The GOP savior prophesied by conservatives will not run for president

Posted by AzBluemeanie:

For weeks now conservative media villagers and Beltway bloviators, as well as GOP politicos, have been speculating about the weak GOP presidential candidate field and have been in search of a savior (Jesus is unavailable) that the party can rally behind. It's their cult of personality thing – their Saint Ronnie Reagan idol fixation (never mind those First and Second Commandments).

Speculation settled upon George W. Bush's former Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director, Mitch Daniels, currently Governor of Indiana. No, really. Their savior was going to be Bush's OMB director who presided over: (1) the Bush tax cuts for the rich that turned surpluses into deficits and is the driver of all future budget deficits; (2) fiscally irresponsible and reckless GOP spending on borrowed money – Bush never vetoed a single spending bill; (3) the war in Afghanistan and the unnecessary war in Iraq put on the nation's credit card; and (4) the Medicare Part D prescription drug "subsidy" to Big Pharma that also was not paid for. Yeah, that guy.

Nevertheless, conservative media villagers and Beltway bloviators became infatuated with the idea of Mitch Daniels running for president. The Beltway conventional wisdom — which is always wrong — was that Mitch Daniels would be the GOP's savior. The media villagers and Beltway bloviators have been patiently waiting for Godot Daniels to make his decision. Well, their long suffering wait is over.

On Saturday night, Daniels issued this post-non-Apocalypse press release (I guess he was hedging his bets). Official statement from Gov. Mitch Daniels:

Over the last year and a half, a large and diverse group of people have suggested to me an idea that I never otherwise would have considered, that I run for President. I’ve asked for time to think it over carefully, but these good people have been very patient and I owe them an answer.

The answer is that I will not be a candidate. What could have been a complicated decision was in the end very simple: on matters affecting us all, our family constitution gives a veto to the women’s caucus, and there is no override provision. Simply put, I find myself caught between two duties. I love my country; I love my family more.

Mitch Daniels decided that he did not want to put his wife (with whom he has had an "interesting" relationship to put it mildly) and his family through the mud-slinging of a GOP presidential primary. If only Newt Gingrich showed as much sense.

Of course, Republicans reacted with shock, disappointment. There was gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes, and covering themselves in ashes over rejection by the savior prophesied by their conservative media. Once again, the Beltway conventional wisdom had been proven wrong.