And then there were three.
It’s mid-December and last night I watched Fox News live from Ames, Iowa. The die is cast they say and it’s still December, and not a single vote has been cast. State polling groups are already running 2-man polls, ignoring the others. In Virginia we’re only told how Newt Gingrich is faring against Mitt Romney. Nothing more.
It’s a two man race.
My only question is, what became of the 60% solid conservative majority in virtually every poll before Herman Cain dropped out of the race? It’s only been 10 days.
Suddenly Romney and Newt Gingrich are splitting up to 60% of the national GOP vote, or so they say. It’s a fait accompli…they say.
There are several reasons why “they”…who the hell are “they” (a great line delivered by Edmund O’Brien in “The Wild Bunch”)…would want this to be a two-man race at this early juncture of the GOP campaign, especially if Newt Gingrich is one of the two men. They couldn’t have drawn it up better on a blackboard.
This two-man race it is between 1) a self-described progressive, but also a very efficient and effective technocrat from the northeast who actually has less flip-flop baggage than 2) a loquacious shoot-from-the-hip Beltway insider who, of all the candidates is the only one to bring to the table a proven record of leadership at the highest levels of government….as an abject failure. He stared down the Beast, and blinked. In fact his knees buckled.
The media wants this match-up, it’s that simple. The Obama camps wants this match-up. too. It’s their win-win. And the GOP establishment wants this match-up because they believe they can get lucky this time with Mitt, and maybe, just maybe, win with the same formula they’ve been using since Dewey, to draw all the independents over to their side by pretending to have an even newer and improved Ford-Bush-Dole-McGovern candidate. (I can spend five paragraphs telling you what you already know, that this sort of analysis is booshway, it is so yesterday, so pre-2010, than another five explaining to you why the GOP establishment can’t let it go anyway. Like the Left, they just can’t let a losing hand go, even if they know it will sink their ship.)
Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have been drawn into this faux contest, each “pulling for” the other candidate in this make-believe head-to-head, Beck favoring Michelle Bachmann, so despising Newt and going for Mitt, while Limbaugh defends Mr Speaker philosophically on the unfairness of the attacks made against him, while clearly nailing Romney’s liberal hide to the wall. Rush continues to titty his cards as to who he does like, but it is clearly one of the three conservatives.
But neither want this Mitt vs Newt WWF prelim to be the main event… and neither do we (I think).
So where did Newt get his new numbers? If you can believe the polls they mostly came from Herman Cain, whose support was as bedrock conservative as you can get, which should cause the Gingrich camp some concern, for what that really means Newt’s getting is the anti-RINO vote until a better alternative comes along.
As it no doubt will.
But for now that Newt very conservative in-yer-face-media talk provides some measure of comfort to many new-to-the-game tea partiers, while, quite frankly I think Newt is further from tea party core beliefs than anyone else on the dais.
So far, Newt’s conservative-walk is working, so it’s no wonder that the remaining three conservatives want most to take back that two-thirds of Gingrich’s support, leaving Romney at under 30%, which is about as much as his wing of the Party can ever muster, even in good times, and which again makes you wonder what RINOs put in their orange juice to believe that moderation, compromise and retreat in the face of danger is a popular stance even among independents.
But When There is Only One?
There will only be one winner here, and I hope it is a conservative. I still plan on it.
But what I cannot plan on is that the other three will stay around to make the conservative victory secure.
I do have a preference here, 1-2-3, Perry, Santorum and Bachmann, in that order. (A Perry-Santorum ticket would be splendid in fact.) I catch a little grief about putting Rep Bachmann last (even as Beck puts her first), but as you know I have placed leadership atop all other presidential credentials since Obama revealed himself in 2009. In fact, knowing the kind of road back it would require to undo Obama and the Left, I think she is weak not only on the foreign policy front, but also in working with a Congress where, among many, her star does not shine so radiantly as she says.)
But what of the other four, including Herman Cain? Already people are hinting Herman may be willing to throw in behind Newt, which would be a big let-down for me, not to mention the millions of conservatives today who still pine for his return. Such a move will tell them 1) Herman is not the man of conservative discernment everyone thought he was and 2) in the end, since there will be a bribe-price to be paid to get this support, like Huckabee after 2008, many will ask if maybe Herman was also just in it for Herman, first. I’d hate to believe that.
Each of the losing three conservative candidates will have to confront a choice…follow my personal star, or follow THE star, for each could improve their public exposure and financial situation considerably if they’d only play along, perhaps as a Veep pick (Romney-Bachmann?), a sweet gig at FoxNews or a book deal.
I wag this finger of caution even outside this group, for Gov Bob McDonnell of Virginia is one name bandied about as a Romney pick for VEEP which may well enhance his future political ambitions, but which may also douse them forever as a conservative.
The world has changed, that’s all I can say here. I’m sorry, but these days a choice must be made, and as Mr Newt will soon find out, playing musical beds (sic) will no longer be permitted among conservatives.
This is our Time
(“The Goonies” 1985, and not Barack Obama, 2008, that plagiarizing…).
Imagine the things we conservatives can do if we stick together, “We few, we happy few…”
Let me tell you what conservatives can do, and only conservatives.
We can stop the train wreck. And in quick time. A Republican congress will go along with a strong, decisive president. All he/she has to do is lead. And twist a few arms.
And in doing so we can set statism and socialism back fifty years, and re-hang the light of Liberty over the American manger as the one true beacon of freedom the people of the world will always have until they are able to grab it themselves…which, under America’s watch, many already have.
But also in doing so we will lose a few million RINO voters. No big deal, since for every RINO we will lose, we will bring over two, maybe three…but not just Reagan Democrats, i.e., moral Democrats, but disaffected union members who still love America. And we will begin to empty the plantation, and the plantacion, all eager to leave, if someone will only give them a hand up and ladder out of the hole the Democrats have dug them in.
That’s in this coming election.
These are all people RINO’s never wanted in the Party, but at a 3-for-1 rate, I think it’s a good deal, don’t you? I’d try to keep them.
This is what just one strong conservative in the White House from 2012-2016 can mean to America and the future of the world.
Just imagine what a legacy of a Unified Conservative Front can mean for the next fifty years.
