My prediction for the record: Bachmann will be the GOP nominee.

[thereismore]

She will win Iowa and become the big new thing. She may lose in NH by a few, but then she wins in SC and she is, all of a sudden, the frontrunner. After that, evangelicals will be out in force to defeat the Mormons. She is the candidate.

[spanone]

1. please, please, please

[ananda]

2. Lol

What a crazee country this is now.

[Richardo]

The weakness of the winner-take-all GOP primaries

Early wins breed 'inevitability' no matter how lame a candidate. and the baggers will ensure those early wins for Bachmann.

Hope they never change.

[brooklynite]

20. The Republican Primaries aren't WTA any more...

They've shifted a number of states to proportional vote. This is going to drag out longer.

And while IA and SC are ideologically in tune w/ Michelle, she could turn out to be the Republican equivalent of Howard Dean: very popular in polls and with crowds, but not organized well enough to turn out actual voters.

[Richardo]

22. Now I haz a sad

:(

[vanlassie]

3. Ha haha , just think-- Hillary Clinton couldn't beat Obama, so

the idea that Bachmann could is laughable.
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Imajika]

4. My bet is she won't be...

Bachmann is far right wing teabagger who will wilt under actual scrutiny. The GOP is not going to commit suicide by nominating her. The conservative grass roots hate Romney so they are looking elsewhere, but Bachamann is only the flavor of the month.

If I had to guess the Republican ticket now I'd say Perry/Rubio.

[Ishoutandscream2]

10. +1. I think Perry is the nominee as well.

nt

[MilesColtrane]

15. +1 It will be Perry's to lose.

[FourScore]

18. sounds about right. n/t

[MadMaddie]

23. I don't think the GOP has control anymore

They have allowed the Bachmans and Palins to dominate because they wanted to use it to their advantage and they lost control. I think they have their fingers crossed that a miracle happens.

It's our job to make sure it doesn't.

[Imajika]

47. The establishment of both the D's and R's...

...have a way of manipulating things to get the outcome they want or at least consider acceptable.

If Bachmann became a serious threat to be the nominee, the Republican establishment would destroy her. The money behind the GOP has no intention of running a batshit crazy congresswoman who has no cross over appeal to independents. Oh, it's not the the crazy part they don't like, it's that they know she can't appeal to independents.

I think the GOP establishment probably want's Romney, but know the base hates him. They are looking for an alternative to get behind. Perry is probably going to be their guy. If he flops or doesn't run, then look for a big Pawlenty push. One way or the other, Bachmann is not going to be the GOP nominee for president.

My guess is it's going to be Perry/Rubio.

[thereismore]

54. Perry's secessionist ideations are not helping. Does he want to be Pres to dissolve the Union? n

Somebody should ask him that as soon as he commits.

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. Bring on the crazee!

I'd change my party registration to vote for her in the primary.

:D

[customerserviceguy]

35. Independents wouldn't even have to in NH

They could march right into the voting booth and make Mitt the second place finisher there, he'd politcally almost dead at that point. He hasn't got a political base outside of possibly Michigan, and some underpopulated Western states.

[Ruby the Liberal]

56. We don't have that luxury here. Closed primaries - party registrations only.

Independents can't vote.

To your other point - I do see him struggling in the south with the mormon thing and wonder how much support he will muster in the NE and Pac NW with the animal on the roof from Mass to Canada insanity. "Accidental" or not.

[musette_sf]

6. I think the evangelists are gonna have an ideological truce

with the Mos.

They've already embraced the former Whore of Satan, the Catholic Church.

And the Catholics and the Mos already have a working relationship.

You'd be surprised, or maybe not, what hatred of wimmen and Teh Gays can do to unite warring cult sects.

[customerserviceguy]

30. I think the truce that you find between the fundies and the Catholics

is merely an illusion, driven solely by the two issues you describe. In their heart of hearts, bible thumpers still hate Catholicism.

But Catholics don't sent people door-to-door to recruit people, and Mormons do, that's the big difference. Also, when you compare religious doctrines, Catholicism and the 10,000 flavors of Protestantism are much closer to each other than the LDS teachings, that are way out of left field when you get into them.

The fundies don't have simple disputes over the pope or transubstantiation, like they do with Catholics, their differences with Mormon theology are very significant, relating to the very nature of deity. And they're on the march to spread it.

[thereismore]

55. True, true. nt

[Enrique]

7. the GOP establishment will flatten her

the way they did with Katherine Harris. They want Romney.

[monmouth]

9. I agree, she couldn't pass a koch test. Romney will be the one...n/t

[peace frog]

31. Yep

Not to worry overly, Romney is a weak candidate no matter that he's been tapped by TPTB. Regardless of which GOPer gets the nomination, Obama's weak point is the economy specifically jobs. His will be a tough row to hoe on that sore subject.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

8. That would be like a rematch for Obama's win against Alan Keyes in Illinois...Obama won with 75%

of the vote.

[Chan790]

13. You'd think the GOP could find 1 better Republican that wanted to serve in Congress than Keyes.

I guess not. I knew the day he declared that he was going to get spanked by Obama or anybody else. Alan Keyes is the punchline of a joke so unfunny that nobody is laughing.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

21. And Bachmann is just as unfunny. The GOP is not going to put up a real viable candidate for 2012.

[thelordofhell]

26. How soon you forget, Keyes was a last minute addition because........

From Wiki

"When Jack Ryan's campaign for an open United States Senate seat in Illinois began in 2003, the Chicago Tribune newspaper and WLS-TV, the local ABC affiliate, sought to have his records released. Both Jeri and Jack agreed to make their divorce records public, but not the custody records, claiming that their release could be harmful to their son.

On June 18, 2004, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert Schnider agreed to release the custody files. The decision generated much controversy because it went against both parents' direct request and because it generally reversed the early decision to seal the papers in the best interest of the child. It was revealed that six years previously, Jeri had accused Jack Ryan of asking her to perform sexual acts with him in public, and in sex clubs in New York, New Orleans, and Paris. Jeri Ryan described one as "a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling." Jack Ryan denied these allegations. Although Jeri Ryan only made a brief statement, and she refused to comment on the matter during the campaign, the document disclosure led Jack Ryan to withdraw his candidacy; his main opponent, Barack Obama, then won the 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois."



And thus, Jeri Ryan, Seven Of Nine, helped Barack Obama's rise in the political arena.

[Chan790]

27. No, I didn't.

I just meant when they were fishing for someone to step into the race after Ryan, I'm surprised they didn't tell Keyes "Thanks, but no" and keep looking. He wasn't a primary candidate, he was selected to run in Ryan's place.

[customerserviceguy]

36. I dunno about that

I was laughing pretty hard when 'Borat' punked him!

[Turbineguy]

11. This will be bad for Democrats.

Instead of sending money to support Democratic Candidates, people will spend the money to move out of the US.

The trick is to determine which country she won't bomb.

[Chan790]

28. Holland.

It's not on most maps under that name.

[Turbineguy]

44. Very cunning!

Any country with 2 names will work! On the other hand, England has 3 names. That would really blow her out of the water.

[mysuzuki2]

12. can even rupublicans be that stupid?

obviously yes. If Abraham Lincoln were alive today he'd be spinning in his grave!

[coalition_unwilling]

41. If Abraham Lincoln were alive today, he would not be in a grave. Beware

mixed metaphors :)

[mysuzuki2]

49. Au contraire, mon frere

I prefer my whiskey straight and my metaphors mixed!

[sharesunited]

14. A good showing today. Perry-Bachmann maybe.

[d_b]

16. lols

fingers crossed

[FourScore]

17. We can only hope. n/t

[EC]

19. I hope not.

But it appears to me that the upper echelon of mainstream repubs have given the okay for pundits to ask her if she's crazy and to point out some of the crazy things she's said, even on Fox. The old school repubs like K.Rove will be out to get her out of the race.

[MadMaddie]

24. Bachman and Palin will not back down

Bachman really is driven by her insanity...sounds familiar doesn't it?

[Spyderama]

25. The Palin Future

Let The Catfight of the Century begin!

<http://niafs.blogspot.com/2011/06/palin-future.html>

[customerserviceguy]

29. Agreed

When everyone else in the race drops out, I see their support going to her. The only ones I can think of whose support will go to Mitt is Huntsman and Pawlenty. The supporters of Santorum, Cain, and possibly Gingrich go to Bachmann, and Ron Paul's voters will just stay in there for him until the last gavel in Tampa.

If Palin stays out, this nomination goes to Bachmann.

[Zax2me]

32. Great! Four more years for Obama then....

But honestly you could have put any Rep name in there, result is going to be the same.

[sendero]

33. Another example of the abject stupidity..

.. of letting an outlier state like Iowa have so much influence over our presidential elections.

[kstewart33]

34. Sure hope so. nt

[izquierdista]

37. I like her campaign song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azsdap3Q-jw

[Liberal_in_LA]

38. You may be right. The GOP might want a woman candidate

[Divine Discontent]

51. yeah, they were checking her ability to handle being labeled a flake by Wallace, or they want

her out of the race, either way, I agree with you both - the GOP may want to try getting a female on their ticket again to sway moderate & conservative women to vote for her and whomever. Question is, can she keep her wackiness in check?

[NuttyFluffers]

39. oh, how i'd love if that were true. but republicans have coronations, not primaries.

bachmann is like sarah palin in overdrive (insert bachmann turner overdrive joke here). she'd be so entertaining to have run; she wears her crazy on her sleeve. combined with the dog whistle and crippled pony show that is palin, it would have been a sight to behold. and there's enough bitter bigots out there to get close enough to success.

however, the powers that be actually prefer someone more manageable. so it will be an entertaining clash between sociopathic manipulators and psychopathic "true believers." good wholesome fun, that. but the sociopaths always win that one because they're better organized.

[coalition_unwilling]

40. Interesting theory, but won't the evangelicals' deep-seated misogyny

be at odds with their deep-seated anti-Mormonism?

[TheKentuckian]

42. Pecans, walnuts, or almonds. It makes little practical difference, you are going to get a nut.

[SoDesuKa]

43. Ten Percent Unemployment

If hard times persist through 2012, voters may be shopping around for new economic ideas. Bachmann's fondness for Austrian economics won't seem so bat shit crazy to people who've been out of work for a long time and don't know when they'll find a job.



Ludwig von Mises

[SharksBreath]

46. What new economic ideas.

As long as the Bush tax cuts and the wars are going on we will always be in a down spiral.

If he doesn't get elected it will be his own fault.

Both of those Bush policies should have been ended as soon as he walked into office.

Those are the two biggest things killing the economy.

[SoDesuKa]

50. Austrian Economics

You might want to familiarize yourself with Austrian economics, esp. the thinking of Nobel laureate Friedrich von Hayek. Bachmann is a big fan of his. Given the state of the worldwide economy, it's not a surprise that Hayek's ideas are being revisited.



Nobel laureate, 1974

[Logical]

45. I'll bet $25 to your favorite charity you are wrong! n-t

[AlinPA]

48. Palin will be in soon, and I'd say it would be Palin.

[thereismore]

53. The quitter took her toys home. She isn't running. nt

[Canuckistanian]

52. Sure, why not

It's not like they have any SANE candidates to begin with.

Might as well be her.