Word association game - GOP primary edition



Photo: Aikenstandard.com

Instead of wasting time writing a detailed analysis of where today's GOP contenders stand, I've opted to go the simple route. A variation on word association. Why not? Since this is the most intellectually-challenged group of presidential nominees I've ever seen in my life, it's best to keep it simple. So here we go!

Mitt Romney: Can't buy me love
Newt Gingrich: Icarus
Rick Perry: Second coming of Dubya
Michele Bachmann: Delusional
Herman Cain: Not ready for prime time
Jon Huntsman: Better luck next time
Ron Paul: Still no chance
Rick Santorum: Yah right!
Buddy Roemer: Error message
Gary Johnson: File not found



Who really chooses our presidential candidates?



Image: Adam

Former Bush political strategist Matthew Dowd brings up a question many of us have been asking for a long time - why are certain qualified presidential candidates excluded from the debates [former Republican governors Buddy Roemer (LA) and Gary Johnson (NM)] and given far less time in them when they (Ron Paul) clearly have just as much of a shot or better than some of those who are there? Establishment parrots always say Ron Paul doesn't have a shot at the nomination. How would they know? They've never given voters a chance to make that decision. Paul's poll numbers have been high and he has a larger following than Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Herman Cain and Jon Huntsman combined. His fundraising ability also leaves theirs (collectively) in the dust.
The only sensible answer is that some candidates are acceptable to the establishment and some are not. And big media does its best to serve those interests. So, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the system wasn't rigged in this way, Paul would get as much air time in debates as Mitt Romney, Roemer and Johnson would be included in the debates and it would be left up to the voters to decide who's viable and who isn't.
The way it is, it's no wonder so many people don't trust big media. Why should they? It can't even come up with a plausible excuse as to why it ignores candidates who might actually just steal the show. When it comes to experience in governing, independence and common sense, Paul, Roemer and Johnson are all head and shoulders above the current crop of candidates (Huntsman excluded). But then, that's probably what makes them so unacceptable to the powers-that-be.

Image source

Thursday morning chatter

Rummaging through the GOP clown car... In "The Rise and Fall and Rise of Newt Gingrich," Bob Cesca reminds us in painful detail why the disgraced former Speaker of the House would be nothing short of a disaster as the GOP's nominee.

The Herman Cain Art Project goes dark... After totally pooching an easy question about U.S. foreign policy toward Libya on Monday in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Herman Cain's campaign has decided it's better to be seen than heard. Who can blame them? Add his clueless response to the Libya question to the list of his other blunders (the Right of Return, Uz beki beki beki...) and what it adds up to is a whole lot of stupid. Cain was scheduled to sit down with New Hampshire's influential Union Leader newspaper today for an interview but cancelled. According to AP reporter Steve Poeples, it was due to a disagreement over timing. Sure, sure. This morning, Michael Calderone at Huffington Post reported the Cain campaign requested the hour-long interview be cut to 20 minutes and that no cameras/video be allowed. It sounds like the newspaper balked at his request. After all, it takes Cain 20 minutes, alone, to figure out what country it is his questioners are talking about.

Occupy Wall Street marks its two-month anniversary... Mayor Boss Hogg Bloomberg may have had Zucotti Park cleared, but the movement is alive and well, celebrating its two-month anniversary with a day of protest around New York's financial district. Similar events are also scheduled for today around the country. Ah, beautiful chaos...

From the You Gotta Be Kidding Me department... In some weird, desperate gambit, debate Gaffe Master Rick Perry challenged House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to a public debate on Monday. Ba ha ha ha. At her news conference this morning she responded to the request mockingly, “He did ask if I could debate here in Washington on Monday — it is my understanding that such a letter has come in. Monday, I’m going to be in Portland in the morning, visiting some of our labs in California in the afternoon, that’s two … I can’t remember what the third thing is." Classic!

Mitt Romney: the Bob Dole of 2012?



Canadian Press Images

Reading Steve Kornacki's piece "The GOP and electoral suicide" at Salon.com I got to thinking, the race for the 2012 Republican nomination is the strangest, most fluid nominating contest I've ever followed (going back to the early '90's). Analytical skill and instinct be damned, there is just no predicting who will win it. Or is there?
Rachel Maddow (one of the most brilliant minds in politics & media today), predicts with certainty Mitt Romney will take it. She's the one with the doctorate and a staff of researchers, so maybe she's right; but I'm not convinced. She may be failing to grasp the depth and intensity of GOPers distrust and dislike of Romney.
Once the good 'ol boy party poo bahs decide to get behind one candidate (which I believe will be Rick Perry), the pretenders (Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann) will fade and the race will end somewhere between South Carolina and Florida. It's worth noting that in 2008 Romney couldn't buy the race. He tried mightily but got shellacked in Iowa by cash-strapped insurgent Gov. Mike Huckabee. Talk about embarrassing. Then he got beat by a weak John McCain in New Hampshire and SC (where he didn't have a prayer).
In Romney I see Groundhog Day. Why would voters be any more inclined to support him now than they did in 2008? His elitism and Olympic-level flip-floppery is even more evident now than it was then. If there's one thing voters from across the political spectrum agree on, it's having a general disgust for politicians with no moral core. Romney's campaign slogan might as well be I'll Tell You Whatever You Want to Hear!
If the GOP establishment does get behind Romney, he will most likely go down in history as the Bob Dole of 2012 (a mere sacrificial lamb). The meaning? They'll be done with him once and for all; and are already focusing on real presidential aspirants for 2016.
But like I said before, who knows. This race and political climate is unlike any other in modern times. If Maddow winds up being right and Romney becomes the GOP nominee, I will bow down before her brilliance and courage in making this early call. If my instinct is right and Perry wins his party's backing, she should hire me.

Cainiac reveals Herman Cain's musical past



Image from The Daily Caller

Following in the footsteps of epically dorky politician-crooners Orrin Hatch and John Ashcroft ("Let the Eagle Soar"), presidential wanna-be Herman Cain recorded a gospel album back in the day. That's the kind of crap people do when they get too rich and bored. Ugh. He was, however, good enough to bury it for the good of the nation, but then some crazy Cainiac had to go drop it on the interwebs.

Herman Cain bombs on Fox News Sunday

After his first major television interview Sunday, Herman Cain, former Godfather's Pizza CEO and Republican presidential aspirant joined Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum in the Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Club.
Cain appeared on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace and stumbled when the discussion turned to Israel. When asked where he stood on the right of return, Cain gave a Palinesque pause and answer betraying his lack of knowledge on the issue. Beyond the Israeli/Palestinian issue, he also confessed to not knowing what to do about Afghanistan.
Cain quickly put out a video walking back the statements he made on FNS.
It's hard to see the GOP establishment getting behind such a novice.

(Photo: AP)