By now, you will have heard about Romney dropping out of his presidential aspirations. David, has already written to this point yesterday.
Personally, I’m glad he’s leaving the race. I have written often of his shortcomings. But I think there is a lesson to be learned here by his departure, and his comments upon his announcement.
Now, I think Romney is a fairly honest critter, even if I dislike what he’s being honest about. I think he likes government a little too much. In fact, a lot too much. I suggested at the time, and many times since, that the reason he lost the last election was precisely that. He likes government, and thinks governments should be employed to provide solutions to social issues. He believes government has a right to be intrusive. But still, he seems an honest individual. And if nothing else. Mitt is an adept politician, and can read the tea leaves as well as anyone can. So let’s examine what he says by way of the Washington Post. [1]
Mitt Romney’s exploration of a third presidential campaign ended Friday after three tumultuous weeks of deliberations that led him to conclude that, while he might emerge with the Republican nomination again in 2016, he might be so badly wounded in the process that he would have trouble defeating Hillary Rodham Clinton in a general election.
I suggest here that the Washington Post is rewriting the facts, so as to mesh with the lefts agenda.
While it’s certainly true that Romney would have had the best shot at the nomination, and would also have had a real damaging time of it in the primary, Jeb Bush would not have been the issue. Romney would have lost the general election simply because he is not conservative. This is something we’ve gone over
before.
Rush Limbaugh [2], nails this one perfectly….
Anyway, the money quote, this is what Romney said: “I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well known as I am today –”
[3]
Well, that eliminates anybody that’s currently in the running. It eliminates Jeb Bush. It limits Chris Christie.
And that’s exactly right. This is clearly a recognition from Romney that not only was he not conservative enough to win the general election, the other people currently at the top of the GOP nomination list, aren’t either.
Rush continues…
But it is a slap. It’s a swipe at the rest of the field. Essentially Romney is saying, “Look, I’m getting out of this, and we don’t have a prayer if the names you know are the only people that we have get in the race, ’cause the names you know don’t have a prayer of beating Hillary or whoever.” That’s what the message is. It better be somebody we don’t know yet. It better be somebody filled with energy, young, ready to make his mark, conservative and so forth. Which eliminates all the other people that are currently thought of to be in the race.
It’s not just a slap. As I say, I think Romney is a astute political observer. His thoughts on the matter of the rest of the field, should bear heavily on whatever the GOP decides to do.
The question that Romney’s departure has left us with, is do we really want the next GOP nominee to be decided by a bunch of uber rich Rockefeller Republicans, or will the voice of the conservative majority finally be heard?
Based on his comments, Romney recognizes that that’s really the issue.