Tuesday, February 5, 2008

HOW HARD WAS ROMNEY'S TASK?

Well, if history is any guide...VERY hard.

In 2000, George W. Bush was chosen as the nominee of the Republican Party on his first attempt. He was the incumbent re-elected governor of one of the most Republican, wealthy states in the nation, and his father and brother were both influential Republicans.

Before George W., when was the last time a Republican won the nomination on his first try? And let's leave aside Gerald Ford, who was already the incumbent President before he was the nominee.

Folks, we have to go back 44 years, to 1964--Senator Barry Goldwater, an Arizonan of a decidedly different stripe-- to find the last Republican nominee who had NOT tasted bitter defeat before finally winning the nomination.

So from the ashes of this defeat, let us carefully draw out the embers to kindle a blazing fire four years from now (and I'm very confident it will be four years, not eight). If a demagogic septuagenarian egomaniac like John McCain can do it, why not us?

Hang in there, people! I'll leave you with a little picture of another well-known Republican a few months after he was beaten for the Party's nomination. Does this man look depressed?:

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