Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Iowa Scorecard

Well, Romney was only eight votes from getting Rick-rolled. (Sorry. Couldn't resist. Don't say I didn't warn you!). And I heard some punditry that Romney actually lost against his 2008 Iowa vote total by an even less whopping six votes! That does not bode well for the Republican Party to take back the White House.

The best part about being an unpaid pundit is that I can't get fired. Actually, I didn't do that badly with my predictions. I aced Bachmann quitting. And Perry is next, he just hasn't figured it out yet. And I said the winner would win it by a squeaker, I just had the top three all jumbled.


I am glad to see the Gingrich bubble burst (as we saw coming) even if "angry newt" comes out now. It's nice to see him go after a fellow Republican rather than some disfavored ethnic or religious group. (Hmm, good thing he's a newt rather than a salamander).

And I'm pleased to see Ron Paul will be in it as long as he can to promote his unique viewpoint, particularly on anti-war issues, but he is not a serious threat for the nomination as Santorum overtook his spike. In fact it looks like the peaking and fading of the anti-Romneys is speeding up. Within the past month, we've seen Newt spike, then Ron Paul, and then, luckiest of all, Santorum just in time for the Iowa Caucus. If only Huntsman could get a turn.

I'm trying not to go too sour on Romney too soon. I do think he's second best in the field after Huntsman. Well, mainly because all the others are so bad. But, boy! is that guy platitudinous! I was interested in the speeches of the various candidates last night. Then Romney came on and gave a version of his stump speech including his recitation of "America the Beautiful" with commentary. Is that really necessary?

1 comment:

  1. I wanted to cut and past this classic email I got today from my reluctant blogger friend and good buddy bother-in-law:

    Iowa is over. Thank heaven. I think I’ve admitted this to you before but I don’t like politics, well at least the same way you do. I actually find the races, the political adds, the lying, cheating, especially the bravado of the politicians puerile and disgusting. What I do find fascinating about American politics is forces us to take a deep long look at ourselves. I guess I find conservatives so fascinating because they have such a talent for turning thing on their heads. I’ve started listening again and I’ve heard about the Obama TARP, the Obama recession, Obama bailouts. When you say wait a minute, as I did to my snake-flag friend, those things happened under George W. Bush. The response is a sarcastic “Oh, blame Bush for everything.” And Instant dismissal. That it actually did happen under Bush, is beside the point, we just aren’t allowed to blame him for it ostensibly because our guy is in charge. When it is also pointed out that these problems are the result of republican government doing what it does, lowering taxes, deregulating industry of all kinds so that the sacred market can do whatever it would like, and as a result people end up gaming the system, they deny they are republicans. The talent for blame aversion is the best I’ve ever seen. It actually reminds me of that Monte Python skit “The argument Clinic” “That’s not an argument. Yes it is, no it isn’t”

    ReplyDelete

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