{"id":1558,"date":"2012-01-22T16:37:57","date_gmt":"2012-01-22T22:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/?p=1558"},"modified":"2012-01-22T17:56:21","modified_gmt":"2012-01-22T23:56:21","slug":"of-poodles-and-pit-bulls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/?p=1558","title":{"rendered":"Of Poodles and Pit Bulls"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the American people witness the Republican presidential primaries unfolding, many are puzzled by the uncharacteristic bitterness of the rhetoric.\u00a0 Rarely have Republican candidates violated Ronald Reagan\u2019s 11th<\/sup> Commandment\u2026 thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican\u2026 with the same level of rancor.\u00a0 But the bitter exchanges are not gratuitous; there is a good reason for them.<\/p>\n

Although few Americans would be able to stand and deliver an extemporaneous speech on the social and economic difficulties facing our nation, most Americans understand instinctively that our country cannot long survive with a national debt equal to or greater than our total annual GDP.\u00a0 They understand that it is Barack Obama, a man who would be out of his depth as leader of a Boy Scout troop, let alone the richest and most powerful nation on Earth, who has brought us to the edge of an abyss from which there may be no recovery.<\/p>\n

That being the case, it is easy to see how the level of rancor displayed in the Republican debates is directly proportional to the danger posed by Barack Obama and the Democrat majority in the Senate.\u00a0 The imperative of ridding the nation of Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and a Democratic majority in the Senate is so great that it produces uncharacteristic passion among the most staid and dignified Republicans, each vying for the chance to be the \u201cExterminator-in-Chief.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is most disconcerting to conservatives is that, until the South Carolina primary, they\u2019ve had to contend with Mitt Romney, another in a long line of Republican moderates, as frontrunner for the 2012 nomination.\u00a0 Conservatives understand instinctively that the country cannot afford yet another Republican moderate in the White House.\u00a0 Republicans must nominate a candidate who can not only defeat Obama in a landslide, but who, through sheer determination and strength of personality, can reverse the direction in which the nation is now headed and confront head-on the Democratic onslaught that is sure to come.<\/p>\n

What the nation needs in these perilous times is not another \u201cPoodle,\u201d in the style of George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, John McCain, or Mitt Romney, but a \u201cPit Bull\u201d in the style of the \u201cLast Lion of Great Britain,\u201d Winston Churchill.\u00a0 The only man in the Republican field who fits that description is former Speaker Newt Gingrich.<\/p>\n

Governor Romney went into the 2012 Iowa caucuses as the frontrunner, having campaigned for the presidency non-stop since February 13, 2007, nearly 5 full years.\u00a0 Speaker Gingrich entered the race on May 11, 2011, just over 8 months ago. \u00a0\u00a0However, a week or ten days before the Iowa caucuses, after Gingrich had catapulted into frontrunner status on the strength of his performance in the pre-Iowa debates, the Romney forces panicked.\u00a0 In their effort to derail what appeared to be the genesis of a Gingrich runaway, they produced an unprecedented number of negative campaign ads, viciously attacking Gingrich.<\/p>\n

As Gingrich saw his popularity waning because of Romney\u2019s negative campaigning, he made the first major strategic error of his campaign.\u00a0 Instead of sticking with the strategy that brought him quickly through the ranks to frontrunner status\u2026 i.e. speaking only positively of his Republican opponents while relentlessly attacking Barack Obama\u2026 he responded \u201cin kind\u201d to the negative Romney ad campaign.<\/p>\n

What he and his advisors apparently failed to consider was that, with a large store of \u201cgood guy, nice guy\u201d currency, Mitt Romney could engage in a great deal of negative campaigning without suffering self-inflicted wounds.\u00a0 Gingrich, on the other hand, because of his reputation as a tough infighter during the Clinton era, a man who was said to have so much \u201cbaggage\u201d that the names Gingrich and Samsonite became almost synonymous, went into the Iowa contest with little or no store of \u201cgood guy, nice guy\u201d currency.<\/p>\n

In other words, while Romney could get away with saying almost anything he wanted to say about Newt, the voting public would never allow Gingrich the same latitude. \u00a0Instead of going negative, Gingrich would have been well-advised to simply look back over his shoulder, swat at Romney like a pesky fly, and double-down on his attacks on Obama.<\/p>\n

Now, in the wake of Gingrich\u2019s spectacular win in South Carolina, the first primary event that is truly reflective of the heart and soul of the larger Republican Party, we can begin to see into the future.\u00a0 This in spite of the fact that few national pundits\u2026 including those on the Fox News network\u2026 appear to have the slightest understanding of Mitt Romney\u2019s inability to secure the Republican nomination after 5 full years of campaigning.\u00a0 They appear totally out of touch with the reality that Romney cannot rise above the 25-30% support level because, a) he is a moderate running in a party that is at least 80% conservative, b) rank-and-file Republicans are fed up with the lukewarm leadership they\u2019ve received from moderates such as Bush (41), Bush (43), and John McCain, and c) Republicans and independents alike are terrified of a second Obama term.<\/p>\n

Nor are they able to explain why establishment Republicans and the mainstream media would stoop to employ the most desperate life-or-death tactics\u2026 such as airing the Marianne Gingrich interview\u2026 to prevent a conservative Republican from coming out of South Carolina a winner.\u00a0 They appear not to understand that, having engineered the nomination of essentially every GOP candidate for the past century, with the exception of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, the Republican \u201cestablishment\u201d is unaccustomed to having their wishes ignored.<\/p>\n

George H.W. Bush was a moderate.\u00a0 He campaigned against Reagan\u2019s supply-side economics\u2026 the economic policies that allowed a Republican House and Senate to produce four consecutive balanced budgets\u2026 calling Reagan\u2019s economic proposals \u201cvoodoo economics.\u201d\u00a0 Bob Dole was a conservative, but a candidate who was nominated in 1996 by \u201cestablishment\u201d Republicans on nothing more than the strength of his claim that it was \u201chis turn.\u201d\u00a0 As a weak campaigner he had no chance of defeating Bill Clinton.<\/p>\n

George W. Bush, brutalized by Democrats and the mainstream media from his first day in office, \u00a0seemed convinced that his role in U.S. history was to prove that he could \u201ctake a punch.\u201d\u00a0 He seemed not to understand that each time he was verbally assaulted, without ever launching a counterattack, the rank-and-file of the Republican Party felt the pain of the attacks more than he did.<\/p>\n

And finally, John McCain was, if anything, an even worse candidate than Bob Dole.\u00a0 It is easy to understand how he could tell a crowd in a recent \u201cfoot-in-mouth\u201d appearance with Mitt Romney that \u201cBarack Obama would turn the country around.\u201d\u00a0 It is also easy to understand the frustration that Sarah Palin, a true fighter for the cause, must have felt as the McCain staff regularly tied her hands and prevented her from waging an effective campaign against the Obama-Biden forces.\u00a0 Now, as the \u201ctitular head\u201d of the Republican Party, McCain provides no leadership whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Conservative Republicans now feel as though they\u2019ve given the Republican \u201cestablishment\u201d more than enough opportunities to govern the country effectively.\u00a0 All have failed and it\u2019s now time for conservatives to reestablish ownership of their party.<\/p>\n

In attempting to explain away the results of the South Carolina primary, Romney spokesmen make yet another strategic error, attempting to paint Newt Gingrich not as a chief executive type, but as a legislator.\u00a0 In his appearance on Meet the Press<\/em>, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie responded to a David Gregory question by saying that, \u201cThe last thing the country needs is to have another legislator in the White House.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we have now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, Barack Obama was a legislator\u2026 a very poor legislator, having voted \u201cpresent\u201d on at least 129 occasions when he found it either impossible or politically dangerous to reach a decision that might later prove difficult to explain.\u00a0 His performance in the Oval Office, day-in, day-out, proves that he has little or no executive ability.<\/p>\n

Gingrich, on the other hand, has demonstrated strong executive ability throughout his political career.\u00a0 It was his tendency to act in an autocratic manner during his years as Speaker, as opposed to being the leader of 435 elected officials, each with his\/her own oversized ego, that got him into trouble with the Democratic minority and his own House caucus.\u00a0 Mitt Romney and his surrogates make a major error when they attempt to write Gingrich off as a mere \u201clegislator.\u201d\u00a0 His worst critics, including members of his own party, complain that he does not work well in a collegial atmosphere; he is far better suited to an executive role.<\/p>\n

Bush (41), Bush (43), and McCain were all Poodles engaged in a life-or-death struggle against Democratic Pit Bulls.\u00a0 Among the current crop of GOP candidates, Mitt Romney is yet another Poodle; Rick Santorum is a yapping Terrier whose bark is worse than his bite; and Ron Paul is a Bulldog\/Chihuahua mix.\u00a0 The only Pit Bull in the race is Newt Gingrich.<\/p>\n

Unlike John McCain, who treated Obama as if he was nothing more than a misguided little brother, the 2012 Republican candidate will have to take off the gloves with him.\u00a0 It is a task that only a Pit Bull can handle.\u00a0 None of our Poodles could ever get the job done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the American people witness the Republican presidential primaries unfolding, many are puzzled by the uncharacteristic bitterness of the rhetoric.\u00a0 Rarely have Republican candidates violated Ronald Reagan\u2019s 11th Commandment\u2026 thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican\u2026 with the same … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1558"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1560,"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions\/1560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}