The Choice Election.
That seems to be the consensus emerging about how the Ryan pick changes the race.
Democrats claim to be ecstatic about it — it seems to me they are trying much too hard to convince themselves and demoralize us. There are few if any dissenting voices on that side of the aisle.
Many Republican, Republican-leaning, conservative — however you want to characterized them — bloggers, commentators and pundits see the same choice and see a repeat of 2010.
Yet there are many dissenting voices on our side, the pessimists who fear that the American people will choose unwisely, will fall prey to Mediscare and other traditional Democratic tactics.
I don’t have a crystal ball, but I do know that the eeyores among us can create a self-fulfilling prophecy, one in which fear of the choice now presented to the American people demoralizes us and diminishes our chances of success.
I saw the test run for how the media would descend upon whomever the Republican nominees would be in the treatment of Sarah Palin after the Tuscon shooting, We Just Witnessed The Media’s Test Run To Re-Elect Barack Obama:
The ruthless efficiency with which the left-wing blogosphere tied Palin to the shooting, and the success of their efforts in equating Palin with mass murder, is a lesson we should not forget.
The Democrats and their mainstream media supporters were put back on their heels in 2010, and are regrouping. And if regrouping requires falsely accusing a major Republican figure of complicity in mass murder, and then amplifying that false accusation for several days in the face of contrary evidence until a substantial portion of the population believes it, they will do it….
Any Republican or conservative or Tea Party supporter who dumps on Palin in any way over the Tucson shooting or her defense of herself should just stop talking now.
It does not matter whether you support Palin for President, whether you think she is electable, or even whether you like her. This is not about Palin, it is about the mainstream media’s desire to have Barack Obama re-elected at any cost and to take down any Republican candidate who stands in the way.
And it’s the same for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
It doesn’t matter whether you think Romney was a good primary selection or Ryan it was a good Veep pick. It’s not about Romney and Ryan.
If you don’t get that, then you haven’t learned a damn thing about how the media operates in this country.
I’m confident that faced with the bleak future of Obama’s America, the American people will make the same choice they made in 2010.
If we don’t undermine the effort ourselves.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Bravo!
“We have met the enemy and he is us!”
No one is afforded certainty in politics. No more handwringing or second-guessing, no fence-sitting, no keeping one foot on either bank. No longer matters whether or how much we like the candidates – it’s irrelevant to the goal – and ours is to defeat Obama. Period. November 6th, 2012, Obama must go down. We must believe we are unbeatable by anyone – except ourselves.
Romney/Ryan 2012
OPERATION COUNTERWEIGHT
“We have met the enemy and he is us!” That statement perfectly defines our dilemma and how we could surrender.
But, what about bipartisanship? Yep, bipartisanship means we surrender, they claim victory, and tell us to “Obey!”
We know how Democrats define bipartisanship. “We won.” THAT’S how. So… F++K bipartisanship.
This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no foolin’ around*.
*David Byrne, Talking Heads, “Life During Wartime”
(Heh, at first glance I thought the headline read, “The Eyesores Among Us”)
Agree with Prof J and also made donation yesterday.
When we see Media Matters release a 200+ page file on Ryan within hours of the announcement we know what were in for. Were battling media that is basically trapped into supporting a failed Presidency. They fear being labeled as race driven (by objecting to anything Obama does)and mainly…having to admit they were wrong with Obama.
Paul Ryan selection puts the issues most of us care about front and center.
I believe the momentum will change now from playing defense to a much more aggresive offense posture.
Professor, you know full well it *does* matter whether or not Romney was a good primary selection or not. Otherwise, why would you have argued so forcefully against his nomination?
I understand you made a promise to support whomever was nominated, and that you are a man of your word, but please don’t sweep concerns about Romney under the rug. You would like to see unity, which is understandable. But ask yourself: Whose unity?
I promised never to support Romney, and I will bloody well live by that. That leaves me with polemics against Barack Obama and support for conservatism, libertarianism, and Operation Counterweight.
I will not sing Romney’s praises. And I don’t have to. The mistakes and machinations of the vile left will keep me busy quite possibly for the rest of my life.
Great, you may not support Romney, and many don’t, but support the ticket that is your only alternative against Obama and his minions. Support the ticket for the kind of country you want. There’s the adage of cutting your nose off to spite your face, which is exactly what you are doing. Principles are very important, but if supporting those principles can lead to jumping off a cliff and carrying the rest of us with you, then it’s time to revisit your principles. As one of my daughters said to her sister yesterday, “you may say it’s only one vote, but one vote multiplied by a hundred thousand does have an impact.” They both went to early voting. By all means, be principled, but know when to temporarily and logistically unbend a bit for a greater cause. The reed that doesn’t bend in a stiff wind, breaks. We are facing a typhoon! Bend!
He is bending, as am I. I realize the importance of not returning the Manchurian Candidate for another term, but please allow me (and others like me) to have reservations about the person who will replace him. The reservations won’t disappear just because he’s now the nominee.
At the end of the day, he has my vote and at the end of the day, that’s all he can hope to get from any of us.
No one is asking you to set aside your reservations. The majority hasn’t. But some here are saying they won’t vote for him and I feel that is wrong. Keep those reservations front and center, but vote and make a promise to yourself to hold their feet to the fire!!! It doesn’t end on November 6th.
I’d say that NOBODY should put their reservations away.
I’d also say that NOBODY should suspend expressing CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.
I’ve said here many times that I don’t care who we elect, they have to have their feet kept on the right path. Much as I like Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio or whoever, I know how power works and I know how easy it is to lose focus on BIG things.
Romney was not my first, second, or third choice, but he damn sure made a positive move this week, and I will let him know (in my very small way) I LOVE that.
You can train a politician just like you train a dog. Today, Romney gets a well-deserved pat on the head. Tomorrow, he may need a stern scolding, but all to the same end.
Ex-actly. Thanks, Rags!
People like David Frum, Sean Trende, and others need to SHUT UP. I am sick to death of their wailing and their bemoaning every single thing Republicans do. Seriously, these armchair generals really need to stop their hand wringing of this pick.
We needed this to be a choice election. This election will not be clearer with the choice of smaller government or total collapse. That is the choice. The democrats think that they can demonize the Ryan plan with Medicare, but that is a double edge sword. They always forget that they cut over 700 MILLION from Medicare NOW, whereas the Ryan plan will cut FUTURE Medicare to FUTURE seniors.
I can’t wait until Romney is permitted to use his general election funds. This will be interesting!
People like David Frum should knock it off. They’re far closer to the GOP Establishment than they are the conservative/libertarian movement.
Don’t ever associate people who are conservatives and libertarians with people like David Frum.
Stop Hannitizing the conservative/libertarian movement.
People who whine and demonize Ryan’s Medicare proposals on our side (even nominally) are helping Obama and the Democrats, be they conservative or otherwise. David Frum is not conservative. I don’t care what people say about him. Where did I say that David Frum was a conservative? Don’t spout off things I didn’t say.
Operation Counterweight is a good idea for people who dislike Romney as a nominee. However, if you live in a swing state and you don’t vote for Romney as President, how will your values be upheld with someone like Obama winning a second term because your state votes for him? If you live in a state like Washington where I am, fine don’t vote for him, it won’t matter.
I, and the professor, argued so forcefully against Romney because we thought that Newt would have been a better president. We lost. The nominee of the party is Romney, and rather than taking my ball home, I am going to play this game.
Are you getting involved in your local party? Are you trying to change it at a local level at all? If not, then all your positions and platitudes mean nothing. You cannot expect the party to change whilst screaming at them from the outside. Join them and force it from within! That is why the tea party will be successful. Just look at Ron Paul’s minions. They are successfully taking over some state party’s completely. Here in Washington, they have a strong presence. So stop whining about the result of this process. You need to take the long view. YOU WILL NOT GET WHAT YOU WANT RIGHT NOW ALWAYS. You will be able to create a situation where the wrong people make the right decisions because it is politically popular.
Kindly climb down off your high horse.
THANK YOU PROFESSOR. Had to verbally slap the Eyeore-ishness out of my husband yesterday. Apparently Team Romney is on full thrusters in the Sunday Talk Show circuit. You can whine, or you can fight. I prefer fighters.
Mr. Jacobson,
The rebellion continues apace so this election will be a continuation of the 2010 wave election. The results of 2012 primary efforts are showing that in down ticket matchups the incumbents are being slaughtered at all levels. Saw a blog entry with the totals and dang it I can’t find it right now.
OMG!
Obama Must Go!
It’s about converging and uniting around the correct narrative. Unfortunately, everyone seems to have surrendered to the cartoonish and wrong-headed ABO/LOTE narrative. We have a better narrative to choose from that still gets Romney elected without allowing the GOPE off the hook for again having created another lose/lose choice.
If you are saying that we have to drop all narrative except that Obama is evil and Romney is good, then we conservatives have not only failed to gain anything in this election cycle, but we have already merged the Tea Party into the GOPE establishment. Everything we worked for over the last six years was for naught. We are not only back at square one, we are further back than where we started which is very discouraging.
I can already see the next few years being an echo of Obama’s BDS except this time it will be be Romney’s ODS. To avoid that, we need to make it crystal clear in our narrative. So far, all Romney/Ryan represents is a sure-to-fail attempt to return things to 2008. Fail! We need to UNDO THE ENTIRE Bush/Obama legacy.
Let’s have the courage to say that and commit to it. No more gutless compromises as we lose our country one inch at a time! The time has come to “stand athwart history and yell: Stop!” Where is the courage? This may very well be our last chance so could we please get our act together? At long last, could we please get it right?
Mark Steyn gets it. Where is everyone else? Why is it always so easy for the one-party establishment to win? (Get out your mirrors and be honest).
“By picking Paul Ryan, Romney has decisively broken from Obama’s policy path. The selection of Ryan means Romney is no longer running as Obama-lite. He’s bet that the guys in no-man’s-land don’t want Government Cheese. They want a real job. They want a real future. They want to be citizens of the greatest country on earth again.”
http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2012/08/11/boom-and-zoom-vs-turn-and-burn/?singlepage=true
and
http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/08/romney-ryan-would-complete-the-reagan-revolution/
A conflict with two very clearly defined visions.
I’d say the Romney showed his colors, and they seem to be red, white, and blue in the Founding sense.
AND there seems to be some life in that whole “partisan logic”, contra your declaration of its demise.
Wouldn’t you?
https://legalinsurrection.com/2012/04/one-less-guard-on-the-wall/comment-page-1/#comment-334630
William A. Jacobson | April 27, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Can you two take this personal dispute elsewhere. Phil gets a response and then that’s it.
==
Rags stays on attack, but gets all flustered when someone questions their being an eyeore..
You see Rags said something nice about Ryan a couple years ago… so that makes her just like Malkin and Levin in 2012.
And Rags criticisms of Ryan’s conservative creds are therefore required LEARIN’ from the Fist Pound standard bearer of an independent CONSERVATIVE
Impressive, where she can attack Anne Sorock and stay on others simultaneously as well
This is one of the few times I think the Good Professor misses the point. Or rather demonstrates the opposite of the point he is attempting to make.
The “media” does little to form my opinion. In fact, I suspect the same is true of most regular LI visitors. I know the media is constantly lying and is pushing the same agenda as Obama.
But Romney does matter. If he didn’t matter, the GOP nominee would be up by 15 or 20 points in the polls right now. And he isn’t. And that is largely because of the GOP nominee. And largely proves the choice of Romney matters.
The really unpalatable part of this scenario is that Romney may have been the “most electable” of the choices from the GOP this year. When Romney is the “best the GOP has to offer” then it is more clear why conservatives start looking outside the GOP…
“The ‘media’ does little to form my opinion. In fact, I suspect the same is true of most regular LI visitors.”
—I agree with you there, WarEagle
“I know the media is constantly lying and is pushing the same agenda as Obama.”
—I agree with you here, too.
But that’s why I respectfully disagree with the rest of your comment.
Just talk to low-information voters and they’ll regurgitate the misleading (and often downright false) headlines they come across.
If they do stray past the headlines, it’s usually no farther than the first paragraph.
We all know that if any information exists which supports the conservative viewpoint (often only so a veneer of even-handedness can be claimed) it’s buried in a paragraph towards the end.
Blogs and talk radio are great for people actively seeking information on politics and issues, but that’s just not most people, whether for reasons of interest or time constraints.
Headlines, no matter how misleading, create conventional wisdom narratives with the public.
Although I’ve seen this demonstrated time and time again. I wonder how many of that category of voters are the independents sought out by the Romney campaign. I feel like all the voters that don’t make it past the headlines are in the tank for Obama already. I’m more concerned about those same independent voters that showed up in droves at town halls and voting booths in 2010. Let’s get the discussion off of soft social issues that independents are squishy to the left on, and start talking about what they really care about. The fact that Democrats still have no Budget plan after a full term in office.
So you really don’t think the fact that Romney has been on both sides of so many important issues, so often, and that a legitimate “squish factor” don’t weigh into this at all?
In a rational world, any nearly GOP candidate should have a double-digit lead over Obama at this point. After all, Obama just ROTS so badly!
So how much of this “missing lead” (dare we invent a term reminiscent of the 1960 election like “veracity gap”) is due to the media’s false narrative versus of Romney and how much of it is due to an accurate understanding of Romney’s tendency to straddle the fence?
Not trying to be snarky. Just asking a question.
The problem may be in your assumption that the GOP candidate is ‘supposed’ to have a two-digit lead at this point. Review polls from previous years – it’s typically the incumbent who enjoys the lead at this point, and that is likely based as much on name recognition than anything else (even the lowest info voter tends to at least know the president’s name).
Besides, the polls are all but meaningless at this point. Who goes into the booth on Nov 6th with the early August poll results clutched in one hand? Who goes into the booth with ANY poll results in hand?
1. The presidential barn is now empty. Fussin’ over that particular door during the next 80 days seems pretty much a fools game. Don’t believe that description fits you.
2. There remain effective ways to counter the assumed soft tendencies of the choice of which you disapprove. Fill the house and senate with pol’s you trust – not the ones there now. That’s what I’m workin’ on. Box him in.
3. Your last paragraph is spot on. Already lookin’. This is last election will vote GOP when primary vote hasn’t counted in selection process. For certain!
Paul Ryan is dead serious, when talking about the financial apocalypse facing this country. Paul Ryan knows that Barack Obama accelerated the debt crisis further, willingly.
Now I know that Mitt Romney gets it. His choice of Paul Ryan, was a huge relief. This campaign isn’t about proving your not a racist. It’s about austerity. And the Democrats just don’t get it.
1,700 Greek children have been abandoned, this year in ‘baby hatches’, since the financial collapse of that country. The Union hugging Public Sector Liberal Employees could care less. So, can be said for the Democrat Party, whose voting base will be the hardest hit. The time to wake up is now.
I must admit I have Eeyore tendencies in my makeup.
But it’s time to go full Tigger!
T-i-double guh-er!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJFyz73MRcg
I hear a lot of cosmetics have ground-up donkey bi-products in them. That explains the “Eeyore tendencies” in your makeup…
Might also explain people asking each other, “Do you smell … donkey?” whenever I enter a room.
Sure. Why not. In a cartoon election narrative, let’s all emulate cartoon characters.
Yesterday, I was on the WaPo boards after Jen Rubin’s column. There were over 1100 posts and the left was trying hard to trash Ryan by repeating the same absurd talking points. Today’s post had only about 75 comments and most to the lefty comments were half hearted. It is starting to feel like Ryan is cause heartburn, despair, and discouragement. They will be back but they seem to have been knocked back on their heels.
They also know the general campaign is yet to come.
Of course, these are the same people who consider Joe Biden a “statesman.” Go figure…
AMEN Professor J. Woulda’ Coulda’ Shoulda’ attended(after all, I am first generation AWOPAHO [with out papers] Law school at Cornell, only thing that stopped me was..’could never pass A bar’ and I gotta’ nose to prove it.
I note that many of concerns or fears about Ryan simply reflect or anticipate what the media/Left might say and how their narrative will shape opinion. We are so conditioned to look at the world the way they want us to, to internalize their narratives, often we don’t even realize it.
My concerns are the inverse: I worry that Romney (and the pusillanimous GOP braintrust) will lose their nerve on this wonderfully bold decision and start making tactical adjustments to media narratives instead of aggressively driving their own narrative.
Once more it is good to cite Breitbart. Breitbart walked straight into the chaotic kindergarten of the Left (as other terrified conservative adults made wide berths and instead whined among themselves or played nice on Sunday morning talk shows), pried the narratives out of their savage little fingers and told them to go sit in a corner. All hell broke loose for awhile, but the Left realized they weren’t holding the narrative anymore and that Breitbart was someone to fear.
We need to challenge the premise of everything they say and undercut the narrative before it starts. Paul Ryan, in his patient and decently persistent mid-western way, has been as good at this as anybody on the Right. I think Breitbart would hail his selection.
I agree with your coda, particularly.
But I think Breitbart also understood that in any army there are different specialist to perform different roles.
IF we are to be an “Army of Davids” there are many ways each can best support victory.
You and I can do things it simply would be imprudent for someone else, with a different role, to do. AND we can wisely not castigate others when they don’t do what we can.
Amen, brother. There are never sufficient reminders of the purpose and intent of the MSM, which is not to furnish the news of the day, but rather to implant raw prejudice in the public mind with the goal of imposing a left-liberal government on the rest of us.
[…] William A. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection has two posts today which reflect where folks may be. The first talks about the “Eeyores” … you remember Eeyore. Always gloomy. Always expecting the worst. Never seeing the possibilities … AND … quelling the happy, the excitement, the positive of others with his negativity. That seems to be the consensus emerging about how the Ryan pick changes the race. […]
Hear! Hear!
“We can get this thing done.” Paul Ryan
“Lead, follow, or get out of the way.” Lee Iacoca
” ” Barack Obama
The Eeyore tag goes a little far.
I have a finite amount of time, energy and cash for politics. I probably commit more of these resources to politics than most (both as a percentage of my own resources, and on an absolute basis), but the number is still finite.
Like any good capitalist, I want to spend my finite resources wisely. Given the choice of spending them on someone who is identical to Obama on global warming, healthcare, homosexuals in the boy scouts and many other issues that are important to me — or on races that do matter (like Cruz and Murdoch) I choose the latter. I want my expenditures to make a big difference, not a small one.
This is not sour grapes. This is not personal. Romney wasn’t my choice in the primaries, but neither were Bush not McCain and I voted for them both. I’m not getting excited about Romney for the same reason I stopped giving to the RNC. Bad Republicans do more damage than Democrats. So, I am done with bad Republicans. I am the correct answer to all those who assume that since Romney is a marginal improvement over Obama (and that really is the sum of it), that I will naturally fall in line, suck it up, go along. Well, no more. Never again. Sorry Charlie.
It will…probably…be better if Romney wins. But if he does it will be without my help. I’ll still be very involved, just not in that race. So if your guy does win the presidency, you can thank me if there is a Congress in place with the stones to keep your guy in line.
Choose the time and the battles you fight. If you give your time and resources to the down-ticket races (as I am) that’s good, but we also need the ones at the top, whether or not they are our ideal. This is not the time to take a stand and say I will never again suck it up. Like it or not, this is precisely the time we need to suck it up. You are not setting aside your principles, just strategically taking a stand to put us all in a better position from which to fight (gah, visions of McCain – but he did give us Palin, so thanks). Strategy.
FYI – McCain didn’t give us Palin. He took her from us. He chose her for VP to try to bring Republicans to his side. It worked. It worked too well. We liked her more than we liked him — to the point where his own people started to attack her. The other side recognized that she was the real deal and savaged her as well.
I think the party would have been better off if Palin had stayed in Alaska for another 6 years. She would still be a national force, but without all the McCain baggage and with a far stronger record in office.
Late last night, Governor Palin posted a note to her FB wall.
She begins by writing:
Congratulations to Mitt Romney on his choice of Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate.
http://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin/posts/10151109537628588
Take the time to read what she wrote and share it with people.
She provides a devastating critique of Obama’s time in office to date.
She ends her note writing:
Candidate Obama promised to unite all America, but President Obama has cynically divided us again and again in his efforts to win reelection by playing identity politics and class warfare and pitting one group against another.
Candidate Obama promised us a “fundamentally transformed” America, and that is the only promise he’s delivered on. We can see now what his idea of “hope” is. Now we want change. He has failed to lead, so We the People must lead. And our leadership starts at the ballot box on November 6th.
Please continue to focus on the presidential race and on helping Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, but it’s also imperative that we get involved in the nation’s important House and Senate races. These candidates need our help to ensure that our next president has a responsible and ethical Congress that actually gets things done for America. Now on to November!
Her message is clear. Let us join together and follow her lead.
P.S. You might also enjoy listening to an interview given by Mark Levin yesterday evening, in which he talks about Paul Ryan’s selection and much more.
Mark Levin says Paul Ryan was a great VP pick by Romney
http://www.therightscoop.com/full-radio-interview-mark-levin-says-paul-ryan-was-a-great-vp-pick-by-romney/
And this blows out of the water any suggestion that she is bitter or that the party will be divided because of her.
After the savage beatings she takes from the media, she gets up dusts herself off and delivers knock outs of her own. I am glad she didn’t get into this years presidential fray – we NEED her right where she is at. She is delivering quality candidates to the ticket and that is just what we need. Gut DC of the entrenched politicians. With the new ones in place we can hold their feet to the fire and get the people’s business done.
As one of his first duties in office I would like to see Mitt combine EPA, Interior Dept. and Energy Dept. Put Sarah in charge and tell her to eliminate all the dead heads in every position possible to eliminate the waste and fraud within 6 months and then do what you did in Alaska. Turn her loose and watch what happens!!!
Y’all have drunk the Kool-Aid en masse.
The Ryan pick was designed to shut up conservative criticism of Romney, since having the pioneer of gay marriage and nationalized healthcare, leader in GOP abortion rights advocacy, self-described “progressive”, critic of Ronald Reagan as the GOP candidate rankled a few conservatives.
So, even though Ryan will have zero input in anything, since VP is essentially an honorary position that has zero power, Romney and crew are hoping that the Ryan pick will give Romney surrogates a hammer to beat back conservative criticism of our “progressive” candidate. “Hey, he picked Ryan, so the ticket (abstractly) is more conservative, and proves Romney is conservative.”
Judging by the talk around here, the Romney teams plan worked like a charm. With the professor’s “screw you all post, it’s time to unite around Romney”, it’s working perfectly.
The VP pick doesn’t change the fact that we have someone who is only a little less Obama than Obama as our nominee.
Hear the sound of slurping.
I feel better now about voting for Romney than I ever have before.
If Romney is elected and back tracts, then he can be primaried in 2016…in the meantime, elect conservative senators, governors and congressmen as a firewall.
Your post assumes that Ryan is a complete moron and a willing patsy who will be Romney’s “Biden”.
No, the post doesn’t assume that at all. In fact, this is a “win-win” for Ryan. If he runs and wins, he is automatically assumes front-runner status in 2020 (admittedly, an eternity in politics). If they lose, he still gets vaulted to the front of the line in 2016 if he wants to enter the race.
Ryan was probably the best pick Romney could have made. Romney will probably benefit greatly from this pick.
But either way, Ryan benefits by this move. And if he really wants his old seat back, I suspect he’d get it in 2014 should it come to that.
Man, I was thinking the same thing. But many of the good folks here don’t want to hear that tune. I reckon they got their heads down deep in the punch bowl and done clogged their ears.
The fact that Romney is not as far left as Obama does not make Romney a conservative. The “middle of the road” is far to the right of Romney on way too many issues.
I for one knew little about her and remember being galvanized when she burst onto the scene. As for Sarah, she’s a strong woman and will prevail. Only the blind and dishonest see baggage and talk about baggage ad nauseum, and for one or another reason they wouldn’t like her anyway. Those who are honest can be won over. Give it time.
One of the most grating aspects of when I was a conservative Republican was the GOP establishment’s attitude that once they again kicked us in the teeth, they copped an attitude of “send us your money, we’re entitled to your vote, not STFU!”
If that is what you are saying professor, you need to take a couple of steps back and rethink. I have been bombarded the past couple of days with e-mails from Republicans and Tea Party organizations alike mouthing the same lame narrative. I am seriously reconsidering what I said yesterday about “of course I’m voting for Romney”. I’m not so sure anymore. I don’t like what I’m seeing and hearing.
Unlike you professor, this isn’t my first time around the block. I’ve been where you are on my path to quitting the GOP. I would refrain from telling people to shut up. That has been the main problem with EVERYONE in politics in this day and age, no one listens. Everyone else is stupid. Everyone else is wrong.
Well all of us “stupid” people are running away from “both” Demccratic parites. And for the very same reasons and seeking the very same things. All that is left to have a strong new party is for former Republicans and former Democrats alike to start speaking to each other in the same non-partisan language. Besaudes, we now outnumber either “major” party and may soon outnumber “both” combined.
We can win if the smart majority would just wake up to the power of numbers and realize who “we” are.
“….realize who “we” are.” In 2012 “we” is Romney/Ryan or Obama/Biden. Choose the “we” you want to run the country, then help them get there. The choice is exceptionally easy for me, and Romney was not my first, or second choice. But he is my first choice now.
Reply
Pasadena Phil | August 12, 2012 at 2:01 pm
Choose the time to take a stand. Now is not that time. Take a look at whoever it is that you would support and weigh what the person has said. Is the person you support telling you not to vote because it’s Romney? Heck I still have my reservations about the ticket, but the ones I would have liked to have seen running are asking people to bring their power to the voting booth and vote Obama out of office. That and keeping those we put into office is about all we can aspire to at this moment. It took a long time for things to degenerate – in our apathetic presence – it will now take a while to set things right – with our engaged input. Stepping aside and sanctimoniously saying “I’m taking a stand” will not help anyone right now.
“All that is left to have a strong new party is for former Republicans and former Democrats alike to start speaking to each other in the same non-partisan language.”
You keep saying that.
So, tell us what that dialog sounds like, Fillie.
“We can win if the smart majority would just wake up to the power of numbers and realize who ‘we’ are.”
Umm…Kemosabe…
YOU have a pattern and practice of putting words in the mouths of people and groups.
Tell us about who this “we” would be to whom you refer, and do it in concrete terms…not your usual, “well a lot of people are disaffected”, because a a lot of us are in that group…
and you damn sure do not speak for us.
Eeyore:
Mark Steyn, the nancy boys at National Review.
Yeah, but note the date on Steyn’s piece.
There have been some…developments since he wrote that.
But, to be fair to Steyn, he is a Eeyore by constitution, as you know from his books.
I am thankful for the Choice, the Contrast. We sure don’t need murky and tepid anymore. The Choice has ancient roots, too.
If we’re waiting for a candidate to be presented to us that is prepared to be all things to all people, one who can eat Martians and piss gasoline, one who can fix the deficit without any pain, one who can bring everyone under his big old tent to sit around the same communal table…
We already have him. His name is Barack Hussein Obama.
Great men are humble men. They will offer us a challenge, not a sop. They will offer to pull the load with us, not take away our load and make someone else pull it. No. The charlatans, all too good to be true, have always been with us. American elected on in 2008.
We have a good ticket. Not a perfect one. Now, we just have to work. To labor. Fight the good fight now, and we won’t have to fight the nasty one, later. All the other side wants is nasty.
Resist! Resolve! Work!
Ryan is not going to waste his talents in the VP slot. He has the stones and the knowledge to make sure things get done. And he says it in plain English that everyone understands. I don’t think Mitt picked him for anything else but that reason. Ryan knows who the unelected skeletons in the closet that are pulling the strings and first order of business is to rid DC of the scum.
I, too, have concerns about Romney, but I am not going to stay home and let Zero completely destroy this country. We will see how this Romney/Ryan ticket plays out until the convention and see how they handle the negative onslaught of the media – that will say a lot. And then turn Paul Ryan loose on his own!!! Don’t muzzle him!
The Eeyores Among Us
…
I don’t have a crystal ball, but I do know that the eeyores among us can create a self-fulfilling prophecy, one in which fear of the choice now presented to the American people demoralizes us and diminishes our chances of success.
Bill, while I agree that unity is essential, IMO the tone of this post is ill-considered.
I remember twelve years of kinder and gentler compassionate conservatism. I remember a quixotic impeachment that cost us seats in the 1998 midterms and would have lost the 2000 races to anyone more competent than Algore. I remember that supposedly conservative Republicans can “grow” after arriving in Washington.
I support RR. In a spirit of due diligence, I will continue to monitor them until Election Day. In the unlikely event that they alienate me, I will vote for Gary Johnson. A Massachusetts voter switching to Johnson won’t affect the outcome; it ain’t necessarily so if voters in contested western states switch.
In short, don’t tread on me. Don’t poke me with a stick either.
The most unhappiest girl person is the whole USA is ex Sen Feingold.
I was very happy to hear the choice. I’ve been even happier since I’ve seen the excitement that Ryan has brought, as evidenced by the crowds to see Romney and Ryan together. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the excitement that Sarah Palin brought four years ago. While the excitement is the same, though, there’s a difference in the candidates in that I think that Ryan, having considerable experience with the national media, will do far better with them.
Even before this, I didn’t think of Mitt Romney as Obama-lite. He’s certainly not my dream candidate. I cannot, however, imagine Mitt Romney nominating Sonia Sotomayor or Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court or Eric Holder to be Attorney General. I cannot imagine Mitt Romney abrogating federal bankruptcy law to bail General Motors out and pay off the UAW. I cannot imagine Mitt Romney surrounding himself with human oil slicks like David Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, and Valerie Jarrett. I cannot imagine him backing out on a promise to place missiles in Poland. I can provide a much longer list. Many of the things are small in themselves, but, cumulatively, they are evidence of a very stark difference between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.
I don’t think the excitement is the same.
For a foreign p o v I looked up several news sources . Flat.
Rupert Murdoch’s The Australian spiced the article up by a headline …
Romney Picks War Hawk as VP. (The actual article only had ‘deficit hawk’
Not much else unfortunately.
Regarding missiles in Poland – Poland is actually doing quite well -let them protect themselves. Ditto the rest of Europe.
[…] Let this be a lesson for The Eeyores Among Us […]
I’m guessing that I’m one of the “Eyores”.
I really, really want to be wrong. I want my vision of tomorrow to be wrong.
But Ryan does not change the vision. Palin didn’t change the vision for 2008 and she was everything Ryan represents and more. McCain was everything Romney isn’t and it didn’t make a difference.
I want to wake up after election day and see a President Romney, but I won’t. You can say all you want about “self-fulfilling prophecy” but it doesn’t change what is written.
The best effort we can bend ourselves to is regaining Congress with true conservatives. We should replace RINOs with the true conservatives and the Democrats, too.
I really, really want you all to go “Nanny, Nanny, Boo, Boo” to me after election day.
I don’t see it happening. We have not avoided the future that has stood in my mind. It’s not a crystal ball, Dr. Jacobson. It’s something deeper. I can’t explain it or wish it away. It’s what will happen.
The choice we are offered is not Obama or Romney. It’s Republican, Democrats or conservatives calling the shots in Congress and actually using the power of the purse as it is set for in the Constitution to curtail Executive power.