JoeB131
Diamond Member
Whenever you hear a Romney supporter praise Romney, it's because Romney is "electable".
I find this argument odious for the following reasons.
The first is that it pre-supposes that a true conservative can't win unless he can fool enough people into thinking he's really a "moderate". It was the argument behind McCain's candidacy and it failed then. You have the worst economy in 80 years, a president who is clearly in over his head, and you have conservatives arguing we shouldn't run a conservative? Seriously? Why do we even have a movement, then, if all we are going to offer is warmed over variations on what they are presenting?
The second is, if Romney is so "electable", why does he keep losing elections. He lost to Ted Kennedy by 17 points in 1994, at a time when Teddy's reputation was in the mud due to his nephew's raping someone at his house. He lost to John McCain in the GOP nomination fight in 2008 despite spending three times as much money as McCain did.
When he was considering running for re-election in 2006, polls showing him trailing potential Democratic challengers by double digits convinced him otherwise.
The only election he ever won was against a non-entity for governor in 2002. And he only got 49% of the vote after outspending her 10-1.
Is Newt the ideal candidate? Nope. Most of them were disuaded from running by the sandbagging by the Beltway Establishment.... but at least Newt stands for something. And he wins elections.
I find this argument odious for the following reasons.
The first is that it pre-supposes that a true conservative can't win unless he can fool enough people into thinking he's really a "moderate". It was the argument behind McCain's candidacy and it failed then. You have the worst economy in 80 years, a president who is clearly in over his head, and you have conservatives arguing we shouldn't run a conservative? Seriously? Why do we even have a movement, then, if all we are going to offer is warmed over variations on what they are presenting?
The second is, if Romney is so "electable", why does he keep losing elections. He lost to Ted Kennedy by 17 points in 1994, at a time when Teddy's reputation was in the mud due to his nephew's raping someone at his house. He lost to John McCain in the GOP nomination fight in 2008 despite spending three times as much money as McCain did.
When he was considering running for re-election in 2006, polls showing him trailing potential Democratic challengers by double digits convinced him otherwise.
The only election he ever won was against a non-entity for governor in 2002. And he only got 49% of the vote after outspending her 10-1.
Is Newt the ideal candidate? Nope. Most of them were disuaded from running by the sandbagging by the Beltway Establishment.... but at least Newt stands for something. And he wins elections.