2012 republican presidential nominee IV: NEEDS MORE BOOING

"I sense great opportunity across the ocean, where I can work for no pay as a piece of property! The dream lives!"

loooooooooooooooooool

Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.
Every single one of us is the descendant of a go-getter.

at least we know what's on Rubio's playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDi-Pph6UK4

also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW-m0MtRBX8

we are all descendants of the men and women who built here the nation that saved the world

Not sure the Native Americans would agree.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7ec0VI4Yl0&ob=av3e

Not sure the Native Americans would agree.

At this point, how many self-identifying Native Americans in the United States don't have family trees that mix with colonists/immigrants/slaves?

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

I really like this piece:

Deciphering Right-Wing Code: What Conservatives Are Really Saying When They Seem to Spew Nonsense

Which talks about how Santorum's run is free of actual facts, but not of actual content and messaging. The latter is the key bit, since just going after the dude on the fact that he's talking out of his ass won't matter shit since the folks he's trying to reach and worldview his campaign is trying to reinforce doesn't have shit to do with fact.

The thing to remember is this: Even though right-wing narratives are often factually wrong, they are absolutely never content-free. Stories like this are always about something. And the weirder and more factually challenged they sound to liberal ears, the more important it probably is for us to know what that something is. Too often, our obsession with the gobsmacking wrongness of these statements deafens us to clues to the right's current motives and intentions that are frequently lurking in these strange declarations.

^^^ totally agree with this. In the words of Homer Simpson, "Stupid like a fox!"

A piece on how, if they don't think Romney can win, bigger-name VP candidates may decline (so as not to have a Quayle/Palin problem in 2016):

http://prospect.org/article/has-republican-establishment-given-romney

Damn! The fun of watching the Republican hard right voters fleeing from Romney to such refuges as Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich is now waning to a distant memory. It is April and Romney has finally put this nomination in his pocket along with his hundreds of millions of dollars of pesonal wealth.

What a dreary election we now have facing us. Seven months of unrelieved Mitt v. Barack! (shudders)

(brightens) Say! Isn't that Wisconsin governor's recall election coming up in June?

I don't think rubio, ryan or portman have enough national klout to pass up a vp nom..romney is not going to lose by a landslide. if you're a career politician you don't pass up the chance ot be on national tv every day for half a year.

has anyone ever been the running mate on a losing ticket and gone on to win the presidency?

fdr

but in any case I don't think that's very telling...not very many people become president. but your capability to even run for the nom depends on being at least a semi-national player. a good chunk of people who have been 'in the mix' over the years were losing vp candidates. and even if romney only has a 30% chance at winning, you don't give up a 30% chance at being next-in-line-for-ruler-of-world unless you have something better to go home to.

i'd do it.

Romney, are you listening? gr8080 is available!

not enough baggage.

He shd steal some from the hotel he works at

romney is not going to lose by a landslide. if you're a career politician you don't pass up the chance ot be on national tv every day for half a year.

A landslide might be in the eye of the beholder, considering that a lot of republicans have this image of Obama as OMG Worst President Evah. If/when Romney loses the party may go way right (and/or way crazy) and being on the ticket, even as the one dragging him right, won't help anyone's chances in 2016.

Quayle and Palin were probably distractions (they had myriad liabilities beyond having lost an election) from what I think was the writer's main point: that losing stigmatizes, and if you're seriously aiming for the nomination in 2016, losing this time in the VP slot would be a liability. At least in this day and age--the days when Stevenson and Nixon were given second chances seem to be gone. Post-Nixon, the record for losing VP candidates is not good. Muskie lost in '72, Quayle in '00, Lieberman in '04, and Edwards in '08. Most, like Palin, didn't run. The only two to subsequently win the nomination were Dole in '96 (third try, and 20 years removed from his loss) and Mondale in '84 (who had also won one election). If Rubio or Christie or anyone else sees a chance to win, sure, he'd accept. But the writer's article is premised on the idea of not seeing that chance ("But, if we assume for a moment...").

it's too easy to make too much out of the size of sample sets we are working w/. quayle and lieberman were objectively shitty candidates. edwards was the lame white dude in a historic situation but his personal shit woulda taken him down regardless. dole and mondale lost their elections for reasons that had nothing to do w/ the loser-stink on them. did the primary-loser-stink prevent reagan from getting the nom? would *anyone* be talking about edwards in 2008 if he were just some ex-senator? no way. out of the billions (? who knows) of people who have lived in america, 43 people have become president. your odds are not very good. your odds of being president are higher if you have the nomination of a major party. your odds of getting the nomination of a major party are higher if you are a nationally-known figure. your odds of being a nationally-known figure are higher if you are picked as a vp for a ticket.

Best Homer Simpson voice: Is there anything you can't explain, iatee?

as a child who 'knew' Bush I's Presidency mostly from Johnny Carson monologues and Doonesbury, it's sometimes hard to believe that Quayle was a major political figure and not just a punchline

the odds of a rich white man winning this election are not super great, almost all rich white men have not become president...but if you wanted to be president....it's not a bad place to start

xp

it's America,"major political figures" are all punchlines since the process was sold

Happy Easter morbs

Morbs is come again, like wheat that venteth spleen

his bile rose on the third day

he is risen indeed

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/ND03Dj05.html

Rick Santorum's mission from God
By Spengler

Rick Santorum is on a mission from God. He believes that, with all his heart. I do, too: I think that God has a plan for Rick Santorum, and that God wants him to save the United States of America. That plan, though, doesn't include being president, not, at least in 2012.

gets better from there

Santo rum

at first, I thought it was some sort of g00gleproof device.

didn't make any sense, but I was trying to get into this guy's mind.

For all the George Will fans--oh wait, that's me--they were talking about Augusta this morning:

Jake Tapper: "George, it's an anachronism, right? I mean, you can admit that."
Will: "Sure it's an anachronism...I'm an anachronism in a great many ways."

Sincerely curious as to the difference here:

http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2012/04/09/CkjBk.jpeg

http://dallaspenn.com/pics/albums/politrix/KerryWindSurfing.jpg

I think both are perfectly okay uses of leisure time. Just listened to Mary Matalin explain how one is everything that makes America great, while the other was, and remains, some kind of badge of fraudulence.

I don't think it does romney any favors but for better or worse democrats have to 'prove authenticity' in ways that republicans don't

boogie boards cost $10 at walmart; kerry appears to be wearing special goggles

I mean it might be a 'thing' earlier in the gop primary but the only people who are crazy enough to try and make 'going to the beach' a controversial anti-american activity have mostly accepted their fate as romney voters

democrats have to 'prove authenticity' in ways that republicans don't

Causing great distress for the nation at times.

http://thedriverid.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/obamabowling.jpg?w=1600

I mean it might be a 'thing' earlier in the gop primary but the only people who are crazy enough to try and make 'going to the beach' a controversial anti-american activity have mostly accepted their fate as romney voters

and these people are usually the ones who make "dressing to go to the beach" a controversial activity

http://i.imgur.com/3pbXU.jpg

otm

hahaha can't wait for the photoshop.

Emphatic non-dibs on that, but I have a kind of dicey history with that whole genre.

The Obama bowling thing was kind of hard to believe