RED STATE cashes in its chips...

[brooklynite]

Three Percent

When you have a candidate few people really like, whose support is a mile wide and an inch deep, whose raison d’etre (a 4am fancy word) is fixing an economy that is fixing itself without him, and who only wins his actual, factual home state by three percentage points against a guy no one took seriously only two months ago, there really is little reason for independent voters in the general election to choose him if the economy keeps improving.

Seriously, putting it bluntly, conservatives may not like Barack Obama, but most other people do. And when faced with a guy you like and a guy you don’t like who says he can fix an economy that no longer needs fixing, you’re going to go with the guy you like.

If Republicans in Washington are not panicked and trying desperately to pull Bobby Jindal in the race tomorrow, or someone like him, the party leaders must have a death wish. Mitt Romney continues to run an uninspiring campaign only able to win by massively outspending his opponents to tell voters how much worse the other guys are. That may work in the primary, but it will not work in a general election where the President of the United States won’t be outspent 5 to 1.

Three percentage points. In his home state. In his wife’s home state. In the state his father served as Governor. Three percentage points against a guy few took seriously two months ago and who just three weeks ago no one expected to give Romney a run for his money in Romney’s home state.

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2012/02/29/three-percent/

[Laura PourMeADrink]

1. omg...love that line. "His raison d'etre is to fix the economy

that is fixing itself without him" priceless

[southernyankeebelle]

2. He spent all that money for 3 points. But in the end he and Holy Rick got the same number of

electoral votes. So neither won anything.

[Enrique]

3. Romney said Let Detroit Go Bankrupt

and Rick Santorum couldnt beat him in Michigan?

[Dawson Leery]

4. Mr. Erickson understand two things:

"Seriously, putting it bluntly, conservatives may not like Barack Obama, but most other people do. And when faced with a guy you like and a guy you don’t like who says he can fix an economy that no longer needs fixing, you’re going to go with the guy you like. "

Many of those who will not vote for Obama (due to ideological differences) like him personally.
The third of the country which makes up the right wing base, hate Obama. The rest of the country does not have this blind animosity against Obama.

"When you have a candidate few people really like, whose support is a mile wide and an inch deep"
Exactly! Romney's "strength" is that he is the least extreme of all the Rethugs. He looks the part of the President, though he cannot act it.
Under the surface, Romney is a w

[Old and In the Way]

5. A rare moment of honest introspection.

Although I fail to see how Bobby Jindahl is the answer to their prayers. But, hey, if Bobby wants to give it a go, jump right in!

[Carla in Sequim]

7. I don't see him as the answer either.

But what really makes me laugh is how many of these idiots don't use their real first names! President Obama had a nickname when he was younger and decided to go back to the original. He is the real deal.

[quaker bill]

8. There is no answer

There are no serious contenders in this context, and elections are always run in context. Anyone they see as serious will be a "pure conservative". To earn this status requires advocacy of some very out-of-the-mainstream views anymore. They could prop anyone they like up on that platform, and they will lose.

The bottom line is correct, the economy is generally on the mend and nowhere near enough people see giving billionaires a tax cut as needed to fix it or desirable on any terms. No one serious has a problem with defense under this President (except for those who think he is too aggressive). 4 years in and no guns have been grabbed. So all they have left is abortions and gays, and while this stuff will work in the deep red areas, it does not get them near a majority nationally.

This is why "serious" contenders sit on the sidelines and will likely stay there.

[jeff47]

9. I suspect he likes the idea of Jindal because Jindal is brown (nt)

[kemah]

20. Bobby is another Perry, both are dumb and get dumber with age.

Bobby will just reenforce the gop/tea party dumb image.

[LetTimmySmoke]

6. I like the Oil ad and the F-35 ad on that site.

It's obviously a right wing tradition to sell out to big oil and defense contractors.

[DFW]

10. I'm pretty sure plenty of conservatives like Obama

It's the frothing at the mouth right wing radicals that hate him.

Obama hasn't done much to piss off true conservatives. The radical right has hijacked the term,
but they are no more "conservatives" than cows are reptiles. Just because you jump in the ocean,
it still doesn't make you a fish, even if you call yourself one.

[dodger501]

19. I'm not so sure

In the 08 election, J. McCain got 55% of the white vote.
Then in Jan 09, a whole bunch of folks woke up and found a black guy sitting in the White House and they lost their collective minds.
Enter the Tea Party, but the rabid anti-Obama vitriol I encounter all over the place is staggering and most from folks I know who do not self-identify as conservatives.

[DFW]

22. A huge rift has developed between people who are conservative and people who so label themselves

America's radical right decided to call themselves "conservative" because it sounded good to them,
not because they are truly conservative. For example, they advocate an extremely liberal position
on gun ownership (i.e anyone should be free to have as many as they want), and yet they call their
position "conservative."

On the other hand, Obama, who has been extremely conservative in his approach to most issues, is called a "liberal,"
or terms plucked from outer space like "Marxist." Obama's cautious, go-slow tactics have drawn lot of deserved
fire from progressives who wanted, and expected, more decisive action. Instead, he has been quite conservative
in his approach to most issues. Not "conservative" like Fox Noise and National Hate Radio define the term, but as the
dictionary of the English language defines it.

[Richardo]

11. Jindal or someone like him?

Yes, do THAT!! The DNC can show his 2009 SOTU rebuttal on a continual loop from August - November.

[Major Hogwash]

12. Ron Paul is coming to Idaho and plans 3 more stops to try and stop the MoMitten before it builds.

But, it's too late.
Romney is a runaway train going downhill with no freakin' brakes.
He can't be stopped now, there is no way he can save himself from that horrible, horrible crash at the end of the line waiting for him on November 6th.

*yawn*

I will try to wake up just in time to watch it.
Can't help myself, watching train wrecks in slow motion is addicting.
It's much better than watching that kid on the skateboard coming down the handrail fall off.

[jmowreader]

16. Apparently the other three (R) contenders are as clueless as we think

Assuming I had done enough bad things in my life to qualify as a GOP primary contender, and I was running against Mitt Romney, the last fucking thing in the world I would do is spend a plugged nickel on the state with the second-highest Mormon population in the United States.

[Major Hogwash]

17. Heh heh heh. What's really weird is that Romney came here yesterday, too.

To Idaho Falls!
That is "Mormon Central" for Idaho.
The percentage of Mormons that live there is way high, around 60 or 70%.
Maybe even 80%.

So, Romney had a packed house wherever the event was held, maybe 1000 people.
But, he must be kind of nervous with what happened in Michigan to make another visit to Idaho so soon like this.

[jmowreader]

24. I ran a picture from that rally last night

If I was Romney's manager I would be more than worried.

Yes, I think Romney is going to take Idaho because there are a lot of Mormons here, but I'm almost positive Paul will win Benewah, Bonner and Boundary Counties. He is looking good in the rest of North Idaho too, as is Santorum.

We've got 32 Republican delegates up for grabs and Idaho is an "apportionment" state unless one candidate gets more than half the delegates, and then they are all awarded to him. Romney hasn't done it yet, and I don't think he will here either.

[Major Hogwash]

25. Well, I did not know that.

I didn't know that you lived in Idaho.
I thought there was 5 or 6 people from Idaho posting here at the DU, but evidently only you, Vanje, and me are left here to represent.

I think Romney assumed that he was just as popular among the Christian fundamentalists here as he was with the Mormons.
Huge mistake.
Huuugggeee mistake.

The Catholics here are claiming that Romney may be one of the apocalyptic signs foretold in their bible teachings because of his religious views.
No love lost there among them.
Yet, the real bible pounders down here are gripping their guns with sweaty palms and don't care that Easter is just around the corner, they're ready to crucify Romney for his pro-choice positions in the past.

[jmowreader]

26. Are your teabaggers as absolutist as mine are?

There is a Former Arizona Sheriff who makes his money these days by speaking at Tea Party events. They love him because he says all the right things and has embraced the tea party with every fiber of his being. So...to ensure a good turnout, whichever GOP group runs the Kootenai County Lincoln Day dinner hired this asshole to speak at their event.

Then the teabaggers found out that when he was sheriff, he was a Democrat. O shit. After at least twenty letters to my paper, the GOP group withdrew their invitation. We had some pro-whoever-the-fuck-he-is letters that pointed out Saint Ronnie was once a Democrat. Didn't help.

BTW, we ran so many anti-Mormon letters after Romney became the front-runner, our managing editor announced in the paper we wouldn't run any more anti-Mormon letters at least until after the election--and he has NEVER done that before on any subject.

[Myrina]

13. Gotta say, I never realized Mittens was from MI ...

... heard all the shit about him being the Gov of Mass, and the Mormon/Utah/Olympics stuff but I'm betting alot of low-information voters don't really know he's a Michigander either.

Not that it matters, because he's still a putz, but ... jus' sayin' ...

[craigmatic]

14. So they admit the economy is improving under Obama? Well dems win by default.

[nxylas]

18. Despite all they've done to destroy it

They must be so sad.

[kemah]

21. That's why the big social cultural wars.

Their only hope is to gin up the ole cultural wars.

[dfgrehe]

23. Spam deleted by cbayer (MIR Team)