Fred update: Will not endorse, not interested in VP; Update: D’Amato dumps Fred for McCain?
posted at 11:14 am on January 22, 2008 by Allahpundit
Geraghty’s got it. He’s down to single digits in Florida, he’s not campaigning and won’t be at the debate, and his website isn’t running any big front-page fundraising pitches despite having barely had enough money to air one last commercial in South Carolina. As my ol’ granddaddy used to say, the storm ain’t here yet but you can tell which way the wind’s blowing. Which doesn’t really make sense, but it sounds good and that’s what matters.
If he drops out, doubtless he’ll be on Fox News every week making the case for conservatism and how the frontrunners fail to advance it. A Hillary-McCain match-up would be a cottage industry for him, assuming he’s willing to take off the gloves against Maverick. Which, given his alleged refusal to endorse, he may be. Like Geraghty says, if you can’t be Reagan then be Goldwater and prepare the field for Reagans yet to come.
Here’s a little candy for the ‘Heads as we wait for the major announcement that’s allegedly coming today. At this desperate hour not even invocations of Reagan will do; for this, we go right to the top.
Update: Senator Pothole heads for the lifeboats.
Update: Patrick Ishmael reminds us that D’Amato’s been here before.
Blowback
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yep, I hope he makes a statement soon so his supporters have a chance to vote for someone else in Florida.
windansea on January 22, 2008 at 1:40 PM
Like Fred, my race is done. I voted in the SC primary, and I feel good knowing I didn’t have to push the button for one of the other candidates. At least I got a chance to vote for a candidate I believed in.
Now I’m just going to sit back and watch my party self-destruct going into the general election.
Should be fun.
lodestonejames on January 22, 2008 at 1:41 PM
you must feel so…..pure
why must every diehard Fredhead thrill us with their loyalty and pureness? It’s getting boring
windansea on January 22, 2008 at 1:48 PM
You’re just jealous because you don’t support a candidate that inspires values.
Prepare to be bored…I’m sticking with Fred in November, although, I may caucus here in WA AGAINST Hucklebutt if he is still in the race by then. I don’t care if I am the only person writing in Fred’s name (though, I know I won’t be). Better to have lost to a (D) than to vote for a RINO and forgo my conservative values.
ihasurnominashun on January 22, 2008 at 1:55 PM
Maybe he’s exasperated with what passes for ‘debate’ nowadays, not to mention the vapour-thin substance of the contenders, and is preparing to pull an “Atlas Shrugged” disappearing act – leaving us to wallow in the effluent?
Can’t say I could find it in my heart to blame him!
LimeyGeek on January 22, 2008 at 1:57 PM
Awww, are your feelings hurt cause we Fredheads won’t give up our values and flop over to YOUR candidate. Whether a democrat or RINO gets elected…we all get what we deserve, but I will refuse to accept complicity because I stuck to my values.
ihasurnominashun on January 22, 2008 at 1:59 PM
ihasurnominashun on January 22, 2008 at 1:55 PM
aye!
jerrytbg on January 22, 2008 at 2:03 PM
Why is it that you must be so bitter that you can’t get behind a candidate with real conviction that doesn’t involve amnesty or government health care?
MadisonConservative on January 22, 2008 at 2:04 PM
I love how the rino candidates supporters are upset we dont back one of their rino candidates. I feel real bad about that
William Amos on January 22, 2008 at 2:06 PM
Why must my 2nd choice candidate continue to pander (in Florida, this time?)
http://www.fred08.com
redneck hippie on January 22, 2008 at 2:08 PM
Naw, he’s just letting us down easy. Breaking up is hard to do.
Hollowpoint on January 22, 2008 at 2:17 PM
Carl just said on Fox that Fred will publicly withdraw tonight or tomorrow. Said that ‘aides said disclosed by him personally privately’.
Spirit of 1776 on January 22, 2008 at 2:19 PM
And ED just said it was 2nd sourced. I guess that’s it.
Spirit of 1776 on January 22, 2008 at 2:21 PM
Strike up the band
LimeyGeek on January 22, 2008 at 2:28 PM
To comment on the update, D’Amato switches from Thompson to McCain? What kind of a logical leap is that? From right wing to “maverick” (read liberal) Republican? Huh?
Weebork on January 22, 2008 at 2:37 PM
.
heheehe…I guess having a nice family, one wife, and a stellar business career are not values to you.
not upset at all, feel free to hide in a hole with your guns and STFU
you keep posting lies inviting ridicule
eveangelicals in Florida?
yep, they’re gonna flock to McCain all right!
windansea on January 22, 2008 at 2:50 PM
I’m many shades from pure, my friend. I don’t see, however, how any true fiscal conservative can look at any of the other Republican candidates and not see what I see; they are all phonies. There’s not a true conservative among them.
So yeah, I’m disappointed that we’re going away from Reagan and Goldwater and running full speed towards moderate assholes not willing to take a stand.
At this point the remaining candidates are merely shades of bad. McCain and Mitt are both preferable to Huck and Mitt’s probably a shade better than McCain, but I have no problem in saying that I’m happy I don’t have to make that choice.
lodestonejames on January 22, 2008 at 3:05 PM
Hunter and Thompson gone in the same week…
Tragic.
They may be able to accomplish together what they couldn’t alone. Hunter didn’t have the name recognition, Thompson didn’t have the energy or the experience. Is it too much to hope for that they’d come back together for a brokered convention? The media and the Left (but I repeat myself) sure would HATE that.
Redhead Infidel on January 22, 2008 at 3:22 PM
RINO supporters are what is wrong with the party entirely. They are enablers and their feelings are hurt because Fredheads won’t back their crappy liberal candidates. So be it. Clearly there are alot of republican tards out there or Huckabee, McCain and Romney wouldn’t have won anything. Turncoat Panderers.
I will write Freds name in for the primary and skip the general. Yeah I know I’ll be supporting Hillary with my non vote but it’s completely symbolic since I live in NY which will always be a blue state.
Fred should just run under a different party in the general. You know Ron Paul will and he’ll cipher enough votes like Nader did to the Dems.
Buttercup on January 22, 2008 at 3:54 PM
Fun for a few months…very painful for the four years that follow…
uncivilized on January 22, 2008 at 5:37 PM
“Awww, are your feelings hurt cause we Fredheads won’t give up our values and flop over to YOUR candidate. Whether a democrat or RINO gets elected…we all get what we deserve, but I will refuse to accept complicity because I stuck to my values.”
Well said. Could not agree more.
jaybird on January 22, 2008 at 6:05 PM
McCain
Romney
Huckabee
Giuliani
We’ve fallen and we can’t get up!
Mojave Mark on January 22, 2008 at 6:43 PM
Political parties exist for one purpose only: to win elections. The Republican party never really was the conservative party, they were just the more conservative alternative to the Democratic party.
Right now, the Republican party is chasing the dream of picking up moderate voters alienated by the constant leftward drift of the Democrat party. That seems a very plausible approach, but we’re effectively left with a party that defines itself by what it is NOT , as in radical left-wing Democrats. The problem with that is the Bob Dole problem: sure, he wasn’t Clinton, but was he really someone you wanted to vote for? If you don’t give people a positive choice, they may just stick with the devil they know.
So we’ll have an election where the Republican candidate will be pushing himself entirely as the one you have to vote for if you don’t want Hillary. But that will only pick up the voters who really don’t like Hillary. It’s highly questionable whether that will be enough, even for someone with the famously high negatives that Hillary has. It’s entirely possible that the same people enjoying Fred’s loss will be chewing their livers over Hillary’s win in November. For the sake of the country, let’s hope not.
I guess I’ll be in the same boat as a lot of others this November. I won’t vote for Romney or Giuliani, but I may vote against Hillary by picking whoever is her opponent.
Of course, if Obama takes the Dem nom, all of the above goes out the window.
tom on January 22, 2008 at 6:56 PM
See? I was right.
Baraka on January 22, 2008 at 10:15 PM
For those who did not know, former Senator Alphone D’Amato introduced and heartily endorsed John McCain at a function last night, January 22, in Manhattan, adn John McCain gave a speech emphasizing economics — making the tax cuts permanent, making spending cuts, cutting the corporate tax rate, giving R&D credits, fostering business friendly environments and relying on the likes of, among other others, Phil Gramm and Jack Kemp.
Phil Byler on January 23, 2008 at 4:28 PM
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