“I thought it was about principles, not intimidation. Apparently I was wrong.”
BenKenobi, I’ve enjoyed your other posts in the past, so I’m not trying to pick a fight when I say:
Politics is a strange blend of acting upon principles . . . and dirty street fighting. The principles give us something worthwhile to aim at. But sometimes we must employ the street fighting mode to get there.
I personally am supporting Newt, not because he’s wonderful, but because I think he can *ultimately* win against Obama. Santorum is a good guy. A very good guy, in fact. But I think he is utterly unelectable against Obama. In his personal presentation (i.e., how he speaks, walks, holds himself, blinks at the camera) Santorum comes off as weak. The human animal has a strong inclination to pick the alpha male in any confrontation. Seriously, look back at the presidential elctions within our lifetimes, and you’ll see that it was always the “weak” appearing, “beta” male that lost. He also holds extremely conservative social positions (being against birth control, for example) that will not attract any Independent voters at all, and won’t even attract a lot of people who don’t pay a lot of attention to politics, but usually vote Republican.
Love Santorum as much as you want to . . . but please be aware that he really is unelectable in the general. Then act according to your conscience. *My* conscience tells me to support the guy who I think can *win* against Obama.
We’re in the dirty street fighting phase of the election.
“Love Santorum as much as you want to . . . but please be aware that he really is unelectable in the general. Then act according to your conscience”
I’ve seen polls putting Santorum at 45-48 within the MOE vs Obama nationally.
He CAN win against Obama. Here’s the thing, anytime an incumbant polls under 50 percent against a challenger, he’s vulnerable because the challenger is less known and the undecideds usually break towards the challenger.
“In his personal presentation (i.e., how he speaks, walks, holds himself, blinks at the camera) Santorum comes off as weak.”
“Seriously, look back at the presidential elctions within our lifetimes, and you’ll see that it was always the “weak” appearing, “beta” male that lost”
Carter won, Obama won, GHW Bush won. I could go back further.
Coolidge one of the best presidents ever - look at the guy. Wilson, again, Truman, etc. Even FDR.
I see what you are saying, but here’s the problem. Newt is radioactive with independents. People are going to crawl over broken glass to vote against him. Some of these folks are the folks whom we need to win.
This is true for Santorum too, but for him, it’s the hardcore gay folks, the atheists, etc, folks who are very unlikely to vote for us. The difference is that folks are going to crawl over broken glass to vote for him. Santorum is the kind of candidate that a lot of folks have been waiting for a long time.
Newt, a lot of people are going to be less motivated to vote for him. Everyone who comes out says, we gotta get behind him because ‘he has the best chance to win’, etc.