
 |
|
Nov. 20, 2009
Nov. 19, 2009
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf
with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith
with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality
with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Nov. 12, 2009
JWisdom.com Does God get tired?
with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole
in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to
have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How
to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Nov. 5, 2009
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking
Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker
With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater?
With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change
With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
|
| |
Jewish World Review
March 15, 2007
/ 25 Adar, 5767
Right candidate blocked by Romney, Gingrich corpses
By
Dick Morris & Eileen Mc Gann
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The big problem in finding a conservative challenger to run for the GOP nomination is not the absence of a genuine constituency, nor is it even enthusiasm for ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Right-wingers who would pass the litmus test guys like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, California Rep. Duncan Hunter, former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, or even ex-Tennessee Sen. and famous actor Fred Thompson face the need to climb over the political corpses of former Speaker New Gingrich (Ga.) and ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to make their case.
The purist pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay believers who used to dominate the Republican primary are still so focused on other candidates that they can't turn their attention to one of their own. They lament Sen. John McCain's (Ariz.) apostasy on issues like taxes, campaign-finance reform, global warming, and terrorist interrogation and can't concentrate on supporting an alternative.
Romney, who is panting after their support, is a political duck decoy, distracting onlookers from focusing their gaze on the real conservatives who might run. He can't win. He can't get nominated or even become the consensus candidate of the right wing. He's too Mormon (it shouldn't be an issue, but it is) and flip-flop-flipped from pro-life to pro-choice and back again. These problems, combined with his flip-flops on gay rights and stem cell research, make him incapable of becoming the right-wing candidate to oppose Giuliani.
Newt Gingrich still sends thrills down Republican spines but won't say whether or not he's running until the fall of 2007. By that time, Rudy will probably have $40 million or $50 million in the bank and will be en route to triple digits. Newt is a bright guy who must know that the convergence of primaries on Feb. 5 makes a late entry politically unfeasible. So I don't think he's running.
But neither McCain, as he fades, nor Romney, as he sputters, nor Gingrich, as he waits, are getting out of the way to let right-wingers attract support. These three well-known candidates are standing in the way, blocking one of the lesser-known candidates from emerging.
The situation conservative Republicans face in 2008 is a lot like that which faced moderate Democrats in 2004. While the left of the party was amply represented by John Kerry and Howard Dean, four moderates John Edwards, Wesley Clark, Joe Lieberman, and Dick Gephardt vied for attention and support.
In 2008, unless Romney and Gingrich get out of the way, the conservatives won't be able to come up with a candidate until it is too late to raise the money to beat Giuliani in the more than 20 states that will hold their primaries on Feb. 5. Only then can the conservatives who are both acceptable and can actually win emerge from the pack and become a challenger to Rudy.
Who will have the best chance once the smoke clears? Fred Thompson is clearly the best-known, but it is easier to go from being a politician to an actor than it is to move in the other direction. After seeing Thompson play the role of a semi-hapless conservative New York district attorney so convincingly, it will be hard for voters to see him as the president.
Mike Huckabee (a former client) has an originality and creativity that will make him very attractive. He speaks, for example, about the need to control Medicaid and Medicare costs not by budget cuts but by cuts in smoking and obesity and an increased commitment to exercise. He focuses on the need to enhance education with a focus on music and art to stimulate creativity and help students compete as the entertainment industry becomes increasingly important in our economy. Sam Brownback did well in the National Conservative Political Action Committee straw poll and is showing some signs of movement; Tancredo, meanwhile, has a good issue immigration to ride.
But nobody is going anywhere with the bodies cluttering the road in front of them.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Dick Morris is author, most recently, of "Because He Could". (Click HERE to purchase. Sales help fund JWR.) Comment by clicking here.
Dick Morris Archives
© 2007, Dick Morris
| |

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Michael Barone
Dave Barry
Tony Blankley
Andy Borowitz
David Broder
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
John Fund
Frank J. Gaffney
Lloyd Garver
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Lewis Grossberger
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Laura Ingraham
Cheri Jacobus Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ed Koch
Ch. Krauthammer
Michael Ledeen
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Dick Morris
Bill O'Reilly
Jim Mullen
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Jonathan Rauch
Celia Rivenbark
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Pat Sajak
Debra J. Saunders
Culture Shlock
Roger Simon
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
Lisa Benson
John Branch
Gary Brookins
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holber
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Ranan R. Lurie
Jimmy Margulies
Rick McKee
Michael Ramirez
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Ed Stein
Danna Summers
John Trever
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters

How 2
Lori Borgman
The Savvy Consumer
Elder matters
Fixit
Dr. Peter Gott
GET A JOB! by Marty Nemko
Richard Lederer
Tech Maven
Every Monday Matters
Nutrition Myths
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
How Stuff Works
|