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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EL5Atp_vF0

I need more explosions. Not to nitpick, but I think Baniano could do better. Next time they should add this Christian Bale scene from Steven Spielberg’s classic Empire of the Sun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ouJ_WyS9v8

Anyway, no sooner did Pawlenty endorse Romney than popular Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal endorsed Rick Perry. Pawelenty must be asking what he’s done to anger the election gods. Even when he makes a high profile endorsement he’s overshadowed. Neither endorsement is Earth-shattering, but Jindal’s endorsement helps Perry more than Pawlenty’s endorsement helps Romney.

After trying to build a campaign on “truth” Pawlenty’s endorsement of Romney is politics as usual. Shouldn’t Pawlenty be concerned that Romney is trying to convince anyone who will listen that Perry wants senior citizens to eat dog food? I guess not.

Now, the only question left is who wraps up the Huntsman endorsement. The answer is likely Barack Obama.

Now he’ll just wait around to see if the eventual nominee will pick him as VP candidate. I’m not sure what Pawlenty will offer, but he’s boring and won’t draw much attention away from the top of the ticket. He’s kind of the anti-Biden. Pawlenty finished third in the Ames Straw Poll. This is the same influential straw poll in which the eventual 2008 GOP nominee John McCain finished 10th.

Pawlenty needed a win at the the Ames Straw Poll just to create some buzz for his candidacy. As it is, he’s got nothing. Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul were first and second and neither candidate has a realistic shot at the nomination.

One last observation about the Pawlenty announcement…  How is he out of the race before Jon Huntsman?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5q1RmQQEso

Will he or won't he?

If you want to seriously run for President, time is running out. Last night CNN held a presidential debate in New Hampshire. There are about a million things more entertaining than watching a faux debate 17 months before election day. Read Club Soda’s post and check out Hot Air’s winners and losers for a recap.

I won’t go into a candidate analysis until the field is set. However, things are getting closer to having a complete field. It’s possible that someone could jump in late, but it’s not likely to change the race. The campaign infrastructure is being built right now. Plus, the Romney, Pawlenty and Bachmann campaigns will be raising money over the next six months to gear up for Iowa and New Hampshire. That’s a difficult head start to overcome.

There are four top tier candidates who could declare right now: Chris Christie, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, and Paul Ryan. I don’t think Palin will run this time around; however, she might have a tremendous influence on who gets the nomination if she chooses to endorse a candidate. Paul Ryan and Chris Christie are adamant that they’re not running and it doesn’t appear that they will change their minds. Ryan could still potentially be a great running mate for the eventually nominee. That leaves Texas governor Rick Perry.

Supposedly Rick Perry is “thinking” about running for president. Great, so am I. So is Donald Trump. If Perry is serious he’ll have to make a decision soon for all the reasons I listed above. Perry isn’t a friend of the GOP establishment. Normally that would be a huge problem, but this would likely a huge plus for his potential candidacy. People don’t want Bush 3.0. The fact that Karl Rove and George Bush aren’t on board the Perry Train is a plus. However, Perry can’t wait three months to get in the race.

The country is need of real leadership. A half-hearted attempt at running for president isn’t going to cut it.

Here are a few deranged tweets about Rick Perry. Enjoy!

@ABC if Rick Perry runs then all his speeches will come to bite his ass for many of them proved reads not much or care not much

June 14, 2011 8:16 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@pray4words

Diane C

Rick Perry that fucking ass

June 13, 2011 5:36 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@ElisaMinneci

Elisa Minneci

@BET kisses Chris Brow's ass all day everyday. AND i hate Rick Perry and his racist ass. Beyonce4

June 13, 2011 6:39 pm via Mobile WebReplyRetweetFavorite

@josecarreon_

Jose Carreon Knowles

Who are you morons in Texas who voted for Rick @GovernorPerry? Do you not care about character? Rick Perry is pure evil

June 11, 2011 1:34 pm via Mobile WebReplyRetweetFavorite

@KathrynJScags

Kathryn Scaglione

There you have it. Rick Perry is “pure evil.” Is it really surprising that the Associated Press is still floating this picture around? Kathryn Scags’ Twitter profile says that she’s an Atheist, and a recovering Catholic. Apparently Atheists are experts on what is evil. Who knew?

"The Jetsons or The Flintstones?"

Last night’s Republican presidential debate on CNN was perhaps the most substantive debate I’ve seen in awhile, despite CNN’s lack of maturity. The candidates mainly stuck to the issues and were pointedly averse to using their time to attack each other. In my book, that’s a good thing, particularly this early in the cycle. I want to know where they stand and their ideological philosophy, not how they perceive their rivals’ weaknesses. That can come later as we move closer to primary season.

What’s frustrating about these debates, particularly when they’re hosted by CNN, is how much time is wasted on frivolity. John King, who moderated the debate, did a lot better than Anderson Cooper (the king of frivolity) when Anderson moderated it in the last election cycle.

King constantly reminded the candidates that time was of the essence, yet he took precious time to ask a silly round of “this and that” questions: American Idol or Dancing with the Stars, for instance. Okay, if you insist on doing “this and that,” how about something more substantive, such as “Jefferson or Adams,” or “Israel or Palestine,” or “Keynes or Hayek” or “cash or credit”?

The candidates were mostly on message, though I tire of the time-wasting preambles used mainly by Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum to establish their bonafides as men of the people. “My father worked in a mill. We’re a union family. I come from a working class background. My grandfather was black, my mother is Hispanic and my sister is a handicapped Native American lesbian teacher. I ran away from home at the age of 13, fought with Andrew Jackson, opposed Jackson as a Congressman and died defending liberty in the Alamo.” Just answer the question!

Similarly, we’re forced to suffer through the patriotic preambles whenever a member of the audience who asks a question is connected to the military in some way: “Let me first say that I honor your sacrifice, a sacrifice that guarantees our precious freedoms, blah blah blah.” Once again, just answer the question! Time is ticking away!

Anyway, how is the deranged left taking the news? Let’s look on Twitter.

"There is no liberty greater than the right to life." - Pawlenty ..but fuck 'em when they're born & gay. Typical RWNJ stance. #p21 #tcot #p2

May 24, 2011 4:44 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@ExposeRWNJs

RWNJ Firing Squad

Apparently Tim Pawlenty is in favor of the death penalty if someone is found to be gay. That’s a pretty extreme position even for a conservative Republican. I can’t seem to find that quote, but I guess we’ll just take this guy’s word for it.

#tpaw is trending? Fuck this state sometimes, honestly. Tim Pawlenty is such a piece of shit that he should never be mentioned, ever

May 23, 2011 9:30 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@NaturallyChill

Alec the Chill

The only reason I think this tweet is funny is because the Twitter handle is NaturallyChill. There’s nothing chill about this observation. In fact, its’ about as “unchill” as it gets.

Announcement: fuck Tim pawlenty. Scary bastards running for president. #shudder

May 23, 2011 12:58 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@Joie1836

Christy Corbeil

There’s a lot of things one could say about Tim Pawlenty. You can call him boring, uncharismatic, or robotic. I’m not sure how anyone could think the guy is scary. However, I don’t write fan fiction about True Blood so what do I know?

The lying ass gop tells the American people we are broke (Walker, Ryan, Pawlenty, etc) while they give huge tax breaks/subsidies to corps.

May 23, 2011 12:16 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@55Bentley

Gail

I’ll wrap this up with a willfully ignorant tweet that hits every unformed talking point out of the park. When will liberals educate themselves about corporate taxation and subsidies? It’s getting tiresome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5i66q1f3M3w

I’m not convinced because, frankly, this video is a speech. They’re just pretty, empty words at this stage. Let’s see what Pawlenty says in Iowa. Is he going to tell them that we can’t afford farm subsidies? Is he going to tell the elderly in Florida that Medicare and Social Security have to be reformed? If he does that then I might change my mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAcxwfkAdDY

The video isn’t quite as exciting as Tim Pawlenty’s visual masterpiece. I voted for Mitt Romney during the 2008 Florida primary. How bad was the field for the GOP in 2008? Romney was the best choice available.

In 2012, I’m not sure Romney has a chance. Things have changed. ObamaCare looms over the political landscape like a steaming pile of dung. Romney greatest political accomplishment is passing RomneyCare in Massachusetts. Much to the surprise of no one it hasn’t worked. For whatever reason Romney has refused to distance himself from it and thus it sits as the proverbial albatross around his proverbial neck.

If Romney is the GOP’s best choice for a second consecutive election cycle then President Obama really is the luckiest man alive.