If You Think Mitt Romney Is ‘Electable’ …

Posted on | March 6, 2012 | 73 Comments

. . . just wait. Maybe you’re right. But if you’re right, why are liberals so eager to have Romney as the Republican nominee? Maybe you think George Stephanopoulos is stupid?

Rick Santorum will hold a party tonight in Steubenville, Ohio, which he and his supporters hope will be a “Super Tuesday” victory celebration. Yet the latest polls indicate that Mitt Romney could win the Ohio Republican primary and, coming on the heels of Romney’s narrow win last week in Michigan, a Buckeye State victory might be enough to effectively clinch the nomination as the GOP Establishment’s “It’s His Turn” candidate. Whoever wins the Ohio primary, however, the result of today’s vote will be actual news, in contrast to the ridiculous ginned-up controversy that has swirled around Rush Limbaugh for the past week. And the story of how “SlutGate” became such an all-consuming affair is worth re-examining chiefly because it demonstrates the operational methodology of what the late Andrew Breitbart called the “Democrat-Media Complex.”
Go back to Saturday, Jan. 7, when ABC broadcast from Saint Anselm’s College in Manchester, N.H., a debate among six Republican presidential candidates, with George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer as moderators. After the first commercial break in the broadcast, seemingly out of the blue, Stephanopoulos posed this question to Romney: “Senator Santorum has been very clear in his belief that the Supreme Court was wrong when it decided that a right to privacy was embedded in the Constitution. And following from that, he believes that states have the right to ban contraception.… Governor Romney, do you believe that states have the right to ban contraception? Or is that trumped by a constitutional right to privacy?” . . .

That’s from my American Spectator column today, which suggests the possibility that clueless Republicans have been manipulated like puppets on the media’s strings. And by “clueless Republicans,” I mean the 31%-38% of Ohio GOP primary voters who, according to the Real Clear Politics average, are willing to nominate the man Team Obama wants to face in November:

Mitt Romney could all but guarantee he’ll be the GOP presidential nominee by winning Ohio on Super Tuesday. …
“Ohio is a state that [Rick] Santorum cannot afford to lose,” said GOP strategist Alex Castellanos, who worked for Romney in 2008 but is neutral in this race. “If Santorum loses Ohio, it’ll be practically impossible to stop Romney.”

Exactly. For all intents and purposes, Ohio is the nomination, an unfortunate reality for which we could blame many factors, if we wanted to engage in hindsight recriminations. But there’s no point today in scapegoating the Republicans who have heretofore unwittingly aided the candidate they claimed to oppose by supporting Not Romneys who were clearly doomed from the outset.

Maybe Santorum can win tonight in Ohio, and we won’t have to contemplate the likelihood of a Romney-led debacle in November. And maybe, as I said, you think Mitt is “electable.” Maybe you think you’re smarter than George Stephanopoulos and his ABC News colleague Claire Shipman and their good buddy Jay Carney.

Why, however, are all these liberals convinced that Mitt is such a perfect choice as the Designated Republican Loser for November? I hesitate to endorse their cynical logic, but does anyone else remember how our Designated Republican Loser in 2008 grinned all the way to the nomination after winning “Super Tuesday” with a semi-secret tailwind of anti-Mormon prejudice?

Yeah, maybe I’m the only one who remembers that, or maybe not. Crack Emcee at The Macho Response doesn’t seem to care much for the theology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and I link his post not to endorse such anti-LDS views, but rather to remind you what kind of stuff is out there.

Maybe all you Republicans who think you’re smarter than George Stephanopoulos are now saying to yourself, “Wait a minute! Are you trying to tell us that the Democrats would be willing to exploit such religious bigotry merely to win an election?”

Damn right they would — and will. If they can’t beat Romney with the “greedy Wall Street 1-percenter” class-warfare argument, the Democrats will not hesitate to Do Whatever It Takes to Win.

If Romney gets the nomination and we reach late September with Romney leading the polls, what do you think the Democrat-Media Complex will do? Whatever It Takes to Win, sweetheart.

Can’t you see the five-part New York Times series on the history of Mormonism? Can’t you see Brian Williams on NBC Nightly News and David Gregory on Meet the Press doing Serious Journalism about all the beliefs and practices of the LDS, and ponderously asking What It Means for America?

Maybe you can’t imagine such cynical political manipulation by mainstream media, but maybe you’ve forgotten how they made Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers and Frank Marshall Davis magically disappear as topics of Serious Journalism four years ago.

Or maybe you’ve forgotten how they were able to convince a majority of Americans in 1998 that the President of the United States had a constitutional right to Oval Office blowjobs from interns.

And maybe you think this political puppet-show over “SlutGate” was just about something Rush Limbaugh said on the radio.

Maybe you are genuinely stupid, and there’s no point in my warning you that Romney isn’t as “electable” as you may think.

At any rate, I’m driving four hours to Steubenville, Ohio, for the Rick Santorum party tonight in hope that Ohio voters are smarter than the latest polls would seem to indicate. I’ll be taking my 13-year-old son Jefferson with me. Please hit the tip jar.

It’s not so much that I need the money, but I’m just kind of depressed today, and it always cheers me up when people hit the tip jar.

Category: Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Ohio, Rick Santorum, Rush Limbaugh, Shoe Leather Fund

Comments

73 Responses to “If You Think Mitt Romney Is ‘Electable’ …”

Quartermaster
March 6th, 2012 @ 12:46 pm

If Mittens wins Ohio, I predict we will both be depressed tomorrow morning. I’m thinking a case of Glenlivet or Bacardi type of depressed.

If the GOP gives Mittens the nod, get ready for another 4 years of the Obummer.
scarymatt
March 6th, 2012 @ 1:17 pm

Why yes, yes I do think Stephanopoulos is stupid. I’m not convinced by any of the electability arguments from anyone, BTW. I think any of the 3 candidates (excluding Ron Paul) could go either way in a general election.

I don’t trust Obama’s judgment about anything else. Maybe facing the opponent he wants to face will once again be the wrong decision.

Also, never start a land war in Asia, and never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
March 6th, 2012 @ 1:47 pm

I think Stephanopoulos is stupid. Since you asked.

And I actually thought this college picture of Santorum helped, and did not hurt. Trust me, college pictures can be far far worse. Good to see he was not in sweater vest mode while in college. I am not shocked by the idea Rick Santorum liked to chug beers at Penn State (Iron City, I presume). It make him more personable.
Jack Reno
March 6th, 2012 @ 1:55 pm

Well, Romney is the candidate so why don’t you simply man up, sack up, and help make him electable.

Quit yr whining
nottd
March 6th, 2012 @ 2:05 pm

The answer to your initial question is “yes”.
K-Bob
March 6th, 2012 @ 2:10 pm

Let us know when you’ve perfected the brain transplant. Until then, man up, and get comfortable with another Obama term if Romney is the nominee.
K-Bob
March 6th, 2012 @ 2:12 pm

The Massachusetts midwife of Obamacare will be rejected in favor of the baby daddy.

Ohio, don’t be stupid.
Steve
March 6th, 2012 @ 2:13 pm

>” the man Team Obama wants to face in November”

This blog has jumped the shark. I read your entire AmSpec piece thinking I’d find a shred of evidence that Team Obama wants …. really, really WANTS … to face Romney rather than Santorum in November. There’s nothing there.

Unless the Democrats are a good deal more stupid and incompetent than I think they are, they already have different lines of attack drawn up to use against whoever wins the GOP primary. Obviously if it’s Santorum we’ll have an endless debate about abortion and contraception rather than the economy. The reason they can’t use this line against Romney is that he refused to take the bait Stephanopoulo dangled before him. You never gave Romney’s response to the question you cite – he blew Stepy off and gave his economic policy answer instead.
SDN
March 6th, 2012 @ 2:14 pm

Because I’m done dining at the Shit Sandwich Buffet. Mitt is Clorox dipped Obama, who has proven exactly how much he loves statism. He’s also proven he’ll lie like Obama to get elected.

You and the rest of the Mittbots don’t know Jack.
Steve
March 6th, 2012 @ 2:23 pm

>” Mitt is Clorox dipped Obama”

How brain-damaged does a person have to be to think (and I use the word “think” here in the loosest possible sense) that Romney is Obama with white skin?

I feel like its the 195o’s and I’m listening to Birchers muttering about how President Eisenhower is a Commie plant.

You people are insane. Please, leave the GOP and don’t ever come back.

And stop calling yourselves conservatives.
Charles
March 6th, 2012 @ 2:26 pm

I am off to the polls later this afternoon. Do I vote for the Romney-led debacle or the Santorum-led debacle, as that seems my only two options if I follow your logic. Because you can be just as sure that the Dems will hang the condom on Santorum as the anti-Mormonism on Romney.

It is just too damn bad after Steponallofus telegraphed the throw on January 7 that the conservative community didn’t put the word out that nobody should swing at the contraception pitch.

You can complain about it being ginned up but the fact remains Slutmouth Rush gotten put out by a girl. Actually 3 girls. Kathleen to Nancy to Sandra. Thrown out on the bunt (or should I say Blunt), 1 2 3. An easy out.

Ohio is not important. What is important is whether Romney comes out of Super Tuesday with more than half the delegates. As long as he has that, he has the nomination, contrareceivers notwithstanding.
Steve
March 6th, 2012 @ 2:35 pm

>” For two months, then, liberals have manipulated public
opinion to their benefit: First, to portray Santorum as an
“extremist” in order to make him unacceptable to GOP primary
voters”You’re acting like this was Dem dirty tricks campaign aimed specifically at bringing down Santorum. It WAS a Dem dirty tricks campaign, but it was aimed at any Republican who would bite. It’s ended up hitting Santorum harder than Romney because Santorum bit and Romney did not.
Adjoran
March 6th, 2012 @ 2:47 pm

So you think Stephanopoulos’ remarks are more indicative of what Obama wants rather than how Obama’s, the DNC’s, the SEIU’s, and the AFSCME’s PACs spend their money? They have spent millions attacking Romney. Nothing against the others.

Oh, yeah, when Santorum briefly topped the national polls, he got a mention from the Obama campaign. Not a penny spent against him, though, same as when Newt had his 15 minutes.

Anyone we nominate will have their hands full with Obama’s well-funded machine. If you think Stephanopoulos holds the secret knowledge of the campaign, you’re the stupid one.

Are we supposed to take seriously someone who backed two candidates whose last paying jobs were as lobbyists? Yeah, that’s how to pick a winner!
scarymatt
March 6th, 2012 @ 2:50 pm

The thing I look forward to the most about the end of the primary is the end of thinly disguised rationalizations for supporting a particular candidate based on anything a Democrat does.
ThePaganTemple
March 6th, 2012 @ 2:55 pm

No fucking wonder I haven’t had any desire to blog for over a week now. Fuck this.
daialanye
March 6th, 2012 @ 2:58 pm

Can any realistic person think that if Team Obama most feared Mitt they would let the world know? I expect the media to fall for the gag, but I’m amazed how many conservatives have bought it. Indeed, the inside media, like Steffy, are probably part of the game.

Read The Prince, and reason accordingly. Axelrod wants Romney-meat to feast on.
richard mcenroe
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:08 pm

You could ask the Cato Institute, which graded Romney D on financial legislation and F on jobs…
Wombat_socho
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:11 pm

There’s always baseball.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:11 pm

Axelrod want Republican meat to feast on. Both Romney and Santorum are probably roughly equally electable and equally vulnerable (albeit on different issues). I think Newt is the weakest, due to his own personal failings, but he is potentially electable too. Electability will depend on the nominee taking the fight to Obama and Republicans rallying to our candidate. The Dems will be equally viscous and rabid to whoever the nominee is.

If Santorum is going to be the nominee, he needs to close the deal. So far, I do not see Romney or Santorum doing that yet.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:13 pm

Adjoran. I agree with you to a point, but Stephanopoulos does have insider information from the Democrats. He is tied into them and they certainly talk all the time.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:14 pm

I think odds are Romney wins in the end. But we will see.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:15 pm

I mean the GOP nomination. How the general goes depends.
scarymatt
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:16 pm

Fine, but when did we suddenly believe that Democrats were all knowing about how an election would go?

In fact, by the Taranto Principle, they often do dumb ass things that are contrary to reality (which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone here).
Evi L. Bloggerlady
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:20 pm

http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2012/03/allen-west-for-vice-president.html Allen West for Vice President? Oh my!
Finrod Felagund
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:21 pm

Don’t look now, but Newt is rising in at least some of the polls. He might even have an outside chance of winning Tennessee instead of just Georgia.
A Guy From Lithia Springs
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:23 pm

Does anybody play the victim card better than the professional political right? Is this the best the party of personal responsibility can offer? Really? They can’t seem to take accountability for anything. Its ALWAYS somebody else’s fault. That diabolical “liberal” media. But the beauty of all this is that the gop candidates are doing it to themselves, and each other. All team Obama has to do is stay of of the way, while his opponents destroy each other….and themselves. Pretty sweet.
BradleyHarman
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:24 pm

Oh please, why would Obama and the Unions spend millions trying to influence the primary process against Mitt if they really wanted him to win?

Please explain to me the absurd logic of “since they’re going to attack Mitt Romney, so we should instead nominate a weaker candidate.”

No candidate was “not” going to be attacked viciously, the difference is, Romney’s biggest liability is that he’s been a successful businessman.

I’d rather go into battle with that than someone like Sanotrum who’s running around saying “mainline” Protestants aren’t real Christians and married couples who use birth control are “sexual libertines.”

If there’s one thing the dingbat ABRs should have realized by now, it’s that Romney knows how to slit a throat or two.
daialanye
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:24 pm

Compare the electoral histories of Mitt and Rick. Santorum is far more electable — four victories vs one for Romney.

Without a personal fortune and huge donations from his ilk, Mitt would require luck to be elected mayor of Brainerd. He’s simply a weak campaigner.

And he won’t have the cash advantage in November.
blaster
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:25 pm

The Obama campaign has been set up to take on Romney for over a year. All that “millionaires and billionaires” crap – yeah, preparing the field for Romney. OWS? Supported by the President, what is their beef again? Oh, yeah, they hate rich people. Income inequality as a measure of success/failure? It’s all there. This is the battle that they have prepared for, that they want.

Doesn’t mean they can win it, necessarily, but its what they have been getting ready for. I think that a non-Mitt candidate would have thrown them for a loop, but they might be nimble and agile – they could probably dumb their billions on whoever is running.
ThePaganTemple
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:44 pm

I might as well get back on his bandwagon. I still think he’d make the best President of all the ones running, and as for the electability issue, he’s probably no more or less electable than any of the others.
ThePaganTemple
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:45 pm

Watching baseball on television is about as exciting as watching paint dry.
ThePaganTemple
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:52 pm

He might do well in Oklahoma too, he has J C Watts in his corner and working hard for him. And if he lasts long enough, he will probably win Texas.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
March 6th, 2012 @ 3:59 pm

This is head game nonsense.
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/03/obama-to-romney-good-luck-tonight-116570.html I am not saying you have to support Romney, but this is Alexrod and Obama being all cute an Alinsky. Support the GOP candidate of your choice and ignore this crap from the WH and their press lackies.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
March 6th, 2012 @ 4:01 pm

I am not suggesting you should vote for Mitt. I am not a big Mitt fan myself. I like Santorum more. But I also recognize that none of these candidate are perfect, but all of them are better than Obama.
PGlenn
March 6th, 2012 @ 4:33 pm

Adjoran, it’s definitely looking like Romney will survive, so I will support him going forward.

Still, I will be waiting to see what you write when the Chicago/MSM-complex sh-t storm is unleashed on Romney. Will you then criticize the Romney campaign for mishandling their 112 responses to the never-ending wave of Journo-listed faux “scandals”?
Pathfinder's wife
March 6th, 2012 @ 5:10 pm

All the boostering in the world won’t help if the media does what Mr. S. McCain is predicting here (and something which I have already concurred with).

And Romney isn’t the canidate yet.
Pathfinder's wife
March 6th, 2012 @ 5:15 pm

Who would pick him as the VP choice though? If the presidential nom picks him and then leaves West to do all the fighting, while undercutting him, then well…I’m not in the mood to see the GOP do another Operation Palinize. I’m already highly suspicious of the party, edging towards disgust. One more incident of that sort of thing will push me over into full blown fury.
(and my kids serve, or have served, with people who directly served with West — he’s very popular with a lot of troops, so throwing him under the bus probably wouldn’t go over any better than what Palin got, perhaps even worse)
Pathfinder's wife
March 6th, 2012 @ 5:25 pm

I think that at least Santorum and Gingrich would at least put up a very scrappy fight — both have shown the ability to land blows on Obama that rattle him (that “what a snob” comment did rattle him because he responded to it and he was not confident); both can mix it up with the media (Newt is a master at this, but Santorum could do it).

Romney has already shown that there is a strong chance he will not and cannot (much of it simply due to the nature of the campaign he has run) — in short, the sort of person Obama loves to campaign against, and the media will love running rings around and spitballing.

Paul would be more effective in any confrontation…
What’s At Stake Today « The Camp Of The Saints
March 6th, 2012 @ 6:06 pm

[…] From the one over at The Other McCain, a few highlights: Maybe Santorum can win tonight in Ohio, and we won’t have to contemplate the likelihood of a Romney-led debacle in November. And maybe, as I said, you think Mitt is “electable.” Maybe you think you’re smarter than George Stephanopoulos and his ABC News colleague Claire Shipman and their good buddy Jay Carney. […]
Steve
March 6th, 2012 @ 6:16 pm

Fuck the Cato Institute, and the horse it rode in on.

Conservative Cato.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
March 6th, 2012 @ 6:32 pm

Dems are almost always wrong on policy and are often wrong on events. But Stephanopoulos is giving clues on what the Dems may do.
Confutus
March 6th, 2012 @ 6:35 pm

The Democrats would not wise to count on a fear campaign based on ignorance, prejudice, and misinformation about Mormon beliefs, because putting a bright public spotlight on them will expose just how much anti-Mormon stuff is and always has been pure sectarian propaganda., and just how biased the Mainstream Media has been for years.

Controversy will get more people aking questions about them than half a million missionaries going door to door, and the Mormons are ready, eager, and willing to answer honest questions. There are also a lot of people who don’t know much about Mormonism but do know a few Mormons who are ready to stand up and defend them.

There some people who will see Romney as another Reagan, or even another Abraham Lincoln..the champion they have been long been searching for to lead a renewal and restoration of American values and greatness, and they will come from among Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, atheists, liberals, and conservatives, men, women, whites, blacks, and Hispanics. Others will take him as the very Antichrist and come from those same groups.

I expect a long hard fight and lots of controversy, major realignments of traditional voting patterns, and the upset of conventional political wisdom, again and again and again. I wouldn’t dare to predict the outcome.
K-Bob
March 6th, 2012 @ 6:49 pm

Yeah. His own, and ours.
K-Bob
March 6th, 2012 @ 6:50 pm

Translation: “please let us continue to turn everything to crap.”
DaveP.
March 6th, 2012 @ 7:19 pm

Hey- it’s a Romenycare supporter telling us to “stop calling ourselves conservatives”!

Next up: Josef Stalin’s advice to stop calling ourselves Americans, John Wayne Gacy’s advice to stop calling ourselves law-abiding, and Jojo the Chimp warns us all to stop calling ourselves human!
Quartermaster
March 6th, 2012 @ 7:55 pm

The *ONLY* thing making Mittens more desirable than the Obamunist is he will appoint different people, and we might get lucky. Emphasis on the “might.”

Otherwise, the man is just the Soros approved Rethuglican.
Quartermaster
March 6th, 2012 @ 7:56 pm

What are you? Communist or something? You clearly aren’t as American as Baseball or Apple Pie.
Quartermaster
March 6th, 2012 @ 8:04 pm

I’d bet a dollar to a donut that West would be Palanized, or at least they’ll make a good effort at it. West is a bit more of an Alpha type, however, and he would resist mightily, perhaps even successfully.

I don’t see Mittens asking, however. I think Mittens wants to take the “high road” like the McCainiac did.

Obama dipped in Clorox is a good way of describing Mittens.
Liberty
March 6th, 2012 @ 8:09 pm

Why are liberals so eager to have Romney as the Republican nominee?

What makes you think they are? Mitt is the only candidate the DNC has spent money attacking. The Koskids are trying to help Santorum, as a way of hurting Mitt. Etc.
t-dahlgren
March 6th, 2012 @ 8:16 pm

My fearless prediction?

Once Romney sews up the nomination that USA Today editorial, the one where he spoke out in favor of the individual mandate, the one currently missing from their archives, will ‘spontaneously’ reappear.