Aaaand this one is over.
Mitt Romney announced Friday he will not run for president in 2016, after briefly flirting with a third White House run — a decision that only slightly narrows the crowded field of potential Republican candidates.
And Stephen Kruiser summed up what most people outside of the radical left feel about Romney:
The Romney 2012 story has been rewritten with help from Barack Obama. The Idiot King has proven Romney to have been correct about many things during the campaign, which has led everyone to almost forget how awful he is at connecting with voters. With the campaign riding high after the president phoned in his performance during the first debate, Romney let Candy Crowley defeat him in the second one.
I still think Romney’s 2012 campaign was an amazingly blown opportunity to put someone in office who could have made a real, positive difference in Washington. Some of you may even recall that I suggested that had President Obama been smart, after Kathleen Sebelius’ resignation he should have asked Romney to take over as head of HHS, with Howard Dean as Romney’s deputy – yes, really!
Obviously, all of these opportunities have passed. But Kruiser goes on to bring up what would have been a potentially positive side effect of Romney running:
I haven’t determined if this is a relief yet. Yes, the Mittster is most definitely in need of a reality check. However, if he keeps sniffing around for the nomination it divides what I like to call the octogenarian GOP establishment harumph money between him and Jeb Bush. Add Chris Christie into the mix and it’s a full-on family brawl for the addled elders of the party.
Those of us who didn’t think Romney was the right guy in 2012 certainly don’t want him to be the nominee in 2016.
We might just want him to hang around long enough to make Jeb Bush’s life miserable, however.
Unfortunately, that’s where Kruiser stops, and I think that this point needs to be taken a bit further. In the last three Republican primaries I saw the candidates who I supported get squashed by the GOP establishment. In 2000 it was McCain, in 2008 I was behind Fred Thompson, and in 2012 I watched Herman Cain go down in flames.1 A big factor in the GOP establishment getting their candidates nominated was the fact that they were united behind their guys and could put all of their energy into defeating their primary competitors. If only they could have put the same energy into winning the general election…
But what happens if they’re not united early enough? What if Romney, and to some degree, Christie, were to hang around long enough to prevent the establishment from having a candidate to rally around? Maybe this presents the opportunity for something amazing to happen – maybe the nominee is actually the candidate preferred by the Republican base as opposed to the one selected for us by the establishment? Maybe we end up with a solid nominee, like Bobby Jindal, Ted Cruz, or best of all, Scott Walker.
Let’s face it, in 2016 the presidency is there for the GOP’s taking. The Democrats have no bench depth and will give us a primary where Hilary and Fauxcahontis will see who can out-stupid the other with Marxist tirades.
Even worse, they won’t get the same tailwind support that Obama had and be forced to run on his record. The mainstream press will still be there for them of course, but nowhere to the degree that Obama has enjoyed. Now the Republicans just have to avoid messing up by nominating some lukewarm conservative – like Jeb.
Of course, this could all be avoided if the GOP establishment and its base would simply get behind the one person who would make a truly great president. Longtime readers know that there’s only one man worthy of Brother Bob’s endorsement…. Stannis Baratheon in 2016!
Cross posted from Brother Bob’s Blog
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You think I’m depressing? RT @emzanotti: Romney isn’t running because GOP donors think Jeb Bush has more appeal. Let that sink in, America.
— Drew McCoy (@DrewMTips) January 30, 2015
Dear Jeb: See what Mitt did there? See?
— Stephen Green (@VodkaPundit) January 30, 2015
1. I don’t know if it mattered at all who the Republicans ran against Obama in 2008, but I’m still annoyed at what a lazy campaign Thompson ran. And sadly Herman Cain was never a serious candidate, as “999” can’t be the answer to every question. But I also have zero doubt that either one would have been a better president than what we have now.
