The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Baron Conrad Black of Crossharbour Nonplussed By Newt-mentum

Posted on | December 23, 2011 | 6 Comments

by Smitty

Quite an interesting read over at NRO, where Black theorizes in weighty philosophical terms about the state of the GOP scrum. There is an audio version of the article, but, as it was not read in John Houseman tones, I killed it quickly. A taste:

The Obama administration doesn’t know whether to scream for joy at the thought of facing the human grenade [Newt], or to cling to its assurance that Romney is the candidate. The character-assassination squads, though their ranks are now so deep they are the largest such work party since the scores of people who crowded into the firing squad to execute the Ceausescus, couldn’t believe their good fortune. But despite a replication of the 25-battleship sustained bombardment of Okinawa, they haven’t brought Newt down. There is a sci-fi quality to him and there always was, and it is little wonder that thoughts of Frankenstein come to mind.

A littler later,

If Mitt couldn’t set anything on fire to this point, the tinder isn’t there, and efforts, even by first-class commentators such as Holman Jenkins, to perceive Newt’s destiny as warming Mitt up for the main event don’t make it. At this point — 235 years on from the Declaration of Independence, with much of the U.S. economy, public education, health care, and justice system in shambles — history will not be mocked by a Mitt-Newt death struggle for the honor of helping to affront nature and reason by reelecting a failed administration. Hegel has come to the rescue of James Madison. Newt is not the nominee; he’s the negation of Mitt, and the nomination will be deferred to the timely decision of the none-of-the-above majority.
Either Newt, too weighed down by darts, buckshot, and self-detonated combustion, will start to fade before the caucuses and primaries are too advanced, and one more declared non-Mitt, possibly Jon Huntsman, will arise; or the absence of a contender with a commanding lead will prevail until it is so close to the convention, or even at the convention, that there will be a draft of one of the non-runners, probably Jeb Bush.

What black is missing here is that if the conservative hoi polloi are so daft as to allow the Ruling Class to insert Huntsman, then the sleight-of-hand necessary to anoint Mitt would be trivial.

But Jeb Bush? Really? Other than saving Gaia by permitting the recycling of all the Democrat “No More Bush” signs, I can’t see much advantage to nominating Jeb. Which is not to say he’s less than a talented executive. Rather, if we’re so hard up in a population of 330 million for leadership that Jeb is it, we’re totally lost and might as well cling to Barack.

Some may see a brokered convention as a bad thing. It’s only bad if people continue bickering and arguing over ‘oo stabbed ‘oo. Remember, it’s politics. Keep the grieving short. Once there is a nominee, if everyone forms up behind that nominee, there is ample room for confidence. If conservatives play Barack’s game, and the fanatic followers of a certain candidate support a third-party run, there is much risk. So, as more candidates get the Herman Cain treatment, remember: there is a time to argue the fine tactical points of just how grossly unfair a lynching it was (or not), and there are times to write down some notes, set them aside, and focus on the larger picture of what must be done to restore the country, even if it’s not with your preferred candidate. Tough toenails.

via A Point of View

Category: Newt Gingrich, Republicans

Comments

6 Responses to “Baron Conrad Black of Crossharbour Nonplussed By Newt-mentum”

  1. Edward
    December 23rd, 2011 @ 10:14 am

    If I’m not willing to vote for Mitt Romney …. who on Earth would think that voting for Jeb Bush would make me spasm for joy?

  2. Dcmick
    December 23rd, 2011 @ 10:25 am

    Kathryn Jean Lopez for one.

    She’s all excited about JEB!  And she just doesn’t understand why you wouldn’t be all excited too.

    How that chick has a job over at NR is beyond me………….

  3. ThomasD
    December 23rd, 2011 @ 10:50 am

    possibly Jon Huntsman,…
    …, probably Jeb Bush.

    Do these people realize what this sounds like to anyone not within their hermetically sealed social circle?

    Might as well toss in an aside that you were penning this effort with a gerbil up your ass.

    Or is it really just about the presidential hair.

    Stacy, no amount of party unity pap is gonna work this time.  If the establishment is dead set on taking ‘their’ ball and going home then screw ’em.

  4. KingShamus
    December 23rd, 2011 @ 11:17 am

    In “After America”, Mark Steyn finds a great Milton Friedman quote that goes something like, “Don’t rely soley on the right people doing the right thing.  Make it so that the wrong people are forced to do the right thing.” 

    That’s where Republicans are in 2011-2012.  They want another Reagan, but they’re stuck with Ron Paul, Mittens Romney, Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman, et. al.  In other words, one of these wrong people are going to have to be forced into doing the right thing for America. 

    Unfortunately, the election isn’t the end of the road, but just another fork in the path.  After that, what conservatives do to get the country back to Constitutionalism is up to them.    

  5. Ian Vaughan
    December 23rd, 2011 @ 12:57 pm

    I think most are missing Conrad’s point.  As I see it, he is postulating that the Party is trying to force a RINO into the nomination, and the voters are smart enough to keep it at a deadlock until the convention, where the delegates will chose a nominee in spite of the party.

  6. Dcmick
    December 23rd, 2011 @ 2:00 pm

    And who are the delegates?

    Base, or typical rank and file.

    If you thought the establishment had been howling and barking at the moon about Gingrich, you just wait till you get a load of their reaction to a likely brokered convention staring them dead in the eye.

    If a successful Gingrich candidacy threatened their utter and supreme dominance in the party, then a brokered convention might threaten to blown them and their attitudes sky high.

    Which means they’re NOT going to let it happen.

    You yokels are going to get Romney ————————- and STAND STILL for it, —————————- and like it!

    That’s how it’s going to be.

    That’s just how it is.

    You had your one chance for a guy who scared the hell out of ’em, but then you took counsel of your fears.  Instead of being mindful that councils of war breed timidity and defeatism, instead of being cognizant of that, you chose to listen to the Romney lovers under their many guises.

    And now it’s getting to be crunch time.

    If this thing isn’t definitely and definitively settled by Super Tuesday, {and in this context we all know that “settled” means every Republican jumping up and down like Kathryn Lopez about MITT!} THEN we’re going to start hearing about the notion that a brokered convention will be the worst thing since the Hindenburg going down in flames!