Republicans Can’t Understand Why Mitt isn’t Leading in the Polls
Tim Bean
9/17/2012
“He ought to be killing Obama [in the polls], and he’s clearly not doing that … He should be doing better.” That is the thought of one Republican activist/supporter, 32 years old R.J. Robinson, regarding the GOP’s Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. R.J. made this comment attending the annual Voters Values Summit held at the Omni Hotel in Washington D.C. Another attendee, Mike Garner, 27 years old, had this to say, “If Romney loses this election, the party [Republican] really needs to do some soul searching.” Those are some quotes from an Associated Press article entitled, “GOP Activists to Romney: Why Aren’t You Winning?”
Upon reading that article you will notice that it cites many people representing some of the organizations that have become staunch, unyielding stalwarts of the Republican Party’s base of support. Whether or not this was a little media bias aimed to poke at the GOP I do not know, because I do not know Kasie Hunt, who authored the piece; but the organizations mentioned were the National Organization for Marriage, Americans United for Life, and Morality In Media (an anti-pornography group). Groups like those and their overwhelming influence on the GOP’s platform are just one of the reasons why I left the Republican Party. It dawned on me that you (the GOP) cannot be the party of small government and at the same time wish to use the government to control others. You cannot preach freedom and then in the same breath work to restrict freedoms. So there are those things that I think might be turning other people off from the Republican message.
There is also the televised and publicized steamrolling that the Republican Party honchos did of their own delegates at their National Convention. I know the Dems did it too, I wrote about it and to me it only further proves that neither party gives a hoot about We the People, despite the multiple references to us in these scripted farcical anointments, AKA as National Conventions. So, given that rather egregious gaffe, and trampling upon the democratic process, and the increasing intolerance of differing views, then maybe more moderate people who identify themselves as Republicans are a little squeamish about whether or not the party is truly representative of what they believe in.
Then there is Rick Santorum, who in a speech at this very same Voters Values Summit said this, “We will never have the elite, smart people on our [conservatives] side.” He was referencing how there is a an “elitist” (his word) media bias against conservatives, and goes on further to say, “If just a few people make decisions about what this world looks like, what this country looks like, then you have people sitting in offices at major media outlets and Hollywood who think they can deal with a small group of people, to get them to jump through the hoops they want you to…” Well, with friends like Mr. Santorum, who needs enemies? Remember when I quoted the party slogan in George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” on Saturday? If not it is this: “WAR IS PEACE; FREEDOM IS SLAVERY; IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH,” and in that article I alluded to how much of the rhetoric coming from some media types, and politicos bears a striking resemblance to the sentiment of that quote from a work of fiction. Well, now we basically have a prominent politician actually alluding that intelligence is a problem and ignorance is the solution. Yep, that sounds like an organization I can get behind.
In the spirit of fairness, below is Rick Santorum’s full 23 minute speech:
Finally there is the candidate himself, Mitt Romney. I am very sure that he is a good person in private; loyal husband, caring father, devout in his faith, and yet many who identify as Republicans haven’t warmed to him, and neither have much of the public. Maybe it is because many people, who might be a little too smart for Rick Santorum’s liking, don’t fully believe in Mitt, or his message? Maybe a lot of too smart people know that he (Mitt) has flip-flopped on issues such as abortion, just to curry favor with GOP diehards? Maybe despite all of the glowing talk at the Republican Convention in Tampa on how well he governed Massachusetts “smart” people know he didn’t too swell a job there – so bad that he didn’t even bother to run for reelection? Maybe too many “smart” people have realized that aside from his rhetoric there isn’t too much substantive difference between he and Obama (see this comparison)? Maybe even some of those not so smart (I’m only going with what Rick Santorum’s thoughts) conservatives instinctively know some of this, and as such they too are skeptical? Then again, maybe I am thinking too much on this? Maybe people just don’t particularly like him?
So yes, given all of the above things that might be turning a lot of people off on the Republican Party and its message(s), I would have to agree with Mike Garner at the beginning, if Mitt loses come November, then yes, the Republican Party will have some soul searching to do.
“The visionary lies to himself, the liar only to others.” (Friedrich Nietzsche)
