Know A Tree By It’s Fruit 

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

I am genuinely surprised when people approach me and ask my thoughts on Mitt Romney.  I invariably ask why they want to know and the reply they offer most often is that they really don’t know the man.

That is when I really want to grab them by both shoulders, shake them, and declare:  “PAY ATTENTION!”

The scriptures tell us:  “You shall know a tree by the fruit it bears.” In Matthew 7:16 it is said:  “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?”

In the New Testament book of James, the third chapter and the twelfth verse, we are informed thusly:  “My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”

In other words a man is what he is – period.  If you want to know WHAT he is, what he believes, then pay attention to what he does. His accomplishments are the “fruits of his labors.”  Those fruits will define him completely.

Remember George W. Bush's “Compassionate Conservatism?”  Well, that was, in fact, code for “moderate.”  G.W. was a moderate AT BEST.

Mitt Romney is a liberal … moderate on some things … but at the core he is a liberal.  It is something the conservative base of the GOP knows instinctually and that is why they are avoiding support of Romney at all costs, even if that cost is the loss of the election to Obama in November.

I am old enough to remember the “Me Too” republicans.  Ever hear of them?  You’d have to harken back to the days of Nelson Rockefeller and the Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party in the 1960’s. (There is an excellent article on this HERE.)

Even then, the liberal wing of the GOP was based in America’s northeastern states.  It still is today.

Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts a liberal state if there ever has been one.  There is no way under the sun a conservative can be elected governor of Massachusetts. Yet, Mitt Romney was -- and he would have us believe he is a conservative.  This fact alone should be enough evidence to convinced anyone that Mr. Romney is no conservative. He is a solid member of the Rockefeller wing of the Republican Party.  In 1964 we called them the “Me Too” republicans.  Today we call them RINO’s. (Republican In Name Only)

Ever since conservatives began to grow in power within the Republican Party there has been an internal war raging for control of the party.  In 1960, Richard Nixon managed to merge the two factions of the GOP into one concentrated effort.  But -- just four years afterwards Nelson Rockefeller could not.  And he was furious.  He led an unprecedented attack on the GOP conservatives that failed but left massive scars on the GOP base that are still swollen and sensitive today.

Like Rockefeller, Romney is where he is because he was “next in line.”  It is “his turn” in accordance with the way the northeastern liberals ran the party. (They have yet to learn that they no longer control the Republican Party.)  GOP voters were simple told that Romney is the “frontrunner”  … no matter that Romney did not have the strength that comes from the support of the party faithful – including the conservative base of the party today. 

The so-called “republican establishment,” somehow, missed the fact that the power in the GOP switched from the northeastern states to the southern states years ago.  They also seem to have been oblivious of the inherent distrust of northeastern politicians in the south, which is left over from “Reconstruction” of the South immediately following the American Civil War a hundred and fifty years ago.  (Painful memories tend to last much longer than pleasant memories.)

Michael Gerson is an op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, a Policy Fellow with the ONE Campaign, and a former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as President George W. Bush’s chief speechwriter from 2001 until June 2006, as a senior policy advisor from 2000 through June 2006.  Mr. Gerson once described Romney this way:  "Romney's main political vulnerability is a serious one. Running for Massachusetts' governor in 2002, he was a pro-choice, economically centrist, and culturally liberal, business oriented Republican."

You DID see “pro-choice,” “centrist,” and “liberal” in Mr. Gerson’s description of Mitt Romney above, didn’t you?

Yes, as a conservative I want to deprive Obama of a second term as President.  But I do not want to swap one liberal for another.  Besides, we have the likelihood of two vacancies on the US Supreme Court coming up in the next four to five years and it is vital that there be a conservative in the White House to appoint two conservative justices.

Romney cannot pull the two factions of the GOP together.  He may win the nomination but he will not win the election against Obama. The GOP’s “Anybody But Obama” strategy will not work. It is doomed to failure. It is as simple – AND -- as sad as that.  And yes, it IS depressing.

J. D. Longstreet      

Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Recently I wrote:

“America is at a point in world history when we need a strong leader -- a leader not afraid to assert America’s leadership.  Obama is NOT that person.

I am very afraid there is no one vying for America’s leadership today any stronger as a national or world leader. 

In a recent column, Thomas Sowell said:  “The 2012 Republican primaries may be a rerun of the 2008 primaries, where the various conservative candidates split the conservative vote so many ways that the candidate of the mushy middle got the nomination – and then lost the election.”   I think he pegged it.” (SOURCE)

I have watched intently as the GOP goes all out to lose the 2012 election to Obama and the democrats.  I continue to be puzzled, or as we used to say in the south – “bumfuzzled” – by what MUST be a concerted effort to lose the next election.

Pardon me, if I show my befuddlement … because I just don’t get it.

A sense of “doom” has already set in among the legions of conservative voters in the south. Their sense that the hierarchy of the Republican Party is so completely detached from the reality on the ground (at least here in states of the old south) has been, (they feel) proved absolutely true.

There is a growing sense of “why bother” to go to the polls and vote when the election is already lost to Obama.

Look.  I am no more intelligent that the average guy.  And I have seen the great wave of exhilaration and expectation of victory crash against a shoreline of mediocre candidates that have proved more an embarrassment than anything else.  That great wave has been diminished to a mere ripple in an isolated tide pool.

If you want to know what’s going on in your community – go to the community barbershop.  I did that yesterday.  Turns out, my barber has been taking a very unscientific poll on who his patrons would vote for in the GOP Primary here in North Carolina (currently scheduled for May).  He has been polling since the South Carolina Primary.  The results are interesting and informative.

My barber told me that, to a man, every single patron stated they would vote for Gingrich in May.

My community is heavily Democratic and heavily conservative. 

I pressed to learn who those would-be primary voters thought would win the election in November.  The answer, to a man, was … Obama.

For months now we have warned that if the GOP is counting on conservative voters to vote for the nominee, whomever the nominee turns out to be, then – the GOP is very wrong.  Sure, there will be SOME conservative voters who would cast a vote for, well, anybody, just to vote against Obama. But I am not hearing that sentiment expressed here.

Here’s what I THINK is happening:

Southern voters have concluded that Romney cannot win. Southern voters just don’t like the man.  They are satisfied that Gingrich will not win the nomination, so they feel it is safe to support and vote for Gingrich if for no other reason than Gingrich brings a little fire, fervor, passion, and a little excitement to an otherwise hum-drum campaign that is already a lost cause.

The more debates, the more infighting, the more defecation is tossed into the fan blades, the more damage will be done the eventual republican nominee.  It is already bad enough, but it is sure to get worse.

So, I wonder if it is time to turn our attention to the candidates for the US Senate and House of Representatives and redouble our efforts to claim more governorships for conservatives and stop wasting our time and effort on a predetermined race for the GOP nominee for President.

I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist.  I am a realist.  With me the glass is neither half full nor half empty.  It is simply the wrong size glass.

J. D. Longstreet

GOP Counting On The “ABO” Vote

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

To those of us in the Carolinas, it has become clear that the Republican Party is counting on the “ABO” Vote in November.  The ABO vote is: “Anybody But Obama” meaning, of course, that the GOP expects republicans will vote for anyone they nominate in order to defeat Obama.

Frankly, it’s the only explanation that makes any sense.  Even the candidates, themselves, tell us that any one of the GOP candidates would make a better president than Obama.  (Like that was really difficult to discern!)

I spoke to a politically astute friend recently who told me he is very afraid that Romney will win the nomination and lose the election to Obama. (I share that opinion.)  But, my friend went on to say, I will vote for whoever is on the ticket against Obama.

See, the problem with an Obama vs Romney ballot is – one of them will win!

Maybe it is just yours truly, but I am more than a little tired of the milquetoast candidates the GOP continues to put forward for President. I mean, look at Dole and McCain.  And, frankly, I was not impressed with George W. Bush’s compassionate conservatism, which was nothing more that another way to say “moderate” or “RINO” (Republican In Name Only).

I’m past ready for a candidate with fire in his or her belly. In my less than humble opinion, the GOP needs a candidate who will get into the gutter where the democrats seem always to take their campaigns.  We need a candidate who will trade blow for blow with the Democratic Party candidate -- a candidate who will go for the jugular, grasp the throat of the opposition and hang on ‘til the election is won. 

Politics is a dirty game.  If a candidate is not willing to get dirty to win, then how in the world am I to trust that when he is up against the world’s meanest, toughest, “low-downest” scoundrels, he will be able to trade blow for blow – and – do whatever it takes to destroy America’s enemies.

Nice guys are, well, NICE.  I’m tired of nice!  It is past time to get mean and throw our weight around.

Look. We have enemies who are in our face proclaiming loudly, and with vigor, that they intend to destroy us, to kill every American they can -- at the very first opportunity.    Uh-uh.  Nope.  This is not the time for a nice guy in the White House.

Our current President seems to think that his flowery oratory will placate our enemies and we can have a global group hug, sing a few verses of Cum Ba Ya, and it will be all better. I’ve seen this movie -- and it does not end well for the nice guy.

No.  We desperately need a leader tough enough that when he speaks, the world stops what it’s doing to listen.  We’ve had enough of a President who runs off at the mouth like a broken facet.  Nobody’s listening anymore – if they ever were.

We also need a leader who leads from the front.  Leading from the rear doesn’t happen.  Leading from the rear is NOT leading – period.  It should be clear by now that when America does not lead -- the world goes to hell in a hand basket.

I am frustrated, and more than a little angry, that the GOP is holding to their practice of nominating the “next in line.”  I am tired of limp wrists in the White House.  I am tired of my President bowing and scraping to every tin horn tyrant he comes across, asking “permission” of the UN, and sucking up to our sworn enemies.  It is embarrassing and deeply humiliating.

Sadly, when I see Romney – I see Al Gore with a GOP bumper sticker on his butt.  I get the same uneasy feeling I got when Al Gore was running for President.  It’s that feeling that something isn’t right, that something is out of place here. Plainly – it’s the feeing that I am looking at a hypocrite.  I feel that I am being sold a bill of goods and that he is reading from a well-prepared script, which he has memorized down to the last dot and tittle.

I once interrupted a very young salesman at my door when he was about 30 seconds into his canned spiel.  I asked him a question, which he could not answer.  He apologized, and asked my forgiveness as he began his spiel all over again -- from the very beginning -- because that was the way he had memorized it.  Back in the day we called that a “canned pitch.”  THAT is the feeling I get when I listen to Romney in a debate or delivering a speech.  There is no THERE there.

Barring an act of God, Romney will be the GOP nominee.  I have to ask:  If Romney wins the election and defeats Obama, short of being rid of Obama, what will America have gained?  To me, it is comparable to the cancer patient placing his entire faith in a new miracle cure for cancer only to learn, after weeks of treatment, that it does not work, either.

I do not agree that beating Obama will be a walk in the park, as some of my fellow conservatives have postulated.  I continue to have great respect for their opinions – BUT -- I am convinced the “ABO” vote will be absolutely necessary in November to evict America’s would-be King, Mr. Barack Hussein Obama.

J. D. Longstreet

The Smell Test ... J. D. Longstreet

The Smell Test

SC GOP Voters Must Hold Their Noses Again

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

As a native South Carolinian, who hasn’t lived in the state in over fifty years, it has become necessary to tap into the well of information presented by my friends and family who still reside there to get a feel for what SC will do come their GOP primary on January 21^st. 

South Carolina politics (North Carolina’s, too) is a blood sport.  It is rough and tumble all the way.

“The State” newspaper, SC’s leading Newspaper, suggest those seeking to knock Romney off his catbird seat should take a lesson from SC history and – “play dirty.” (SOURCE)

The article by Gina Smith goes on to say: “In South Carolina – with its tradition of whisper campaigns, automated phone calls that no one takes credit for and possibly illegal efforts to sway voters – politics is a blood sport, supported by a cottage-industry of political strategists.”

Ms. Smith is spot-on.

When South Carolina forsook the Democratic Party it embraced the GOP’s conservative wing  -- and never looked back.

I’d like to recommend that you take the time to read Ms. Smith’s article.  It presents a well-rounded explanation of how politics works in my home state.  You may read Ms. Smith’s article here at (The State)

If you have been laboring under the impression that northern political machines have all the tactical wars in modern day politics down to a fine edge, then you really ought to learn how things are down south – especially in my home state of South Carolina.  Even the famed Chicago political machine could learn a few tricks from the Sandlappers.

As the GOP candidates converge on South Carolina the anger is thick enough to cut with a knife.  The gloves are off and the bare-knuckle beatings are about to begin. It’s going to get down and dirty in the next week before the primary.

No longer does Iowa or New Hampshire decide the GOP nomination – South Carolina does.  For the past thirty-two years the candidate winning the SC Primary has gone on to become the Republican Party nominee for President.  For that reason, money has been flowing into the state to support candidates -- and to destroy others.  The state is awash in political cash.

It will not be fun and games for Romney over the next week.  It will be a slog.  Romney is not well liked in South Carolina.  In “up-state” SC Romney is held responsible for closing a plant there and rendering a slew of people jobless.  That wound is still very sensitive and Romney’s opponents continue to pick at the scab to remind folks that it was Romney who sent them packing without employment.  We’ve already heard Romney compared to the fictional character from the movie “Wall Street” Gordon Gekko.

Gingrich comes to the Palmetto State loaded for bear.  Well, maybe that should be “loaded for Romney.”  Gingrich is seething with anger for the negative ads Romney’s supporters ran against Gingrich in Iowa knocking him out of first place and consigning him to the basement of the GOOP candidate field.

Ron Paul is plodding into the Iodine State safe in the knowledge that he will never be President of the United States.  Paul is intent now on racking up enough support that he can demand concessions from whomever the GOP nominee turns out to be.  For Paul, it’s not about winning the nomination – it’s about winning concessions… that’s all.

Perry has been ruining around the state for nearly a week not creating much more than a dust cloud.  Mr. Perry’s stand on illegal immigration shut him out in South Carolina.

Huntsman?  Well, anyone having worked for Obama is lucky to be allowed a drink of water in South Carolina.  Any time huntsman spends in South Carolina is wasted time.  The same goes for any money he might spend on his campaign there.

Santorum?  Nah.  A nice family man but hasn’t a prayer of a chance against the Obama machine.

Any way it goes in South Carolina next week will be fun for those of us who enjoy the sport of politics.  The candidates themselves will not share in that fun, however.  For them, it will be all work.

Expect no surprises from South Carolina, though.  Unless something terribly unforeseen happens, Romany will win the primary and be out of the sandhills like a flash on his way to Florida, which is seen by many southerners as a “Yankee colony.”  He should receive a warmer (no pun intended) welcome there.

J. D. Longstreet 

Obama And Romney Tied

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Rasmussen reported yesterday (January 5^th, 2011) that Obama and Romney are tied in their polls.

“The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds Obama and Romney each earning 42% of the vote.  Eight percent (8%) prefer some other candidate, and another eight percent (8%) are undecided.” (SOURCE)

However, Rasmussen goes on to say,  “Last week, Romney held a 45% to 39% advantage over the president, his biggest lead yet and the largest lead a named Republican candidate has held over Obama to date.  However, the two candidates have been essentially tied in regular surveys since January 2011.  The report continues:  “A generic Republican candidate now holds a narrow lead over Obama as has been the case in all but three weekly surveys since late May.” (SOURCE)

The same report also says:  “Voters identify all of the leading Republican presidential contenders as ideological conservatives but see Romney and Texas Congressman Ron Paul as the least conservative of the group.”

(SOURCE)   

Ok.  So what to make of all this?  The truth?  I haven’t a clue!

You have heard the old saw that polls are only a snapshot in time -- and that is true – but they certainly help to identify trends.  Even so, those trends are, too, snapshots in time.

I remain deeply concerned that Obama will win a second term.  I fear for my country.

Some months ago, I warned that the Mainstream Media would soon begin to make “upbeat” reports on the nations economic situation.  It has already begun.  Frankly, it is mostly Bovine Scatology.  They would have us believe the unemployment rate is 8.6% when, in reality, it is closer to 12%. 

The MsM would also have us believe that the economy has begun to improve when; in fact, if there is any improvement it is miniscule.  Just yesterday we learned that Boeing is planning to lay off 2,100 workers from a Wichita Plant -- and Obama is reported to be preparing to cut tens of thousands of US military troops from our ground forces.  All these people will some be looking for jobs that simply do not exist.

I mentioned the two instances of coming lay-offs above because they are linked.   Boeing says they are closing the Wichita plant due to “defense budget reductions.” (SOURCE)

Look:  My crystal ball is extremely cloudy these days – but even without it -- it is plain to see that the US is staring down the barrel of a regional war in the Middle East -- and soon. When the balloon goes up, we are going to need those ground troops.  Is Obama planning on reinstating the draft?  I would not be the least bit surprised.

According to the Jerusalem Post, thousands of US troops will be deployed to Israel this spring for Israel’s largest ever missile defense exercise. The J-Post says: “Last week, Lt.-Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the US’s Third Air Force based in Germany, visited Israel to finalize plans for the upcoming drill, expected to see the deployment of several thousand American soldiers in Israel.” (SOURCE)

Now here’s the really interesting part of this story: “The drill, which is unprecedented in its size, will include the establishment of US command posts in Israel and IDF command posts at EUCOM headquarters in Germany – with the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East.” (SOURCE)

It appears to this scribe that the world is edging ever closer to a conflagration in the Middle East that will affect the entire world.  It all seems eerily familiar to the conditions prior to the Second World War.

This is what happens, dear reader, when America withdraws from its role in world leadership.  Obama’s “Leading from behind” simply does not work -- and it is dangerous.

America is at a point in world history when we need a strong leader -- a leader not afraid to assert America’s leadership.  Obama is NOT that person.

I am very afraid there is no one vying for America’s leadership today any stronger as a national or world leader. 

In a recent column, Thomas Sowell said:  “The 2012 Republican primaries may be a rerun of the 2008 primaries, where the various conservative candidates split the conservative vote so many ways that the candidate of the mushy middle got the nomination – and then lost the election.”   I think he pegged it.

I will be genuinely surprised if America is not involved in what passes for a world war these days -- within the next four years. I plan to vote accordingly. 

J. D. Longstreet

ObaHill?

ObaHill?

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

There is speculation all over the Internet that Biden is out and Hillary is in as Vice-President.  All this is projected to happen in time for the full-out Presidential Campaign in 2012.

Oh, theorists say that Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton will actually swap jobs – Hillary to Vice-President and Biden to Secretary of State.

Yesterday, I went to my favorite barbershop for my too frequent haircut, and that was the topic of conversation.  There was no shock.  There was no concern.  There was nothing but the collective conclusion that Obama would do anything to win… including putting his former arch-adversary on the ticket with him.

The whole thing springs from a piece by Robert Reich entitled: “Get Ready For An Obama-Clinton Presidential Ticket.”  You will find it HERE.

Reich says:  "My political prediction for 2012 (based on absolutely no inside information): Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden swap places. Biden becomes Secretary of State — a position he’s apparently coveted for years. And Hillary Clinton, Vice President.

So the Democratic ticket for 2012 is Obama-Clinton.

Why do I say this? Because Obama needs to stir the passions and enthusiasms of a Democratic base that’s been disillusioned with his cave-ins to regressive Republicans. Hillary Clinton on the ticket can do that."

As far-fetched as it may sound, at first, after thinking about it for a few minutes, I can see where Mr. Reich may, indeed, have a point.  But, what I don’t get is why the seeming panic in the Obama camp? 

I must be the only commentator on the right who thinks Obama stands an excellent chance of winning another term in November of 2012.  As excruciating to my friends on the right to hear such prognostications coming from a fellow conservative – there it is.

My reasoning is this (and I have said it ad nausium):  I am simply not convinced the GOP has a candidate currently running who stands a snowballs chance in Hades of beating Obama in 2012.  It has been a very long time; in fact, in my lifetime (over 7 decades) I cannot remember a weaker GOP ticket going up against an incumbent President – especially one with weak poll numbers.

The number one complaint I hear from fellow republicans is -- we have no one running, I can vote for.”  Granted, I’m in the southern part of the United States and maybe it is a “southern thing” – but, honestly, I don’t think so.

I just do not see Romney doing well in the south.  Once the primaries move into the southern tier of states, I expect Gingrich to begin picking up a few states.  Of course, his recent decline in the polls would indicate otherwise.

I mean, just stand back, and take an objective look at the GOP candidates.  The GOP’s favorite son is, without doubt, Romney.  But the record so far indicated by the polls is that the party and the voters do not share that admiration for Romney – especially in the South. 

When you consider the way voters have gone through the GOP candidates, one by one, it is clear the electorate is in an “anybody but Romney” mood. Well, maybe “anybody” is too strong.  Maybe it should be “SOMEBODY” other than Romney.

Conservative voter in my neck of the woods are STILL searching for a candidate they can get behind.  And, frankly, they have come to resent the GOP’s obvious and persistent promotion of Romney.  An angry electorate is not good for the party, especially when that anger is directed at the GOP and not at the democrat candidate. 

The enthusiasm is simply not there, and that spells HUGE trouble for the GOP at the polls in November.

It ought to tell you something when a candidate, Mr. Romney, has been running for President for fully five years and he STILL has not been able to win over the electorate in numbers that would translate into a victory in November of 2012.

Southern conservatives see Mr. Romney as a northeastern liberal-to-moderate candidate acceptable to voters in the northern tier of states but distinctly unpalatable where the word “conservative” seems to mean something entirely different than it does in the North. 

Those southern votes that support Obama’s leftist/socialist agenda are already aboard Obama’s campaign.  It will make very little difference to them whether Joe Biden remains as Obama’s running mate or he is replaced with Hillary Clinton.  They are going to vote for Obama – period.  They are, as we say, a lock.

There is no candidate in the GOP stable with a lock on the electorate and that would seem to hold true in a huge portion of the United States.

Nothing I have seen and heard, so far, has changed my belief that Romney, if chosen, will lose, and lose convincingly, to Obama in November 2012.

J. D. Longstreet                   

Ron Paul Next To Be “Creamed” By GOP

Ron Paul Next To Be “Creamed” By GOP

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Sometimes I’m a little slow on the up-take but decades of following US politics as my favorite sport has given me enough insight into the way politics works, at the upper levels, to know that the GOP chose its nominee a very long time ago.  Of course, it is Mitt Romney.  All the hoopla, the debates, etc, really don’t matter. For when the smoke clears, the man who will be crowned as the GOP nominee for President of the United States will be Mitt Romney.  You can, as my old Grand pappy would say:  “Put that in your pipe and smoke it!”

In the spirit of full disclosure allow me to state clearly that I do not intend to vote for Romney either in the North Carolina Primary or the Presidential Election in November of 2012.  It is a matter of honor for me… not to mention that I am royally PO’ed at the Republican Party for “foisting” Romney on conservative voters under what I consider false colors.  Its as though Romney is wearing a tattoo saying:  “GOP APPROVED: CONSERVATIVE.”

The state motto of North Carolina is:  “To be, rather than to seem.” In Romney’s case I fear it is “to seem, rather than to be.”  I am not the least bit convinced of the validity of Romney’s conservative credentials. 

The GOP has managed to convince me that it is focused on beating Obama.  I, on the other hand, am focused on “saving America.”  And THAT, Dear Reader, is where the focus of all Americans SHOULD be … in my not so humble opinion. 

We have come only a short way from the smoke-filled rooms in which candidates used to be chosen by the party.  In fact, about the only thing that has really changed is that the rooms are now smoke free.  I am convinced that Romney’s victory at the GOP convention was planned, and assured, in one of those legendary rooms.

The endless debates, this cycle, appear to have been dreamt-up by a group of leftists in Hollywood. I honestly think the debates have done the candidates more harm than good -- so far as their individual campaigns are concerned.  On the other hand, the debates have been a storehouse of ammunition for the candidate’s Democratic Party opposition.  This election cycle, with the democratic candidate for President having no opposition from within his own party, the debates have – I strongly believe -- only hurt the GOP candidates.

We have witnessed the effect the GOP leadership has had, so far, on the various campaigns and we are about to see even more. 

We have seen that any candidate posing so much as a hint of a threat to Romney is crushed and destroyed by the party leaders and elite.  Each time any one of the other candidates began to rise in the polls and seemed to present a threat, they have been ground down.

The candidates remaining in the GOP race are
”also rans.”  They either present no threat, whatsoever, to Romney, or they are being hammered into insignificance by the GOP.

Gingrich is getting the squeeze even as I write.  Ron Paul is next.  These two men will be smeared and very nearly ruined if they do not back off. 

Yes, the GOP does eat it’s own.  I have said for many years that the GOP is its own worst enemy. 

Look.  The majority of the GOP voters do not want Romney (especially conservative voters).  One look at his ossified poll numbers will reveal that to a blind man. BUT -- you can bet the farm we are going to have him as our candidate come the Republican Convention next year.

I have a problem with authority.  Always have.  I have even more trouble with those in authority who believe they know better than I do what is best for me. And at this moment, I am livid with the Republican Party for deciding that Mitt Romney is best for me.

Heck, I don’t care for the man.  I didn’t like his father.  I don’t care for his brand of politics, and as a southerner, I am not particularly enamored of the state from which he hails.  And I do not like being pushed -- or herded -- toward a voting booth where I am expected to vote for him -- because the GOP insists that I must.

I vote for a candidate because I am convinced that candidate can do the job the way I want it done.  No amount of pressure will get me to vote for the party’s favorite unless the party’s favorite happens to be my favorite.  I’m wired that way.  If my parents were still living they would quickly, and vehemently, verify that fact.

The thing is – I believe there is a host of conservative voters across America who feels the same way. And the GOP is doing itself no favor by acting as the puppet master pulling the strings on the GOP campaign show.

It has been awhile since I have felt that I really had a choice of candidates from the list of GOP candidates for President.  So, I went to the polls and wrote in a candidate’s name rather than vote for the party’s choice.  I will do that again next year.

For better or for worse, I will decide for whom I cast my ballot… not the GOP, or anyone else. 

This whole GOP campaign has been, and continues to be, a charade.  That is my opinion, of course.  You may think otherwise.  But I defy you to watch what happens to Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul in the next few days and weeks (on top of what has happened to Cain and Bachmann, already) and still hold any belief that the hierarchy of the GOP has not had a hand in their destruction.

It’s enough to make a thoughtful man retch!

Finally, if the Republican Party loses this election, (As I am convinced it will) it has only to look in the mirror to see the culprit.  To learn why – they must look much deeper.  

J. D. Longstreet  

Conservative Candidates Weak Against Obama

Conservative Candidates Weak Against Obama

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

A friend, whose opinion I value in the extreme, continues to assure me that Obama will lose in November of 2012.  I, on the other hand, continue to be dubious… also in the extreme. 

Recently, I received an email from a conservative democrat friend who told me, flat out, that the republican field does not look well, at all, and he is beginning to believe that Obama will be returned to the Oval Office for four more years as a result.  He wants Obama gone, too.

In our electronic discussion, I told him that many, many, conservative republicans cannot bring themselves to vote for Romney, under any circumstances, even to prevent Obama a return performance.  I explained that I count myself among them.  It is a matter of honor.  I will, as I have done in the past, write-in the name of a solid conservative candidate for President, and move on. 

And this is the problem the GOP has -- and will have -- in November of next year.  There are innumerable conservative voters who cannot go against their conscious and do what they are convinced is the dishonorable thing… vote for Romney.  This is especially true in the South.  Add to that the Evangelical Christians who are never going to vote for a Mormon, conservative or not, and Mr. Romney’s chances of winning against Obama are greatly reduced. In fact, I simply do not believe Romney can overcome this disadvantage, at all.

I know this is an uncomfortable problem and one the RNC and the GOP are skating around, as best they can, for the moment. Nevertheless, it IS a problem and a huge one.  Southern conservatives and evangelical conservatives are STILL looking for a conservative candidate they can support.  Currently, we can see the polls telling us they have turned their attention to Newt Gingrich.  They’re searching. 

Thomas Sowell has written a must read article entitled:  ”Will Republicans Blow It?”  You’ll find the article HERE.  Professor Sowell and I share similar concerns.  I urge you to read this thoughtful and insightful article.

Look.  Conservatives ARE NOT ALL ALIKE.  Even the so-called experts on politics tend to lump all conservatives into one group.  That is a terrible mistake. 

We don’t talk much about it these days, but “honor” is still a really big deal in the South.  Too, in the South, we have a strong distaste for the federal government, which we still feel, to one degree or another, is an occupying force in our land.  That feeling is reinforced every time we consider all the US military bases on southern soil.  It is a tactic borrowed from the Roman Army of ancient times. Keep the occupied pacified by a continuous show of force on their home soil.

So, we have honor, we have a vague feeling of oppression, and then there is -- RELIGION. 

Politics is seen in the South as a dirty, low down, occupation ranking right up there with prostitution.   Southern Christian conservatives want nothing to do with it.  Those who serve in federal public office are frowned upon and cast as rogues shilling for the Federal Government. 

Now, you may not like what you are reading here, but this is my opinion based on over seven decades of life in my beloved South.  I know my people.

Anytime a southern conservative stands for office you can bet he or she is not the best candidate conservatives can offer because the best qualified persons for the job will not run for fear of sullying themselves with the filth of the second oldest profession. 

Add to the above the deep distrust of northern (especially northeastern) candidates by southern folk and you can see the grave disadvantage Mr. Romney has in the South.  Without the South, Mr. Romney hasn’t a chance of beating Obama.

Why are northeastern candidates frowned upon in the South?  “The War of Northern Aggression” -- erroneously called the American Civil War and sometimes referred to as “The War for Southern Independence.”   So many US troops, from the northeastern states, committed what today would be labeled as war crimes in the South during that war (and even worse during the so-called Reconstruction Era) that the contempt for them has been handed down through the generations and is still extremely strong today. 

Voting is a privilege I do not take lightly.  Last week, I was discharged from the hospital.  That day there was a municipal election in our town.  My wife drove me directly from the hospital to the polling place where I cast my ballot from the front seat of my wife’s Buick.  (Curbside Voting) THEN, I went home.

I vote.  I would be a very small man, indeed, if I did not vote – yet -- continued to grind out commentary after commentary criticizing office holders.  For me, it is a matter of honor.

In November of 2012, I will do the honorable thing at the ballot box.

J. D. Longstreet

Three Quarters Of GOP Voters Do Not Support Romney

Three Quarters Of GOP Voters Do Not Support Romney

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Mitt Romney’s polls seem stuck in the low to mid twenty percentile. As the weeks and months have passed Romney’s polling numbers seem steady in that range.  There’s a reason for that.  The conservative voters within the GOP do not support Romney for President of the United States.

That, dear reader, is why Herman Cain’s numbers have been skyrocketing

There are recent reports stating that Herman Cain is the candidate the Tea Party has thrown its support behind and Cain is the top choice from the GOP field by SOUTHERNERS.  As a conservative southern gentleman – none of this comes as a surprise.

Look.  Sophisticated republican voters already know it would take an act of God for Mr. Cain to receive the anointing the GOP as the Republican nominee to run against Obama. Nevertheless, they have seemingly flocked to Cain, a real conservative, and are looking much more approvingly at Newt Gingrich.  (Mrs. Bachmann is finished -- kaput. She flamed out the moment Rick Perry entered the race.) 

There is a very clear message being sent to the GOP hierarchy:  We want a CONSERVATIVE candidate – not another moderate RINO!  All the other candidates are “also rans.”

Mr. Cain simply does not have the financial means to run a head-to-head campaign against Romney for very long. His star will begin to fade very soon and conservative voters will be told, once again, they must “settle” for another moderate nominee … Romney.

There are two dangers for the GOP in this scenario.  One – that Romney will win the nomination, and two – that conservative voters will stay home on Election Day in November of 2012.

The GOP is betting that conservative voters will vote for practically any candidate running against Obama.  The GOP is WRONG!

Conservative voters practice their politics with conviction and with passion.  Many, like yours truly, will simply stay home or write-in another candidate’s name at the polls.  Conservatives have the courage of their convictions and they are not afraid to act on them.

I know it is not popular to express doubt that the GOP will wrap the 2012 election up with a red ribbon but -- I think republicans are being far too optimistic about the outcome of that all important contest. 

Raining on the GOP parade is distasteful, to say the least, but I simply do not believe the south will support Mr. Romney at the polls and, frankly, I am not convinced that Romney is strong enough to govern a country as divided as America is today. 

If I am right, and I believe I am, then Mr. Obama will be reelected and given four more years in which to practice his program for the destruction of America.

Look.  There is a slim-to-none chance that republicans will win enough seats in the Senate to reach the needed sixty seats that would insure the democrats cannot lock-up the Senate (as republicans are doing right now) and leave a republican Congress just as bogged down as our current divided Congress. 

America MUST have a strong President who can carry his case to the voters for their support in prodding a foot-dragging Congress -- even a Congress of his own party.

Even if Romney is elected without the southern electorate, he will not have enough support from the grassroots to bring the over-powering weight of pubic pressure to bear on a lagging legislature.  Alas, America will have another weak President.

Weak Presidents are dangerous – not just to America but to the world.  We have seen it with Carter and with Obama. Its as if the “Global Police,” America, goes on an extended vacation for four years.  All the bogeymen come out to play.  The rogue nations have a field day.  Nations are invaded, people are slaughtered in their thousands, while America’s allies sweat through the nightmare until the American people become fed up and place a new sheriff in office. 

The record is written, oftimes, in blood.  When America elects a President, the world holds its collective breath. 

America really needs to get it right this time -- not just for America -- for the world.

J. D. Longstreet

Has Romney Been Chosen To Lose To Obama?

Has Romney Been Chosen To Lose To Obama?

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

It is becoming clear (at least to me) that Mitt Romney will be the GOP’s choice to lose to Obama in November of 2012.

OK, before you blast me for speaking ill of another republican (In the spirit of full disclosure – I AM a republican.) if you haven’t already figured it out – I do not care for Mitt Romney, as a candidate for President of the United States.  Its not a big stretch for me… as I also did not care for his father, George Romney, when HE ran for President way back in 1968 … right up til he dropped out of the Primary in late February, or early March. 

“Two weeks before the March 12 primary, an internal poll showed Romney losing to Nixon by a six-to-one margin in New Hampshire. Rockefeller, seeing the poll result as well, publicly maintained his support for Romney but said he would be available for a draft; the statement made national headlines and embittered Romney (who would later claim it was Rockefeller's entry, and not the "brainwashing" remark, that doomed him). Seeing his cause was hopeless, Romney announced his withdrawal as a presidential candidate on February 28, 1968. Romney wrote his son Mitt, still away on missionary work: "Your mother and I are not personally distressed. As a matter of fact, we are relieved. ... I aspired, and though I achieved not, I am satisfied." ^(SOURCE)

The “brainwashing remark” referenced above in my opinion, underscores the old adage: “Like father; like son.”  Mitt’s father, George, had problems with “flip-flopping” just as his son does today.  It cost him any chance he might have had at winning the GOP nomination for President.  Here’s what happened:

“On August 31, 1967, in a taped interview with talk show host Lou Gordon of WKBD-TV in Detroit, Romney stated: "When I came back from Viet Nam [in November 1965], I'd just had the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get." He then shifted to opposing the war: "I no longer believe that it was necessary for us to get involved in South Vietnam to stop Communist aggression in Southeast Asia." Decrying the "tragic" conflict, he urged "a sound peace in South Vietnam at an early time." Thus Romney disavowed the war and reversed himself from his earlier stated belief that the war was "morally right and necessary.

Eight other governors who had been on the same 1965 trip as Romney said no such activity had taken place, with one of them, Philip H. Hoff of Vermont, saying Romney's remarks were "outrageous, kind of stinking ... Either he's a most naïve man or he lacks judgment." The connotations of brainwashing, following the experiences of American prisoners of war (highlighted by the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate), made Romney's comments devastating, especially as it reinforced the negative image of Romney's abilities that had already developed.” ^(SOURCE) 

(As a side note:  Mitt’s father, George Romney was born in Mexico.  Yet, George Romney was a candidate for President of the United States in the primary in 1968. He was born on July 8, 1907 to American parents in the Mormon colonies in Mexico; events during the Mexican Revolution forced his family to move back to the United States when he was a child.) ^(SOURCE)

Now, I realize all this dates me… and that’s OK.  If it has any importance, at all, it is that I feel as though I have been down the same road with Mitt Romney’s father, George, and I do not care to travel that same hilly, curvy road again.  Then Governor Jim Rhodes of Ohio said, "Watching George Romney run for the presidency was like watching a duck try to make love to a football."

As difficult as it may seem to believe, for those who did not witness George Romney’s campaign back in the sixties, for those of us who did -- there is reason to believe the campaign of his son Mitt will not be that different.

We need an assertive candidate, a candidate sure of himself, without a record of flip-flopping all over the map. I just do not see that in Mitt Romney.

Here in the South, the mention of Romney’s name tends to bring on “rolling of the eyes.”  He is a northeasterner, and a Mormon.  That is two out of three strikes for him before the first vote is cast.  If he ever gets to the Oval Office he will do so without the support of the majority of the southern states.  THAT is a near impossible. A number of religious denominations in the south will never vote for a Mormon under any circumstances the human brain can devise.  His campaign will be hard pressed to devise a winning strategy without the southern states.

I understand how difficult this is to read for Romney supporters, but there it is.

So, who can win against Obama?  None of the republican candidate announced, so far. But, I think it is interesting, and important, that the Obama campaign has begun digging into the past of Chris Christie, the current governor of New Jersey, and Christie says he is NOT going to run.  But – if Obama is concerned enough that Christie might change his mind and run, anyway, then that tells me the Obama campaign fears Chris Christie and I LIKE THAT!

J. D. Longstreet

America DOES Need A New President. Only … Its NOT ROMNEY!

America DOES Need A New President. Only … Its NOT ROMNEY!
A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

Mitt Romney was in New Hampshire over the weekend shining his image as he endeavors to capture the republican nomination as the candidate for President of the United States. Problem is – conservatives, whose numbers basically control the nominating process; don’t want any part of Romney. (Count “yours truly among them!)

For at least two years prior to the 2008 presidential election we told anyone and everyone, who would listen, that John McCain would never be President of the United States. But, the GOP, being a heck of a lot smarter and far and away more intelligent and politically savvy that I, nominated the guy anyway. McCain went down in flames – and so did America.

I am going out on that same limb again to declare, here and now, that Mitt Romney, if nominated, will not be elected over Barack Obama in 2012. It just isn’t going to happen.

How can I say that? Easy. I know my people.

My people are the southern conservatives. No GOP candidate can be elected president without the support of the southern conservatives -- and Romney does not have their support and cannot get it … ever!

Why, you may ask, will southern conservatives not vote for a republican candidate in order to save America from another four years of Obama? Oh, that is an easy one!

We simply do not see how Romney is all that different from Obama. I mean – he DID sign into law a healthcare bill very similar to ObamaCare in his state of Massachusetts. He is a social liberal, and he is a Mormon. (Mormonism is not looked upon favorably in the South. I write this as I sit approximately two bocks from a Mormon “church.”)

No. Romney is totally unacceptable to southerner conservatives. Allow me to be as clear as I possibly can: I say again -- Romney will not get the southern conservative vote … PERIOD!

You may have noticed the mainstream media is promoting Romney’s acceptability as the GOP nominee. That, alone, should give every conservative voter in America pause.

Could it possibly be that the MSM wants an easy win for Obama? And believe me, with Romney as the republican candidate – the election WOULD BE an EASY win for Obama.

We all know the MSM is in Obama’s corner – all the way -- and we know, from experience, they will prostitute themselves for Obama and the liberal-socialist Democratic Party at every opportunity.

When the MSM becomes a “booster club” for Romney – well, we just have to turn our conservative backs on him and look elsewhere for a REAL conservative candidate.

Romney’s “new image” is supposed to lure us into voting for the guy. Now he is a “man of the people” sans necktie, and perfect hair. Now he is busy pressing the flesh amongst crowds of the great unwashed… etc. Down here, we call that “old wine in new bottles.” We see it for what it is -- and it is repugnant.

If Romney is the best the GOP can offer, my fellow Americans, we are in deep, deep, trouble.

Even in the very best scenario I can imagine, the GOP nominee will need every vote he/she can get. I mean EVERY vote. The Obama forces will be busing their voters to the polls in convoys. There will be a tsunami of democrat voters flooding the polling places to keep THEIR president in office.

Without the southern conservative voter NO GOP CANDIDATE WILL STAND A CHANCE.

So, republicans mulling whether to run for president take notice: You had better spend your time here, in the south, where the campaign for president will be won or lost depending upon the favor, or lack thereof, of the southern conservative voter.

We will not vote for you simply because there is an “R” by your name. We WILL NOT vote for you in order to cast a vote against Obama. We WILL NOT knowingly choose the lesser of two evils.

The southern conservative WILL vote for a candidate they believe in … a true conservative candidate. Any would-be GOP candidate having credentials less than 100% conservative might as well save the time, energy, and the money mounting a campaign for 2012. You might have a better shot in 2016. But frankly, I doubt it.

J. D. Longstreet