After Santorum, depression set in. Rick Santorum has suspended his campaign for president. I wasn't a big backer of Santorum, but I'll give him this - he wasn't Mitt Romney.
GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Tuesday he is suspending his campaign.He made the announcement at the Gettysburg Hotel in Gettysburg, Pa., talking about his young daughter's illness and reflecting on the campaign.His 3-year-old daughter Bella was taken to a Virginia hospital Friday with pneumonia. Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, left the campaign trail until this afternoon. The child has a life-threatening genetic disorder known as Trisomy 18.
Of course we all wish him and his daughter well. If ever there was a personal reason to suspend a campaign, this would be it.
But he was by most accounts the last line of defense against a Romney nomination. Mitt Romney now has an easier path to the nomination. Granted he was an odds-on favorite to win anyway, but for those of us not enamored with his brand of barely-conservative(-this-week), etch-a-sketch, phony conservatism, holding out hope that we still had options was at least lukewarm comfort.
Newt Gingrich has said he will remain in the race. But his chances of winning are virtually non-existent. This is no longer Romney's race to lose - it's his. That's truly unfortunate. A brokered convention may have been bloody, it may have been expensive and unproductive, but that was not a guarantee. It may have been healthy. None of these candidates were ideal, but a brokered convention may have caused someone to rise to the occasion. It might have resulted in some great speeches and it might have ended in a unifying rally cry. But it's not to be.
We are now faced with Obama and Obama-lite. Maybe old Etch-A-Sketch will surprise us and really turn out to be a conservative, but I wouldn't bet on it. I'm not actually depressed; given the choice between Obama and Romney, I would hold my nose and vote for Romney over Obama. After all, it would be easier to hold Romney's feet to a Tea Party fire than Obama's. Obama doesn't care what the Tea Party wants. Romney on the other hand, with a conservative Congress and Senate, would be at least pliable to the conservative viewpoint. That's not ideal, but it may be the best we can expect now.
I think this is sad news too in the sense that it removes forever the chance of a brokered convention.
ReplyDeleteYep.
ReplyDeleteI thought a brokered convention was a long shot anyway.
ReplyDeleteMittens is our main concern now. And his RINOness is incredibly concerning.
I read a piece this morning (I can't recall where, maybe RCP or Hot Air) musing on the possibilities of how Romney would govern if elected. One thought was that he would have to govern to the right because of the polarized electorate and needing to establish a base of support somewhere in that context.
ReplyDelete