I agree with my friend Hugh Hewitt: The primary nominating process is over. Mitt Romney, for all his flaws, will emerge victorious. But the larger question is, as my friend Pat Caddell has been asking: Can he win? And if not, should he be replaced at the convention with someone who can?
Forget all the cable-fueled blather by “Republican strategists” — really, tacticians, none of whom can hold a candle to Andrew Breitbart in the Stonewall Jackson department. This is not a normal, after-you-Alphonse election, in which each party takes its turn at the trough that Tammany sachem George Washington Plunkitt warned us against. This is a deadly serious battle for the soul of America. And we’d better put on our war face if we want to win.
On balance, Romney’s slow slog to the nomination has been a good thing. Respect has to be earned, not “deemed.” And the ruthlessness with which Romney dispatched his rivals — including a painkiller-impaired Perry, an underfunded Santorum and a self-destructive Newt — has to be admired. It’s exactly the kind of fortitude we’re going to need in a candidate come November.
#more#But now comes the test. Mitt’s not going to be up against a field of electorally damaged candidates (former speakers, former senators, crazy congressmen), but against the apotheosis of the Leftist beau ideal and the media’s dream candidate. Obama’s consigliere, David Axelrod, the Jake Lingle of his day, is one tough hombre, equally adept in the ways of the American media and Chicago gangland. And like Jake, he’ll be playing both sides of the street right up to the close of voting — and beyond.
Does Romney truly understand the high stakes in this election? And, if so, can he rely on his “strategists” to take his campaign to the next level, whereon he directly challenges Barack Hussein Obama and his governing philosophy, which is so antithetical to the American Way?
So I guess I agree with both my pals: Hugh, in that Romney is the likely nominee — if he can keep it. And with Caddell, in that if — given the importance of this election — he can’t make the case against Obama, the GOP ought to dump him and replace him at the convention with someone who can. The stakes for the nation are too high to observe the formalities; “by any means necessary” ought to go for both parties.
For there are two schools of thought here: One is that a cardboard box plus Marco Rubio/Paul Ryan/Allen West can beat Barry and his disastrous economic record. The other is that the Democrats — ideologically motivated as never before — will brazenly risk stealing the election because they know that the next one won’t matter. That this is the Big Show, the culmination of the Cold Civil War, and that if they win in ‘12, it’s all downhill to infinity, the New Soviet Man and beyond.
The choice, as they say, is ours.