Frying Pan Politics

 The so called moderate Republicans were directly responsible for the 2006 and 2008 election debacles. Those failures allowed ObamaCare to be passed.  Now we have to hope that the Supreme Court does the right thing and strikes down this Obama-nation.

In 2006 the party refused to admit there was an economic issue and the Dems were responsible for it.  They supported excessive spending of the Bush administration which was exacerbating the situation.  Had the party taken a hard line against government spending, it would have prevented the massive losses.

In 2008 the Republicans nominated Senator John McCain.  While McCain proved his bravery as a POW, he failed to show that same strength during the campaign.  His nomination provided the Democrats with a bland and politically timid opponent at the top of the ticket.  Had the party nominated a strong true conservative, the election would have been much closer and possibly a win rather than a loss.

Second, McCain failed to do the one thing that would have won the election—placed the blame for the housing collapse and thus the economic crash at the feet of the Democrats and Obama.

Those of you that have followed this site know that Community Reinvestment Act signed by Pres. Clinton planted the seeds that caused the problem.  The law forced banks to make home loans to everyone including people that had no ability or intention of ever making the payments.  One suit forcing banks to loan money to unqualified buyers was filed by ACORN and Obama was their lawyer.

Had McCain pointed at Obama and explained how he and the Dems caused the crash in the first debate and then continued to focus on that issue, he would have won the election and swept Republicans into the Congress with him.  There would have been no Obama regime and no ObamaCare.

Republican moderates have again backed a moderate that despite the horrendous performance of Obama in office might well find a way to lose the election.  Romney won the nomination not because he was the best candidate but because he was one moderate against 4 conservatives and because he had been running for President since 2008.  He beat down his opponents with a barrage of negative ads.  When he faces Obama, he will be outspent 4 to 1 by the Dems.

The day after the 2006 Democratic landslide I called Rush Limbaugh and suggested that it was time for Conservatives to dump the Republican Party and establish a party of their own.  I suggested that the Blue Dog Dems might join a conservative party and give that point of view a working majority in the House.  He said that would never work.

If someone with his impact had backed the idea, there would have been time before the 2008 election to organize and get winning congressional candidates in a position to win.

Just four years later the Tea Party movement led the Republicans to a landslide of their own.  That win was based on the party’s promise to follow the conservative principles on which it campaigned.  While a few of the elected officials kept that promise, many including the leadership in the Senate did not.

The party bosses backed Romney for the nomination—yet another moderate.  He talks like a conservative but as governed as a moderate.  RomneyCare is a huge burden that will lessen the campaign value of ObamaCare for him.  Worse yet, the bosses are telling him and the organizations backing the party that they must not put advertising that might criticize Obama.  They worried that would irritate the independents and push them to the Democrats.  There will be no such restraint on the part of the Dems.  They have already gotten down and dirty with their ads.

Romney and the Republican candidates must be aggressive.  They must overcome the money advantage Obama will have and the bias of the news media.  It is an uphill fight and the party must have the guts to win it.

The Conservatives made a critical mistake by not combining their candidates to go 1 on 1 against Romney.  Had there been one clear conservative facing Romney even the massive money advantage he had would not have won the nomination.  But Romney is the pick and we have to live with it.

Conservatives must hold Romney to his promises and force him to govern like he campaigned.  The nomination of Romney will lessen the Republican turnout because a number of the Tea Party supporters will not come out to vote for another moderate.

That’s what I think.  Tell me what you think.

Bill Smith is a graduate of The Ohio State University in political science.  He also worked for two different governors of that state and has been a consultant for many other state governments.  He has also published several political novels on http://ebooks-library.com/index.cfm and a non-fiction work about World War II at the publisher now. 

He is the host of News, Notes and Rumors, an Internet radio show Monday-Thursday at 6 PM Eastern time on http://mooheadradio.com/2.0/.   He is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has officiated both football and basketball, done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent.  He edits http://fryingpansports.com and was a senior writer for http://NFLDraftDog.com.