Memo From the National Affairs Desk: Time to Quit Whining and Get to Work

Posted on | May 8, 2012 | 144 Comments

This will be brief, but expect additions to follow in updates. Rick Santorum is now urging his supporters to get behind Mitt Romney:

Rick Santorum has officially endorsed Mitt Romney, and notified his supporters in an email sent Monday night.
In the email, the former presidential candidate cited his Friday meeting with Romney in his hometown of Pittsburgh as a reason he finally got behind the presumptive GOP nominee.
“On Friday, Governor Romney came to Pittsburgh for an over-hour long one-on-one meeting,” Santorum said in the email. “The conversation was candid, collegial and focused on the issues that you helped me give voice to during our campaign; because I believe they are essential ingredients to not only winning this fall, but turning our country around.” . . .
In the lengthy email, Santorum encouraged Romney to “add more conservative leaders as an integral part of his team.”
“And you can be sure that I will work with the governor to help him in this task to ensure he has a strong team that will support him in his conservative policy initiatives,” Santorum said. . . .
“Above all else, we both agree that President Obama must be defeated,” the letter read. “The task will not be easy. It will require all hands on deck if our nominee is to be victorious. Governor Romney will be that nominee and he has my endorsement and support to win this the most critical election of our lifetime.”

More at Memeorandum. As I say, this initial memo will be brief. If you supported Santorum, you must now respect his judgment that getting on board with the Romney campaign — “all hands on deck,” as Santorum says — is a vital obligation for all conservatives.

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

Santorum is scheduled to appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno this evening, and ABC’s Shushannah Walshe says that Santorum was expected to make a commitment at that time. Santorum apparently decided to announce the endorsement as soon as he made the decision. That may take a little of the drama out of tonight’s appearance, but it also may draw more interest as people tune in to hear Santorum’s explanation of the endorsement.

Here’s the thing I want to get across to our readers: Whenever Republicans lose a presidential election, the first thing the GOP Establishment does is to focus blame on conservatives. This is why Sarah Palin was scapegoated for the 2008 defeat, because treacherous swine like Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace, who get paid to win elections, don’t want to accept responsibility for their own failures.

It is therefore an urgent necessity — however painfully ironic — that hard-core grassroots conservatives give their maximum effort to help Romney defeat Barack Obama, because if Team Mitt loses this election, you will be blamed. Your honor as a conservative, to say nothing of the future of our Republic, thus requires from you even greater labors than you would have made if Rick Santorum had won the nomination.

Like I said, “painfully ironic.”

UPDATE II: In case you don’t understand how the GOP Establishment’s blame-shifting apparatus works, Tony Lee explains it at Big Journalism. Here’s the thing: When Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace backstabbed Palin and threw her under their RINO careerism bus, they thought their vicious treachery would never be discovered, because they’re so much smarter than everybody in the conservative grassroots.

UPDATE III: As I say, however, this isn’t the time to be nursing old grudges. We’ve got find a way to win, or else expect to be blamed for the defeat. Bridget Johnson at PJM notes that Santorum’s e-mail “stressed his differences with Mitt Romney and therefore gave the need to beat President Obama as the key reason to vote for the former Massachusetts governor.” Well, of course that’s what Santorum did.

If he hadn’t been honest about the differences, his endorsement wouldn’t have persuaded anyone. Here’s the crucial word from Lisa Graas:

Since May [2011], I have been 100% behind Rick Santorum because I trust him to do what is right for America. If Rick Santorum believes that Mitt Romney will defend life and marriage, then that is good enough for me. I also now endorse Mitt Romney for President and look forward to being a part of Rick Santorum’s grassroots volunteer team to continue the fight for conservatism in America.

One of the key topics at the Mitt/Rick meeting? Vanuatu.

UPDATE IV: Readers will recall that yesterday I said it is important to let Team Mitt do their job. That is to say, we shouldn’t be disgruntled, sitting around second-guessing them and bitch, bitch, bitching for the next six months. That ain’t gonna beat Obama, OK?

Our confidence in Team Mitt should prevent us from being distracted by certain people (not on the campaign) whining because they didn’t think Santorum’s endorsement was sufficiently sycophantic.

Hey, whiners: Kissing ass is your job, not Rick’s.

UPDATE V: Robert Costa at National Review talks about Team Mitt’s new hires, including former Santorum campaign director, Mike Biundo.

For the past couple of days, I’ve been biting my tongue about this, which got linked here, and to which I obliquely replied Sunday night. Because we are now in what Ace likes to call “game faces” mode, some insults must be ignored and some injuries suffered in silence.

Our personal interests or narrow ambitions should never be confused with “the conservative movement,” which is larger than any one person. We stand on the shoulders of giants, and owe an obligation to those who suffered and sacrificed to build this movement, and who are no longer here to aid us in our struggle. Humble service is our duty, and the scrupulous fulfillment of that duty is a matter of honor.

Note, please, that this mild acknowledgement has been included in the fifth update, three hours after the original post went online. That is to say, I’ve put it where it will attract little public notice, merely so that it may be known to friends that I am fully aware.

Category: Doomed Beyond All Hope of Redemption, Election 2012, Fear. Loathing., Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Vanuatu

Comments

144 Responses to “Memo From the National Affairs Desk: Time to Quit Whining and Get to Work”

ThePaganTemple
May 8th, 2012 @ 6:48 pm

There’s a right way and a wrong way to deal with those issues. Using government to monitor people’s private behavior and wasting time trying to pass constitutional amendments that are either so extreme nobody wants them or so watered down they are less than useless might not necessarily be the right way.

Ask yourself, what is the number one cause of divorce. Look into it and you will probably see its mainly over money issues. It’s easier for couples if they don’t get married, and this goes way beyond welfare. It has to do with the tax structure, the overall burden on all aspects of society government brings down to bear and that in turn affects families at all levels of society.

Change all that and you change the entire playing field. The economy grows, people go back to work, and its suddenly easier for people to raise their families. That will translate into more traditional marriage, less divorce, more people wanting to raise families, and significantly less abortions. And get government out of the way not only of business, but of legitimate state and local government issues, and it only gets exponentially better.

No, it won’t be heaven on earth, but it will be significantly, even vastly better than anything you can legislate through the federal government.
Shawn Gillogly
May 8th, 2012 @ 7:07 pm

Conservatives for Cthulhu welcomes you.
Shawn Gillogly
May 8th, 2012 @ 7:08 pm

At least it will be a conservative, as opposed to a person who loves power and expanding bureaucracy, and then comes to me every 4 years to give him his fix of power.
Shawn Gillogly
May 8th, 2012 @ 7:10 pm

No argument. But at least on MOST conservative blogs you will see the point made that all three legs of conservatism are NECESSARY for functional conservatism.
Zilla of the Resistance
May 8th, 2012 @ 7:12 pm

Actually, Pagan, I think you should get started on this shit, blog it, and send me the link because those people are really pissing ME off too. The fucking purists would rather see this country go full blown islamocommie under another 4 years of Obama than vote for someone who is not hardcore (insert list of holy-roller causes that they think are the ONLY things anyone should consider HERE). Like destroying the country with islamoleftism is going to help their pet causes one damned bit.
Adobe_Walls
May 8th, 2012 @ 7:46 pm

Correct.
Adobe_Walls
May 8th, 2012 @ 7:48 pm

A compelling case for conservatives abandoning the GOP after this cycle and forming a party that welcomes them.
Adobe_Walls
May 8th, 2012 @ 7:55 pm

When Romney is elected (I believe he will be) we shall have to go after him hammer and tong our support for him, if any, has already been forgotten. There is a big difference between not suppoting a candidate and opposing a candidate one can vote for him while holding no illusions as to why.
Adobe_Walls
May 8th, 2012 @ 8:01 pm

I doubt it, or rather I’m extremely doubful that enough good will come with Romney.
PhillyCon
May 8th, 2012 @ 8:02 pm

I am not talking about legislation (I don’t think I mentioned constitutional amendments in my post .. was responding to the false and non existent dichotomy, presented in the previous post).

Santorum would say legislation can’t fix the culture endlessly in his speeches. His take on these complex issues is one of the main reasons I supported him after Palin declined to run.
Adobe_Walls
May 8th, 2012 @ 8:05 pm

That paticular pivot exceeds their comprehension skills.
PhillyCon
May 8th, 2012 @ 8:07 pm

Good point. For all my problems with Erick Erickson, he at least, has not fallen for this anti-SoCon nonsense.
ThePaganTemple
May 8th, 2012 @ 9:03 pm

Well, he was right. Legislation can’t solve social problems, all it can do is either cause them or exacerbate them further. That’s what government does when it goes beyond its constitutionally mandated boundaries.

I want government out of the way of states, towns, families, businesses, and religious organizations. I don’t want them to promote religion, although I’m fine with a public official praying at a public event. As long as he’s not trying to force it on me, why should I care? The way I look at it, if you decide to join a religion just because some politician adheres to it, you must be one pretty fucked up individual, so maybe it will help you.

And I definitely don’t want government restricting religious expression in the public sphere, unless they’re religion become a magnet for anti-American hooligans, then they can ship their fucking asses out of here. If they do so in great big sealed crates that would do nicely.

Other than that, the only thing I want government to have to do with religion, either for good or for bad, is not a god damn thing.

Again, you want to solve these social problems. Keep government the hell away from them and limit it to its constitutionally mandated duties, and you’ve at least made a major giant leap towards doing so.

It’s no accident that government always makes minor problems exponentially worse over time, finds some other party to blame the problem on, and then throws more money at it to “fix” it.
Pathfinder's wife
May 8th, 2012 @ 9:23 pm

By all means, please do get started, I would like to hear what you have to say.

I’m only saying this: cast aside a group as large as the socons (and their numbers may grow; don’t bank on that not happening — especially if it is encouraged) at one’s own risk. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow — better to not decide in haste and then regret at leisure.

And also remember: not every socon (or potential one) is a stereotypical Bible thumper (that’s important to keep in mind).
Pathfinder's wife
May 8th, 2012 @ 9:35 pm

Then try to find some common ground rather than this — it isn’t a winning strategy, short or long term.
Pathfinder's wife
May 8th, 2012 @ 9:35 pm

For now, but I guess we’ll find out.

I hope you are right.
ThePaganTemple
May 8th, 2012 @ 10:10 pm

Yeah, I think he’ll do better. Souter was a big mistake, but you are forgetting the elder Bush also appointed Clarence Thomas. What do you think are the chances that Barak Obama would appoint a Justice like him?
ThePaganTemple
May 8th, 2012 @ 10:12 pm

Yeah you’re right, it will be a conservative. A conservative dog catcher.
ThePaganTemple
May 8th, 2012 @ 10:25 pm

Then try to find some common ground rather than this — it isn’t a winning strategy, short or long term.

There already is common ground, plenty of it, but that’s not good enough for them. They want it all, and by God they’d better get it.

What are we supposed to do, promise them the fucking moon if they’ll stay? Piss on that shit, let them go if they insist.

If I knew most social conservatives were like these ones, I’d never vote for a social conservative candidate again, because this should be giving you a pretty good fucking clue as to how they’d be if their candidate actually won the nomination.

People express what they really are sooner or later. If they won, everybody else could go straight to hell. I’m telling you, this shit is murder. Some people you just can’t reason with, no matter how much “common ground” you might share. Meet on that common ground and some of these assholes will bury you under it.
Tennwriter
May 8th, 2012 @ 10:32 pm

Not a purist.

I was willing to go for Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich, Perry, Santorum, and Ron Paul. Just not Romney or Pawlenty or Huntsman.

This is not a purist. Its called having some standards, even if they are not that much, or that high.
Wombat_socho
May 8th, 2012 @ 10:32 pm

You’re right. Better to just end the agony and kill ourselves now. You first.
Wombat_socho
May 8th, 2012 @ 10:34 pm

He’s sure faking it real well right now. Maybe it’s not fake.
Wombat_socho
May 8th, 2012 @ 10:35 pm

What, you forgot the Reform Party already?
Wombat_socho
May 8th, 2012 @ 10:37 pm

Yeah, because that strategy worked so well for Stacy’s Crazy Cousin John the last time around. Romney is obviously going after both groups.
richard mcenroe
May 8th, 2012 @ 11:39 pm

Erickson bloviates to such extremes that meteorologists know it as the “jest stream”, an inexplicable current of hot air that blows in opposition to other observed facts.
ThePaganTemple
May 9th, 2012 @ 12:09 am

Good to know one Barak Hussein Obama meets your standards because thanks to guys like you, we might get four more years of him, and two or three more Elena Kagan’s to boot. Thank you, Tennwriter. I guess Obamacare is signed, sealed, and delivered.

In your honor, I’m going to make it a point to go to the doctor every time I have the slightest little ache and pain. Damn, just a while ago I raised up from the table a little too quick and got dizzy. I better go check on that if Obama is reelected. Even if it never happens again between now and then, hell, who knows. I’ll just lie and say it happened just the day before I go. Probably nothing, but I dig me some cute doctor’s office nurses.

And its going to be all on you, good buddy. Whoops. Damn, I stubbed my toe just now. It stung quite a bit there for a few seconds, but its stopped now, actually feels pretty good. But I guess, just to be on the safe side, I better go check it out, just to make sure everything really is all right. After Obama is reelected, of course.

Hell if I play my cards right, I might get to draw a big old crazy check and food stamps and have you pay my utilities as well. Of course I’m going to have to give up the card playing. It wouldn’t look too good if I were to do that and claim to have carpel tunnel syndrome at the same time.
Adobe_Walls
May 9th, 2012 @ 1:13 am

So did everybody else particularly Perot.
Bob Belvedere
May 9th, 2012 @ 8:10 am

It seems to me we have been presented with two choices, both really, really bad.

The question is: which is the lesser of evils.

Right now, I’d say voting for Willard M. Romney is. I know, I know, we’ll catch a lot of the blame, but, frankly, if Obama is re-elected, given his Treasonous actions, the recourse to violence will come sooner rather than later.

We need more time to stock-up and plan.
Bob Belvedere
May 9th, 2012 @ 8:11 am

Actually, she filled out the forms…
http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/05/cruel-irony-in-elizabeth-warrens-cherokee-saga/
Bob Belvedere
May 9th, 2012 @ 8:13 am

I haven’t heard a thing.
PhillyCon
May 9th, 2012 @ 8:17 am

Pagan:
I forgot to add that our behavior is already being monitored by the government. In fact, it’s going to be full speed ahead once Obamacare is fully enacted, “we need to control people” a la Dingell.

Usually, legislation controlling people and the social engineering comes from the Left, not the Right. Accepting the premise that legislation cannot fix things (while true) is aimed at giving the Lefties more power to do their dirty work, while the Right is neutered.
Bob Belvedere
May 9th, 2012 @ 8:18 am

This is where you Atheists loose your credibility.

You start off by making reasonable arguments, but, inevitably, degenerate into religion-bashing, revealing your deep-seated hatred of those of us who believe in God.

What wrong was done to you by a religious person or persons that you have built-up inside your soul such a vicious hatred for religion?
PhillyCon
May 9th, 2012 @ 8:18 am

Even Karl Rove knew better.
Bob Belvedere
May 9th, 2012 @ 8:20 am

What about Spain and Franco?
Bob Belvedere
May 9th, 2012 @ 8:25 am

I trust Lisa’s judgement more that I do any Atheist’s.

If you refuse to see that there is a power/force greater than yourself, then you start believing that you’re a god. I’ll take the wisdom of a humble person any day over that of an arrogant one.
Tennwriter
May 9th, 2012 @ 9:52 am

How about considering the Conservative arguements instead of just assuming your arguements are automatically correct?
Adobe_Walls
May 9th, 2012 @ 12:05 pm

Not at all analogous to our left.
ThePaganTemple
May 9th, 2012 @ 12:12 pm

@ZillaoftheResistance:disqus

I’m not at war with social conservatives, but if I did that, that’s how it would be portrayed, especially by the minority of those folks that are the ones I’m bitching about.

This small subset of social conservatives seems to have an agenda beyond merely enacting social conservative policies. Some of them have even attempted to hijack the Tea Party, or at least the Tea Party name, in order to enact them.

I think deep down they don’t have as much as a problem with Obama being re-elected as they try to act like they do.
ThePaganTemple
May 9th, 2012 @ 12:19 pm

@Pathfinder’s wife

You just don’t get it. I’m not casting them aside, they’re leaving of their own volition, and I’ll be damned if I, for one, am going to agree to every one of their demands in order to get them to stick around.

If I were the only one who felt that way it would be a laughable statement, but I’m far from the only one. A bunch of us are as sick and tired of this bunch of fools as we are of the constant bitching and moaning from Palestinians, gays, feminists, blacks, and other aggrieved special interest groups.

And I know, of course, they’re not all “Bible thumpers”. And I also know, as I explained to Zilla, that most social conservatives, while they might not be happy with Romney, will still do the right thing and vote to get rid of the communist in the White House. And by the way, that probably includes most “Bible-thumpers”, maybe even the vast majority of them.

But I have to wonder where this extreme position is coming from, and I smell the whiff of religious fanaticism on steroids mixed in with this bullshit. Just sayin.
ThePaganTemple
May 9th, 2012 @ 12:31 pm

@Bob_Belvedere:disqus

Wrong! I’m not “religion bashing”, I’m bashing a minority of fanatics who are determined to get everything they want, or they’re going to take their marbles and go away, even fi that causes Obama to be re-elected.

And by the way, where were you when certain ones of them here were demeaning social conservatives as “Libertarians”, and all the other fucking objectionable crap they’ve leveled at us.

And I’m not an atheist, though I am agnostic. Otherwise, I stand by everything I said, particularly in the last paragraph. I’m voting for POTUS and Commander-In-Chief of the United States, not High Priest of Christendom.

And no Christian ever did anything to me. I’ve known asshole Christians and damn good Christians. Or have you already forgotten how I defended them when Santorum slammed them as “insincere” Christians, implying they were hypocrites.

Just a heads up, usually when somebody hates a specific group of people, they usually don’t defend them when they’re wronged or insulted, as I have with Christians innumerable times, on this site, on my own blog, and even on liberal websites. So you’re accusation here is a massive fail.
ThePaganTemple
May 9th, 2012 @ 12:37 pm

What, that you have “standards”? Yeah, your “standards” just might kill us all.
Quartermaster
May 9th, 2012 @ 12:57 pm

At one time the loony left bore the same relationship to the Dems as Conservatives do to the GOP. The loony left took over because they would punish the people that crossed them by withholding support for them. Conservatives need to learn that lesson and take it to heart.

Calling some one an idiot because they advocate disciplining the RINOs makes you an idiot, and not the person you are targeting. Trying to put it in terms of “the country will be destroyed if we don’t” doesn’t wash. This country is going down no matter who wins this time around as the forces are already breaking the dam. Mittens won’t, even if he could, stop it, and the Kenyan is just a card board cut out.
Quartermaster
May 9th, 2012 @ 12:58 pm

Even 4 years of Mittens. he won’t make a difference that matters. Anyone thinking so is deluded, or isn’t paying attention to teh world situation.
Bob Belvedere
May 9th, 2012 @ 1:54 pm

I take back only the last paragraph, because you are an honorable man.