GOP's Big Tent Candidate Circus: The Daring Ones On Flying Trapeeze

 They Go Uppity Up Up
 And Go Downdiddy Down Down
                               Who Can Beat The Dem Beast?

Courtesy of the MSM Talking heads and pundits the 2012 Race for Republican Nominee has been a media circus.It has created a torrent of pundit speculation, filled with misinformation, it has exposed the bias of moderators.  The debates have been formatted in one minute snippets of candidates clever campaign sloganeering.  The Race To be Republican Ringleader has been so far an 8 or 9 Candidate Race. These are the debates which have been held so far: 

•    May 5th, Greenville South Carolina
•    June 13th Manchester, New Hampshire
•    August 11th, Ames, Iowa
•    September 7th Simi Valley, California 
•    September 12th Tampa Florida 
•    September 22nd, Orlando, Florida

At this point, two Candidates have already dropped out of the early running.  They both have joined the Mitt Romney Campaign.  After the Iowa Straw Poll, Tim Pawlenty, 39th Governor of Minnesota who served two terms, endoresed Mitt Romney and later joined his campaign .  On the day of the 5th Debate Congressman Thad McCotter Congressional Representative from Michigan's 11th District, who never polled high enough to make the stage in even one of the debates also dropped out of the race.  Representative McCotter also joined the Romney campaign.

The debate formats have varied widely, and have been sponsored by various organizations, and covered by several different cable news outlets.  The debates so far have been filled with rowdy rhetoric, swipes are made by contending debators at who ever shows in polling as the 'frontrunner.' Many of the jabs are filled with half truths and innuendo. Some of the candidates have flip flopped their positions enough times to be a short order cook at a burger joint. The debates allow generally one minute snippets of  the candidates ideas, and a reduced response time for rebuttal to other candidates attacks.

The current list of 'announced' Candidates are (and in no particular order or indication of my preference) are:

1. Rick Santorum Former Senator, Pennsylvania served Two Terms
2. Herman Cain, Former CEO, Chairman of  Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City 1992-1996
3. Jon Huntsman,  16th Governor of Utah, Served 1 1/2 terms, resigned to become Ambassador to China, Obama Administration
4. Michelle Bachmann, Congressional Representative from MN 6th District, 2 Terms
5. Mitt Romney, 70th Governor of Massachusetts, CEO Served one term
6. Ron Paul, Congressional Representative currently serving TX ,14th Congressional District, previously served the TX 22nd Congressional for a total of 26 years in the House of Representatives
7. Newt Gingrich, 58th Speaker of the House served GA 6th Congressional District, served 20 years.
8. Gary Johnson, 29th Governor of New Mexico  Term limited to 2 terms
9. Rick Perry, 47th Governor of Texas, Assumed Governorship in 2000 re-elected 2 Terms

The Tea Party Organizations and millions of everyday Americans remain captivated by Sarah Palin.  She is perhaps the most charismatic persona the Republican Party has seen since Ronald Reagan.  There appears to be no middle ground of support for Sarah Palin from Americans.  Palin is either loved for her courage, tenacity and never surrender style or vilified and slammed with both hatred and smears, most of which are not true.  It is clear that a vast number of Americans are anxiously awaiting her decision to announce as a candidate for President of the United States.  During the 2010 Congressional Races Palin helped Conservative candidates with both money and support. 

It is my personal opinion that if Palin does announce and run it will be on her own terms. Sarah Palin, alone, of all of the those who are running and those who are not yet running or even those who have declined has mastered messaging the medium.  Palin ably manages 21st Century communication.  I doubt she will be willing to place herself in a position of being ambushed by commentators, talking heads, debate gotchas, or shared platforms with nine other candidates.  Palin is surpassed in recent history only by Princess Diana in her ability to capture media attention. 

Love her or hate her, Palin will be a force to be reckoned with in 2012.  If Sara announces, she has an energetic cadre of millions of Tea Party members ready willing and able to send money bombs, and who will also walk neighborhoods pounding doors in her support.  Palin's supporters will not be at all upset if she runs 'ROGUE'.  However the press and Palin's opponents will hate it, and the more she is vilified the more entrenched her supporters will become. In full disclosure, I am a fan of Sarah Palin, I admire her spunk and conviction. I hope that she does announce her candidacy to run and seek the nomination. (This is not an endorsement) or me stating that I would choose Sarah Palin in a primary run.  It is an acceptance of her considerable political clout.

The talking heads, moderate elites and big money bundling power brokers are pressuring Governor Chris Christie to run.  Christie is only 11 months into his first term as the 55th Governor of New Jersey.  Christie is continually hounded and pressured in an effort to cajole him to make the decision to decide to run.  Despite the fact Christie has said no to running if not once, at least a gazillion times. I am hoping Christie will stand firm on his decision and keep his committment to New Jersey voters.  Christie is precisely the wrong choice for 2012 and represents a kind of very pale red fiscal conservative.  I am hoping that Christie will decide not to run.  He will have problems with Conservatives because of his support of green initiatives, he  appears to accept global warming,  has in the past been soft on immigration, Christie has appointed a Muslim judge which for many on the right will create many questions. I love his bravado, but in my opinion Christie is not the man we need to elect as President in 2012.

The drop dead date for a Candidate to have their ducks is order begins with a set of filing deadlines starting on October 15, 2011.

In September, John Bolton former Ambassador to the United Nations announced he would not seek the Presidency.  The following Republicans have also declined to run:

• Haley Barbour Governor of Mississippi
• Mitch Daniels Current Governor of Indiana
• Jim DeMint United States Senator from South Carolina
• Mike Huckabee Former Governor of Arkansas
• Bobby Jindal Current Governor of Louisiana
• Bob McDonnell Current Governor of Virginia
• Mike Pence United States Representative from Indiana
• David Petraeus, Current Director of the CIA
• Marco Rubio United States Senator from Florida
• Paul Ryan United States Representative from Wisconsin
• John Thune, Current Senator from South Dakota
• Donald Trump Business Magnate

There is also a lengthy list of candidates whose names have been speculated to run in the media and discussed widely on social networks, but who at this time have expressed tepid or no interest in running:

• Scott Brown United States Senator from Massachusettes
• Rudy Guilani, Former Mayor of New York City
• Lindsey Graham, United States Senator from South Carolina
• Joe Scarborough Former United States Representative from Florida
• Allen West United States Representative from Florida 

The going nowhere campaign of those who have never made the national stage, here are the four candidates whose campaigns are running to Nowheresville:

• Vern Weunsche, Businessman, Texas,
• Buddy Roemer, former Governor of Louisiana, 
• Roy Moore former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court
• Fred Karger, American political consultant, gay rights activist, and former actor  

But wait!  More candidates have been lurking in the wings offstage, from the snowballs chance in hell moonbat brigade.  They are, Jack Fellure, the Presidential nominee of the Prohibition Party of 2012, Andy Martin nutcase lawyer, Jimmy Newton, famous for his 15 seconds of fame 'rent is to damn high rant', and last but not least, in this collection of loons and nut balls, is Jonathan Sharkey, running as a Republican and on the ticket of his ownVampires, Witches and Pagans Party has ended his presidential campaign, and says he intendes to run in 2020.

The Candidate Republicans Desire


The early primary states are even contributing to making the process of selecting a candidate more difficult. 

Many states are in a race to hold their primaries ever earlier, and one is considering or has decided to hold a primary on December 31, 2011.

The Republican National Committee worked to with RNC member states to secure agreemeent that every primary would count.  Several states have selfishly moved their primaries forward. 

This is a disservice to all who cast votes in the Republican primary, and could result in yet another milquetoast moderate undefined choice. These two blogs, one by the Underground Conservative, who says, "...The end result? A front-loaded primary/caucus system that’s almost guaranteed to produce a weak candidate based on whatever candidate has the most money and best organization and coupled with the appearance of momentum. The flames of the latter are certain to be flamed by the state-run media, which hardly has the GOP’s best interests at heart.

In 2008, this process gave us John McCain, arguably the weakest candidate that could have headed up the Republican ticket. Most likely this time around, it will produce Mitt Romney, the Next Guy In Line.
Yawn. Talk about depressing the GOP base."

 And the other by "The Other McCain", that says, "...You may have noticed that the sudden announcement of Florida’s Jan. 31 date swiftly followed Cain’s upset win in the Florida straw poll — a result that had caused some people to urge New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to get in. But there won’t be time now for Christie to organize a campaign in time to compete in Iowa or New Hampshire.
Bonus for the old-boy Establishment? By making this move, the Florida GOP makes it all but certain that Sarah Palin can’t run in 2012.

What would really shake things up — and it would be just like her — is if Palin decided to pay back the Establishment by messing up their little insider game and endorsing Herman Cain..."

This fight for early positioning in the early primaries and the changes in dates could disadvantage many of the candidates, and will force changes in their schedules to make every effort to dot every 'i' and cross every 't' in an already grueling race to gain the Nomination of the Republican Party.

This maneuvering by states has placed Reince Priebus new Chair of the Republican National Committee in a hot seat, from "...The efforts of various states, such as Florida, to move up the date of their Republican presidential primaries has created animosity between Republicans of different states. And Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus must try to deal with the calendar in a way that maximizes fairness and minimizes conflict, The Hill reports.
The dispute is between historically early voting states and those that want to move up their dates to increase their influence in the process. Republican bigwigs in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina — three of the four early primary/caucus states — blasted Florida Wednesday for announcing plans to hold its primary Jan. 31.

Priebus will try to avoid the circus of 2008, when states kept shifting positions until the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary took place in early January. That made campaigns active during the December holidays. Iowa is traditionally first on the calendar and New Hampshire, second..."

It is my position that this nation needs a strong limited government Conservative.  One who has the courage and backbone necessary to make the Federal Government smaller.  One who is willing to address the vile excesses of the US Tax Code, tackle the over-regulation which interferes with free markets, stifles employment, and is suffocating this nations ability to engage on the world stage competitively.  And to finally for once and all insist on a sound national omnivore  energy policy.

It is also my position that the Candidate who eventually wins this current field of nine contenders in the kinetic debate process will have his or her work cut out to debate a failed President.  President Obama will distort facts and use strawmen and class warfare to win debates.

He will characterize whomever our nominee is as rich, selfish, uncaring, a polluter, a wrecker of the environment, a threat to seniors, who wants to give health care back to evil private insurers and label his opposition a war monger.  This will be for Obama a continued dialogue of economic, social, and environmental justice.  Obama will have a gargantuan war chest. And throngs of clueless liberals, union thugs and election machines bent on stealing the 2012 election.

America needs a George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge, Ronald Reagan, proud supporter of limited government and free markets.  America needs a candidate willing to clearly define the failure of Keynesian Economics, who is unafraid to do the heavy lifting necessary to save this Republic.

It is my opinion that only a Conservative fits this bill.

The next series of blogs will take a fair and reasoned look at all of the candidates.

It is my firm belief that this next election is make or break for this great nation to remain the Republic of our founders, and that we may have this one chance to save it given the agenda of the left and Obama's efforts to 'fundamentally' change this nation.  One chance to begin the long road to recovering the limited government model found in the Constitution, and one election to insure the legacy to future generations.



“11th Commandment”:
'Thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans'
Ronald Reagan



The Buckley Rule, "I’d be for the most right, viable candidate who could win."

Just which candidate is the most Conservative viable candidate?