But what other purpose do other people possibly serve?

Procreation?

Santorum needs to suggest to Newt that he (Newt) should pull out now, and endorse Santorum, so as to unite behind a conservative candidate who is not quite so corrosive.  He should start now and push that line relentlessly.

Look, I’ve no personal issues with Newt (and I do think he could beat Obama, as I’m sure  Santorum can) but I think it’s clear he cannot coalesce the Not Romneys.

Newt;  for the sake of conservatism, Step Aside!

Newt has almost completed one of the more spectacularly quick rags-to-riches-to-rags trips in American political history.  Since he had a double-digit lead in the state a few days ago, we’ve seen Nasty Newt reemerge with a fervent spirit of vengeance only the morally corrupt can summon on command.  The vile, self-centered adulterer threw a week-long tantrum and just can’t believe he still didn’t get his way.

This is the Newt we dropped like a hot potato.  Ask Steve Largent.  Ask Tom Coburn.  They were there, in the House, appalled and flabbergasted at the treachery and megalomania of the man who led their insurgent rebellion, but who was clearly unfit to hold and wield power over others.

I pity the people who believe this miscreant is a conservative.  He’s just a jerk, folks.  Trusting him is the surest path to a knife in the back.

It is entirely logical and reasonable that Newt, being so far behind,  pull out now and endorse Santorum.

Santorum is a genuine conservative?  Geez, he’s to the right of Mitt on social issues, but for most problems the answer is more government, not less.  In this, we’re screwed with either Santorum or NROmney.

Lots of Mormons in Nevada.

…who’ve spent the last 30 years voting for fellow Mormon Harry Reid.

For somebody who has yet to interview his first Mormon Romney supporter, you sure know squat a lot about who Romney’s base is.

“Better liked” than Gingrich?  How hard is it to be better liked than Gingrich?

While you’re making assumptions about the religious dynamics of the race instead of seeking facts, do you ever stop to think about how it was that the two Catholics lost in New Hampshire, which is 35 percent Catholic? And that the co-religionists of the guy who won only make up a fraction of one percent of the Granite State’s population?

Yet some swallow this crap that he’s a conservative somehow.  They should talk to respected and principled people like Steve Largent and Tom Coburn.

The princess of conservative bloggers, Michelle Malkin, has made the conservative case for Santorum.  

He’s currently the only real conservative option despite his occasional forays into big governmentism. Paul is the next least liberal, Newt a little more liberal than that, and then there’s the “independent progressive” Mittster who will probably try to out progressive the Obamanator if he gets the GOP nomination.  It will fail of course, and the morons in the GOP establishment will have given us another 4 years of Dem tyranny.

I don’t think people necessarily vote along religious lines (I’m thinking food on the table, butter n’ peace mean more to most).

However: Santorum hasn’t really played up the whole Catholic card, yet, which I respect him for, and Newt is not the type of guy a Catholic is going to point to and say “yeah, that’s my guy”.

I say this as a very relapsed, heretical, and apostate RC — and if Newt tries to get his RC street cred on I will be really po’d, because it would be rank opportunistic pander.
Mother Church has been slapped around enough as of late, and even though I’m a hell bound sinner and heretic not fit for communion I still see red when I see her slapped around (yeah, I’m really p****ed right now — I want to see #ORD raked on this latest).

“Well, I’ll tell ya…”  Kim Jong-il’s dead ass.

While Santorum does most definitely have a streak of the communitarian in him (probably has a lot to do with who he is) I would say that yes, he is more conservative.

You can’t really get to fiscal conservatism if you don’t have some social conservative framework to er, work off of.  In this he is very correct as to the process that takes you to a fiscally conservative situation.

And communitarianism is one of the ways that you can get to a point of social and fiscal conservatism (while safeguarding the majority of the populace from an excess of libertarianism), plus it has a long record in our country so it really isn’t all that radical (other than as a society we seem to have turned our backs on it, which could be argued is one of the results of post-modernist progressivism).

Er, communitarianism is communism married to fascism. It’s the underlying philosophy of the elites running the EU now. And you think its conservative? Maybe its a good damn thing Obama is going to be re-elected. Maybe that’s what this country need, to crash and burn so we can finally build from the ashes.

I don’t think people necessarily vote along religious lines 

Which was precisely my point. Stacy says Mormons will vote for the Mormon, but as I pointed out, nobody is saying Catholics will vote for the Catholic candidates. It’s a stupid, lazy, and false assumption, but it’s easier gathering facts  – like the fact that “lots of Mormons” Nevada is a blue state with a Democrat senator. It’s frustrating to see “journalists” who just say stuff without any reporting or critical thinking behind it.

Exactly.  You should go check out Rightscoop … the gnashing of teeth over there is rather comical … somehow Newt has become the conservative Joan of Arc.

I would also like to note that the concept of communitarianism was considered integral to the early American colonies (and to our founders) as well as one of the tenets of Judeo-Christianity as well as the personal liberty of libertarianism.

You may be a pagan, but you live in a country founded on those tenets…and even pagan groups, if successful, practiced communitarianism.

It is, in the long run, while imperfect, the best solution to answering the needs of the tribe/group, while allowing some personal liberty for the individual (sadly, if it is taken to extremes you end up with socialism and then fascism).  As such it is both partner and counterbalance to libertarianism (which if left to run its course turns to anarchy and then to fascism).
The cornerstone of classic liberalism, what is today true conservatism (not this progressive BS getting peddled) is the balance between communitarianism and libertarianism, progress and conservation…you know, the balance that comes with rule of just law.

Unfortunately I have to agree with you.

Despite all the puffery here otherwise, Santorum has no chance of winning the nomination.  If he ever got close Romney would drop eight figures worth of negative ads on him like he did Newt and that would be that.

Maybe Newt will come back, maybe he won’t.  Otherwise we’re stuck with the lying suckweasel Mitt Romney, who after showing how vicious he can be to Republicans will fold like a house of cards to Obama.

Anyone excited about any of the Senate and/or House races?  If we don’t screw it up we can probably retake the Senate no matter what happens in the Presidential race.

If it was Newt that had come in trailing badly in third with 13 percent of the vote, less than half of second place and less than a third of first place, I’d be reluctantly saying it’s time for him to drop out.  Just saying.
 

And by the way the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is by far “the best solution to answering the needs of the tribe/group, while allowing some personal liberty for the individual” and all the other bullshit.

The best thing about it is you don’t have to worry about “if it is taken to extremes you end up with socialism and then fascism” or anything else.

All you have to do is adhere to it the way it is written. That way, the people retain the power through the states and through their elected representatives. All we have to do is maintain the integrity to keep them in line. If they don’t keep in line, then we give them a nice little severance package. That could be anything from a bucket of tar and several fists full of chicken feathers. Or it could be a noose. Either one works for me. As long as they are fucking gone. For good.

Sorry, but I don’t like big government Republicans any more than I like big government Democrats.  We’ve tried that before and look what happened– TARP, Medicare Part D, etc.