Time to End the "Anyone but Mitt" Conservative argument

This week, the Spanish people won a major victory by turning out the Socialist government that had been in power since 2004. As many will recall, the conservative People’s Party had, as a friend of mine e-mailed me earlier today,  won after a major terrorist attack “by cynically exploiting the terrorist tragedy a few days before the election and reversing what otherwise would have been a sure reelection victory for Aznar’s People’s Party. Aznar had presided over an economic boom for Spain, and the Socialists have turned it into an economic catastrophe.”

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So Spain’s people have wisely turned to conservatives to seek a way back to economic prosperity, rather than keep putting in power a left-wing party that seeks to extend an unsustainable welfare state in such a manner that leads to a loss of jobs plus pending total economic collapse. Clearly, the people of Spain do not want their country to become another Greece.

The question is whether our own people will do the same for the United States in the coming 2012 presidential election, arguably the most important one since 1932 and 1936 and the rise of the New Deal. The election is one for the Republicans to lose, and sadly, they may indeed do just that.

Yesterday, the annual Restoration Weekend run by the David Horowitz Freedom Center ended, and I must report that a spirit of impending doom hovered over the event. Pollsters John McLaughlin (not the TV host) who advised Bob Turner in New York’s 9th District historic election, and Pat Caddell, gave the startling figures that indicated how Obama might actually win an election that by all accounts, he should lose.

One question is that which all conservatives should now ask themselves: Which of the current Republican candidates has most of the chance to unseat Barack Obama? That answer is only one: Mitt Romney. In her address to the conference, Ann Coulter broke Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment, that one should not speak ill of any Republican. She publicly made the argument that only Romney can win against Obama, and she then proceeded to skewer those who believed in backing Newt Gingrich as the true conservative in the race. Coulter went through Gingrich’s ever changing record, and showed how many times he took positions that were anything but conservative, and that dovetailed with those taken by liberal opponents of all Republicans.

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In today’s Wall Street Journal, Allysia Finley writes that “Republicans might not particularly like Mitt Romney, but they may have to learn to live with him if they want to take the White House next year. So suggests a poll released today by Purple Strategies, which surveys voters in 12 swing states: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.”

When lined up with Obama, she points out, his negatives are less than those of any other Republican candidate, and “Mr. Romney also fares the best of all the candidates in a head-to-head match-up against the president, running even with him at 45.” Moreover, another poll taken yesterday showed that in the critical state of Michigan, Romney won over Obama by a substantial majority.

Yes, I know that Newt Gingrich is way head of Romney in other polls, and now is at the top of his game. But once the Freddie and Fanny mess registers with voters- and Newt’s own crony capitalism when he was out of office becomes widely understood- his own poll ratings will fall as did those of Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Michelle Bachman.

Another thing to fear is the widening call among Democrats for a “draft Hillary” campaign. Will Clinton break with the administration, and give the o.k. to put her name into play by those Democrats who realize Obama’s slim chances for re-election, and acknowledge his growing unpopularity? Will Obama voluntarily step down and ask that she be the candidate, as Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen suggest in today’s WSJ?

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They give the President the following advice: “He should abandon his candidacy for re-election in favor of a clear alternative, one capable not only of saving the Democratic Party, but more important, of governing effectively and in a way that preserves the most important of the president’s accomplishments. He should step aside for the one candidate who would become, by acclamation, the nominee of the Democratic Party: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.”

If Obama took this advice which he certainly does not want to hear, Republicans would have a very tough time winning. As Caddell and Schoen argue, “A CNN/ORC poll released in late September had Mrs. Clinton’s approval rating at an all-time high of 69%—even better than when she was the nation’s first lady. Meanwhile, a Time Magazine poll shows that Mrs. Clinton is favored over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by 17 points (55%-38%), and Texas Gov. Rick Perry by 26 points (58%-32%)”

Hence they note that were she to run, many swing voters, independents and blue-collar Reagan Democrats would undoubtedly vote for her—guaranteeing a Democrat Party victory. The two pollsters are partisan Democrats, and they argue she would as president reign in the deficit, work to  create political reconciliation, move her party to the center, get bipartisan support, as well as save the social safety net.

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At Restoration Weekend, Caddell passionately spoke about the need to save the country by defeating Barack Obama. Were Hillary not to run, Caddell obviously would be voting for a Republican, since he fully realizes the damage Obama has done to our nation, and if he won, as Caddell said, the country we all grew up in will cease to exist.

So it is not out of the question that if other Democrats feel the same way, the pressure may develop that is so great that Obama will be forced to step down, much as LBJ did during the Vietnam War.

So, once again, Republicans must look honestly at the current choice, and make the one most likely to give them a chance to run the only candidate with any possibility of winning against Obama, and were Hillary to run, have the chance to actually wage a strong campaign against her as well.

The time to keep going with an “anyone but Mitt” strategy must come to an end. If Republicans are serious, they should unite around Mitt Romney.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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