— Which, that’s kind of strange for such a slam dunk candidate — a guy backed by Chris Christie and Ann Coulter and the near entirety of the GOP establishment (well, those who haven’t joined the great Huntsman juggernaut, I mean) don’t you think?
Why, it’s almost as if most GOP voters simply don’t want to vote for the guy. This despite the following rather remarkable factoid, courtesy Matt Moon on Twitter:
49% reporting, here’s the paid media $/vote: Santorum $1.65, Bachmann $8, Romney $113.07, Gingrich $139 Paul $227, Perry $817
Is it possible money spent can’t alone buy the message the GOP base is looking for?
Personally, my first choice is and remains Michele Bachmann. But I’m happy that Santorum showed well given all the hard work he put in on the ground in Iowa. He’s more of social conservative than at one time I would have felt comfortable with; but what I’ve discovered over the years is that social conservatives with a healthy respect for the separation of powers, the role of the states, and a fidelity to the Constitution are far less dangerous than progressives and big government GOP types who believe in the moral superiority of the State, and who think a combination of good intentions and the power to foist them on us is a recipe in the long run for anything other than soft tyranny.
So there’s that.
(h/t Pablo for the Twitter link)
[…] have simply chosen differently than the conventionally wise would like, and it really comes down to what Jeff Goldstein describes as “losing more slowly.” Obama’s grown the federal government to unprecedented […]
I read that as “remarkable flaccid” and that worked about as well.
In addition to not wanting to vote for him, I also think they’re noticing that he’s been far more critical of his fellow Republicans than he has been of Barak Obama. That’s going to be a problem for him down the road, because there aren’t enough “gettable” moderates and independents to offset the conservatives that don’t see much of a point in trading a closeted socialist for a quasi-democrat.
Looks Like Obama’s done for:
Mexican Grand Warlock predicts Obama loss in 2012
¿Como se dice “expeliamus” en Español?
“Is it possible money spent can’t alone buy the message the GOP base is looking for?”
It seemed as though that was Mr. Cain’s takeaway after the Florida straw-poll. Message, not money, is politics at its core.
Romney is more critical of his fellow candidates than he is of Obama because he has more in common with Obama than with his fellow candidates.
Pretty simple once you think about it.
Mr. Ron isn’t a big winner coming out of here. Expectations were higher than he delivered, and his lethargy in the closing days has to be a lot frustrating to his cultists.
Pethokoukis on Santorum’s speech: “Santorum goes all Burkean here”
Finally… someone is trying to pander to me. That might lock up the all important bh vote.
Must be why I just can’t get enthused about the idea of throwing Barak Obama out of office in order to replace him with…
…well, with what exactly? That really is the question with Mitt Romney.
Paul got 14% of the votes for those who identified Republican prior to tonight.
Ron Paul would be 81 at the end of his first term.
Congrats, bh! It’s about time someone pandered to the Burkean vote.
Santorum’s role in the Terri Schiavo thing eliminates him from contention for me. Thinking about it makes my blood boil.
Agreed. He also endorsed Arlen Specter.
Paul’s votes are the ones most likely to end up in Mr. Trump’s column if he goes 3rd party I think.
CNN got schiavo nostalgia today Mr. Patrick
It’s all about the optics, people.
Fuck substance. Fuck principles. That shit doesn’t matter.
Did they? No surprise, he’s the next one they have to tear down.
What principles, cranky? Whose? Terri Schiavo was a private family matter.
It out to get you thinking about making sure your DNR is in order and your power of attorney is in the hands of someone with the stones to see that it’s carried through Patrick.
somebody stole my “gh”
And leigh, it was Terri’s family that made it a public matter.
I butted heads with a lot of conservatives over that one, if I remember correctly. I thought the judge ruled properly, as I recall. It’s hazy now.
At any rate, that doesn’t bother me a bit: if he had an opinion and argued strongly for it, that’s good, even if I may have disagreed. Schiavo’s parents were Roman Catholic, if I’m remembering correctly, and they’d argued that removing the tube could place her in purgatory. This would obviously resonate with a Catholic like Santorum.
And the Specter backing was a mistake in political calculus I believe Santorum learned from.
Arguing is one thing, “passing” and Act of Congress that applies to just one person (or family) is something else entirely.
I know, Ernst. I guess the fact that she was married and her husband said she had expressed her wishes not to be kept alive in a vegatative state, were that to ever happen, was unimportant. The family’s demonization of Michael Schiavo was vicious.
And it happens all the time Patrick.
Exactly. And there were many in Congress on both sides who simply ran from taking a position either way.
Again, I think the judge ruled correctly and was on point in his rebuke of legislative attempts to step in. But I don’t begrudge those who saw the fight in terms of religious freedom as a fight worth having.
Well, Patrick, the law was meant to close what they felt was a loophole brought to light by the Schiavo case. Again, I disagreed — and I was happy with the judge’s rebuke — but I remember I was on the defensive a lot for taking that position, mostly from other conservative bloggers of some considerable repute.
My take on it was that if Terri truly was brain dead and had been for n number of years while the legal battle worked it’s way through the courts, x number of weeks/months while a final review was carried out wasn’t going to hurt her.
The only reason Terri Schiavo became a political liability is because the Republicans predictably (and dutifully too!) assumed the role of whipped cur cowering at the feet of their MSM masters.
Boy geoff, that sure sounds to me like a guy who wants to make me eat my vegetables and say my prayers before forcing me to go to bed before 10 pm.
You’re correct about the R’s acting predictably. Mrs. Schiavo was indeed brain dead and had been for at least five or more years.
Yes, leigh she was, and if there was a test for that that didn’t involve sawing off the top of her skull and physically removing her brain, there wouldn’t have been a need for a court fight, would there?
Here it looks like I was reacting to threats of being de-linked by certain social cons. I was even called Christophobic.
Irony!
At any rate, this is probably my most notable post on the subject.
Note that I was pretty harsh on the social cons — even as I allowed that I believed them acting completely out of conviction. Because I didn’t like the move to make a law, either. But here’s the thing: once they lost, they groused and made a few idle threats, but they ultimately followed the judge’s ruling.
AP has decided Iowa, no matter the vote, Mitt is the winner. Saying it just makes it so.
Oh, don’t be dramatic, Ernst. There are any number of tests that don’t involve sawing off the top of one’s head to determine brain death. The simple matter is she was not reacting to stimuli, and had flat brain waves. She was dead, Ernst, although breathing which is a phenomenon which sometimes happens because it is our most primative brain function.
Santorum’s problem, again, seems to be that he believes the tenets of his faith. He should be a proper Catholic like Andy Sullivan. One of the good kind who know it’s all bullshit, but who want the Christ card to play in a pinch.
And as I recall Jeff, we lost on separation of powers —instead of reviewing the case history like Congress asked, the judge ruled that Congress couldn’t tell the courts how to do their job.
It might behoove some state legislatures to remember that the next time some pissant judge trys to tell them how to appropriate funds.
I keep on wondering when the media will notice Barack Obama’s lack of higher brain function, but that time never comes.
You’d think it would be obvious, wouldn’t you, sdferr?
As I said at the time, if Schiavo was my daughter I’d have stormed the hospital with Gatorade and strained peas and forced someone to shoot me. Otherwise, she was gonna be fed.
Having said that, the court had to rule, and I think Congress and Bush overstepped.
God help us all if we ever say, offhand, without thinking, after watching a fucking TV-movie fictionalizing a story about someone who wasn’t brain-dead, something along the lines of, “I wouldn’t want to live like that,” fully ten years before your own accident — lest someone decide to use that to get a judge to order you starved to death.
Terri’s condition wasn’t the issue; the issue was how easy it is to get a judge to order somebody killed in the absence of actual evidence regarding her wishes.
good one sdferr
I’ll defer to your superior medical knowledge leigh
The whole situation was a mess and made worse by Congressional grandstanding.
It wasn’t grandstanding. Believe it or not, some people really do believe in things greater than the power of “Glee” to sell bedaZZled designer jean jackets.
Imagine! The bigots.
http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2012/01/there-can-be-only-one-cafe.html
It was a big night for Santorum. And the longer he is in this thing the better.
It was grandstanding. Terri Schiavo was not an observant Catholic and it was none of our business.
I am impressed with your knowledge of popular culture, though. I have never watched Glee and plan to keep it that way.
Now who’s dramatizing?
Not true. At all.
I know it’s hard to believe, but some people really do care about such matters, and don’t accept the “it’s private” defense — particularly after the girl’s parents begin begging for relief. You can agree or disagree with how certain members of Congress acted (I did), but to suggest that the position is a fraud, some crass and expedient opportunity for political grandstanding, points out from where the real bigotry here flows.
BTW, I just skimmed through Jeff’s Schiavo posts for the first time, and for a known rage-oholic with impulse control issues he seemed quite calm, dispassionate even.
Before autopsy there were differing views by court appointed experts.
Only after an autopsy was there agreement as to her state.
I come down that if there is any dispute and no written and witnessed statement by the person who is incapacitated as to their wishes then the default should be for life not death.
Biggest Loser Tonight
Hey! I did remember that right, despite the drama.
Thanks for doing the research geoff
Now if somebody could find video or a transcript of Santorum’s speech tonight I’d really like that link.
Did Odd Uncle Paul actually win tonight? Check update.
Found it finally, here.
This it geoff?
I’m like the loser with the slow-streaming smart phone in those commercials
heh, Obama would have high-speed internet users redistribute their shorter reload times by sitting on their hands for 35 secs while other folks catch up.
Now that he has won Iowa, Rick Santorum should take my humble advice…
Thank you Ernst.
National Soros Radio titles a piece about Santorum this way:
But he didn’t even say anything about black people.
Here’s how the heavily editorialized piece what went out on their government-subsidized radio waves just before the caucuses went…
Neither piece indicates that National Soros Radio even tried to reach Santorum for comment.
Hell, if Obama had his way, we’d all be getting the WaPo and NYT delivered to our doorstep by second day mail.
So, by NPR logic… hell, I can’t even write the rest of that sentence.
Imagine it was a semi-pithy comment about how it’s okay for the Dems to balkanize the country into ever smaller and smaller subgroups, so as to pit them against each other and make them dependent on Big Daddy Government to step in and referee the situation — but that it’s an outrage for a Republican to notice that the subgroups even exist.
Only funnier.
Excuse me, now that Rick Santorum has almost won Iowa, he should take my humble advice.
I have a great idea that will surely return us to victory in 2012; let’s redo the Terry Shiavo debate!
One thing to consider, if Schiavo had been any type of mammal but human her caretakers would have been arrested for intentionally starving her to death, regardless of circumstances.
Carin, we’re going to have that debate, and several others, anyway, if we nominate a candidate with any principles (as opposed to ORomney).
McGehee, that is precisely why Mrs SDN and I have living wills and medical powers of attorney already on file. We came to precisely the opposite conclusion (she wants everything including the kitchen sink, I don’t), but where we stand is perfectly clear. The Schiavo case wasn’t my only motivator. Watching and listening as my grandfather’s doctor tried to guilt-trip my grandmother into putting him through an operation that we found out from the brave nurse who disagreed only had a 35% chance of stabilizing him, let alone getting him out of the hospital was the main one.
As for the husband, I detected the strong odor of skunk from him every time I saw him.
The *reason* I detest returning to that issue, is that hindsight (and the tests done postmortem ) can make supposed fools of those who supported listening to her parents in regards to her care. It was a principled position. It was one that I personally had at the time.
Santorum certainly knows what it’s like to take care of a child with a life altering/ending condition.
ga. It’s like having Nishi determine what we consider important regarding our candidates.
Pull quote – Santorum: I don’t want to make black people’s lives better.
The Schaivo thing was a bad idea. But not as bad an idea as RomneyCare.
I come down that if there are no written directives, then the decision is properly made by the patient’s medical proxy who, if not named, is next of kin, no matter how much kin who ain’t next might care to demonize them.
I also think that if I were Terry Schiavo and there we’re anything resembling consciousness left in me, I’d be begging to be released from that whole Johnny Got His Gun deal. And I say that as a (lapsed) Catholic who’s had to make the call to pull the plug on a dearly loved one. I understand the Schindlers’ hopes and I understand their pain. What I don’t understand is their logic.
B Moe, if Terri were any animal but human, her caretakers would have given her a lethal injection.
OK, now this is some funny shit.
Ah, memories.
Hmmmm. Romney, Gingrich or Santorum? Gosh. That’s a tough one.
Good Iowa post-mort refuting the Romney electability argument by Da Tech Guy.
Been through the whole battery of them, have you, leigh?
It’s worse than that, Yackums. Apparently the audio shows he never said “black”.
The press makes horrible, violence-inducing shit up, and the “journalists” of the world beam in pride over their profession’s importance.
I come down that if there are no written directives, then the decision is properly made by the patient’s medical proxy who, if not named, is next of kin, no matter how much kin who ain’t next might care to demonize them.
Well, let me just say right here and now – if I appear brain dead, and my husband -who has moved on at this point to a new wife and kids – wants to pull the plug, I hear-by appoint JD to make the determination.
The Shiavo story was too filled with extra bullshit to matter in any other instance, imho. There were correct principals guiding many of the actors in this drama. And, I’m pretty hard pressed to assign right and wrong to any of them.
when you’re stuck with a day that’s grey and brain-dead
you just stick out your chin and grin (kind of) and say
I’m a wake up tomorrow bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow, I’ll wake up
he didn’t say black he said “lives – people’s lives”
it had nothing to do with black people not even a little except in National Soros Radio’s twisted racially-condescending katrina-baked brain
Here, by way of Glenn Reynolds, is an example of how to talk to social conservatives without getting any Jesus on you (if you’re worried about that kind of thing). (Bold emphasis mine):
That sounds quite like our discussion yesterday of Moynihan’s position paper.
Yeah, but as we all know “community bonds” and “dependency on friends and neighbors” are code words for CHURCH! the same way that “giving a fellow a hand up, not a hand-out” is code for “keep the black man down,” no matter how inelegantly Rick Santorum tries to phrase it in order to conceal his real message.
I wish I knew where to find one of these code books. It’s kind of embarassing to find that one has accidentally using coded phrases.
Has=is
See, if you’d just let your betters do your thinking for you, you wouldn’t make those kinds of hateful mistakes.
How do we determine who our betters are, though? Are they wearing stars like the Sneeches?
They’re the ones telling you your speaking in code words, silly.
I mean, they have to be better than you, don’t they? They know your innermost thoughts before you do!
Wow, that means they all work in the MSM! How exciting!
And government and academia and education and…
¿Como se dice “expeliamus” en Español?
Expelliarmus.
Yeah, those were the days. Who could have anticipated that the only thing that would have kept John Cole from siding with the screaming leftoids was killing Terry Schiavo without further delay?
But maybe I have cause and effect reversed. That’s one (of many) funny thing(s) about correlation.