Friday, February 03, 2012

Before You Romney-Haters Head For Home With Your Little Ball...

...read this.

As the Rolling Stones famously sang, You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you get what you need.

"But Bob," you might say, "I wanted So-and-So to run. If (s)he doesn't run, I'll stay home."

Life ain't Burger King, bud. You don't get to have it your way.

Why didn't So-and-So run? First off, (s)he might not have the fire in the belly, the ambition to be President. (S)he might be happy as a Congressman, Senator, Governor.

So-and-So might have skeletons in the closet that (s)he doesn't want exposed to the light of day. Herman Cain certainly did, didn't he?

So-and-So might be well known to you and your clique, but not to the rest of the country. Coming out of nowhere to run for the Presidency of the United States just isn't done. If you were to try it at all, it would have to be as a Democrat, so as to have the mainstream media on your side. As a Republican, that isn't happening. "But Bob, that's not fair!" You didn't learn about life's fundamental unfairness in kindergarten? Time to grow up. Candidates these days have to run for the office several times before the public recognizes you to be a valid contender. Reagan ran twice, remember. This is Ron Paul's third time, and Romney's second time. You have to be in it for the long haul.

Even if So-and-So has the ambition and lack of skeletons, (s)he might not have the intestinal fortitude to stand the savage vetting (s)he'll get from the MSM. People want to be liked and popular. If you're a Republican candidate for President, the MSM will do its best to make sure that you are neither. Their love is for the Democrat, and they never stray.

3 comments:

Walt Taylor said...

You spend half your post telling fellow Republicans to stop whining about things being unfair, and the other half whining about the MSM being unfair. You're just as cute as a button, Bob.

Borepatch said...

It's not petulance, Bob. It's a calculation on whether we'd be better off with another round of Obama or with Romney. I've calculated that in the long term we'll be better off with Obama.

I may be wrong on this, but the sort of silliness that NRO stood up is unconvincing, because it doesn't address any of my arguments.

Bob said...

@Borepatch: Ted, I'll quote what I said to Roberta at her place:

Where's Justice Harriet Miers now? Oh, that's right, she didn't get confirmed; the Senate got up on its hind legs and refused to let Bush get away with a crony on the Court. He gave us Alito instead, and Alito helped bring about Heller and MacDonald.

We just need to re-capture the Senate, not a difficult task this cycle, and make our voices heard when Mittens goes to nominate some squish for the Court.


If Obama wins again, we get more Kagans and Sotomayors, not Alitos. While Ginsburg is the Justice who is most likely to retire next, Scalia and Thomas aren't young any more, either. If Obama has the opportunity to replace either of those two with a Kagan or Sotomayor, kiss Heller and MacDonald good-bye.