The American Spectator

home
ADVERTISEMENT
The Campaign Spectator
Print Email
Text Size

The Campaign Spectator

Republicans on Uneasy Street

By from the July/August 2011 issue

With Obama vulnerable, we’re now looking at an important, and unpredictable, Republican primary.

There is a sense of unease about the cast and storyline of the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Something is off. Things have started too early. Or maybe they haven’t started yet. “No one” is running. Too many candidates are on or near the stage. Things just are not right.

This discomfort is disappointing. Obama is vulnerable. He has governed poorly. Since his $800 billion stimulus, another 2 million Americans have lost their jobs. Inflation looms. His government takeover of health care has become less popular since Nancy Pelosi passed it and allowed Americans to read the 2,500 pages of small print. The 2010 Tea Party/Republican landslides should have signaled victory in 2012. Republicans gained 63 House members, six senators, six governorships, and 715 state legislators (taking into account the 25 party switchers from the Democratic side). Next: the presidency, for sure.

And yet…

Herein, four thoughts on why we seem adrift in what should be the dash to victory.

First, the once grand post-FDR tradition of GOP nomination fights is largely behind us. The contest between the East Coast establishment and the conservative movement is no longer played out every four years. Wendell Willkie and Thomas Dewey won for the establishment in 1940, 1944, and 1948. War hero and moderate Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 stopped Robert Taft from being the man who won the party for the right. In 1960, Nixon was only sort of “us,” but Rockefeller was certainly “them.” Goldwater broke through as an unabashed conservative in 1964, but failed to win the presidency. Nixon again beat Rockefeller Republicanism in 1968. The establishment held off Reagan in 1976, but Reagan won in 1980 and George H. W. Bush won in 1988 as Patroclus wearing Reagan’s armor. In 2000, George W. Bush was the conservative alternative to “establishment friendly” John McCain. And in 2008, the conservative vote splintered among several candidates, with many social conservatives following the pied piper of Arkansas, Gov. Mike Huckabee, off the playing field and into irrelevancy long enough for McCain to win a nomination he could not have won in a two-way, right vs. establishment campaign.

For almost half a century, the liberal establishment vs. conservative battle lines within the Republican Party, like the old Cold War face-off with the Soviet Union, provided clarity. We knew there were two teams. Conservatives knew what was expected of them.

Now, every candidate is running as a Reagan Republican. The Rockefeller wing cannot win a primary in Delaware against a witch.

Second, there are new faces and names in Republican leadership. Since 1952, when Ike ran with Nixon, through 2004, when George W. Bush won reelection, there was only one election — 1964 — when the Republican ticket did not include a Nixon, a Bush, or a Dole. The list of presidential and vice-presidential candidates reads like the Monty Python skit about Spam, Eggs, Bacon, and Spam — 1952 and 1956: Ike and Nixon; 1960: Nixon and Lodge; 1968 and 1972: Nixon and Agnew; 1976: Ford and Dole; 1980 and 1984: Reagan and Bush; 1988 and 1992: Bush and Quayle; 1996: Dole and Kemp; 2000 and 2004: Bush and Cheney.

In the days when there were only three national television networks, reading from a teleprompter informed by that morning’s New York Times, it was difficult for a Republican to break into the national consciousness. CNN began in 1980. Conservative talk radio was only legalized in 1987 with the abolition of the “Fairness Doctrine.” Rush Limbaugh was nationally syndicated in 1988. Fox News Channel began broadcasting in 1996.

At the beginning of 2011, the number of famous Republicans with the name ID to consider a presidential bid included previous candidates Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin, and Ron Paul, as well as Mississippi governor Haley Barbour, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, and Texas governor Rick Perry.

Third, the Republican field of announced and potential presidential candidates has been cluttered up with a large number of “candidates” who are not actually running for the presidency. They are running or “thinking of running” in order to sell books, or in the hopes of “winning” a gig as a radio talk show host or talking head on Fox or MSNBC.

In Mel Brooks’s classic film The Producers, a less-than-successful Broadway producer and his clever but dishonest accountant discover that they can make more money financing a play that closes on opening night than a more successful play that runs for months. Same money raised; fewer expenses.

Over the past few election cycles politicians have discovered that you can make a great deal more money as a failed presidential candidate than if you get stuck actually being elected to the presidency with its capped $400,000-a-year salary. (True, the job comes with a $50,000 expense account, free room and board above the office, and Air Force One.)

Still, the financial benefits of coming in second, third, or 12th in the race for the presidency are sometimes considerably higher than those of the winner. And if you never really had a realistic chance to win, running and losing is all benefit, no cost. Donald Trump signed a two-year, $120 million contract to continue his Apprentice reality show after benefiting from a few weeks of national attention as he flirted with thinking about running for president. Mike Huckabee, not long ago an unknown former governor of a rather small state, lost in the primaries in 2008 but won his own television show on Fox. In the two years since she lost the campaign for vice president, Governor Sarah Palin has made more money and wielded more political clout than current vice president Joe Biden.

As Palin demonstrates, not all the benefits of running a “failed” presidential or vice-presidential bid are financial. Jesse Jackson made himself a power broker in the Democratic Party by running twice for president without ever having to win the nomination or be elected to anything. Rev. Pat Robertson turned his “losing” campaign in 1988 into the Christian Coalition and led, with Ralph Reed, the movement of Southern Evangelicals permanently into the modern Republican Party. Ron Paul put his concerns about the Federal Reserve System front and center, identified and organized a libertarian wing of the Republican Party, and won rock-star status.

Page: 1 2  

About the Author

Grover G. Norquist is the president of Americans for Tax Reform. 

Letter to the Editor View all comments (43) |

Carol| 7.13.11 @ 7:23AM

Hey Grover:

Are you really okay with McConnell's plan to hand the Marxist-In-Chief a blank check? That's what I read.

You people are nutz. McConnell is a senile old fool that's afraid of the 1/2 black thug in OUR HOUSE.

Or lobbyists. Or Wall Street. Or Obama is holding a gun to his head the way Mao liked to do business.

Matthew Quigley| 7.13.11 @ 8:01AM

Norquist has no credibility. He's associated with jihadis, has ties to the Palestinians, and hasn't been relevant in years. He's a Washington insider who's completely out of touch with the United States, so naturally he supports what McConnell is doing.

loulou| 7.13.11 @ 9:58AM

Beware of Norquist. He is a jihadi and is the Muslim symp who brought the jihadis into Bush's White House. His wife is a Muslim and he may well be one as well doing the taquiyya thing.

Alan Brooks| 7.13.11 @ 4:23PM

Norquist said he wants to make government so small it could fit into a toilet. He is a wild character underneath his suit.

Occam's Tool| 7.13.11 @ 7:05PM

Loulou: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Clint| 7.13.11 @ 7:33AM

" (Ron)Paul was the only GOP House member TPM found Tuesday afternoon willing to take a firm stand against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) plan to hand the White House full authority to raise the debt ceiling with Congress only able to disapprove with a two-thirds vote. Conservative groups, Tea Party members outside Congress and activists are incensed over McConell's fall back plan.

"I wouldn't like that," Paul told TPM. "Congress should assume responsibility for itself" and figure out a way to cut spending.

Paul also dismissed talk that McConnell's lead trial balloon has undercut Republicans position in the debt talks.

"I don't think it has much effect," Paul said. "If it were [Speaker John] Boehner, it would have been a different story because we have the majority" in the House.

Michele Bachmann, a competitor for the GOP primary, declined to comment on the plan. "

Alan Brooks| 7.13.11 @ 6:53PM

Ron Paul is a withered old man. He could be a butler at the White House.

Occam's Tool| 7.13.11 @ 7:04PM

Dear Alan. No, Paul could not be a butler at the White House. That requires competence.

Clint| 7.13.11 @ 7:04PM

Interesting, Another Israel Firster& ObamaBoy Brooks Badmouths Our Tea Party Presidential Candidate Dr.Ron Paul.

We'll See You & Your Mancrush Obama, At The Polls For The 2012 General Election.

Occam's Tool| 7.13.11 @ 7:07PM

Clint: Offer---Paul wins the Presidential nomination for the Republicans, I never post here again. He loses--you leave. Deal?

(I think you are too much of a kitten to put your money where your mouth is. You don't have the "balance" to "cash" that check.)

Chuck| 7.13.11 @ 8:26AM

1995 was conveniently omitted when the GOP was giddy thinking they had the WH in the bag. Then along came Dole. I'm confused, is Romney the conservative candidate or the liberal establishment candidate? Based on the description of the '08 campaign I infer Romney was one of the conservative candidates siphoning off votes allowing McCain to win.

YeloStalyn| 7.13.11 @ 9:54AM

That's like asking who the Democrat was, Obama or McCain. Zero is left of the 3rd base line. McCain and Romney are somewhere between Left Field and Center. Yeah, depending on where the ball is hit and what's at play, you may see them over close to Right Center... but they live in left field.
There's a big difference between a candidate who is "better" and one who is just "not quite as bad". Unfortanately, the GOP is always choosing the "not quite as bad" rather than the "better". Hopefully, after '10 and with the things are going now, we can finally choose between "good" "better" and "best" so that when November comes around, we're not stuck with "not quite as bad".

Ken (Old Texican)| 7.13.11 @ 9:34AM

Chuck,
Romney is simply an empty suit with no convictions...except religious convictions.

We need someone who will turn this ship AROUND!
Romney will merely blow with the wind.

John Navratil| 7.13.11 @ 11:05AM

Ken,

I think Norquist is right about the 270 electoral vote. The action will be in the House and Senate. What we can't have is an unfriendly veto pen and a willingness to legislate through executive order (the best argument I've ever seen for getting rid of whole departments).

A Republican President will not be able to implement anything like cap-and-trade in this environment even if he believes it. He does, however, need to get elected. If the party abandons the base in pursuit of the middle, it pursues a risky strategy. It was conservatives who gave us the mid-terms and RINOs who gave us McCain.

I agree with you completely about Romney. His big problem, however, isn't his flim-flammery. If he could get elected, he would do. I just don't see enough appeal to get him through the general with a dispirited base. We cannot underestimate Obama and think we have this thing in a walk.

Dai Alanye | 7.13.11 @ 12:10PM

Romney is a persistent candidate but a weak one. Easily flummoxed, Demo attacks--fair or unfair--will leave him stumbling. Had Pawlenty defended his Obamneycare charge during the New Hampshire debate he'd be leading, and Romney would now be in third place or worse.

Conservatives can afford neither Romney's policies nor his candidacy.

Occam's Tool| 7.13.11 @ 7:35PM

Indded. Better than Obama doesn't mean that, as they say, "Mitt happens."

John Navratil| 7.13.11 @ 11:10AM

Ken,

I'm beginning the see the wisdom of a Perry run. Not that I like him, he's not immune to the impulse to be king, but he seems to have a lot of conservatives enthused about him. As unprincipled as it seems, electability is a very important attribute in this race.

Al Adab| 7.13.11 @ 11:24AM

John, Ken:
Electability is of course important. Nonetheless, an electable candidate without principle, yes and establishment republican, would only deliver a slower death through the same failed policies the current administration is following. We need to be certain that our candidate is one who can restore the role of markets in the economy and follow the principle of limited government not just promise government solutions.

Occam's Tool| 7.13.11 @ 7:33PM

Electability. Hmmm. Let's see if there's any Republican candidate who has the makings of a good jingle:

"You get up every morning
From your 'larm clock's warning
Take the 8:15 into the city
There's a whistle up above
And people pushin', people shovin'
And there's me, Obama so pretty.
And if your train's on time
You can get to work by nine
And start your slaving job to pay for me,
If you ever want to Ralph,
Look at me I'm playing golf,
I love to work at nothing all day
And I'll be

Destroying your business (every day)
Destroying your business (every way)
I've been destroying your business (it's not mine)
Destroying your business and working overtime
Work out

Barry, Bachmann says start packin'
She can hear your smoker's hackin'
And you're loud, but you ain't too mellow,
Got a second-hand prompter,
But you're heading for the door,
'Cause you got in with the wrong bunch of fellows.

You'll have lots of time for fun,
Take your Royalties and run,
You didn't want The Buck Anyway.
It's the work that you avoid
And we're all un-employed
But Michele is coming on to Save the Day.
And we be

Taking care of business (every day)
Taking care of business (every way)
We be been taking care of business (it's all mine)
Taking care of business and working overtime

Mercy
Whooooo
All right
[Instrumental Interlude]
Take good care of my business
When I'm away, every day
Whoooo..."

Who says Michele isn't electable? We definitely got the BTO going.... (From BTO's "Taking Care of Business...")

John Navratil| 7.13.11 @ 8:00PM

Occam's Tool,

Of course Michelle is electable. Herman Cain is a breath of fresh air; although his foreign policy is weak, he is a quick study. I'd take just about any one of the bunch, although you can leave Paul and Romney and especially Huntsman off the list. It's a shame Johnson and Pawlenty aren't getting more traction.

Whoever gets in had better have one damned thick hide. It will be vicious.

Occam's Tool| 7.13.11 @ 8:16PM

I practiced Psychiatry in New Mexico after Johnson REALLY screwed it up. I don't particularly care for him, but, as you say, no traction.

Agree about Pawlenty. Good guy. But Michele's My Belle. Besides, there's so MANY good songs writeable about her with Randy Bachman's permission.

Anthony| 7.13.11 @ 9:47AM

Obozo is the real danger to America, yet the Republicans, as is their history,, find themselves in their favorite position, the circular firing squad.
We do a nice job of tearing our own down, finding the smallest flaws, then shake our heads and say "we have nobody to represent us".
I'll tell you why we need Sarah Palin. It's very simple; Obozo has this nation living in the fairy tale of the "Emperor's New Clothes".
The pundits and the Ds worship this fraud and refuse to see what is staring them in the face, that, or they love what they see and want more.
This woman is the only one with the guts and fire in the belly to rip the facade of Obozo down and expose him for the Marxist that he is. Polite, carefully crafted, advisor approved tepid comments will not do!!! The fate of America is at stake.
This is no time for timidity or politics as usual. This is as close to war in politics without the bullets. Obozo the the Ds needs to be taken head on and left lying in the dust when this is all over. It's Marxism vs the Constitutional Republic, pure and simple.
I don't see any other candidate, other than Bachmann, willing to take this man on. Forget all the crap and focus on what's important.
Four more years of Obozo and you can turn the lights out and close the door on America.
And if you think a business as usual R will accomplish the job, well, just turn the lights out now and save the time and expense. If that's our choice, WE'RE FINISHED.

mcr| 7.13.11 @ 3:41PM

Anthony
I am confused by your comments. At first you endorse Palin, then later down at the end you endorse Bachmann. Which is it?
In any event, I believe it should be Palin....

Vikki| 7.13.11 @ 4:15PM

I agree Palin is the only one with the experience of doing battle with the "Good Ole Boys" and the Democrats. She's exactly what this country needs and the liberal press and the Democrats are scared to death of her!

Perry has to be watched, check out Bildeberg meeting in Turkey!

Palin would be the one to put us back on the right track, with maybe Allen West for VP.

Anthony| 7.13.11 @ 4:22PM

Sorry for the confusion, point well taken, obviously I'm a big supporter of Palin; I ment to say other than Palin Bachmann is the only other candidate with guts.

Gretchen| 7.16.11 @ 8:34PM

Or, as one voter remarked about Mrs. Thatcher, "She's the only one with male appendeges."

The Bishop| 7.13.11 @ 10:02AM

One thing on which the Republicans are always superior to Democrats: Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!

John Navratil| 7.13.11 @ 11:11AM

The Bishop,

Too sadly true.

skip| 7.13.11 @ 1:18PM

This nation is really screwed if that happens in 2012.
Four years of unrestrained Obama?

My pondering the matter inevitably leads to Perry. With growing conviction over time.

TrueBlue| 7.13.11 @ 5:40PM

Thankfully it wouldn't be unrestrained so long as Congress keeps to what it's been doing since 2010. They need to replace Boehner though, he's sliding towards left field, and hanging out with the President too much (golfing on the public dime while we're in a crisis is not cool).

Need to get rid of McConnell too with this recent blank check bs. But those problems aside, they should be able to keep things in check.

Then the only remaining issues are government agencies without people voted in creating regulations enforceable by law that aren't voted on in Congress; and widespread judicial acitivism.

Of course, we'll still be in a downward spiral, or worse, if Obama is reelected, but it'll be a consistent spiral, not a massively out of control one, and as time goes on it'll become easier and easier for the Repubs to point at Obama as the stopping point for anything they try to do to fix things.

AgentRose| 7.13.11 @ 11:16AM

Don't trust you one bit Grover. You are a fake. There have been several items but the "mistatement" later clarified on the McConnell plan says it all. GET OUT!

AgentRose| 7.13.11 @ 11:18AM

The problem, quite simply, is squishy Republicans. We had been led into the theater of John Boehner looking like he was strong--while--watch over here--no hands--McConnell pulls his stunt!

Derek Leaberry| 7.13.11 @ 1:11PM

As is his wont, Norquist's assertion that every Republican candidate is a Reagan Republican is incorrect. Romney is certainly of the old moderate cloth. That yesterday he refused to sign a vow to defend traditional marriage just amplifies Romney's moderation. If he runs, Guiliani is certainly comfortable in the old Javits-Mathias-Chaffee wing of the party. Even Ron Paul's extreme libertarianism is not easy to integrate into Reagan conservatism.

If the candidate is Romney or Guiliani, conservatives would have no candidate but a Third Party candidate. But look on the bright side. An Obama re-election would lead to a landslide in the 2014 mid-term and another likely landslide in 2016 with the caveat of winning the presidency. Look forward to 2017 and a conservative president, a 300 member House delegation and 65 senators.

Louis Jenkins| 7.13.11 @ 4:10PM

Sarah Palin certainly looks good, and Rick Perry would be another decent choice. But with McConnells pulling a rope a dope trick like he has just pulled, would either necessarily work as a choice? A man, or woman, is only as good as the person(s) he has working for him underneath. Maybe we should forget the presidency and put in new conservatives all the way around before tackling the hard case.

Anthony| 7.13.11 @ 4:33PM

If Mitch McConnell represents what they call experience with "institutional memory" and "instutional memory"is the crap and capitulation coming out of McConnell's mouth, then the last g...damned thing we need in Washington is more of this"institutional memory".
In fact, if this is true, we need TERM LIMITS ; ONE TERM and out, in order to insure "institutional memory" never returns again.
You boys in Washington had best wake up. America is at stake and McConnell and his pals are playing Washington parlor games.
The next game in Washington, if you all don't take a stand now,will not be a game much to the liking of the Washington establishment.
DO THE RIGHT THING NOW!!!!

TrueBlue| 7.13.11 @ 5:43PM

Just make it 2 terms same as the President, easier to get through without the appearance of favor to one branch over another.

Michael L. Hauschild| 7.13.11 @ 4:53PM

To paraphrase George Herbert Walker Bush, read our lips, Republicans, no new term for you if you vote to raise the debt ceiling.

Clint| 7.13.11 @ 7:07PM

Who You Kiddin'. The Stupid Party Is Right Now Setting The Stage For RINO-CINO Mittens Romney.

carnot| 7.13.11 @ 8:14PM

gimme a break folks...

what's the first priority? rescuing this horrendous economy where millions are suffering or bridging off into social issues?

obtain power and fix the economy first.

expand the power base and then fight these social battles.

if you can't focus on the economy first...then you're no less truculent/ideologically driven than the Left-wingers driving the boat into reef.

POST American| 7.13.11 @ 10:30PM

----As 'conservative' McConnell colludes
in the Globalist takedown and mop up of the failing POST American repubic---

And here, all the
rectum worshippers still considering that there
is a Republican party.

AGAIN, even beyond the Rockefeller meds
and weaponized vaccines ---what accounts for
the utter lack of outrage, or even opposition?

WHAT?

IS it the VAST and ubiquitous surveilance
grid and , no doubt, pervasive blackmailing
that's underway?

WE WONDER

Gretchen| 7.16.11 @ 8:39PM

HUH???

weddingdress | 7.15.11 @ 4:55AM

Norquist said he wants to make government so small it could fit into a toilet. He is a wild character underneath his suit.

More Articles by Grover G. Norquist

More Articles From The Campaign Spectator

Nice Losers

November 13, 2012 | Thomas Sowell

Nice Guise Finished at Last

November 9, 2012 | Jay D. Homnick

Pro-Choice? I Don’t Think So

November 6, 2012 | Jeremy Lott

Romney-Ryan Galluping to November

October 19, 2012 | G. Tracy Mehan, III

RINO Survival Guide

October 19, 2012 | Shawn Macomber

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/07/13/republicans-on-uneasy-street

ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Headlines

Not Ready for Primetime Players

Daniel J. Flynn|114 comments

Assessing a Week of Scandal

Matt Purple|126 comments

Oops, Maybe Government is Tyrannical

Marta H. Mossburg|61 comments

Soros Funds Anti-‘Torture’ Report

Mark Tooley|115 comments

Treasure State Treasury

Bill Croke|4 comments

My Generation’s Disease

Benjamin Brophy|72 comments

The View From the Other Side

George H. Wittman|21 comments

USPS: Radical Surgery Needed

Peter Hannaford|19 comments

The Spectacle Blog

Alan O’Day, R.I.P.

Aaron Goldstein | 12:26AM

Artur Davis Says Scandals Are Real

Quin Hillyer | 5.19.13

Good New Book: ‘Precipice’

Quin Hillyer | 5.19.13

The Spectator’s Spectacular: Most Read Stories, May 12-May 19

Patrick Ryan | 5.19.13

Elijah Harper, R.I.P.

Aaron Goldstein | 5.18.13

If Only the Tsar Knew!

F.H. Buckley | 5.18.13

Low-Level IRS Staffer: No, We Didn’t Mastermind This Entire Thing

Matt Purple | 5.17.13

UPDATED: IRS Acting Chief Apologizes, But Defends His Actions

Kaylin Bugos | 5.17.13

SPONSORED LINKS

FLASHBACK TO: 1995

Clip of the Day

Most Popular Articles

My Generation’s Disease

Benjamin Brophy | 5.17.13

The Liberal Union Behind the IRS

Jeffrey Lord | 5.16.13

Not Ready for Primetime Players

Daniel J. Flynn | 5.17.13

Assessing a Week of Scandal

Matt Purple | 5.17.13

Oops, Maybe Government is Tyrannical

Marta H. Mossburg | 5.17.13

From Bimbos to Benghazi

Jeffrey Lord | 5.9.13

The View From the Other Side

George H. Wittman | 5.17.13

Low-Level IRS Staffer: No, We Didn't Mastermind This Entire Thing

Matt Purple | 5.17.13

ADVERTISEMENT

Home |About |Contributors |Advertise |Donate |Privacy Policy |Contact

The American Spectator Foundation is the 501(c)(3) organization responsible for publishing The American Spectator magazine and training aspiring journalists who espouse traditional American values. Your contributions are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law. Each donor receives a year-end summary of their giving for tax purposes.

Copyright 2013, The American Spectator. All rights reserved.