Free Republic's Jim Robinson Makes the Turn

Toward Romney, which is a necessary evil at this point.  He’s not all the way there yet, but he will be soon.  Watch this space:

In Massachusetts, [Mitt Romney] undeniably championed abortion, gay rights, global warming, gun control, big government statist mandated/socialized health care programs, liberal judges, TARP, bailouts, stimulus spending, debt limit increases, etc, and even though he’s recently claimed a complete reversal in political beliefs and no longer despises pro-life conservatives or the time of Reagan-Bush, I still don’t trust him. He still stubbornly holds on to some of his statist beliefs, like global warming, gays in the military, RomneyCare, stimulus spending, etc, so there is no way I can vote for him or join Cain, Perry, Bachmann, Newt or any others who are endorsing him. But I will not act on my prior promises that I would actively campaign against him if he wins the nomination. Our combined movement is already torn and splintered and is going to have to be mended if we’re going to have any impact whatsoever against the liberal/progressives and statists after the election. To that end I propose a TRUCE among our conservative forces during the remainder of this election cycle.

— via Frank discussion re our loss to Obama/Romney and the future direction of FR and tea party movement

[pullquote]only a fool (like John Boehner) would admit it[/pullquote]I am not criticizing — quite the opposite.  I fully support what I perceive to be Jim’s initial position, which was that even if he saw a possibility of supporting Romney later in the cycle, only a fool (like John Boehner) would admit it up front.  You cannot negotiate with your bottom line in view, and you cannot bluff with your heart on your sleeve.

[pullquote]how that hurts to admit[/pullquote]I fully support Jim’s move to consolidate the base, and I expect he will go further in a while.  I will support him there too, and not only because I am already beyond neutrality to the disaster Romney, but I actively support him now.  Oh, how that hurts to admit.  But I am out of the influence by resistance business.  My next target is not defeating Romney, at which I was not successful, but defeating Obama, at which I must not fail.

(See Tea Party Strategy 2012)

I respect those who are still die-hard for beating Romney, but that is yesterday’s fight. The danger is not in seeming inconsistent–trust me; we left marks all over that Romney fellow, and he will not forget us.  Maybe next time we will unseat him like we are about to do to Lugar, and a number of other RINOs.  And this is the fight for today: punish RINOs in the House and especially Lugar in the Senate.  Tomorrow’s fight is back to the White House to get Obama out of my chair.

[pullquote]their friends could use the help[/pullquote]Those who still toil in the fields of Newt are at great risk of becoming irrelevant, the one thing they must not become.  They poke and stab at the bodies of friends and enemies alike from a long-finished battle, while their friends could use the help a valley away, where the fight is now.

[pullquote]to engage on the next fight, disengage from the previous[/pullquote]Jim at Free Republic did the right thing, and must pull his readership back together to allow Free Republic to become once more the hammer of the right.  He could stand on the conservative Jihad, stabbing at thee from the heart of Hell etc etc, but the fact is, Freepers need to engage on the next fight, and in order to do that–they must disengage from the previous.

Good luck, Jim.  Good job.  I support you one hundred percent.

The black ship on the right turns first, and the one with the flag goes last. By the time they have all turned, they are where the grey ships are.

Finally, a note about my phrase “making the turn”.  When maneuvering a formation of ships, there is a method to turn a line abreast sailing one direction to sail another direction without having to have some ships slow and some speed up,  an agony and a hazard.  Instead, the ship furthest from the new direction ducks behind the rest, and as the sail on their original course, he hits the new course, and opens up room behind the withdrawing remaining ships.  When there is room to go, the next furthest ship turns behind the remainder.  And Voila!  he rolls out of his turn just abreast of the first ship.

[pullquote]self-organizing the movements of individuals[/pullquote]In my ship-driving days, this was one of my favorite discoveries.  An elegant solution to a vexing problem of self-organizing the movements of individuals with one goal toward a completely separate goal.  So I am not alarmed that we are making the turn at different times.  I will not criticize those who turned before me as sell-outs, nor those who delay as hopeless, but assume that most everybody will get the turn done at the right time for them.

Well what else would you have people do?