All Or Nothing
This, "my way or the highway mentality" isn't working for the Republicans this go round. It seems as though they've gotten spoiled and totally abandoned the spirit of compromise. The past twenty years have pretty much been controlled by Republicans. If not in the oval office itself, in the house and senate. That's why the American voter is so receptive to the message of change. Anything they don't like can be construed as happening under the Republican's watch. Whether fair or not, Republicans get the blame for all the ills in society. Not letting the Republican party off the hook. They have their shortcomings too. Just not the sinnister villians, liberals paint them out as being.I'm not a Republican, but I have Conservative leanings. Which causes me to agree with them on matters of policy more than not. But, I'm not so sure about what's happening now. I think they have painted themselves in a corner. In the beginning they were so critical and foreboding in regards to Rudolph Giuliani. They got rid of him, but look what they got instead. "Mr. Straddle the fence" himself, John McCain. They tried to force Fred Thompson down the public's throat, but they didn't bite. His long awaited arrival turned out to be much-a-do about nothing. His campaign never caught on fire. Now instead of sitting back watching the Democrats scratch and fight for position. They have a probable party nominee, that the party base doesn't support.
Out of 3140 delegates John McCain has 723 commited to him. A broken convention is less and less a probability at this point. Mitt Romney is holding 286 delegates hostage with his suspended canidacy. With 1138 left it's possible, but very unlikely that Mike Huckabee can win. He insists that he's not running for a vice president slot. But why not? When you look at the realistic possibilities. I don't think that's such a bad idea. At one time I shared his optimism, but that has dwindled somewhat. I have given this thing a lot of thought, and come to this conclusion. It's obvious the Republicans aren't going to get all they want. Why not change their gameplan before they end up with nothing.
posted by Common at
3:29 PM
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Romney endorses McCain
By Liz Sidoti
Associated Press
Thursday, February 14, 2008
BOSTON — Republican campaign dropout Mitt Romney endorsed John McCain for the party's presidential nomination and asked his national convention delegates to swing behind the likely nominee.
"Even when the contest was close and our disagreements were debated, the caliber of the man was apparent," the former Massachusetts governor said, standing alongside his one-time rival at his now-defunct campaign's headquarters. "This is a man capable of leading our country at a dangerous hour."
"Primaries are tough," said McCain, referring to their earlier rancor. "We know it was a hard campaign and now we move forward, we move forward together for the good of our party and the nation."
The two met privately before appearing together at a news conference. McCain had campaigned in Vermont and Rhode Island but added a flight to Boston to accept the endorsement.
McCain effectively sealed the nomination last week when Romney withdrew from the race; only former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and libertarian-leaning Texas Rep. Ron Paul remain. But neither has a chance to catch McCain in the convention delegate hunt.
In early primaries and caucuses, Romney collected 280 delegates. The number is enough to move McCain close to the total of 1,191 needed to clinch the nomination a full nine months before the November general election.
Huckabee was not ready to bow out.
"Right now there's a great big 'me, too' crowd coming together (for McCain)," Huckabee said in LaCrosse, Wis. "There's a lot of folks, sort of, in the establishment of the party that is not now wanting to be left out."
Romney's nod of support capped a bitter yearlong rivalry between the two men over the party's nomination. Romney criticized McCain in television ads in New Hampshire, and both candidates mixed it up almost daily during campaign events and debates. Neither is especially fond of the other.
Over the past year, Romney cast McCain as outside of the GOP's conservative mainstream and a Washington insider who contributed to the problems plaguing a broken system. McCain, in turn, argued that Romney's equivocations and reversals on several issues indicated a willingness to change his positions to fit his political goals.
The clash effectively ended on Feb. 5, when McCain won a string of big-state primaries from coast to coast.
Officials said the former Massachusetts governor made his decision to back McCain earlier in the day, citing a desire to help the Arizona senator wrap up the nomination before too much more time passed and while Democrats still did not have a nominee.
McCain is on a steady march toward amassing the 1,191 delegates he needs, but Huckabee has proven an unexpectedly durable challenger. With a strong appeal to evangelical conservatives, Huckabee defeated McCain in two out of three states that chose delegates last weekend, and ran a far stronger race than expected before losing the Virginia primary on Tuesday.
The senator began the day with 843 delegates, to 242 for Huckabee.
While Romney can ask his delegates to support McCain, he won't be able to simply hand over all 280 delegates. Many are from caucus states that won't select the actual delegates until state conventions this spring. Those delegates will be selected by people who supported Romney in the initial caucuses; the direction they go depends on whether they follow Romney's lead in endorsing McCain.
In other states, the delegates are bound to Romney, and their fate is governed by state party rules. In states like Montana, where Romney has 25 delegates, they would be free to support whomever they choose after Romney releases them.
Six of Romney's delegates are members of the Republican National Committee who continued to endorse him even after he dropped out of the race. These RNC members are free to support any candidate they choose at the convention, and not all of them appeared eager to endorse McCain,
"I will support our nominee," RNC member Diane Adams of Indiana said simply.
Other Romney supporters like Stewart Iverson in Iowa said they will work to rally others behind McCain.
"My main focus is to try to bring Republicans together and say, he may not have been our choice in the caucuses but he is where we are today," Iverson said Wednesday.
In the next round of voting, Louisiana holds a state convention Saturday in which caucus-goers will help decide how 44 of the state's 47 national convention delegates are split. At stake Tuesday in Wisconsin's primary are 40 GOP delegates.
Romney suspended his candidacy last week after it became apparent that toppling McCain would be near impossible to gain the delegates needed to defeat McCain.
He was the only one of McCain's main primary opponents who had resisted lining up behind the nominee in waiting; Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson both have endorsed him.
If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.
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