A vote for that ticket is a vote for the private sector. I'll take it.

That makes two..... so far.

I'll wait, thank you. I'm not so desperate that Romney looks good. Maybe around two AM and after a few more drinks I'll be in the proper state to do something I'll regret. But I won't respect myself in the morning.

But we're not trying to get someone elected, we're trying to solve our problems. If we just get someone elected who's good at explaining away distasteful incidents in his past, that is exactly what he will do in office. Not solve problems.

As to the former MA Gov. Mitt RINO, FUGEDDABOUTIT!
Romney changes positions more that most people change underwear.

" But I won't respect myself in the morning."

Just make sure you don't wake up with the current resident.

"Romney changes positions more that most people change underwear."

Yes he does. I guess Obama always sticking to his deepest convictions and positions is therefore much more attractive.

"As to the former MA Gov. Mitt RINO, FUGEDDABOUTIT! "

In that case you shall have the devil you know now back again.

If I wouldn't vote for Obama, why would I vote for Romney? He'll screw me over with his over educated elite bullshit as surely as Obama. Let the Democrats take the blame. And while the press is going easy on Romney now, wait till they start going after his ass.

I'm starting to think congress is the place to put my money.

Why's everybody gettin all cranked up about this now? Even the primary season, earlier and earlier, is nothing more than a high school popularity contest, and has no influence whatsoever on what happens in the smoke-filled rooms - and nobody but a hopeless simp would believe any different. It's enough to recognize that primaries themselves were foisted upon the electorate by Progressive strategists a hundred years ago in an attempt to dilute the power of party bosses. And look how well that's worked out.

Nobody with a damn bit of power gives a shit what we think, and when The Haircut gets nominated it'll prove that assertion correct. Of course I'm gonna fly my Anybody But A Democrat sticker from now on, and I'll vote for that empty suit without a qualm. But what difference does it make who anybody yells about this early?

Buck put up a cartoon the other day whose punchline says it all. The question asked by pollsters is

"Of all the candidates who may or may not be the GOP's nominee 11 months from now, who are you most likely to vote for 2 and a half months after that?"

Exactly. Wait and see, and then bite the bullet.

"Nope, not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent." ~GHWB

Can we talk about winning the Senate now?

"I guess Obama always sticking to his deepest convictions and positions is therefore much more attractive."

Actually, give Obama credit for doing what he intended to do all along. Of course, very few people actually knew what he intended to do all along ...

I like Cain but Romney/Cain wouldn't do any better against Obama than McCain/Palin did.

I vomited a little in my mouth just then.

Love Cain though.

Hey, if it doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth, it's not real politics, it's just Fantasy Baseball.

I'll pass. If anyone axes tell 'em I'm hunting with Rick at Niggerhead and I won't be alone.

And Jimmy Carter has endorsed Romney for the nomination. What could go wrong? If the Democrats had nominated Mitch in '08, they'd have everything they want and be holding the Congress too. I guess they'll just have to rely on us to do it for them. Again.

Really? You gonna call that a ticket?

Dallas Morning News is and has been running its veiled smear job on Perry ever since he declared. All under the guise of reasoned debate you know.

Cains reaction to the non-story of the hunting camp painted rock shows him to be nothing but another race baiter. And I am so tired of that shtick. Nothing doing. He is nothing but Jesse Jackson in a RINO suit.

Romney? Another NE establishment elitist? NICE!

NO!

Perry? He likes the fight. Like someone said else where, Perry campaigning is like wresting a pig. You both get muddy and the pig likes it!

But Perry and who? Cannot even imagine.

Palin is too smart to expose herself to the hate that would come her way. Good on her.

Obungler was here in the DFW metromess today. "Pass this bill!" And he outright said that the dollars would fund teachers and teachers unions for another year. Good idea! Give them short term jobs for another year then watch their reaction again when the free goodies run out. Pass the frakkin' bill and crash the system. Better sooner rather than later.

Well, it may fly in the face of CW, but for me, I remain "all in" for Sarah Palin. Until such time as she announces she will not seek the Republican Party nomination, or until she seeks it and (in the highly unlikely event, imho) does not win it, all of my support goes to her.

I like Cain and although disappointed how easily he was sucker-punched with the "potato-head" Rick Perry stone controversy, I am willing to give him a pass (this first time). I previously believed that Voldemort had ruined the chance of any black American to win the Presidency of the United States for at least a generation, but now I've gone 180 on that view.

If SP does not enter, all of my support shifts to Cain. In this scenario, should Cain not win the nomination, then I will, as previously and emphatically stated, support Anyone But Voldemort, because as we all agree, Voldemort Must Go.

OMG-ABO,
Sandy

Sir, I beg to differ. It should be a Cain/Romney ticket if it must have Romney on it. Cain in the helm, and Romney delegated to the role of Crazy Babbling Veep Unca Joe.

Grow up people. The odds are that Mitt Romney will be the Republican Nominee when all is said and done. And I think it will be sooner, rather than later. I think that his competitors are by and large light-weights.

Cain for one example seems to be the heartthrob of the moment. But, I heard Chris Wallace reduce him to rubble by asking pretty basic questions on foreign policy. He also was not able to explain with any clarity who had vetted his 9-9-9 plan for economic viability.

Has Romney altered positions on occasion? Of course he has. He is a politician. That is what politicians do. Intellectuals can have clear consistent positions logically derived from first principles. Politicians do what they have to do.

You may think that BO is a socialist ideologue. But real lefties think he is a LINO squish. And they are not wrong. But BO is a politician and he is dancing as fast as he can. It ain't pretty, but he is doing what he thinks he needs to do to preserve his shrinking chance of re-election.

At any rate, if anyone reading this stays home and BO is re-elected, the destruction of the Republic will be on your head.

All the sheet is going to hit the fan in the next four years. Everything the democrats passed goes into effect over the next four years. It was planned that way, Obama was willing to be a one term President to make the republicans look bad after 2012. Let Obama get re-elected, and let the democrats take the blame for what they did.

Not so fast, amigos:

Rick Perry is never as strong as he seems.
Rick Perry is never as weak as he seems.*

*Apologies to Count Metternich.

Obamacare will be unwritten by the new Republican Congress with any Republican President--except Romney. He has already said that he will fix it.

I'm sure Romney would be a good President in normal times. But will 'good' be good enough these days?

Imagine your shame if you happen to settle on a GOP candidate half a nanosecond later than everyone else.

If you try and pick a candidate based on electability you are picking someone that doesn't motivate people to get out and vote or learn the facts so they can explain away the dishonest charges that will arrive in the press.

As Donald Rumsfeld said, why don't we wait and see them run a few laps before we pick one? A true leader will rise to the top. The GOP establishment wants this fight over now so they can go back to ignoring us. For the love of G-d at least make the weak and worthless RINOs in DC sweat a little. One the establishment weenie is ensconced on the ballot, we'll be ignored again. Strategic uncertainty is our friend. Time is our ally.

Can;t we agree our leaders have a long history of caving to pressure, not defending them self, not listening to real Americans? OK, don't make that mistake again, even if you want to watch more TV ASAP. Be a citizen, not a passenger.

Actually, Sandy Daze speaks for me.

I second Sandy's vote, and Mitt may looks solid now, but after they've gone through the result of every Bain Capital reorganization, I think you've
forgotten your own maxim, Gerald, 'they thirst for
death'

Gerard, I'm dismayed, you're using logical fallacies.
"Romney changes positions more that most people change underwear."

Yes he does. I guess Obama always sticking to his deepest convictions and positions is therefore much more attractive.

I speak to Romney the RINO. What I said about him has nothing to do with Obama's choices. (they're putrid) There is no relationship between the pair.

As for FUGEDDABOUTIT, Cain loses only if no one votes for him. To believe he cannot win lets the MSM pick the GOP candidate, like they did McCain.

Methinks a repeat of that occurrence assures the Donkey King a second term.

Hey folks...bad news. John Galt isn't running this year.

Our slate of candidates is as good as its going to get. Any of them is a marked improvement over Obama, so let's pick one and get behind him.

Are they perfect? Hell no. But let's get real.

That's true. John Galt called and, alas, declined as usual. He's still in hiding. And really, who is he, anyway?

That's true. John Galt called and, alas, declined as usual. He's still in hiding. And really, who is he, anyway?

No need to rush to support a particular candidate. There is plenty of time to decide, and the longer we stop, look, and listen, the more certain we will be that our choice for nominee to oppose Voldemort is the right one.

I disagree with the effort to stampede us to decision. The more candidates on the stage and throughout America, discussing the failures of the Voldemort regime, the better.

The candidates should be mindful of President Reagan's 11th Commandment
"Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."
That some of the candidates are spending more time bashing each other than bashing Voldemort reflects that they are not ready for primetime. We should not be rushed to acceptance of one over the other that this v e r y early stage in the process.

We have one enemy, Voldemort.

As Ben Franklin said at the signing of the Declaration of Independence:

We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.

Indeed.

Good words then, appropriate guidance for all of us now.

OMG-ABO,
Sandy

Only version l'll listen to.

Whoever said that politics is logical? I think Plato tried that and it bought him a nice hot cup of STFHemlock.

"Methinks a repeat of that occurrence assures the Donkey King a second term."

Maybe. Meebe not. All I'm saying is that right now the political smart play, given the rather execrable crew in play -- not your dreamdate -- is that Romney|Cain is the only real game in town. It's not someone else and, of course, it could change. But right now, it's what can win. Cain for all the obvious reasons. Romney because of the money, the organization, and the machine moderate image.

I would love a few candidates that aren't running, but guess what, they aren't running. As they say in the illogical non-Spockian world of politics, "You gotta beat somebody WITH somebody."

You simply, as Obama knows all too well, do not win presidential elections from the right or from the left. You win them in the center.

Now this is a great disappointment to me personally, but a greater disappointment would be a second term. Hence, no matter who it is from the awful Republicans, NO MATTER WHO, I'm there.

And you know what? For once voting for NO MATTER WHO IT IS will not leave a bad taste in my mouth. If it defeats the resident I'll eat that sandwich no matter what is in it and say, "Yummmmm, that is one TASTY sandwich."

I'd urge you to do the same.

I love this sudden push for Romney. The cocktail party has spoken and we now see the result: a herd, not a pack.

I'm not "pushing" Romney. I am merely observing the reality on the ground today. It helps that Romney has been at this for a long time. First mover advantage an all that.

It's not that I like the game but this is how the game is played.

It's not just you, Gerard, I see it elsewhere, that's why the herd analogy. It all strikes me as a preemptive push to get Mitt anointed before something goes wrong. Mitt isn't a very appealing guy, he could be displaced by Herman Cain or even Perry if Perry gets out there and works the ground game where his human warmth shines through.

It's not me at all. I'd have Palin over the whole host of these choices. But evidently I don't get that choice and neither does anyone else.

And I am NOT SAYING it couldn't change. Only that this is the state of play on the ground today and it seems to have traction.

Of course it can change. It is not only early innings, it is the pre-game warm up.

Romney....Man, are we settling. A dem at the top of the ticket? Why?

dear Gerard,

There has not been a single primary yet. Filing deadline is 28 October for New Hampshire, the first primary of the election. Why the rush to support a particular candidate before there is even a single primary?

Perhaps primaries are irrelevant?

Right now there are what eight, ten potential candidates, any one of which I would readily (and so would the majority of voters) vote for instead of Voldemort. This means that right now there are eight or ten voices that all--if they are ready--can use their pulpits to shine a light on the abuses of the Voldemort Administration.

Personally, I'd rather have Cain than Romney, Romney is a RINO--he has not distanced himself from centralized health care control, he is a BIG government guy. He's not a "bad" man and he is/IS infinitely better than Voldemort, but there is no reason at all, to choose him now.

Perhaps it is because Georgette Mosbacher sez it is time to settle for Mr Romney?

I don't know why your voice, almost always elegant, uplifting, persuasive and enjoyable, now sounds of desperation.

I want who I want until that option is no longer viable. Ultimately, I support Anyone But Voldemort, because the simple truth is, Voldemort Must Go. Why must I jump to a decision today, 398 days before the General Election ?

ABO~OMG,
Sandy

We haven't settled. YET.

On the Internet every election is happening tomorrow until election day. So, right now, with the election happening TOMORROW we are settling because.... TOMORROW.... Romney|Cain [

I am at pains to remind all and sundry that when it comes to defeating Obama LOSING IS NOT AN OPTION!

Sheesh!

I'd actually like to see a convention where the candidate wasn't yet known and the floor votes meant something. Now, if we could just convince the states to move their primaries back where they belonged...

dear Gerard,

There has not been a single primary yet. Filing deadline is 28 October for New Hampshire, the first primary of the election. Why the rush to support a particular candidate before there is even a single primary?

Perhaps primaries are irrelevant?

Right now there are what eight, ten potential candidates, any one of which I would readily (and so would the majority of voters) vote for instead of Voldemort. This means that right now there are eight or ten voices that all--if they are ready--can use their pulpits to shine a light on the abuses of the Voldemort Administration.

Personally, I'd rather have Cain than Romney, Romney is a RINO--he has not distanced himself from centralized health care control, he is a BIG government guy. He's not a "bad" man and he is/IS infinitely better than Voldemort, but there is no reason at all, to choose him now.

Perhaps it is because Georgette Mosbacher sez it is time to settle for Mr Romney?

I don't know why your voice, almost always elegant, uplifting, persuasive and enjoyable, now sounds of desperation.

I want who I want until that option is no longer viable. Ultimately, I support Anyone But Voldemort, because the simple truth is, Voldemort Must Go. Why must I jump to a decision today, 398 days before the General Election ?

ABO~OMG,
Sandy

We don't know that any of these candidates can lose to Obama, except Ron Paul. I doubt it. There are too many Democrats that want to wash themselves of this like it never happened.

It's a hope and not a strategy--yet, but there have been deadlocked conventions in the past. Who are those people you speak of who could and would address our true issues?

This, from the RNC?

http://tinyurl.com/3pa3jml

It won't allow me to link, however, the RNC considers Perry a non factor. See link at Gateway Pundit. This is my concern about settling already. It seems as thought the RNC has....kind of like Dole and McCain.

Someone needs to say it. It's time for the smartest man in the room. He's rested, ready, and experienced... NEWT!

Who are those people you speak of who could and would address our true issues?

There is only one "true issue."

Retire Obama.

I think that his competitors are by and large light-weights

Really? Perry is a lightweight? The 10-year governor of the second-largest and most dynamic state in the union is a lightweight?

I'm chagrined that Perry has done so poorly in the "debates" (or so I'm told; I didn't watch any of them), but I'm more dismayed by the fact that this format has been made so crucial to selecting a nominee.

I will vote fro Romney if he is the nominee. I'm sick-to-death tired of those who choose to sit it out because they didn't get who they wanted. The notion that Romney is "no better than Obama" is obnoxious moral equivalence. Get real: he's better than Obama by a long shot. I hope we get someone else in the end (I'd prefer Perry right now, flaws or not), but "ABO," including the proverbial ham sandwich will do just fine.

This just in:

From Rasmussen, we get the ‘anyone but Obama” result which is a death knell:

Election 2012: Generic Republican 47%, Obama 41%

There are few poll indicators that spell doom. This is one of them, where the incumbent is polling below 45%.

http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/17395

If Romney is the nominee and next President, then an all-Republican Congress will have to keep pressure on him to steer the proper course.

That will be a challenge. What may happen is that Romney will become the "darling" of the MSM for "standing up" to the "extremist" Congress. I hope not. I hope the VP choice will be solidly conservative and exert pressure on Romney.

To be utterly realistic: we are a center-right country. We posters here tend to forget the CENTER part. We are currently, and have been for some time, RULED by a center-left coalition. Our best bet for the foreseeable future is to have center-right governance for the foreseeable future. A smart GOP Congress (both houses) would steer the president to that path, rather than try to pull him hard right. Sorry folks, but that beats the alternative we have now.

My biggest concern with a President Romney is what he does with the Supreme Court when Ginsburg retires (and I hope she waits until 2013). "Moderate" GOP presidents have an infuriating habit of nominating ciphers like Souter, and even Reagan gave us that ditz O'Connor. Now Bush the First gave us Thomas, and another Thomas is what we need.

Oh yes, folks:

THAT SUPREME COURT THING:

For all you would-be sourpuss dropouts: the idea of four more years of Obama in regards to the Supreme Court ought to have you crapping in your pants. While I may have misgivings about a GOP president nominating a cipher, we all know damned well that what we'll get with Obama, don't we?

Please think this through, fence-sitters: Think comprehensivley. GOP/conservative power is increasing at the state level, and redistricting is going to favor the GOP, even if only as a marginal improvement; let's take what we can get. If both the House and Senate are GOP, that's another bonus. If the president is republican, then the chances for a genuinely conservative court go up. Also, ANY Republican president is going to be enthusiastic about allowing America's looming hydrocarbon boom (oil, gas and coal) go forward, and ANY GOP president is going to boost business's confidence sky-high, and unleash them.

All these things are for the good. America will enjoy a rennaissance while in GOP hands. Get my drift? Do I have to slap you harder, or do you fnally get it?

Four years of Obama is plenty for enough people to get the message about the sheer stupidity of electing people like him and putting his party in charge of anything, but ONLY if it's followed by a boom presided over by a GOP political majority. Eight years of Obama, even with an opposition Congress will be very, very bad news for America. Remember, this guy has used the executive order and unleashed the federal agencies with a regularity and vengeance never seen in modern American history. And remember, his party has been making noises about suspending democracy.

Do you get it now? I sure as Hell hope so. If Romney ends up being the nominee, show up at the polls, hold your nose, shove the New Black Panther morons out of the way, and vote for Romney, or whichever ham sandwich the Stupid Party ofers up.

Heheheheh: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-4-2011/indecision-2012---the-great-right-hope---the-manchurian-candi-dad

Don Rodrigo -

Are you reading/sensing a lot of ambivalence on the Republican side if a particular candidate does not gain the Republican nomination? I am not.

My casual observations suggest to me that the Rs are in very strong agreement that Voldemort must be defeated, even while fighting among themselves about who should be the nominee.

I have no reason not to believe that once a nominee is chosen, that nominee will be energetically embraced and supported.

My sense is that there is little requirement to select the nominee today or tomorrow. The more candidates for the Republican nomination the better. By debating amongst themselves about policy positions, the candidates views and arguments will be sharpened for the ultimate contest against Voldemort.

What we now have are almost a dozen candidates all saying that the current occupant must go, and explaining why through a series of interviews, town halls, debates, etc. As soon as a nominee is selected, the media attention will drop. Heck, I'd be pleased to see all of the candidates battle for the nomination right up to the beginning of the GOP convention on 27 Aug 12, in Tampa.

But, to underscore my view: Should my preferred candidate--SP--not become the nominee (highly unlikely imho), I will enthusiastically support whomever is the nominee.

OMG - ABO !

Sandy

Oh, man! What happened to our ABO spirit?? Rick Perry is TOAST, people! Chris Christie out out, Palin can't get traction now.. I'd love to see Cain at the top of a ticket, but let's get real here! This is our ticket. If Romney picks a dweeb like Pawlenty as a running mate, I'll hold my nose and plaster my pre-government motors Dodge with the bumper stickers and I'll cast my historic vote for the ABO ticket.

Sandy Daze:

I am projecting, I admit, but then so is Gerard, and for a reason: this is a "what if" scenario that we may have to prepare for.

I have another reason: in the last election many disgruntled conservatives sat it out, and some prominent ones went for Obama publicly. I have concerns this time too, and it comes from comments I see in the blogosphere that give me cause to write what I did above.

It is early, and I'd rather have someone besides Romney, and I/we may get that wish. Cautionary tales like Gerard's run early so that people can digest the implications canhave a very slautary effect among doubters.

I'm barely interested in settling for that ticket next summer and fall, what little interest I have being solely based on Cain being the running mate, which is (let's get really real, people) not even close to being a guarantee. (We were lucky enough that McCain got a wild hair up the tailpipe and picked Palin. Asking to get that lucky two elections in a row really is asking too much of luck.) Settling for it right now? I have the campaign slogan: "Republicans, They Thirst For Death". Yeah. Sorry. Not with my ballot, thankies.

See y'all out on the fences.

I haven't written off Perry just yet. The next Republican debate will be held on October 11 at Dartmouth College. FWIW, Charlie Rose will be the moderator. The official statement by the sponsors goes:

The Washington Post-Bloomberg debate will focus on the issues voters say they care about most: jobs, deficit, taxes and the economy. The debate will be the first of the 2012 Presidential campaign devoted to the single subject of the U.S. economy. Three years after the most severe downturn in the economy since the Great Depression, the candidates will debate over federal spending, deficits and debt, Social Security, Medicare, financial regulatory reform, taxes and the top issue in national polls: jobs.

This is Perry’s best chance to regain the momentum. He won’t face a lot of questions about social issues, which previously has been trouble for him. Jobs and the economy are his strong points. The expectation is that he should do well in this subject area, but there will be a lot of pressure on him. It'll really be now or never.

Im a Cain man myself. I like his style and his heart and intellect. I am not opposed to Romney either. I remember the story about him finding his friends daughter back in the 90s. He dropped everything and put his money where his mouth is when it counted. He is solid. Cain is solid.

The whole Rep. field is concrete compared to the swamp we have now.

Go REP!!!

On Romney as Masshole Governor, from the WSJ today-

(speaking outside a coal-fired power plant that he wanted to rein in): “I will not create jobs or hold jobs that kill people, and that plant—that plant—kills people.”

When helping to design the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the northeastern state’s attempt to start their own cap-and-trade system that is now slowly collapsing, Romney said: “These carbon emission limits will provide real and immediate progress in the battle to protect the environment.”

Romneycare is also collapsing.

This is the RNC man. Dole, McCain, Romney. Jimmy Carter's pick of the litter is going to make you digest Obama's first term. To return a phrase often used here, grow up, people.

Obama and Romney are the same poison, the only difference is the color of the pill and one works instantaneously and the other works in about five minutes. Both achieve the same result-death of the country.

As for Cain he lost me when he tossed The Race Card at Perry. I am not going to 'hold my nose' and vote for someone who has the same tired race bating tendencies as Obama and the Democrats.