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

What About Gingrich?

What About Gingrich?

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet

The upper echelons of the Republican Party are in a state of high angst.  Their phone lines and e-mails are flashing back and forth with amazing speed and in astounding volumes.  Many are showing signs of what we southern folks used to call “the vapors” as they place the back of their open hand to their foreheads and slouch softly to the floor in a state of quiet apoplexy. 

So, what’s causing all this?  The former Congressman from Georgia, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, one Newton Gingrich… or just plain … Newt.

Cries of “woe is me” echo from the walls of the GOP’s ivory towers.  Why, this is unbelievable.  Worse, this is unacceptable. It simply cannot be happening … and yet … it IS happening.

The anointed one, Mitt Romney, has, at least for the moment, fallen to the outcast Gingrich.  It is as if Sir Lancelot had been bested in a joust with a kitchen knave.  It is unheard of.  It cannot be.  But … it is.

Newt has more baggage than the carousel at the airport.  Romney is, well, perfect. And that, dear reader, is a part of the problem conservatives have with Romney.  He is a little TOO perfect.

If you never DO anything, you never make mistakes.  The more you do, the more mistakes you make.  Newt has made a heck of a lot of mistakes.

I have survived 14 US Presidential administrations.  I have seen the best of them and I have seen the worst US Presidents in modern history.  The best was Ronald Reagan and the worst was Jimmy carter … until Obama.  Now Obama holds the title as the worst President in US history.

I am, shall we say, an “older” American.  I learned long ago the old saw: “all that glitters is not gold” is absolutely true.  I have seen politicians come and go.  I have seen some rise to heights never expected of them and I have watched just as many promising young lawmakers crash and burn.

With the country in the mess that it is in, there is something comforting in a candidate with all the warts, hairs, scars, and yes, battle wounds, as well, making himself available to help guide the country out of this mess.

We “old timers” already know Newt’s foibles.  We know he is mercurial, egotistical, haughty, and brilliant.  We already know of his matrimonial problems.  We know he is brainy, zany, and at times -- just plain dumb.  He can be courageous or reckless depending upon your viewpoint.  Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of Great Britain, once said of Newt:  “ … he has tons of guts.”

Newt is a contradiction.  He can at once be a genius and a dunce.  Every kid who has ever been to college knows a person like Newt.  Heck, he was our classmate.  He’s in our civic club. He goes to our church. He’s the guy in the front office where we work.  His name is: Tom, Dick, Harry, John, Jack, Don, and … Newt.

How many Mitt Romneys go to your church, your civic club, or work in your office?   See what I mean?  Am I making my point here? 

My generation knows Newt Gingrich about as well as it is possible to actually know a national politician.  We know what he is capable of… the good and the bad. And we are nothing if not practical.

We need a man who can do the dirty work that is needed to get America back on track.  And believe me, it will be dirty work. 

To get our nation set aright, a lot of Americans are going to have to be “P.O.ed.”  It is going to take a President willing to put his head down and plow ahead, against the current, until the job is done.  He will,  most likely,  be a one term President.  So many Americans will be so angered that it will probably be at least a generation before his greatness will be officially recognized.

Allow me this analogy:  A General needs a soldier for a nearly impossible mission.  His troops are standing before him in full brace -- at attention.  He can’t help but notice the soldier with the perfectly pressed uniform, the perfectly polished buttons, the regulation haircut, and those sparkling spit shined boots.

Then his attention is drawn to the middle-aged soldier with the broken nose, the scars on his face, the calloused hands, the boots that are polished just enough and a uniform that is slightly rumpled but with a string of hash marks denoting years of devotion and experience in the service of his country.

Care to guess which soldier the General will choose? 

There’s no big secret as to why Americans, especially older Americans, are taking a hard look at Newt. They don’t know, I mean REALLY know, Romney.  They feel they know Newt, well, enough, anyway, to give him a shot at the Oval Office and one of the most difficult problems every given to a human being.

Nah.  There’s no secret here.

J. D. Longstreet