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

To paraphrase my mother answering my complaints about their being a Mother's Day and a Father's Day but no Children's Day: "EVERY day is White Man's Day!"

Oops wrong thread -- but I was close.

Yeah, I think that covers the thread pretty well, since Jan 4 anyway.

The press conference is fascinating, as is Newt - he does have an amazing unflappability and impression of deep reserves of knowledge, I can totally see why the portion of the GOP base that has a burr under its skin about Stupid Stupid Barack Obama would see Newt as the guy to take him down in debates.

jesus why didn't they just make it a comedy, this isn't rocket science

Mid-'70s Altman or Michael Ritchie could probably pull it off. The only thing is, it essentially has been done as a comedy already--Election--and any attempt would immediately run up against Tina Fey and lose. The trailer looks great to me.

yah cant believe u guys are hating on game change it looks amazing, ridic cast

do we think newt has a shot at the 2016 nomination if the romney-loses-and-republicans-blame-"moderation" scenario plays out

oh, it's never too early for gabbnebbist chinstroking.

The big laff will the Dems thinking Bam too ____ if he loses. (there's no plausible answer that's not funny)

Not getting many laughs out of "black"

plausible answer

seems sorta relevant: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/why-mitt-romneys-mormonism-doesnt-matter-20120131#ixzz1l4YxH81n

Rick Perlstein on how Republicans fall in line behind their candidates no matter what (even if they're Mormons, in Mitt's case), and Democrats don't.

http://i.imgur.com/f8b3S.png

lol

moderate economic growth the rest of the year and this isn't even a contest I think

yep

i think you could say that about a lot of candidates xps

yah but theres just something abt mitt that rubs people the wrong way

dude's got less empathy than al gore or john kerry ffs

the thing that confused me about the perlstein article tho is what determines what heresies are incorporated into the political movement and which ones are too important to give up on. like his final thought experiment where a gay supreme court justice is the deciding vote on overturning Roe V Wade... why would the Republican party sooner accept a gay judge than it would the right to abortion? is one more intrinsic to the party's identity?

attitudes towards gay people are shifting much faster than attitudes towards abortion

gay abortion is the issue we really need to be looking at wake up america

i think there's a big difference between Evangelical christians aligning themselves with (cobelligerency, which is such a great word) Catholics, or Mormons, and aligning themselves with gay people. Perlstein may be overreaching a little?

Evangelical Christians have no problems with gay people who are celibate

Perlstein's thought experiment was about a gay Supreme Court judge with a same-sex husband.

he is overreaching, tho I think if they found a new clarence thomas-type wacko right-wing judge who was gay pres gingrich or whatever might attempt to use him in the same way they used clarence thomas. who knows.

Evangelical Christians have no problems with gay men who marry their daughters

Well, yes.

"You're so close to your son-in-law!"

Evangelical Christians have no problems with gay people who are celibate

In fact they get extra brownie points for carrying that heavy cross of homosexuality and avoiding the temptations!

I think it's plausible! Or at least I think / fear it's plausible that it's true - that in 2012 the President being on the other team and black gives the GOP license to unleash a cacophony of dog whistles and smears knowing that 50% more shit will stick with a lot of the voters. And that the incumbent being a white guy would be worth 10% in the polls.

Whether the Democrats would consider this plausible is another thing, of course.

xp - "Republicans fall in line behind their candidates no matter what" has taken a hell of a kicking so far this election.

In fact they get extra brownie points for carrying that heavy cross of homosexuality and avoiding the temptations!

― Frobisher (Viceroy), Monday, February 6, 2012 11:21 AM (6 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

when youre feeling gay its important to do things to take yr mid off it like go to the park or get out and stretch yr legs a little at a rest stop maybe splash some water on yr face in a public restroom

Except not is Perlstein's point. The primaries are rough, but lets see the polling after Romney locks up the nom. xp

xp - "Republicans fall in line behind their candidates no matter what" has taken a hell of a kicking so far this election.

yeah I've always been skeptical of this narrative, it's built on v. few historical examples

like, just fyi, but the backlash against Romney and whether that proverb is still true is what the article is about

"Republicans fall in line behind their candidates no matter what" has taken a hell of a kicking so far this election.

There's no election for 9 months yet; all this shit is predestination thinly camouflaged by a few random church socials with ballots.

falling in line/not falling in line is a crude binary, every election there are differing levels of voter enthusiasm that play a part in determining the election

xp it seemed to be mostly about "Did you know we used to hate Catholics?", in a "I read the other book for the book report" style.

romney fired his hotshot liberty U debate coach

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72433.html

the commentary that the rest of romney's team was 'jealous' seems pretty stupid to me

http://news.yahoo.com/romney-debate-coach-fired-being-too-good-job-184700169.html

i wonder if they just feel like the debate parts of this season are p much done

growing up in a southern baptist church i was definitely indoctrinated with the whole mormonism = pseudo christian cult line of thinking. but i guess 'the enemy of enemy' is especially potent when the 'enemy' is zomg liberal secularism and your new found friend (the mormon church at-large, if not yet Romney specifically) has deep pockets and growing acceptance/ political capital. it's equal parts hilarious and aggravating watching trolls like Hagee et al bed down with conservative Jews, Catholics and Mormons

but not Bill Keller by god
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTMmP-QQzoc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9yxcbljlrc

Did we miss this one? http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-odd-couple-romney-vs-gingrich-20120130

this was news/fresh lolz to me:
In New Hampshire just a week before, Romney had tried to do the campaign-cliché thing and kiss a baby – only to have protesters shout at him, repeatedly, "Are you going to fire the baby? Are you going to fire the baby? Are you going to fire the baby?"

lmao

Here's the baby getting the bad news. You can tell that she's wondering how she's going to put food on the table for her parents.

http://images.smh.com.au/2012/01/11/2885273/729-romney-child-420x0.jpg

just imagine if he did drink.

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/m6uF6uwZCMK699p8cmBYqw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD02MTI7cT04NTt3PTQwNA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/18def5e09ff34c03060f6a706700b51f.jpg

does his flag pin have a flag pin?

Gets some points back for not wearing cuff links.

i can't kiss a baby i'm running for president for pete's sake

I've never read any Matt Taibbi before - has he always been channelling Hunter S Thompson quite so blatantly? Not that I'm complaining, it's high quality stuff.

yes always

He doesn't loathe Obama as much as HST loathed Humphrey; RS readers would rebel.

matt taibbi is a horrible writer who often knows v little of what hes writing abt but i appreciate him for pointing out the obvs big picture stuff that many are too 'polite' to, like that the finainal industry is a parasite

jho do you think chris hitchens was a good writer y/n?

i always appreciate your absolutist literary verdicts