Friday, February 11, 2011

GOP Still Short a Viable Presidential Contender for 2012


GOP Still Short a Viable Presidential Contender for 2012
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

The Conservative Political Action Conference is in the midst of their three-day meeting in Washington and would-be Republican presidential contenders have been parading in and out the meeting(s).

From the reports I have read those attending have been sort of dipping their toe into the conservative waters checking the temperature and the current of the water, and then -- nervously counting their toes.

To date there has not been a single republican to officially announce he/she is entering the race for the Oval Office. Not one.

According to various polls there is not even a front-runner among those who are thought to be serious contenders -- even though they are holding back any announcement to that effect.

Out here in the swamps of the southern hinterlands we are overly fond of any of the lot who are “not yet running.”

Donald Trump? Give me a break, already!

Romney has about as good a chance as did McCain.

Allow me to dust off my crystal ball and reach deep inside, with my razor sharp mental powers, of course, and prognosticate the republican presidential ticket for 2012.

Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann. There. Feel better? Can’t say that I do, either.

I have to admit to a certain degree of concern, worry even, that conservatives may have bought into the theory that Obama is so badly liked by voters that he has already secured his place in US history as a one-term president. I don’t buy that. And I think anyone who does … is making a huge mistake.

Look. This is the Democratic Party we are talking about here. Never, ever, sell them short when it comes to elections. They will pull out all the stops and they will do whatever it takes to win. Republicans, especially conservative republicans cannot hold a candle to them when it comes to electioneering. Heck, they have been working on Obama’s second term since the Wednesday morning after the election in November of 2008. They have been working at the state levels, especially the office of the various Secretaries of State through out the nation. They have been laying a foundation for as much control of elections at the state level as they possibly can. That is where elections are won and lost. Think not? Remember Florida???

Conservative enthusiasm was heightened when Obama supporters stayed away from the polls in November of 2010. There was a good reason why they stayed away. Obama was not on the ticket. In 2012, he will be – and they will be back with the smashing energy of a tidal wave.

Understanding the Democratic Party is akin to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphics – with a Brooklyn accent. It is darned near impossible. It is an amalgamation of every sort of leftists special interest group in the United States. Heck, there is even a democratic wing of the Democratic Party, small though it is, shoved into a darkened corner by the socialists, the progressives, and a host of “single issue” misfits, as well and those “undocumented democrats” we sometimes refer to as illegal aliens. And we must include the vast majority of the mainstream media in the US who controls so many of the gateways to information the voters need to make informed decisions.

With such an, er, eclectic crowd as that, how is it possible to underestimate their ability to snatch an election even while under the intense gaze of an entire nation?

The plain truth is – conservatives are just not very good at lying, cheating, stealing, being creative in matriculating ballots.

In my years of covering elections at the local levels, I have seen things you would not believe. I have sat in rooms with personnel from the US Justice Department, guns strapped to their hips and recorders in hand overseeing recounts and checking election records. I have witness ballot swapping. I had seen entire ballot boxes disappear only to be “found” days later in someone’s barn -- way out in the boon docks. And that just scratches the surface.

The point is, the Democratic parry is deadly in earnest when it comes to winning an election and whatever it takes is not just a motto, it is a plan of action.

Obama will, in all likelihood, be re-elected as President in 2012.

Why do I say that?

Because it has been my observation that the GOP is not willing to get down in the gutter and wallow in the political mud and mire and sewage where the Democratic Party reigns.

Politics is distasteful to most conservatives. It makes them feel dirty. It makes them want to take a shower to get the stink off. And they don’t like compromising their decency to win an election. The Democratic Party has demonstrated time and again that they have no such problem.

The GOP has a serious problem finding a Presidential candidate, who can stand up to the vicious, take no prisoners attack, sure to come from the leftists.

With that in mind, I predict the dirtiest, most vicious, presidential campaign in history between now and November of 2012.
Strap in. The ride is going to be extremely rough.

J. D. Longstreet

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