Dear Fellow TEA Party Voters:
As I know you’re all acutely aware, the 2012 New Hampshire Primary is coming up quickly. With those ballots, we will cast our votes for the contender we believe is best suited for the Republican Party’s nomination as candidate for President of the United States.
We all have one singular goal: defeating the re-election of President Barack Obama in November of 2012. Everything we do must be focused on that.
I believe that former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said it best today while speaking at a TEA Party rally in Manchester, NH:
“It’s media-incited internal squabbles, unfortunately, and we can nip some of that in the bud right here and right now because we’ve got a lot of work to do, constitutionalists. Our challenges today are too great. We simply don’t have time to be bogged down in internal conflicts and friendly-fire conflicts.”
She’s right. Our challenges today are too great and we really don’t have the time to be caught in the quagmire of all this petty bickering between which candidate is going to represent us best, which one is the better Constitutionalist or which one is conservative enough.
Let’s be honest: the truth is that the next President of the United States will likely not be sympathetic to TEA Party interests. Why do I say that? Well, let’s look at the people running:
- Rick Perry can win the nomination, but he isn’t exactly a close friend of the TEA Party.
- Mitt Romney can win and now wants to be friends, but the TEA Party wants little to do with him.
- Michele Bachmann may be a friend of the TEA Party, but she isn’t running in New Hampshire and she’s not going to be President.
- Rick Santorum is likely TEA Party sympathetic on some level, but he’s not polling well.
- Hermain Cain has no shot at winning New Hampshire or the nomination.
- Jon Huntsman won’t be a TEA Party darling anytime soon, especially not when he believes health care is a “right.”
- Sarah Palin may be a TEA favorite, but she’s not running yet and, if she does, it’s not certain she could win. She has high unfavorable ratings in her own party, and that’s not a recipe of success.
- Newt Gingrich is probably the only person more hated than Palin. To say he’s got no shot is a gross understatement.
- Thaddeus McCotter will most likely be at the GOP Convention as a delegate.
- Buddy Roemer. Who? America’s next President will not be one who calls himself “Buddy,” I can tell you that.
- Gary Johnson is probably the only contender with a worse chance than Roemer.
Which leaves us with the favorite candidate of many TEA Party folks: Texas Congressman Dr. Ron Paul.
I’m always astounded that Ron Paul is the choice of those who decry “politics as usual” in Washington when the good doctor has been in Congress for over 20 years. Yes…he is definitely known as “Dr. No” for having voted against every single tax increase during his time in Congress (among other reasons), however Paul also:
- …believes we should abolish the Justice Department, ATF and other Federal law enforcement agencies as well as do away with the notion of “federal crimes” (something he told me personally in 2007).
- …thinks we should let Iran have nuclear weapons because their neighbors all do.
- …thinks that 9/11 should be re-investigated to see what involvement the United States Government had in the events of that day.
- …published a newsletter that was critical of blacks and gays.
- …refuses to call himself an isolationist yet his views of “non-interference” essentially isolate America from the rest of the world.
I will grant that Dr. Paul is the best Constitutionalist in Washington today. His knowledge of this nation’s history is unparalleled among his peers in the Capitol. That said, he historically and consistently polls at 10% or lower in New Hampshire and that’s not going to win you the nomination and it’s certainly not going to beat Barack Obama.
Realistically and statistically, the numbers and the ability to run the gauntlet just aren’t there with Ron Paul.
(Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I freely admit that I voted for Mitt Romney in 2008. Partly because I wanted his business experience in Washington and partly because he was not named John McCain. To date, I have not selected the candidate for whom I will cast my vote and may not until I actually step into the voting booth. While I voted for Romney once before, I have not pledged my vote to him in this contest.)
That’s why I say the person who wins the nomination of the GOP will most likely not fall in line with the TEA Party–but that really shouldn’t be a shock to anyone. People say the TEA Party will have an impact in this coming 2012 election and I still believe that’s true.
To advance the agenda we all prefer, we have to continue to work on putting as many people in Congress as possible who are sympathetic to the TEA Party agenda.
The change that occurs in this country rarely starts at the White House. It comes from Capitol Hill and goes to the White House for the President’s signature. Congress is where the real source of power is in DC for advocating change on a large scale. Even if the TEA Party had an ally in the White House, it wouldn’t mean much without a Congress to work with.
We can’t be focused on that or the goal of defeating Obama and the Liberal agenda if we’re constantly fighting with ourselves. Whether it’s online sniping at one another or the war of words in the recent move to oust the State GOP Chair in New Hampshire, it’s dividing and conquering us far more efficiently than any Democrat could ever do.
The phrase has become somewhat hackneyed over the last few decades, but this truly is the most important election in our lifetimes and the future of America truly is at stake. This isn’t the time for name calling or arguments over which candidate or candidate’s supporter is or isn’t a Neo-Con or RINO.
We just don’t have time for this pettiness. It’s time to get this country back on track to greatness. We have to move forward. We have to beat Obama, no matter what.
Thanks for listening,
William Smith
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