Sunday, February 10, 2008

Looking Ahead to November and Beyond

Now that the process is all but over in choosing the GOP nominee (sorry Huck and Paul fans, but it is time to accept reality), it is time to start looking ahead to November and beyond. It has taken me this long to post on this since Super Tuesday b/c I just needed some time to get out of my funk that is the reality of McCain as the nominee. I have no idea how it came to this (well I do but no need to bore you), but this is where we are.

As I've said from the beginning, no matter who the Repub nominee was, I'd support them. However, I truly never in a million years would have thought it would be McCain. As Blankley says in his editorial (Hat tip: Mike's America) that captures my thoughts almost entirely, this may be the first time in political history that the nominee is someone who is actively despised by more than half of the base due to very weak candidates and early states allowing independents to play in the Repub primary.

That being said there is still lots to do to ensure that we keep the Dems, who despite Coulter's rantings are still worse than McCain, out of the White House. And also, in case we aren't able to stop that or you don't agree that a Dem would be worse so you aren't motivated to work hard to see him win, we need to work hard to at least keep the losses in the Senate to a minimum so they don't have the White House and a filibuster proof Senate which would be the ultimate nightmare. Then if McCain does win in November, we have to keep his feet to the fire and not give up on our positions. We proved on illegal immigration and the Miers nomination we could stop bad ideas coming out of a Repub White House if we united and we will probably have to do it again many times for the next four years.

On the Dem side, I'm loving how it is playing out so far. While I think on some levels, Obama would be harder to beat, I'll take that risk if it means there is no way for the Clintons to walk back into the White House. If Obama continues to win most of the voted-for pledged delegates and Clinton the unvoted-for super delagates and that is what ends up putting her over the top, what a huge food fight that will be and I'll love every minute of it =)

Then looking beyond November if we lose, we need to ensure this doesn't happen again in '12 by finding a truly social, economic and foreign policy conservative candidate that can also inspire the base to support him (which unfortunately Hunter and Thompson never did). Several already come to mind, Jeb Bush (who would have walked away with the nomination this year if his last name weren't Bush as said in the Blankley article), Newt, SC Governor Mark Sanford (needs to really start getting his name in the national spotlight), and Michael Steele. They would all be great candidates to bring us back from the abyss. If McCain were to pick either Sanford or Steele or another very solid conservative (not Huck) as VP, that would go a long way in helping rally the base and lay a great foundation for them in '12.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

At first I thought you meant SOMETHING else by "Looking Ahead to November and Beyond". Mind me I was WRONG!!! =)

Em Yeu Anh Mai Mai!

Rob N. said...

good post CT:

Lets hope that our conservative talk radio friends can stop acting like little children, move on, and support McCain.... Because even if we're not happy about McCain, he is way better than Obama or Clinton.

They're saying at least 2 Supreme Court nominations will come up for grabs and then we have the troops in Iraq...

Although McCain may not pick 2 more Roberts and Alito justices... A moderate from McCain is better than a liberal from Obama or Clinton.

We need to rally behind McCain through November and then hold his feet to the fire once he gets in there...

Rob N. said...

one more thing...

What is up w/ Dobson waiting until the race is settled to endorse one of the losing candidates?

Then saying that he can't vote for McCain?

Is he becoming too old? He is beginning to start to sound like Pat Robertson...

Cajun Tiger said...

sweetie...if I would have been talking about that I would have said looking forward or can't wait...not just looking ahead =)

Rob...they are already starting to pivot but more to helping hold the line in the Senate, we'll see on McCain what they do. As far as Dobson, he said from the beginning he wouldn't support McCain, Rudy or Thompson, so I guess he was just waiting until only one was left that he could support which left only Huckabee after Romney dropped out.

Mike's America said...

I don't get the excitement over Mark Sanford, my governor. Is there something I missed?

Wouldn't it be nice to see the Democrat Party repudiate and defeat the Clintons? It would be the ultimate rejection and one they couldn't blame on the GOP.

But, that would bring a very heavy price. Obama as the nominee would stand a very good chance of defeating John McCain.

The millions more Democrats who are energized and excited to vote in all their primaries compared to the Republicans should send a shiver down our spines.

To win, we will have to change the dynamic somehow and even if McCain picked the most wonderful conservative in the world as his VP, it would still be McCain at the top of the ticket.

shannon w kirkpatrick said...

that cracks up me that Mimi thought of something else. personally, when I think of this coming November, I think of:

1. you two getting married
2. me being in the islands with you!
3. Ron Paul going all the way! (to where, not sure, but I'll still root for him). ; )

Anonymous said...

Come on, Shane. Jeb Bush?? The guy spent his time as Governor putting his state's tourism industry ahead of the national security of the county by blocking any and all attempts to lift the drilling moratorium off Florida's coast...another NIMBY idiot.

I'm thinking McCain picking Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) or Gov. Haley Barbour of Miss. could be a good move. Barbour has received alot of good publicity on Katrina, especially when his leadership was contrasted with that of Blank-o.

Also, I believe he was the Chairman of the National GOP when the Republicans stormed into Congress in '94.

Anonymous said...

Women one track minds.. you could swear she's getting married or something.. lol.

I would love to see Hillary go down in defeat but I think Osama bama or is it obama sama lama or any other name Teddy can call him is more of a threat right now.

He's kind of like a rock star but no hits and just lip syncing..

Kind of like milli vinilli..lol

bmartin

Cajun Tiger said...

Mike...sorry missed responding to your comment...by every measure that i hear coming out of SC Sanford is a very solid conservative, especially when it comes to spending. The two pigs under his arms stunt was classic!!!

Nick...as the Gov of FL, Jeb was protecting their interest as he saw fit and while I agree nationally it isn't a good policy for Floridians apparently that is what they want. The issue for me is as you said it is a national security issue and thus a federal issue and not a state issue and Congress needs to step in and force their hand to either make changes or reproportion oil revenues to the states that actually are doing the most drilling.

I meant to mention Barbour as well and forgot so thanks for the reminder...also agree with Demint as another great pick.

B...Great analogy...I totally agree, but still think I'd rather have to face him and deal with him then the Clintons ever again. He also has not been even started to being scrutinized for his total lack of experience or his extremely liberal views, so once that starts it will bring him down to earth some.

Dionne said...

"However, I truly never in a million years would have thought it would be McCain. As Blankley says in his editorial (Hat tip: Mike's America) that captures my thoughts almost entirely, this may be the first time in political history that the nominee is someone who is actively despised by more than half of the base..."

And to that I say a hearty Amen!!

As for Ron's comment about the radio talk show hosts acting like children I couldn't disagree more. I would be losing my sanity right now if Rush and Sean had joined all of these other suck-ups that are jumping on the McCain bandwagon. How we are just supposed to overlook the past 8 years and sweep it under the rug is absurd.

We can all hold our nose and vote for McCain in the fall but I think the writing is on the wall. Its a Democrat year, the base hates our nominee thus no one is excited or fired up and it looks like Obama is going to snag the nomination away from the red queen. I don't think McCain stands a chance.

Our only consolation is like you said finding a stellar nominee for 2012 and that means chucking all of the ones from this cycle. I think Nick is in the minority on Jeb Bush. If his last name wasn't Bush he would've had this nomination in a heartbeat. The only thing according to his record that I disagree with him on is drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. I don't think it gets any better than that.

Dionne said...

Yah, and lucky for you that you at least have a personal event to be excited about this November :-).

Dionne said...

I finally did my post today on possible VP picks and started compiling a list using some of the very people you mention and gave you some linky love.