Darn it, Romney was better than this party deserved
The truth is, Romney was better than the GOP deserved. Party nitwits undermined him, and the self-righteous tried to bring him down. The nitwits are well-enough known at this point — those farthest-right social conservatives who couldn’t find it in their hearts to keep their traps shut. No abortion for rape or incest? Sit down. Legitimate rape? Put on your clown suit and go play in the street.
Equally damaging were the primary leeches who embarrassed the party and wouldn’t leave the stage. Nine-nine-nine, we’re talking about you, Herman Cain. And Gov. Oops? You, too. And then there were Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann, who never had a real shot at the nomination and certainly could never win a national election, yet they refused to surrender to the certain nominee.
Did they have a right to persist in their own fantasies? Sure. But not if they were serious about getting a Republican in the White House. Thus, for months and months, Romney had to spend his energy and, as important, his money to prevail in the primaries against opponents who had no chance and who ultimately hurt him. During that same precious time, Obama’s campaign was busy pinpointing specific voters, practically learning the names of their dogs, and buying ads in niche markets.
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Not to mention pundits like Ms. Parker. Physician, heal thyself. Anyway, I disagree. He just didn’t get it done.
Xasprtr on November 10, 2012 at 8:08 PM
Chatty Cathy is right.
We don’t deserve a big government Northeastern Rino like Romney, and it would serve us right if we never had one of them run again.
sharrukin on November 10, 2012 at 8:09 PM
She attacks the GOP? Maybe, she should be attacking her fellow leftards for not voting for Romney.
Blake on November 10, 2012 at 8:10 PM
She’s right. Why should we bother with anything as silly as a primary? Let’s just pick the next guy whose turn it is who is a moderate white male Republican who will ignore his base to go after independents and is capable of giving a gracious concession speech. It’ll save a lot of time and money.
DrAllecon on November 10, 2012 at 8:12 PM
I’m waiting for the day Kathleen finally pulls her head out of her @ss, but I won’t hold my breath.
Thomas More on November 10, 2012 at 8:13 PM
There are many ways Romney undermined himself…
1. After the first debate he went into cruise control… and even got himself into being a Beta on Benghazi. In my heart of knew the election was over after that Benghazi exchange though I kept lying to myself.
2. He should have been taking a moderate tone on foreign policy the entire time, not just the last debate.
3. He should have led the effort to force the rape/incest exceptions into the party platform. I’ve been pounding on timebomb since 2008 when the changes were made to the platform.
4. Mitt’s national lampoon foreign policy tour.
yadda, yadda, yaddda.
ninjapirate on November 10, 2012 at 8:15 PM
How dare she presume to talk for Romney or the GOP. Both of them know honor and class that she only dreams of.
thebrokenrattle on November 10, 2012 at 8:16 PM
Kathleen Parker is right… the primary system needs to be completely altered.
The two big problems facing the primary system are…
1. Freak show candidates…
2. Freak show media hijackers.
The way to solve this is to allow the candidates to put on their own forums and have the candidates select whom they’re willing to debate. The candidates should just ask their own questions to one another.
ninjapirate on November 10, 2012 at 8:18 PM
Her insults and mockery aside, I’m proud of the role I played as a social conservative in withholding my vote. We deserved better than Romney.
Stoic Patriot on November 10, 2012 at 8:19 PM
I have a question, do the people who hate Kathleen Parker remember her columns before 2008? She was absolutely probably the best columnist on the right then… the hatred for her is absolutely stupid.
ninjapirate on November 10, 2012 at 8:20 PM
A lot of conservative columnists were better before 2008. Coulter, for example. George Will started losing it as soon as he began prattling on about blue jeans.
Stoic Patriot on November 10, 2012 at 8:22 PM
We should do away with Primaries all together, and just allow a panel of 12 Brilliant Republican Strategists choose the nominee.
The GOP Nominee Selection Panel:
Peggy Noonon
David Frum
Andrew Sullivan
Kathleen Parker
John Cornyn
Bill Kristol
William Buckley Jr
Steve Schmidt
Nicole Wallace
Ed Rollins
Mike Murphy
Karl Rove
The Republican electorate is too stupid and incompetent to leave a nominee decision up to them.
portlandon on November 10, 2012 at 8:22 PM
So people should like the maniac for her old stuff?
the_nile on November 10, 2012 at 8:24 PM
Actually, we probably would be better with this… maybe make it a reality tv show.
ninjapirate on November 10, 2012 at 8:24 PM
The problem is evident in a lot of these blame threads.
The vast majority of people are attacking Romney in very accusatory ways, and in a couple of styles. One is the all out bash and the other is the “intellectual” pundit style that gives the advise of “We really have to start being more like the dems”..Maybe we are the stupid party
When the dems lose, they never seem to eat their own. Their criticisms are always directed at the opposition.
Mimzey on November 10, 2012 at 8:24 PM
Why is she a “maniac”?
Yes, her column on Palin was extreme… but considering Palin has turned herself into a reality tv show-woman I think she was proven right in retrospect.
ninjapirate on November 10, 2012 at 8:26 PM
Manager Mitt failed , now she blames everyone else.
the_nile on November 10, 2012 at 8:29 PM
She was also proven right about the bit that John McCain was lusting after like like Caesar lusted after Cleopatra? Uh, oooookkaayyyy!
Kathleen Parker proudly proclaimed that she led the assassination of Sarah Palin. I’m happy to have returned the favor with Mittens.
Stoic Patriot on November 10, 2012 at 8:29 PM
Palin is just one aspect of why so many dislike Parker.
Her “I’m a Southern Bell, and I know racism, and the Republican Conservatives are racists” schtick is what really ticks me off about her.
Her Tea Party hatred was ridiculous.
And as for Palin, she brought out the long knives from the day she was introduced as McCain’s VP nominee.
Would you be as forgiving if she had openly called for Paul Ryan’s removal from the ticket?
portlandon on November 10, 2012 at 8:30 PM
Say, anyone else on a Republican ticket ever experience such treatment Kathleen?
Kataklysmic on November 10, 2012 at 8:30 PM
Heh.
the_nile on November 10, 2012 at 8:32 PM
That Was Kathleen’s roll during the McCain/Palin 2008 ticket.
How was she different than Andrew Sullivan in regard to Palin?
I saw no difference.
portlandon on November 10, 2012 at 8:32 PM
While this was certainly true of the unelectable, sanctimonious Santorum, Michele Bachmann did not stay in the race beyond her welcome and she did endorse Romney promptly after withdrawing.
bluegill on November 10, 2012 at 8:35 PM
I have a hard time criticizing someone who is willing to go out there and put themselves up to the BS of running for office.
While Romney and his campaign did a lot of things differently than I would have liked and did make mistakes, I commend him and will always appreciate his effort, just as I feel the same way for each of the primary candidates.
We complain about the quality of candidates, but bringing out the long knives afterwards does not entice smart and capable people to toss in their hat.
kim roy on November 10, 2012 at 8:38 PM
It’s not Romney’s rivals’ fault, or that of social conservatives, if millions of populist-inclined voters sat on their hands rather than vote for a well-heeled professional financial manager. When all is said and done, Romney turned out to be another Willkie after all.
Seth Halpern on November 10, 2012 at 8:38 PM
Marxists 2
RINOs 0
faraway on November 10, 2012 at 8:50 PM
My new favorite word:
Douche.
I used to try to be a little classy, and not use such terms often.
But it is now is so applicable to all lefties and 3/4 of ‘our side’……..
LegendHasIt on November 10, 2012 at 8:59 PM
Crazy talk.
Team Romney never understood the battlefield.
Hell, the GOP didn’t understand it.
He was rock solid on the economic argument, won it. And still lost.
It’s bizarro ’04. W wins on ghey mirage and social issues as a way to duck Iraq. Barry follows suit as a way to duck the economy.
budfox on November 10, 2012 at 9:01 PM
If that many GOP voters stayed home, then yes he was.
Zaggs on November 10, 2012 at 9:12 PM
I doubt Romney agrees.
Count to 10 on November 10, 2012 at 9:13 PM
DIVORCE A DEMOCAT
Please, let’s stop blaming fellow Republicans. It’s not the moderate establishment’s fault. It’s not the Tea Party’s fault. It’s not the Ron Paul-tard’s fault.
It’s the fault of your stupid-ass neighbor who decided to vote for Obama. It’s that girlfriend of yours who vote Democrat. It’s that brother or sister of yours who likes Obama. It’s that co-worker, you know the annoying liberal guy, who’s always pushing Obama on everyone in the break room
Get them all out of your lives. De-friend, and Di-vorce. Simply as that. Pledge never to speak to any Democrats or have any dealings with them ever again. They’re the ones to blame for us on the speed train towards socialism, not fellow Republicans.
ericdondero on November 10, 2012 at 9:17 PM
She was one of the core brigade that forced Romney on us while belittling any difference of opinion, and now, of course, she’s belittling everyone else anyway.
She’s blaming Senate candidates for “dragging him down.” That’s the veritable definition of loser talk. And – read it – she is actually, honest-to-God blaming the Republican primary candidates for running for President. Like anyone in the general public even remembers who Herman Cain is anymore.
So yeah, maniac. At least the other Romatons have had the decency to put this on the electorate, where it belongs.
Parker, Coulter, Rubin: where is your god now? Right, sitting shocked that the polls were right on the wreckage of his propeller-head web app that wasn’t stress tested or debugged.
HitNRun on November 10, 2012 at 9:19 PM
Idiotic comment. Nobody forced Romney on anyone. Do you not understand how the primary system works? Quit acting like such a crybaby martyr. Voters chose the nominee. Romney was the best of the field.
bluegill on November 10, 2012 at 9:26 PM
LOL. And ya know, that David Brock was great in, say, 1995.
Oh, come on. He was forced on the GOP electorate since at least early ’09. He was The Next In Line, The Only One With Any Chance Of Beating Obama, Gallup Says So!!!!! And on and on and on. Romney wasn’t the “best” anything.
So you’re saying that Romney was the one who most closely reflected the views of the average GOP voter?
ddrintn on November 10, 2012 at 9:31 PM
Wow, you beat the crap out of that strawman.
Of course Romney was (probably) the best of the field. That doesn’t change the fact he was dragged across the finish line by a vicious smear campaign in the nominally conservative media waged against each of Romney’s rivals as they rose, and the three women I listed were at the core of it, cynically changing their opinion of 6 or 7 different candidates depending on who was a threat to Romney that month.
You’re right, nobody forced Romney on us, in the same sense that the media’s partiality has nothing to do with Obama’s getting elected.
HitNRun on November 10, 2012 at 9:34 PM
So I take it that we’re to ignore the grossly uneven distribution of time at the debates, the nearly unanimous endorsements of Romney by the chattering classes, and even the altering of rules regarding the primaries be it during a petition process or the allocation of delegates after a vote was held.
Stoic Patriot on November 10, 2012 at 9:34 PM
Exactly, but I don’t concede for a second that Romney was the best even of THAT weak field. Rick Perry would’ve stood a better chance than Romney.
But you’re right about the media and the punditocracy, and the same thing is gearing up before Romney’s political corpse is cold: I noticed a headline item on here about how GOP “insiders” are touting Rubio as the Next Big Thing. I told you so.
ddrintn on November 10, 2012 at 9:38 PM
Voters overwhelmingly chose Romney, and they made the right decision, given the other choices. Sorry, but it is impossible to “force” someone else to vote. Romney had plenty of unhelpful, self-righteous critics on the right during the primary season, and he still won. Tim Pawlenty might have had a decent chance in a general election, but he flamed out early. Newt was hopeless and couldn’t even gather enough signatures to get his name on the ballot in Virginia, and Santorum was a Tea Party-bashing social conservative with little appeal to independents.
Why don’t you try spending your time promoting candidates who you think would be strong in a general election, rather than whining about other people’s choices. People like you are getting boring.
We know you never got over the fact that Sarah Palin decided not to run, but I think it is time to move on and quit acting like a crybaby.
bluegill on November 10, 2012 at 9:42 PM
Voters did no such thing. Voters overwhlemingly voted for a variety of NotRomney. Which is why Mighty Mitt had trouble putting away Newt friggin’ GINGRICH and…let’s see… Rick Santorum???? Hell, even Cain and Bachmann led Romney at various points.
I got over it a long time ago. But while we’re on the subject, answer me this: who most closely reflects the views of the average GOP voter, Palin or Romney?
ddrintn on November 10, 2012 at 9:45 PM
Sarah Palin’s still standing strong, unlike Romney and GOP establishment..:)
idesign on November 10, 2012 at 9:49 PM
By the way, I just LOVE how you’re still using that same old tired discredited mantra. Romney WON indies…and still lost. Get with the program. The new mantra is “you gotta win that Latino vote”. Indies are sooooooo 2011.
ddrintn on November 10, 2012 at 9:49 PM
They both represent the views of most Republican voters. They have far more in common than they do policy differences. But look, you have to see how well a candidate can perform throughout the primary season, because presenting oneself as a capable, competent, serious leader is necessary to win. We will never know how Sarah Palin would have withstood a primary season campaign, since she didn’t run. Why are you so negative already towards Rubio? Why not, at least, go in with an open mind and see how he is able to perform under greater scrutiny? I am tired of the whole establishment versus tea party divide. In case you haven’t noticed, the left loves to have us divided in that way. We should vote for the candidate who not only represents our values, but also who we believe would have the best chance of beating the Democrat. Whether or not the candidate was supported by more tea party people or by more so-called establishment people is immaterial.
bluegill on November 10, 2012 at 9:58 PM
Fact is, Romney lost because republicans didn’t show up. You can complain about GOTV efforts, but that affects early voting as well and Romney did good in the early voting periods. Obama lost 10 million votes from 08 and still won. Romney won independents. I doubt most of the GOP field would have pulled that off. People didnt show up and vote. Its that simple.
In general Romney deserved far better than what he got. The press helped vilify him because he was successful. Obama called him a murderer. Everyone else wanted to focus on little issues that don’t mean jack in regards to the future of the country.
Zaggs on November 10, 2012 at 10:01 PM
If the dogs won’t eat your delicious dog food, then maybe there is something wrong with the chow, and not the puppies?
sharrukin on November 10, 2012 at 10:04 PM
Look, I voted for Romney in the 2008 primary. I already had a favorable impression of him going into this election, but I was open to considering other candidates. When Perry was getting ready to enter the race last summer, my ears perked up and I was interested to learn more about him. Perry was an unbeaten politician who had a reputation as a tough campaigner with an excellent record as governor. Then Perry started speaking and showed himself to be totally unprepared and a laughingstock. So what are we to do then? You have to select the best candidate, and that is what I had many others did. You can whine, whine, and whine some more, but voters made the best choice they could.
Moving on, are there any candidates who you think deserve more attention and consideration for president on the Republican side? You already derided the opinions of the so-called “insiders” so why don’t you give your own opinion. Who is at the top of your list?
bluegill on November 10, 2012 at 10:11 PM
The bottom line is this: those who chose to withhold their vote from Romney and are “proud of it” — you have ended the Constitutional Republic. Obama has ruled without a budget for 3 years now. He can rule for the next 4 without one as well, just by having the Fed buy whatever paper the Treasury auctions off. He can just appoint more “czars” that don’t need Congressional approval. He can just issue more executive orders. The executive branch can continue to choose not to enforce laws they don’t agree with, and choose not to prosecute those they don’t want to prosecute, while selectively prosecuting those they want to punish.
Maybe there will be a presidential election in 4 years. Maybe not.
+++
“Do not blame Caesar, blame the people of Rome who have so enthusiastically acclaimed and adored him and rejoiced in their loss of freedom and danced in his path and gave him triumphal processions. Blame the people who hail him when he speaks in the Forum of the ‘new, wonderful, good society’ which shall now be Rome’s, interpreted to mean: more money, more ease, more security, more living fatly at the expense of the industrious.”
— Marcus Tullius Cicero
+++
SunSword on November 10, 2012 at 10:30 PM
If the dogs chose poison over the chow, maybe there is something wrong with the dogs.
thebrokenrattle on November 10, 2012 at 10:31 PM
Romney wasn’t significantly different than Obama…and that is why he lost. Obama lost more than 9 million votes from 2008 and Romney still couldn’t beat him.
sharrukin on November 10, 2012 at 10:42 PM
We don’t like you either, Kathleen.
The GOP thinks they have us over a barrel and that we feel compelled to vote for their candidate no matter how lame and useless he’d be — and then when they find out that not enough people were prepared to hold their noses and vote Republican yet again this time around, people like Kathleen Parker have a meltdown in print.
Screw the GOP and its overblown sense of entitlement. I’m sick of supporting and defending these idiots and I’m sick of pretending that they might eventually, finally, maybe get around to doing something serious about Washington bankrupting our unborn descendants.
Aitch748 on November 10, 2012 at 10:43 PM
orrr.. if you sleep on the couch the neighbors dog cleans your bowl.
Mimzey on November 10, 2012 at 10:52 PM
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