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

I just realized that Ron Paul looks remarkably like Hector on Breaking Bad.

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.138919!/img/httpImage/image.jpg http://cdn.videogum.com/files/2011/10/hahacrazysal.png

also the argument that gingrich could be elected president of the united states through his sheer brilliant ability to destroy obama in a series of debates? to rational observers this is 100% nonsense. it only works if you inhabit a parallel universe of far-right-wing spin in which obama needs a teleprompter at every appearance because he's just the food stamp president who is actually not very smart or qualified. no coded language there, nah...

is there not a danger, though? we've already seen that gingrich is unabashed about inserting himself into as much of the political history of the last 30 years as he can, and that he loves to pretend to have historical knowledge to establish his authority. the problem wouldn't be that obama would fall apart, it would be that gingrich would be so self-confidently mendacious and sophistical that for many viewers he would make his rongness irrelevant. and i think obama might still have a problem with not wanting to sound like he knows what he's talking about when he knows he doesn't - professorial/lawyerly hedging. gingrich, on the other hand...

There's no danger. The vast majority of voters (who remain more or less a minority, regardless) are small-c conservative, and once this primary freakshow runs its course will likely not respond to cynical batshittery. Like, the last election, it didn't matter how loud the tea party folks or birthers got, they didn't play much of a role in the general. Local elections, on the other hand, are another matter. Maybe Newt, having rebranded himself as a viable ... anything, will run for Senate somewhere after he loses the White House and win small, which could, ironically, be a bigger win, in terms of potential for Washington troublemaking. Though I suspect he will go the more lucrative Palin route and use his increased visibility and notoriety to cash in. As they say, Newt is not dumb.

That said, I would happily watch a reality series about Newt training for and competing in snowmobile races.

the debates aren't going to involve subjects about which Obama wouldn't know more than Newt.

I DON'Trecognize guy in plaid suit

Soto, about once a week I can sleep more than 4-1/2 hrs w/out getting up

the question isn't about their relative knowledge, it's about their relative capacity for littering the stage with irrelevancies.

I DON'Trecognize guy in plaid suit

M. Ruffalo in Zodiac

romney releasing taxes on Tuesday. would this have still happened if he had won sc? we don't know how the Obama campaign is gonna be run, but it seems likely they wouldn't be openly trolling him on this issue the same way Gingrich is.

obama's debate performances were all very solid and consistent and that was before he had the experience of being president for four years. Gingrich might get some zings in but even when he 'won' he'd still probably be losing votes because his personality turns off pretty much everybody except 3 women.

I hope Newt uses his new level of celebrity to score a whole new level of trophy wife, or least bring some new smut to the public eye. Maybe hook up with Heidi DeJong Barsuglia, of "so messy!" fame.

haha if this campaign season doesn't end w/newt getting a new wife I will be v disappoint

A Kardashian, perhaps?

a quarter of votes may have already been cast in Florida making it difficult for newt to ride the momentum http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/for-newt-danger-and-opportunity-in-florida.php

Heavens! So many hopes being pinned on debates!

Winning a presidential debate is mainly a matter of meeting the objectives of your campaign strategy and making the right kind of connection with your potential voters. It has nothing to do with making your points more cognently than your opponent.

In Newt's case, this would mean demonstrating that he is more passionate than Obama about the issues, or whatever passes for 'issues' by that stage of the election, while reassuring the undecided voters that he would be a reasonably competant president. For Obama, it would mean painting his achievements in the most glowing colors possible, demonstrating a sufficient amount of passion, while not trying to outdo Newt, and politely stirring up deep doubts about Newt's leadership capabilities. As president, Obama need not throw any haymakers. Newt, by nature, will try to throw a lot of knockout punches.

iow, the usual boring crapfest.

Roffle:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/an-open-letter-to-republican-leaders/2012/01/21/gIQA9abjGQ_blog.html

If conservatism becomes a movement of anti-media bashing and hyperbolic rhetoric, it will cease to be a force in American politics.

o rly

We’d be looking at four more years of Obama’s economic policies, four more years of strained relations with allies, several new Supreme Court justices and an unprecedented power shift to the executive branch.

Hi I write for the Washington Post and I don't know what the word "several" means

It's a day for unsolicited advice!

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/288866/how-mitt-lost-south-carolina-charlotte-hays

weird seeing 'strained relations w/allies' wheeled out by someone on the right; i can't think what it means beyond israel?, & would've thought that anything that made allies plural would be referring to a relationship that wasn't gonna get better under gop rule

These guys are pathetic:

[Approved commenter] Rook
: 01/22/12 15:11

LOL, I've not talking about brie-eaters. I'm talking about relatively educated, non-evangelical suburbanites, many of whom probably eat cheddar and mozzarella.

Yay for food-based stalinism!

At some point, you want to go to the local Safeway or Meijers or Walmart even and stand in the grocery aisles, pointing at each item on a shelf and ask these people if Real Americans(tm) would eat that flavor.

"So, the arugula is out but the romaine is in? what about the iceberg?"

Really? Asking Haley Barbour to run? Maybe that WAPO writer should ask Mike Huckabee why he's not running and go from there.

Maybe Haley made those obnoxious last-day pardons to draw a couple of lines under "I'M NOT RUNNING, GET ME?"

http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs4/1324222_o.gif

I'M OUT! *klunk*

Pretty much every suburban party I have been to has had brie. Parties with Republicans even.

good piece http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/did-gingrichs-win-break-the-rules

well put:

In the case of presidential primaries, previous beliefs ought not be accorded all that much weight: Americans have not been picking presidential nominees in quite this way for all that long, and yet a presidential nomination process is complex. In more abstract terms, both conceptual and statistical models of the presidential nomination process may be “overfit” and draw too many conclusions from idiosyncratic examples.

SIAP, but I've never seen this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEaef07rD6c

Ali G has a point on this idea of women loving bastards, Newt is on woman #3

stoked http://nasawatch.com/archives/2012/01/gingrich-to-giv.html

I'll be giving a speech. But not just any old speech. A VISIONARY speech...

Gingrich the strategist: everyone's worried about unemployment, not sure if Obama's up to the job, so I'll give a speech on Jupiter.

just heard Mittens on NPR pointing out to a crowd that Ging ended his speakership an exposed crook. "I don't know whether you knew that."

There's a ton of stuff out there explaining why Gingrich can't win the nomination, and it's pretty convincing. Nonetheless, just like the first go-round, this is fun for as long as it lasts:

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/updates/4518

No person who is wavering or independent who actually remembers the 90s would vote for Gingrich, would they?

Not many of those ppl are primary voters

(This is America, only the last 2 weeks are important, except for 9/11)

http://www.frumforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/newt-power-ranger.jpg

never forget

wait what

the power rangers take themselves so seriously all the time, it's really annoying

see, we forgot

Newt Gingrich, down in the boondocks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz0TJfFLQ9U

love how he goes right for the part of the store where you buy rubbers

also I guess Alpharetta is the boondocks for guys like Our Newt

THE ONLY NEWT GINGRICH IN THE WORLD

man newt is such a comedy goldmine

I think the photo goes with the article below, but I love the juxtaposition:

http://jimromenesko.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/400x381x1201FakeWashingtonPostCover-400x381.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.2gT_7eI8e1.jpg

Alas, reality will soon set in. (Sullivan, allowing for his usual frenzied melodrama, has actually been pretty good, I think, on why what's going on is the inevitable consequence of the last 12 years.)

just heard Mittens on NPR pointing out to a crowd that Ging ended his speakership an exposed crook. "I don't know whether you knew that."

― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Monday, January 23, 2012 7:54 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha this is a v good point by mitt