Why the Gingrich win bodes poorly for the GOP
“Over the past few weeks we’ve seen a frontal assault on free enterprise. We expected this from President Obama. We didn’t anticipate some Republicans would join him. That’s a mistake for our party, and for our nation…. Those who pick up the weapons of the left today will find them turned against us tomorrow.”
– Mitt Romney
in his concession speech
in South Carolina Saturday
————————
Newt Gingrich’s impressive 12-point victory margin in South Carolina has touched off enormous doubt among national Republicans, much of it centered on Mitt Romney’s perceived weaknesses as a candidate.
To cite just one example of many, here’s Mark Steyn at NationalReview.com:
“Even if you don’t mind Romneycare, or the abortion flip-flop, or any of the rest, there’s a more basic problem: He’s not a natural campaigner, and on the stump he instinctively recoils from any personal connection with the voters…. For a guy running as a chief exec applying proven private-sector solutions, his campaign looks awfully like an unreformable government bureaucracy: big, bloated, overstaffed, burning money, slow to react, and all but impossible to change.”
While there’s certainly some truth to that, I think the Republican problem is much more deep-seated than the failings of a particular candidate. Newt Gingrich not only exposed Romney as a flawed politician; he exposed the fact that their economic message sucks.
Look at what happened: In a Republican primary in a deeply conservative state, Gingrich rode to victory by employing the Democratic line of attack against Mitt. What does that tell you about the power of that critique in the general election, among a much less conservative electorate?
(UPDATE at 11:50: Two new polls out of Florida:
Insider Advantage puts Gingrich up 34-26.
Rasmussen has Gingrich up 41-32.)
It’s really quite stunning, in ways that a lot of people don’t yet comprehend.
It’s true, of course, that the economy was just one of many factors that affected the outcome in South Carolina. For example, Gingrich outperformed Romney by 2-1 among evangelical voters, and given Newt’s personal history, that’s amazing. Romney’s religion had to have played a role in that kind of outcome.
However, when you sift through the exit-poll numbers on the economy, what you find is really compelling:
Seventy-nine percent of South Carolina voters told exit pollers that they were very worried about the nation’s economy; Gingrich carried that group by 14 percentage points.
Among the 11 percent of voters who said their own economic situation was improving, Romney did well, finishing in a virtual tie with Gingrich. But Romney and his message fell flat among those who said their economic status was static (Gingrich up 14 points) or slipping (Gingrich by 19 points).
Among income groups, Romney was competitive only among those said they made $100,000 or more, losing that demographic by only five percentage points. He lost by 15 points among everybody else.
Again, these are conservative voters in a conservative state, in an election cycle in which the economy will be the defining issue. And yet they clearly sided with a candidate who conducted “a frontal assault on free enterprise,” to use Romney’s description.
For the moment, Romney’s solution is to do as he did in his concession speech: whine about the treachery of a fellow Republican daring to advance a liberal critique. Within the confines of a GOP primary, that approach may have some temporary success.
But again, in a general election that’s not going to work.
Two more points: One, as Gingrich clearly recognizes, Romney’s personal history, his bearing and his personality all make him the perfect foil for a populist message. He epitomizes the Wall Street tycoon often central to that narrative, and it’s a weakness for which there is no cure.
Two, the lessons of South Carolina may have real consequences for House and Senate races as well. If the overall GOP message truly is as weak as it appears after Saturday — if it can be turned into a handicap even in a Republican primary — then Democratic prospects downticket may be brighter than they have seemed.
– Jay Bookman
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1,059 comments Add your comment
TaxPayer
January 23rd, 2012
3:38 pm
What do Republicans stand for. After listening to Newt v. Mitt, I’m confused.
Thulsa Doom
January 23rd, 2012
3:39 pm
Lord Help Us
January 23rd, 2012
3:36 pm
“The serial adulterer, on his third wife,”
Nope. Bill is still married to Hillary.
Paul
January 23rd, 2012
3:39 pm
Bruno
You are correct, I do not.
But I do now understand why you identify so closely with Newt!
jewcowboy
January 23rd, 2012
3:40 pm
Bruno,
“In case you forgot, he is the engineer of all the things you Libs like to credit for during the Clinton years”
And yet he still didn’t get to sit in the front of AF1. But he shut down the government…so there is that going for him.
TaxPayer
January 23rd, 2012
3:41 pm
PAUL!
Lord Help Us
January 23rd, 2012
3:41 pm
TD, I was talking about the serial adulterer that calls himself the ‘conservative.’
Not the serial adulterer that led our nation through one of the most prosperous periods in out nations history…
(ir)Rational
January 23rd, 2012
3:42 pm
Kam – That will be a good day indeed. I’m going to work very hard at getting that day cleared out so I can enjoy those two games. Speaking of games, how about Donovan and his hat trick?
Steve - USA (I support "None Of The Above")
January 23rd, 2012
3:42 pm
jewcowboy@3:36,
Sadly I think 98% of the people posting here are trying to win. I enjoy “brainstorming” to find solutions but that isn’t really what goes on here.
Billybob
January 23rd, 2012
3:42 pm
kam, point taken
barking frog, the party will not split, the establishment will fall in line or be voted out next time around……this is the beginning of a couple cycle process…….that ain’t good for bookman bc he might end up a really, really unhappy lib
Kamchak
January 23rd, 2012
3:43 pm
Donovan’s hat trick?
Don’t know gotta check it out.
Erwin's cat
January 23rd, 2012
3:43 pm
jc – it was a debate between the two, one will win and one will lose, it’s the nature of the game…Bruno won ’cause Paul went completely off point and resorted to insinuating insults..
was tha argumentative theory of reasoning?
getalife
January 23rd, 2012
3:43 pm
Paul,
Texans should check perry’s accounting because he is dumber than w.
Thulsa Doom
January 23rd, 2012
3:44 pm
Matti
January 23rd, 2012
3:10 pm
Thulsa,
“Don’t like your tax dollars going to feed hungry children? EASY: Just become a “job creator.”- Matti
Matti,
And who says I’m not. Actually I am looking to hire another telemarketer, preferably a woman. And if Obamacare stands I will do well enough to hire an office assistant to help out with the extra business. Obamacare is going to be vaywee good for the insurance industry. Vaywee good indeed. And to think libruls actually thought the insurance companies were going to be taking it on the chin under Obamacare. Thank you Obama!
Thulsa Doom
January 23rd, 2012
3:47 pm
“Not the serial adulterer that led our nation through one of the most prosperous periods in out nations history…”
I’m glad you acknowledge Gingrich’s role in forcing Clinton into balancing the budget and presiding as speaker of the house over a very robust economy that picked up in Clinton’s 2nd term and Newt’s speakership.
getalife
January 23rd, 2012
3:47 pm
doomy is thanking our President for welfare?
Kamchak
January 23rd, 2012
3:48 pm
(ir)Rational
Did you mean Clint Dempsey’s hat trick?
Lord Help Us
January 23rd, 2012
3:48 pm
Need a punchline…
What is the difference between Newt Gingrich and John Edwards?
_________________
James
January 23rd, 2012
3:49 pm
Gingrich is not anti-free enterprise Jay, just because Romney said he was. The American voter is not as dumb as you think!
JamVet
January 23rd, 2012
3:49 pm
B, thanks, and back at ya.
As I used to teach my son, “Be nice to people, not everyone can be as handsome, charming and intelligent as you and me!”
Seriously, one of the methods I’ve used successfully to get through this crazy realm is to understand that every one of us is full of ____.
Seriously. Some more than others, but ALL of us.
I certainly know that I am!
TR says it well.
I had such great expectations of the world’s benevolence
I prefer hallucinations ’cause they tend to make more sense
Than experience
But it was just another sneak attack of temporary sanity
It was a pleasant stay, but now I’m back from temporary sanity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvfk_Dl9lNs
(ir)Rational
January 23rd, 2012
3:50 pm
Kam – Yeah, don’t know why I said Donovan, just being stupid I guess.
jewcowboy
January 23rd, 2012
3:50 pm
Erwin’s cat,
“one will win and one will lose, it’s the nature of the game”
It may be some people nature, but it is not everyone’s. I suppose it is just a fundamental difference in how certain people interact with others.
Joe Hussein Mama
January 23rd, 2012
3:50 pm
Bruno — “Well, can’t wait any more for Joe Mama to come back and show us what he knows about deductive logic and how the human mind works. After all of his braying about how simple it all is”
I never said any such thing, Bruno. Once again, you’re making a false claim about what I said. Please try harder to be honest.
“one might think he would be falling over himself to prove once and for all if he really knows his butt from a hole in the ground.”
I’ve got nothing to prove to *you,* Bruno. If you want a polite, adult conversation about epistemiology, then act like a polite adult, not some schoolyard jackass who wants to have a tool-measuring contest.
“I guess he prefers to follow Franklin’s advice about keeping one’s mouth shut.”
Then again, it could have been lunch and a meeting again. But that meta-logic you like to crow about apparently doesn’t recognize the existence of such things. (laughing)
JamVet
January 23rd, 2012
3:50 pm
LHU, John Edwards isn’t repulsive looking?
Lord Help Us
January 23rd, 2012
3:52 pm
TD, I agree, Clinton governed with fiscally conservative policy that worked out well for our country.
Unfortunately, lots of people forgot what conservative means, elected GWB as a conservative, blew a huge surplus into huge deficits and now are trying to redefine the word, ‘conservative.’
I think we can all agree that GWB was a huge mistake…
Brosephus
January 23rd, 2012
3:52 pm
Bruno
That higher incarceration rate is PART of the reason for the higher “out of wedlock” rate. Part of it is because some women CHOOSE to be single. There is not a simple soundbite reason to explain that, and if you mistook my position to think that the reason was that simple, then my appologies for misleading you.
As to the court system, there is disparities in how people are treated, from juvie through adulthood. How many times have you heard behavior written off as “he’s just being a kid” when it comes to young Black men vs young White men? You can see the difference in how the media portrays crimes and such based on the victims/perpetrators. It’s not as much as judges getting swayed by the color of one’s skin, it’s more about who’s going before the judge in the first place. That’s where things diverge.
Paul
January 23rd, 2012
3:52 pm
getalife
His roughly $20 billion deficit while campaigning as a fiscal conservative is why many Texans don’t trust his accounting.
wait wait wait…. I’m sorry, I forgot.
Megadeficits are the hallmark of conservative Republicans.
Solution?
For Republicans, just say ‘they aren’t real conservatives, or Republicans” and be done with it.
Unless you’re trying to get people to believe you’re channeling Reagan.
Corey
January 23rd, 2012
3:54 pm
The television, the greatest invention ever devised to cause people to separate from their money and place logic on hold. I just got to have that shiny new car because I saw it on TV. I just got to vote form him because he looks so presidential on TV. I’ll vote for him because of his performance during the dabates on TV. Snakes in the pulpit sound so convincing on TV. Monica Pearson, on TV, recites stories from the teleprompter with such drama that I’m afraid to go outside. Monica says there is a thug in my living room.
Bruno
January 23rd, 2012
3:55 pm
Joe Mama–I’m still tying to isolate the blog in which we had our “discussion” about Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem. It’s not easy to find, because the Google search within the ajc site has numerous entries about Godel, and almost all from me. Here, for example, is a blog from Feb, 2010 in which I attempted to explain the “religious” meaning of Godel’s statements to Dusty, one of our (now former) resident Bible thumpers:
http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2010/02/27/congressmen-say-congressmen-did-nothing-wrong/?cp=6
Point blank, you’re claiming now that you don’t recall saying that my mention of Godel is equivalent some kind of high school debate tactic?? I think it goes a lot deeper than that, and have devoted considerable blog time toward explaining my views.
JamVet
January 23rd, 2012
3:56 pm
Woo Hoo!
I’m ahead of the game this year. I just got all of my tax information together and emailed off to the accountant.
Maybe I’ll be deemed too big to fail and get some money for nothing and my chicks for free…
Paul
January 23rd, 2012
3:58 pm
Erwin’s cat 3:43
Okay, look at his last post before I realized he was hopelessly weaving. Check out the mixing of lib/con/rep/dem and all the references to what I believe.
You really think discussing with such is something to be seriously continued?
And in the best Republican spirit, I ask you, why was that insulting?
Or were you not around when he introduced himself to the blog?
Lord Help Us
January 23rd, 2012
3:59 pm
‘John Edwards isn’t repulsive looking?’
Nice, how about…Newt’s mistress was willing to share.
Paul
January 23rd, 2012
4:00 pm
Erwin’s cat
And if you still don’t get subtlety, you can reread Joe Hussein Mama’s 3:50.
Kamchak
January 23rd, 2012
4:00 pm
(ir)Rational
What’s even more impressive is the U.S.Women’s National Team outscoring the Dominican Republic and Guatemala 27-0 in CONCACAF Olympic Women’s Qualifying.
(The Atlanta Beat’s own Sydney Leroux scoring 5 against Guatemala.)
Matti
January 23rd, 2012
4:01 pm
The difference: Edwards’ career ended with the revelation that he was cheating his sick wife and denied it. Gingrich’s career has been resurrected after he showed us that it’s VIRTUOUS to cheat on your sick wives, so long as you go ahead and dump them flat, and marry someone else to be a very public wife, bestow expensive jewelry on her, and flaunt it in the other wives’ faces while maligning them. Gone are the days when it was considered gentlemanly to deny one’s indiscretions to protect the wife and girlfriend from exploitation by political enemies and media wh-o-res. How lovely of modern Republicans to redefine virtue for us! Gosh.
jewcowboy
January 23rd, 2012
4:01 pm
Paul,
“Or were you not around when he introduced himself to the blog?”
I missed it.
Paul
January 23rd, 2012
4:02 pm
JamVet
“I’m ahead of the game this year. I just got all of my tax information together and emailed off to the accountant.”
Contratulations!
Thbpppptttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joe Hussein Mama
January 23rd, 2012
4:02 pm
Brosephus — “I don’t recall ever stating that “White people simply don’t get it” or anything to that effect. If that’s how you took my position, then you probably don’t get it.”
“I don’t think he is, but at the same time you’re getting quite loose with my position on that as well.”
Restating the arguments and positions of others and then materially misrepresenting them seems to be a theme with Bruno. That’s regrettable, IMO.
Lord Help Us
January 23rd, 2012
4:03 pm
What is the difference between Newt Gingrich and John Edwards?
Newt is a conservative.
Paul
January 23rd, 2012
4:03 pm
jewcowboy
I’m still trying to be in patience mode, so all I’ll say is .
jewcowboy
January 23rd, 2012
4:03 pm
Matti,
“How lovely of modern Republicans to redefine virtue for us!”
Yet they don’t want to “redefine” marriage.
Joe Hussein Mama
January 23rd, 2012
4:05 pm
Bruno — “Maybe he doesn’t need one”
Well, then, that’s certainly *convenient,* isn’t it? (laughing)
My feeling is that we’ll be seeing you right here some day soon shrieking about how President Obama doesn’t have a message, and I look forward to pointing this thread out to you on that day.
JamVet
January 23rd, 2012
4:05 pm
LHU, I know full well it’s juvenile to go after people’s looks, but hell I’m not above it. (LOL at me!) But that Callista chick is downright scarey looking. And something tells me that unlike wifey number two, Naughtie Newtie ain’t even gonna broach the subject of momma allowin’ guitar pickin’ in here. If you catch my drift…
It really was one badass song; the great drum work, the synth stuff and of course Knopfler’s inimitable guitar.
I want my, I want my, I want my MTV…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsnA0ix9hZU
Mama Says
January 23rd, 2012
4:06 pm
Jay,
I won’t do the usual and try to argue with everyone, but I will ask this question. Wasn’t Hillary the presumptive nominee when Obama won ?
You guys put up a half court shot at the buzzer and hit, seems you would know that could happen to you in this cycle.
Oh. I understand now !
Erwin's cat
January 23rd, 2012
4:07 pm
jc – ““one will win and one will lose, it’s the nature of the game”
you forgot the part where I said it was a debate!
“Debates are sometime organized for purely competitive purposes, particularly at the US high-school level, but also in other English-speaking countries – wiki
Joe Hussein Mama
January 23rd, 2012
4:07 pm
Doom — “I find it rather upsetting that I only got a (laughing) and not the (pointing, laughing). Its the difference between a silver medal and a gold medal in terms of needling silly libs.”
You’re telling me. I’ve been needling quite a while to get at least a chuckle out of Bruno, but no dice. Clearly, y’all cons don’t have much of a sense of humor.
JOE Cool
January 23rd, 2012
4:07 pm
OHHH What i miss? Nothing I guess…..Newt wont come near the White House. The women of the USA wont stand to have Newts 6 year SIDE PIECE Caslista(sp) as a 1st lady….Believe that!
Brosephus
January 23rd, 2012
4:10 pm
Joe H
Bruno and I get along pretty well, and we’ve had some discussion on those things. As I left him a note last night, the criminal justice thing is one that we’d have to talk about over a beer or two. This blog doesn’t have enough bandwidth for me to state everything that I want to say. I have to try to condense things down so that my posts aren’t mini novels and such. I try to do that as much as I can while maintaining the meaning of what I want to say. I’m sure that my points probably get changed around or muddled by me doing so, and that’s part of the game.
Finn McCool
January 23rd, 2012
4:12 pm
Republicans might want to hibernate on through next winter. November is gonna be a beeeyatch!
Joe Hussein Mama
January 23rd, 2012
4:12 pm
getalife — “doomy is thanking our President for welfare?”
So it would appear.
He also seems not to have heard that many lefties were excoriating the President prior to the HCA’s passage; far from thinking that insurance companies were going to be brought to heel by it, they recognized pretty quickly where the shortcomings were.
Finn McCool
January 23rd, 2012
4:14 pm
Perhaps in August or September we will be discussing just how many seats the Dems will pick up in the Senate and their chances to retake the House.
Adam
January 23rd, 2012
4:18 pm
Disgusting. Apparently conservatives believe there is more than one way to skin a cat – literally:
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/01/23/409443/arkansas-democratic-campaign-manager-comes-home-to-find-childs-cat-murdered-liberal-written-on-dead-body/
Go ahead, give me the “This is a lone incident but, while deplorable and I fully denounce it, it’s clearly the work of a person who is crazed…having nothing to do with the vitriolic statements that are made daily” line. Do it.
Sick. Conservatism that buys into the rhetoric that liberals are evil and out to destroy America and/or your way of life is a DISEASE.
Erwin's cat
January 23rd, 2012
4:18 pm
Paul,
Maybe I misread – it happens
I was referring to the dig at his school as a way to discount his opinion, that didn’t seem very subtle.. Not that I agree with everything he stated, but he usually stays on point..and…No I wasn’t around when introductions were made
sam
January 23rd, 2012
4:19 pm
given a choice between mitt romney and newt gingrich, i’ll take obama..
Joe Hussein Mama
January 23rd, 2012
4:21 pm
Bruno — “Point blank, you’re claiming now that you don’t recall saying that my mention of Godel is equivalent some kind of high school debate tactic??”
Nope. I *did* call your mention of it that, and just so. However, I did *not* say that Godel’s IT *itself* was “simple,” as you wrongly claimed. Citing it without laying out its applicability is a high-school debate tactic; I’ve seen it done. If you want to make a mark with me, then I invite you to *apply* it to the argument you’re making. It’s one thing to be a high-school physics professor and to say ‘you know, there are holes in Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity,’ but it’s quite another to be Stephen Hawking and say ‘here’s where Einstein was wrong about things.’ I trust that makes my position clearer to you.
“I think it goes a lot deeper than that, and have devoted considerable blog time toward explaining my views.”
You mistake my position, and with all due respect, you seem to do a *lot* of that. I think we’d both be better served by engaging in a more sociable sort of colloquy, as you *claimed* you wanted to do last week (and even expressed some regret at how you’d spoken to me here in the past). If you *want* a polite, adult conversation, then you should know that I give what I get. Treat me with politeness and a dash of respect, and that’s what you’ll receive in return.
Joe Hussein Mama
January 23rd, 2012
4:22 pm
Matti — “Gingrich’s career has been resurrected after he showed us that it’s VIRTUOUS to cheat on your sick wives, so long as you go ahead and dump them flat, and marry someone else to be a very public wife, bestow expensive jewelry on her, and flaunt it in the other wives’ faces while maligning them.”
*My goodness.*
(ir)Rational
January 23rd, 2012
4:23 pm
Kam – Impressive yes, but it isn’t the EPL. To me, the EPL is a lot like SEC football, great defenses and typically good offenses.
Thulsa Doom
January 23rd, 2012
4:23 pm
Point blank, you’re claiming now that you don’t recall saying that my mention of Godel is equivalent some kind of high school debate tactic??- Bruno
Bruno,
In fairness to Joe Mama I didn’t see where he denied to you any conversation about Godel that night.I remember it quite well though as well as Joe’s response which to paraphrase went something along the lines that he used to see the Godel argument all the time when he was in high school debates and used to dispatch the godel incompleteness theorem easily. That is what I recall but I don’t see Joe on here disputing that this conversation ever took place.
Bruno
January 23rd, 2012
4:24 pm
Bruno and I get along pretty well, and we’ve had some discussion on those things.
Our connections run deep, Bro, going back to early childhood. We both grew up in broken homes with minimal male leadership. We both played catcher. We both grew up listening to bad-ass funk. We both went to college on a math scholarship. We both adore hot Nubian women. If I was a little darker and about 80 lbs heavier, we might be mistaken for each other!!
Seriously, though, our deepest connection is that we both ultimately care about our world, and realize that all folks are the same at some level. Which is the same connection that all of us in the Blog Brotherhood share, from Hillbilly D, to josef, to JamVet, Mick and Normal. Our similarities are ultimately more important than our differences. Unfortunately, there can only be one Prez, so we’ll just have to duke it out like Brothers until then.
Recon 0311 2533
January 23rd, 2012
4:25 pm
Sounds like Jay’s trying to convince himself along with his lib posters that there is indeed hope that things will change and the electorate will buy into the Democrats strategy of class warfare, blame the previous administration while accepting that our economic conditions are now the new normal that everyone should just accept. I don’t think that’s happening or that it will happen in November regardless as who the Republicans nominee turns out to be.
JamVet
January 23rd, 2012
4:25 pm
Adam,
Man that is one twisted POS, huh?
The best comment I read was, “I’m fairly confident that this cat was more worthy of life than whoever did this to it.”
Hopefully the good people of Arkansas will stand up as one and decry this depravity.
I always find it difficult to believe that such evil lives in the hearts of some men…
Thulsa Doom
January 23rd, 2012
4:27 pm
“Nope. I *did* call your mention of it that, and just so. However, I did *not* say that Godel’s IT *itself* was “simple,” as you wrongly claimed.”- Joe Mama
Joe mama,
Actually you did say that or something very similar to it. I don’t remember the exact words that you used but you did indeed try to ridicule the godel theorem as either simplistic, or weak, etc. Can’t remember exactly your verbage but if you didn’t use the word simple you used something very close to it.
Joe Hussein Mama
January 23rd, 2012
4:27 pm
Doom — “he used to see the Godel argument all the time when he was in high school debates and used to dispatch the godel incompleteness theorem easily. That is what I recall but I don’t see Joe on here disputing that this conversation ever took place.”
What you’re saying tracks with my post @ 4:21. As I recall, you two simply misunderstood what I was saying and didn’t bother trying to work with me to clear up the misunderstanding.
Adam
January 23rd, 2012
4:28 pm
JamVet: Hopefully the good people of Arkansas will stand up as one and decry this depravity.
You’re far more likely to get the “isolated incident” excuse. The one that is so common that you hear it repeatedly every time something like this happens. Every single one of these things is isolated. Must be fun to be able to compartmentalize hundreds of incidents into separate isolation….
Paul
January 23rd, 2012
4:29 pm
Erwin’s cat
Thanks. Did not mean it as a dig at the school. In fact, I’d made a comment to that effect, thought better of it and removed it.
It’s as I’ve said before: I think blogs should be a place where ideas are evaluated, regardless of the background or profession of the blogger. Sure, people in a profession can offer insights, and I do appreciate some who do, but that’s a far cry from “I am a ***** so I know all about ***** and this is the way it is *****.”
Creative thought is not granted only to people in certain professions or of certain alma maters.
Brosephus
January 23rd, 2012
4:29 pm
our deepest connection is that we both ultimately care about our world, and realize that all folks are the same at some level.
Word. I just wish there was a way to bottle that sh*t up and put it on EBay. Maybe our country wouldn’t be as fragmented as it is now if that were the case.
Unfortunately, there can only be one Prez, so we’ll just have to duke it out like Brothers until then.
True. I’m sad that I don’t really see ANY candidate that I feel overwhelmingly confident in right now. I’d love to have one that I could support, but I’m just not feeling it now. They’re all f**ked up IMHO.
Adam
January 23rd, 2012
4:30 pm
With that, I’m out for the day. Sick, AND tired.
Stevie Ray
January 23rd, 2012
4:30 pm
KAMCHAK,
You may have split for the day but thanks for your advice on posting the drone thing on blogspot. I guess redirecting me is best you can do…very helpful…
Recon 0311 2533
January 23rd, 2012
4:30 pm
It’s amusing to see the liberal outrage on morality when you consider, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, John Kerry and the Kennedy’s to name a few. No outraged contempt there, huh guys.
Erwin's cat
January 23rd, 2012
4:31 pm
Adam =- “Must be fun to be able to compartmentalize hundreds of incidents into separate isolation…”
Hundreds Adam?..really?? all politically motivated by the conservatives?
Bruno
January 23rd, 2012
4:32 pm
Joe’s response which to paraphrase went something along the lines that he used to see the Godel argument all the time when he was in high school debates and used to dispatch the godel incompleteness theorem easily.
Which again, was more preview with no movie to back it up. I’ve fleshed out my views plenty and can defend why I think his “tu quoque” charges are ridiculous.
Gotta run for a while…..
Matti
January 23rd, 2012
4:33 pm
The last time I had a letter published in the AJC’s Sunday edition, one of my good “neighbors” in the community threw something disgusting in my driveway. (Among other pointless acts of retaliation I cannot fathom.) I’d share what it was, but my fear is that person is a regular hater here, and would remember who I am. YUCK! The kitty mutilation is appalling, but I’m sad to say I’m not surprised.
Thulsa Doom
January 23rd, 2012
4:34 pm
Adam,
Deplorable? Yep. Reminds me of Clinton sexual harassment victim Kathleen Willey coming out about her tires being slashed, one cat being killed and another disappearing, and a strange man coming up to her and asking her where her cat was. I guess the cat killing is an equal opportunity thing when it comes to libs and cons.
jm
January 23rd, 2012
4:34 pm
warren b defending romney
funny
Oversimplify
January 23rd, 2012
4:34 pm
Liberals aren’t outraged at Newt’s immorality. They’re pointing out the obvious hypocrisy of a party and its golden boy that talks family values to win elections, but walks in a decidedly opposite direction.
Kamchak
January 23rd, 2012
4:38 pm
You’re far more likely to get the “isolated incident” excuse.
A lot less isolated than you think.
16 year old Rhode Island student gets death threats. Her State Representative Peter G. Palumbo calls her “evil little thing”.
Paul
January 23rd, 2012
4:39 pm
Recon
“It’s amusing to see the liberal outrage on morality”
What are you referring to?
Lord Help Us
January 23rd, 2012
4:39 pm
‘It’s amusing to see the liberal outrage on morality when you consider, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, John Kerry and the Kennedy’s to name a few…’
Hate to break it to you, genius, but the outrage is that the ‘right’ mercilessly attack(s)ed Clinton and others for ‘moral shortcomings’ but brushes it aside for the guy with an ‘R’ by his name…
And, WTF on John Kerry…why is he in this group?
Filter
January 23rd, 2012
4:40 pm
Recon,
When are you folks on the right going to get this……none of the people you mentioned set themselves up as a paragon of family values. None of them led the charge against another person crying how they lack “moral authority to lead” all the while cheating on your second wife with whom you cheated on your first.
I really could care less about what happens in someone’s bedroom. Newt could have 10 wives and I wouldn’t care. What I do care about, and the reason this matters is the abject hypocrisy of the man.
He went after Bill Clinton for his infidelities with a completely straight face either without the self awareness to comprehend his own hypocrisy or without caring knowing that the electorate that supported him wouldn’t care as long as he had the right letter after his name.
Hypocrisy is a form of deception that has its roots in unbridled arrogance. Hoist this gasbag on his own petard of “moral authority.”
JamVet
January 23rd, 2012
4:40 pm
Adam, I may be a naive kid form Kansas, but I still completely believe in the fundamental goodness of humanity. And though we will never see it on the news, I see it around me, everywhere I look.
From small gestures of kindness to people giving their own lives to save complete strangers. That is the god in us. What that despicable person did to that poor defenseless house pet, just to make a petty point, is the devil in us.
These words from Teddy Kennedy still touch me deeply. And I have always wanted tried to live them…
My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
St Simons - we're on Island time
January 23rd, 2012
4:41 pm
there is a Mittens commercial on avg every 6 min on Jaxville teevee 24/7
Not a film critic, but they are creepy, and totally miss the Fla mindset.
one quote in the host’s article perfectly captures this creepy vibe -
“(Romney’s) not a natural campaigner, and on the stump he instinctively
recoils from any personal connection with the serfs/rabble/voters…”
dingdingding
Thulsa Doom
January 23rd, 2012
4:41 pm
The last time I had a letter published in the AJC’s Sunday edition, one of my good “neighbors” in the community threw something disgusting in my driveway. (Among other pointless acts of retaliation I cannot fathom.)
That strains credulity Matti. I have a hard time believing that a neighbor living close to you just happened to read a letter of yours and then just happened to get so mad at you that he then threw a dead animal or whatever in your driveway. And then you threw in “among other pointless acts of retaliation”. All over a freaking letter to the editor??? Sorry but I find that very difficult to believe.
Paul
January 23rd, 2012
4:41 pm
Kamchak
From that article, it appears the school board, superintendent, and principal are cowards who will not stop a slam-dunk illegal act from occurring and instead leave it up to a 16-year old to correct.
Brosephus
January 23rd, 2012
4:42 pm
Damn, John Kerry’s gettin’ some on the side too???? Why defend marriage when nobody honors them anymore…
Martin Williams
January 23rd, 2012
4:42 pm
Wow!!!!!!!!!!! the GOP still don’t get it. The GOP needs to truly start thinking about the 2016 general election as the 2012 is in the bag so to speak. If folks in South Caroline think the whole country is as dumm like them, they better think again. I know they have in the past elected the candidate for both parties. This time they completely got it wrong. Two thirds of this country still got values and not just family values. As for Mitt, he was going to shove something through Obama’s throat a statement made during a campaign stop and Newt just did to him. How sweet.
Georgia , The "New Mississippi"
January 23rd, 2012
4:42 pm
I would have to vote for Mr. Romney. We 1% must stick together. If Mr. Gingrich were elected President he would start World War III and have to bring back the draft to force Democrats to fight for him in defense of our ( GOP ) country.
Oversimplify
January 23rd, 2012
4:43 pm
Kathleen Willey also claimed that the Clintons had her husband murdered. She made a lot of claims. None of them ever corroborated.
Paul
January 23rd, 2012
4:44 pm
Filter
Good comments, but please, please, please…
don’t use the ‘hoist on own petard’ thing here.
We’ve some bloggers who’ll argue well into tomorrow night what it means, how it should be used, how it originated, how people think it originated, whether if’s French or not, whether it’s….
get the idea?
Thulsa Doom
January 23rd, 2012
4:44 pm
“As I recall, you two simply misunderstood what I was saying and didn’t bother trying to work with me to clear up the misunderstanding.”- Joe Mama
Perhaps. But it didn’t seem to be a misunderstanding to me. Regardless you and Bruno can hash that one out.
Matti
January 23rd, 2012
4:45 pm
Thulsa,
I don’t give a *bleep* what you believe. (I don’t believe you create jobs, either, so I guess we’re even.) I got nasty messages on my home voice mail and hate mail too. I live deep in “we love our munny in the name of JEEE-suzz, Amen” land, and don’t even get me started at how ugly these nice church-going people get at the town hall meetings!
Thulsa Doom
January 23rd, 2012
4:47 pm
Oversimplify,
Yes. Of course. I’m certain Mrs. Willey and the other 7 or so women are all just lying and of course Mr. Clinton was the only truth teller.
Matti
January 23rd, 2012
4:47 pm
…I also had one nice lady call and invite me to her bible study group. Heh… we’re still friends.
Oversimplify
January 23rd, 2012
4:50 pm
Thulsa
Look in the Hunting of the President – Conason’s book. He refers to an Isicoff article on it – it was all a set up. A failed one.
JamVet
January 23rd, 2012
4:50 pm
Paul, LOL at your 4:44.
! saw that too and refused to get near it. All I could think was WTF?
You’d think those folks were trying to accurately define corporate personhood or sovereignty or some such other important and elusive concept, instead of a dated, silly and stilted phrase!
Thulsa Doom
January 23rd, 2012
4:54 pm
“I don’t give a *bleep* what you believe. (I don’t believe you create jobs, either, so I guess we’re even.)”
I didn’t say I was some big job creator. Just that I’m looking to hire one single telemarketer. Doesn’t make me John Galt though. Nor lacking in credibility.
“I got nasty messages on my home voice mail and hate mail too.”
Yes. I had written letters to the editor also and in my old hometown had several published. Never got any threatening letters or nasty voice mails though. And if the OWS protestors and their acts of destruction and arrests and the peaceful tea party folks are representative of Rs and Ds then you can bet that the cons would be getting a helluva lot more hate mail than the libs.
“I live deep in “we love our munny in the name of JEEE-suzz, Amen” land, and don’t even get me started at how ugly these nice church-going people get at the town hall meetings!”
Yes. Of course. Its the evil church goers who are all the nasty people at the town hall meetings. Perhaps you should move out of jeezus land and move to a lib paradise. I recommend a tough city neighborhood with drugs being sold on the corner, liquor stores everywhere, and a few strip clubs and porno shops thrown in for good measure. Much more amenable to liberal values such as yours.
Welcome to the Occupation
January 23rd, 2012
4:55 pm
2011 ninth warmest year on record according to NASA.
Wait a minute, those NASA astronauts must be a bunch of ‘libs’.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2011-temps.html
Midori
January 23rd, 2012
4:55 pm
Oversimplify – I’ve read the book and you are spot on.
As a matter of fact, you’re batting 1000
Brosephus
January 23rd, 2012
4:56 pm
Kam
I peeked at a blog linked in that article, and if that’s how the children of Christian behave, then I would hate to be associated with that branch of Christianity.
Thulsa Doom
January 23rd, 2012
4:59 pm
Oversimplify,
Yes. Of course sir. And this conason would be a neutral, unbiased source would he??? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!
From 1990 to 1992, Conason was “editor-at-large” for Details magazine. In 1992, he became a columnist for the New York Observer, a position he still holds. Also in 1992, he authored an article for Spy Magazine which accused then-President George H.W. Bush of cheating on his wife Barbara. [1]
He served as investigative editor for The American Prospect.[citation needed]
In 1992 Conason wrote an article for Spy magazine naming Jennifer Fitzgerald and Jane Morgan as women who allegedly were having affairs with George H. W. Bush, using Linda Tripp as a source.[citation needed]
Conason was a regular guest and a guest host on The Al Franken Show, where he had the distinction of being the only guest with two theme songs.
Erwin's cat
January 23rd, 2012
4:59 pm
Welcome “2011 ninth warmest year on record according to NASA.”
and what does this prove/mean other than 2011 was the 9th warmest measured by NASA?
TaxPayer
January 23rd, 2012
5:01 pm
I think the Republican’s big tent fabric is not aging very well.