Let Him Talk
by Deacon Blues
With every state that a non-Romney wins, the punditocracy tells us we are one step closer to a brokered GOP convention. And with that, Democrats are supposed to be afraid of the specter of Jeb Bush rising from the ashes of a GOP primary season killing field to heal the party and sweep it to victory in November. Really?
First off, after the bloodletting we’ve seen inside the GOP over the last two months, how many people still think Mitt Romney would beat Barack Obama in a general election? The more Romney panders, the less conservatives like him. Support and favorability for him are declining, and for him to get the nomination now he would need to pick a running mate that pleases the fringe. He’s now left with going after the crazy things Santorum says, which is just what the White House wants to see.
Second, the more Rick Santorum is in front of a microphone, the more he’ll be revealed as a retrograde theocrat who wants to dictate that your private life must fit his belief system. He wants the governing document for this country to be the bible, not the Constitution. He wants to challenge science and for women to really be property, and he will lead a moral crusade from the White House. These are the kinds of people who start wars for God, certainly when they themselves have no kids in the military. Santorum now wants to tell us that he’s really a reasonable guy, and not to take his rhetoric seriously, but when you rant against contraception, prenatal testing, and call climate change political and not scientific, then you’ve given up any ability to say “never mind”. If you’ll openly shill for the major polluters like coal and Big Oil and take the position that man comes first over the planet, then the GOP needs to be accountable for that extremism in a general election, just like you need to be held accountable for saying that prenatal testing is nothing more than screening out disabled children. Mr. Santorum needs to be asked over and over again why his concern for children at contraception doesn't extend when they're harmed outside the womb by a polluting campaign contributor.
Third, the GOP is headed for this train wreck because Santorum might win Michigan and several other contests through the Rust Belt and the south including Texas, and Newt will also win several contests in southern states, setting the stage for all four of the remaining GOP candidates, (yes, Ron Paul will have his share of delegates by the time we get to Tampa) to come into the convention with claims upon the outcome. And yet we’re supposed to be scared of someone else entering the picture like a Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, or Mitch Daniels emerging after the first ballot to unite the party and suddenly swing the election in the GOP’s favor.
That’s why I want Rick Santorum to keep talking and racking up whatever victories he can get. Because if he and Paul, and even Gingrich keep stoking the false hopes of the GOP fringe that they can get the nomination and win the presidency, how willingly do you feel those same energized fringe elements will let the whole process be taken from them for another Bush coronation, assuming Jeb would even try and step into this mess? Would Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, or Mitch Daniels (BCD) be able to tamp down the craziness coming from Santorum, Paul, and Gingrich and subsume those passions behind a more moderate general election posture? Wouldn’t an Obama Tier Two effort simply batter BCD daily with demands that they affirm their support for the crazy stuff said during the primary season, or risk rupturing the coalition when BCD inevitably has to reject or refute the craziness?
So keep talking Rick.