Romney Gagging on Massive Santorum Surge

[Calboner]

Just in case, with this thread languishing for four days, anyone has lost sight of what a fucking lunatic Rick Santorum is, have a listen to, or a look at, a speech that he gave at Ave Maria University in 2008. His main claim is, quite plainly and literally, that liberalism in the US, including (by his specific mention) the religious liberalism of mainstream Protestantism, is the work of Satan.

 

[FuzzyKen]

Some years ago there was a "Pink Panther" movie in which all these foreign agents in trying to eliminate "Inspector Clouseau" shot and killed each other with Clouseau walking away completely clean and unscathed.

At this time the Republican Party is not doing "divide and conquer" of any Democrats at all and even the most conservative Democrats are scratching their heads.

If they are not careful the division that they do of their own party and the different levels of conservatism within that party could come back and bite them in the rear end.

They could divide everything so much that it guarantees re-election of Barak Obama. Remember that the one the Democrats are most afraid of is Romney. There is a ton of dirt out there on both Santorum and on Gingrich and even most Republicans hate Gingrich. The Party bigwigs will never support Ron Paul. He won't "play ball" at all and the likely result is that if Paul were to become the nominee as with Gingrich he would be "torpedo'd" from within. That is definitely what happened with Herman Cain. The Republican party better take control and do something or the one thing they will succeed at doing is to guarantee another term for the sitting President. Many from the Republican party will vote Democratic rather than put in people they definitely do not want or individuals they feel could do long term harm to the party itself. There is historical precedent for this, and it is sad that so many are so caught up in the fight that they lose sight of what the office can actually do or accomplish.

In Politics there is an old saying. "Sometimes the enemy you know is better than the enemy you don't know." If Santorum, Gingrich or Paul were to make a larger mess favoring the regulation of peoples lives over economic recovery the Republicans themselves will find themselves with no choice other than to roadblock their own President. The only thing the Republicans could do in that case would be to turn their own candidate into a "lame duck" simply to prevent that candidate from causing the election of a number of Democrats at the following Mid-Terms. If the stalemate continues between the two parties the fate of both of the party and in their eyes the Republican conservative ideals could be damaged.

Some may look favorably on the emergence of other parties, but, favorable serious consideration of the lesser parties will not be good at all for the current "top dogs".

Remember that a candidate in one of the smaller parties is Roseanne Barr and she good or bad has a great deal of public recognition. It was public recognition that elected Arnold Swarzenegger not his political expertise or experience. If people become angry enough they definitely are going to start looking outside both the Dems or Repubs, people are mad and getting madder at the lack of accomplishments they have witnessed over the past 2 administrations. Many feel disenfranchised and they feel that the two largest political parties are no longer representing their interests.

The Democrats have had their problems, but the Republicans have had even more problems with many of their accomplishments centered and most profitable for those with incomes in the top 10% of the country with the bottom 90% picking up the tab for the top 10%.

There was a time when the Republican Party reflected conservative thinking that still would promote progress for all. With in massive infusion into the Republican party of money from commercial interests and extremist interests the party has ceased to function in any manner that was ever intended even fifty years ago.

If the candidate that faces Obama is anyone other than Romney, we could see either 4 (or worse) 8 years that would be monuments to poverty and lack of progress with this country as millions continue to flounder. Romney's largest problem is his Religious affiliation, but his track record in public service has been at least average if not better than average in some areas. Romney is not one I personally would want to vote for, but, he has one thing that none of the others have and that is the ability to attract moderates dissatisfied with Obama. Put up an extremist candidate and the moderates including Republicans are going to run to Obama in droves.

 

[Calboner]

In any industrialized nation outside of the USA, a bozo who thinks that politics is all about theology would be on the fringe of political affairs. In the USA, such a clown is the leading presidential candidate of the Republican party.

Santorum Says ‘President’s Agenda’ Is Based on a ‘Phony Theology’ - ABC News

The “president’s agenda” is “not about you,” he said. “It’s not about you. It’s not about your quality of life. It’s not about your job.
“It’s about some phony ideal, some phony theology,” Santorum said to applause from the crowd. “Oh, not a theology based on the Bible, a different theology, but no less a theology.”

 

[kayman]

Some years ago there was a "Pink Panther" movie in which all these foreign agents in trying to eliminate "Inspector Clouseau" shot and killed each other with Clouseau walking away completely clean and unscathed.

At this time the Republican Party is not doing "divide and conquer" of any Democrats at all and even the most conservative Democrats are scratching their heads.

If they are not careful the division that they do of their own party and the different levels of conservatism within that party could come back and bite them in the rear end.

They could divide everything so much that it guarantees re-election of Barak Obama. Remember that the one the Democrats are most afraid of is Romney. There is a ton of dirt out there on both Santorum and on Gingrich and even most Republicans hate Gingrich. The Party bigwigs will never support Ron Paul. He won't "play ball" at all and the likely result is that if Paul were to become the nominee as with Gingrich he would be "torpedo'd" from within. That is definitely what happened with Herman Cain. The Republican party better take control and do something or the one thing they will succeed at doing is to guarantee another term for the sitting President. Many from the Republican party will vote Democratic rather than put in people they definitely do not want or individuals they feel could do long term harm to the party itself. There is historical precedent for this, and it is sad that so many are so caught up in the fight that they lose sight of what the office can actually do or accomplish.

In Politics there is an old saying. "Sometimes the enemy you know is better than the enemy you don't know." If Santorum, Gingrich or Paul were to make a larger mess favoring the regulation of peoples lives over economic recovery the Republicans themselves will find themselves with no choice other than to roadblock their own President. The only thing the Republicans could do in that case would be to turn their own candidate into a "lame duck" simply to prevent that candidate from causing the election of a number of Democrats at the following Mid-Terms. If the stalemate continues between the two parties the fate of both of the party and in their eyes the Republican conservative ideals could be damaged.

Some may look favorably on the emergence of other parties, but, favorable serious consideration of the lesser parties will not be good at all for the current "top dogs".

Remember that a candidate in one of the smaller parties is Roseanne Barr and she good or bad has a great deal of public recognition. It was public recognition that elected Arnold Swarzenegger not his political expertise or experience. If people become angry enough they definitely are going to start looking outside both the Dems or Repubs, people are mad and getting madder at the lack of accomplishments they have witnessed over the past 2 administrations. Many feel disenfranchised and they feel that the two largest political parties are no longer representing their interests.

The Democrats have had their problems, but the Republicans have had even more problems with many of their accomplishments centered and most profitable for those with incomes in the top 10% of the country with the bottom 90% picking up the tab for the top 10%.

There was a time when the Republican Party reflected conservative thinking that still would promote progress for all. With in massive infusion into the Republican party of money from commercial interests and extremist interests the party has ceased to function in any manner that was ever intended even fifty years ago.

If the candidate that faces Obama is anyone other than Romney, we could see either 4 (or worse) 8 years that would be monuments to poverty and lack of progress with this country as millions continue to flounder. Romney's largest problem is his Religious affiliation, but his track record in public service has been at least average if not better than average in some areas. Romney is not one I personally would want to vote for, but, he has one thing that none of the others have and that is the ability to attract moderates dissatisfied with Obama. Put up an extremist candidate and the moderates including Republicans are going to run to Obama in droves.

Uh yeah, there has been so much lack of progress over the past 3 years. What the fuck ever...

 

[Calboner]

Rick Santorum in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the birthplace of Rush Limbaugh, on Sunday, March 11: "It's good to be in the hometown of Rush Limbaugh, which some people see as a trip to Mecca." (Source)

Now you might expect that a conservative Republican audience would bristle at the implicit likening of one of their heroes to the Prophet Mohammed; but apparently it's okay with them to invoke Islam if your intent is merely to trivialize it.

Another possibility is that they have no idea that "Mecca" signifies a holy place of Islam--if they even know that it signifies an actual place at all.

 

[SilverTrain]

Rick Santorum in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the birthplace of Rush Limbaugh, on Sunday, March 11: "It's good to be in the hometown of Rush Limbaugh, which some people see as a trip to Mecca." (Source)

Now you might expect that a conservative Republican audience would bristle at the implicit likening of one of their heroes to the Prophet Mohammed; but apparently it's okay with them to invoke Islam if your intent is merely to trivialize it.

Another possibility is that they have no idea that "Mecca" signifies a holy place of Islam--if they even know that it signifies an actual place at all.

Notwithstanding the accuracy of your A) and B), but also...

C) Pavlovian response to "acceptable" candidate's dog-whistled tone.

 

[Calboner]

I hope everyone has seen this.

"Rick Santorum" (Bad Lip Reading at YouTube)

"I'm crazy and I'm right."

 

[Mensch1351]

So Santorum wins Mississippi AND Alabama. Hmmmmmm. On to Illinois!

 

[Hoss]

While Santorum had 2 wins yesterday they were far from the whopping win he had in Kansas and didn't match up in percentage margin to the level which Romney took Hawaii.

Yesterdays results however do make clear that it is definitely time for Ron Paul to get out. I don't know where those votes would end up going but it would be interesting to find out. Would they shift towards Romney or Santorum or in some strange twist towards Gingrich?

Missouri coming up in 3 days should be an interesting watch.

 

[Klingsor]

Rick Santorum in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the birthplace of Rush Limbaugh, on Sunday, March 11: "It's good to be in the hometown of Rush Limbaugh, which some people see as a trip to Mecca." (Source)

Now you might expect that a conservative Republican audience would bristle at the implicit likening of one of their heroes to the Prophet Mohammed; but apparently it's okay with them to invoke Islam if your intent is merely to trivialize it.

Another possibility is that they have no idea that "Mecca" signifies a holy place of Islam--if they even know that it signifies an actual place at all.

Or they just heard the name "Rush" and cheered as a reflex, without a thought to anything else that was said.

 

[D_Miranda_Wrights]

While Santorum had 2 wins yesterday they were far from the whopping win he had in Kansas and didn't match up in percentage margin to the level which Romney took Hawaii.

Yesterdays results however do make clear that it is definitely time for Ron Paul to get out. I don't know where those votes would end up going but it would be interesting to find out. Would they shift towards Romney or Santorum or in some strange twist towards Gingrich?

Missouri coming up in 3 days should be an interesting watch.

No hope that Ron Paul is getting out, I don't think. Even if he personally seems to like Romney, I think he knows where his bread is buttered in terms of supporters. I think all eyes will be on Gingrich, but the dude seems pretty arrogant to me, so I'm not sure he's quite ready to reconsider, even if he's dead meat delegate-wise.

Romney's Hawaii landslide was all about the Mormon population. There was one caucus site on Oahu, near BYU-Hawaii, where Romney got 93% and a margin of nearly 1,000 votes. Without that, Romney only beat Santorum 36%-30%. Not bad itself, but not especially good for Romney in a state which I think has the lowest percent of born-again Christians in the U.S.

I agree. Santorum's Alabama and Mississippi wins weren't that impressive. Romney still can't gain traction with Southern voters, but Santorum is still splitting the vote with Gingrich. Basically, Santorum's performance last night was just OK, but a win is a win. Romney even got traction out of his Michigan win, despite underperforming. We'll see the polls in the next few days. Illinois is a tougher state for Santorum demographically than either Ohio or Michigan, having lots of suburban voters in the ring counties around Chicago.

I think Missouri has decided not to take a straw poll at their caucus, so there may not be much to see there.

 

[cruztbone]

please , Jason, DO FEEL FREE to comment on our political circus this year. it is an honor to hear from you and your perspective. your opinions are welcome and needed. best wishes.