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“I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake, I can’t have illegals.” — Mitt Romney, in a nutshell

DOH!

Sometimes it is the most unexpected of moments that can turn the tide and reveal a man’s true character what we all suspected he is.  This seemingly unnoticeable slip that was caused by a well prepared attack by Rick Perry is an advertising nuclear bomb waiting to be detonated on the Romney campaign.  Mitt Romney is like Barack Obama in a way.  Just an ambitious politician willing to say anything whose sole purpose is to get to the top of the political Mount Everest of American government.  If something threatens that while they are running for office, this must be covered up as soon as possible.  One has to think “Well, so it is okay to employ illegals in private business when he’s not running for office?”  This is a two-pronged dagger which will not sit well with conservative voters and the Hispanic vote though each for different reasons.

If Rick Perry doesn’t win the nomination, at the very least he’ll spend his war chest making sure Mitt Romney doesn’t win the nomination

Up until last night, every candidate had their crosshairs on Rick Perry.  It wasn’t disheartening that they were attacking Perry, it was disheartening to conservatives yet pleasing to the GOP establishment kingmakers that they were focusing on the wrong target.  Take out Romney first by training your guns on him and then let the rest of the conservatives duke it out for the nomination, much to the chagrin of the establishment.  Granted, Perry has been awful in the debates.  Last night he was noticeably better.  An interesting possibility is emerging from last night’s debate.

Rick Perry and Mitt Romney will likely slug it out during the GOP nomination.  It has been suggested, and rightfully so, that Mitt Romney benefits from having as many conservative candidates duking it out to keep the most powerful bloc in the GOP fractured.  Rick Perry’s chances of getting back to the top are very, very slim.  However, win or lose, he could wind up being a hero for conservatives because he has the means to drain Romney’s support with his massive cash to slam Romney with attack ads.  This would let the men with the short stacks being Herman Cain or Newt Gingrich get the nomination if Perry is unsuccessful.

When a solid majority of Americans blame the government, not Wall Street, for our country’s woes, then the candidate who is anti-government by not being corrupted by having political office would seem to be the most attractive and best candidate.  Given these political factors, things are pointing toward the GOP nomination of Herman Cain for President of the United States.  I wouldn’t be unhappy about that at all.  Just some polishing up on his foreign policy chops, a little more discretion in his statements, and we have a great candidate with a great story.  He just needs to catch fire from a fundraising standpoint.

I’m still having a hard time reconciling how Perry let himself get sucked into talking about immigration rather than focusing on the main issue of this election: Jobs, the economy and government spending.  This is Perry’s wheelhouse given his record in Texas.  To say he has been a disappointment is an understatement.

In closing, I don’t want to settle for whoever seems to be the most electable, can reach across the aisle, and skim independent and fiscal Democrat votes.  This worked well for George W. Bush until conservatives wised up to it in 2006.  That was tried with John McCain in 2008 and he got slaughtered in part because a substantial portion of GOP voters stayed home.  We will need all the voters on the right for this fight in 2012.  We’ll do that by nominating a conservative candidate, not a career politician who will say anything to get elected.

COMMENTS

  • johnconradarens

    It should be on the inside cover of the GOP Operator’s Manual.

    • jackdaniels11

      seal of approval. Mr. Barry wants nothing more than to deal with Candy Cain or Governor Perry.

      He could repeat his 2008 performance against either of those opponents.

      Know what I think? I think what Russ Douthat thinks. Romney is the only credible candidate in the field this year.

      http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/romney-versus-the-field/

      • mikefrey

        Love that we have lots of credible candidates, but concerned that they will disperse the conservative vote and Mitts the people-pleaser will get the nomination by default.

        Credible here being that they are better than the One, and can convince the voters of that.

        Sadly, not credible that they will move the pendulum in a big way toward freedom and limited government – that will need a gifted leader with a servant’s heart, or a lot more years of a lot of pain to get the point across the hard way.

  • Danielle Davis (ocleverone)

    And the diary’s a good read to boot. :)

  • onemovoter

    Donald Trump yesterday? It was pretty interesting.

    Some points I took away from his answers:

    1. He has only met with those he thinks could win the nomination.
    2. He is impressed with most of them and would do well as President.
    3. He REALLY likes Perry in person and wishes that persona would come out in the debates.
    4. He said he hope that voters will pick the “right one” for the GOP.

    I think he finally tipped his hat a little last night. He did say he would get behind someone right before the primaries start. My guess is that he knows who can go the distance. And it isn’t Romney.

    • wonkish1

      The guy’s a sensational idiot who’s only success in business was convincing enough banks to lend him so much money that they were scared to cut the credit lines when his empire tanked.

      • californiagold

        Trump is every bit as successful as Romney in the business world, and Trump is more conservative politically. Furthermore, Trump has a vision for the future.If Trump were still in the race, it would have been good for the party and good for the country.

        • jackdaniels11

          He doesn’t seem to have any morals. He loves himself more than anyone else who’s ever lived.

          I’d never vote for Trump. I don’t care what the guy says. I just don’t respect him as a person. If he had the net worth of the average American, no one would care about him.

          He got rich partly by filing for bankruptcy at the right times. (He’s pulled this twice.) He’s a guy who just doesn’t pay his bills.

        • wonkish1

          Those that work in finance that have watched him be one of the worst executives in all of business frequently laugh at the guy.

          He is not “every bit as successful as Romney”. Romney’s success at Bain Capital is quite clear. Trump almost bankrupted himself several times and it was out of sheer luck that they came out of it.

          Trump’s “vision” is junk. The Chinese have subsidized our lifestyles for decades with their artificially lower currency. That isn’t a bad thing.

          It wouldn’t have been good for the party or the country. He would have turned our party into a laughing stock and made the country dumber!

          • californiagold

            …and that TV show where he makes millions.

          • wonkish1

            Trump may have found his way towards personal success, but he has been a disaster to every single business he’s ever touched. He has been thrown off enough boards to be approaching some kind of record. And its not like a boardroom job is even at all difficult.

            He’s an idiot with a penchant for sensationalism because he loves the attention; he’s is practically the perfect case study for a class on how to repeatedly run businesses into the ground; the guy is more loony tunes than Ross Perot was in 92; he isn’t even really conservative–at least that isn’t something even he would say is a defining characteristic in his life; and the list just goes on and on.

            I just can’t take anybody seriously that think Trump would be good in any way shape or form for the Republican party. And anybody that is suggesting Trump for anything might as well just put a tattoo on their head saying, “I don’t know really anything about business,” because its that obvious to those of that do work in an industry that pays attention.

            I of course mean no offense to you in any of this.

          • californiagold

            ….and I doubt Trump and his millions are too concerned either. You’re probably not the first to be envious of his success, and I doubt you’ll be the last.

          • wonkish1

            If we were talking about:

            Jack Welch, Bill Gross, Steve Jobs, Gates, Dimon, Buffett, Joy, Peterson, Schwarzman, Fink, Bezos, Arnold, Icahn, Simons, Tepper, Cohen, Bass, etc. this would be a completely different story.

            But since we’re talking about Trump I’ll refer you to my above comments.

  • onemovoter

    It had the same title as this diary with even more info.

    http://www.damndirtyrino.com/2011/10/19/im-running-for-office-for-petes-sake/

    They hit both Romney and Cain pretty hard.