On Romneylove
My own experience with coming over to Romney’s side is this: Once you get past hating his guts, you kind of… like him.
Read the whole thing.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
My own experience with coming over to Romney’s side is this: Once you get past hating his guts, you kind of… like him.
Read the whole thing.
People are never so sure of what they like as what they don’t. That the Republican/Conservative zeitgeist should consist of little more than Romney angst is most unbecoming, though entertaining. Nothing so focuses an electorate as election day; and a choice between humdrum or a sylphan pipsqueak with an ego bestowed on him by Harvard Law in lieu of an education is a no-brainer. Obama will lose and all the Romney angst will have been for nothing but my entertainment.
And if you have more integrity than Ace, you don’t have to keep trying to persuade yourself that Romney is an adequate candidate. I love the campaigning, but seven more months of this pleading and justification will be tough to endure.
I will embrace his inevitability when y’all accept that a Romney nomination makes Obama’s 2nd term inevitable.
I am beginning to understand that Republicans do indeed thirst for death.
Very good writing, Neo. And I hate leaving a comment with a correction… but I think you meant to link to THIS article: http://ace.mu.nu/archives/328174.php
You accidentally linked to the Zimmerman one.
a Romney nomination makes Obama’s 2nd term inevitable
I categorically reject that notion. Anyone who claims to be a (some or more) conservative, libertarian or Republican and sits out the general election in the fall isn’t.
That said, I’m afraid Romney is just a band aid place on a sucking chest wound. Which is an improvement, as Teh Won wants to inflict more sucking chest wounds. But the patient is in mortal danger without a major shakeup.
I’m consigned to the fact that there isn’t adequate intestinal fortitude in the current crop of elected officals (on the whole) to tell the American people that the days of getting other people’s money for nothing is going to come to an end.
They’ll keep rearranging the deck chairs, and the band will keep playing, then we’ll all go over the side into the icy waters together.
Boy, is that ever going to suck.
BTW, the last 5 paragraphs of Ace’s post are what strike me as the core of what’s been happening this primary. I think people saw this election as a sure win, and saw the possibility of electing someone they actually love and feel confident in.
Unfortunately, none of those individuals decided to run. And we’re still smarting over it… still wishing there was A Way to compel them.
The thing is, Another Obama presidency would be worse than disastrous for this country. I don’t think we’d be able to survive it. Particularly considering we are very likely to see the retirement of several more Supreme Court justices in the next four years… and if news of the past week doesn’t convince you of the need for good justices on the bench, nothing will.
Book: thanks; fixed now.
The Fed is buying 60% of Treasury bonds right now and federal spending is over 40% borrowed. We are going to hit the wall at some point. A sober, business person like Romney might just be able to make the case for fiscal reform. That is the biggest problem facing America.
So what’s he waiting for? The time to do that is now, not after we go off the cliff.
Book,
You describe me. I have, from the beginning, believed Obama to be highly likely to be defeated by any Repub candidate. Here is why: I believe voters will notice that Obama is a bad POTUS. Voters may not focus on that until October, but I believe they will notice, and they will vote Obama out of office by a solid margin.
Therefore, I favor a candidate whom I can love, and who will do more than merely slow the rate at which the ship is headed for the waterfall. I want the ship diverted, and aimed completely away from the waterfall, and to progress some bit of distance away from the waterfall.
Also, regardless of the candidate, “appealing to moderates” is a misguided and suboptimal strategy. I do not favor a candidate who follows a suboptimal strategy.
To anyone on our side of the aisle contemplating sitting out the election, I say again: judicial appointments.
Not just to the Supreme Court, but at the Federal district and appellate courts, where liberal appointees actually do damage on a daily basis.
So we’ve got to keep our eye on the ball.
OB,
Exactly! Many people fail to consider the judicial appointments, IMO.
The more I see Mitt the more I like him. He has a dry sense of humor. And when he appears with Ann he becomes even more likable.
I R A: “I’m consigned to the fact that there isn’t adequate intestinal fortitude in the current crop of elected officals (on the whole) to tell the American people that the days of getting other people’s money for nothing is going to come to an end.”
The real problem is there are not enough citizens who understand or even care that we are ultimately in worse shape than Greece. Too many want free Barack Bucks and believe the spend-tax-borrow-borrow-print-print party can go on indefinitely. Politicians are politicians, they will tell you exactly what you wish to hear/believe. We the people are responsible for our dire straits.
Mr. frank says, “We are going to hit the wall at some point.”
I see black swans circling over head.
foxmarks says, “… when y’all accept that a Romney nomination makes Obama’s 2nd term inevitable.”
Although we can find much to agree upon, I believe you are wrong in this assumption. BHO’s bid for a second term is in deep trouble. I will not boor you with a long list of why I think this is true. Trust me and vote Romney. 😉
rickl says, “The time to do that is now, not after we go off the cliff.”
I think we have to go over the cliff. Its not reasonable to expect a majority of a pampered citizenry to wake up and smell the decaying roses. They will have to be jolted into opening their eyes. From your posts, I think we can agree there is no way back to true prosperity without pain. (Ryan is a clever, cheery, damper young man but his assumptions are not based upon reality.)
So, if I (you) are correct, it is impossible to avoid a deep, prolonged contraction and all the pain that will come with the long postponed restructuring. This is the natural course of events. What we will soon (5 years?) experience is necessary. We have sowed debt and must reap austerity. So it goes. Be cheerful and optimistic in your personal sphere of influence. And, vote Romney. At this point all we can hope to do is to slow down the train wreck.
I think Romney’s criterion for funding gov’t programs (Is this worth borrowing money from the Chinese?) might slowly gain traction. I don’t care whether voters love Romney; I just want them to start listening to what he says. Maybe his slow, steady approach is the right one to get voters to change their thinking.
~~How you go to war~~
from Dan McLaughlin, aka The Baseball Crank:
“You go to war with the Mitt Romney you have.”
I’m not convinced that Obama is gonna lose. I *DO* think that he can be beat with all of us working as hard and as smart as we can to support his opponent. IMO, anything less harms our country.
Mitt isn’t a super hero. He’s just a fine man and i’ll settle for that. And he’ll beat the man child by at least 7 percentage points.
SteveH,
I agree with your sentiment simply because I think BHO is standing in caca above his messiah ankles. I’m willing to put money down on Romney by 3 percentage points plus or minus 0.5. 😉
That Obama has gone very negative with six months to go before the election is interesting. This week he has attacked the SOTUS, Paul Ryan, oil companies, Romney as a tool of the oil companies, billionaires, millionaires, and the Republican party. He appears to believe that sucker punching every target he can find is good campaign strategy.
His minion, Howard Dean, went on MSNBC and attacked nearly the same targets. He and Obama both use the same technique. Set up a strawman and then attack it. Six months of this kind of nasty, divisive rhetoric will not go down too well with many independents. As for me, it only increases my ire and desire to see Obama humiliated in November. I hope other conservatives and libertarians get their backs up as well.
And, traveling across the blogs – as if an 1835 traveler, on horseback, across the prairie – I hear distant drums of the left media’s indian war dance. Luckily, I have learned the media idiom. I quiet, and intently focus on the distant words which are carried on the drumbeat: “.. mormonism … mormonism … mormonism … mormonism…” The media shall not rest until the white man Republicans are driven from the land.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAYPmDRkTRQ&feature=related
Several, lately, have compared Mitt to various figures: Ward Cleaver, et al. Here is my comparison: Custer.
Also, discovered an unintentionally hilarious 1957 movie trailer for “War Drums”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNTF6HMlbdc
We are all going to have to go through The Five Stages of Grief with Romney. Acceptance is upon us. Our task is to ensure we elect a House and Senate that will give President Romney conservative bills to sign and liberal bills to repeal. Will it be enough to save the nation from going down the toilet? Time will tell.
If I was President Romney, I’d launch a DOJ campaign to track down every dollar wasted in Obama’s “stimulus packages” and prosecute anything that faintly smelled of Chicago style “pay to play”. And I’d be ruthless about it. I don’t see that Romney has the balls to play hard-ball. I hope I’m wrong.
Oh, and I wish he’d vow to repeal Sarbanes-Oxley. That is the one thing that makes my job incredibly difficult. I know a lot of things about a very complex computer system. When something goes wrong, I’m the go-to guy to figure out what the problem is. But I work on the development side of things, and I can’t do anything on the production side. It is Catch-22. If you know enough to fix the problem, you aren’t allowed to fix the problem.
Oh, much appreciate preview comment.
When the Obama campaign attacks Romney for being a Mormon, he only has to use this clip in a few ads and back it up with references to Obama’s pro Muslim actions.
Hmm, URL didn’t work. Try this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKGdkqfBICw
Another issue Romney should attack with all guns blazing:
http://pjmedia.com/jchristianadams/2012/04/05/book-review-fast-and-furious/
Don’t forget that the unions are upset because of Keystone, and now the WV miners are mad about the attack on coal. The unions may not come out for Romney, but I bet a lot of the members will feel free to become ABO voters. This situation has to be very carefully played. First raise doubt, and then present the clear alternative. John Steele Gordon gives a pretty good starter on Obama policies that will raise doubt among various sections of the Dem voters.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/04/05/obama-abysmal-record/
Pat,
The reaction of Mexicans to F&F could also raise doubt among Hispanics. They may come to realize that Obama loves people as voter blocks, but uses the individuals, literally in this case, as cannon fodder when it suits him. I bet our SuperPacs are collecting Mexican newspaper clippings on the reaction to Obama’s summit speech to be used later in targeted TV ads.
To those who say that Romney = Obama, I say nay.
Romney is not a
race baiting,
metrosexual,
community organizing,
narcissistic,
madrasseh trained islamophile
intent on reducing American military power and stature.
His father was an American republican governor much favored by the state of Michigan, not an anti-colonialist socialist tool from Kenya.
That’s pretty self-evident.
Self-confessed Newt lover, however, I can become extremely enthusiastic if Mitt picks Dennis Miller for press secretary.
O.K., Dennis Miller as press secretary might buy my vote.
Speculating on expat’s point about unions, Romney is the guy who closed your shop and sent the work to China. Santorum could capture their ABO sentiment, but Rmoney is the executive capitalist caricature of their enemy.
Willard v. Barry would leave the labor factions without an inspiring choice. Participation and turnout would be low. That might help righties down-ballot, unless the union money shifted to support Congressional races of candidates who promise jobs.
Since over 50% of y’all think I’m half-crazy anyway, I haven’t ruled out a Hillary ascension to the ticket.
Boom. All the energy is back in the Dem campaign, and they’re playing for the next twelve years instead of the next 4.
Wow…now I can’t stop fantasizing about Dennis Miller being the press secretary. 🙂