Never before have conservatives had such a field full of presidential hopefuls, ranging from Ron Paul on the constitutional/libertarian Right to Newt Gingrich on the globalist Left. It seems like everyone wants to jump on the anti-Obama bandwagon. The real question is who is trustworthy to carry out the change agenda and who is being used by the establishment to deceive the nation into accepting more business as usual?
The good news is that Representative Ron Paul, the most successful political advocate of a true constitutionally limited Republic is "strongly considering" another presidential bid. Paul Steinhauser of CNN comments on the possibility. "Paul Political Director Jesse Benton tells CNN that 'Congressman Paul is very pleased with his strong national organization and flattered by his growing national profile. He is strongly considering a presidential run and is assessing all of his political prospects.'"
"If Paul does run, it would be his third bid for the White House. He ran as a libertarian presidential candidate in 1988 and in the last cycle he made a bid for the GOP nomination. A new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday indicates that 7 percent of Republican and independent-leaning Republicans say they would like to see Paul as their party's nominee."
"Paulites" always grumble at these relative low poll numbers, but they are fairly accurate--a reflection of how poorly normal Americans perceive principled people that won't promise them benefits at the public trough. But, think about it: That 7 percent is only 1 percent off of Paul's high point in the Republican primaries of 2008, indicating the staying power his candidacy has had 3 years later. It can only climb from there should he choose to run. Here at the WAB we think Paul could easily cross the 10-15% mark by 2012.
While the appeal of a statesman like Paul in a dumbed-down American mainstream audience, bereft of real political understanding, may be limited, we must keep in mind that a Ron Paul candidacy is capable of growing the movementmore than any other single person or event--just as he did in the prior election cycle. Ron Paul seems to have wide appeal for libertarians, conservatives, independents and even some principled liberals.
Part of his appeal is rooted in his defense of libertarian principles of non intervention in other nations and part on his low key approach to religion. Even though Dr. Paul is deeply religious, he doesn't demand or promote his Christian faith to others as an implied requirement to take part of the movement. That doesn't mean that Ron Paul would be a lackluster champion of religious rights in public affairs. He just doesn't want government enforcing any particular religious agenda that doesn't involve actual violations of fundamental rights.
Another conservative that has captured the heart of many in the Tea Party is Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. She has been a strong advocate of state's rights and standing up to the federal government on gun issues, health care, and unconstitutional federal mandates. That is why her vote to extend the PATRIOT Act is so important. If she cannot see the hidden long-term agenda in this constant surveillance society, how can she be trusted to not be fooled into supporting any of the future false-flag terror drive wars that the PTB will foist upon an unsuspecting nation. One subscriber told me adamantly that "Bachmann just lost all credibility with me."
The only other really principled and trustworthy potential candidate out there is Pastor Chuck Baldwin, who represented the Constitution Party in 2008. He recently made a strategic relocation move from Florida to Montana (very smart) and is so busy rebuilding his base, establishing another congregation, and getting involved in state politics, that he may not have anything left for another run at the presidency. But don't count him out. He's still young and dynamic and intends to be a major influence in the years to come.
As in all elections the mainstream media will do their best to thwart all intentions to elect a principled president. They will do this by trying to keep third party candidates out of the televised debates, and by denying them news coverage when possible. It will be harder to keep Ron Paul out of the debates since he was in most of them in 2008, but they'll try.
Just as in 2008, when the Republican establishment tried to foist Rudolph Giuliani on the conservatives, the media have a closet globalist pimp in the wings again--Newt Gingrich. He's just as deceptive and conniving as Giuliani, if not more so. But, it's probably not going to work this time either, but it will be interesting to watch them try. Gingrich runs a huge political machine, and puts out books so often, he must have a team of ghost writers going full time. According to the LA Times, "His staff says he helped bring in $21.5 million for fellow Republican candidates and committees during 2010. Much of the money went to candidates and organizations in Iowa and New Hampshire."
Paul West, of the Spartanburg Tribune reviews the Gingrich strategy: "Gingrich has said he's more inclined to run than not, and some longtime associates think he might. If so, he would bring an oversized personality and biting tongue to a crowded GOP debate stage... This time, 'the situation's objectively very different,' Gingrich said in a brief interview after addressing 250 party activists Thursday night in South Carolina, an important early primary state. The next election will present Republicans with an opportunity to take on a president who, right now, looks beatable. 'The potential to launch a new generation of ideas and to draw a very dramatic contrast is much greater,' Gingrich said [Gingrich's perennial calling card, always promising change--but never delivering. He is an accomplished betrayal artist]. 'You couldn't do that in the shadow of the (George W.) Bush presidency [who Gingrich supported].'
"Or as the title of his new book puts it, 'To Save America: Stopping Obama's Secular-Socialist Machine.' [He always paves the political path with a new book. When he first decided to make a comeback after the Religious Right rejected him, he published "Rediscovering God in America" to try and refurbish his moral reputation after dumping his bedridden wife for another woman.]
"Many in the hierarchical GOP consider it Mitt Romney's turn to lead [I'm not so sure]. But Romney does not seem nearly as formidable as most who've occupied the early front-runner spot in the last three decades [only because the media wants it that way] -- George W. Bush, Bob Dole, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. The other potential leader of the Republican pack, supernova Sarah Palin, remains untested [and nearly illiterate as to in-depth understanding of the issues. She's only a master of quick sound bites]. And the rest of those maneuvering or getting mentioned, including Mike Huckabee [kept in place specifically to help derail any Mormon politicians like Romney], Tim Pawlenty [a real contender], John Thune [little chance], Rick Santorum [ditto], Haley Barbour [no chance], Jim DeMint [possible], Mike Pence [possible], Ron Paul and Mitch Daniels [little chance], all have significant vulnerabilities [but all of that could change if the media got behind someone like they did for McCain during the primary of 2008. They instantly resurrected him from oblivion in order to stop Romney from capturing the vacuum left by the early failure to promote Giuliani as the Republican nominee].
"So does Gingrich [have vulnerabilities]: His ability to command attention is proven, but his appeal as a presidential contender is not. Some Republican politicians call him easy to like but hard to love. But if the warm response he drew as a potential candidate in South Carolina is any indication, he has found a message that resounds with party conservatives [He always puts on a rousing show]. They showed up in impressive numbers, at $60 a head and up [Gingrich mainly appeals to well-heeled Republicans], for a political event in the midst of the Christmas season.
"Along with dinner, they got a taste of vintage Gingrich in the stump speech he road-tested campaigning for fellow Republicans this year. At a time of economic despair, he's promoting 'a Republican Party of jobs and paychecks [as if the government can create jobs without socialist and fiat money policies] (to) replace a Democratic Party of bureaucracy and food stamps.'
"In characteristically grandiose terms [always grandstanding], he blames the nation's ills on his longtime collection of villains [omitting his role in passing NAFTA and GATT]. They include, in his words, the leftist news media, the Hollywood literati, tenured academics and overpaid federal workers.
"Gingrich appears to have strengthened his political operation, which gives him the potential to finance and organize a campaign, even as he expands a personal conglomerate of think tanks, grass-roots organizations and a film production company run by Callista Gingrich, a former congressional aide who became his third wife in 2000 [who he married after he dumped his wife].
"'I'm in a much different position in my own life,' said Gingrich, who converted to his wife's Catholicism last year. They're about to promote their movie 'Nine Days That Changed the World,' about Pope John Paul II's 1979 return to Poland, in early primary states, he said [Gingrich has a publication or movie for everything. He's an inveterate promoter of the worst sort].
"He's also reached the stage in life where it looks like it's now or never for a White House try.
The last time Gingrich talked about running for president -- before opting out a few months before the 2008 primaries -- he was candid enough to acknowledge that being seen as 'potentially available' for a presidential campaign is a reliable way to get media attention.
This time, he said, becoming a candidate wouldn't be about selling more books [his means to the end], getting coverage of his speeches or promoting his ideas in the fast-expanding calendar of primary debates, including several scheduled over the next six months. 'I would never run unless I thought I could win,' he said. 'If we decide to do this, it'll be because we think it's real [That is the scary part]'".
"In opinion surveys of Republican voters, Gingrich ranks near the top among prospective candidates. But at this stage, poll numbers tend to reflect little more than name identification, not the chances of getting nominated or elected." Fortunately, this true.
The political powers that be know that Mitt Romney is still a major contender. He came onto the scene with his own money and ambition--not because he was selected by the PTB (and they don't like people inserting themselves into political battles they control). The Former Massachusetts governor won a major poll of New Hampshire Republican activist delegates, securing 35%. NH is an important early primary state where the establishment media invests heavily to try and influence the early outcomes so they can push their preferred candidates. Judging by the results among activist Republicans, they have a lot of work to do in order to skew the primary results. The media favorites (Palin and Gingrich) polled quite low. Ron Paul was second with 11%, former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, with 8%, and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who took 7%. That latter figure shows that despite the media's constant promotion of Palin, it isn't resonating with thinking people. Newt Gingrich didn't even place.
According to the UK Guardian, "Mitt Romney clearly has the current advantage. The former Massachusetts governor and billionaire founder of Bain Capital has made the most energetic use of state PACs, a tactic that has helped him raise more than $9.2 million in the last two years in large- and small-dollar contributions. He's used those funds to woo supporters in key states and pay staff who make up the backbone of his campaign team. In 2010, Romney distributed $1.1 million to state and local candidates across the country [which has made many very loyal to Romney]."
But Romney is a worry for real conservatives, not because he doesn't have some principles, but because of his excessive ambition. This factor has driven him to select establishment CFR type advisors in order to impress the powers that be. "Romney has been paying for the services of pollster Neil Newhouse and former campaign manager Beth Meyers. Star GOP money men Wayne Berman and Lew Eisenberg, who co-chaired John McCain's presidential finance team in 2008, are wooing donors for Romney," according to the Guardian.
No man can be or will be true to his principles if he wants too badly to be elected. A true patriot views the establishment PTB as the enemy, not as persons to please. His attempts may be working. A few months ago, George H. W. Bush remarked that he thought Romney would make a good president. When a dedicated globalist says that, one has to worry if Romney has convinced them that he is finally acceptable to those who want to dismantle US sovereignty. That can happen without being a knowing conspirator simply by becoming a willing tool of the PTB.
Romney still carries the baggage of having compromised his principles as governor of Massachusetts, bowing to gays, giving in on some abortion rights and (possibly worst of all) imposing a health care law with a personal mandate--something his own Mormon religion abhors as a violation of man's freedom to choose during this earth testing period. Romney tries to differentiate his plan from Obamacare by saying it is a state's rights approach--but mandating the purchase of health insurance isn't any less onerous because our local government does it to us.
With Romney's temporary front-running status, one has to wonder what's up with Jon Huntsman's sudden resignation as ambassador to China. Huntsman, a former Utah republican governor, shocked the Utah establishment by announcing he is preparing a run for the US presidency. Here is a fellow Mormon politician with very little differences with Mitt Romney, challenging him for the Republican nomination. How does that make sense?
Some in Utah think that Huntsman is really shooting for 2016 and just working to build name recognition, but I think there is more to it than this. For one, you don't just give up the most prestigious and key ambassadorship in the world after such a short stint unless something is wrong. Perhaps he saw too much he didn't like. After all the US is double dealing in China, secretly acquiescing to Chinese demands and transferring technology to her, including military technology, despite knowing that China is a huge future threat. It would be hard for an ambassador not to know that if he had his eyes and ears to the ground, although what happens in secret at embassies can even be kept from the ambassador.
If he is quitting because of problems, he is certainly not willing to declare what they are. That too is typical of Huntsman, who, like most politicians of prominence in Utah, is desperate to gain the recognition of the establishment world. Huntsman hails from a wealthy background. His father founded Huntsman Chemical and was duped and used by the globalists to promote post Soviet investment, where he lost money after the Russians changed the rules after taking his money. That hasn't stopped the family from viewing themselves as wealthy scions of Utah with influence and a political future.
Perhaps Jon Huntsman is just suffering from unbridled ambition like Romney; but it is also possible that someone in influence put the bug in Huntsman's ear that he can knock Romney out of the race and be a more suitable candidate. That could certainly happen if the media decided to start promoting Huntsman. They would only do that, though, if Huntsman were a more pliable candidate than Romney for them. The media can almost make anyone a candidate if they have charisma and good looks.
Look no further than Sara Palin who started out with some fairly libertarian roots but became an unwitting tool of the establishment. One of the first signs that any "conservative" candidate is being influenced by establishment advisors is that they jump on the neocon bandwagon of international intervention such as punishing Iran, hyping up the phony war on terror and the Muslim al Qaeda threat, favoring the continued occupation of nations or fighting wars that are not just nor winnable.
She sold out fairly rapidly after being lavished with speaking and book fees, advisors who tell her what she wants to hear, private jets on loan for transportation and a lucrative Fox commentator contract. This never happens for those who can't be duped. She is being groomed for something. If they run her for president under the Republican ticket, she will lose, and allow Obama to have a second term. You can take that to the bank. More, than likely, I think they'll keep her in the wings for the VP slot, and run a more savvy male for the top slot.
With the Iowa caucus style primary about a year away, there are potentially a dozen candidates that will be on the ballots. The wily ones deal only in generalities and sound bites and evade media attempts to get them to commit on specifics. Principled politicians don't shrink and the media crucifies them whenever they mention any specific that will cut off some perceived benefit for the public.
Sen. John Thune, (R-SD) wants in the presidential race, but can't seem to make up his mind about the controversy over congressional earmarks, where lawmakers add state spending projects to big spending bills. Earlier this year he supported more than $100 million in earmarks into a massive year-end spending bill that many had expected to pass, and then came out against earmarks--after it became popular to do so. He tried to finesse it by saying, "I support those projects, but I don't support this bill, nor do I support the process by which this bill was put together." Sure.
Tim Pawlenty, on the other hand, is a serious contender having come from a liberal blue state where he managed to bring fiscal sanity to budget busting liberal programs. But with the likes of George Will (a neocon conservative), Dick Armey (a former big spending Republican and self-style leader of the republican efforts to commandeer the Tea Party) and Rush Limbaugh (who has sold out to big money) promoting him we have to scrutinize his actions carefully.
Pawlenty is playing the same pre-campaign game as Romney's team, according to the Guardian. "Behind the scenes, Pawlenty is trying to cut into Romney's institutional support through a relentless campaign of one-on-one meetings with key activists. Since January 2009, he has made 79 political trips to 39 states to back state and local candidates... His PAC contributed nearly $400,000 to 208 candidates around the country."
While Pawlenty did very good work pairing down a bloated Minnesota budget (he holds the Minnesota record for most vetoes cast in a single legislative session) he did so in a state where Republicans are outnumbered by Democrats two to one. But no true conservative can rule under those conditions without some compromises. He is also a bit too mild mannered to deal with the conspiracies of power conservatives are dealing with. Already, Pawlenty is taking his cues from neocon advisors and has sought to "enriched his resume for national office by visiting Iraq five times and Afghanistan three times." At best that puts him in the same camp as Michele Bachman.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is popular with southern Christian conservatives. He shouldn't be. He talks the preacher talk, but is full of contradictions that are dangerous to affect real change. The Guardian reports that in December, Huckabee said "I never did support Cap and Trade and never would support it, period." He's got a case of selective memory. At the 2007 meeting of the Global Warming and Energy Solutions Conference in New Hampshire, Huckabee said: "I also support cap and trade of carbon emissions. And I was disappointed that the Senate rejected a carbon-counting system to measure the sources of emissions, because that would have been the first and the most important step toward implementing true cap and trade." Nice switch.
The Media can make or break almost any of the above candidates. If a candidate slips through they can work out deals. Ronald Reagan after winning the Republican nomination against the efforts of the establishment, for instance, was offered a "deal he couldn't refuse." They told him, according to my uncle, W. Cleon Skousen, (paraphrasing) "We would look favorably on your candidacy only if you name George H. W. Bush as your Vice President and allow him to have a major hand in selecting who will serve in your administration." Reagan reluctantly accepted, and it ended up nearly costing him his life.
The media can present a great deal of influence in popularity simply by giving certain names more press and face time. A Pew Research Center Survey found that Palin, for example, gets three times more coverage than the sitting Vice President Joe Biden. Somehow Palin constantly makes news in the press where others are simply forgotten.
Incidentally, some left-wing pundits try to make a case from these statistics that the press is, in fact, right-wing noting that Glenn Beck appears in the media much more than liberal counterparts, but these statistics don't tell the whole story. First, it fails to distinguish between true conservatives and false conservatives playing a role. False conservatives and neocons are promoted in the press, true conservatives are not. Glenn Beck may be an exception to this, but that is mostly due to his popular appeal in spite of media attacks--not because they have promoted him on purpose. Beck has a sort of goofy personality and a knack for real entertainment value (which I personally find less than credible but is quite effective with well-meaning conservatives). He has his flaws, but at least he is sincere, conservative and a constitutionalist whereas Hannity, O'Reilly and Limbaugh are just masquerading as conservatives--like Bill Buckley of National Review. Buckley was a Skull and Bones member who chose to control the Right, while others went Left.
The UK Guardian gives this final wrap-up: "Mitt Romney has put together an establishment, blue-chip operation, locking in top donors and banking more than $9 million through a network of political action committees. Sarah Palin is driving white-hot media attention and fervent grass-roots support through her Facebook posts and Fox News appearances. Other candidates have found their own routes. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour [a dangerous insider], for instance, is drawing on the Rolodex of Republican contacts he developed as a longtime party fundraiser [and as Chairman of the Republican National Committee which plays hardball against conservatives]."
No comments :
Post a Comment