The Wimp Factor

By Bill Borst

In 1988 when George H. W. Bush was running for president, one of the derisive comments on him grew into something called the Wimp Factor.

Newsweek wanted to know if he were tough enough for the job.

Now this is an atrocious thing to even infer about a man with an impeccable record of heroism and government service. Not only was the man shot down in the Pacific but also survived a long ordeal on the open seas in a lifeboat.

The whole issue seems incredulous until one looks at it from another angle.

Newsweek was saying that Republicans were too nice...or maybe too civil.

What has become a catch phrase for President Obama has been historically a vice for Republicans, and a certain formula for political defeat.

Democrats believe Republicans are so wimpy that they counsel them on how to behave.

President Obama thinks because of Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels' intelligence, he would make a formidable opponent who could beat him in 2012.

And the Yankees let the Red Sox pick their starting pitchers!

Many Republicans will probably fall for this Obaman trap.

Most Republicans have been overly solicitous in their appearance of civility and political restraint.

It was true of H.W. and also W, as well as Republican candidates of the past, Bob Dole and most definitely John McCain.

The Republican Wimp Factor is something that has dominated the party since FDR was president.

This led to losing days of me-tooism, which made the Republicans a predictable minority party for over 40 years.

Richard Nixon broke the mold as a vice-president, but by 1971 he was a Keynesian.

Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan were the only Republicans with a radar pulse since Teddy Roosevelt.

They both had passion and the desire to return to the simpler days of the Republic.

Goldwater was demogued to death by an unscrupulous Lyndon Johnson and while Reagan saved the country from a near economic disaster, his age and his affalability dampened his last few years in office.

He fell for Democratic mendacious spending cuts and had to watch Tip O'Neill eat his jellybeans.

All Republican politicians should understand that politics is neither a science, or an art. It is neither a game nor a contest.

It is a blood sport...a war that is fought like the extreme boxing that is on cable...a combination of boxing, wrestling, street fighting and criminal assault.

Given the brutal tactics — take no prisoners of the left side of the aisle, the question always lingers — do the Republicans have the intestinal fortitude to not only fight the good fight but the winning fight?

The Democrats, on the other side, have taken their marching orders, not from Jesus, Moses, Confucius or Buddha but from Machiavelli, Rousseau, Marx, and Lenin.

Win at all costs. Winning is the only thing. And by any means necessary or available.

Politics is life and death to Democrats. For Republicans it seems like a hobby.

For Democrats big government is their life and our money is their blood supply.

Any talk of cutting their supply is likened to knocking out all of Dracula's teeth.

Democrats are willing to go to the mattresses to defend their turf, which has gotten bigger and bigger over the years.

So far, the myriad of Republican hopefuls has not excited me.

Obama's biggest obstacle for re-election has been President Obama's policies.

The only regular Republicans who have shown that they have the manhood to tackle the president have been Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin.

But they are both females who are trying to fight like men.

To win this next election, there will have to be some street fighting and rolling in the mud because that's what the other side will bring to the fight.

Republican voters will never really warm to women who fight like men.

A mud-soaked woman belongs in a bar, not on a political stage.

Palin was vilified and sullied during her run at Number #2 in 2008.

What will they do to her if she leads the ticket?

But the two of them have shown more fire and more courage than all the rest of the regular field combined.

I like Romney but he never seems to get angry. And then there is the Massachusetts Health Care thing.

I am not certain Pawlenty has a pulse.

Newt Gingrich is possible, but his virtual seduction by Bill Clinton damaged him in my eyes.

I like Huck but after reading his book, I think he has too much respect for Obama.

Let's face it, civility for Republicans has become a vice and not a virtue.

Obama only preaches it so he can get Republicans to try to act nice and not point out the Chicago con-job he has done on the country.

So far, the only man who has gone on the act has been Donald Trump.

I know that makes me sound like a member of the carnival fraternity, but I ask you, who else has gone after Obama's weaknesses in policy and background with an angry passion?

Rush Limbaugh has a rule that you can know whom the Democrats fear the most by whom they attack most fiercely.

In 2008 they came not after McCain but Palin. She was the one who excited the Republican's social conservative base...not McCain.

Who has received the early vitriol? It has been the Donald.

I watched him sit stoically through the annual White House Correspondents' dinner where Shecky Obama and his toadies tried to wipe him off the presidential map.

Do I want him as president? Not really!

But Trump has the fire in the belly, the toughness from the business world that should be good training to deal with the aroused ruling class.

I like that!

My firmest hope is that someone of the regular Republicans will copy his attack-dog style. This is what will attract the Tea Partiers, who remain the only hope for America.

If we are to survive as a viable nation, we had better throw aside the Wimp Factor.

© Bill Borst