The Silly Season is almost upon us, what with potential GOP candidates declaring their intentions left and right these days. Just this past weekend... and today, if you wanna include Monday as the weekend as I do, because I CAN... two much talked-about possible candidates declared their non-candidacies: Huckabee and Trump. I put both these announcements in the "good" category as neither man would have received my support and one of them has my contempt ("You're FIRED!"). The field narrows accordingly and that's a pretty good thing.
I said there was all sorts of stuff coming from left and right field, didn't I? Well, there's this from LEFT field:
Oh, Newt. Now you've gone and done it, Buddy. Here I was... all set to put one of your campaign badges in my sidebar and you go and blow it. It's beyond "blow it," actually, waaay beyond. I could forgive your various personal indiscretions and could even look the other way when you sat on that sofa with The Wicked Witch of the West, coz I've yet to find ANY politician with whom I agree completely. But you screwed da pooch with your comments about Ryan's plan (I, too, am "over 65" and I approve of Young Mr. Ryan). Bad mistake, Newt, BAD mistake. And now my vote is back up for grabs.Says Andrew Stiles of NRO, “Newt Gingrich’s appearance on ‘Meet the Press’ today could leave some wondering which party’s nomination he is running for.” DrewM at Ace’s site thinks it’s yet another illustration of Newt’s loose-cannon lack of message discipline, but I can’t believe that; he surely must have considered how this will play in the primaries, especially after the pounding Romney just took on the right for his health-care speech. What’s his strategy? Maybe he’s decided his shot at the nomination is so long that his only chance is by Mediscaring seniors, who famously turn out in high numbers at the polls, into backing him. Paul Ryan’s budget has played remarkably well with the 65+ crowd thus far, but an AP poll taken late last year, before he introduced his plan, found even Republican seniors opposed privatizing Medicare to the tune of 71 percent. If professional Smart Guy Newt Gingrich is now warning them that Ryan’s gone too far, their jitters about reform may make them inclined to believe him. It’s desperate, but since he’s not going to win with support from the GOP’s right, why not pander to its left? I just hope he’s prepared for the relentless beating he’ll rightly take in conservative media for kneecapping Ryan at a moment when deficit hawks are frantic to move national opinion on entitlement reform via a unified party message. He’s handed the left a campaign commercial here and they’re already using it.
Rudy? You there, Bud?
Buck, I think Huck is a nice enough guy but at heart an Arkansas liberal. As for Gingrich, he's very smart (although his novel about Pearl Harbor sucked), but I never warmed up to the guy. And, as you correctly point out, this support for Obamacare has ruined him. I've just put him in my personal dustbin for certain pols who've gone way past their "sell by" date.
ReplyDeleteOMG - Newt's actually touching her.
ReplyDeleteI would like to point out that she's a carpet-bagger. Yep, came west from Baltimore... they probably tarred and feathered her.
I would type her name but then I'd have to go wash my hands
Eesh. So far I'm not liking what's on this menu either.
ReplyDeleteDan: I thought Newt was the class of the field... such as it is... before this weekend. I generally like his ideas and he seemed fairly well grounded before I heard his thoughts on the Ryan plan. Oh, well. And you're spot on about Huck, too. Nice guy and all that.
ReplyDeleteSkip: I knew that about what's-her-name... her father was a Big Time machine pol in Baltimore. She shoulda stayed there; CA would be much better off for it if she had.
Inno: There's my understatement for the day!
ReplyDeleteI kind of like Huck. People freak because of his preacher background.
ReplyDeleteNewt blew any chance he had. He has baggage, but with the time away like he had, he might have had a shot at the golden ring.
ReplyDeleteObamacare is such a failure that the only way he gets support for it is through waivers that he hands out like candy to his liberal friends. 200 more just recently.
When you need all these exemptions to a law, you know its a bad one. And the really craptastic stuff doesn't take effect till 2014.
I could see Cain as a possible. I could see Christie but he doesn't seem to want to run.
Obama, despite Baba Walters declaring he was unbeatable, is in trouble. Even killing Osama proved to be a short lived bump, and that was only from over sampling of Democrats that they got what they did.
I know you must be disappointed that Trump is out. lol. Got threatened by losing his show and that did it. Though he might still be useful in mouthing off and getting Obama to keep on the defensive about things.
A couple of years ago I might have voted for Newt, but I've been iffy about him for the last few months. Messed around & "liked" his FB page & got more info than I ever wanted. Decided a while ago he's a big hypocrite. Sure wish someone wonderful (nobody I know right now) would show up for whom I'd really, really like to vote!!
ReplyDeleteBuck, I ain't gonna say "I told you so," because I never did tell you. But, I suspected Newt would cut a rusty early on that would ex him on your list.
ReplyDeleteHuckabee is a liberal that ruined the Republican Party in Arkansas. I think he's a fine man and all...just NOT what we need. He's just like Jindal...good guy, talks conservative, governed liberal.
I'm all in for a draft at the convention. Take a cat like Ryan, or Pence, or Christie...don't make 'em spend hundreds of millions, and good shoe leather getting the nomination. Just get to the convention, and say, "You're IT!"
So far I am - underwhelmed by the Republican candidates. We need someone incredibly strong to beat Obama next year...and I haven't seen them yet.
ReplyDeleteI love Sarah Palin but not as a candidate. She is far more powerful as a gadfly.
Romney has the same problem that Newt just got himself into - in a manner of speaking.
I read this morning that Michelle Bachmann may throw her hat into the ring now that Huckabee is out. She'll be as polarizing as Palin and if she somehow got the nomination well...we all know how it will turn out.
I feel your frustration. Andy nailed Huckabee --talks a good conservative game but governs liberal. I lived in Arkansas during his tenure and can attest to this evaluation. And, if you think Michelle O is a nightmare, just wait until you meet Janet Huckabee. When I saw a pic of the 3story beach house they're building in Florida, I knew he was out. He (they) like his current gig at Fox -- heck, he even gets to play his cheesy music. A Huckabee in the White House would be just another tax-and-spend guy with a good speaking voice, albeit a more ethical guy than the current occupant, and definitely a practicing Christian.
ReplyDeleteI also hope Trump keeps running his mouth.
I could support Cain, I think. Or Ryan. But, being a registered Independent in LA, I probably won't have a vote to give anybody until the general election. It's an interesting system down here.
Lou: I like him, too. Nice guy, and all that.
ReplyDeleteAnon: I don't know enough about Cain and I don't think Christie has enough experience, yet. It's a pretty thin field... and that works in Obama's favor.
Sure wish someone wonderful (nobody I know right now) would show up for whom I'd really, really like to vote!!
You and about 50 million other Republicans/conservatives, Katy!
I read this morning that Michelle Bachmann may throw her hat into the ring now that Huckabee is out. She'll be as polarizing as Palin and if she somehow got the nomination well...we all know how it will turn out.
I kinda like Bachmann, Kris. But you're right on the polarizing thang. The Left hates her almost as much as Palin.
Andy: I like your draft ideer. But I read Ryan is mulling a senate run and he prolly has too much sense to wanna be president. Pence is a possibility.
Moogie: I'm on the same page as you, on all counts. That said, I don't get the appeal of Huckabee's show. I've tried to watch it several times and always wind up switching to The Weather Channel (or something like it) coz that was more interesting.
Maybe if the Republicans run a woman, they can pull the sexist card on the libs. Hey, the racist card is still being pulled out to quiet the negatives on Obummer!
ReplyDeleteHmph, magic wordy of the day is DIASTRAU... is that the Repub field or Obummer or both?
I believe I made reference before in these parts to that scene in From Russia With Love where "Number One" shows Col. Rosa Klebb his Siamese Fighting Fish...he has three, two are stupid and one's an evil genius. The smart fish cowers in the bottom of the tank, behind the rocks, while the other two duke it out, literally taking bites out of each other. Waiting until the combatants are exhausted before he strikes.
ReplyDeleteThat's what the smart contestant will be doing right now; it's what I'd do. What Newt did just now, is pretty much the exact opposite.
Hmph, magic wordy of the day is DIASTRAU... is that the Repub field or Obummer or both?
ReplyDeleteBoth, IM(NS)HO.
Morgan: You did.