Okay, that is not really fair to Romney, but he is lookin’ good. But he really does not seem to have an original thought. Look at his concession (for good) speech. Check out the video of it as well.
“In this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”
“In this time of war I feel I have to now stand aside for our party and for our country.”
“But I agree with him [McCain] on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Osama bin Laden, and I agree with him on eliminating al Qaeda and terror worldwide,”
“One of the things we believe in is that we cannot allow the next President of the United States to retreat in the face of evil extremism.”
Catch the drift? I think he is saying something like: Democrats will let Osama bin Laden get a green card to drive a taxi in New York.
Oh wait, sorry! Wrong guy. I was channeling Lou Dobbs. No, Romney is spewing the garbage that wanting to end the losing war in Iraq will somehow let terrorism flourish all over the world.
This will be the focal talking point of the Republicans this fall, as it was in ‘04, when everything sucked and the only thing they could point to is that they invaded two countries. McCain is, as Pat Robertson would say, Bush on steroids. The Republican Party knows full well that they will have nothing other than machismo to run on this year, especially since the economy will be in the tank by then. Romney is simply framing the issue early so everyone gets on the same page.
Listen to his logic - My being in the race any longer will aid terrorism, so I am going to quit.
Not - ‘I cannot win’. No - ‘the public has spoken’. Nope, just - ‘I will quit so the terrorists cannot win’.
If this does not frame the debate for the fall I do not know what will. Bush did the same thing in his SOTU, but added tax subsidies for the corporate and wealth and cutting government spending on poor people. Make no mistake, the refrain of ‘Democrats will let terrorists kill your kids’ will ring loudly this summer and fall, and if the Democrats are not ready to take this head on, watch the number of people who think we should leave Iraq shrink dramatically.