Is A Brokered Republican Convention Inevitable?
Friends,
I want to say right off, I won’t be taking “personal” pot shots at any political party, individual, race, creed, or gender, in expressing my thoughts. With this said, you wonder what rant is coming now? Right?
Well, after reading what I propose, read what Tom Segel says in his latest contribution below…I agree completely with what Tom says, and in a nut shell, he makes the point that the problems America is facing today is the fault of you and me.
To be up front, I oppose the current Democratic party leadership principles almost completely…in fact I can’t think of a single principle Democrat candidates for President are suggesting that I can support. It’s almost the same situation with the Republican candidate for President…too soft on major issues, a liberal tilt, and too close to those that support the Democratic principles I reject.
Tom Segel makes the point we, the American people, must change our ways and “next time do it right” when we elect political leaders. Well folks, “the next time” is coming up in November and if we don’t do it right it could cost us eight years of disaster, or worse. Your question, “what can we do? The die is cast…we have to live with the republican candidate and one of the democratic candidates for president.” Wrong for me!
For folks that believe the Clinton/Obama option is the right choice, then go for it. Neither Obama, Clinton, or McCain is right for me and I believe they’re not right for millions of other Americans. What is occurring reflects the “lesser evil” attitude as the only option. There is another option.
Now you say, as so many of you have said to me before on other issues, “what do we do?”.
Not long ago the United States Congress tried to force totally unacceptable illegal immigration legislation down the throats of the American people. This was met with an outcry of opposition from every segment of America with an anger, disgust, and rejection that rocked the legislators on their heels and in retreat. America rose up, spoke loud, clear and demanded a closed border, prosecution of lawless employers, and no amnesty or special privileges for those that break the law. (The Republican presidential candidate seems to be the only one that still doesn’t get it).We must once again come together with that same determination and resolve to do it right regarding presidential selection…the impact is potentially disastrous for America if we fail.
Question: Where do you fit in the Zogby poll below? Are you unhappy with your presidential choices? Are you willing to cast a presidential vote for someone you don”t support? Are you part of the “unhappy” group in this Zogby poll recently released?
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ZOGBY PRESS RELEASE:
“UTICA, New York - Nearly half of likely voters - 48% - are not satisfied with the current candidates for president, with Republicans and conservative voters the most unhappy about their likely candidate choices in November, a new nationwide Zogby Interactive poll shows.
In what could spell bad news for the presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, an overwhelming 86% of self-described “very conservative” voters said they are displeased with the current presidential candidates - and 65% of these voters said they are very unsatisfied. The vast majority of conservatives (76%) and Republicans (76%) also expressed significant dissatisfaction with the current candidates, as did more than half of political independents (55%).
How satisfied are you with the current candidates for president?
——————–Satisfied——–Not Satisfied——Not sure
Likely voters———-51%—————48%—————-1%
Republicans———–24%—————76%—————-<1%
Democrats————-82—————-18%—————–1%
Independents———44%—————55%—————-1%
Note: Some totals may not equal 100% due to rounding. End of poll data.
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Now, let’s draw back on what happened with the Illegal Alien Amnesty Bill and apply that outrage and impact on the president candidate question.
Based on the Zogby presentation 76% of Republicans and 55% of Independents are not satisfied with the presidential options…a huge population of America do not want what appears to be a “forced feeding” of unpalatable candidates. What will this large number of dissatisfied Americans do? Accept it or say “hell no” just as we said “hell no” to the unacceptable Illegal Immigration Amnesty Legislation? Will we continue to roll over and allow the political apparatus to “force feed” us or will we rise up make a statement, and reject political slavery?
Here’s what we can do…I’m only speaking about the Republican nominee but any American, regardless of party that is unhappy with the republican presidential choice should support what is suggested below.
Start a movement across America demanding the Republican Presidential Convention reopen the nomination process…a brokered convention if you will that will seek Godly guidance in discussing, analyzing, evaluating, and voting to accept additional presidential nominations from the floor, before considering Senator McCain as the presidential nominee. The goal should be to nominate a republican presidential candidate with conservative credentials consistent with a Reagan vision for America to become President of the United States.
Please don’t sigh and say “we can’t do that”. We can and must do this. The political apparatus is not the decision makers…we are, the voters. What the delegates do at the convention is not their will, but the will of the America people. Only a small percentage of America, a few million have said McCain is the choice…the other 250 million have not spoken. It will only take a few million of us to out number the primary votes McCain received and convince the republican apparatus a new candidate is demanded. If we want it to happen and speak loudly enough, McCain will go and a conservative will carry the republican banner in November 2008…and win the Presidency.
Tom Segel gives the details of past inaction on the part of American voters…read what he says. Do we want more of the same?
If we don’t want more of the same then all across America letters to editors, faxes to politicians, demanding convention delegates conduct a re-look, expressing the “brokered convention” idea on radio talk shows, bombarding all media with the idea, saturate the blogosphere, inundating Republican Convention delegates that McCain is unacceptable, stop sending campaign contributions to McCain and other quasi-conservatives, bombard the Republican National Committee with demands for a conservative republican nominee…all this and more. A repeat of the attitude that defeated Illegal Alien Amnesty Legislation will restore a conservative republican presidential candidate to face the democrat nominee.
Republicans need to accept the fact that with McCain as the republican nominee, there will be a democrat president elected in November, 2008. A brokered Republican Convention is the only solution.
Harry Riley, COL, USA, Ret
Thomas D. Segel
Tom@thomasdsegel.com
www.thomasdsegel.com
956 423 3126
Oil Too Expensive? You And I Are To Blame!
750 words
Harlingen, Texas, May 16, 2008: Well, my last fill-up of gas only took $60 out of my wallet. And, I still had about four gallons in the tank when I turned on the pump. It made me very angry and I made my feelings known to a lot of people. Roaring about the high price of gasoline and oil seems to be the only topic of conversation these days. You hear it at work, at home, after church and in the barbershop. It leads the nightly news, makes headlines in daily newspapers and is expressed in fearful ways by school officials, business owners and those who rely on the fuel to power their farm implements and heavy machinery.
Right now everyone is blaming the politicians for this major attack on family, city, state and national budgets. It is right to point the finger at Washington. Those who cast votes in Congress are the major culprits in this energy war. But, right next to them stand the American voters who placed these politicos in positions of power.
At the top of the list in this “blame game” are those who have insisted on voting the Democratic ticket regardless of reason or logic. What they have earned is the consequences of pandering to the liberal left. We knew we were in trouble back in 1973 with rationing, gas lines and about 30%of our oil requirements being filled by imports. Now, 35 years later we have still done nothing to improve our energy supply and our national need for imported oil has grown to more than twice the 1973 requirement.
Republicans had a chance to correct the problem back in the early 90s. They gained control of Congress in 1994 with promises made in their “Contract with America”. Then, instead of staying on mission and growing their majority, the GOP managed to give us the dalliances of Newt Gingrich, followed by the scandals involving party leaders such as Tom DeLay, Duke Cunningham, Mark Foley and Bob Ney to name a few. Added to that, a complete departure from conservative values, pork barrel spending and a mismanaged war totaled up to a stinging defeat at the ballot box and a return to Republican minority status.
If you traditionally voted the GOP ticket, you can blame yourself for failing to place quality individuals in office. Those elected managed to misuse the public trust, lost to the opposing party and ended any chance we had to move toward energy independence.
Those of you, who cast your lot with the Party of Thomas Jefferson, also deserve a major portion of the “blame pie”. Your emotion driven votes to empower obstructionists have kept us energy dependent. For more than thirty-five years Democrats have managed to torpedo any chance we had to keep our energy ship afloat. In vote after vote and bill after bill, those who lean far left of center have bent to the will of NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard), environmentalists, animal rights advocates, and other socialist driven causes to stop any attempt at drilling in national waters, Alaskan locales and other known deposit sites. They have refused to listen when our President asked them to increase our energy development and even placed him in a position where he has been begging the leaders of other countries to feed our demand for in increased oil supply.
But, oil is not the only thing the American public has voted to restrict. Voters have kept us from increasing natural gas, wind driven energy and even solar power by allowing restrictive legislation. Voters have kept nuclear power at a standstill by placing into public office politicians who voted against power plant construction. Voters have allowed litigation to stop the construction of oil refineries and coal operated power plants. Voters have placed multiple barriers in place to stop the advancement of our abundant coal supply as an alternative energy source.
The usual response to such charges is “I didn’t vote for any of those things!” But, you did really do just that. In America’s representative republic, those we place in office are charged with voting the will of their constituents. Thus, you and I are the reason oil has started robbing our nation of a prosperous future. We are also the reason alternative forms of energy have not been developed.
How do you correct the problem? You do it by using those same ballots that got us in this mess…. But, next time do it right!
Semper Fidelis Tom Segel tomsegel@sbcglobal.net