Posted by
flagwaver on Tuesday, February 07, 2012 9:21:49 PM
In the words of Public Enemy, “Don’t Believe the Hype!” No matter what various pundits try to tell you about this race, don’t fall for it. As much as Sarah Palin wants to be the conservative kingmaker (talk about believing your own hype!) on the one hand, or Ann Coulter going from rock ribbed conservative to mushy moderate on the other, the prevailing narrative about the GOP nomination race isn’t true.
As much as some would like to convince you that this election cycle is about the “war” between the conservative base of the Party exemplified by the TEA Party movement and the GOP establishment, it really isn’t. To be that you would have to have a truly staunch conservative pitted against one of the GOP elite, and you simply don’t have that.
What we do have is this: two moderates trying their damnedest to convince the GOP primary/caucus electorate that they are the “true”, “Reaganite” conservative in this race.
However, when you look at the two leading candidates, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, what you are really looking at are two men whose mouths profess an abiding love for conservative principles, but whose records show an abundance of political moderation.
Take Newt, please (insert rim shot here)! Now, there is no arguing that much of what Newt did in leading the GOP to a historic victory in the Congressional elections of 1994 was based on solidly conservative ideas and ideals, the truth is that Newt was never that much of a champion of his own Contract With America. He duly got nearly every issue he ran on to the floor for a vote, but when those measures were defeated, Newt abandoned them like one of his wives. Then, when his GOP brothers got tired of his Emperor Newt 1 act and forced him out of power, his true colors came shining through (h/t Cyndi Lauper). Since leaving the official employ of the people of Georgia, Newt has kept busy by singing the praises of RomneyCare at its passage; cheerleading use of individual mandates as a solution to the ‘free rider’ problem; sitting on couches virtually making out with Nancy Pelosi while telling us that AGW was real and had to be immediately addressed; and more recently extolling a very leftist point of view that federal judges, up to and including SCOTUS justices, should be subjected to Congressional hearings to justify the decisions they make in legal cases brought before them. And for good measure, he would also like to reserve to himself the right as POTUS to simply ignore any ruling that the SCOTUS makes that he takes issue with! Does any of that sound even remotely conservative to you? Yet this is the person that too many conservatives have placed the mantle of “true conservative” upon, as if he is the second coming of Ronald Reagan. I don’t care how much Sarah Palin, Nancy and Michael Reagan, or others try to convince me otherwise, I know that Newt isn’t an honest conservative. And giving John King a public tongue lashing, no matter how well deserved, doesn’t change that fact!
As for Mitt, we all know his history. When he was governor of the Bay State, he was as moderate as they come. He was for abortion. He was pro “gay rights”. And he was the ultimate statist, witness RomneyCare. It seems that the only time Mitt embraces conservatism is when he’s seeking office outside the state of Massachusetts. I mean, even when he was campaigning against Teddy Kennedy, the so-called “Liberal Lion”, this cat tried to get to the left of him! What kind of ‘conservative’ tries that trick!?!
And these are the guys we are supposed to believe represent the opposing sides of the internecine conservative versus moderate battle within the GOP?
Give me a freaking break!
What we really have in these two is a Massachusetts Republican, i.e. Scott Brown versus a former lobbyist…err…historian…for Fannie and Freddie. The ultimate Beltway insider in Newt versus Mr. Country Clubber in Mitt, and we’re supposed to believe that one of them is a real conservative.
How stupid do they think we are people?
At base, we’re looking at two sides of the same opportunistic coin, only one comes with much less baggage than the other. And one manages to almost seem sincere when he calls himself a conservative.
But both of them are way less than the conservative ideal, and the GOP establishment would be at peace with either one of them.
So don’t believe that hype.