I don’t have the motivation to cover every single detail of this boring GOP primary. The race is over, but on a night like tonight the press beats the Rick Santorum dead horse because there’s nothing else to do. The press has to have something to cover. I get it. Many on the conservative side have brainwashed themselves into believing that Joseph Ratzinger Rick Santorum is the perfect GOP candidate. The Examiner’s very own David Freddoso has gone all in on Santorum. His take on tonight’s pointless election results are comical:
If he can pull that off — and especially if he finishes ahead of Gingrich in Colorado, where results are just starting to trickle in — Santorum will have strengthened the case that he, and not former Speaker Newt Gingrich, is the proper alternative to Mitt Romney in this race. A great night for Santorum. A very bad night for Romney, but possibly an even worse night for Gingrich.
So the alternative to Mitt Romney is a guy who is not even on the ballot in Indiana or Virginia? This development is bad for Romney? Everyone would love to see campaign drama, but this race is as dull as it gets. Mitt Romney will be the nominee unless something spectacular happens. Tonight wasn’t spectacular. Remember when General Wesley Clark won the Democratic primary in Oklahoma in 2004? I didn’t think so… I suspect that no one will ever remember that Santorum won the GOP 2012 non-binding caucus in Colorado.
Last week I declared that Mitt Romney would win the GOP nomination. Nothing has changed my mind since last Saturday. Romney hasn’t sealed the deal yet, but Gingrich is crashing and the former governor should win Florida on Tuesday. At this stage it would take something incredible to keep us from an Obama versus Romney match-up.
Much will be written about head to head polls between Romney and Obama, but I’m here to tell you that they don’t matter. Ronald Reagan trailed Jimmy Carter by over 30 points six months before the election. President Obama trailed John McCain two months before the election. President Obama will be judged on his record and on the economy. Say what you want about Mitt Romney, but trying to brand him as an extremist will not work.
Mitt Romney is boring. He’s not quite as robotic and uncharismatic as John Kerry, Al Gore, or Bob Dole, but it’s not a stretch to compare him to those gentlemen. Romney is the steady hand. He’s the guy you call when everything else has failed. In other words, he’s the guy who will beat Obama if the economy doesn’t improve before November.
President Obama’s problem is that people have tuned out. Obama has no plan to make the economy better. He’s out of ideas. After all the adulation and all the grand speeches, what is Obama’s core conviction? Sure, the liberals still love him, but they loved Clinton. Democrats are a loyal bunch. It’s a collection of voter blocs. Give us your subsidies, affirmative action, unions, trial lawyers, hand-out recipients and those who’ve been brainwashed into believing that abortion is the ultimate civil liberty. The Democrats love to pat themselves on the back for their diversity, but no one is immune from the pandering hand outs. That is why the Democrats are fundamentally opposed to reducing the size of goverment.
If you reduce the size of goverment the Democrats would suddenly have issues with their voting base. Can any argue otherwise? How many people on food stamps vote for Democrats? Wouldn’t it bad for Democrats if any of the people dependent on the goverment could take care of themselves? So President Obama is out of ideas. If he allows pipelines, invests in real energy, or really reduces the size of the goverment he would be hurting his political party.
In the grand scheme of things far too many people are dependent on the goverment. It will be nearly impossible to roll back the tide. However, there aren’t enough dependents to keep Obama from losing. If gas prices go up over the summer Obama could lose in a landslide. The Republicans could have a super majority in the Senate. That would be the true test of our goverment. Would the Republicans have the guts to starve the beast? It will be very unpopular. Look how the union thugs in Wisconsin have behaved. Liberals and conservatives have very different ideas about the role of goverment. The reckoning is here.
I had hope that Obama would be a president that transformed the debate in the United States. Instead, he made things worse. He loves to talk about himself except when he’s blaming others. I don’t dislike the President. He seems like a nice guy. Most Americans like the 44th president, but that doesn’t mean they think he should continue.
Will Mitt Romney be any better? I doubt it, but could he be any worse?
Last night in Tampa, Florida was another horrible debate. Brian Williams asked a series of pointless questions about sugar subsides, manned missions to Mars, and the candidate’s “path to the nomination.” I’m not going to go into it any further detail because we’ve written about these dumb leftist moderators ad nauseum. Who can be shocked that Brian Williams turned in another Gossip Girl performance?
The most obvious change in last night’s debate was the audience. There was no cheering or jeering. I prefer the hushed tones instead of the near gladiator style debates that were held in South Carolina. These are supposed to be debates and not an angry mob scene. Newt Gingrich is threatening to pull out of the remaining debates if the crowd continues to be silenced. It’s understandable that Gingrich prefers the red meat style debate audiences since he’s basically carved a path to the nomination by seizing the heart of the mob.
In 2008, I thought that the Democrats brainless adulation of Barack Obama could never be topped, but the rise of Newt Gingrich is at least a close 2nd. Americans are increasingly skipping the details and settling for the narrative. You see this in almost every avenue of American culture. We are prisoners of the moment.
Last June I wrote that time was running out for candidates to get in the race. In the case of Texas Governor Rick Perry he waited far too long to get in race. Perry bowed out of the race today after getting trounced in Iowa and New Hampshire. While political junkies wring their hands over the next two weeks the race is already over. Newt Gingrich may surge, but Mitt Romney has been running for president for six years. The Romney campaign is a well oiled machines with boots on the ground in every major state.
This system of selecting the president is not what the founding fathers intended. To be a serious candidate for president you have to have millions of dollars in infrastructure. The other issue is exposure. For candidates entering the race late the media scrutiny is intense (unless you’re a Democrat). In 2008, then Senator Obama seemingly came out of nowhere, but he had been receiving glowing press since 2004. There was no question he was going to run for president in 2008. Part of the reason why people like Romney and Gingrich seem to have escaped all their political baggage is because it’s old news. Romney has RomneyCare, but what else is there to write about it? Voters have short memories.
For those who were getting to know Rick Perry in the fall of 2011 there was a lot to digest. Perry’s ideas about immigration hurt his chances, but that was nothing compared to what happened next. For those unfamiliar with Perry the first impression of the governor of Texas was his weak debate performances. Then November 9th happened. There’s absolutely no way to recover from that kind of brain freeze especially if you’re trying to introduce yourself to the American public.
So here we are two days from the South Carolina primary and there’s no true conservative in the race. It’s basically Romney versus Gingrich. Santorum is still in the race, but he’s almost irrelevant. If Gingrich pulls out a win in South Carolina it’s unlikely he’ll win in Florida, Nevada and Maine. The race is over and Mitt Romney is the nominee.
I had a long boring post about where it went wrong for Huntsman, but like his candidacy it’s long gone. WordPress ate it and my motivation to write it again. Next time Huntsman should run an honest campaign and quit insulting potential voters. It’s too bad. Huntsman was a pretty good conservative in Utah. He just didn’t seem to want to admit it.
Mitt Romney soundly stomped his rivals last night in New Hampshire. The closest competitor was Ron Paul and most of his voters aren’t even Republicans. In third was Jon Huntsman and then Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum rounded things out. It was a terrible night for Santorum, who didn’t get much bounce out of Iowa.
Remember when every AP picture of Obama in 2008 was fantastic. Mitt Romney will not be gettting the same coverage. Here's the AP's version of Robot Romney.
It was fun watching people spin the results last night. This race is over. It would take something huge to change this race. The field is scattered and no one is in Romney’s league when it comes to money and organization. The other candidates are struggling to get on the ballot in several states. Romney’s victory speech last night sounded like an acceptance speech.
To amuse myself I watched about 30 minutes of MSNBC. They had one Republican and five deranged liberals attacking the candidates. That’s what they consider “coverage.” Rachel Maddow was the voice of reason. It’s comical that Al Sharpton is on that network. The MSNBC panel was really disturbed that Romney compared Obama’s vision for America as European. Why you ask? They love Europe and don’t get it. Europe’s big goverment entitlements and unused mass transportation systems have bankrupted the state. Liberals haven’t been able to put two and two together.
The race moves to South Carolina and then on to Florida after that. Romney is the only candidate running ads in Florida right now because he really the only candidate left on the GOP side.
The Rick Perry campaign died weeks ago, but he’s been one the most entertaining characters in the race. Tonight there is a debate in New Hampshire. It’s difficult to see anything happening in these debates to stop the Romney Express. Maybe Perry has a secret plan. Here’s a picture he posted on twitter today.
Say what you want about Perry, but he seems to be the most genuine guy in the race. When most politicians take photo-ops with guns it looks a bit ridiculous, but I wouldn’t want Perry aiming at me.
In the end Perry waited too long to get in the race. His debate problems were more or less the product of being unprepared. The lack of preparation is what happens to candidates who jump in the race late. One of the main reasons Romney is clear frontrunner today is because his dirty laundry has been out there for everyone to see for years.
We’ve seen the rise and fall over a lot of candidates over the last six months. Voters keep flocking to imaginary candidates. Then they’re dismayed that the person isn’t perfect. I could save everyone a lot of time. No one is perfect.
There’s no real winner tonight. It’s certainly not a good night for the Republic. A three man race between Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney? The fake, the crazy, and the flip flopper. Does anyone really think those three guys will ever be a good president?
The real loser tonight is Iowa. It’s time to end this farce once and for all. The state of Iowa is a subsidy hog. It’s the reason Tom Harkin has been their senator for decades. Iowa clings to its “first” status to ensure pork forever. In 2016, the GOP shouldn’t recognize Iowa delegates unless they move the caucus back.
This guy did stuff and no one cares.
Last night was the last debate before the Iowa caucus on January 3rd. Once the voting is over in Iowa we’ll likely see the end of Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann. Bachmann has been a fire thrower for the past two months, but she’s not gaining any ground. Santorum is a manikin that talks about itself in the third person. Rick Perry is getting better in these debates, but I’m not sure what that means. Ron Paul is really outside the mainstream on Iran and foreign policy in general.
Most of the analysis will be about Mitt Romney vs. Newt Gingrich, but I don’t have the motivation to cover what happened tonight. There have been 13 debates in 2011 and there’s nothing new coming out of these exercies. Mitt Ronmey looks like a political opportunist even if he’s not and Gingrich is all over the place. In the end, Romney is the safe choice. That should tell you all you need to know about how bad things are for the GOP. Oh yeah, Jon Huntsman was there.
What about Jon?
What a mess! The GOP field has turned into a comical escapade. The whole spectacle is depressing. Looking back, why did Tim Pawlenty get out of the race? I’m sure Pawlenty is kicking himself now. Since Pawlenty got out of the race we’ve seen the rise and fall of Rick Perry and Herman Cain. We’ve seen the resurrection of Newt Gingrich as the new conservative champion, even though he’s not really that conservative. Through it all Mitt Romney has remained the parachute choice. When all the other candidates crash and burn Romney is there as the “safe” pick.
The race has been so volatile I wouldn’t want to predict what will happen next. There’s still plenty of time for Gingrich to blow up. Then what? The inevitable Perry resurrection? Will Jon Huntsman come out of nowhere? Heck, things are so bad I’m warming up to Jon Huntsman. Why not Jon? The oxymormon candidacy!
I know, crazy right? Huntsman is far from the pure conservative choice. However, so is Gingrich and Romney. I’m not endorsing Huntsman. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t like about him, but if the GOP is picking candidates based on debate performance then I’d take Huntsman over Gingrich. C’mon, a man with the balls to rip a Nirvana joke at a GOP debate won’t flinch in the face of foreign threats. And by foreign threats I mean most of the Northeast and West Coast.
One thing for certain is that as it stands right now I can’t see myself voting for anyone in 2012. I’ll go to the ballot box and vote in the local races, but to pick someone just because they’re “not Obama” isn’t going to cut it. If the Supreme Court rules against ObamaCare it will make my choice easier.
There has been some talk that the GOP is headed toward another Goldwater disaster. I don’t agree. Four years ago, I read a book by J. William Middendorf II entitled A Glorious Disaster about that election. This upcoming election doesn’t share much in common with 1964. Lyndon Johnson was relatively popular. He was perhaps the most powerful president in the United States history and he wasn’t afraid to use that power. LBJ used the FBI to illegally monitor the Goldwater campaign; it was one shenanigan after another.
Goldwater lost because LBJ successfully scared Americans into believing Goldwater would get us into war (LBJ ended up getting us in to Vietnam). 2012 is setting up to be the weirdest election I can remember. It looks a potential glorious disaster for someone.
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