And he'll have the staying power of all those other Romneys too.A few things, though:
The other is that Obama is for-sure the Dems pick. Because at this point, he wouldn't win a primary either.He has a greater than 3/4 approval rating amongst Democrats. Why wouldn't he win a Democratic primary?
"I don’t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don’t think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for free society to operate."And then a few days later:
"Any ad which quotes what I said Sunday is a falsehood."In the 1990s, he was a vocal advocate of the health care mandate that Mitt Romney implemented in Massachusetts, but he claims that none of it happened. He makes "the definition of is" look like child's play. And unfortunately, only a sly and valueless politician is going to be able to woo enough votes for this GOP primary. Among the contenders, there's not a leader among them willing to tell their own party that they need to change.
Really poor children in really poor neighborhoods have no habits for working and have nobody around them who works. ... They have no habit of 'I do this and you give me cash,' unless it's illegal.he conjures up images of the illegitimate spawn of ghetto drug dealers. And we all know what color those are.
If a Republican wins, I hope Palin becomes the Sec of StateWhat makes you think there will be a Department of State?
"Donald Trump has insisted that his endorsement would provide a major boost for any of the Republican presidential candidates.Christ, what an asshole!
... Trump writes in his new book Time to Get Tough: Making America that his support would help any candidate to defeat US President Barack Obama in November 2012.
"The Republican field has several good candidates in the race - most of whom have come to see me at my office in Trump Tower," the mogul wrote, according to Newser.
"The reason they come to see me isn't just because I am a nice person but because millions of people listen to what I say and know I 'get it'."
He continued: "Some magazines have said I am the single most important endorsement a presidential candidate can have. I don't know if that's true but it wouldn't surprise me."*
... New polling from NBC News and Marist College shows more voters in Iowa and New Hampshire would be turned off by a Trump endorsement than positively influenced by one. In both states, only about 20 percent of Republicans said they would be more likely to cast ballots for a candidate who had Trump’s blessing while more than one-third said a Trump endorsement would make them less likely to support his chosen candidate.posted by ericb at 1:53 PM on December 6, 2011 [1 favorite]
Those numbers have some GOP strategists wondering how Trump has made himself into such a pivotal figure in the GOP presidential race.
“Why would a movement birthed by William F. Buckley allow itself to be hijacked by the likes of Donald Trump?” asked GOP consultant John Weaver, a strategist to former Utah governor Jon Huntsman’s presidential campaign. “In their wildest dreams, [Obama adviser David] Axelrod and company couldn’t come up with this scenario.”
(Huntsman has been outspoken in his unwillingness to meet with Trump and has denounced his opponents who have.)
GOP strategist Mike Murphy, who is unaligned in the Republican race said he was “confounded” by the attention the GOP candidates have paid to Trump. “I have no idea why they kowtow,” he added.
If Newt gets the nomination I am cutting off a toe.
From today's Washington Post: The Gingrich Who Stole Christmas.
We’re crooning nightly,posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 3:09 PM on December 6, 2011 [44 favorites]
Renewing thorny logic,
Cheerily noting wrong.
Coiling energy, thrown.
Wrongly enticing hero,
Ongoing wintry lecher,
Reigning theory clown,
Whining electron orgy
Growing incoherently.
Ron Paul would be deserted by his followers. Why? Because he's only the President. All the wishing in the world won't give him the power to make weed nationally legal. Congress will pass a law, and they will override his veto.It would give him the power to give blanket pardons to those convicted of drug offenses, both retroactively and on any new convictions. It would give him the power (maybe not the technical legality, but the power almost certainly) to order the DEA not to do more investigations and the DOJ not to do more prosecutions. It would give him the power to put such departments in total shambles, disfunctionality, and irrelevance through combinations of directives to them, demands of resignations, and refusals to put anyone up for appointment other than zealots. Does Congress confirm those zealots? Maybe, maybe not. Why does he care? From his point of view, the more unfilled positions, the better.
including at least one Supreme Court Justice
Two of my favorite analysts, Rhodes Cook and Josh Putnam, have a good debate going about just how plausible it is that a Republican who is not currently running for president could enter the race later and potentially win it (probably necessitating a brokered convention). Those of you who follow my Twitter feed will know that I think Mr. Cook has the stronger side of the argument; I think there is a small but nontrivial chance that the Republican nominee could be someone like Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan, Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty or Chris Christie. (In fact, I was speculating about these scenarios as long as a month ago.)posted by cashman at 9:13 PM on December 9, 2011 [1 favorite]
I’m not going to describe the means by which this would occur; Mr. Cook covers that in great detail. Instead, I’m more interested in the motive.
The motive is simple: Republicans are dangerously close to having none of their candidates be acceptable to rank-and-file voters and the party establishment. It’s not clear what happens when this is the case; there is no good precedent for it. But since finding a nominee who is broadly acceptable to different party constituencies is the foremost goal of any party during its nomination process, it seems possible that Republicans might begin to look elsewhere.
....
All of these conditions seem plausible based on what we know right now, which is what leads me to believe that a brokered convention is plausible as well.
Let me immediately say I do not support many of his nuttier policy proposals. I am not a doctrinaire libertarian. Paul's campaign for greater oversight of the Fed is great, but abolition of it is utopian and dangerous. A veto of anything but an immediately balanced budget would tip the US and the world into a serious downturn (a process to get there in one or two terms makes much more sense). Cutting taxes as he wants to is also fiscally irresponsible without spending cuts first. He adds deductions to the tax code rather than abolish them. His energy policy would intensify our reliance on carbon, not decrease it. He has no policy for the uninsured. There are times when he is rightly described as a crank. He has had associations in the past that are creepy when not downright ugly."... and so sure, he would be absolutely terrible for America and would likely destroy our economy if not bring the federal government to a screeching halt but hey! He's such a sweet old guy."
The hot and heavy three way in Iowa between Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum lasted late into the night. The lead position went back and forth, but despite Santorum surging all over, Romney ultimately pulled out on top. A lack of caucus enthusiasm led to a tight sparring match between the three men. While Romney finished ahead of Santorum, he led by only 8 votes, 30,015 to 30,007. Paul cleaned up farther behind with 26,219 votes. The three way pulled away quickly from Gingrich and Perry. The latter, perhaps a sore loser, is returning to Texas to “assess” his campaign’s future. Michele Bachmann, unsurprisingly, was never really an active participant.posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 7:05 AM on January 4 [3 favorites]
« Older For the past 48 years the U.S. Congress has passed... | Northumberlandia is coming.... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by empath at 9:30 AM on December 6, 2011