{"id":4981,"date":"2012-01-10T01:32:34","date_gmt":"2012-01-10T06:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buchanan.org\/blog\/?p=4981"},"modified":"2012-01-10T01:32:34","modified_gmt":"2012-01-10T06:32:34","slug":"gop-war-of-all-against-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buchanan.org\/blog\/gop-war-of-all-against-all-4981","title":{"rendered":"GOP War of All Against All?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There still exists a possibility that, come Jan. 20, 2013, we could have a Republican<\/strong> Senate and House, and a Republican<\/strong> president.<\/p>\n

But there is also a possibility that a Goldwater-Rockefeller-type family bloodletting could sunder the party and kick it all away.<\/p>\n

America is bored with Barack Obama. The young and the minorities are still with him but exhibit none of the excitement or enthusiasm of 2008.<\/p>\n

Moreover, we have been through three years of 23-25 million unemployed or underemployed. Our national debt is now larger than the national economy, approaching Italian proportions. The class warfare rhetoric is beginning to grate. A huge majority believes the nation is on the wrong course.<\/p>\n

Who wants four more years of this?<\/p>\n

Democratic hopes for 2012 hence hinge on that party’s ability to portray the Republican<\/strong> alternative as unacceptable if not intolerable. And the Republicans have begun to play into that script.<\/p>\n

The GOP<\/strong> field of candidates suddenly seems headed to a finale that will call to mind the last scene of Hamlet, the dead and dying everywhere, but no Fortinbras to restore order in the house.<\/p>\n

In the Sunday debate, Jon Huntsman accused Mitt Romney of virtually questioning his patriotism, when Mitt asked how he could serve as Obama’s man in Beijing and be a credible opponent of Obama.<\/p>\n

“This nation is divided … because of attitudes like that,” said Huntsman.<\/p>\n

Newt Gingrich, who promised in Iowa not to go negative, now calls Mitt a liar. A super-PAC<\/strong> supporting Newt is about to paint Mitt as a Bain Capital corporate predator, a Gordon Gecko whose modus operandi was to swoop down on troubled companies, loot them, fire workers, leave a skeleton crew and move on.<\/p>\n

Newt’s bitterness is understandable.<\/p>\n

A month ago, he was surging. He had opened up a lead in national polls, moved ahead in Iowa, South Carolina and Florida, and, with the backing of the Manchester Union-Leader, was closing in on Mitt in New Hampshire<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

From his crisp debate performances, Newt had steadily risen from his disastrous debut, while one after another of his rivals — Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain — had taken the lead and lost it.<\/p>\n

Newt had engineered a spectacular comeback, seemingly peaking at exactly the right moment, only weeks before the Iowa caucuses.<\/p>\n

Came then the Iowa blitz, round-the-clock air strikes from a Romney super-PAC<\/strong>. Millions were dumped into attack ads portraying Newt as a Beltway bandit who had exploited his speaker’s ties to enrich himself, pocketing $1.6 million from Freddie Mac and millions more from Big Pharma to promote the Bush prescription drug benefit for seniors, the largest unfunded entitlement program of the century.<\/p>\n

After weeks of unreturned fire, Newt’s poll numbers had been cut in half. He finished a distant fourth in Iowa. Having come back from the dead once in this primary season, it is hard to see how he resurrects himself a second time, given the depth of his fall, his seemingly uncontrollable anger and the little time he has left.<\/p>\n

Five weeks ago, Newt looked like the GOP<\/strong> nominee. Now, his political career seems about over. Hence the desire for revenge. And with his friend Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson dumping $5 million into a super-PAC<\/strong> for Newt, his allies have the resources to exact retribution on Mitt for what Mitt’s friends did to Newt.<\/p>\n

Nor is this the only bad blood.<\/p>\n

In Iowa, Ron Paul’s ads charged Newt with “serial hypocrisy” for claiming to be a conservative but leaving Congress to make millions working the system. In New Hampshire<\/strong>, Paul escalated, calling Newt a “chicken hawk” who clamors for war on Iran but ducked service when he could have gone and fought during Vietnam.<\/p>\n

Newt has said that, should Paul become the nominee, he, Newt, could neither endorse nor vote for him. Paul’s supporters would reciprocate, were Newt to become the nominee.<\/p>\n

Paul’s ads also charge Rick Santorum with being a “corrupt” politician who exploited his 12 years of Senate service to make millions on K Street.<\/p>\n

Santorum’s reply: “Ron Paul is disgusting.”<\/p>\n

The Republican<\/strong> candidates have gone beyond challenging each other’s records and positions to impugning their character.<\/p>\n

Sunday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Romney surrogate, directly questioned Huntsman’s “integrity,” implying he had plotted his presidential campaign against Obama while serving as Obama’s man in Beijing.<\/p>\n

He had taken the king’s shilling and then sought to dethrone the king.<\/p>\n

Such wounds take time to heal. Some never do, and some will not be closed before the Republican<\/strong> convention opens in Tampa, Fla.<\/p>\n

Then there are the policy divides. Paul may well run second to Romney in delegates and demand that his ideas — shutting U.S. military bases overseas, downsizing the American empire, getting a declaration of war from Congress before any attack on Iran — be written into the platform.<\/p>\n

How will a hawkish Republican<\/strong> majority finesse that one?<\/p>\n

To bring this crowd together at Tampa, the GOP<\/strong> nominee may need the diplomatic skills of a Talleyrand or Metternich. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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There still exists a possibility that, come Jan. 20, 2013, we could have a Republican Senate and House, and a Republican president. But there is also a possibility that a Goldwater-Rockefeller-type family bloodletting could sunder the party and kick it all away. America is bored with Barack Obama. The young … <\/p>\n

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