I HAVE A SUGGESTION….

What I propose here, is that we use today as being the first day of the rest of the primary season. We put all of the nastiness behind us, lose the temptation to point out all of the faults of the different GOP candidates and focus all of our attention on what it is that Barry "Almighty" has done to this country. As was said at one of the debates very early on, any one of the individuals running for the Republican nomination would be far batter than another four years of Barry "Almighty." It's time that the candidates demonstrate a little more adult behavior and a little less of the playground, my dad can beat up your dad, antics that we have seen far too much of especially from candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich who have been going at each other tooth and nail. You know, what we need to be doing is to put the country first.



So like many in the GOP I find myself beginning to worry that all of this mud slinging might be going more than just a little too far, and doing far more harm than any good. I fear what our candidates might really be doing here is nothing more than to provide Barry "Almighty" with some additional ammunition. In just the past week or so, we had Gov. Romney trash-talking Gingrich for weak debate performances and former Speaker Gingrich accusing his rival of insulting Jews and Catholics. Come on guys, is this really the best we can do? Really? We saw it getting a little feisty in South Carolina, and in Florida during the week leading up to the election things really got a little nasty as they deteriorated from just being feisty to becoming absolutely primal. Such juvenile behavior is not the least bit helpful to our general election chances.


I suppose it's fair to say that when this whole process first began Republicans wanted to be able to find out who it was that would be the fighter that we so desperately need and who would be willing to take it to Barry. So there was a certain amount of leeway provided to the candidates in that endeavor, but I think as the campaign has progressed things have gotten a little out of control, to the point where I wonder if the candidates themselves have lost sight of what the ultimate goal is here, which is to make sure Barry does not get another four years. I think it very safe to say that we've seen enough to figure out that they’re all tough enough and we're now well past the time for turning back to the issues. It's obvious that we have a president that has absolutely no record on which he can run, so that's what we need to be focusing our attention on!


And I don't seem to be the only one concerned with how things are progressing. Former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie is concerned as well. “I do think there is concern amongst a lot of Republicans that the nature of this debate has become counterproductive,” he told Politico. “I don’t think it’s something that won’t be overcome, but I’d say there’s frustration that [the campaign] is not more focused on the issues.” Even the normally feisty Sarah Palin, who while she favors an extended contest, has seen enough of such sophomoric goings on. “It diminishes the energy headed into the general,” she told Fox News, saying the “process hasn’t been attractive to the electorate.” What remains to be seen here is, is if the candidates are aware of the dangers of going too far or are they simply determined to win no matter what the ultimate cost.


I suppose they would say that, yes, they do. Gingrich officials say they understand it’s imperative to offer a “solutions-oriented” message and promise their man will deliver a group of speeches in February outlining exactly what he’d do as president. Gingrich began that outline Tuesday night, detailing what he’d do on his first day in office. The list includes overturning the healthcare reform law and the financial reform law implemented in 2010. And in an effort at conciliation Tuesday night, Romney said, “A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us, and we will win.” As for Santorum, “We didn’t get into the melee of the negativism,” he said Tuesday night. “What we saw in the last few weeks and in the state of Florida is not something that’s going to help us and win this election. America does not want to get into a mud-wrestling match."


But it will be difficult for Gingrich and Romney to resist the temptation to attack each other again with the potential of resulting in a kind of toxic catch 22. We saw where Romney eased his assault against Gingrich after the New Hampshire primary, and the result wasn’t pretty, at least for Romeny. Gingrich cleaned his clock in the South Carolina primary. And then Gingrich beat Romney among Republicans in Florida who are very conservative and strongly support the Tea Party movement, which then gives the former House speaker incentive to stay on the offensive against Romney. So round and round we'll continue to go until we've accomplished nothing more than Barry being able to coast to re-election while we all stand around scratching our heads wondering what the hell happened. Is that really how we want this thing to end?