Don’t Cry For Me Argentina!
Posted By Dutch on June 25, 2009
That seems a more fitting title than “They call the end of my career Maria.”
Gov. Sanford just bit the dust as a presidential hopeful in 2012. This falls on the heels of Senator John Ensign confessing his affair, under threat of blackmail.
In spite of the initial reaction of disappointment concerning these two individuals, there is a silver lining. We have just pared the field of Republican Presidential candidates back by two. Last time, we had eight candidates battling for the nomination. Now, we have reduced that number, thus allowing more opportunity for the remaining candidates to make their case.
One could argue that the large field actually played into Senator McCain’s hand in that he had far greater name recognition and thus was able to prevail over the din of noise created by too much bickering among the lesser-known candidates. Who really cared what Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, or Duncan Hunter said. The media focused only upon the top three (McCain, Romney, Huckabee) and ignored the rest. Should any of these candidates decide to run again in 2012, they may fair much better in a smaller field.
While the MSM sharpens their spears for another conservative hunting expedition, the lack of such vetting towards the Democratic Party actually works to the Republican Party’s favor. When the MSM were the only game in town, they could control the message and protect Democratic candidates from all but the most scurrilous scandals. This is no longer the case. Their most recent attempt, shielding Senator Edwards, became a huge embarrassment, as the tabloid, National Enquirer, not only beat them to the story, it was the only news outlet (including FOX News) to continue with the story for over 9 months.
(Just as an aside, now that analog TV is gone, more people than ever before in rural areas, where standard transmission is weak at best, will turn to satellite TV and have the opportunity to watch FOX News and its entertainer/hosts. Along with satellite TV will come greater Internet access, as well, spreading the news about Obama’s over-reach into their lives via Health Care, Bank Finance, Automobile manufacturing, etc. Independents and Democrats in fly-over country will have greater “balance” in the news they receive.)
The Obama campaign, with help from Democratic operatives, thwarted the ability to vet him properly by going behind the scenes and wiping out his history. We have no samples of his writing, papers, personal history, birth records, college records, SAT scores, grades, anything! It was wiped clean. While it is clearly too late to worry about this with Obama, someone in the Republican party needs to make sure that this never happens again with any future Democratic candidate. (Ask Michael Steele about having his credit card history hacked or Jack Ryan about the “security” of court-sealed child custody records.)
There’s an old expression, “That which does not kill you, makes you stronger.” This is the best hope that we Republicans can take to heart. Democrats cannot withstand such scrutiny. Such scrutiny severely damaged Kerry’s campaign (Swift-boat veterans). It would have hurt Obama’s campaign had the MSM not “white-washed” his few remaining stains (was that racist to say that?), e.g. opposition to “born alive act” in Illinois Legislature, association with domestic terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorn, etc.
So, bring it on! Let’s weed out the weak, and only those with genuine character AND presidential credentials will remain. We may not have a Reagan waiting in the wings for 2012, but a well-vetted, conservative candidate may still unseat a Jimmy-Carteresque President presiding over the worst economy in decades. (The details of that prediction, economic collapse, will have to wait for another day.)
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