Time to take a side

As things now stand in the Republican primary Mitt Romney leads with a surging Rick Santorum trailing by a small margin and Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul fighting for third place.  Huntsman and Perry are lagging so far behind that neither of them is a serious factor.  Herman Cain and Michelle Bachmann have withdrawn.

It is time now to take a stand for a candidate.  With Cain and Bachmann out of the race the only serious conservative is Santorum.  Yes, I know that Perry is conservative in many ways but the fact is that the only way you win statewide office in Texas is by pandering to Mexicans.

The issue of amnesty for illegal aliens (mostly Mexicans) is critically important to the survival of the United States as a free and prosperous nation.  I don't want to have to wage another gigantic battle over amnesty with a Republican president like we had to do with George W Bush.  So that simply disqualifies Perry from consideration.  The issue is just too important to take a chance on.

Gingrich might be conservative today, but he will not necessarily be one tomorrow.  If the wind blows right Newt will run to the right but if the wind blows to the left he will run to the left.  He whored himself out to Freddie Mac (and that is the only fair term for what he did), he swallowed the global warming hoax hook line and sinker when it seemed that was the wave of the future and he'll trash any fellow Republican from Rush Limbaugh to Ronald Reagan if he sees an advantage in doing so.  Newt is a preening narcissist of a magnitude that almost matches Barack Obama and he has an ego the size of Mt. Rushmore (upon whose side he believes his face belongs).  And before we leave the subject of Newt we should also take note of the fact that what we have seen of the current Mrs. Gingrich suggests that if she were to become the First Lady she would combine the worst aspects of Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama.  While this alone would not disqualify Mr. Gingrich from consideration when taken with his other negatives it becomes clear that he is this season's turd in the GOP's punchbowl.

And Ron Paul?  Please, get serious.  No average American who shed a tear wile watching Schindler's List or reading The Diary of Ann Frank is going to vote for a candidate who favors throwing Israel under the bus (or under the treads of a Syrian T-80).  This goes double if that candidate also has no problem with lunatic Twelvers getting nuclear weapons to play with.

Mitt Romney is a liberal in every way other than fiscal policy.  Mitt will tell voters whatever they want to hear but when he holds office he will move to the left.  All we really need to know about him is that he is the choice of the RINO establishment.  A fact proven by John McCain's endorsement.

So there just isn't a conservative in the race now other than Rick Santorum.  Now I do realize that Santorum isn't perfect.  He is too enamored of George W Bush style "compassionate conservationism" for my tastes.  However that is about the only downside to him that I'm aware of.

Against that tendency to think that government ought to "help people" by throwing taxpayer money at them - different from the modern "progressive" idea that government ought to "help people" by throwing taxpayer money at them while micromanaging their lives in a way that Stalin could only dream of - there are Mr. Santorum's many strengths.

Chief among them his clear understanding of the civilizational struggle the West is engaged in against militant Islam.  Another of Santorum's strengths is his understanding of the fact that the foundation upon which both freedom and prosperity are built is morality.  Mr. Santorum understands, like the Founding Fathers, that we cannot  achieve and maintain either wealth or liberty unless we are a virtuous people.

Santorum has a proven ability to appeal to middle class voters even in areas which are not strongly supportive of the GOP and do it without adopting left-wing positions.  Unlike other Northeastern Republicans like Giuliani in New York, Christie in New Jersey and Romney in Massachusetts Mr. Santorum gets blue state votes while championing red state policies.  

Obama has handed the GOP a magnificent opportunity.  By his conduct in office he has given his opponent in the upcoming election the closest thing to a sure thing since the days of Nixon's Watergate and Carter's malaise.  Since we really don't have to worry all that much about "electability" this time around (53-56% of the American people are going to do exactly what I am going to do on election day - walk into the voting booth and pull the lever for whoever is running against Obama) we have the chance to pick the person who will be the best president, not just the best candidate. 

Given the people who have chosen to run this time around Rick Santorum is the man who would make the best president and conservatives should stop holding out hope that our dream candidate (whoever that happens to be) will come forward and take the nomination in a brokered convention.  Neither Sarah Palin nor Marco Rubio nor [insert name here] is going to emerge from the proverbial smoke filled room to become the next Ronald Reagan. 

Rick Santorum is a conservative and he absolutely can beat Barack Obama.  Republicans should unite behind him now or else we face a high probability that we will be saddled with John McCain II in the upcoming election.