Not so-Super Tuesday

I don't know what happens tonight with Super Tuesday - probably Romney wins, possibly Santorum springs an upset, possibly Gingrich springs back (once again) from the dead. But Jim Geraghty, to whom I linked yesterday, kind of sums up what I'm thinking about the state of the race, once again written in light of Breitbart's death:

…As Thursday wore down, several conservatives remarked that they felt more unified than they had in a while; our mutual shock, grief, and admiration for Andrew reminded us all how much we share with each other — after a primary season in which it has often felt as if we’ve all been at each other’s throats. Perhaps on Monday I’ll expand on this point, but for now, if one of my less-preferred candidates ends up getting the nomination (COUGH, Newt, COUGH), hey, affix bayonets and charge, and let’s make that guy president. We can deal with his flaws after the inauguration. Right now, this country’s being run into the ground by the president who got elected by all of the folks who chose to dance a jig at our friend’s passing. Like Hell are my boys going to grow up in a country where these losers set the standards of behavior and their juvenile sneers at the recently deceased are normal.

Remember, these are Geraghty's words, not mine. And yet I can't help but think this is the GOP's best bet for winning in November. All of the candidates seem, to one extent or another, to have a fatal flaw that would ordinarily keep them from defeating even a weak candidate like Obama. They all have a sizeable percentage of the vote against them, and a lot of the GOP faithful can't stand any of them.

What to do, what to do? Well, after last week, and after seeing the continuing war on freedom of speech, freedome of religion, and the Constitution in general, I've come to only one conclusion, and that's that any of the Republican candiates are better than what we have now. Even Ron Paul. That's saying a lot, coming from me (you note I haven't written much about politics, or anything else, lately), but no matter who it is who wins the Republican nomination, I'm behind him (or her - are you listening, Sarah?), aAnd a sizeable percentand in the end it doesn't matter how enthusiastic I am about my vote - that candidate sitll gets it. In for a penny, in for a pound, right? Discuss. ◙

The chase is on!

Last year, Rick Santorum appeared at the South Carolina March for Life, and everyone seemingly ignored him until Iowa's caucus led to what Mike Joy calls a "Where did he come from" moment, where the caucus came down to a resounding photofinish.

This year, Mr. Santorum has a press conference with Abby Johnson (the 2012 keynote at our March for Life Saturday) scheduled, according to her note. Next Wednesday, Mr. Santorum has an appearance smack in the middle of the hometown, reminding me that in 2000 what happened when a candidate came to speak at the Fairgrounds.

Meanwhile, Rick Perry is scheduled for a Thursday luncheon at a barbecue restaurant, which will likely be the type of venues that we'll see the remaining candidates for this battle (Romney, Paul, Huntsman, Santorum, Perry, Gingrich) find themselves in the ten day war that ends next Saturday. Of course, in the Palmetto State, it has to be one of the three forms of "Palmetto 'Cue," which is considerably different than barbeque from any other part of the country. There won't be Kansas City, Memphis, or Texas style, and tomatoes are not the primary source of the sauce. This showdown will involve copious amounts of Midlands' German mustard-based sauces, the Lowcountry Scottish vinegar and pepper, and the variant in the Upstate and Savannah River, tomato with Scottish vinegar and pepper (similar to the North Carolina Piedmont). As a long-time Midlands resident, I am biased towards the mustard, although in some parts here, the mustard is mixed with a little tomato, the golden mustard is still the evident colour.

Start the barbecue pits, roast the hogs, and cue the candidates! Perry hopes to start his charge, Huntsman is showing life after New Hampshire, Gingrich is on the recovery attempt, Santorum is gaining ground, and Romney is the leader. The next ten days of barbecue, meetings, marches, and rallies will create one exciting showdown that ends next Saturday and will end at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. ◙

Opening Night

Well, after months and months and years of anticipation (not to mention debates), the Republican presidential race finally began in earnest tonight, with the caucuses in our neighbor to the south.* At this point we don't know for sure who the winner is, although it looks as if Santorum is having a good night. The pundits are suggesting that Romney is not breaking through his ceiling of support, and Paul may be unable to expand beyond his core.

* Sample Iowa joke: A man from Iowa runs up to the border with Minnesota, holding a stick of dynamite. "I've had it with Minnesota! I'm not going to take it anymore!" With that, he threw the dynamite across the border. It landed at the foot of a Minnesotan who bent down and picked it up, lit the fuse, and threw it back.

The big winner tonight just might be "none of the above." Should the winner wind up with less than 25%, it suggests to me that none of these candidates is really turning on the voters. What this means for the fall election, who knows. As for what the true influence of Iowa is, your guess is as good as mine. Whatever the influence is, it's probably more than it deserves.** Bachmann is probably out, Gingrich and Perry have been hurt but will likely stay in until South Carolina at least, and we won't know about Huntsman until New Hampshire.

** Another Iowa joke: The Universities of Iowa and Minnesota are playing football. A train running past the field blows its horn. Minnesota, thinking it means halftime, runs off the field. Iowa scores four plays later.

It's often said that the campaign is a marathon, not a sprint. Prepare for a long grind. Prepare also to ask yourself, more than once, "Is this the way to pick a president?" ◙

Opinion Digest

The sands of time tick away, yet the run to the primaries is less than 30 days away until the first caucus of the 2012 election season!

Neal Boortz interviewed Jack Chambliss of Valencia College, who assigned students in economics a project on "The American Dream". The sad state of what is being taught in schools and media show their true colours in this report.

Paul Jacob talks about junk science.

Amy Oliver Cooke and Michael Sandoval uncover the disaster of "clean energy."

David Limbaugh believes the President is moving the goal posts, and benefiting from each move. ◙

The Peggy Lee campaign

I include the above in order to explain the title of this post, since anyone younger than me probably won't get it. (Your loss; you should get Peggy Lee, at least once in your lifetime.)

I can't help but think, though, that this was the question on the lips of many Republicans after last week's demolition derby of a debate in Las Vegas. It was great theater, at least for people you like David Mamet plays, but does this kind of attack politics really do any good? It made the candidates look small, like the children that fill the stage at the National Spelling Bee. And it leaves me asking one more question: "If this is the best we have to offer, how in the world are we going to beat Obama?"

Who's a Candidate?

By Mitchell

News headline from AP: "Gingrich eyes possible White House run in 2012." Of course, this comes as no surprise to some of us. . .

Sometimes the Truth Hurts

By Drew

Wow, Terry's really en fuego in generating the comments from his excellent post. I wish I could get that many people to read my stuff, let alone comment on it.

(By the way, since we started highlighting the first letters of stories, have you noticed how many of them begin with "W"?)

(Perhaps digressions like that are one reason why so few people read me.)

Anyway, a great piece today from Burt Prelutsky at Big Hollywood (and if you haven't checked that site out, do so. You might think it a little uneven, but the good stuff there is really good) on being a lapsed Democrat, Obama, etc. A few excerpts:

There are only three or four of them I can even imagine being friends with or wanting to have as next-door neighbors. But there are only two of them, Carter and Obama, whom I regard as unmitigated disasters. While it took Carter four years in office and 29 years out to achieve his greatly deserved recognition as an incompetent, a phony and a sanctimonious anti-Semite, Obama has pulled it off in just a few short months.

He has managed this by displaying his general incompetence by surrounding himself with clowns like Joe Biden; the seriously corrupt, such as Bill Richardson and Tom Daschle; and too many tax cheats to list in the space available.

Obama has also proven himself to be a liar of such proportions that if he had started out life like Pinocchio, [Mitchell, I hope you ignore that] his nose by this time would stretch from sea to shining sea. He has fibbed about everything from barely knowing Bill Ayers to never listening to a Jeremiah Wright screed, from banishing pork and lobbyists to providing transparency and change we can all believe in. On top of all that, while spouting the usual political piffle about economizing and saving the environment, he hosted the largest, most expensive inauguration in history, and from the way he and his posse jet around on the fuel-guzzling Air Force One, you’d think he was a rock star.

[...]

The scariest part of all this is that so many Americans continue to root him on. Those of us who are opposed to his agenda are accused, like Rush Limbaugh, of hoping America fails. Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth. What we’re hoping for is that America can somehow survive this frontal assault on our freedoms, and that our economic system can remain basically intact in spite of the combined efforts of Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Dodd and Geithner, to destroy it.

[...]

For what it’s worth, now that the president has fired CEO Rick Wagoner and taken over General Motors, do you suppose it will henceforth be called Commander in Chief Motors, and that Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet, will be re-named Michelle, Natasha and Malia Ann? Which reminds me, it’s still nothing but a rumor that Obama fired God earlier today, claiming that the universe isn’t big enough for both of them.

My old friend, Pat Sajak, who, when not busy spinning his wheels, is politically savvier and wittier than any of the talking heads you find on TV, has revised the question that plagued Richard Nixon 60 years ago to better fit GM’s new chief honcho: Would you buy a new car from this man?

And the concluding line:

Although I am not usually given to omens, I can’t help feeling it means something that the next presidential election will take place on November 6, 2012, the day before Gen. David Petraeus turns 60. I, for one, can’t think of a more appropriate birthday present for the man and the nation than giving him a well-deserved promotion.

Hmm, that's interesting. This is at least the second time I've seen Petraeus' name come up in connection with 2012. What do you make of that?

The 2012 Campaign (continued)

By Mitchell

From Fox: Gingrich Considers Presidential Run.

Be sure not to forget where you read this first.

2008 is the New 2010 Is the New 2012

By Mitchell

Back in May, I wrote a follow-up to a February piece regarding the impact of the 2010 elections on the 2012 presidential campaign. In both pieces I stressed how important it was for any Republican presidential candidate to be out there campaigining for GOP candidates nationwide, not only helping them win but also picking up goodwill (and IOUs) in the process.

The model for this was 1966, when the tarnished Richard Nixon (loser in 1960 presidential race, 1962 California gubenatorial race) campaigned tirelessly for Republicans throughout the country. Following the 1964 Republican debacle, the GOP made significant inroads in the '66 elections, providing Nixon with a whole lot of both goodwill and IOUs - and credibility, which may just have been enough to help him hold off Ronald Reagan and win the 1968 Republican nomination, and subsequently the presidency.

My assertion was that the GOP needed a leader who could become the public face of the party: "[s]omeone to speak for the party in the media, to energize the base and rally the troops, to campaign for Republicans nationwide and hold the administration’s feet to the fire." Using history and precedent as a backdrop, I concluded that logic pointed in the direction of Newt Gingrich, and at this early date I'm still inclined to that opinion.

However, I also added this caveat:

McCain’s running mate might fit the bill, depending on who it is and whether or not this person had come through the campaign without being tainted by defeat or antagonizing activists in either wing of the party. A tall order, but parties have traditions of looking at former running mates as potential candidates, so anything’s possible.

Which leads me to the results of this week's run-off election for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, won handily by Republican Saxby Chambliss. Chambliss got a lot of national Republican support in winning that critical election, but none perhaps as important as that of the vice presidential candidate, one Sarah Palin:

“I can't overstate the impact she had down here,” Chambliss said during an interview Wednesday morning on Fox News.

“When she walks in a room, folks just explode,” he added. “And they really did pack the house everywhere we went. She's a dynamic lady, a great administrator, and I think she's got a great future in the Republican Party.”

Chambliss said that after watching her campaign on his behalf at several events Monday, he does not see her star status diminishing within the party.

The Republican also thanked John McCain and the other big name Republicans that came to Georgia, but said Palin made the biggest impact.

“We had John McCain and Mike Huckabee and Gov. Romney and Rudy Giuliani, but Sarah Palin came in on the last day, did a fly-around and, man, she was dynamite,” he said. “We packed the houses everywhere we went. And it really did allow us to peak and get our base fired up.” (H/T Greg Pollowitz at NRO's Media Blog.)

Now, 2010 is still a long way away, let alone 2012. But methinks the race for 2010 (which is really the starting point for 2012) has already begun. And although that race is sure to be a long one, if history is any indication there's one thing we know for sure: there's already a leader.