Who’s it gonna be, GOP?
Click here to listen to the broadcast of You Tell Me on KTBB AM & FM, Friday, Feb. 25, 2011.
At one of two certain dates in the future, the Obama presidency will come to an end. Those of us who stand appalled at the results of the first two years of Obama’s administration fervently hope that that date turns out to be January 20, 2013, the inauguration day of the new president who takes Obama’s place as a result of winning the November 2012 election. Otherwise, the most big-spending, activist, redistributionist president in modern times will hold the office until January of 2017. The mind boggles.
If it is to be the earlier of the two dates for someone to arrange Obama’s exit, time is growing perilously short.
By this time in the failed administration of Jimmy Carter, we knew that Ronald Reagan was out there. His narrow defeat for the nomination against Gerald Ford in 1976 had positioned him as the clear favorite to win the nomination in 1980, which of course he went on to do.
No such figure exists today. A few days ago, Senator John Thune of South Dakota announced on his Facebook page that he is out. A couple of weeks ago, Rep. Mike Pence, a solid conservative from Indiana whom some considered a dark horse possibility, did the same thing.
As of now, the only Republicans whom we can say with a high level of certainty are in the race are Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.
Hanging around on the periphery are Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, who incidentally will be in Tyler on March 13 signing his book at Hastings, and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
A close friend and colleague has bet me a lobster dinner at the Palm that Obama gets re-elected in 2012. I contend that the November 2010 election was not an isolated event and that presidents who are running against persistent high unemployment and weak economic growth, both of which are likely to still be the case in 2012, have a very hard time getting re-elected.
But with that said, Obama will be a formidable opponent for whomever the Republicans nominate and none of those in the field today excite the way Reagan did in the last two years of the Carter administration.
Newt Gingrich has a bunch of personal baggage. Mitt Romney pushed a health care plan through in Massachusetts that is disturbingly similar to Obamacare. Cries of hypocrisy when he runs against Obamacare will be hard to drown out. Huckabee and Pawlenty suffer from poor national awareness and also, unfairly to be sure, from having unusual last names. (Oh, wait, how many Obamas are there in the Tyler phone book?)
And then there’s Sarah Palin. No one knows what her plan is but I, for one, hope that it doesn’t include a run for the White House. She has just become too big a caricature of her own persona. I think Obama would annihilate her.
Bottom line. I’m nervous. I’m not fired up about any of these potential candidates and time is growing short.
I know it’s 19 months until November of 2012 but that is not much time when you consider that Obama will come to the race with close to a billion dollars in his war chest.
So who do you think it should be? I confess to being at a loss. Am I wrong here? I’d sure like to be.
You are absolutly correct. There has not been a single Republican candidate that increases my heart rate and offers me any reason to exhibit excitment; so far. Lets hope that changes soon.
Paul,
Ron Paul has won the last two cpac straw poles for becoming the next GOP. He won last year 2010 and again this year in 2011. Last year they booed him because the results were announced in Mass. Mitt Romney’s territory, but this year a huge roar of applause and no audible boo’s were heard. These other guys you’ve mentioned are establishment controlled puppets including Sarah Palin. I mean I wouldn’t mine seeing Sarah Palin in the pages of Playboy butt naked, but as President, give me a break.
Forget the dumb stuff about having the 1st black (when he’s more white than black president), and then the 1st woman president. This country is headed for the dirt nap. Face down in the dirt.
This is not the time for willy fu fu dumb stuff. “Oh wouldn’t it be nice” if? Men stand up and be men, and take the leadership roles in your families as GOD intended. Not to be offensive to women but women are not to be leaders. The bible says they are “helpers”. An electrician and an electrician’s helper are not equal. One assist the other, and other guides the helper, but equal they are not. Women please resist the urge to slam me and think about this. Your husbands need your help,,,,shoot this country needs your help.
As for Mike Huckbee, FEMA at last count, and yes I said FEMA, had something like 26000 pastors on its pay rolls (that was 2 years ago). For what you might ask? Good question. Who better to take scripture outta context and use against the masses who don’t read there bibles than a Pastor, or maybe the pastors really think they are doing the right think by helping the government. I don’t know. What I do know is this. If I wanted to pass off a lie as truth, I would use the most trustworthy person I could find to deliver the message, and two; the US government for the most part (there are some good folks in DC) doesn’t give a good rat’s rear end about you or me. There’s your al-Qeada. Right there in Washington DC: DHS, CIA, DOD (Pentagon), DOJ, Congress, President–that’s your al-Qeada boogie man right there
RON PAUL FOR 2012 PRESIDENT. Ron Paul is true blue, and one of only a handful of human beings I’d be willing to lay my life down for (And he doesn’t know me from Adam-Never met the man personally). Check him out. He Knows what the real problem is and he’s known for well over 30 years, maybe longer.
FYI: BUSH turned the presidency into a dictatorial position sometime after 9/11 which actually gives the president the power to declare Marshall Law and suspend elections for any foreseeable future.
One of the reasons for Marshall Law could be financial collapse.
GOGGLE (a CIA front) or do internet search for NSPD 51 OR HSPD 20. Both are the same bill. One is House and the other is Senate version, I think?
O-BAM-A MAY NEVER COME OUT????? Scary huh? My CAPS ARE NOT YELLING AT YOU, JUST HIGHLIGHTING STUFF.
PS. TURN OFF THE TELEVISION. IT’S CALLED AN IDIOT BOX FOR A REASON. FIVE COMPANIES OWN EVERY NETWORK ON AMERICAN TV: TIME WARNER, NEWS CORP, VIACOM, DISNEY, AND I FORGET THE LAST ONE. YOU BASICALLY WILL HEAR WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO HEAR. Some people call that Propaganda. It’s what I call it! There’s a battle on for your mind and heart! If you don’t have discernment the bible says to pray for it.
The Republican party has NO ONE who stands out except Sarah Palin as far as knowing truly where she stands on American values. Romney would be a disaster, Huckabee is NOT the picture he is painting now that he is making a run again. He is NOT tough on border control or crime…that can be proven. It scares me to death cause all I see is another Bob Dole on the horizon. In other words, another DUD! The ones who would be better candidates are not running, chosing instead to stay where they are as either Senators or Governors. Newt Gingrich is not stable enough, having flipped and flopped on issues. His day has passed, too much baggage. I used to think other wise, but time has not been kind to Gingrich as far as I am concerned. We need a CONSTITUTIONIST to run and there are NONE…Sarah Palin is the closest one in the whole bunch. What you see, is what you get with her. The others, like Huckabee, are trying to reinvent themselves…isn’t going to work. Can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear!
Just a thought…being one of those pesky “birthers” the left has their drawers in a wad over, I do not see obama running again unless he PROVES he is eligible first. Seeing that in obama’s own words, his father was a KENYAN(that is in Africa, you know)and was a British subject, I really don’t see how it would be possible since dual citizenship is NOT allowed under our Constitution. Unless obama’s father is someone OTHER than who he claims he was and that person was an American citizen, I’d say we have a problem! Being born in Hawaii does NOT make him eligible unless BOTH parents were American citizens, which they were NOT!
No matter which way you look at it, we do NOT need anymore obamatime in the Whitehouse!
A billion dollar war chest? Wow. Sarah Palin is honest, hard working, determined. She stands for the time tested truth that made America great; In God We Trust. She is unconventional. She fought the Republican “good ole boys” club that were in bed with the oil companies and won compensation that paid each Alaskan citizen several thousand dollars. She reduced government spending by around 9% to have $5 billion dollar surplus; for when times get tough. That is wise, business thinking. Despite a national attempt to humiliate her, she now has media listening and waiting and wondering. The hunted has become the hunter. Saracuda is the one to beat Obama.
to all:
RON PAUL IS THE MOST CONSTITUTIONALIST LEADER YOU WILL FIND IN THIS COUNTRY! THAT’S A FACT JACK.
PS. I’m not a Retardlican (Republican) or dumbcrat (Democrat). I’m a strict Constitutionalist.
Don’t like the Constitution, you’d need to leave my country. You can go willing, or I am willing to remove you.
Jeff Barge is right about the Left-wing media that is a propaganda arm of the ultra-liberal Democrat Party. However, the political and moral debate in this country is now being dominated by leading Conservative advocates on Talk Radio, Cable, Internet, and Print, such as: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Laura Ingraham, Mike Gallagher, Neal Boortz, Bill Bennett, Michael Reagan, Tammy Bruce, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Hugh Hewitt, and Herman Cain, just to mention a few. Aren’t they also trying to expose the headlong plunge of this country towards Socialism (Marxism camouflaged as Social Justice) and the diminution of fundamental Constitutional concepts such as Individual Liberty, Free Market Capitalism, and States Rights?
These commentators are not necessarily candidates for President but may have a large influence on flushing out the very strong Constitutional conservative candidates that we all seek. We need another Ronald Reagan that had the wisdom, boldness, and courage to warn us of the Socialist, Big Government Liberals that would doom this country. Just listen to his speeches. They are as applicable today as they were 30 years ago. If the Bush Presidencies had been as vigilant as Reagan in exposing Liberalism and promoting our Constitutional Republic, we wouldn’t be in the moral, financial, and Constitutional crisis that we are in, today.
If the cause of Liberty is defensive and not constantly on the offensive, then Tyranny will naturally replace that vacuum. The history of mankind is a terrible testimony to this fact.
The results of the November elections (that placed huge numbers of Conservatives into the State and Federal levels of government) have given me much hope that the cause of Liberty is not dead, after all. The Conservative activism that had educated the voter in spite of the Left-wing media was responsible for this. The elections of 2012 will give the American people the opportunity to put this country back on a Constitutional footing and sweep the Socialists-Marxists (Obama & Company, our would-be masters) back into the dust bin of history where they belong.
For the life of me, I can’t understand why some Conservatives believe that Obama would annihilate Sarah Palin in a run for the White House. Even though I would like someone with far greater experience in dealing with the left-wing media wolves and the outright character assassins among her detractors, she has more genuine American patriotism and Constitutional Conservative principles in her little finger than Obama has ever demonstrated in his entire life.
What, exactly are we looking for? Let me suggest that a good looking, tall Black man with an engaging smile, that speaks from the heart with a deep baritone voice and doesn’t need a teleprompter to form his words, strongly supports the Constitution in every way, and doesn’t apologize to Muslim countries about our American exceptionalism, would be ideal. This man would not be afraid to urge Muslim countries to: 1) abandon their demented 17th century theocratic culture, 2) adopt the Enlightenment Age of western civilizations where unalienable human rights were declared, and 3) halt the treatment of women as property.
Obama is a weak, inexperienced politician and an expert liar that cannot be honest about his pro-Marxist, anti-Constitutional beliefs. He is incapable of supporting a small government, free market, capitalistic system and will continue to trust his left-wing advisers (Czars) to crush the American economy and limit personal freedom as a bonus. Given the corruption in his administration, I keep wondering if impeachment isn’t far away as the truth comes out.
I agree that Sarah Palin is no Ronald Reagan, but ANY conservative with common sense that can articulate the superiority of Constitutional Liberty that has at least 6 months of executive experience is 100 times better than the former community organizer. If we conservatives can’t make the case that Obama is dangerous for America and must be defeated if we are to save this country, then we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Oh! I forgot. The mainstream media and the Republican old guard establishment (that will never learn) would rather see another McCain type, cross-the-aisle, establishment politician to run against Obama so we can be defeated, again!
Wouldn’t it be more productive to establish three or four fundamental Conservative foundation stones that the GOP candidate must adopt and see who can promote these ideas most successfully against the left-wing ridicule that is sure to follow? Reagan was genuine and articulate. He unapologetically promoted a few, easy to understand, Conservative principles that appealed to most Americans. That is why he won.
Very disappointed with your attitude toward Sarah Palin. She is the one candidate who has the ability to excite the electorate into participating in this country. You can disagree with her policies, but don’t trivialize her. By doing so you are also trivializing millions of people who support her. Shame on you
As a staunch supporter of President Obama, I can certainly see your dilemma. You will be seeking to unseat a candidate who garnered 57% of the vote in the largest turnout in any American presidential race (compare to Bush’s 52% “mandate” in 2004). You will somehow have to erode the base support Obama enjoys.
The problem? Obama has largely achieved what we elected him to do. We want universal health care, we want more emphasis on social programs, and yes, we want less of the nonsensical schoolyard bully attitude in America’s foreign affairs. In all these regards, and many others, Obama has come through for us.
There are two glaring failures so far in Obama’s performance, and any attempt by the republicans to erode his base of support will have to hit him hard in these two areas. Number one is of course his continuation, indeed even escalation, of Bush’s phony wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and second would be his failure to allow the primary cause of the national deficit, the Bush tax gifts for the wealthy, to expire.
The problem facing the republicans in attacking Obama on these missteps? Virtually every viable candidate in the party blindly, mindlessly supported these two shameful boondoggles, and thus dragged their base along. Any attempt to criticize Obama on these failures will not only lack credibility, but will cost support among their own base. Catch 22.
Ron Paul said it best when he noted that he would have the best chance to unseat Obama as he has some credibility on the war issue, but that same credibility would make it virtually impossible for him to win the nomination of his own party. Your only chance is to stumble into a viable candidate (Palin and Gingrich are thoroughly unelectable) then convince Ron Paul to run a third party campaign to draw support from Obama.
Lotsa luck.
The staunch supporters of Obama miss several important facts.
1. Obama is an inexperienced, ignorant, pacifist wimp when it comes to international affairs. The continuation of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are simply him voting “present”. Watch what happens as the middle-east Muslim terrorists continue to gain control. You are simply part of the “hate America first” crowd that isn’t worthy of calling themselves Americans. History has proved that your attitude is going to ultimately cost many thousands of innocent American lives if Obama prevails. The American people want an overwhelming victory by using sufficient tactics to quickly vanquish the enemy so that the “Evil Empires” will fear us. It’s called “Peace through Strength”. Have you heard of Ronald Reagan?
2. Most Americans are learning that the Obama Regime is led by Supreme Ruler President Barack Hussein Obama who is transforming this country BY STEALTH into a Socialist appendage of a world-wide Progressive movement that was started over 100 years ago. Socialists such as Obama are determined to replace the meritorious society (as set up by the American founders and authors of the Constitution) with an autocracy ruled by Social Justice Dogma.
3. The November elections prove that the American people despise the Socialist/Marxist agenda of the deceptive Obama facade that has finally been exposed including: Obamacare, Czar Control of government agencies and their pending dictatorial grip over every aspect of our economy, and the radicalization of the so called Justice Department. Bye, bye, to Unalienable Rights, the Constitution, and American Exceptionalism.
4. Most Americans are frightened at the incredible disregard for any financial discipline as Obama plunges the country into debt at an accelerating rate. Did you know that the TOTAL (100%) TAXABLE INCOME of the top 2.6 million returns in tax brackets 33% and above is equal to 1.658 trillion dollars? This is less than one-half of the debt increase in two years of the spendaholic Obama administration. Why not turn us all into slaves? That would solve the Bush tax cut problem as you have defined it.
5. I like your political advice regarding the 2012 elections. It tells me who you fear the most. If the Conservatives do the opposite of your recommendations, we are sure to win! Obama can’t argue the merits of his Socialist/Marxist agenda. His only tactic is to demonize the Conservative opposition by character assassination, appeal to class envy, promise more welfare, and fund his political machine with graft and corruption with the willing participation of the main stream media propaganda mill.
Paul..what’s so wrong with Newt Gingrich?? If the American people can forgive Bill Clinton for having sex with silly little girls IN the oval office on numerous occassions, lying to a grand jury about it and being impeached…. they can and will forgive Newt for whatever? personal indisgressions he has done. The American people are a forgiving people and an imperfect people. We understand making mistakes and asking for forgiveness and asking to be trusted again.
Newt is the ONLY one in the present pack who has the experience, knowledge and intelligence to chew Obama up and spit him out in a debate any time, any day, on any subject. Obama has the charisma and charm, but he does not have the experience and real knowledge that Newt has.
So I say…. WHY NOT NEWT??
All he needs to do is come to the American people and just admit whatever he did, which I still don’t know for sure, ask for forgiveness and ask to be trusted again.
By the way, I’m a almost 32 year Postal employee, union member (which I can justify, by the way) conservative who has never voted for a Democrat for president, even if my union supported him. AND, most of my co workers vote the same way I do regardless of their union affiliation.
I have allot more to say, but just one more thing now….
this IS NOT Sarah Palin’s year!!!! she IS NOT ready to run against the Obama machine…
I BEG the republican party NOT to nominate her this time or we will surely lose again. I’m just being realistic. I like her and she was apparently successful in Alaska, but she’s simply is not NATIONAL material
Here is vintage Sarah Palin, today. This is why I respect her.
http://www.breitbart.tv/palin-wows-wisconsin-tea-partiers-with-blistering-speech-to-obama-you-ignored-us-in-2010-you-cannot-ignore-us-in-2012/
Obama, see it and weep.