The 2012 Elections Thread - Page 31

Please tell me that it will go to air.   Hopefully on FOX News.   It's basically Newt's 30 minute ad done much better.

The Colbert Superpac ad is genius.  Can you imagine someone with no idea who Colbert is seeing that ad?  So funny, and perfect. 

 

I like the Seamus2012 site.  What he did to that poor dog makes me physically ill. 

 

And ElCap, I loved your dispatches from Republicanville in '08.  I hope you do it again this year. 

The funny thing is that it's not alot different than Newt's "Romney is a French Speaking Fag" ad that's running in SC right now except it's more serious.

If that Colbert ad ever gets on TV, I'll be very surprised...

 

 

Unrelated...

I just hit on a reason for not electing Romney or Huntsman....in a roundabout way, it is based on their religion.
The US just can't afford the bill for all the Secret Service agents needed to protect these clans....

Romney -  5 kids+wife, 3 brothers/sisters, ? grandchildren
Huntsman -   7 kids+wife, 8 brothers/sisters, 56 grandchildren

 

I'm unsure...would all of Mitt's ex-wives get protection?

 

 

Colbert was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos on This Week

 

http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/

Dammit WHY do these websites keep using video streaming software that can't be viewed outside the US?? So goddamn frustrating. Just put it on YouTube already.

So... I couldn't get the thought out of my head. I present to you America's Youngest Candidate:

 

 

He's got Archer's back. Now he's got America's.

http://news.yahoo.com/romney-gives-unemployed-woman-cash-ropeline-233341069--abc-news.html

 

 

 

SUMTER, S.C. - Amid shaking hands and signing campaign posters, Mitt Romney did something he has never done before on the ropeline: He took out his wallet and handed a wad of cash to a woman waiting to shake his hand.

The woman, 55-year-old Ruth Williams, says she has been following the Romney campaign since he arrived in the state on Jan. 11, when she said she received a message from God to track him down.

"I was on the highway praying and said, 'God just show me how to get [my] lights on,' and I pulled up to a stop sign and his bus was there," said Williams, who has been unemployed since last October. "And then God said, 'Follow the bus,' and I followed the bus to the airport."

According to Williams, she followed the campaign bus to the Columbia airport on Wednesday, the same day Romney was arriving from New Hampshire. When Romney wasn't on the bus, aides told her to go to the rally scheduled in Columbia later that day. When she showed up, Romney found her to say hello and pulled over South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to say "hello" too.

"He was kind to me and he made Gov. Haley come see about me," Williams said. "He stopped doing everything."

Williams, who would not specify how much money Romney gave her, said also that South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis paid her light bill on Thursday. A spokesman for Loftis, one of Romney's major endorses in the state, confirmed to ABC News that he paid Williams' bill. While Loftis didn't know the amount of the bill, he confirmed that he gave her $150.

"God didn't tell me to go to nobody else, he told me to pray for Romney," said Williams, when asked why she has decided to support Romney. "I listened to the Lord."

Williams said she has been volunteering at Romney's Columbia headquarters since meeting his bus last week.

"I've been working at his campaign office cleaning and just doing little things," she said.

"They really did, they really came through for real," she said.

While Williams would not specify how much money Romney gave her, a campaign spokesman said that he believes Romney gave the woman between $50 and $60.

Campaign officials: Jon Huntsman to withdraw from race for Republican presidential nomination

 

...and then there were....4...5 ? it is down to 5 now, isn't it.

 

unless of course Trump decides to get back into the race....oh, and Colbert :-]

http://news.yahoo.com/campaign-officials-jon-huntsman-withdraw-race-republican-presidential-021738999.html

 

So long Huntsman. As if it will make that big a difference.

 

Blah. A minute too late

 

there is a bit of a difference... the percentage of crazy nominees has gone up by about 15%
 

 

Well when Steve Colbert is kicking your ass in the polls, that's maybe a sign to get out.    Speaking of which, I would love, love, love if Huntsman endorsed Colbert.

The one GOP candidate I could have supported.....bah.

He's going to formally endorse Romney.

I imagine. Aren't they actually distant cousins?

Probably a lot more than 15% to be honest. But this is only more good news for Romney as I'm sure politically minded chewers are aware. The few Huntsman voters will most likely go to Romney now.

but...but...

 

re: Romney-

 

seriously...how does one rationalize making statements like this one week and then, turn around and figuratively kiss the ass of that same person?

 

I imagine the party told him to?

He wants to be VP?I imagine the rest of this circus until Super Tuesday is just going to be different Republicans basically auditioning for the VP slot.

According to David Corn, the Huntsman campaign already started deleting all anti-Romney videos and websites from the internet!

Take backsies!

George H. W. Bush famously referred to Reagan's supply-side domestic policies as "voodoo economics" until it was time to audition for the Vice President's spot on the ticket. The man appeared to have a late-in-life conversion to voodoo, himself, when his career advancement was on the line.

The Republican Party in general makes much more sense if you assume that none of them mean a damn thing they say. When Rick Santorum's kids have grown up and moved out on their own, and he can come out of the closet with a clean conscience, you can bet your ass he's going to want his civil rights then.

Other amusing developments today:

President Obama is scheduled to disclose his tax returns in Thursday. Gingrich has made sure everybody knows that he'll be disclosing his on the same day, and has publicly dared Romney to do the same.

Fresh from his capture of the many Religious Right endorsements in Texas over the weekend, Rick Santorum blew the anti-Mormon dogwhistle as awkwardly as he possibly could in a speech in South Carolina. "Watch out for outsiders! Especially ones from states with, shall we say, salty lakes! They're not like us!" *

Ron Paul announced two days ago that a "game-changing" endorsement was coming today. That was the endorsement of first-term State Senator Tom Davis, who isn't even offensive enough for anyone outside the Carolinas to have heard of him before. Bummer, there. My eyes, to borrow from literary giants, remain unfucked.

*not a real quote.
Edited by Reasor - 1/16/12 at 10:01am

Romney ain't choosing any of them for VP.   I'm going to guess Christie will get the nod.   It's a way to raise his profile without the risk of diminishing his image if things go south for Romney.

No way Huntsman gets the nod. The right (and maybe the country) could absolutely not handle two Mormons on the ticket. They're closing their eyes and holding their noses as it is with Romney. Asking them to swallow two LDS candidates on the same ticket would kill them dead.

 

And I agree with dynamotv, in general: I don't think Romney's running mate will be someone he ran against. Of them all, Santorum has the highest chance, simply because they think he'd help seal up the religious right. But I think it's more likely he'll choose someone who didn't run against him.

I'd wager hell pick Rubio.

 

Tea party favorite who will help him with his Hispanic problem.

That'd be one of 137 problems tackled, then. Would a hot property like Rubio really be game for being the VP on a probable lame-duck campaign? Seems like the smart thing for him to do would be to spend the next four years building some of that "Republican Obama" cred up.

I don't think being the VP candidate would hurt Rubio no matter what happens with Romney.   Just look at Sarah Palin.   Even if she's the Brick Tamlin of politics, she would have sown up the nomination by now if she decided she wanted to run.   That wouldn't have been possible without her run for VP.   I see it as win win for any of the so called "Rock Stars"  of the GOP.   If your running mate loses, well you get some prolonged national exposure to your brand.   If your running mate wins, then you have at least 4 years of experience in the executive branch.   I can see Jindal, Barbour, or Rubio (these are the GOP rockstars?) going for this.

Palin would've imploded spectacularly had she sought the nomination.

Oh she most definitely would have but the point is, she had a base of support that made her the automatic front runner despite how the McCain campaign went.   I can see Christie or Rubio using the VP run as a springboard for 2016.

 

 

 

 

True, but inside sources report that Palin also imploded spectacularly last Thursday while trying to order a chicken philly at The Great Esteak in Terminal C at Baltimore/Washington International.

"This menu is written in Tsarist or something!"

 

"Ma'am? It's upside down."

The only reason I would want Christie as a possible VP would be for him to have the media spotlight shine on him and uncover whatever dirty laundry he has in his past.

 

Christie reminds me of a fatter, slightly less bitter Newt. He strikes me as the kind of politician that revels in being "nasty and mean" with regards to his politics.

 

I found it...curious(?) that so many in the GOP were ready to throw themselves prostrate at the feet of Christie to try and get him to run for president...it seemed like he was being painted by some as the "I'd like to have a beer with him" candidate. Been there, done that.

 

I also get a "Norquist" vibe from him, which is a HUGE negative factor. 

 

 

Santorum:  Obama doesn't think America is a source for good in the world.

 

Here's my favorite bit:

 

 

 

Hey genius:  the sun set on the British empire because they pretty much got kicked out of every country they'd colonized by people who were sick of them being there.

Edited by Richard Dickson - 1/16/12 at 9:43am

 

Agree.  Underneath his charm, he's a monster. 
 

 

Because all of this is a game to most of the candidates.  They're all beholden to the same people.  They will all do the same thing--further loot the treasury to give handouts to their backers and destroy the social safety net.  When these guys talk about making America "competitive," they're not talking about the country as a whole; they're talking about CEOs and shareholders. 

hopefully, intense media exposure would be the "waafer-thin mint" to his political career.

 

 

Santorum has already proven himself to be a non-fan of history, science, and facts.

I'm just tired of this whole idea that if you don't believe America should be going out and shoving its ideals down peoples' throats, you think America is unexceptional.  How about we try to act as an example to other countries instead of invading them to make them be like us?

 

Of course, the people usually espousing this idea of "exceptionalism" are ones who also want to shove their religious ideals down peoples' throats, so I guess it make sense.

Andrew Sullivan has a pretty good take on Huntsman's failure to catch fire with the electorate.

 

Money quote:

 

 

He wasn't the perfect candidate, and his endorsement of Romney is troubling. I still think he represented the right's best hope of moving out of the early 20th century into the early 21st. Maybe he'll be stronger and a more aggressive campaigner in 2016.

If the GOP's kingmakers, the Cheneys and the like, have any self consciousness at all, they're going to want to counteract Romney's blue-blood Little Lord Fauntleroy persona with a VP candidate who reflects what they imagine working class leaders to be like. That's Christie, as grotesque as he is.

Since I still think this is still bizzaro 2004, I say either Santorum or Perry as running mate.  Probably Perry.  The economy will not be any better, and will likely be much worse by November, so his "Job Creator!" line will play.

 

I had to look up John Kerry's running mate in 2004.  I forgot it was Edwards.

I can't see Perry as VP Nominee (too stupid even for the GOP), or Santorum (not enough support even amongst Evangelicals), or Huntsman (2 Mormans on one ticket?!). I think Christie has a good shot, he can be the Spiro Agnew to Romney's Nixon.

I don't know anything about Christie, how are his actual politics? Is he hardcore right wing? Moderate? Objectivist-libertarian? Fundamentalist? What?

The actual Spiro Agnew or Futurama's Agnew smash?  Either way I like it.

 

I don't think it will be Christie. He has things he want to do in New Jersey still before he looks at the big horse. I also think he can get the name recognition in 2016 without it.

 

I think Romney goes with Marco Rubio. Diffrent ethnicity, different portion of the nation. Would Republicans vote for two Republicans from New England? (Yeah, yeah, NJ is actually a middle colony or Atlantic state...but too far north of the Mason Dixon.) I could hear the cries of that isn't our Republican party in the NE.  Palin was stuntcasting. Cheney was to reassure the repubs that Bush II would be a lot like Bush I and Reagan.  Jack Kemp was both a Bush I, a well known footballer, and from opposite sides of the country from Bob Dole.  

The regional voter turnout problem the GOP would suffer if they put two Yankees on the ticket is a good point.

Rick Perry insists that the flap over video footage of U.S. Marines urinating on the bodies of hostile forces in Afghanistan indicates the White House's "disdain for the military." (From the article: "He added that those involved in the incident should be 'appropriately punished,' but that charging the Marines with a criminal act is 'over the top.') Desecrating the corpses of the enemy is a violation of the international laws of land warfare established in the Geneva Conventions, and the commander of all NATO forces in Afghanistan, a three star General with the U.S. Army, has ordered a round of retraining on the laws of warfare for all NATO personnel in theater.

Rick Santorum, asked by the mother of a gay son how she can support Santorum when he seems to hate gay people, hints again at his stated belief that husbands will just abandon their wives left and right if homosexual relationships are legitimized.

All the remaining GOP candidates celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by holding a debate in South Carolina, which still flies the Confederate flag, tonight on FOX News.

Edited to clean up links.
Edited by Reasor - 1/16/12 at 3:35pm

Are you kidding me... really?
  

I went back and edited that for clarity; I'm not privy to the actual stage decorations. I'll be fascinated to see if the damn thing is up there anywhere, and whether the Fox cameras get any good shots of it.

My hope is that the Republican party will implode after whichever candidate it fields fails to beat Obama and realize that a return to sanity--as best exemplified by its last, sane candidate, Dwight D. Eisenhower, will actually yield more votes.  But who knows.  Every time the Republican party loses, for some inexplicable reason, it believes it needs to be more conservative, not less.

 

I'm not too bothered by Huntsman's endorsement of Romney.  Party politics.  You fall in line.  If you think about the fact that Republicans tend to nominate the runner up  in the next electoral cycle (and, really, the only viable candidate is Huntsman, despite his inability to appeal to the lunatics), Huntsman's move makes sense.  Plus, really, Romney isn't that bad (as compared to his colleagues).  As Bill Maher said on Friday, there's a 46% chance he's likely a Democrat (if a bit to the right of Obama). What really bothers me about Romney is that he's like a guy who wants to get with the girl a little too much.  If you look so desperate, man, she ain't going to give it up.  Be cool.

 

I think Marco Rubio is the most likely VP candidate.  He's a nutcase.  A true, crazy Cuban republican.  The kind of crazy Cuban who thinks that once the Castro regime falls, he and his family will return to Havana to open the house they locked when they left with Michael and Fredo to the States and resume their lives of opulence under Batista's regime.

Not hardcore at all, I think that many on this board paint him with a more conservative brush simply because of how he acts (he's a curt, often rude sonofabitch) and because of his teacher pension reform in NJ (which I agree with).  Picture a much fatter and much more crass version of Huntsman, really.  He supports civil unions, says immigrants here illegally arent breaking the law, supports gun control, and supports the theory of man made climate change.

 

He was also the one republican to call out all the douchebags protesting the "ground zero mosque."

Religious leaders who went into this weekend's Texas Hate Hootenanny backing Gingrich left backing Gingrich, and now say the issue was hardly resolved when they all left. The remaining Santorum backers supposedly found themselves with a quorum, and went with it.