The Nation Dodged a Bullet in 2012
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
The nation dodged a bullet in 2012? It sure didn’t feel like it at the time what with all the doom and gloom from fellow conservatives/Catholics about how Obama’s reelection was surely The End of America (And Possibly The World) As We Knew It. For that matter we might have also dodged a bullet in 2008 by not electing John McCain president. Just goes to show you that what looks like an unanswered or unheard prayer might not be after all…
So, sleeping with a married man twice your age to advance your career, using your position as CA AG to persecute a man exposing the grisly criminal practice of selling body parts of babies murdered in abortuaries, using the vice presidency to sell influence to our enemies, as well as being credibly accused of sexually assaulting the girlfriend of a secret service agent are examples of admirable character?
Don’t know if we dodged a bullet, but his behavior over the last four years has persuaded me that he’s a lesser man than I’d have thought at the time. Ditto the Bush clan, Jeff Flake, at least three state governors, &c. In re the McCain clan, I’d let it slide, bar Cindy McCain’s inexplicable insistence on insulting not the two grifters who mismanaged her husband’s campaign, but Sarah Palin. I imagine the next betrayal of Republican voters will be arriving from Cocaine Mitch and Kevin McCarthy.
The latest betrayal is from George W Bush. If memory serves me, I abstained 3x out of 4 when those men were on the ballot for one reason or another, but never considered myself much of an antagonist of the two. The repeated betrayals over the last five years of the constituency which supported them leave me with the wish that one day a future President and future Congress will order a wrecking ball be taken to their ‘presidential libraries’.
Note, George W, Jeb! and George P have benefited from the brand name established by George the Elder. (Prescott’s name was not known outside of Connecticut, Capitol Hill, and the world of investment banking). Ain’t no justice in this world, but if their was, the behavior of his father and grandparents should suffice into making the Bush moniker smell like silage, and that should suffice to get George P skedaddling back to sketchy venture capital deals or whatever he was doing ‘ere he decided Texas just had to have another Bush in public office. There’s a reason Gov. Perry didn’t much care for these people.
The only question about Romney is whether he was a DNC swamp creature from the start, or merely a GOP swamp creature that allied with the DNC after his failure.
“GOP swamp creature that allied with the DNC after his failure.” Romney is a weak man with a big ego. He couldn’t get over not being named to a seat in Trump’s cabinet. Hence the only Republican for Trump’s impeachment.
Romney is a weak man with a big ego. He couldn’t get over not being named to a seat in Trump’s cabinet. Hence the only Republican for Trump’s impeachment.
He’s a very capable man in lots of venues and (there is some indication) fairly unpretentious in mundane life. Then there’s this other side to him. One aspect is described by Dale Price’s moniker ‘Windsock Romney”. The other is by his peculiar, deceitful, and spiteful antics of the last several years. Observing Jeff Flake’s behavior, I cannot help but think it’s something local to the Mormon subculture, but I cannot figure why they’re doing it.
NB, Trump, for all his flaws as a human being, has the assent of > 90% of Republican voters. The same voters were willing to fall in line behind W when he was facing unjust attacks. Cannot help but notice that aside from Trump, there are eight people currently alive who have graced a Republican national ticket (and a ninth only recently deceased), of whom 5 have shivved Trump at one point or another. Given that they do so to benefit the Clintons, the Bidens, and Nancy Pelosi, they can’t claim to do it for ethical reasons. One problem the Republican Party has had since forever has been execrable leadership.
I woke up the day after election day after reluctantly voting for Mitt. I was relieved he lost, though was not happy about Barry winning.
What I do not see is a way forward (at least on a national level) for the GOP given its traitorous treatment of Trump. But, stranger things have happened. Let’s see how long elephants’ memories really are.
https://althouse.blogspot.com/2020/11/lets-not-have-any-lectures-about-how.html
Here’s Mitch. No fire, but no betrayal, either. Same deal with McCarthy. Aside from Romney, the Republicans rolling over are Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski (no surprise, that’s their deal, every single time but one) and self-centered motormouth Ben Sasse.
What I do not see is a way forward (at least on a national level) for the GOP given its traitorous treatment of Trump.
Trump’s abrasive, so I can see some reserve and some sources of resentment. At the same time, a lot of his Republican detractors have made jack-wagons of themselves by (1) refusing to acknowledge and act on the Democrats attacks on the norms of political competition and (2) making it plain they actually have no interest in policy and behaving like high school students.
“What I do not see is a way forward … for the GOP given its traitorous treatment of Trump.”
That would be because there isn’t one.
Ah, but there is. Trump populism combined with conservatism is the way forward for the GOP. The party prior to Trump has ended, but a new GOP is in formation.
I see a kinder, gentler populism giving way to compassionate populism. The Lincoln Project will show the way.