From Romney to Gingrich
The GOP candidate that I most feared in the election this year was Huntsman; he could sound reasonable, perhaps even get a good chunk of the Democratic vote, while still being a dedicated right-winger, and thus be a real threat to recovering what little of America remains after more than a decade of Republican trashing.
When the consensus seemed to be for Romney, my reaction was, “Are you kidding me?” The right wing wants to place as their candidate a plastic, super-rich, flip-flopping idiot like Romney? That’s the best you can do?
Now that the consensus seems to be swinging to Gingrich, my reaction is, “Are you freaking kidding me?” The right wing wants to replace Romney with a vitriolic, conniving, has-been serial adulterer with negatives as high as 60%? Sure, he’s more politically savvy… but the man is a cesspool of hypocrisy and slime. Sure, Obama won’t be able to make ads about how he got a blow job from a woman not his wife in a car while his kids walked past, or even hint about Newt’s requesting an “open marriage” with his… which wife was that? But not a problem, there is way more about Gingrich to bite into than just the salacious stuff.
I know their choices are bad this year, but to choose the worse of the bad is pretty pathetic. The only positive I see about Gingrich is that he’ll galvanize the religious right while the Mormon Romney might have made them stay home. But I hardly think either has much chance against Obama–unless the rather obvious Republican efforts to crater the economy work better than they seem to be.
So much for “family values”
http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/newt-gingrich-family-values.jpg
or maybe this is it:
http://i.imgur.com/bdKmq.jpg
Gingrich is actually calling Romney a “Massachusetts Moderate” and it’s working.
What is wrong with these people???
I’ve said this before, but the best thing about living in Japan pre-internet (and especially post-Network of CB, when my access to printed English-language news material dropped completely) was not being exposed to any of the Clinton-era bullshit from the United States.
Looking over my journal from 1992 I see I was happy that Clinton won, but after that I didn’t have much attachment to the US. Living in Japan was simply living in a dream.
Not that it was all that great all the time, but it was never bad and it was always different.
If Gingrich wins you’ll be seeing me back in Nihon sooner rather than later : )
Hell, if Obama loses to any of these clowns.
Only a minority of Republicans want Romney. Most of them wouldn’t be caught dead voting for a Mormon.
Ironically, the “open marriage” revelation might mean Gingrich wins the Mormon vote.
I’m not sure G’grinch will show in northern states – Michigan will be Romnney’s best next chance, one would think… but this thing is going down to the wire. Which is not good for the Republicans. They’ll hurl at each other what Democrats are too polite to do: Romney will get pelted with the big money stuff, Gingrich with the anger unstable wrecking crew stuff and Sontorum with the religious fundy stuff (when condoms are outlawed, only outlaws will have condoms!)and so on.
For the Wealthy Republican Elites (the U.S. Chamber of Commerce), I believe this election is a throwaway election. They don’t want American style capitalism to go on trial, and especially now. Such a trial will bring inevitable comparisons with other styles of capitalism. Imagine Canadian regulation, Japanese Tenure, German style Union Represention of Board of Directors – and you can see what a nightmare this is for them. Romney’s candidacy makes American style of capitalism an issue. They don’t want that. So, he’ll soon be gone, and if it wasn’t for such a big push of support from Mormons who want nothing short of ascendancy, let alone acceptability, I’m sure he’d be gone already.
The elite already have a perfectly acceptable caretaker/rear guard corporate friendly government in Obama. Meanwhile they are quietly making great, undreamed of progress over at the Supreme Court thanks to the Fascist Five there. Since Romney’s out of the question, they are perfectly happy to throw the base red meat. It could be Santorum it could be G’grinch, they don’t care. Have at it fellows. They’re gonna need that base later on. In the mean time they have to ride the big angry beast. (Yes, I know, this sounds a lot like the calculations the industrialist in Germany were doing ’round about 1932 and 1933).
I think G’grinch’s emergence demonstrates full well that the Republican Party is neither, but instead represents a personal disposition of hate, fear, anger, contempt, vitriol, narcissism, know-nothingism,and hypocrisy as such, matters not. It’s all about the hate baby. Hate – it’s not just for breakfast anymore. Its a seven course meal served 24/7 that never fails to satisfy.
This is not a political party. It is a personal disposition.
As a liberal, I believe that if Obama and the dems were fighting progressive pragmatists the country would be way better off than it is, and people would vote in throngs for them. My take is Obama is not liberal enough. Not by a long shot.
The G’grinchians, I am sure, feel the same way, and feel that’s what G’grinch represents. Pure, hard boil hate, I mean conservativism, that will kills what ails us, (which they think are liberals) or it will kill just us.
Mega theme: what I’m hoping is this is the inevitable shrivelling of the Republican party into a rump, a rump that won’t go away very soon, but rump enough. As it has shriveled Obama has moved his Democratic party that the Republicans have vacated. Ultimately this allows the emergence of a progressive party, from the 1%s, the occupy movement, and so on. The country then will have three parties like it has three of just about everything else. The Republicans will remain a powerful regional party that slowly loses ground to the Dems as the Dems continue their drag nacht rightward. A progressive party will emerge and so progressive issues will finally get a seat at the table and in the debate.
I’m not sure G’grinch will show in northern states – Michigan will be Romnney’s best next chance, one would think
Romney did very well in the N in 2008:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Republican_Party_%28United_States%29_presidential_primaries_results%2C_2008.svg/500px-Republican_Party_%28United_States%29_presidential_primaries_results%2C_2008.svg.png
A progressive party will emerge and so progressive issues will finally get a seat at the table and in the debate.
Dunno. Obama’s just going to where the votes are IMO.
This is not a particularly liberal country and the 85% of the electorate that still has a job may move rightwards to defend what they have, not to the left to try something new & better.
Just to chime in quickly…
I have been following the candidates pretty closely. The GOP have a strong following in the middle and Southern states, especially in the rural areas.
Although I share Luis’ indignation for Gingrich, I am not sure I can agree that it will be an easy win for Obama if Gingrich is nominated. California and New York, yes, but those city slickers cannot always be relied upon to even vote.
To paraphrase John Rothmann: 45% want Obama to win no matter what (that’s us, guys), and the other 45% want anyone but Obama. It’s the ten percent in the ‘undecided’ category that will make the difference.
I predict it’s going to be an extremely close race.
Having said that, Ron Paul could lose the GOP nomination and jump to the Independent party (he seems more like an Independent, doesn’t he?). If that happens, it would be a landslide victory for Obama.
I think Romney could take Florida, and if he does Newt may as well drop out. But if Newt wins, the primary race should be long, ugly and dispiriting.
Which is why I’m rooting for Newt for Florida.
Just a rebuttal to kensensei’s earlier comment:
I predict it’s going to be an extremely close race.
Recent polls may contradict that initial impression:
http://images2.dailykos.com/i/user/426/NBCWSJ_1_26_2012b.png
–kensensei
It may not be so close, unless the economy takes a bad turn against the current trend. And even then, it may not be so easy. I’m assuming Romney will be the candidate.
People kind of forget that Obama is a really good campaigner. Look at the State of the Union speech for an indicator of how good he can be. Romney, on the other hand, can be good, but often bombs badly–and Gingrich is a much easier target than Obama.
The economy may not be going gangbusters, but it’s on an upward trend which, at the present, seems to be doing well for Obama.
At a time when the Occupy/99% sentiments are at an all-time high, a massively rich one-percenter corporate raider who likes to fire people and wants to raise taxes on everyone making less than $40K won’t fare quite as well again someone like Obama.
Romney, lest we forget, like McCain, is the guy nobody on the right wanted but couldn’t get away from. The “anyone but Romney” crowd is strong, and while they may not include Obama in that “anyone,” they won’t be strongly driven to get out the vote for Romney, either.
Worse–and I think this has been overlooked–a large and significant group of voters that Republican candidates have depended upon in recent years are the Religious Right; they form the base of the party, and usually come out in real force on election day. these people take their faith very seriously–and their candidate may be a Mormon.
Frankly, I think that may be the election right there, and may even cause a lot of Congressional Republicans to fail, given that the Congressional Republicans have been lowering themselves even farther than they have dragged Congressional Democrats.
If Romney is the candidate, the evangelicals stay at home, and the Democrats parade the obstructionist, irresponsible, one-percenter record the GOP has built up over the past four years, I think that Obama will breeze through, the Dems will win the House, and the Senate, while rickety and close to evenly split, will remain in Democratic hands–which will leave us where we got on this ride in 2008, except the Republican ability to filibuster will be even stronger.