Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Santorum is the true Conservative in the race. The others are wanna-be's. Romney is moderate to liberal in many of his beliefs/actions ... historically. Gingrich is a sheep in wolves clothing - an imposter. Paul isn't attractive to the conservatives, for many reasons. Santorum has been true to his beliefs for a very long time and those beliefs are in-tune with the conservative movement in the USA. I'd like to see a head-to-head contest between Obama and Santorum. Give the nation the opportunity to choose which direction we want to go. That won't happen, though. Santorum is unacceptable to the old guard power structure in the GOP, which pulls the strings behind the scenes. And he lacks money and organization. It would be an interesting contest, though.
Santorum is the true Conservative in the race. The others are wanna-be's. Romney is moderate to liberal in many of his beliefs/actions ... historically. Gingrich is a sheep in wolves clothing - an imposter. Paul isn't attractive to the conservatives, for many reasons. Santorum has been true to his beliefs for a very long time and those beliefs are in-tune with the conservative movement in the USA. I'd like to see a head-to-head contest between Obama and Santorum. Give the nation the opportunity to choose which direction we want to go. That won't happen, though. Santorum is unacceptable to the old guard power structure in the GOP, which pulls the strings behind the scenes. And he lacks money and organization. It would be an interesting contest, though.
I think you are right about the part in bold. The real question is, is being more conservative actually a good thing??
The Republican party is obsessed. They must have the most conservative candidate they can find. Obama vs Santorum will look a lot like Reagan vs Mondale, Bush vs Dukakis and Nixon vs McGovern -- but with the states going BLUE not red.
This election cycle has convinced me: The GOP will not get over their love affair with extreme conservatism until they get blown out of the water in the general election -- and that against a president they should have been able to beat easily with a better candidate.
Extremists do not win elections. The GOP will just have to learn that the hard way.
The best candidate in the running already dropped out because the GOP is obsessed with the idea of sending an uber-conservative to the general election. That was Huntsman and he was too moderate for their tastes.
I'm beginning to think that it's just best if Santorum wins. The GOP needs to learn their lesson: Polar extremes do not win elections. You have to be moderate enough to win the Independent vote. Santorum is the most conservative candidate remaining. If he wins the nomination, he will get massacred in the general election. He might carry five or six states if he is very lucky. The GOP will have to take step back and think. Do they really want to get embarrassed every four years or are they willing to rethink a few things. Neo-Conservatism is not going to win elections. Status quo stubborn Republican idealism isn't going to win either. They marginalize Romney to their peril and ignoring Paul was an even worse idea.
I think that would set the stage for Huntsman or somebody a lot like him in 2016. I think Huntsman would need to incorporate more of Ron Paul flavor concepts, but on the whole, he's as solid a candidate as you're going to find to win in the general election. The trick is getting a moderate through the currently super-stupid primary process.
I agree with you, but have to ask "If you are going to nominate a moderate, what is the point of being a conservative party"?. Do you win just to watch all your principles be kicked to the corner a la GWB? I have to give it to the Paul supporters. They vote for what they believe in not just to get an R in the White House that is not really someone who shares their values. Paul touched on that theme last night in his remarks.
I agree with you, but have to ask "If you are going to nominate a moderate, what is the point of being a conservative party"?. Do you win just to watch all your principles be kicked to the corner a la GWB? I have to give it to the Paul supporters. They vote for what they believe in not just to get an R in the White House that is not really someone who shares their values. Paul touched on that theme last night in his remarks.
You can have conservative values and still be moderate. The big social issue on the GOP side is abortion and the very moderate Huntsman consistently took a hard line against abortion. The big fiscal issue for the GOP is not raising taxes and the very moderate Huntsman would have actually lowered them across the board -- but also eliminated as many tax credits/deductions/breaks/incentives as possible. So the rich would have had a lower base rate of taxes, but they would have actually had to pay the amount in full. You end up collecting more tax revenue that way than under the current super-complicated tax code. You can still stand on principal without being an extremist.
Paul's movement needs a highly charismatic leader if they want to gain any traction. Somebody who will raise a huge stink about it when he is being blatantly ignored. Somebody with a strong enough personality that he won't just be ignored because he's good for ratings, etc. Paul's old enough that this is probably his last shot. I don't see him running for the White House again after this. Should be interesting who succeeds him.
Last night's election might not have produced delegates, but it was basically a disastrous night for anyone's whose last night is not Santorum.
Ron Paul is quickly fading into his typically irrelevant status (although he's not going to be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things).
Newt Gingrich? He's done. Rick Santorum emerged as THE conservative. The GOP is going to start prodding Newt to leave - if they don't then they're even dumber than I think. So Gingrich can carry states that Republicans are going to carry anyway....yay! What the GOP wants to know is who's going to bring out voters in the Midwestern and Great Plains swing states that they have won before but lost in 2008. Well they got their answer to that question last night.
And that presents a serious problem for Mitt Romney -- because Romney looked anything but an inevitable candidate last night. He looked like Hillary Clinton in 2008.
The problem is that Mitt Romney poses a problem for the Republicans. Mitt's in it to win it. He has all the top endorsements. He has all the money. He's going to be right there to the bitter end, and so will Ron Paul. I do think Gingrich is going to start facing intense pressure to leave the race by mainstreamers, but who knows, he might stay in it just to screw his in-party rivals out of spite, which is not beyond Newt to do.
It was a great night for Santorum, a horrible night for the other remaining candidates, and a bad night in general for the GOP.
Last night's election might not have produced delegates, but it was basically a disastrous night for anyone's whose last night is not Santorum.
Ron Paul is quickly fading into his typically irrelevant status (although he's not going to be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things).
Newt Gingrich? He's done. Rick Santorum emerged as THE conservative. The GOP is going to start prodding Newt to leave - if they don't then they're even dumber than I think. So Gingrich can carry states that Republicans are going to carry anyway....yay! What the GOP wants to know is who's going to bring out voters in the Midwestern and Great Plains swing states that they have won before but lost in 2008. Well they got their answer to that question last night.
And that presents a serious problem for Mitt Romney -- because Romney looked anything but an inevitable candidate last night. He looked like Hillary Clinton in 2008.
The problem is that Mitt Romney poses a problem for the Republicans. Mitt's in it to win it. He has all the top endorsements. He has all the money. He's going to be right there to the bitter end, and so will Ron Paul. I do think Gingrich is going to start facing intense pressure to leave the race by mainstreamers, but who knows, he might stay in it just to screw his in-party rivals out of spite, which is not beyond Newt to do.
It was a great night for Santorum, a horrible night for the other remaining candidates, and a bad night in general for the GOP.
The mainstream is going to start trying to get Newt out? They've done everything but kidnap and spirit him away to a cave somewhere already. Santorum blindsided them last night. Now they have to turn on Santorum and starting making nice to Newt. They are now going to want Newt to stay in. Newt could throw the election to Santorum if he quits. Divide and conquer is Romney's only hope.
Last night's election might not have produced delegates, but it was basically a disastrous night for anyone's whose last night is not Santorum.
Ron Paul is quickly fading into his typically irrelevant status (although he's not going to be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things).
Newt Gingrich? He's done. Rick Santorum emerged as THE conservative. The GOP is going to start prodding Newt to leave - if they don't then they're even dumber than I think. So Gingrich can carry states that Republicans are going to carry anyway....yay! What the GOP wants to know is who's going to bring out voters in the Midwestern and Great Plains swing states that they have won before but lost in 2008. Well they got their answer to that question last night.
And that presents a serious problem for Mitt Romney -- because Romney looked anything but an inevitable candidate last night. He looked like Hillary Clinton in 2008.
The problem is that Mitt Romney poses a problem for the Republicans. Mitt's in it to win it. He has all the top endorsements. He has all the money. He's going to be right there to the bitter end, and so will Ron Paul. I do think Gingrich is going to start facing intense pressure to leave the race by mainstreamers, but who knows, he might stay in it just to screw his in-party rivals out of spite, which is not beyond Newt to do.
It was a great night for Santorum, a horrible night for the other remaining candidates, and a bad night in general for the GOP.
It was a good night for the Obama Campaign. Saintorium's rise will bring even more Super Pac Ads from all the GnOP candidates attacking each other. This will result in more canned tape of Ad material, for the Obama Campaign to use on whoever the GnOP puts up.
It was a good night for the Obama Campaign. Saintorium's rise will bring even more Super Pac Ads from all the GnOP candidates attacking each other. This will result in more canned tape of Ad material, for the Obama Campaign to use on whoever the GnOP puts up.
I'm looking forward to it here in AZ. Usually our elections are a bore with everything already decided by the time we get to vote. We will be a battleground this month and we have a debate too, I believe. All the Pubs and media in town will be good for the economy. The Dems see AZ as a possible takeover this fall and all the negative ads will hurt Romney's chances here come Nov (Romney WILL be the nominee, you understand).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What the GOP wants to know is who's going to bring out voters in the Midwestern and Great Plains swing states that they have won before but lost in 2008. Well they got their answer to that question last night. 
don't rule out sabotage. In some states democrats can vote in republican primaries.
