Why I think the repubs have already written off 2012

[Stinky The Clown]

All their 'leading' candidates are incredibly flawed.

The only game they play is pandering to the extreme right wing.

Jindal ..... look at that 'rebuttal' he gave. It was laughable in its delivery and extreme in its espousements.

Palin ....... every time she opens her mouth, it is a joke. She's playing to the far right extremists with her religiosity and with her threat not to take StimBux. Now they replace her as a headliner with that has-been, NewCatholicNewt.

Pawlenty ..... continues to rival drying paint for excitement. Lost the mullet, but not the free and easy use of "Democrat Party" - a sure sign of hard right wing asshatterishness.

Barbour ...... could anyone be LESS nationally attractive?

SirMittins ...... no one takes him seriously. No one.


Beyond these 'front runners' who else is there they can trot out?

I think their 2012 run will be BobDole2.

[foxfeet]

1. You can read cuneiform?

[tekisui]

2. They did BobDole2.0 as John McLame. 2012 will be Newt's turn to

take a fall.

[cobalt1999]

3. I think they are conceeding 2012

They go through the motions, but, yes, I think they've written off 2012 just like they wrote off 2008 and just like the democrats did in 1984.

They toss a bone to some old guy like McCain again, or throw someone they want to destroy out there.

[Horse with no Name]

4. Actually I think by then their party will go by the way of the Whigs

and they will have completely infiltrated our party. But that isn't what you wanted to hear, is it?:(

[kestrel91316]

5. My prediction: Newtie.

[adamuu]

25. New York Times Magazine "Newt. Again - The Return of Newt Gingrich"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/magazine/01republicans-t.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=newt&st=cse

“I don’t actually build oppositions,” Gingrich told me, as if this business of salvaging a lost party were something he undertook every couple of months. “I build the next governing majority. I have no interest in being an opposition party.”

[kestrel91316]

26. Everybody's favorite hypocritical serial philanderer.

I hope they try to run him. It'll be like shooting ducks in a barrel.

[adamuu]

27. me too n/t

[bluestateguy]

6. Their field reminds me of the Democratic field in 1984

A washed up old party hack who spoke for a different era of politics (Mondale = Barbour and Mitt)

A smooth talker with vague "new ideas" (Hart = Jindal)

An extremist who shoots off her mouth with a controversial past (Jesse Jackson = Palin)

We all know how that election turned out.

[napi21]

7. I hate it, but I think you'll see Gingrich!. Living in Ga., I know enough

about him to hate him, but even I have to admit, he speaks clearly and often makes sense.

[Mari333]

8. the only chance they have is if

the dems split their votes. if the more progressive left is unhappy with obama they might vote for another candidate. too soon to tell, but it happened before.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Yanno .... for all the bluster from the left, I think when push comes to shove .....

..... they know what Nader votes did. Yeah, that cane be debated forever. Fact is Bush was president and we had to eat shit.

I don't think anyone has a stomach for that.

[babylonsister]

9. Jon Huntsman worries me...waiting in the wings?

http://www.utah.gov/governor/index.html

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman may be the fastest-rising Republican star you have never heard of. Reelected to a second term in 2008, Huntsman served as ambassador to Singapore during the administration of President George H.W. Bush and currently chairs the Western Governors Association.

POLITICO met with Huntsman at the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, where he discussed the process of economic recovery and stressed the need for his party to catch up with the younger generation on issues ranging from the environment and gay rights. Here are some excerpts of the conversation.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/19181.html

[Badlands Democrat]

18. Also a strong dark horse candidate.

Of course his moderate comments on abortion and gay rights will likely kill his campaign before it starts. But Crist, Pawlenty, Huntsman in that order are the only GOPpers to have me cautious. I'm praying for Palin/Jindal 2012 baby!

[KharmaTrain]

10. It's All About The Folding Green

2012? That's a game the teevee talking heads and prospective campaign managers play. The pols see a bigger short-term prize. $$$$$$$. This is a bitterly divided party that is in survival mode...everyone for themselves and each faction blaming the others for what's gone wrong.

There is no ideology involved here...just pure power and ego. Any prospective candidates are looking at their pocketbooks right now, knowing it'll cost at least a half billion dollars to try to go against President Obama...and to have any chance they need to start socking away the cash now. It's the time to stroke the fringes who write the checks and show up on primary day...any thoughts of general election are pipe dreams at this point.

No doubt, the GOOP bench is lame...the lack of party direction and leadership is glaring and their inability to address what caused them to lose the middle and then power still hasn't soaked in. Anyone who dare to address that real Elephant in the room is shouted down...and that's fine with me.

We're seeing a new version of the "Do Nothings"...the faction that destroyed the Whigs. We may be seeing history repeat.

[phantom power]

11. There is one way I think they could win.

If the economy continues to crumble over the next four years, and the Dems continue to foster the appearance and/or reality of supporting the Banksters over the middle class, then the GOP will have a plausible shot at demagoguing their way back into power.

I don't pretend to know what is going to happen over the next four years, but I don't think that is a crazy scenario. It's plausible.

[EstimatedProphet]

12. It's still too early to talk about 2012.

There's a lot of time for someone to show up with a lot of personality.

[Badlands Democrat]

13. I agree, but we should not be complacent.

Also, I'd give Pawlenty a bit more credit than the others. And then there's closet liberal Republican Governor Charlie Crist, who could be a dark horse.

[Stinky The Clown]

17. You're right about Crist ..... and I actually should have named him in the OP

He's a lot more ..... I dunno ..... likable, I guess, than the others. He's surely the most attractive, physically ... and I do think that maters, at least somewhat.

I think, however, that if he ever ran, the whispers about his on again off again marriage plans/no plans will get dredged up .... in a whisper campaign. And that will hurt him on the right, I suspect.

[Badlands Democrat]

20. He is likeable.

And I did admire what he did on behalf of the greater Everglades ecosystem in buying up that land from a former sugar company. But I think he is a bit too rational to be a Republican presidential nominee. They like 'em batshit nuts.

[tritsofme]

15. Well you wouldn't be the first person to get burned

making political predictions 3 years into the future.

A year is a lifetime in politics, three years is a generation.

[RaleighNCDUer]

16. Besides, they need the Democrats to fix the economy, and after

Bush it's going to take every bit of two terms to do it.

What's the point of looting the government if the government is broke?

[NeedleCast]

19. I think it's way to early to point at leading candidates

other than media speculation.

[FriendlyReminder]

21. I just find it very curious that all of a sudden little newt is popping his head out of the hole

lately.

[Warpy]

22. It all depends on how successful the mighty Wurlitzer has been

after the mid term elections. If they don't pick up a lot of seats in Congress due to a worsening economy (and yes, the economy will likely worsen through this year and part of 2010), then they'll run Jindal/Palin for the sheer entertainment value.

The only heavy hitters in their party gerontocracy who are young enough to run for the office are Gingrich and Romney. Either or both of those men might run in 2012 because they both know they'll be seen as too old for the office in 2016.

I just don't think they'll succeed. About all that party has left is the far religious right populists and they're in no mood to vote for anyone who isn't a social Neanderthal or with an IQ above room temperature.

It will be fun to watch, at any rate, unless the mass media once again persuade people who don't pay much attention to vote against their best interest.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

23. I can't think of a party "standard-bearer"

Nor what they could possibly run on that has a chance of dethroning Obama in 2012. Of course, I didn't imagine in 1992-1993 that Clinton's Presidency would be seriously derailed and nearly killed off in 1994. Thankfully, Clinton regained the upper hand after lashing out at right-wing hate radio following the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995 and calling the Republican Congress' bluff and forcing them into the position of shutting down the Federal Government during the "budget wars" that same year. The Repubs then ran a bland and inept candidate for President in 1996 practically ensuring his re-election to a second term. As for 2012, it's probably just too far ahead of us to see how it might turn out but it will certainly be interesting to see who they end up running. Frankly, as long as things haven't gotten significantly worse than they are now (CAN they get any worse?), I don't see why Obama won't get re-elected in 2012. Being somewhat of an optimist, I believe that things here in this country will at least be somewhat better by 2012 and if so, Obama should have a fairly easy time, particularly since a lot more people will presumably be more comfortable with Obama or at least will realize that the US has not been transformed into a Muslim-Communist dictatorship.

[adamuu]

24. Don't underestimate ...

McCain got 59,934,814 votes, or 45.66%. To me he was always unelectable.