Update: Welcome to the Republican National Committee's winter meeting -- and the GOP's alternate reality, where happy days are nearly here again. (Madden, Salon)
From Charlie Cook:
" ... From a list of 10 possible GOP contenders, respondents [in a Gallup Poll conducted post-election November 5 to 16] were asked which ones they would like to see run for president in 2012."
Running first was the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, with 67 percent wanting her to run."
I say go, Sarah, go. 2012, is not 2004, nor even 1980.
More Americans than ever are disinclined to vote for ignoramuses with no idea what public policy is or why it's important. The reality-based community is thriving.
Showing posts with label GOP Presidential candidates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GOP Presidential candidates. Show all posts
Jan 30, 2009
Feb 1, 2008
McCain More Vulnerable than Rudy
Political prognostication is a sport destined to achieve a non-perfect record.
Ask Kevin Drum, and he's damn good.
Drum agreed with predictions made last November that after Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudy Giuliani, other rightwingers would jump on board the Rudy train. Drum wrote, quoting Rich Lowry:
Did not work out that way with Rudy. No mass of Christians leaped behind him because Pat Robertson said so. And let-them-eat-cake McCain presents even more problems than Rudy, never mind that the GOP establishment hates the guy.
Drum's contention that the religious right voters focus on their conception of moral decay is accurate to a point, but religious right voters are sufficiently independently thinking (I know) that they will not, in overwhelming numbers, automatically and on command fall in line for a GOP candidate who does not speak their language and who is insincere.
As much as I personally disagree with the religious right on just about every aspect of their descriptive views, these voters hold much more nuanced world and ethical views than Drum and Lowry would have you believe; and, more than some Republican operatives may realize: Genuine views.
George W. Bush connected with these voters, and as much as W. is a truly repulsive political and ethical leader, he is genuine in his religious convictions.
In enough churches of the religious right, it's not all authoritarianism and 'our leaders say we must vote for this man to save the world from Satan'.
The churches are a community: People coming together to help an elderly lady paint her house; people coming together and talking about a personal problem; sharing a success; comforting a church member in a crisis; and solving non-political issues about quality of living.
I spoke to several people in Wisconsin at the fundamentalist Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) church in 1998, and wrote a piece scathing and somewhat mocking in tone for a Milwaukee LGBT civil rights periodical.
But as noted then, the church was very community-oriented and a lot of people did a lot of work to help one another out.
Sure, there will be some, possibly many (especially in the south), among the religious right voters who will pull a lever for the Republican nominee, when enough political propaganda and brand pressures are applied.
But there will also be many more, and more than enough to sway an election, who will dedicate their energies in places other than a polling place and political campaigns when they feel insulted and used by John McCain or Mitt Romney; and they may be found in the political offices where you might not expect them to be residing, like in the Democratic nominee's.
[This article appeated in a slightly different version entitled Rudy Can Fail on Nov. 9, 2007.]
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Ask Kevin Drum, and he's damn good.
Drum agreed with predictions made last November that after Pat Robertson's endorsement of Rudy Giuliani, other rightwingers would jump on board the Rudy train. Drum wrote, quoting Rich Lowry:
Just talked to a top social conservative. He says, hinting that more prominent social cons will end up going with Rudy, 'There's plenty more where this comes from.' On the impact of the Robertson endorsement on the race: "What it does for Rudy is it says, 'It's OK to vote for Rudy.' I think there will be more of that, pre-nomination and post-nomination." On conservative evangelical voters and Giuliani: "If Rudy is the nominee, they're going to vote for him — period.""This strikes me as right. The real core issue of the Christian right has always been 'moral decay,'" wrote Drum.
Did not work out that way with Rudy. No mass of Christians leaped behind him because Pat Robertson said so. And let-them-eat-cake McCain presents even more problems than Rudy, never mind that the GOP establishment hates the guy.
Drum's contention that the religious right voters focus on their conception of moral decay is accurate to a point, but religious right voters are sufficiently independently thinking (I know) that they will not, in overwhelming numbers, automatically and on command fall in line for a GOP candidate who does not speak their language and who is insincere.
As much as I personally disagree with the religious right on just about every aspect of their descriptive views, these voters hold much more nuanced world and ethical views than Drum and Lowry would have you believe; and, more than some Republican operatives may realize: Genuine views.
George W. Bush connected with these voters, and as much as W. is a truly repulsive political and ethical leader, he is genuine in his religious convictions.
In enough churches of the religious right, it's not all authoritarianism and 'our leaders say we must vote for this man to save the world from Satan'.
The churches are a community: People coming together to help an elderly lady paint her house; people coming together and talking about a personal problem; sharing a success; comforting a church member in a crisis; and solving non-political issues about quality of living.
I spoke to several people in Wisconsin at the fundamentalist Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) church in 1998, and wrote a piece scathing and somewhat mocking in tone for a Milwaukee LGBT civil rights periodical.
But as noted then, the church was very community-oriented and a lot of people did a lot of work to help one another out.
Sure, there will be some, possibly many (especially in the south), among the religious right voters who will pull a lever for the Republican nominee, when enough political propaganda and brand pressures are applied.
But there will also be many more, and more than enough to sway an election, who will dedicate their energies in places other than a polling place and political campaigns when they feel insulted and used by John McCain or Mitt Romney; and they may be found in the political offices where you might not expect them to be residing, like in the Democratic nominee's.
[This article appeated in a slightly different version entitled Rudy Can Fail on Nov. 9, 2007.]
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Jan 24, 2008
McCain's Express Route to Defeat
John McCain's status as the newest GOP frontrunner has the Republican establishment desperate.
Some believe that McCain may be the GOP's best hope in the general election.
But McCain still carries the weight of hostility from crucial GOP constituencies sufficient to crush his general election campaign.
This reality is summed up in Ann Coulter's latest column.
'Straight Talk' Express Takes Scenic Route to Truth
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Some believe that McCain may be the GOP's best hope in the general election.
But McCain still carries the weight of hostility from crucial GOP constituencies sufficient to crush his general election campaign.
This reality is summed up in Ann Coulter's latest column.
'Straight Talk' Express Takes Scenic Route to Truth
John McCain is Bob Dole minus the charm, conservatism and youth. Like McCain, pollsters assured us that Dole was the most "electable" Republican. Unlike McCain, Dole didn't lie all the time while claiming to engage in Straight Talk.
Of course, I might lie constantly too, if I were seeking the Republican
presidential nomination after enthusiastically promoting amnesty for illegal aliens, Social Security credit for illegal aliens, criminal trials for terrorists, stem-cell research on human embryos, crackpot global warming legislation and free speech-crushing campaign-finance laws.
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Jan 21, 2008
Economy Warnings and the 2008 Race
From Americablog:
European markets drop fast at opening
by Chris in Paris ·
The opening in London, Paris and Frankfurt markets has been ugly, just like Asia. Where are the Republican presidential candidates during this collapse? They're still talking about tax cuts instead of addressing real world problems that their party created. It's incredible to even imagine that we're heading into a recession - if we're not already there - and this group is debating issues that were laid to rest a few years ago.
Outside of extreme right wing circles, people know that tax cuts do not "pay for themselves" as the right likes to say. Never have, never will. They can provide benefits but as a long term solution to the current economic problems, not at all. Giuliani may not have a chance to mingle with people outside of his million dollar plus salary circles but people in the real world are fed up with tax cuts for the elite and the middle class squeeze. Times have changed, but the GOP is still stuck in the past. Why is it so hard for them to understand that most of the country has been left behind while only the select few have profited?
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European markets drop fast at opening
by Chris in Paris ·
The opening in London, Paris and Frankfurt markets has been ugly, just like Asia. Where are the Republican presidential candidates during this collapse? They're still talking about tax cuts instead of addressing real world problems that their party created. It's incredible to even imagine that we're heading into a recession - if we're not already there - and this group is debating issues that were laid to rest a few years ago.
Outside of extreme right wing circles, people know that tax cuts do not "pay for themselves" as the right likes to say. Never have, never will. They can provide benefits but as a long term solution to the current economic problems, not at all. Giuliani may not have a chance to mingle with people outside of his million dollar plus salary circles but people in the real world are fed up with tax cuts for the elite and the middle class squeeze. Times have changed, but the GOP is still stuck in the past. Why is it so hard for them to understand that most of the country has been left behind while only the select few have profited?
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