Brian Kirwin, from Bearing Drift, has an interesting perspective on the 2012 GOP field. While I don’t disagree with his assessment entirely, I have to point out that Ron Paul can put boots to the ground when it’s needed. He does energize younger voters and in my view, still has somewhat of an outsider appeal, although he’s been in Washington for years. Brian asks the question, if not Romney or Palin or Paul, then who?
A credible alternative, in my estimation, would be Mike Pence. Well liked by most conservatives, Pence offers a sensible alternative to Romney and a more experienced alternative to Palin. His work in the GOP Conference on energy and health care reform make him a natural conservative counterbalance to Obama. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I’d be persuaded to vote GOP in 2012 instead of Constitution Party for Pence or for Ron Paul. That’s about it.
While I understand that many people do not feel comfortable voting for most GOP candidates, someone with a wide area of support is going to be the best option. Mitt Romney puts off many Constitution Party members (and to be fair, myself as well), but Ron Paul is seen just as negatively, if not more so, by many regular Republican voters (as rough as Obama has made things this last year and the next few most likely, I will not vote for Ron Paul). It is frustrating to lose votes because someone is (or at least seems to be) conservative-lite, but when more votes are lost because there is someone like Ron Paul, who can be very difficult to see eye-to-eye on with many topics, it can feel like an election is just being thrown away.
ReplyDeleteMike Pence might provide that alternative that can draw in Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians to support him. Our country cannot tolerate four more years of the sitting president, so we cannot risk any votes if possible.
Dr. Paul is not everyone's cup of tea and I see that is probably his biggest weakness as a candidate. Truthfully, Pence would probably be the most polished alternative to Romney.
ReplyDeleteI'm still kind of stinging from McCain's nomination in 2008. While he is infinitely better than Obama, I still could not bring myself to vote for him. I voted for Bob Barr and I'd do so again if McCain were the nominee. I suppose I'm a victim of McCain Derangement Syndrome. At least I'm upfront about it.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment.