Opinion: Instead of Mitt Romney?
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Washington columnist Doyle McManus focuses his lens on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the Not-Romneys in his Thursday column. He writes:
There may still be half a dozen contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, but the race has always had room for only two: Mitt Romney and someone who isn’t Mitt Romney. After four full-scale debates, that second spot, reserved for a more conservative candidate, is still unfilled; the fiscal firebrands of the tea party haven’t found an ideal alternative to Romney, leaving the party’s right wing divided. It’s beginning to look as if the former Massachusetts governor will win the nomination almost by default -- an odd outcome to a year that began with the tea party triumphant.
Not so fast, say some readers on our discussion board, expressing that they’d rather stay home than vote for Romney. Then there’s conservative reader TimBowman, who weighs in with a warning for his fellow conservatives.
Romney isn’t necessarily a shoe-in
Mitt Romney gets about 23 or so percent, while all the not Romneys get the remainder, about 77 percent. That tells me Romney can’t win, as he should not given he likes Romneycare (ie Obamacare), likes high capital gains taxes, and likes global warming regulations. It should not take a mathematician to reason the 77 percent will sooner or later coalesce on one of the non-Romneys.
--gliderpilot
Herman Cain is a viable candidate
I can’t believe how many such articles I have read since Cain started rising in the polls! The liberals of all stripes are frantic! The RINOS are stampeding! The slanters are slanting in circles! The ‘journalists’ are freaking out. It would be entertaining if it wasn’t such an important issue.
Conservative Republicans will not settle for Romney or Perry. Cain is our most viable candidate. He is a great salesman for conservatism. He will be hard to stop. He has the support of activist Republicans. He can make a real difference in cutting the size and scope of our oppressive, bloated government. A government that liberals want to become larger and more oppressive. We cannot afford to compromise our principles to make liberals happy. That has been tried with disastrous results.
--ronwagn1
Stand up and fight for Cain or Rick Perry
If the establishment believes they will pimp Romney, I can tell you right now Conservatives will not hold their noses and vote for him, they will stay home.
The point is Conservatives have to stand up and fight for a Conservative nominee like Cain or Perry. Romney is a disaster, a man who stands for nothing and we can’t afford 4-8 years to kick the can down the road, which is exactly what Romney would do.
--M.J.S.
A pledge to work against Romney
A Romney nomination will force this conservative to once again vote 3rd party. The Republican establishment must be defeated once and for all if the Republican party is ever to re-emerge as an alternative to the socialist Democrats.
Romney can never be an acceptable candidate for president and I will work hard as a libertarian against him becoming president.
--larryrobinson
A warning and a reality check
Republicans need to face reality: Mitt Romney is neither Ronald Reagan reincarnated nor is he the true Anti-Obama. Nonetheless, he is electable and appears to be far more competent than the current President. The other candidates are likewise not messiahs and have shown flaws that make them less desirable, save for Mr. Cain, whose limitation is his tax plan that has some merits, but is anti-consumptory at a time we need to get the economy moving.
It’s time to start uniting Republicans, lest we face the alternative in January 2013.
--TimBowman
*Spelling errors in the above comments have been corrected.
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