2012 GOP Presidential Campaign -- "This individual's going to accuse me of an affair for an extended period of time."

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haha – he doesn't and he isn't.

^^^

Newt is a nerd who is pretty awkward/combative. Reagan was an actor.

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:10 (twelve years ago) link

Reagan's image was avuncular. Newt's image is all angry smartass.

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:11 (twelve years ago) link

This is very much a battle for the soul of the Republican party. Will it defer to its guts or its brains? The smarter Republicans out there know that the guts are notoriously impervious to reason, riddled with fear and loathing and not often appealing to a majority of voters. If you need any proof of what always tacking to the right gets you, just look at the GOP's standing in California. The last major position they held was by a movie star who parachuted into the governor's office via a recall, not by way of primaries.

M. White, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:11 (twelve years ago) link

My conservative parents, who after a 2008 filled with tumult and portents of doom, have not paid too much attention to primary season but they were embarrassed by Cain's non-response to the Libya question and Perry's fumbling. They have said many times that they hate every option.

Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:12 (twelve years ago) link

This is very much a battle for the soul of the Republican party. Will it defer to its guts or its brains?

Not to be tetchy, Mike, but this is the sort of question TV pundits ask every cycle about both parties.

Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:13 (twelve years ago) link

Reagan's image was avuncular.

This^^^

The Gipper could smile and tell an anecdote all while his administration was up to no end of mayhem. Newt actually likes being the smartaleck dick.

M. White, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:13 (twelve years ago) link

i don't feel sorry for conservatives who have no option, or feel like they don't.

flexidisc, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:13 (twelve years ago) link

Primary season requires ideological battles; you're going to see the worst of the party. The GOP has been in a primary cycle since 1988.

Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:14 (twelve years ago) link

This is very much a battle for the soul of the Republican party. Will it defer to its guts or its brains?

as with the Dems, its bowels.

Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:15 (twelve years ago) link

i don't feel sorry for conservatives who have no option, or feel like they don't.

I told them as much when Huckabee won Iowa in 2008 and they were filled with croakings of doom: "your party has spent the last thirty years courting people like Huckabee. Now you get what you deserve."

Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:16 (twelve years ago) link

but this is the sort of question TV pundits ask every cycle about both parties.

You're right of course. I just think it's getting worse for them. They have so many shibboleths that are enforced so rigidly, that everybody is in danger of being accused of a RINO for not staying in lockstep with the hivemind. It's a kind of dictatorship of the idiotariat.

M. White, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:16 (twelve years ago) link

*defecates furiously*

river wolf, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:17 (twelve years ago) link

eh I can imagine that newt is seen as 'the brains' by some people, and he definitely does his best to promote that image. he drops big words, references history pretty often, etc. etc.

iatee, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:17 (twelve years ago) link

heys guys how do you continue to put up with morbius? that guy is the worst geir-bot in these threads.

big popppa hoy, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:18 (twelve years ago) link

they can't pass up the handjobs

Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:19 (twelve years ago) link

Cuz most of us are in these threads?

Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:19 (twelve years ago) link

well morbs isn't a crypto racist so there's that

river wolf, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:22 (twelve years ago) link

The Gipper could smile and tell an anecdote all while his administration was up to no end of mayhem. Newt actually likes being the smartaleck dick.

I think Newt plays to the image of himself as the smart-aleck though. He does it with a wink that signals to his base, "Just watch - this'll really piss them off." (It doesn't need to be said that "them" is the elite liberal media.) So he can get away with saying things that would sound harsh or cruel coming from someone else.

o. nate, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:26 (twelve years ago) link

but the base doesn't mind if he sounds harsh or cruel! You're right though.

Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:28 (twelve years ago) link

i am still clinging to the notion that newt's erratic assholishness and lack of organization will ruin him and romney's immense amount of money, inside support, and robot will to be a perfect candidate will last through all of it.

but the crazy surge this close to a primary is pretty wild i must say. he could fuck it up in a month, sure.

maybe there's some kind of "crazy shit bradley effect" where GOP caucus-goers talk winger game to pollsters but won't want to go all-out on the day of.

slandblox goole, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:29 (twelve years ago) link

base loves harsh/cruel. independents/"swing voters" do not. ergo Newt is doomed.

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:29 (twelve years ago) link

the other problem is that Newt can ONLY play harsh/cruel. unlike Dubya, who could muster tearful repentance, macho bluster, and simple-minded sympathy in equal measure, Newt only has one setting: scorn.

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:36 (twelve years ago) link

yeah, that recent softspoken "morning in america" commercial of his is so hysterically out of character

William (C), Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:39 (twelve years ago) link

and there's the other major problem with Gingrich, money

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 19:42 (twelve years ago) link

nlike Dubya, who could muster tearful repentance, macho bluster, and simple-minded sympathy in equal measure

You sure you don't mean Rod Steiger?

Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 20:08 (twelve years ago) link

little known fact: Dubya travelled back in time to play the role of Jud in the screen adaptation of Oklahoma!

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 20:12 (twelve years ago) link

Looks like this was discussed upthread, but I don't get Pelosi's logic--why sabotage the guy you want to win? Unless, as some of you suggested, she thinks this will rally Republicans around Gingrich.

clemenza, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 20:48 (twelve years ago) link

she probably isn't playing three-dimensional chess and enjoyed the opportunity to lol at gingrich

Mordy, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 20:54 (twelve years ago) link

I wish somebody would start a game of three-dimensional chess with Perry. I think that would be fun.

clemenza, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 20:55 (twelve years ago) link

why sabotage the guy you want to win? Unless, as some of you suggested, she thinks this will rally Republicans around Gingrich.

Dems don't have a lot of muscle to flex in GOP primaries. this won't sabotage him. it will have the simultaneous effects of a) probably motivating the base (who hates Pelosi) and will see any attacks from her as vindication of Newt's threat and b) it will act as a harbinger of things to come for independents/swing voters who may only be starting to pay attention to Gingrich. win/win for the Dems.

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 20:58 (twelve years ago) link

let's keep in mind that like .01% of the american voting population are aware that this event happened

iatee, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:00 (twelve years ago) link

That's like four-dimensional chess...I'm two dimensions behind, but I like it. (xpost)

clemenza, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:01 (twelve years ago) link

Hooray! Wait...:

"A lot of people agree with me and find it amazing," Trump said of the eligibility controversy. "It's miraculous how this birth certificate just appeared."

He said many people have questioned the birth certificate's authenticity.

"It's strange that after years all of a sudden it appears," Trump mused. "How come there are no records his mother ever was in the hospital?"

He noted there are records of other births in the Hawaii hospital at the time.

"There's no record of Obama or his mother," he said.

Trump added that members of Obama's own family have pointed to different hospitals in Hawaii as being his birth location, and his grandmother reportedly made statements linking his birth to Kenya.

"I have real questions (about Obama's eligibility)," he said.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:01 (twelve years ago) link

I think it might just mean that in the end the base will be depressed. They'll end up with Mittens after all the others have flamed out and all their enthusiasm has been spent

M. White, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:04 (twelve years ago) link

Huntsman walks back climate change stance. that's cute... he thinks he's going to get to go to the ball when Newt shits the bed

(will), Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:26 (twelve years ago) link

(and hell he just might. so that'll show me)

(will), Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:27 (twelve years ago) link

eh I can imagine that newt is seen as 'the brains' by some people, and he definitely does his best to promote that image. he drops big words, references history pretty often, etc. etc.

He even has a bona fide Ph.D.!

dyao think i'm sexy (jaymc), Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:28 (twelve years ago) link

it's not inconceivable w/ the dynamics of this race. I mean I don't expect him to get the nom, but if you woulda asked any of us "will cain or gingrich at any point be the frontrunners" some months ago, we woulda laughed. he's trending up on intrade, at 8% atm.

iatee, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:28 (twelve years ago) link

xp

iatee, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:28 (twelve years ago) link

Looks like this was discussed upthread, but I don't get Pelosi's logic--why sabotage the guy you want to win? Unless, as some of you suggested, she thinks this will rally Republicans around Gingrich.

Remember when the GOP fervently prayed that Dean would be the nominee around this time in 2003?

Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:29 (twelve years ago) link

egged on by trump, gingrich will spout something so outrageous that his frontrunner status gets sabotaged. if this debate acutally takes place.

the deli llama, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:33 (twelve years ago) link

― the deli llama,

lol @ yo name

big popppa hoy, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:35 (twelve years ago) link

if this debate acutally takes place.

this debate will not take place.

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:36 (twelve years ago) link

yeah. it's really gingrich's "my dinner with donald" campaign event.

Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:46 (twelve years ago) link

but i love the possibility that, if romney wins the nomination, trump will consider a third-party campaign.

can he have another book ready to promote by then?

Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:47 (twelve years ago) link

wait, of course he can.

Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:47 (twelve years ago) link

he writes his books on the back of restaurant napkins.

Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:47 (twelve years ago) link

"book"

Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 21:47 (twelve years ago) link


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