Which is fine, albeit startlingly surreal coming from a paper whose editorial page says we should all rally behind Mitt Romney, unrepentant architect of state-run health care and careful, proactive steward of a planet beset by noxious human exhalation.
It is to laugh. All of it. This whole primary season.
Here: let me just get this out of the way. Not a vote has yet been cast. So the race is not down to Romney and Gingrich (and maybe Huntsman, with a 10% chance of Uncle Ron letting loose a downpour of abject crazy) — unless, of course, we the GOP sheep allow our kingmakers to sell us on the “extremism” evident in our outlandish, “purist” desire for conservative / classical liberal representation.
Which is why I am throwing my own feeble endorsement right now behind Michele Bachmann. With Rick Santorum and Rick Perry to follow. After that, Newt gets my vote.
I have no interest in a Mitt Romney candidacy — largely because I see it as a pointed, establishment rebuke to the TEA Party, which establishment it is increasingly clear views the ideological-driven segment of its base with obvious disdain and distrust, if not absolute disgust (witness, eg., John Boehner’s forcing a vote on a 1200 page omnibus bill nobody read). I have no interest in a Ron Paul candidacy, because Paul’s foreign policy is not much different from Obama’s, with the caveat that Obama may in fact be more of a hawk, and that, in the final analysis, Paul may be even more of a pander (though to a niche bloc of supporters). And I have no interest in a Jon Huntsman candidacy because, well, why the fuck would I?
So there you have it. The secret is out. And off the rails I go.
Wheeeeeeeee!
Let’s do this thing. Outlaw then.
-although, the TEA party, having been born out of pushback will rebuke right back again. They are you, JG, and they will just as soon beat the hell out of Romney just as they already have Obama, in fact defining his presidency not unlike you have yourself.
So, outlaw still. R = D.
And I have no interest in a Jon Huntsman candidacy because, well, why the fuck would I?
Obviously, it’s because you’re a Mormonophobe, as evidenced by your merciless banning of would-be LDS commenters to this blog.
Romney used to say he’d grant a 50-state exemption to Obamacare, first thing in office. Now he’s saying “repeal the bad, keep the good.”
That’s all I need to know about his intentions.
As for Newt, I’d actually take Romney over Newt, but just barely. Only because Romney is more cautious than Newt, who is a loose cannon.
Even so, I second the Bachmann, Santorum, Perry priorities.
That wheee should totally link to Crazy Train. Just feels Visigothery.
Also, Mitt’s deliberate snubbing of the Tea Party really disgusts me. I wasn’t hoping for him or anyone else to try to co-opt it, but I did hope to see some rhetorical support of some kind.
Instead, he listened to the Insiders, who told him the Tea Party would hurt his candidacy.
Which, it will, just not in the ways he expected.
Romney’s selective endorsements (hell, I for certain was unaware of them when they happened) of a handful of Tea Party favorites have already paid him back dividends, it looks. Haley. O’Donnell. Couple of others. But Mitt isn’t down with the program, cause the program is crazy, see? Mitt don’t do crazy.
There’s no steering on rails. Screw that.
I like Newt better than Romney too
of the three social con candidates the only one I can stomach is Perry, and he’s a very unimpressive candidate
but he has a record of substance
that said Michele with one l has impressed me a lot during the debates and I like her a whole lot more not than when we started. But I’d hate to ever have to vote for her.
I’ll write in Sarah Palin. Likely, twice.
What I do will, as it did four years ago, depend on who’s still in the running by the time the circus rolls into Georgia. There’s a short list of candidates I deem acceptable, and Romney’s not on it. If no one who is, is on my GOP primary ballot in March, I’ll write in either Herman Cain or Sarah Palin.
And if the nominee is Mitt Romney, I will probably do the write-in thing again in November.
Actually, even though I disagree with Ron Paul’s foreign policy stances, I support him more than anyone else simply because he is both historically and intellectually consistent. He may be wrong, but we all know where, and it isn’t going to change in new and exciting ways that are, well, scary and unpredictible. I can deal with consistent and dependle wrongness. I know what to expect. He’s an isolationist. Bush and Obama and Clinton were foreign policy schizophrenics. You know what? Persistent isolationism would have been infinitely preferable in Libya, Egypt (where we proudly deposed Mubarak for the Muslim Brotherhood), and the 2007 Israeli-Lebanon war (where we pressured the Israelis into caving). It is bad on our side for Iran, but he’d leave Israel alone to do whatever they want and, sadly, for both R’s and D’s that is the best in-real-life outcome we can hope for. I would even take his isolationism over what crapfest we have created in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have had a gloomy feeling that when we pull out, it is not going to be pretty in those places because we meddled without killing the right people.
So, my choices would be Paul (LOVE his domestic policy), Bachmann, or Newt. I like Newt for exactly the opposite reasons I like Paul. He is crazy smart and he throws insane, off-the-cuff, totally outside the box ideas on a whim. If you can’t have admirable consistency, I want wildly creative inconsistency.
Which is to say, I am probably going to vote for the same person I voted for in 2008 — nobody.
Even after many votes have been cast nothing need be decided unless candidates can be persuaded to completely drop out not just suspend their campaigns.
Total Delegates 2288, 1145 needed to win.
End of January 115 delegates selected. The most important from the momentum standpoint are South Carolina and Florida which are the only winner take all contests until April. SC has 25 and FL 50. taking both of those would be a coup if done by Romney. The press and the establishment would then apply major pressure for all others to drop out.
February has 187 delegates selected to bring the total to 302. still far short of the 1145 needed and many of these are selected by proportionally. Everybody gets some.
March sees 921 delegates selected all proportionally. That brings the total to 1223 which is over half but since the vast majority of them are awarded by proportion no one should be the winner yet as long as the drop outs are minimal.
April brings the selection of 329 all by winner take all and should then see the start of someone or ones pulling away from the others. Total so far is 1552.
May and June is when someone should clinch the nomination unless all others have been driven out before then.
Scott Brown in his special election and Marco Rubio who has been talked of (???by whom) as a VP selection.
I would like the TEA party peopleall across America to write in Cain.
That’s what I’m doing. Mind you, this will be in open primary California, so, maybe I’ll just get drunk instead.
OT: Europe getting set to establish the foundation upon which a continent wide tyranny could be built. Video.
That’s so funny, bh. I’ve been hearing “Crazy Train” in my head for at least a week now everytime I have the news on.
Shoot geoffb, they’ve already got a continent wide tyranny, and now they want another? Greedy bastards.
Good news for JeffG and serr8d:
link
initial scan: continent wide tranny. checks google for eye glasses deals.
OT (and yet not): Jeb gets in touch with his inner moose killer.
Do I have to vote for Michele to be OUTLAW! ? Michele tends to go off half cocked without checking her facts and she bites more than she solves. That said, I’m going to have to write in Authoritative Hair Mike Pence for 2012.
I think she bites more than she solves because she’s in a position where she’s constantly bucking the establishment. Until they don’t run things, best she can do is bite and bark. But I’d rather her do that then play the go-along, get-along game.
i like her voice it’s very soothing she should read books on tape
I don’t think she goes off half cocked more than any of the other Republican candidates.
Except Mitt. Mitt never goes off anywhere, half cocked or not.
And back when Boehner & Co. were co-signing Obama’s app for a new Federal Credit Card, Michele was saying we should take this opportunity to cut up the maxed out cards and start paying down the debt.
In my book that more than offsets the Gardasil incident.
Well. I don’t know, Ernst. I thought for a minute she and Ron Paul were going to duke it out. I was waiting for her to take off her bracelet and kick off her shoes.
You say that like it was a bad thing.
Nah. I pulling for her to bust the old man right in the chops. A brawl at the debate would have been epic.
In fact, I think we’d get more done in Congress if there were some bench-clearing brawls. Like in Japan.
In fact, I think we’d get more done in Congress if there were some bench-clearing brawls. Like in Japan.
Enough pay-per-view and we could pay down the debt. I know I’d pay to see certain politicians get their clocks cleaned.
That’s the sort of thing that could get Jesse Ventura sent to DC.
What is interesting to me is establishment Republicans thinking Romney is the most electable candidate against a Democratic campaign that is almost surely going to be anti-Wall Street in focus.
They’re beginning to have their doubts B. Moe.
Right now a loose cannon in DC sounds pretty damn good. It’s a shame we can only send one.
I like Perry, but don’t see where he’s done anything in Texas other than keep on keeping Texas Texas. All well and good, but that doesn’t demonstrate any capacity for, much less success at, vanquishing the status quo. My fear is that he’s reprise that same role in Washington, and have a hard time standing up to the entrenched establishment and end up a slightly drier and less ‘compassionate’ version of GWB. We really cannot afford one of those again.
I like Santorum, as it stand right now he’s getting my primary vote (being in TN that has less value than a bucket of spit.) I think he’d face the same challenges in DC as Perry, but suspect he’d display more innate aversion to the ruling class’ entreaties.
Bachmann, about the same. My greatest concern is that she would prove most easily marginized by the LSM and the establishment. They already have a successful template for trashing a conservative woman they hate.
The only good thing I could say about Ron Paul is that I’d take him over Romney.
Gingrich is totally problematic, but he’s also the only one I think could really be a game changer, he’s the only big government type that could get my vote. And I think he really could win the general. It is important to note that many TEA party types are not exactly strict Constitutionalists. Many are quite happy with their Medicare and SS. They are more of the Larry Kudlow/Bob Brinker mindset, that we can continue to cover these expenses, so long as we keep taxes low and growth high. No, that’s not realistic on a historical timeline, and also ignores any serious notions of liberty, but they don’t care (or care to see) so it is what it is and they will still be voting next time around. Changing them will be a long term process (mainly of natural attrition.)
Beyond that, we need to continue to think on that longer timeline, and that is the other big selling point for Newt – he, with his proven ability to upset the applecart, could mark a real turning point. This would be a moment when all the work at the lower levels of government would begin to pay off.
All I will say about Romney is that I would like to see his (figurative) head on a pike, on display at the entrance to the convention, and that I will not vote for him on election day.
No, that’s not realistic on a historical timeline, and also ignores any serious notions of liberty, but they don’t care (or care to see) so it is what it is and they will still be voting next time around. Changing them will be a long term process (mainly of natural attrition.)
Correct me if I’m misreading you here, but by “natural attrition” do you mean that they’ll be the first ones eaten by the Democattle when their usual food sources dry up? ‘Cuz I’m thinking that may not be such a long-term process as people believe.
nominating Romney is the same as just giving the fuck up
[…] I put Perry on my list of candidates I’d happily support when I made my own feeble (and largely ignored) “endorsement” yesterday; but watching Perry fumble through the debates — and listening to his most ardent […]
[…] Up A Little In Your Mouth, Isn’t It? Posted on December 20, 2011 9:30 am by Bill Quick The Washington Examiner warns conservatives that they should think twice about Newt Which is fine, albeit startlingly surreal coming from a paper whose editorial page says we should […]
“Romney used to say he’d grant a 50-state exemption to Obamacare, first thing in office.”
Actually, dicentra, that was Rick Perry, and he’s still saying it as far as I’ve heard.
“ROMNEY: Rick, you’re absolutely right. On day one, granting a waiver to all 50 states doesn’t stop in its tracks entirely ObamaCare. ”
http://www.issues2000.org/2012/Mitt_Romney_Health_Care.htm
Poppy Bush has given his blessing to Romney as of today. Bless his heart.