Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I have predicted from the very beginning that Willard "Mittens" Romney will never be the Tea-Publican Party nominee for president in September. For more than a year Tea-Publicans have been in search of the "Not-the-Romney" candidate to fall in love with, and there have been many infatuations and flirtations along the way with possible suitors.
Morevoer, Mittens' negatives are higher than his positives in poll after poll among Tea-Publican voters. As I have said before, for Tea-Publicans this is like being told that they have to go to their prom with their creepy cousin. There is no way that the GOP is going to nominate someone so universally disliked by Tea-Publican voters to be their nominee. That's insane, isn't it?
Well, I am willing to concede that my prediction could possibly be wrong -- it's still a long road to Tampa in September, and anything can happen -- but the possibility that the GOP will do something so insane as to nominate someone universally disliked by Tea-Publican voters to be their nominee became more of a likelihood today.
The last "Not-the-Romney" candidate standing, Rick "man on dog" Santorum, suspended his campaign today, clearing the path to the GOP nomination for Willard "Mittens" Romney. The lack of any sense of excitement and enthusiasm among Tea-Publicans about this prospect speaks volumes.
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post has the best write-up of Santorum's withdrawal today. A surrender in Gettysburg:
Three weeks ago, Rick Santorum chose this Civil War town to give a defiant speech about his need to stay in the presidential race, linking his struggle against Mitt Romney to “the things that the people of this battlefield just down the road fought for.”
Recalling the blood shed at Gettysburg, he exhorted more than 1,000 supporters: “That’s why we must go out and fight this fight.”
But if Santorum thought he was George Meade rallying the Union forces, he turned out to be leading Pickett’s charge — the disastrous Confederate offensive here at which Gen. George Pickett lost half of his division and the war turned against the South.
After calling off his first two appearances Tuesday, Santorum rolled into the Gettysburg Hotel — the same spot where he gave his Gettysburg Address three weeks ago — for what the campaign had said in a Facebook posting would be a “Rally for Rick.” This time, however, he was bumped from the ballroom by a convention of district attorneys and had to settle for a small conference room with seats for 20 reporters.
Even in defeat, Santorum sounded defiant, not even mentioning Romney in his 15-minute speech. “We made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race for us is over for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today, we are not done fighting,” he announced, standing with some family members in front of a wrinkled American flag (an aide brought an iron, but there hadn’t been enough time to use it).
* * *
But for all the tough talk, Santorum’s once-fiery presidential bid went out like a candle Tuesday here in his home state.
* * *
Although he faced defeat in Pennsylvania’s April 24 primary, Santorum was disinclined to listen — right up until the time he took the stage Tuesday afternoon at a lectern still bearing his “Join the Fight” slogan.
* * *
The closest he came to supporting Romney was a vow to “make sure we defeat Barack Obama.” (He ignored shouted questions about whether he would endorse Romney.)
With his trademark bravado, he boasted of accomplishing “things that no political expert would have ever expected.” And he compared himself to another politician who once visited Gettysburg. “What I tried to bring to the battle was what Abraham Lincoln brought to this battlefield back in 1863, November 19th,” Santorum said. “He talked about this country being conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
Yes, Santorum, like Lincoln, spoke at Gettysburg. But it’s a safe bet that the world will little note nor long remember Santorum’s version.
Well said, Dana, well said.
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