Althouse: Romney chooses a side.

September 15, 2010

Romney chooses a side.

"Support for Christine O'Donnell appears to have emerged this morning as a kind of grassroots litmus test, and the Establishment is scrambling to pass it."

56 comments:

AllenS said...: This is making Karl Rove look like a very small man.; 9/15/10, 12:13 PM
Synova said...: If they support her and she loses... no big deal.

If they refuse to support her and by some miracle she wins... the Republican Party proves its irrelevance.; 9/15/10, 12:14 PM
Scott M said...: Was it Romney they were quoting or Romney's hair? Either are better fit to manage the budget than the rank amateurs we current have.

That being said, look for the now almost anti-climactic big GOP win (still wondering if they will pull off the senate takeover). Rahm...gone. Gibbs...gone. Hillary...gone. Kerry seems to be the most likely SoS replacement. He's got those agreements with all those heads of state, donchaknow.; 9/15/10, 12:16 PM
Hagar said...: Romney is not exactly "the establishment," but rather another insurgent knocking on a different door.

And he is smarter than Rove et al., but then the Tea Party does not threaten his livelyhood.; 9/15/10, 12:18 PM
Nals said...: CHRISTINE O'DONNELL: Well, creationism, in essence, is believing that the world began as the Bible in Genesis says, that God created the Earth in six days, six 24-hour periods. And there is just as much, if not more, evidence supporting that.; 9/15/10, 12:18 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Picking sides after the primary winner is determined? How clever of him.

Check with me tomorrow morning, and I will pick tonight's winning numbers for the Powerball lottery.; 9/15/10, 12:23 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Rush did a riff on this earlier- saying the GOP should be going "balls to the wall" for the O'Donnel.; 9/15/10, 12:26 PM
Chennaul said...: Well at least Mitt has -

MittCare!; 9/15/10, 12:29 PM
Chennaul said...: They can't take that away from him.

I vote against the guy-if you follow him closely he doesn't stay consistent.; 9/15/10, 12:33 PM
former law student said...: What side?

Romney is a Republican.

O'Donnell is a Republican.

Not to support your party's standard bearer would be churlish and short-sighted.; 9/15/10, 12:36 PM
jamboree said...: I do not see the big deal here- but then I didn't see the big deal when people were screaming about that black guy in Carolina winning.

We aren't actually supposed to be governed by "our betters", we are supposed to be governed by "our representatives." It can be nerve-wracking for the elites to let the "kids take the wheel" as it were, but that's the whole point of the experiment. That's what Europe found nerve-wracking about America to begin with.

What upsets me more is when ordinary people who should be learning to govern and care for themselves say things like "the people we elect are supposed to be better than us."

That's dangerous.; 9/15/10, 12:43 PM
chickelit said...: I think a Romney/Palin or Palin/Romney ticket would be interesting in 2012.

At least Sullivan's head would finally explode.; 9/15/10, 12:46 PM
Beta Rube said...: I saw Karl Rove on Fox this morning. I thought he might tone down his "heat of battle" comments from last night.

I was wrong. If anything he was just as adamant and accusing. Right now he is a walking talking quote machine for the other side.

I don't really know the end game here, but win or lose I think there will be a lot of finger pointing.; 9/15/10, 12:54 PM
Mark said...: I vote against the guy-if you follow him closely he doesn't stay consistent.

Oh, he's very consistent; he always takes the most expedient/opportunistic position available.; 9/15/10, 12:56 PM
Unknown said...: Romney can endorse anybody he likes. It still won't get him past the first round of primaries.

former law student said...

What side?

Romney is a Republican.

O'Donnell is a Republican.

In the same sense Ronald Reagan and Larry Craig are.; 9/15/10, 12:59 PM
Hagar said...: Well, Sen. Cornyn has come to his senses. Better late than never!; 9/15/10, 1:03 PM
Phil 314 said...: So can I assume that if a RINO gets a party's nomination we would feel as strongly about the Party backing the electorate's decision?; 9/15/10, 1:04 PM
Phil 314 said...: And as for Mr. Romney's support I'm imaging a moistened finger stuck in the air.; 9/15/10, 1:06 PM
d-day said...: If Romney is going to go against the Republican party establishment and actually, really support O'Donnell (ie: cash-money), that would go a long way toward making him palatable toward the Tea Party/Palin wing of the GOP. Enough to make them actually want to be part of the GOP? That, I don't know.; 9/15/10, 1:12 PM
Cedarford said...: Romney is just doing the traditional route a serious Republican does...try and support the best-qualified candidate, but if they lose and a surefire loser ends up the Primary nominee...you go in state and try to help the future loser. But more importantly, you try to help the supporters of the future Republican loser so those supporters look favorably on your soldiering for the Party role.

It is what Nixon and Reagan did - work just as hard for bad GOP candidates in statewide contests as the good ones.

The election though, went from Castle being an automatic Delaware Republican Senate seat (leading the Marxist Coons by 48-37) to an all but inevitable loss (she trails Coons by 16 points, 50-34). And Christine "don't keep your hands to yourself!" O'Donnell is now firmly slotted as the Sharron Angle Palin selected sort. In a sense, she is Palin's proxy...even has that telegenic look and screeching palaver and overall dim intellect thing down pat..

It will eventually be salutory on the right wing crazies as the "women who embodies Sarah Palin persona & values" has an electoral debacle and Harry Reid, new spending, and Obamacare sail on. Forcing the rightwing crazies to have a gut check - nominate a competent candidate like Romney or Daniels with your head or make Goddess Palin your nominee and accept 4 more years of Obama as the price to pay for "sending a message".

Maybe even celebrate Obama's 2nd Inaugural with a Palin Ball in DC - "we sure sent President Obama a message he will have to remember for the next 4 years, and the Goddess is putting out a new book for us to read and has her own Mamma Grizzly TV show!!" Sarah Palin is the new Jesse Jackson, the guy whose rabid supporters and media dominance badly hurt the Democrat brand.; 9/15/10, 1:34 PM
veni vidi vici said...: Romney makes a stand... a day late, as usual.; 9/15/10, 1:35 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Cedarford,

If you get your wish and Romney wins you may need to change your conspiracy theories. You can even tie in Beck and Reid.

Ha.; 9/15/10, 1:49 PM
ricpic said...: It will be interesting to watch Romney attempt to distance himself from Romneycare.; 9/15/10, 1:51 PM
Chennaul said...: I don't think Ronald Reagan would have backed a candidate that accused another Republican of cheating on his wife with a man, breaking into their campaign office without filing a police report, spreading the lie that the other candidate voted to impeach a wartime Republican President, and had the rumor spread that the other candidate was going to switch parties.

Ronald Reagan didn't work that way.

The Tea party said they didn't like politics as usual.

Already there are some Tea Partiers wanting to be disassociated with O'Donnell and Sharron Angle.

You know what?

That's not fair to Sharron Angle.

Sharron Angle did not run a dirty campaign she won fair and square.

btw-only 3,540 more Delaware Republicans voted for O'Donnell over Castle.; 9/15/10, 1:51 PM
Nichevo said...: Cedarford, trust you to be in on this! I was just setting up to ask how you like the taste of dick that Romney is feeding you, but you've already answered: Good! Real good!

I don't intend to bash your favored candidate actually, he has his virtues and in my bow to 11th Commandment-ism, I won't crap on him beyond necessity.

But after your shall we say steady ranting about Palin and the hard-right trend, here is your man bending the knee to Palin's power. Petulant pussy power if you like, but that hardly elevates Romney. Better for him to be seen bowing to a real and substantial political power than flickering with every wind.

A better conjecture might be for you: Gee, if Romney sees something there and is getting on board, have I missed anything? Maybe there's more to her than meets the eye.

Tell me this - why do you think Romney is pushing Yes and Rove is breaking his thumb slamming the No button? Don't they want the same things?

...Meanwhile, for all that you seem to hold him in little esteem, C4, I would be interested to know what Bush 43 is thinking these days.; 9/15/10, 1:52 PM
Chennaul said...: And given Romney's record-which if he bothered to defend it-I would probably support him, you can see why he would wish to reduce 'the litmus test" to wether or not you support O'Donnell.

He's trying to appeal to a base of supporters- who wouldn't vote for him come hell or high water simply because he is-

Mormon.

It's sad.; 9/15/10, 1:54 PM
Chennaul said...: See the ugliest, and angriest are getting catered to.

It's not a pretty picture.

Reagan wouldn't be good enough now.

Divorced. Amnesty...Gawd knows what else about Reagan would not pass "the litmus test" these days.

Oh ya-

Former Democrat.; 9/15/10, 1:57 PM
Peter Hoh said...: The difference between Romney and Rove?

Romney needs Palin fans for his 2012 run. Rove doesn't.

But Romney is kidding himself if he thinks that he could win the GOP primary.

At this point, Palin is the presumptive nominee, should she choose to run in 2012.; 9/15/10, 1:58 PM
KCFleming said...: If US citizens are so wedded to socialism that they can still vote for a Democrat in Delaware or anywhere else, there is no hope for the country at all.

If the choice is not crystal clear, if it remains this close even now, after all that has happened, as bad as it's gotten, if indeed Delaware still goes Democrat, then Obamacare was going to stay regardless of Castle. There was never any hope.

Then we'll have to face it. Delaware is a socialist state in a socialist nation. And get used to perpetual decline.

Don't try to hang failure on a Tea Party candidate. If 'The People' are too damned stupid to vote against socialists, well, they'll get socialism good and hard.; 9/15/10, 2:13 PM
traditionalguy said...: Romney is lurking outside to see if the Palin Family and Bush family warriors kill each other off for his benefit. Then Mitt will take the prize he has no other shot at. This could morph quickly into a Romney and Palin alliance once Mitt realizes that the Bush family's true goal is for Obama to keep the Presidency until Jeb is ready to rescue the country in 2016.; 9/15/10, 2:16 PM
Anonymous said...: As the train leaves the station Romney jumps on the caboose....brave, eh?; 9/15/10, 2:29 PM
mariner said...: If 'The People' are too damned stupid to vote against socialists, well, they'll get socialism good and hard.

Well said, Pogo.; 9/15/10, 2:55 PM
Anonymous said...: I think Mr. Rove et al are starting to see a glimmer of what's in store given a conservative take-over of the Republican Party. The next Republican government may well see to the disestablishment of D.C. as relates to all things domestic. Freeing the citizen’s throat from the statists' grip - to where the power originates, in the individual, their families, and as loaned to their voluntary institutions, their counties and states.

The next set of conservative presidents will be our George Washington-s, refusing the crown, returning it to the owners, freeing all the dead-weight loss and nonsense we see in our central government to productive use. It'll take someone with Washington's character to accomplish this. The draw of spending $10B a day, and directing others spending by a like amount in regulation and worse is stronger than any siren song.

It'll restore the best check-and-balance there is - that of competition between local governments for not only the ballot, but the vote of the citizen with their feet.

"Change (or not) as much as you'd like" locally and gain or suffer the consequences quickly will settle what works best for variety of people and locales we have in this great country (rather than some central dictate, law or regulation).; 9/15/10, 2:56 PM
Peter Hoh said...: I think Mr. Rove et al are starting to see a glimmer of what's in store given a conservative take-over of the Republican Party. The next Republican government may well see to the disestablishment of D.C. as relates to all things domestic. Freeing the citizen’s throat from the statists' grip - to where the power originates, in the individual, their families, and as loaned to their voluntary institutions, their counties and states.

Tea Party utopianism.; 9/15/10, 3:35 PM
AllenS said...: Peter,

Are you happy with the status quo?; 9/15/10, 3:42 PM
Peter Hoh said...: No.

But you'll find that I object to liberal utopianism, too.; 9/15/10, 3:59 PM
Mitch H. said...: fls: you'd think so, but there's a lot of "mine! mine!" going on in some sections of the Republican Party. Part of the reason I was a registered Democrat from 2003 to 2009 had to do with the proprietary attitude of a lot of establishment Republicans, especially in the Northeast. Republicans have always been less graceful at managing political machines. They confuse them with country clubs.

If US citizens are so wedded to socialism that they can still vote for a Democrat in Delaware or anywhere else, there is no hope for the country at all.

Oh, for god's sake, Pogo, it's Delaware! Closest thing we have to a fascist-majority state. More corporate lawyers per square meter than New York City. Proof positive that big conglomerates and the people that run them are the enemy of the free market.

And peter - I think you have it by the wrong end of the stick. the Tea Party types are premillennialists, not postmillennialists. It's the other crowd that wants to "immanentize the eschaton".; 9/15/10, 4:09 PM
Phil 314 said...: I never thought I would see the day when Karl Rove is demonized by the Left AND the Right.; 9/15/10, 4:11 PM
Phil 314 said...: Two years ago many Democrats were predicting the demise of the Republican Party. Now some Republicans are predicting the same.

I believe this is a Mark Twain moment; 9/15/10, 4:13 PM
Peter Hoh said...: c# @ 4:11 made me chuckle.

I really don't think that Rove is doing the Bush family bidding, as suggested by tradguy @ 2:16.

And it's not like Rove is gunning for a job providing analysis to NPR. So what's in it for him to be the point man against O'Donnell?; 9/15/10, 4:42 PM
garage mahal said...: I never thought I would see the day when Karl Rove is demonized by the Left AND the Right.

I don't think the left is demonizing Rove today. Been fascinating to watch the cat fights today though. Mark Levin has lost what little marbles he had.; 9/15/10, 4:54 PM
Synova said...: "It will be interesting to watch Romney attempt to distance himself from Romneycare."

Easy Peasy.

Either say it was a mistake and why, or how it should have been done better and why, or praise his state for taking on a new idea and saying what worked and didn't and what needed to be done afterward and why... and then say doing the same or similar or something different altogether is up to each state so that we aren't tied to only one thing with the entire weight of the Federal government making it that much harder to respond.

He isn't tied to either endorsing a Federal version OR denouncing the Mass version.

I don't know what he'd do or what he really thinks about the issue at all, but I don't see how it would be difficult to deal with being "for" what he oversaw in Massachusetts and "against" a Federal program.

(What I always wanted to hear from Obama was what he *learned* in the Annenburg thing... what worked and what didn't, what they thought was a sure thing and didn't prove to be, what surprised them when it turned out to be effective. He should have been able to have that conversation in his sleep. I wasn't even in charge of anything and I could give a good discussion on what was done right and wrong by the military on our evac from the Philippines. It might not be as detailed as those actually running things could do, but I could present an evaluation that made sense. Why couldn't Obama do that? Why couldn't Romney nearly *effortlessly* do that?); 9/15/10, 4:55 PM
Synova said...: "And it's not like Rove is gunning for a job providing analysis to NPR. So what's in it for him to be the point man against O'Donnell?"

Left over hostility from the left? If he's saying it, they either have to publicly agree with Darth Rove or else tone it down. Either they let up on O'Donnell or they soften toward Rove.; 9/15/10, 4:57 PM
Peter Hoh said...: "It will be interesting to watch Romney attempt to distance himself from Romneycare."

Easy Peasy.

Yeah, he can distance himself from Romneycare the same way he distanced himself from all his other previous positions.; 9/15/10, 5:20 PM
Fen said...: C4: the right wing crazies

Funny how the so-called "big tent" conservatives keep insulting their fellow conservatives.

/via Ed Morrisey

"Instead of pouting, Republican leaders in Delaware and around the country need to unite around the nominee, who was chosen by the Republicans in Delaware. Had Castle won the nomination, they would have demanded unity themselves, and rightly so.

If they want to continue to issue snarky, anonymous asides and in essence take their ball and go home, don’t expect the electorate to follow them into battle in the future.

Rarely have I seen such childishness from the supposed leaders of a political establishment, who set the very rules and customs they now want to ignore because they just got embarrassed on a national stage."; 9/15/10, 5:22 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Via John Cole:

Every Sperm is Sacred; 9/15/10, 5:50 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Wow.

You mean, Mr. Plastic himself has taken a stand?

Was it in favor of polypropylene or polyethylene?

Phony Plastic Man will lead the Sheeple!!!; 9/15/10, 5:51 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/15/10, 5:56 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Thanks for picking up on Plastic Man's incredible timing, Peter. I mean, I knew Plastic Man didn't have a backbone. But I'd have never guessed that his bendiness is so execrable that even his choice of candidate is newsworthy after the fucking election took place.

At this pace, the Irrelephants should bring us into the 1930s in no time.; 9/15/10, 5:57 PM
traditionalguy said...: Rove is #1 a loyal Bush Family Consiglierei. His mission is to gum up the works for any Palin supported success story until the Family can get Mitch "the puppet" Daniel into position to block Sarah 's convention momentum. The Crown Prince of Wales (King Bush the 3rd) will then graciously accept the nomination in 2016 to save us from 4 more Obama years.; 9/15/10, 5:57 PM
traditionalguy said...: Ritmo..."Irrelephants"? LOL.; 9/15/10, 5:59 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Glad to know my over-the-top rhetoric can still humor and/or inspire you, TG ;-); 9/15/10, 6:09 PM
Unknown said...: One thing to keep in mind regarding The Architect is that this is a generational fight and the Old Guard doesn't want to go quietly into that good night. They saw themselves as the reasonable element and it can't go down well to be called sellouts and that their time is up by a bunch of what they see as doctrinaire amateurs.

Problem is that being reasonable to the point of letting the Demos have a lot of what they wanted has put us in this mess and the people taking it in the neck are demanding changes.; 9/15/10, 6:16 PM
former law student said...: What I always wanted to hear from Obama was what he *learned* in the Annenburg thing.

What the team learned was that none of the alternatives they tried in Chicago worked any better than the Same Old Way. But as chairman of the board of directors Obama's role was basically to keep the team on track and accountable.; 9/15/10, 6:28 PM
chickelit said...: Ritmo..."Irrelephants"? LOL

Good one Ritmo. "Irrelephants" is much more clever than RINO. Would be cool to see Palin use it. If she did w/o attribution, I'd be the first to defend you.

wv: "dogizes" Honey, they're talkin' 'bout me again.; 9/15/10, 6:43 PM
Revenant said...: Ritmo..."Irrelephants"? LOL.

It is from a SnorgTees t-shirt that's been advertised on blogs lately -- "anything unrelated to elephants is irrelephant".; 9/15/10, 8:42 PM