Ross Douthat on The GOP's "Empty Stage"

[Keith Bee]

A month from now, the contenders for the 2012 Republican nomination were supposed to appear at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif., for the first of their primary debates. But the list of declared candidates is so pitifully short that last week the debate was postponed until September, to avoid the embarrassment of a stage potentially populated only by Tim Pawlenty and the pizza magnate Herman Cain.
Josh Haner/The New York Times

The stage would be full by autumn, the organizers promised. While “too few have made the commitment thus far for a debate to be worthwhile,” the Reagan Foundation’s executive director declared, “there will be a long and impressive list of Republican candidates who eventually take the field.”

No doubt the list of candidates will lengthen. But Republicans shouldn’t feel too confident about the “impressive” part. When it comes to challenging Barack Obama for the presidency, the Party of Lincoln looks increasingly like a party of Mario Cuomos. Its biggest names and brightest lights are mainly competing to offer excuses for why they won’t be running in 2012.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/opinion/04douthat.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fopinion%2Findex.jsonp

Douthat goes on to say how Christie, Huckabee, Daniels and Ryan are poo-pooing runs for the presidency next year, which dovetails nicely with my personal view that---unless video surfaces of Obama beating a nun or torturing a puppy---he'll win reelection about as handily as Clinton did in 1996.

[damntexdem]

1. But he should get away with torturing a nun or beating a puppy.

;-)

And maybe for once, the Repukes won't.

[Keith Bee]

4. Hey, even if a video DID appear,

my first thought would be, "Breitbart-O'Keefe-edited."

[yurbud]

2. if they had that video, or even a picture of a past white girlfriend, they'd have used it already

I'm surprised the GOP didn't go for the mixed race dating angle over the birther thing--that would have really fired up their base.

But maybe Obama was thinking so far ahead that he didn't set the landmine for himself.

[angstlessk]

3. Used to be 'dead women' or 'live boys', but Scarborough put to bed the 'dead woman'

and Mark Foley 'survived' the 'live boys' condition....so now...who knows what will kill a politician's political life?