Erick Erickson over at Red State reignited the discussion today of a brokered GOP convention. Erickson said the “sweet meteor of death” was preferable to any of the candidates running now.
I’m never one to complain about colorful language but let’s look at the issue.
There is no doubt there is a serious desire among some segments of the Republican Party for an alternative to the current crop.
First, we have Mitt Romney. Even the establishment does not want him. The only things he has going for him are a boatload of money and the claim to be the next Republican in line.
Then there is Newt Gingrich. Newt excites many people but his campaign is sinking faster than an Iranian fishing boat.
Rick Santorum is posed to have a great night tonight and may well eclipse Gingrich as the number 2 Republican. But he acts more like he is running for VP than for the top job.
Then there is Ron Paul, who may well be running this time just to have an organization in place to give to his son in 2016.
Let’s accept for a moment the idea that there are enough Republicans and conservatives out there who want someone else.
If not one of these four, then who?
Jeb Bush’s name keeps getting mentioned. If Mitt Romney is the kiss of death for the GOP, anyone named Bush is the passionate embrace of death. Ignoring the whole issue of how much of a RINO Jeb Bush is, no one with the last name Bush is going to get anywhere near the inauguration platform in January of 2013.
Mitch Daniels name is also mentioned. He has already passed once on the race. His State of the Union response was underwhelming to say the least. He is another RINO who will not excite the base.
Who would excite the base?
The only candidate that seems like he might really fire up the base is Allen West.
A couple of weeks ago, West delivered a barnburner of a speech. He said, ““We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and my dear friend the chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain’t on the table. Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America.”
Liberals were appalled. RINOs wrung their hands. Real Americans stood up and cheered.
It is hard to see how a brokered convention will happen. We haven’t had one in almost 40 years. A brokered convention assumes that a combination of Newt, Santorum and Paul stay in the race to deny Romney his majority.
If there is a brokered convention, the establishment will try to slide their new candidate in place, in lieu of Romney. The establishment favors a Jeb Bush or a Mitch Daniels.
A brokered convention is full of pitfalls, but if it looks like that maybe the case then conservatives need to plan for an alternative.
If Erick Erickson is right and a brokered convention is preferred over the current field, then perhaps it is time to start looking at who conservatives will draft. Allen West might be the choice.
The chances of a brokered convention remain slim at best. With candidates already in the race, it is hard to see an upside to a brokered convention, other than the virtue of stopping Romney. But we gain nothing with a brokered convention if we simply have another RINO shoved down our throats.
But as long as we are talking about possibilities, I would pay good money to seen Allen West go one on one with Barack Obama and I am not talking about basketball.
Tags: allen, brokered, convention, republican, west
Permalink Reply by Eugene Wakefield on 
Permalink Reply by James Schmidlin on Wow Mike, it does look like a swipe at Palin. However, by the swearing in next January West would have completed his term. Also, Ike was never a civil political figure. He never served in the Senate, he never served in the house. However, he won two huge elections. It comes down to leadership. Col. West is a leader by virtue of his military history and service. "Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. Prior to that he was a five-star general in the United States Army." wiki
Permalink Reply by Nancy Oliver on The size of delegations to the Republican National Convention are d...etermined by Rule 13 of the party’s national rules. The composition of the individual state and territory delegations is determined by the bylaws of their respective state and territory parties. Rather than map it all out here...I will use Texas as an example:
(based on the current political makeup and not counting additional delegates due to the intervening Census; Texas is a GOP stronghold): Texas is allowed 10 delegates under the at-large rule. The chairperson of the Texas GOP, the state national committeeman, and the state national committeewoman counts as one delegate each, for a total of three delegates. Texas has 32 members in the House of Representatives; thus, Texas is allowed 96 delegates (32 * 3) under the House membership rule. As John McCain carried Texas in the 2008 United States Presidential Election, and as Texas has 34 electors (32 House members plus its two Senators), Texas is allowed 4.5 delegates under the at-large provision plus an additional 20.4 delegates (34 * 60%), for a total of 24.9 (4.5 + 20.4), rounded upward to 25 delegates. Texas is allowed the following additional delegates as follows: One additional delegate as the current Governor of Texas (Rick Perry) is Republican. Of the 32 members of the House, 20 are Republicans; thus, one additional delegate under this provision. As both houses of the Texas Legislature are controlled by the GOP (77-73 in the Texas House of Representatives and 19-12 in the Texas Senate) and both chambers are presided over by a Republican (Joe Straus as the Speaker of the House and David Dewhurst as Lieutenant Governor, which presides over the Senate), two additional delegates (one for having any chamber meeting the criteria, and one additional for having both chambers meet the criteria). As both United States Senators from Texas are Republicans (Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn), and as both have been elected within the past six years, two additional delegates. The Texas delegation would thus consist of 10 + 3 + 96 + 25 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 = 140 members."
Permalink Reply by Norman Zink on Just watch the RNC trash Rule 13, and change it according to their whim. Nice breakdown.
Permalink Reply by DianaS on Now this looks like Al Sharpton's, Math Made Easy, the same one they used to run the budget numbers and, the unemployment numbers. LOL Sorry, just had to laugh at something as, nothing is very funny to me these days.
Permalink Reply by Vivian Hackler on Not being familiar with the way Republican candidate is chosen, how could we get West on the ticket? I would hate to see Obama win because none of our candidates are electable....
Permalink Reply by Dean Da Costa on Look... if we do not elect the BEST person as president we will NEVER have another election for president again (short of civil war). The US Constitution has already been voided out by NDAA and the Patriot Act. All that is lacking is implementation of every aspect of NDAA which will take less than 2 years to do. Implementation in full is only held back now to prevent a certain civil war. Looking at the current candidates Ron Paul is the only one in opposition to it and the Patriot Act. To think there is any hope of having a country left to fight for in 2016 should Obama get re-elected or Romney, Gingrich or Santorum get elected is plain wishful thinking. Ron Paul is running to change the way the republican party operates. He is running to save this country. Look back at what he said during the early 90's. Look back at what he said in congress 3 days before Clinton's impeachment proceedings. Look back at what he said prior to 9/11. You see that he not only was accurate in his assessment of how wrong our economic policies were but how wrong our foreign policies were. Obama, Romney and Gingrich are backed by the same entities and special interests. People need to quit thinking along "party" lines and vote as our founding fathers would have. Based on individual merits. Our founders were dead set against political parties and against corporations being involved in the political process. They characterized each as anti-freedom and anti-American yet both main parties have embraced the very practices that our founders warned against. No there is only one candidate running that both has a chance and has this country at heart. That is Ron Paul.
Permalink Reply by Norman Zink on Paul is an unelectable, has been hack with racist leanings. You are one of his cultists.
Permalink Reply by Donald Mack Flippin on Judson,
Now you're talking! There are other conservatives out there, but Allen West is top gun!
All we really need to do is make certain that this whole thing becomes a brokered
convention. How do we do that? Namely, if Ron Paul is still in the race when Texas
gets to vote, I'm thinking about casting my vote in that direction.
Stupid?? Hell, no! I don't want to see Rmoney (I like that spelling) wending up with
enough votes to take the nomination, and, never fear, I certainly don't want to see that
brain dead isolationist winning the nomination. I WANT A BROKERED CONVENTION,
and I want to see Allen West stand up and have his say. That man can get us turned
around (I believe), and none of the present pack who has the punch to win can do that.
Go, brokered convention! Go, Allen West!
Semper Fi!
Permalink Reply by Edward M. Plitt on I will vote for Colonel West. Hell yes!
Permalink Reply by Larry W. Emory on Judson,
If it would help, I would carry West to Washington on my back, but that is also a slim possiblity. I don't see any LEGAL way to get anyone into the race at this time. I can see why the turnout is low. Like me people are very discouraged with the direction of these primaries. We do need to think out of the box.
Permalink Reply by Donald Mack Flippin on Larry,
Maybe what we need to do is have about two million conservatives show up at the convention in
Tampa. Two million people screaming, "Allen West!!!" Now, buddy, that would get the attention
of the RINOs and the stinking establishment! If we can get to a brokered convention, I will definitely
be willing to drive to Tampa (from Texas), and, sharing gas, I'll take three conservatives with me.
What say?
Semper Fi!
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