The Circular Firing Squad
Pat Caddell infamously refers to the Republicans as the "Party of Stupid" and witnessing the way the conservative media is reacting to the GOP primaries it's hard to make an argument against that assessment.
Here, in early December, it's pretty obvious how the race has evolved. Cain is history. He's just not a "NO" but a "NEIN! NEIN! NEIN!" Bachmann, Santorum, Perry and Huntsman are stuck in the single-digits. Ron Paul has his loyal band, crucified on a cross of gold, silver dimes and isolationism. That leaves Gov. Romney and Speaker Gingrich.
It seems none of the conservative literati really likes Romney. He makes the reddest of the red blue through the cold winds that blow through his debate performance vs Ted Kennedy and his blue record in the blue state of Massachusetts. But they seem to like the former Speaker even less.
And here is where the damage is done. What happens if the primary voters don't agree with the commentariat and hands the nomination to Gringrich anyway?
What you get is a DNC dream ad, informing the independents and the swing voters just how "scary" Newt really is. Can't you see it now? As ominous music plays in the background, a woman's voice intones, "Even conservatives think a Gingrich presidency would be a disaster. Mark Steyn calls him, 'a lily-livered ninny whom everyone thinks is a ferocious right-wing bastard...' Ramesh Ponnuru says Gringrich 'is temperamentally unsuited for the presidency.' If Gingrich makes the people at National Review nervous, why should we put him in the White House? Barack Obama. Four more years of steady leadership..."
We, the Ricochet membership, are free to discuss the pros and cons of any candidacy. Nobody is going to say, "Don't vote for X! EJ Hill thinks he's nuts!" But the brightest lights in our universe? Why do they have to be so dim?
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Comments:
Aug '10
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
I believe conservative pundits should call 'em like they see 'em, whether it be Newt or Mitt, and let the voters sort it out for themselves.
There will be plenty of time to rehabilitate whichever candidate gets the nomination before the general election. Don't worry, we'll all fall in love once the choice becomes candidate X or Obama.
Until then, let the best man (or woman) win!
Jan '11
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
It's not the pundits' fault that such flawed candidates entered the race. What's more, I don't think Obama quoting right leaning pundits will be an especially effective strategy for him. I mean he cant complain that all of his critics are nutjobs and racists but then use them as reliable character assessors. I'd also point out that Hillary and Obama went after each other in a pretty heated way, but it didn't seem to hurt Obama too badly, in fact it made him a better candidate. I think a tough vetting now gives the candidates an opportunity to practice dealing with these criticisms and be ready for them when the average voter actually starts paying attention next fall.
Ultimately whether the GOP candidate is successful will depend on whether he can communicate a convincing message and connect with average Americans. Obama can try to paint someone as nuts if he wants, the GOP candidate just has to show that he's not and make sure people focus on Obama's failures. BO will have plenty of them to explain and defend.
Edited on December 7, 2011 at 5:36pmApr '11
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
I'm still hoping the delegates at the convention just say "screw this", and draft by voice vote some one else. I'm still tending my shrine to Christie. I am just a few lessons away from being able to perform a complicated voodoo ritual to make him do my biding and jump into the race.
Maybe we should just brace for 4 more years of the O now...I mean they are selling 300,000 people giving up on looking for jobs as an improvement in the economy. We're doomed, DOOMED! (slap...)
Ok I'm better now, but still depressed.
May '10
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
Sure he can, and will. That's the whole point. Even the nutjobs and the racists think Gingrich is dangerous so why would YOU vote for him? It's political advertising, you're not calling a witness in a murder trial.
Edited on December 7, 2011 at 5:57pmDec '11
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
At least Romney had the cojones to go up against Ted Kennedy in a Senate race. I gotta respect that. I looked up some info about that and Kennedy and his ilk pulled some dirty tricks (shocker!) when the race got tight. I don't understand what his motivation was to be a Governor or Senator in a state that is so heavily tilted one way.
Apr '11
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
Man I am sure glad I don't have to go into combat with some of you so-called "conservatives" ! I have never in my life seen a group so predisposed to preemptive surrender. Not a single primary vote has been cast yet and you've already decided you've lost and are writing ad copy for the Obama campaign.
It seems like every election cycle all I hear from the Party of Eeyore is how our guy can't win. Why don't you pick a candidate and get into the game? That's what I did. And if my guy doesn't get the top slot there's always Vice President because whoever the nominee is he's going to need someone watching his back and assisting with the heavy lifting. And if not VP, then there are cabinet slots to fill because the President is going to need good help.
Maybe we are going to go down in 2012 but, if so, I intend to go down swinging.
Oct '10
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
We have arrived... at the point where government, by it's very size and power, is beyond our control. It matters little who the next president is, he, or she, will still be a person committed to the proposition that government is the central organizing force in human affairs, and a really handy source of virtually unlimited power.
A few, very few, people are widely known for spurning this power, so the pickin's is lean, and actual voter consensus is beyond reasonable expectation.
Once upon a time, our Founders believed in "Providence", a euphemism of the times for God, or our Creator, aka; the central organizing force in human affairs. From Him flowed our rights, especially articulated as Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Lacking any agreement on the above, and accepting government as the central organizing force, we face a difficult decision:
1. We can exercise the futility of deciding who we can elect as part of the central organizing force, trusting this mystery person to exercise virtually unlimited power over our life.
2. We can seek the Creator, seek to live our lives in harmony with Him, and seek His candidate. Pray and listen... He answers.
May '10
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
I am not surrendering. Only asking why we shoot ourselves in the foot before we battle with the real enemy. Anticipating the moves of the enemy is a part of good strategy.
Edited on December 7, 2011 at 6:12pmApr '11
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
EJHill
I am not surrendering. Only asking why we shoot ourselves in the foot before we battle with the real enemy.
Have you shot yourself in the foot already? The Republicans haven't settled on a nominee yet. Heck, no one's cast a vote in even a primary election yet.
The potential candidates are not your "enemy." They are people who have answered their country's call to service. Pick one and get in the game. Instead of telling me why we're going to lose, focus instead on how we're going to win?
Tape this Churchill quote on your bathroom mirror and recite it every morning while shaving"
Jun '10
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
We want the criticisms of our candidates to freely float around. What I find distressing is the ad hominem attacks on people. Both Newt and Mitt have had to put up with those from people who should know better.
The worst examples recently were what Rove, Murphy and others did to Christine O'Donnell and Sharron Angle. These people had already won their primaries when they were attacked most viciously. This helps pundits by making their predictions come true. But just think what could have been accomplished if Rove et al were truly interested in the party and in the country enough to set aside their childish rants. They should -- at the very least -- be silent.
What's going on with Newt and the elites is an old fight with Newt. He's a lightning rod by his nature and he's been successful using alternative methods. And he mostly just needs people to do his bidding. Reagan had a little of this, too -- don't forget. He didn't need much help on the philosophy and strategy. Weinberger, Schultz and Casey were helpful but the others less so. I think these high offices are tough environments.
Read Raycon again.
Jun '10
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
Herkybird
...
Tape this Churchill quote on your bathroom mirror and recite it every morning while shaving"
Wow! what a great quote. Thanks.
I think you need to read EJ's comments more carefully, though. I think you are in more agreement than you might think.
Dec '11
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
Like it or not the people who spend the money, get out and put time in for the campaigns arent lining behind Romney. For whatever reason his inevitability is his biggest weakness and why he will lose. You may not like it but the people who do the voting, send the money, and knock on doors arent lining up behind what they feel is a judas goat. The bad taste in the mouths of the people who do the voting, send the money, and knock on doors for campaigns essentially are demanding a sacrafice, and that sacrafice is Romney. Romney isnt going to win the nomination, santa will win the nomination before Romney, purely because Romney is the inevitable candidate, and the Republican Party, as in the organization, is about as trusted as Barrack Obama is. The worst possible thing Romney did was be a traditional republican candidate when the party is royally pissed and pissed at everybody. Pundits and Media personalities whose rhetoric is trying to cajole people into supporting Romney, is recieved as "Shut up and send money." Shut up and Send Money is not a great slogan to pacify a pissed off and distrustfull electorate.
May '10
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
Herky, go back and read the original post. Your Churchill point makes no sense in regard to a primary. That's about a war with an external enemy, not a civil war.
The point is that what you and I say is meaningless. What the so-called "respected" voices in our party say is going to used against whoever the nominee is.
Everyone says that Hillary strengthened Obama in the primary. OK. But what major voice in the Democratic Party other than her is on the record as having said that Obama would be a disaster in the White House? Who turned on him the way our "intellectual leaders" turn on our primary candidates?
Jun '10
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
Guruforhire: ...
Pundits and Media personalities whose rhetoric is trying to cajole people into supporting Romney, is recieved as "Shut up and send money." Shut up and Send Money is not a great slogan to pacify a pissed off and distrustful electorate.
Amen
Apr '11
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
Churchill's point, offered to a group of young students at his old school, Harrow, by way of a Commencement Day Address is "Don't Quit." And that advice, like a blue blazer and grey flannel pants, fits all occasions.
And don't let anyone talk you into quitting either. Every day from now 'til next November a legion of people - some who claim to be on our side - will do their best to discourage us all. Remember, however, you can give up at any time, but if you give it one more try, you just might win.
And to Larry Koler - yeah, you're right. We probably really aren't in disagreement. So take what I said as a pep talk. Stiffen up the sinews. Come next year - to borrow a phrase from a Texas Aggie of my acquaintance, "We're gonna beat Obama like a rented mule."
Feb '11
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
With the shape the economy is in, Obama's ONLY hope of winning is to say, yeah I'm bad, but they're worse. Ford tried it with Carter and it almost worked. Carter tried it with Reagan and it didn't even come close to working. Bush I tried it with Clinton and it didn't work. So it's a strategy. It just hasn't worked historically. And it's unlikely to this time.
May '10
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
As a card carrying member of the Churchill Centre, you'll find no greater admirer than me. But, if you want to swap quotes of the Great Man, you must remember what he said of Stalin after Hitler's invasion of Russia. "If Hitler invaded Hell," he once remarked, "I would at least make a favourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons."
Now, in this hour of our country's peril, is no time to be sniping at our own side. To act as if this were just another election in just another year is play in the hands of those who would strip us of our God-given bounties and regulate us into the second tier of nations who are bankrupt in both treasury and spirit.
Edited on December 7, 2011 at 8:30pmAug '11
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
Do people like Rove and Murphy understand why Republicans won in 2010? The Republican establishment had all but given up, resigning themselves to minority status for another 40 years. It was the Tea Party movement that saved the GOP's bacon, and this is the thanks they got.
Jun '10
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
DrewInWisconsin
Do people like Rove and Murphy understand why Republicans won in 2010? The Republican establishment had all but given up, resigning themselves to minority status for another 40 years. It was the Tea Party movement that saved the GOP's bacon, and this is the thanks they got. · Dec 7 at 11:35am
So True! Of course, you're right. They had absolutely no solutions planned or even theorized. Rove and Murphy are mechanics. They need to stay out of the design shops.
Jun '10
Re: The Circular Firing Squad
Herkybird ...
So take what I said as a pep talk. Stiffen up the sinews. Come next year - to borrow a phrase from a Texas Aggie of my acquaintance, "We're gonna beat Obama like a rented mule."
Consider me pumped by pep.(Love the Texan talk -- there's one whole state that really gets it.)