, it would be the end of the Republican party. They’ll go the way of the Whigs. They probably thought that they would last forever, too!

Just sayin’....

[EternalVigilance]

I take it you don’t understand the not-that-subtle difference between “Republican” and “republican.”

Your other comments are just garbage and not worth addressing.

[Walkingfeather]

dont take this the wrong way... You have no fricking idea what you are talking about. Phew.... I think we all feel better that that is off our chest.

[ansel12]

I do understand that your tag line conceals who you are and could easily be used to let people here at freerepublic know that you are a professional party hack, at work on these threads to stop Palin and drive people away from voting for ANY Republican, for President.

You are an actual Party Chairman, posting professionally to promote your party and your candidate for 2012, people should know that when they read your posts.

[celtic gal]

In the Primary I am NOT going to vote for Mittens. I am so sick of this man already..and the slime stream media selecting him and Hutsman as the most feared GOPs for Bambi to run against..rubbish.