Having defined and refined the RINO concept, the hour has come to sort out the RINO’s, if any, in the Republican fold of Presidential aspirants viz. New Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. Each seems to have carved out a niche or label, like Santorum being the Social Conservative and Ron Paul the Libertarian. We could debate whether Santorum is fiscally conservative given his many earmarks while in Congress, but relatively few are characterizing him as a RINO. Ron Paul certainly is not a RINO! And neither seems at all likely to win the Republican nomination this August.
We wish we could create a blend of the many talents and positions on the dais, like when Billy Batson shouts “SHAZAM!” to summon the wisdom, strength, stamina, power, courage, and speed of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury to become Captain Marvel. We want the oratory of Gingrich, the stature of Romney, the tenacity of Paul, and the virtue of Santorum, cape and boots optional. But we have to pick one, barring a late entry. At this point, with Santorum and Paul struggling, it’s a two man race.
Newt Gingrich’s supporters claim him to be the true Conservative and heir to Ronald Reagan’s legacy. His detractors say he’s a RINO, having committed many venal sins like sharing a couch with Nancy Pelosi. Mitt Romney’s supporters won’t put him alongside Reagan but claim he’s just as Conservative as Gingrich, in fact more so than Gingrich, oh, and more electable. His detractors say he’s a RINO, exhibit A being his signature Massachusetts health care initiative aka “RomneyCare.” Applying my standard of looking for the unforced errors, let me first look at the latter.
Many are quick to equate RomneyCare and ObamaCare, much too quick given their relative size, scope and certainly Constitutionality. Still, it does embody the personal mandate that Conservatives reject openly via lawsuits and Progressives reject surreptitiously via waivers. The question is: did Romney as Governor have much of a choice? Health care was running a deficit and the Legislature was about as Socialist as they come. He could have sat it out, vetoing the likely pure Socialist bill which no doubt would have included some tax increases, eventually getting overridden. Or he could engage to the point of minimizing the eventual damage. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here.
RomneyCare of course didn’t work, but as others have noted, those same Socialist forces made many further changes after he left office. They took pride and ownership of it then, at least until Governor Deval Patrick really messed it up by enrolling illegal aliens. The term RomneyCare wasn’t even invented until after ObamaCare came along, by which time the Massachusetts Democrats were scurrying for some cover.
Let’s consider Mr. Newt now, and his “Climate Change” ad with Nancy Pelosi. “I can’t defend it,” he said recently, characterizing it as the dumbest thing he’s done the past four years. No Republican will argue with that statement, but contrition doesn’t explain this unforced error. Vanity explains it, a personal trait that keeps showing up around his candidacy. It’s the vinegar that has spiced up many otherwise droll debates, but it has soured many other events and appearances, including some brusque, dismissive jabs at his fellow Republicans. Has he forgotten Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment? If there’s a RINO in this race, Newt Gingrich is it, but does it matter?
RINO-hunting per se in the 2012 Presidential race is pointless. The objective, for the good of the nation, must be to defeat Obama. Any of the four current candidates will be an order of magnitude better than another four, now unaccountable years of the worst President in American history. Hopefully our Republic will survive to have another election where we can afford the luxury of selecting and developing a more perfect candidate, but that’s not now. We further cannot ignore the polls that today at least exclude Santorum and Paul. We cannot overlook the repeated incidents of instability and unpredictability of Newt Gingrich, nor the difficulty of getting women to overlook his marital problems. (And they’re not wholly wrong to consider them.)
I therefore will be voting for Mitt Romney at the caucus.
Cross-posted and comments welcome at Speed Gibson.
