Posted on 09/22/2011 5:41:21 AM PDT by Kaslin
There's one sure way for Republicans and conservatives to lose the 2012 presidential election -- split over who their presidential nominee will be, and fail to go all-out to support the winner.
People keep asking me, "What would your father, Ronald Reagan, do?" The answer is easy. No matter who the nominee is, he or she would get his support. After all, his famous "11th Commandment" demanded that Republicans support their party's nominee, no matter who he or she might be.
He certainly would have supported John McCain in 2008. Tragically, if the party of Ronald Reagan had followed what would have been his lead, John McCain -- not Barack Obama -- would the president of these United States today. If Obama is not to be re-elected in 2012, Republicans need to get their act together, decide on a nominee, and back him or her to the hilt.
Let's look at some flaws of the current frontrunners. Both Romney and Perry, like the rest of us, have their share of flaws -- Perry for having signed an executive order to inoculate 12-year-old girls against HPV, and signing a bill to provide in-state tuition to illegal aliens.
As for Mitt Romney, his membership in the Mormon church has earned the hostility of some Christians, and his institution of so-called Romneycare when he was governor of Massachusetts has been questioned by many conservatives.
As things stand now, either Perry or Romney will be the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. Republicans will be obliged to support the winner if we can hope to win the presidential election, no matter the flaws.
It's important to recall that Ronald Reagan outraged some Republicans when as California's governor he raised taxes and signed an abortion bill and became the first California governor to sign a no-fault divorce law Despite all this, he still went on to become the greatest U.S. president of our lifetime.
If he were alive today and we were to nominate him in 2012, I wonder which wing of the GOP his opponents would come from.
Regardless of the outcome of such a confrontation, Republicans will have to either hang together or hang alone.
Should either Romney or Perry win the GOP presidential nomination, we are either going to support the winner in the November election or watch Barack Obama win a second term. Republicans simply can't afford to be bystanders in 2012.
Put it this way: Who do you hope will be the president when 2013 dawns: Barack Obama or a Republican? The answer is clear, whether our nominee is Romney or Perry or even someone else, such as Michele Bachmann.
one sure way to lose in 2012 - nominate Romney. tha last thing we need to a liberal heading our ticket.
I vote Republican. (not literally)
If we screw this one up, it’s lights out,
We need that today. But anytime someone tries to prioritize things today, some faction within the GOP electorate has a hissy fit.
That is true. I agree with the author, too.
“... Who do you hope will be the president when 2013 dawns: Barack Obama or a Republican? The answer is clear, whether our nominee is Romney or Perry or even someone else, such as Michele Bachmann.”
I hope there is no selfish renegade willing to hobble the Conservative momentum of America by opposing the nominee... AND I hope like hell the nominee is NOT Romney. There’s the rub
If it’s RINOmney, guess I’ll have to hang separately after CW II...because electing that guy is only slightly less repulsive than seeing the Obamaloon back in office. The effects will be the same - only delayed.
Then you have never read Reagan's autobiography.
The point of his 11th commandment was to support the candidate AFTER, and only AFTER the primaries are fought.
Reagan would be confounded with the thought that a conservative would not crawl over broken glass to vote against Commie Obama after risking the destruction of the planet to beat the commies in Russia.
CW II. Idiotic. And what do you think the GLOBALISTS will be doing worldwide while you have your little pantywaist civil war? Sit around and wait? Or divide a broken USA up with the sharp knives?
Otherwise it provides cover for internal saboteurs, turncoats, agent provocateurs, and subversives to become entrenched like a cancer... like McCain and Romney.like irrational purists on a conservative site who would rather see Obama elected rather than a party-hack compromiser and amnesty signing, abortion-allowing, terrorist-weapon-seller, lebanon cut-and-runner like Ronald Reagan.
However it happens, America will not survive another “O” Presidency.
That is what we should all be thinking about
Exactly
If we screw this one up, it’s lights out
I've got to agree with you on that. We have to get 0 bummer and as many dims as possible out of congress in 2012.
Traitor-by-insanity is the only thing these people can claim.
Sorry, but the 11th Commandment just means a succession of RINOS. In the long run, its’ better to lose to the Democrats than win with the RINO. Unfortunately, Republicans and conservatives need to know who the real enemy is. In the 1970’s conservatives thought we would never recover if Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford, but Carter’s win energized conservatives to go on to win with Reagan. Without Obama, there would be no Tea Party.
With all due respect, Reagan’s so called Eleventh Commandment was more of a quip than a core principle. He was more than willing to criticize Jerry Ford in 1976...although he did fall in line and support the eventual nominee.
Otherwise, we need to support the nominee no matter who he or she is. I see Rick Perry as a clod. He's really not very conservative. The Texas DREAM Act, his refusal to support E-verify, and his talk of a bi-national health insurance with Mexico show that he's not conservative on immigration. The executive order on Gardasil shows that he's not a conservative on several issues of government power and morality. That executive order was a mandate. The opt-out process was very difficult, and by forcing every insurance company in Texas to cover the vaccine, he drove up the costs of health insurance. When the legislature overturned his order, he first tried to pretend that they couldn't and then held a press conference to attack them. He signed a letter as head of the Republican Governors' Association asking Congress to pass TARP, and now he claims that he didn't support TARP. He's all over the place on Social Security and doesn't seem to offer anything other than posturing. The only way that he can be seen as a very strong conservative is if someone measures conservatism by bombast. Otherwise, Perry is just a blowhard who isn't that conservative but won't appeal to swing voters. In spite of these things, I'll hold my nose and vote for him if he's the nominee.
Which is the whole point. Fight it out in the Primary (like Reagan did) and then fall in line against the enemy if you don't win (like Reagan did in 76 and 72 and 68 and 64) and if you do win the primary, then respect and expect the support of those who didn't win likewise (like Reagan did in 1980)
What we've got now is a bunch of people who either get their way in the Republican primary, or else they work for helping elect the Marxist to destroy the country. Insane.
And there in lies the problem. Good post. You listed all the issues where Perry fails to be a conservative. As Ann Coulter said at and event I attended a little over a month ago, being a Governor from a conservative state, may make Perry appear more conservative than he really is. Conversely, Romney's situation is the opposite. They are at LEAST equal in their conservatism. And over the years Romney has probably moved further right than where Perry is now.
If Americans weren't retarded, the crowd would have rushed the stage and tarred and feathered the con man who's family hasn't sent a single one of its members to serve in the military, would have jeered him like the Romanians jeered Ceausescu during his last speech when he started talking with a straight face about how Romneycare is different than Obamacare.
Next debate this glad handing dishonest son of a bitch needs to get a stake put through his vampire heart; he will be the death of the GOP and ensure the communist's reelection if he is not stopped.
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