"…. Now you can cover almost the entire Republican field for comic relief.”

[babylonsister]

Posted with permission.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2012_01/quite_a_field034656.php

January 10, 2012 8:40 AM
Quite a field

By Steve Benen


Reader F.B. flagged an interesting exchange on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” yesterday in which Joe Scarborough passed along assessments of the Republican presidential field from veteran political journalists. Here’s the clip:

Video @ link~

Folks who’ve been covering politics for 40 years told Scarborough, “‘This is the worst field.’ …This is the weakest field they’ve seen, by far. Not even a close second.” Mike Barnicle added, “It used to be up here, there was a libertarian candidate, Lyndon LaRouche and you’d cover him for comic relief…. Now you can cover almost the entire Republican field for comic relief.”

That’s cruel, but it’s not inaccurate.

GOP voters have noticed, too. A new CBS News poll found that only 37% of self-identified Republicans are satisfied with their current choices — and the number of Republicans who want more choices is going up, not down, as the process continues to unfold.

You’d expect to see the opposite at this point, as GOP voters get a better look at their presidential field. But as it turns out, the more Republicans learn about their choices, the more they’d like to support someone else.

And that’s just the rank and file. Among the prominent party voices, Ross Douthat called this “the weakest presidential field of any major party in a generation”; Bill Kristol has invested quite a bit of time urging late-entrants to get into the race; and Fred Barnes put it this way last week: “Would Romney be odds-on to win the nomination if Mitch Daniels or Chris Christie or Paul Ryan or Jeb Bush were in the race? Not likely.”

All of these assessments are quite persuasive. At times, it’s tough to watch the race for the Republican nomination and not think, “Wow, these are some really awful candidates.”

Last month, disgraced former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was in the lead. Not too long before that, Herman Cain was taken seriously as a candidate for national office. Over the summer, Michele Bachmann — Michele Bachmann — appeared to be a top-tier challenger.

The 2012 presidential race was one many Republicans expected to win fairly easily, creating a unique opportunity for those with national ambitions, and yet, the party is left with a field that can generously be described as “mediocrities.”

I have to wonder whether some of those who considered the race but decided not to pull the trigger are kicking themselves at this point.

[glowing]

1. And those names scare me too...

Christie is just a Bully, Paul Ryan wants to destroy the Govt social safety nets even further, and Jeb Bush is a Bush... One only has to look at Florida to see what he would do to the country. Are they supposed to be serious names the Republicans have? Honestly, they are just as bad.

[HughBeaumont]

2. I'm not really getting this statement:

"The 2012 presidential race was one many Republicans expected to win fairly easily"

HOW?

Pretty much anyone they throw up, even the ones who aren't in the race, tumble over themselves to appease the nutbar Teahadists and other hate groups. They're all economic Darwinists, anti-government, anti-woman, anti-LGBT, anti-social program and hyper-religious. They embrace Feudalist economic policies that are proven failures (well, to be fair, so does the President). Their foreign policies and social agenda are Medival.

I mean, yes, it's all but painfully obvious in most cases that your average Republican voter hates "President (insert racial slur here)". But is putting someone who'll take us to a Rule By Old Testament the answer??

I don't think a majority of people have forgotten the Bewsh Years that fast. And the economy is showing signs of improving (yes, we still have a very long way to go, but it's still better than 2007-8) . . . so, not exactly sure how they thought this was going to be "easy"?

[babylonsister]

3. I don't get it either, but

I'm dating a republican (yes, I am) who, when we first met, bet me a t-bone steak dinner Obama would lose. I'm looking forward to that dinner, and he is not a stupid man. I think because his apparently small circle of friends think alike, he might have thought there were many others out there. But he is also disgusted with the entire crew running, and is hoping newt pulls something out of his hat. Makes for good conversation, but I always have to curtail it because it's not worth arguing over.