Convention Fiction

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.