I’d think considering this phenomena and the fact that both political poles are so polarized with each side running even more polarizing candidates—it seems like a scenario where the odds of a third party middle candidate could have success.
― earlnash, Monday, 5 December 2011 02:31 (8 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink
idk about both sides running more polarising candidates—unless you go for the baseline of hillary/obama both being OTHERLY & therefore untenable, i think they’re still p tame, the polarisation being kind of a choice of the opposition rather than a reaction to their intrinsic unpalatability
I was gonna say, if “polarizing” now means “black or female” we have pretty much time jumped straight back into the 40s
well this is fox news’s political world
Two weeks from today the value of a Herman Cain endorsement will be near zero.
I imagine it’s close to worthless already, which is why he’s rushing forward rather than dangling it out there. The only possible value I can see would be if Cain has organizational things in place (especially in Iowa) that Gingrich can use, an area he’s obviously weak in.
Most symbolic endorsements are probably meaningless. I think some are beneficial: when the two Kennedys endorsed Obama, that meant something, and Powell’s endorsement towards the end was helpful. One that’s timed right can be worthwhile: Bill Richardson normally wouldn’t mean that much, but I remember he endorsed Obama right after a brutal couple of weeks over Wright. (Plus he was jumping the Clinton ship.) Edwards’ endorsement, conversely, came so late as to mean nothing.
Herman gets close to zero on both stature and timing. But maybe he can bring along a few precinct captains in Iowa (whatever that means).
I suspect that he was hoping* to spin it into some sort of ‘king maker’ thing, like Sarah Palin (the difference being that she is crazy to the bone, while he’s mostly just playing it on tv, when he remembers to).
Also having just seen the last season of the Wire, I was hoping that he could at least have gone full Clay Davis when defending his decision to selflessly give all this money to this poor deluded woman.
*or at least figures it couldn’t hurt to try, which seems to be kind of his modus operandi.
I’m sure he did have delusions of kingmaker, but that that lasted for about 45 seconds after he finished his speech on Saturday—at which point he realized, “I’d better do this pronto, while people still remember who I am.”
Ixnay on the Ewtnay.
econdedsay!
cain’s endorsement depends on context, a few more public endorsements can give gingrich a temporary air of legitimacy. positive press is positive press.
‘legitimacy’ within the realm of crazy but that’s still worth something
it’s like if charlie sheen announced he was buying $10,000 worth of bitcoins
I think a Cain endorsement is still worth something. To the extent that Cain supporters liked his platform (9–9–9 and the rest) and not just the man, an endorsement for Gingrich implies some kind of philosophical agreement, which could at least make former Cain supporters (of which there are a few) give Gingrich a second look.
OTOH, we’re living in a bizarro GOP world in which Donald Trump is moderating presidential candidate debates, so my idea of whose endorsement carries weight may be way off.
anyone have a link to this morning’s interview of donald trump by chuck todd? i hear it was a train-wreck, and i want to watch it later.
At this point it may be useful to recall that, even though he was bugfuck crazy, Caligula was quite a popular emperor among those who lived outside of Rome.
His horse adored him.
I think a Cain endorsement is still worth something.
It’s worth more than, say, a Santorum endorsement. This doesn’t actually mean it’s worth anything, though.
Every time I see the words “Santorum endorsement” I think it means “a successful gay date.”
it means free godfather’s pizza for newt’s whole campaign staff (of one)!
It’s morning in Newtonia.
wau
Some key tidbits hidden in all that goo-goo-eyed sentimentality: “replace the tax code”, “return power to the states”.
this Newt thing still seems to be a spasm of irrelevance to me, but his miraculous nomination would produce the most vomitorious level of Bamlove from liberal invertebrates imaginable.
my Facebook was covered with chunks last Friday.
I wish Newt had included a brief shot of a hundred or so eight-year-olds in that ad, rowing away Ben Hur-style. (No embedding.)
this Newt thing still seems to be a spasm of irrelevance to me, but his miraculous nomination would produce the most vomitorious level of Bamlove from liberal invertebrates imaginable.
and from liberals with backbones, too!
Offered a choice between eating gruel or excreta, I will choose gruel and think myself lucky. On the whole, though, I’d prefer my own cooking to either.
I’m talking about ppl who will pass off gruel as gravy, nectar, or manna.
Manna tasted like whatever the eater wanted it to taste like, so in your case I suspect even Manna would taste like gruel.
Manna Mah Nah
scriptural lesser-of-shit-sandwichism, about time
i mean i know you could say this about any potential candidate given the lolfest this has been, but is palin regretting her decision right now?
and what has happened to bachman? she still hasn’t officially imploded yet, right?
Bachmann imploded almost instantaneously; she was done when she went on her HPV vaccine conspiracy rant
(calling all of her Republican rivals Socialists is merely icing on the fallen cake that is her campaign)
I think perry and even huntsman are more realistic candidates than gingrich. I’m beginning to think gingrich could take down romney but I refuse to believe he could win the nom.
I am confident gingrich could take down gingrich, and it seems possible that the romney-bot has already taken down romney. Stand by for the Huntsman juggernaut and Perry’s miraculous resurrection.
i believe, in my heart, that the GOP nomination will be decided by an intense game of “rock, paper, scissors” between the remaining candidates at the convention.
Huntsman would definitely have a good shot in a general, but I just can’t see him coming from 1% to win the nomination. It seems so incredibly improbable, and not improbable in the way Gingrich’s ascension has been—i.e., someone who actually once was a Republican hero, and whose worst rhetorical excesses sort of match up well with the Tea Party.
it’s improbable because Huntsman is not entirely insane
really the person who has to be the angriest about what’s going on with the Republican polls is Santorum
improbable because the entire GOP race is a search for the “one” to challenge romney, and huntsman is too close to romney — in demeanor, reasonableness, moderate opinions, religion, and so forth — to be suitable.
no, someone like newt, who embodies and gives voice to the anger, fear and resentment on the right, is the right guy for that job.
I’ll bet he’s frothing right now. xpost
santorum’s at fault for his failure to gain traction. he doesn’t seem presidential. it’s an issue of demeanor and gravitas.
but maybe if he started wearing a ronald reagan mask at all campaign appearances . . .
really the person who has to be the angriest about what’s going on with the Republican polls is Santorum
― OH NOES, Monday, December 5, 2011 2:25 PM (2 minutes ago)
I’ll bet he’s frothing right now. xpost
― JmC (step hen faps), Monday, December 5, 2011 2:27 PM (8 seconds ago)
Hoping for postcampaign stories about trails of anger-trashed hotel rooms in IA and NH.
it’s hard to know what huntsman really expects or expected, he came out of the gate insulting the GOP base
santorum’s a social moralist in an economic moralist world. this election isn’t gonna be about buttsex, so,
xp The base is anti-Beefheart across the board.
there’s been a boomlet in the commentariat of “huntsman is really pretty right wing” with a side of “how is the press so convinced he’s a republican liberal despite this??” and the answer is because that’s how he portrayed himself! duhhh
also his last boss was obama
Sullivan posted this today:
“One time we were having sex, and I was looking up at the ceiling, thinking about, ‘What am I going to buy at the grocery store tomorrow? What am I going to do with my kids tomorrow?’”—Ginger White on The Hermanator Experience.
And Herman? “9....9.....NINE! NINE! NINE! NINE!!!!!!!”
xpost — And it really comes down to that.
Base: “WE NEED SOMEONE WHO SHARES OUR LOATHING.”
Huntsman: “What’s the point of that?”
Base: “F.U.”
Lather rinse repeat
and despite all this, I still find him getting the nominee more realistic than double-digit poll lead gingrich
also his last boss was obama
― iatee, Monday, December 5, 2011 8:33 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink
the morbius post writes itself
people pay good money to have well-connected ‘centrist’ whiners around, i think huntsman is in it for the (long-term) money as much as cain or anybody was
This sums up Huntsman’s prospects quite well (and some more encouraging news for Newt dreamers):
http://www.gallup.com/poll/151325/Republicans-Gingrich-Romney-Acceptable-Nominees.aspx
nah I don’t buy that, dude’s father is a billionaire, he doesn’t need CNN airtime appearance money or bookdeals
i’m thinking more of that former-senator uberlobbyist type of circuit, not that kind of thing.
eh that’s still chump change
(for someone w/ a billionaire dad)
but...the power!!!
I am going to have nightmares about those glasses.
after obamacare those will be the only glasses permitted
they need to have wipers on em
Daschle needs to go full-on steempunk
This new Ron Paul ad is so Axe Body Spray:
just coming here to post that. i love this ad!, at least until we actually hear ron paul, whose voice doesn’t match the tenor of the ad.
well, it’s over. really no point in having this sham of a primary season. bring on the general.
Perfect. Chuck Colson’s endorsement to follow.
All this special pleading for Huntsman all of sudden—Sullivan’s linked to five or six pieces, most improbably/laughably Erick Erickson—have these people come to the conclusion that Romney can’t win the nomination, or are they starting to think Romney can’t win the general?
are they starting to think
why start now, amirite?
Newt says Pelosi’s threat is a “a fundamental violation of the rules of the House.” You got that? Not just a violation, but a fundamental violation. In the Newtonian cosmology, that’s bad—real bad.
(CNN commentator says Gingrich is cagily picking a fight with the Republican base’s second—maybe even first—most hated Democrat.)
meanwhile, whooop here it is (donald trump on the TODAY show).
Newt Gingrich is the only potential candidate set to attend the debate
lol
“But in this case, this guy really is! This guy is different than you have experienced before.”
oh, this is tooooooooo good (romney speaks french, for two-minutes; GOP base will loooooove that).
release this, unadorned, as an ad in every red state.
Irony aside, some of the rest of that Iowa speech is reasonably astute analysis.
everytime i see huntsman speaking chinese i just like him more :-/
yes yes. please, everyone, post the “romney speaks french” video everywhere you can.
donald trump interviewed by chuck todd, from this morning.
okay romney ‘speaks french’ in the same sense that dubya ‘speaks spanish’
what’s weird is before now I assumed mormons were all really good w/ language cause they attempted a hardcore immersion thing when abroad, but apparently huntsman speaks intro-chinese too
to be fair, mandarin is much harder
Govenor Romney parle français très bon.
no doubt—I could never learn chinese—but huntsman gets a ‘fluent in chinese!’ in every article about him when there’s a lot of evidence to the contrary
oh for real? I guess I just assume that Chinese is so hard that seeing a non native speaker demonstrating any aptitude is p impressive
oh, this is tooooooooo good (romney speaks french, for two-minutes; GOP base will loooooove that).
― Daniel, Esq., Monday, December 5, 2011 6:36 PM (2 hours ago)
this is incredble
― iatee, Monday, December 5, 2011 7:37 PM (1 hour ago)
jeez this is brutal! he’s pretty good for a white dude imo
you speak mandarin? that article’s comments make it seem like it’s possible the author is kinda full of shit too.
where’s dayo
“jeez this is brutal! he’s pretty good for a white dude imo”
don’t you mean “pretty fly for a white guy”?
Todd
Todd, I know you’re keeping it realness but you don’t need to sign all your posts. Pretty much no one does it here...
you speak mandarin? that article’s comments make it seem like it’s possible the author is kinda full of shit too.
― iatee, Monday, December 5, 2011 11:15 PM (31 minutes ago)
ha no but i mean, no he’s not “fluent” but like, it seems like he can carry a conversation somewhat
there don’t seem to be any examples of that tho. I think he’d like to give the impression that he could just chat w/ a chinese politician without a translator instead of like, being able to say “hi my name is mr. huntsman”
Todd, I know you’re keeping it realness but you don’t need to sign all your posts. Pretty much no one does it here...
― Mordy, Tuesday, 6 December 2011 04:42 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink
rip big jim swells
man this is gonna be one of the funniest campaign’s ever if Newt pulls off the upset in the primaries
CNN commentator says Gingrich is cagily picking a fight with the Republican base’s second—maybe even first—most hated Democrat
Not only that—by picking a fight, Newt also creates the impression that Democrats are afraid of him. Why else would they hint that they have damaging secrets?
yes, I smell a Nixonian attempt to play the victim. Stupid tactic by Pelosi, as far as it matters.