The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

BREAKING NEWS: MITT ROMNEY WINS FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PRIMARY

Posted on | January 31, 2012 | 75 Comments

TAMPA, Fla.
Polls just closed in the western panhandle of Florida, and there is no need for suspense regarding the result. It has been pretty much a universal certainty for the past week that Romney was going to win this thing pretty easily, and the only question is the final margin of victory.

In fact, I’m writing this post in Naples at 4 o’clock in the afternoon — four hours before the polls close — because I’ve got a three-hour drive to reach the Mitt Romney RINO-tastic™ Florida Primary Victory Celebration at the Tampa Convention Center, and wasn’t sure if traffic might delay my arrival, preventing me from being the first to report this URGENT BREAKING NEWS.

Anyway, it is not true that the only people who support Mitt are sold-out gutless RINOs. “Sunshine State Sarah” explains why she voted for Romney. You Newt people can go unload all your hate on Sarah. Here’s a headline:

Newt Gingrich Robocall: Mitt Romney Forced
Holocaust Survivors To Eat Non-Kosher Food

Desperate much? And here’s another headline:

Santorum says Gingrich should stop
pressuring GOP rivals to drop out

Ditto that. Newt should drop out and endorse Santorum. Otherwise, he should stop blaming his failures on other people.

UPDATE: Now on the scene at the Press Filing Center at the Tampa Convention Center, where the TVs are on CNN, which called the election for Romney as soon as the polls closed in the Panhandle, by which time nearly 60% of the precincts were already reporting:

Romney …….. 47%
Gingrich …….. 31%
Santorum ….. 13%
Paul ………….. 7%

That 16-point gap is likely to narrow as the Panhandle precincts report.

UPDATE II: Mitt sends out his wife, Ann, to give thanks to their supporters and to introduce Mitt.

UPDATE III: Very much a general-election speech from Mitt, taking aim at Obama, promising an America “where hope is a new job and a paycheck, not a word on a fading bumper sticker.”

Romney also said: “A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us and we will win. When we gather back here seven months from now here in Tampa for our convention, we will be a united party with a winning ticket.”

It is reported that Gingrich won’t even spend the night in Florida, and won’t do the morning talk shows tomorrow, but will fly tonight to Nevada, where the caucuses are Saturday. Lots of Mormons in Nevada.

UPDATE IV: A couple of photos:

TV satellite trucks parked under the palm trees outside the convention center.

Inside the press filing center.

UPDATE V: At Newt’s speech, they’re holding up signs that say, “46 States to Go.” Just ran in to top Romney advisor Eric Ferhnstrom, who said, “He’s not even on the ballot in 46 more states.”

Ferhnstrom said they expect Ron Paul to be Romney’s chief opponent in the Nevada caucuses, and said Missouri (which holds a non-binding primary on Tuesday) will be a two-man race between Romney and Santorum, because Gingrich isn’t on the ballot there.

In case you’re wondering, the next debate is Feb. 22 in Arizona.

UPDATE VI: Citing polls showing Rick Santorum leading Romney in Missouri and Ohio, the Santorum campaign says in a press release: “Santorum is a stronger long term threat to Romney than Gingrich because he has less baggage and is simply much better liked.”

Category: Election 2012, Fear and Loathing in the Sunshine State, Florida, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum

Comments

75 Responses to “BREAKING NEWS: MITT ROMNEY WINS FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PRIMARY”

  1. ThePaganTemple
    February 1st, 2012 @ 10:47 am

    Are you kidding? Even if we retake the Senate, what does it matter if we don’t have enough votes to override a veto, or end a filibuster? Some people are saying now we’re in danger of losing the House. If that happens, our chances of retaking the Senate aren’t that great. And even if we take both, it will probably be by slim majorities, and of course it Mitt does win, there’s going to be precious little difference in him and Obama.

    It will just be David Souter style judges instead of the Bader-Ginsburgh variety. Big fucking whoop. Democrats will go back to their usual asking for ten times more than what they really want and “compromising” to get everything they really want with some bonuses. You know, just to “end the divisiveness in our great country”. And what will we get? We’ll get to keep our hunting rifles (because, you know, the founding fathers intended we have the right to hunt), but those mean old pistols they need to go.

    After all, you might be tempted to kill some poor Democrat drug addict who doesn’t know any better than to break into your house and kill and rape your wife and daughters and maybe your sons for the shits and giggles. But that’s all right, our Democrat run schools will teach our children the right way to be sexually active, so they should be able to deal with the trauma by that point.

    And this kind of shit is what we can count on not if Romney loses, but if he WINS! Why? Because assholes like this will as always worry more about keeping Democrats and brainless fucking American Idol Independents happy than they will with doing what’s right.

  2. Finrod Felagund
    February 1st, 2012 @ 10:55 am

     Sadly it wouldn’t be hardly any better if someone waved a magic wand and put Santorum in the White House.  The budget would still go to hell, people will still be unemployed, and they’ll blame Republicans for going on and on about social issues instead of fixing the damn economy.

  3. ThePaganTemple
    February 1st, 2012 @ 11:08 am

    I don’t think Santorum would have any choice but to focus on the economy if he intends to be reelected. The media is the one that’s painting him as concerned with nothing but social issues. Granted, he doesn’t help when he goes around writing WSJ articles devoted to the subject, but well that is a big part of who and what he is. But he’s actually a well rounded candidate, on social issues yes, but also the economy, and national security.

    I’m not saying he’s the best. Just that he might be the best we have left. I would vote for him, and support him on my blog. With Romney, I might not even go to the trouble of voting for him. I damn sure won’t write any blog posts defending his past record or trying to explain it or excuse it.

  4. richard mcenroe
    February 1st, 2012 @ 11:15 am

    Nah.

  5. Pathfinder's wife
    February 1st, 2012 @ 12:29 pm

    Argh, Pagan, read what I said — perhaps this will help: a free society cannot exist in a state of immorality….”a republic, if you can keep it”.  Otherwise you will wind up with merely a sham and eventually with civil discord.

    I’m not saying I agree with Santorum’s methods of trying to ensure this, but I can understand where he is coming from.  And sadly, far too many “conservatives” nowdays are just as immoral, just as selfish, as far too many “liberals”.
    Also, you cannot have a free society if the members of said society are firmly entrenched in either extreme of the opposite philosophy (which sadly, many on both sides are), and most politicians are more than willing to pander to these extremes in order to shore up support for themselves.

  6. Pathfinder's wife
    February 1st, 2012 @ 12:32 pm

    Forgiveness is one thing; support and approval is quite another.

    Are you sure you want to start Catholic bashing with me?  Because I can really give back to the idea of paganism as good as I take.

  7. Quartermaster
    February 1st, 2012 @ 12:45 pm

    I, for one, will never get used to my “friends” slipping knives between my shoulder blades.

  8. Quartermaster
    February 1st, 2012 @ 12:50 pm

    TPT, your vulgarity does you no credit, and neither does your agressive ignorance. Any reader can see you didn’t stutter, but all you did, as you usually do, is reveal your ignorance and lack of class.

  9. Quartermaster
    February 1st, 2012 @ 12:51 pm

    Did you really have to bring that up?

  10. Quartermaster
    February 1st, 2012 @ 12:55 pm

    The way in which you as fo anyone to explain the situation to you marks you as someone just looking to revile rather than seeking truth. Your last sentence merely marks you as a classless individual.

  11. Quartermaster
    February 1st, 2012 @ 12:59 pm

    We are in the boat we are in because the electorate has become immoral. If a society becomes immoral nothing stands between that society and its fall. Rome fell because people reached the point that no one would defend it, and we are headed that way ourselves.

  12. ThePaganTemple
    February 1st, 2012 @ 1:10 pm

    Who’s catholic bashing? I’m just telling it the way it is. There isn’t anybody that’s perfect, catholic or otherwise. Bash Pagans all you want, I’m a big boy, I can take it. You got something you want to get off your chest, feel free.

  13. ThePaganTemple
    February 1st, 2012 @ 1:13 pm

    What, because I pointed out that women are more like Mary Magdalene than they are the Virgin Mary, that makes me classless? Well, I guess that depends on how you look at it. If you see Mary Magdalene as purely a “whore”, I guess I can see your point. Evidently, that’s how you see her. So who is it that’s “classless”, exactly?

    I see Mary Magdalene as nothing but just another “sinner”.

    (Psssst, in case you didn’t catch on in your catechism class, being a whore is no better or worse than being any other kind of “sinner”)

  14. ThePaganTemple
    February 1st, 2012 @ 1:15 pm

    Or to put it another way, I don’t see Mary Magdalene as a “whore”, I see her as just another “sinner”, no better, and damn sure no worse, than any other “sinner”, living or dead.

    There now, does that clear that up, song of the south?

  15. ThePaganTemple
    February 1st, 2012 @ 1:28 pm

    And by the way, doesn’t a former sinner who has reformed and is saved need approval and support, or can they get along quite fine without it? Or is it just that they are as good as all the rest of us, only maybe not quite so good as the rest of us in some matters?

  16. ThePaganTemple
    February 1st, 2012 @ 1:33 pm

    I’m not so sure what this is in response to. Communitarianism again?
    Please, stop this, I’m begging you. If you want to encourage something
    like that on local community levels, or even at the individual state level, as questionable as that is, that’s one thing, but to try to enforce it on
    a federal level is where it gets dicey, and most people that talk about
    communitarianism mean just that. I want to limit the power of the federal government, not give it more.

    Number two, do you have to be solidly behind a candidate in every regard? Is it all right if I support Santorum in some ways but not in others. All the candidates I have supported, including Bachmann, including even Palin, I have parted company with on some issues.

    Finally, and this is perhaps the most pertinent point. What the hell is “extreme” about adhering to the constitution the way it is written? Because that’s what I’m advocating, and all I advocate?

  17. ThePaganTemple
    February 1st, 2012 @ 1:40 pm

    People have always been “immoral”, the only difference is we have become more openly “immoral”. What goes on behind closed doors isn’t suddenly more moral because its not flouted . The more prosperous and secure a nation becomes, the more open they get with their “immorality”. Do you want to change that? Then you have to change people’s hearts, otherwise nothing is really going to change, other than the locks on the doors. Good luck with all that. Greater minds that mine or yours have tried and failed, and for a damn good reason. We’re not qualified to pass judgment on others “immorality”. Unless of course we want to look like hypocrites. Say goodbye to Leave It To Beaver, you’re living in the Sopranos era. Deal with it.

  18. Pathfinder's wife
    February 1st, 2012 @ 4:31 pm

    That’s what I was getting at — at some level a healthy society does have a safety net (for moral and pragmatic reasons); this concept has been debased by the current welfare state (which if anything ensures and grows poverty).
    That means that the individual citizen must take it upon themselves to actively engage within the community — private charity (which has also been debased; giving to an arts fund while soup kitchens and food pantries run out of food during a down economy is hardly more charitable than endorsing the current welfare state and washing your hands of it all).

    Unfortunately our society has become so immoral, so me centered for many (on the right and the left) that many see the only way to rectify this is through government intervention — what a sad state of affairs; I don’t agree with it (as it causes more problems down the road) but I can see why some might see this as the only way to mark time until society regains its moral sense.

    And the Constitution is not extreme at all — so supporting extremes of either libertarianism or communitarianism is not being constitutional.
    The founders very correctly surmised that the balance between personal liberty and civic responsibility, between rights and obligations, would be the crux upon which the republic would stand or fall; aka. the Bill of Rights isn’t a  license to be a selfish bastard who can do anything damn thing he pleases.
    Clear as mud?

  19. Pathfinder's wife
    February 1st, 2012 @ 4:49 pm

    Then you should probably learn to embrace that sort of society(Rome during the decline and fall — which by all accounts was not pretty, nor the sort of place one would want to live in)…and kiss that Constitution that you support goodbye.

    If you give up the responsibility (not right) to make moral judgement calls (and acting upon them), then you give up any freedom of individual thought and free will.
    There is probably a post about the evils of postmodern thought here…this conversation has been a blast!

  20. Pathfinder's wife
    February 1st, 2012 @ 5:00 pm

    The core of the Mary Magdalene episode is that she was considered a “whore” (actually a woman “possessed of seven demons” or afflicted with sin) who was cleansed (redeemed if you will) by Christ’s forgiveness and exhorted to go and lead a moral life.  
    So it wasn’t a case of sinner or not sinner — there was a moral judgement.
    So being Mary Magdalene is not such an awful indictment…she was redeemed in the end.

  21. Tennwriter
    February 1st, 2012 @ 5:37 pm

    Finrod,
    Equatting the Right w/ the Left is typical Libertarian absurdity.

  22. ThePaganTemple
    February 1st, 2012 @ 6:01 pm

    Pathfinders wife-that was my point. In God’s eyes, a sinner is a sinner is a sinner. You’re either forgiven or you’re not. There are no Virgin Marys or Jesus Christs walking amongst us. Quartermaster knew damn well what I meant, but far be it that the obvious should prevent him from throwing a little hissy fit my way.

  23. ThePaganTemple
    February 1st, 2012 @ 6:08 pm

    Making individual judgment calls and raising your kids to recognize evil and sin (and making sure they avoid it to what extent you are able) is one thing, trying to empower the government to enforce morality is a different matter all together. It never works out well in the long run.

    Our societies problem is not that there is evil that exists in the world. We will always have that problem. The problem comes when we are not allowed as individuals and/or groups to judge that evil, and that evil is not just protected by the government, but even in some cases subsidized by it, while forces opposed to that evil and sin is oppressed.

    Government should stay out of such matters, which it is not qualified to judge.

  24. ThePaganTemple
    February 1st, 2012 @ 6:13 pm

    That’s why we have a Bill of Rights and Amendment process, so everyone’s rights would be recognized and protected, and so problem areas could be addressed over time. As long as that is the case, that doesn’t leave much wiggle room for selfish bastards, beyond their own basic rights. In fact, you could make the argument that constitutional protections were to a point devised with the problem of selfish bastards in mind.

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