2012 republican presidential nominee III: can romney get santorum out of his hair?

but, color me pessimistic, a future of grey-vs-brown politics sounds completely fucking miserable to me. if the 'new deal coalition' finally snaps forever and any organized unionized (groan) white working class disappears into palinism and kulturkampf, doesn't that sound like a future of shitty racebaiting fox news youtubes beamed into a human face forever?

grey-vs-brown politics has been going on for decades!

ie just because we can't reverse it doesn't mean that we can't (or shouldn't bother) mitigate its effects

to mitigate its effects, that should say

I mean there's a huge world of difference between just being laissez-faire "let's burn-every-fossil-fuel-there-is!" about things and basically trying to re-engineer society so that it can actually function

i'm more sanguine than that. the democratic coalition is relatively coherent and this will only become more true as young people move into the workforce and voting booth. the republicans' reliable base of terrified bigots will probably shrink over the coming years. their coalition is remarkably incoherent in comparison with the democrats'. the personal interests the wealthy are often diametrically opposed to those of poorer, non-urban/coastal religious fundamentalists, and the most dedicated economic conservatives are increasingly libertarian (ron paul).

mostly agree w/ this but there's also a ticking clock w/r/t certain things most importantly global warming and the need for a much more expansive safety net and I'm not sure our long-term coalition will be in place in time

What's up? You people still worried about Romney winning the election?

― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, January 20, 2012 1:24 PM (1 hour ago)

You know, I think rooting for Gingrich at this point is also partly just wanting to see the misery of the Romney campaign end sooner. That misery is genuine and he doesn't bear the strain of it well.

if there is an open primary in CA (I can't remember) I am totally voting for Gingrich.

going to result in doing shit about climate change

You know how the Right sucks Chruchill's dick 'cause of his early warning on Nazism? This is the issue which is most crying out for someone to knock some heads together and remind even the 1% that, at present, we don't have escape pods and shitting on the planet will lead to either degraded life or violent struggle, probably both.

Fundamentally, it's the right move. (xpost)

they might have escape pods, we have no way of knowing

Also, tbf, even a 'laissez-faire' system that truly values, well, value should be looking like the dickens for some power and revenue source other than nuclear and oil. Both are finite and noxious. The Steve Jobs entrepreneur-hero of the future will be one hell of a rich person when they figure that conundrum out.

Also, laissez-faire what? So called conservatives attached to this line of thought are merely adumbrating the basic edges of the idea. The devil is in the minute details of what gets regulated, how, by whom, in what fashion, etc... It's why all the idiots calling Obama a socialist drive me nuts. Even the socialist parties are center-left these days. Heck even the CPC is as much of a fascist party as a genuine socialist party these days.

they might have escape pods

I hope they do. It would serve them right to be flying through space for eons, Battlestar Galactica style, in search of an inhabitable place to land.

what's a 'genuine socialist party'? just through usage the word means 'center left european' as much as it means anything else these days.

Also, my point above about the GOP is more about how totally insane you have to be to win the primary and how much that hurts them when they get to the general than a prediction that the road ahead is all that rosy for the Democrats.

They through around 'socialist' as if it's some evil auhoritarian state when even that economic model (the state owning the means of production) hasn't been tried by anybody succesfully in ages. Otherwise, it means socially liberal Europeans who are less racist, rich and religious than others.

'the state owns the means of production' doesn't really mean much in 2012.

I think more than just having to be totally insane, you have to appeal to mutually exclusive groups of totally insane people. I think the reason the primary season has looked the way it has isn't just cause the GOP has a weak field, it's because there really isn't a magical candidate who could appeal to everybody.

apart from ronald reagan, you mean

I think this situation is partly a reason why the worship of magic-reagan exists. there's never gonna be another universally loved gop pol but there will always be magic-reagan.

If Ronald Reagan ran today on his record, the base might eviscerate him. Norquist would pummel him. He'd be accused of sitting on a couch with Tip. His talking to Gorbachev would like total wussy librul shit to the fringe. They are incoherent rage-bags. Nothing short of Atilla the Free-Market Flag. Waver or Shiva the Redneck is going to appease their blood lust. They want Jesus to win against modernity (and every other religion) and they want capitalism to make poor ppl happy. I don't see it happening, hence their 'epistemic closure'; they can't handle the truth 'cause too much of their identity and self-esteem is wrapped up in shit which isn't working or likely to.

And now, the only word that mattered:

http://gawker.com/5878019/its-over-chuck-norris-has-endorsed-newt-gingrich

at point is "moving somewhat left" going to result in doing shit about climate change, ie utterly transforming our entire lifestyle and economy out of necessity?

― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Friday, January 20, 2012 6:01 PM (44 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well the house passed environmental regulation that rivaled anything in europe and it wouldve become law if not for the filibuster, so i guess who knows, now if we really need to utterly transform our entire lifestyle and economy in order to stave off environmental catastrophe then lol obvs thats never gonna happen, but thats far from scientific consensus

and fwiw i wasnt making any sort of value judgment on 'moving somewhat left' its just an observation

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/fox_hn_ablow_gender_111018c-615x345.jpg

Newt Gingrich's three marriages mean he might make a strong president -- really

1) Three women have met Mr. Gingrich and been so moved by his emotional energy and intellect that they decided they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with him.

2) Two of these women felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich was already married.

3) One of them felt this way even though Mr. Gingrich was already married for the second time, was not exactly her equal in the looks department and had a wife (Marianne) who wanted to make his life without her as painful as possible.

Conclusion: When three women want to sign on for life with a man who is now running for president, I worry more about whether we’ll be clamoring for a third Gingrich term, not whether we’ll want to let him go after one.

has this been mentioned

DR KEITH ABLOW

New Frontiers in Sophistry, by Dr. Keith Ablow

can't believe fox news left out the period after DR

that's some commie foreigner shit

maybe his first name is dr

ABLOW

insert Dr. Blow/Mr. Freeze snow joke

read an Eleanor Clift quote today on Counterpunch to the effect of "The media doesn't want Romney vs Obama. Imagine that, for all those months."

she's swelleanor

If only she were a man, you could have a beautiful love affair

I WANT Obamney, boredom and pointlessness is the grail

I thought getting Nader over 5% was the grail

honestly I find it really strange that you think boredom is a motivating force.

i personally find romney v hilarious

you are easily amused tho

Me too. "I'm proud to have been successful in America!"

yeah maybe but come on romney brings the lolz! hes like some pampered rich kid whos trying to act normal but cant stop mentioning the opera

I think morbius may have a point about boredom being the grail of politics. What could be more boring than a well-run country with policies that result in a peaceful, affluent socety, riddled with good health and contentment? It's when things are falling apart that you desperately need to find scapegoats, deflect anger, and manage the ceaseless hubbub of dissatisfaction bubbling up from below.

I thought he meant more along the lines of disaffection being the vehicle of true change...?

I guess we ought to ask him.

some of my ultra-conservative relatives posted pictures from the Colbert-Cain thing... They seem to be approaching the event with no irony.

I find it really strange that you think boredom is a motivating force.

who expects motivation? this is America, nothing that's non-electronic is going to motivate the masses for the rest of our history.

all I want out of boredom with the two bots is a record low turnout and a few more mic checks in the First Detainer's face

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lodraqOev11qeoyveo1_500.png

Faye should get someone like Andrew Niccol to do her a Diana Christensen sequel where she's Queen of the Smartphones.

read an Eleanor Clift quote today on Counterpunch to the effect of "The media doesn't want Romney vs Obama. Imagine that, for all those months."

It looks more and more to me like the media is taking a large part in orchestrating the whole thing. I guess it works, it certainly keeps people watching these debates. In one of those Gingrich clips above I felt like they flew in the audience from Married With Children or something. It's impossible to imagine these debates take place without 'applause' and 'standing ovation' signs lighting up in front of the audience.

Just really sad Sarah's not in there.

There's a poll out today that has Gingrich up 40-26--it looks like he'll win, and he may win by a large margin.

Romney will still be solidly favored to win the nomination going into Florida--I know, I know, I know. Is there any chance that SC could turn Florida around, though? It's not like Florida's in love with Romney, right? Gingrich was way up there two months ago, during his first resurrection. Maybe Alfred or someone else who lives there can speak to this.

(The PBS people were talking last night about how Jim Lehrer would always lecture the debate audiences beforehand about staying silent. A little in-house mythologizing, I'm sure, but there has been a situation created whereby Gingrich is running circles around Romney in knowing how to play to the audience.)

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/gingrichlaugh2.jpg