In case anyone had doubts, the first five minutes of last night’s debate made it clear that the Republican primary has come down to a Romney / Perry match-up. The other six candidates were barely on the radar.
Santorum: Why is he still there? Why was he ever there? He must know by now that he doesn’t have a chance in hell of winning this thing despite whatever words God whispered into his virgin ears.
Cain: The man is simply ridiculous. He tries so hard to come across as an ideas man but appears totally unaware that running a country differs somewhat from running a pizza empire. Cain made it clear that he wants to privatize Social Security. He denies this and says instead that he wants the US to follow the Chilean model. What is the Chilean model? It’s the privatization of Social Security.
Gingrich: This is the Republican’s real ideas man. His major problem is that those ideas belong to a nasty prick who is overloaded with excess baggage – none of it good.
Paul: Yawn. His ‘we-don’t-need-government’ shtick has gotten old. Last night he claimed that Americans don’t need the FAA and that air safety would best be served by handing it over to the private sector. How does anyone take this kook seriously?
Bachmann: It was over for Bachmann the day Perry announced his candidacy. There are only so many Tea Party votes available and Perry’s got the majority of those locked up. And by the looks of her poor performance last night, Bachmann is understanding that her claim to fame in this primary will be that she won the Iowa straw poll. Bye Michele.
Huntsman: If there was anyone Dems should have feared from this Republican field, it was Jon Huntsman. The man has the smarts, the experience and the demeanor to be a credible president. His ideas on matters both fiscal and social show him to be a solid conservative but unfortunately for him, he lacks the extremist Tea Party mentality to win the primary. At any other time, a conservative expressing a belief in science (evolution and climate change in this case) might have been forgiven given his or her greater credentials. In this era of Republican insanity, not so. Which brings us to…
Romney and Perry: If there is a second Republican for Dems to fear in a general election with Obama, it’s Mitt Romney. Much like Huntsman, Romney has the intellect and background to appeal to independent voters. But despite his efforts to make himself more palatable to the crazies, his hard right turn on issues still leaves him a couple of notches short of Rick Perry’s lunacy – a lunacy, by the way, which Perry solidified with his reaffirmation last night that Social Security is a “big lie” and a “Ponzi scheme”. While that view might win him favor with an idiot base, it’s going to cause him major headaches in the general election.
Jonathan Chait explains the differences between Romney and Perry.
The media seems to consider Romney the winner. Pardon the condescension, but they’re not thinking like Republican base voters. Romney approaches every question as if he is in an actual debate, trying to provide the most intellectually compelling answer available, within the bounds of political expediency. Perry treats questions as interruptions. What scientists do you trust on climate change? I don’t want to risk the economy. Are you taking a radical position on social security? We can have reasons or we can have results. His total liberation from the constraints of reason give Perry a chance to represent the Republican id in a way Romney simply cannot match.
In this way Perry eerily apes the style of George W. Bush, who was also mocked for his intellectually vapid debating style, but who succeeded in rallying Republicans behind him. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I suspect the Bush-Perry debating style broadcasts a subliminal message of strong leadership. Romney feels compelled to bind himself to the parameters of the question before him. Perry ignores them. It is, in a sense, an alpha male move. I am not going to lower myself to your premise about scientists. I am going to declare my principles.
A Perry win, I think, gives Barack Obama the best hope of winning in 2012. Given the disastrous Bush legacy, can Americans possibly put a Bush clone in the White House?
In any case, the low point of last night’s debate had to be the spontaneous applause from the conservative audience when the subject of the high number of executions under Perry’s watch came up. Andrew Sullivan summed up the moment perfectly.
Here’s why I find it impossible to be a Republican: any crowd that instantly cheers the execution of 234 individuals is a crowd I want to flee, not join.
Whatever one’s thoughts on capital punishment might be, applauding the death of 234 people is downright creepy.
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I was actually hoping that Sarah Barracuda would enter the race. Even if she won we would probably only have had to put up with her for a year or so.
I liked the uniformity of the message from all the candidates, which was basically, “We need to reduce the size of the Federal government”. I’ve noticed that none of the liberal blogs or media outlets have jumped on that common message.
If elected, Huntsman and Romney would be the most likely to ignore that campaign promise, which I think is why they seem to be blasted the least by liberals.
Didn’t the Chilean model involve making a lot of people disappear?
E.A., yes, that too.
Tommy, you figured it out. Good work. Liberal angst over republican candidates has nothing to do with their concern over republicans wiping out Social Security, Medicare, the EPA, FDA and FAA. Nor has it to do with Bachmann, Santorum and Perry hoping to turn our country into a theocracy with science relegated a back seat in the bus of ignorance. Liberals only concern is to piss people like you off and nothing else.
Piss me off? Don’t give yourself so much credit, Murky.
@Murky Waters; Let me put ditto marks under everything you just said since I am a lazy liberal without the energy or intelligence to come up with something original.
Now, back to living off my government provided entitlements. I may buy something extravagant with my massive Social Security check today, it might have even been bigger if I had worked a little longer for it, looks like 53 years wasn’t quite long enough. Come on over Tommy, we’ll split a bottle of MD-20/20 under a nice bridge somewhere. My treat!
You make yourself sound like a real shining example of what makes America great, Charlie.
Yes Tommy, the ability to use irony is what makes this such a great country.
Agreed.
Hey, Tommy, I thought you were a Huntsman fan. Knowing that in place of Obama, Liberals would prefer a Huntsman presidency over any other candidate’s, now has you rooting for Perry? Come on.
A Romney/Huntsman ticket, a chill runs up my leg. I’m sorry for the Horror of that statement.
Did I say I liked Perry? If he turns out to be the republican candidate, I’ll vote for him, but I would prefer Huntsman.
Too many clowns in the Volkswagen. Time for some to get out. Be a leader Newt.
I like the way Perry compared himself to the opponents of Galileo Galilei, but failed to mention that Galileo was right after all.
Galileo had science on his side, while Perry is now fighting science.
In other words, had Perry been in power while Galileo was arguing his theory, it’s not excommunication the latter would have faced, it’s execution…
Love your site. Thanks to Crooks and Liars, I stumbled upon it and will definitely save to my favorites icon. The craziest thing about Perry is his religious nonsense. He has ties to dominionists, racists, and people who believe that the separation of church and state is “a myth.” Tell that to the Cathari, the innocent Muslims and Jews slaughtered during the Crusades, and the reign of religious terror known as the Inquisition. Religious people are murderous people; no wonder pRick gets applauded when he gloats about the execution record he holds in Texas, the bloodiest state in the union. These people want to elect a Bush who dismantles everything FDR stood for and everything sacred to the American Middle Class. The GOP base wants a Bush Lite.