Republican Primaries

[JM3]

Rick Perry- Karl Rove... insights?

http://news.yahoo.com/perry-war-bushies-033100264.html

[Mark E. Hurling]

I hadn't heard of or paid attention to any animus between Bush and Perry so all this is news to me, emerging over the last week or so. The article though does paint a view of Rove that I had not considered but has some ring of truth. That truth being the loss of Congress in 2006 by dint of Hastert's (an Illinoisan I learned to loathe given some of his families lobbying antics) pork barrel spending. I had my issues with spending under Bush too, but what we saw after 2006 was an insult to drunken sailors. Rove's praise singing of McCain too has left a bad taste in my mouth as I reflect on it.

I like Perry's positions on most things but like I've said, the Texas taint after Bush will make his election hard if he's the last one standing after the primaries. He doesn't have the slickness of Romney who I still think is the most electable, but then again he doesn't have the socialized medicine can tied to his tail like Romney does either. There are rumors of both Christy and Ryan getting into the mix after Iowa, and Christy could draw huge in the Northeast. His blunt but polite and articulate soliloquies against spending, public employee unions, and smack downs of NYC media types play well with me, and if more widely known would probably win him a lot of support in flyover country. Ryan however, would be living a fool's dream to get into the race. As good as his credentials on spending are with the base, he won't go the distance.

tertius, I don't care if you were drunk or not when you posted that execrable picture. Don't ever lecture me on anything I say or post henceforth. As much as I dislike the President and many of his administration, I would never come up with that kind of an image or even make that kind of a comment. The worst I have said about Obama is to call him the Bullhorn in Chief.

[JM3]

yeah Tertius... sides, I hurt my neck trying to understand that....

I thought Christy wasnt interested?

[Mark E. Hurling]

yeah Tertius... sides, I hurt my neck trying to understand that....

I thought Christy wasnt interested?

There were some tweets from Jonathon Alter of The Daily Beast yesterday saying first yes, then later no on Christy. So I have to wonder if he or his people are floating trial balloons. He's got more fire than Romney and doesn't have the Texas taint that Perry does. He would do well along the East coast I think, but his drawbacks are weak on the 2nd Amendment and the fact that he's from Jersey. Those won't play well with flyover country. They might overlook the gun issue once they heard some of his sound bites from the last year or so though.

[mstrofbass]

There were some tweets from Jonathon Alter of The Daily Beast yesterday saying first yes, then later no on Christy. So I have to wonder if he or his people are floating trial balloons. He's got more fire than Romney and doesn't have the Texas taint that Perry does. He would do well along the East coast I think, but his drawbacks are weak on the 2nd Amendment and the fact that he's from Jersey. Those won't play well with flyover country. They might overlook the gun issue once they heard some of his sound bites from the last year or so though.

He also really needs to lose some weight.

[bowdirk]

The Republican leadership is searching for a candidate who can win the general. They understand that the current group are extremists. That is why they are floating additional names ie: Christy, Ryan, etc.

When the Republicans see their own front-running candidates at being unelectable, well, I guess we are going to have 4 more years of Obama...

Notice how even though Bachmann came in first with Ron Paul a close second in the straw-poll all the chatter now is about Perry and Romney.... and anyone else? The voters of the Republican party picked Bachmann/Paul, the Washington insiders (Fox etc.) want to just ignore the will of those voters and prop up the 'Corporations First!' gang.

[mstrofbass]

Notice how even though Bachmann came in first with Ron Paul a close second in the straw-poll all the chatter now is about Perry and Romney.... and anyone else? The voters of the Republican party picked Bachmann/Paul, the Washington insiders (Fox etc.) want to just ignore the will of those voters and prop up the 'Corporations First!' gang.

lol

You put way too much weight on the straw poll. Of course, the Washington insiders are smarter than you, so of course they're going to ignore the results of a poll that's done this early on in the race, before all the candidates are vetted, and before all the candidates have even entered.

Not to fucking mention, they're thinking about the whole country, as opposed to just Iowa. What kind of idiot would claim that a few thousand Iowans voting would be the same as "the voters of the Republican party"?

Do you think it would have come out the same if Perry had been in the debate?

[bowdirk]

lol

You put way too much weight on the straw poll. Of course, the Washington insiders are smarter than you, so of course they're going to ignore the results of a poll that's done this early on in the race, before all the candidates are vetted, and before all the candidates have even entered.

Not to fucking mention, they're thinking about the whole country, as opposed to just Iowa. What kind of idiot would claim that a few thousand Iowans voting would be the same as "the voters of the Republican party"?

Do you think it would have come out the same if Perry had been in the debate?

So we pretty much agree that the Washington insiders fear that the current group would have massive challenges (polite way of saying no chance in hell) in the General and are looking for other options, agreed?

And about the few thousand Iowans voting in a 'straw-poll' well, it was enought to prompt Pawlenties exit.

Nope, don't think it would have been the same if Perry was in it, or Jeb, or Christy, or Palin, or Ryan, or "yournamehere".

[mstrofbass]

So we pretty much agree that the Washington insiders fear that the current group would have massive challenges (polite way of saying no chance in hell) in the General and are looking for other options, agreed?

I do not know, but I would not find it surprising.

[Mark E. Hurling]

So we pretty much agree that the Washington insiders fear that the current group would have massive challenges (polite way of saying no chance in hell) in the General and are looking for other options, agreed?

And about the few thousand Iowans voting in a 'straw-poll' well, it was enought to prompt Pawlenties exit.

Nope, don't think it would have been the same if Perry was in it, or Jeb, or Christy, or Palin, or Ryan, or "yournamehere".

The problem and fix this country is in results from republican Washington insiders. More specifically the consultants they employ who are so enamored of the middle, independent voters that they lose their grip on principles in a blind pursuit of what they think is popular with this group. When you compare the weak and pale statements from beltway republicans to the really antagonistic partisan calling out that the President was doing on his Magical Misery Tour, you can see why they are so uninspiring to the rest of the country. The rest are so tired of this unopposed rhetoric, the "let's play low key and nice" passivity of Boehner et. al. it is eating them alive, myself included. You listen to things left unmet like Satan sandwich from Pelosi, and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz's inflammatory bombs, the terrorist metaphors from Biden and you get pissed when no republicans have the cojones to fire back.

I was surprised by Pawlenty's early exit. I can only suppose that he figured that Iowa was an acid test between himself and Bachmann and if he could hold his own he was good. He underestimated her favorite daughter home crowd appeal. As much as I think flyover country is too often dismissed and ignored I also happen to think that far too much weight is placed on Iowa and New Hampshire in terms of their symbolic early start status in Presidential primary races. Some states with a larger population that is fairly evenly divided most of the time like Ohio or Pennsylvania are a different matter.