Tea party, we hardly knew ye.

Nikki Haley summed things up quite astutely on Meet the Press yesterday:

“This is not just about picking a conservative candidate.” Indeed.

(FYI: PPP is a liberal progressive polling entity used by SEIU and other progressive organizations. The Des Moines Register is liberal and they habitually pick the losers, a.k.a., the RNC picks.)

Romney is closing the gap and calling in his markers. There are loads of Washington insiders that Romney donated to in ’10–both newcomers and those that stood for re-election. The thought that Romney didn’t decide to run till his wife pushed him this year is ludicrious. He’s been laying the ground work to be the nominee and what better way to ensure that? Follow the money. His federal PAC and 5 state PAC’s have paid to play the game.

Sadly, the tea party candidates are falling like flies. Haley got the star billing this weekend, but prior to her there was Jason Chavetz and soon to come is Mark Kirk, new IL Senator that the teaparty worked tirelessly for, to name a few. IA Gov. Terry Bransted was blessed with $20,000 of Romney’s PAC money. It’s a wonder he hasn’t already endorsed and may still right before the Jan 3 vote to seal the deal. If we think all these folks aren’t having private talks with Romney’s campaign and strategic announcements aren’t planned, we are more stupid than they already assume we are. Of course, its not just tea party candidates Romney has bolstered–nobody would accuse recent endorser, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, of being even remotely connected to a liberty organization. Going into NH, Gingrich and Huntsman are claiming momentum but it was Mitt Romney that donated $30,000 to the NH State GOP. Add the $7500 or so he donated to state and local NH candidates, even down to Greenville, NH, City Council candidates and the outcome there is predetermined. In fact, Romney supported 3 state rep races in NH, 20 races in SC and 34 in CA. He supported upwards of 70 U.S. House races, 13 U.S. Senate races and 9 gubernatorial races–including Rick Perry’s–obviously Perry didn’t get the message that he was being paid in advance NOT to run against Romney. Caucus goers in IA, NH and SC may not know or care about any of this now but it’ll be front and center in the general and it’ll be too late to admit buyer’s remorse.

In Romney’s 1994 run for the Senate he said he favored strong gun laws and claimed he “didn’t line up with the NRA”. When he decided to run for president in ’08 he changed his heart and joined the NRA. While he won’t disclose whether or not he’s a gun owner, he admits to having done a little hunting in his past for ‘small varmits’. Today, the NRA says its not ready yet to endorse a candidate. What are they waiting for? Gun owners in IA, NH and SC: are you awake yet?

There are two very troubling YouTube videos on Romney: “Understanding Mitt Romney” and “Mitt Romney’s Deception”, If you’re leaning his way you might want to take a look. Nobody is talking now about Romney’s support for gay prom’s in MA high schools, but it’ll come up in the general.

Yes, this is insanity but more importantly, its a nightmare. It’s a bad dream from which we can’t awake.

Mitt Romney, if the nominee, will not win. He represents the core of Obama’s reelect plaform. He’s Wall Street; he exemplies the 1%. When he attacked Newt on the Tiffany’s line of credit, the media quietly avoided reports of Mitt’s wife having an affinity for imported saddle horses costing in the 6 figures. The voters in IA and SC aren’t hearing about it, but they will in the general election. While the Evangelicals are warming to the idea of a Mormon president (as well they should–it should be a non issue) the media is at work now creating documentaries on the sorrid past of the church’s leader, Joseph Smith, and they will focus on all the quirky aspects such as polygamy. Republicans stifle the debate now because its not fair and its not relevant. It will be a focus in the general. By then, all of this rethinking of just whom is the most electable will be too late.

Nobody on our side (whatever that is these days) will talk about the unprecedented destruction of hard drives, refusal to release written documents and the clean sweep made of Romney’s emails in the governor’s office. Not illegal, but questionable in nature and costing MA taxpayers at least $100,000. Nobody on our side will discuss concerns from the Heritage Foundation about Romney’s deals with insurance carriers to get RomneyCare through, but it’ll be front and center in the general. Little attention was given to Jon Gruber, MIT economist and Romney aide that visited the WH 12 times (WH visitor logs were checked) to help them frame ObamaCare. It’s not a priority now, but it will be in the general.

Nikky Haley did in fact really sum things up well this weekend on Meet the Press when she said this is not about electing a conservative. She’s right. It’s not even close to that.

Nobody is going to attack the girl. She can throw any punch she wants and nobody really swings back. The couple times Mitt has attacked, he’s paid for it in the media. He can’t do it, but he can send the girl to do it for him. She’s strategic and laser accurate. Whether Pawlenty, Perry, or now Newt, she’s not just reacting. She has a clear strategy. Notice she never went after Cain? No, she embraced him instead at first debate he was absent from, all because she wanted his supporters. If Perry, Gingrich or Santorum dropped out today, Michelle would be full of false smiles and compliments and try her best to win their supporters. She’s a cagey pol first and foremost. She’s fulfilling an agenda with the promise of debts paid and a nice appointment or even the VP spot if she’s successful. She’s Mitt’s last best hope of gaining traction w/ the tea party but just like what happened to Haley, if Bachmann folds her campaign and supports Romney, she too, will lose credibility with the few surviving true tea party patriots. She likes to brag about bringing 10,000 of us to the Washington Mall. If she steps aside and endorses Romney, that won’t happen again.

As our leaders that we once respected, donated to and campaigned for begin to line up, one by one behind Romney, its remarkable how quickly the Left was able to achieve success. The president made fun of us for being bitter clingers and bed wetters. The media labeled us very unbecoming names. The goal of the OWS deal was to help deflate influence of the tea party. A year ago I would have never entertained the idea they’d be successful. Today, its happening before our eyes and few seem to care.

Apparently the tea party got duped again. Kirk ran very much on the right (I attended a couple of his gatherings while visiting in IL and heard him espouse very conservative views).

It all adds up to the same thing: the tea party has been played and Romney stands to cash in as a result. Yet, conservatives are told we’re unpatriotic if we don’t all line up now behind Romney? Insanity.

for my failure to be more inclusive. Stay tuned as the election season goes on–you’ll likely be needing to correct many that also make this error.

The core issue, however, is that we are concerned only with the opinion of legal immigrants, no matter their country of origin. Before labeling them based on country or language, we all must prioirtize their legality first.