I do not, for one second, believe that Rick Santorum can defeat Mitt Romney (and, let’s be honest, nobody does except, apparently, for his own staff).
As such, Romney’s victory in Iowa is very important indeed. It means that he’s now the true frontrunner, the guy to beat.
But who can defeat him?
Rick Perry will probably get out of the race after his abysmal showing yesterday. The Texas governor had a real shot when he entered the race last year, but blew it after stumbling in several debates. Conservative voters – correctly – concluded that he is not the man to take down Obama.
And Michele Bachmann? She should’ve finished in the top three in Iowa but finished sixth and is out.
Of course there’s also the racist and anti-Semitic Ron Paul. Racist and anti-Semitic. Enough said, you’d think.
As such, Republican voters only have one person left who could defeat Romney: Newt Gingrich.
Newt, however, should’ve performed better yesterday. If he wants to have a real shot, he’ll have to pull off an upset in New Hampshire. If Romney wins there as well, it’ll be very difficult for anyone to stop him, especially because the Republican establishment will then undoubtedly call for an end to the race in South Carolina.
To conclude: After yesterday, only one man truly has a path to the nomination. His name is Mitt Romney. All the others are in the very real danger of becoming stage props, nothing more.
“To conclude: After yesterday, only one man truly has a path to the nomination. His name is Mitt Romney.”
Edit: “…his name is John McCain.” Edit: “…his name is Bob Dole.” Edit:”…his name is G. or G.W. Bush.” Edit: “…his name is John Dewey.”
How many times do we have to read this crap? As Judge Smails said to a bunch of country club loafers, “Don’t you have homes?”
You mean THOMAS DEWEY?
Sore Looser??
You’ve got to love how Mr. van der Galien casually starts out with his proposition that “nobody really believes Santorum can beat Romney”, so that’s that, and here’s why the rest of the GOP candidates should give up. Apparently Mr. van der Galien failed to note that Romney only “won” Iowa by 8 votes.
After a couple more state primaries, other candidates will drop out. But those votes will not go to Romney. They will go to Perry, Newt or Santorum. Romney is perpetually stuck at 25%, and will go no higher.
In 2008, the only reason he did as well as he did was because he ran against another moderate in McCain. Now he’s running against a field of more conservative candidates, and he can’t pull off a move to the right.
Romney was the inevitable favorite going into Iowa. After failing to meet expectations, it’s basically over for Romney.
With all due respect, but… George W. actually did win the presidency, remember?
Which got us Medicare part D, no effort at puttting conservatives onthe court, passive support at best for the 2nd, half-hearted attempts at reigning in the housing and college loan GSEs, a doggedly but half-assedly prosecuted war agagainst AlQaeda, TARP and the first bailout.
Romney going in is far worse.
So I will not vote for him.
Actually, Bush did appoint a couple of real conservatives to the Supreme Court–and they play a crucial role in D.C. v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010)–fundamental Second Amendment decisions.
Yes, Bush turned out to be a disappointment on spending. But consider who President Gore would have appointed to the Supreme Court.
Wickard is intact, so are the idiot drug laws and most of the gun laws–neither Heller nor MacDonald go as far as they should which is at least as far as Miller did.
What would I get out of Romney I should be glad of?
Your responses are all over the place and seem to indicate that you’re not either not reading or not comprehending what’s being written here.
Your initial comment was written in the tone of someone who was tired of hearing authoritative-sounding predictions that turned out to be wrong. When it was pointed out to you that most of those predictions had actually turned out to be right you shifted to “ok, but Bush was awful”. Then someone pointed out to you that Bush, for all his faults, was better than the alternative would have been so you shifted AGAIN, this time to “why should I be happy about Romney?”.
But the whole point of this article, which you obviously missed, was not that you should be happy about Romney. What you should be is realistic about the probability that he’s going to win the nomination.
That’s it, that’s all the article says. Everything you’ve said since then has been either incorrect, a non sequiter, or both.
In case you haven’t noticed it, Americans are not libertarian. Not even close.
I will not endorse the GOP portion of the establishment which caused our troubles, I will address the nomination of Romney by not voting for him.
I would rather have 4 years of a liberal who will get nothing he wants than Romney being a liberal who gets some of what he wants.
If Romney gets in, then the GOP brand will be destroyed by the muddling, middling half measures which will be all he can stomach to attempt. The country will go over the cliff edge with only RINOs to blame.
I’d rather it not go over the cliff at all. If it’s a question of Romney or Obama, I’ll go with the anchor of divided government.
Romney represents the GOP estsblishment. They have a hand on the blade and a tongue lapping the blood, I cannot believe they will let him put more than a bandaid on the slit throat.
If Obama wins again in 2012, you will not have “a liberal who will get nothing he wants.” We will be stuck with a far-left president who will get a lot of his far-left judge appointments through Congress. That’s true even if the Republicans win the Senate and the House. And we will have an Obama administration which will still be able to force a lot of far-left regulations down our throats.
Divided government is sometimes OK. Gridlock can be good. But Obama has already been successful in doing great damage by bypassing Congress, and by getting Republicans in Congress to cave. I think this will only get worse if Obama is still in their after 2012
Bachman drops out and Perry doesn’t and I think Perry is a long shot but after the Romney attack machine goes after Santorum and Gingrich takes his wrath out on Romney, Perry has a path to be right back in this in SC.
Negative. What will happen is the conservatives will coalesce around a Conservative candidate – and that Mittens ain’t.
With Bachman out, look to see folks flock to Santorum.
As for NH – who cares – it has half the population of Iowa.
Romney will not get my vote, period. He shares all of GW’s weaknesses with none of his strengths.
Republicans have a choice, I’ve made mine.
Do you want 3/4 of a liberal, or a full liberal, in the White House? That’s the choice if Romney gets the nomination. It will definitely be a “hold your nose to vote” event, but Obama on his final term will be far more destructive than he is now.
Clayton E. Cramer, you are right on target. I would prefer a GOP candidate who is more consistently conservative than Romney, but if Romney gets the nomination, I will happily vote for him against Obama.
The country cannot afford 4 more years of Obama, period. Voting for ideological purity might make one’s conscience feel a little better, but it harms our country in 2012 if Obama gets back in there as a result.
Kudos. Santorum or Paul will be my write-in candidate if Romney gets the nod. I did it to Papa Bush I’ll do it to the rehashed GOP/Bush/McSame/Corporate-sellout du jour. There is no such thing as a wasted vote to my conscience.
Jerry: Perry can only make a comeback if he wins in South Carolina. If he does he’ll pose a threat to Romney. If he doesn’t, however, Romney will pull it off with even more ease, simply because he can continue to play his game of divide and conquer.
I don’t like Mitt Romney but Newt seems to me to be almost bipolar. I still like Paul Ryan with Rubio. Somebody needs to talk to him!
Perry has the cash to wait for S. Carolina — and see Newt go after Romney, and Santorum go after Romney, and maybe some newspapers go after Santorum.
Most Reps and anti-Obama folk will vote for the Rep candidate, even McCain and/or Palin, rather than Obama.
(Romney/Palin would win for the Reps, but I doubt that Romney will go there.)
But yes, 4 more years of Obama should make Tea Party local Rep orgs stronger, with a stronger Obama to be against. And whoever wins in 2012, will have a disappointing 2013 economy … and maybe 4 years of econ disappointment.
Yeah, and all you self-annointed “true conservatives” will be sitting around on the morning after the election trying to get your ignorant thumbs our of your asses and wondering how the communist got re-elected.
If Mitt Romney approached me on a used car lot, I’d say “No, Thank you” and leave. That said, everyone of your great conservative hopes has proven themselves incapable of running a campaign or developing and articulating a message that resonates even in a Nation practically screaming for leadership. You all fell in love with Bachmann till she proved herself unable to withstand scrutiny. You all fell in love with Cain until he proved himself to be an affirmative action hire with some issues about chasing tail. You all fell in love with Perry until he proved he could make even GWB look like Cicero. As the piece says, the only one with a conservative record left is Gingrich and in addition to his raising the ire of “true conservatives” because he actually had to participate keeping the government running, he is the Left’s bete noir, second only, and only maybe, to Sarah Palin. Oh, and Sarah ain’t running for nothing anytime soon if ever again; she’s made a lot of money already and she really doesn’t like people looking into her more adventurous days as a sports reporter. Santorum is a flash in the pan who doesn’t have either the message or the resources to go much further. Oh, and a vote for that lunatic Ron Paul is a vote for the communist.
If you don’t like Mitt Romney, then get off your butts and try to get the one person with a hope in Hell to unseat him as the nominee, Newt Gingrich nominated. It may be true that a people deserved the government they get and that the people living in America today deserve turning the Country over to an avowed communist intent on “fundamentally transforming” the Country, but the people who gave their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to make this Country don’t deserve to have us turn away from the history and tradition of America in a fit of pique because we can’t get our guy nominated.
Wow, that was both inspiring and insulting at the same time. I agree we must all work to get the candidate elected we believe is best. It’s not enough to just forward an email now and again. Time, Talent, Treasure have to be given. I’m not sure why you think Gingrich is the only one though. I have a feeling that if Romney wins that the GOP is going to become irrelevant.
It was meant to insult the “I’ll stay home or vote for Obama before I vote for Romney” crowd.
And they need insulting. I might very well vote for Santorum in the Idaho primary, because I want to send a message to the GOP that Romney is too liberal. But I will vote for the Republican nominee in the general election, even if it is Romney or, in the alternate reality universe, Ron Paul.
Yep, Newt is only most viable non-romney. Santorum had his day yesterday. It’s over today.
I’ve come to the realization that Newt is the only one who can beat Obama. Mitt would have a chance if he would abandon Romneycare and expend the effort painting Obama that he spent savaging Newt…but that ain’t gonna happen. The ruling class looks at 4 more years of pork and wonders why they would ever put their sinecures at risk by saying pooh about Obama when a reporter is in the room. Look at the Republican party as the GE of Congress.
Newt really is the outsider now. The newking in Iowa proves it. Maybe conservatives will begin to wake up and smell the gunpowder.
“But who can defeat him?”
Barak Obama. Thats who.
Americans Have to Face Reality: It’ll Be Obama
I still hold a slim hope for Newt. He has two debate opportunities before SC and hopefully sanity will prevail on the part of the voters there. The impact damage by the shameless Newt raping that has occurred over the past few weeks might have run its course as people realize that nothing new was revealed and Newt once can again demonstrates his intellectual and ideological superiority to the others.
So conservatives “have to face reality” – the Eastern establishment Republican reality that “It’ll be Romney”? This because a candidate who has been running for President for 7 years, with the blessing of the Republican Ruling Class, beat Rick Santorum, who was in single digits two weeks ago, by 8 votes? This because the prohibitive “favorite” got 25% of the vote, meaning 75% wanted someone else? I guess the Tea Party patriots who sparked the Republican Party’s return to power in the House in 2010 are just irrelevant in the face of the entrenched RINOs in the Beltway.
With all due respect, Michael, I think I’ll give the primary process a little longer to play out before surrendering my principles to the John McCain/Karl Rove/Charles Krauthammer/NRO wing of the party that you appear to represent.
Who is pushing Romney? No one I work with, no one I know, likes the guy. He’s a suit with nice hair who will change any policy to get a vote.
This brief article reminded me of something an old friend taught me about political rhetoric. My friend Jack, who had a true way with words, put it this way:
Romney’s nomination is not inevitable. We who dislike him will continue to promote the candidates we prefer. The ultimate decision won’t be made by commentators, here at PJ Media or elsewhere.
Ron Paul – racist and anti-Semitic. The Big Lie in action. Repeat it often enough and it will become true.
The question is, of course, who can beat Romney? I’ll tell you who: Barack Obama.
Which one wins next November will turn entirely on events between now and then. An uptick in the economy, an absence of foreign policy disasters, and it will be Obama.