Jon seems to be spot on. Serious question here… what IS Sarah Palin on? Her teleprompter supposedly broke. Didn’t she used to make fun of President Obama for depending on a teleprompter? Just asking…
I am always speechless after these things. Rick Perry sounded the most intelligent. Should I be scared?
Bring on the clowns. To quote that intellectual giant, Sarah Palin: We be bold!
The scary part is that Palin would still be a better President than the current one.
Bwaaaahahahahahahahahahahaha
Cargo is in the wacky weed.
I find it curious that the media is going out of their way to highlight the very-very-long-odds candidates, and holding them up as broad examples of the vast GOP field. And yet, who does the Dems have? Clinton. Warren. Biden. O’Malley. Webb. With the exception of Hillary, the rest are second and third tier. Only O’Malley has executive experience, and he did such a fine job that his state rejected his hand-picked successor, his Lt. Governor, in favor of a Republican, and picked a Republican Lt. Governor as well.
Clinton, Warren, Biden, Webb: none have executive experience. All were members of the senate. None had any legislation of significance.
Only Clinton and Biden have any demonstrable foreign policy experience. Only Webb is a veteran. Considering the failure and collapse of the Obama foreign policy, not much to crow about there.
And considering the Obama’s continue to submarine the Clinton’s at every turn, this is going to be a very interesting race to watch.
So, to sum it up, the Left is calling attention to a perceived GOP Ringling Bros circus, and wants everyone to ignore the cirque-du-sole’ going on in the Dem party. Must be election time.
@Steve Thomas
I was thinking the same thing… they are just holding up a shiny object to distract from the upcoming Dem debacle. Why else would they care so much about a few people who may not even run or if they do have next to no chance of winning the primary. I can’t wait for the Dem primaries to watch those clowns debate each other.
The last Dem presidential primary was fun to watch, Hillary started the birther movement and Obama’s side called Bill a racist. This time around should be pure entertainment. 🙂
It looks like everyone will spend the next 2 years highly entertained. Then the reality will set in.
Steve, the Republicans created this dog-and-pony show. The democrats don’t have a similar red-meat-speech beauty contest.
As to Palin, the woman’s losing her looks – not really attractive any more. And that’s all the woman ever had going for her in the first place.
I’d lay even money Palin will do airbrushed nude photos for Playboy or someone else within 5 years.
@Rick Bentley
If only she had higher cheekbones, she could claim to be native american.
She very well might. Perhaps the documentation is in her family bible.
@Steve Thomas
Her voice shatters glass. Her gestures were totally overblown, IMHO.
Why do I even comment? Shame om me!
She sounded incredibly incoherent. I would have managed to cut her mic if I were hosting that event. That was horrible.
She really isn’t a viable candidate and never has been. What was McCain thinking?!!?!
We need to give her some slack – her teleprompter broke and she had to wing it. That led to an appearance of incoherence. Had her teleprompter worked I am sure she would have performed better.
She was a bad candidate in 2008 and she would be worse in 2016. Even Murdoch realized this and cut her from Fox.
I’ll skip all of the comments regarding Sarah Palin’s looks (although I disagree that she’s losing them), her voice (regional dialects can rub people the wrong way. Try having a Boston accent), or her intelligence (when the people criticizing her can’t tell the difference between something said in an SNL skit, and what she actually said).
I’ll leave it at this: She had her run, just like Mitt Romney, John McCain, etc. The GOP has a deep bench of credible candidates, most of which are former or current governors. A strong bench. No need to settle for yesterday’s general election candidates. It may soon be morning again, in America.
I like a Boston accent. The only thing that bothers me about any Massachusetts talk is talking about one’s “stocking feet.”
Two words: Joe Biden.
Agreed – hopefully they (we) will allow a credible candidate to come forward and be accepted instead of trashing and discarding the good candidates in the primary process. Social media is not helping here in that a few people can really tarnish a good candidate for little cause.
re Joe Biden – this thread is not about him, but what about him? He will get my vote – if he is on a comedy central contest or something like that as he can be very funny. I would also invite him over for a party. I would not vote for him in an election.
Joe is smart and experienced. He just puts his foot in his mouth.
Right now the Republicans are backing Elizabeth Warren. Not falling for that one. I don’t care if she is Sitting Bull’s wife. If That’s all anyone can bash her about.
Joe Biden says something stupid, and it’s “Joe being Joe”, and the media lets it slide for the most part. Palin has an off day and it’s as if she lit a basket of kittens on fire.
I am not sure they can even be compared. Seriously, Steve. Years in the Senate. Chairman of committees. He has forgotten more than Palin has ever learned. Palin really is a welter-weight. Compare Biden to Graham perhaps, but not Palin. that is ludicrous.
I think Palin has rubbed most people the wrong way, for a variety of reasons. For me, it’s because she’s the most vacuous candidate I’ve ever seen. And I’m saying that even in comparison to Rick Perry and Harman Cain. All she ever did well is to make negative speeches about Obama. That’s all she’s ever done. A person can only ride that so far.
Totally agree, Rick. totally lacking in substance. All sound byte you could find on a bumper sticker.
@Rick Bentley
Rick, I guess it’s a matter of personal opinion. For me, I’ve seen her time since the 2008 election as “making lemonade out of lemons”. I see her more now as a political media personality, rather than a political candidate. Sort of like Pat Buchannan. Need a red-meat speech or a commenter on a news segment? Call Palin. Would I go to a fundraiser where she was a featured speaker? Yes, if only to hear what she had to say. Would I spend a bunch of time, talent, and treasure supporting her in a nomination campaign? Definitely not. Many more electable candidates out there to choose from, and my favorite just announced that he’s in.
Who is your favorite, Steve?
There was a generally sympathetic op-ed piece in the Post today by Kathleen Parker about Palin. Her theme was that the GOP hurriedly plucked this woman out of obscurity without proper vetting because it needed something new and fresh to offset the appeal of Obama in 2008, but then (after the campaign) no one took any responsibility for training her, grooming her to perhaps become a truly knowledgeable national presence. Parker contrasts her with Rick Perry, who clearly was in over his head in 2012, but realized it and has invested a couple of years in educating himself and trying to gain the substance that he lacked last time around. Palin hasn’t done that, and that is why she has become, in my view (and I suspect the view of many) a joke, a parody of a parody. What Parker does, something that most of us are not noble or sympathetic enough to do, is identify what Palin has become as something of a tragedy, part of which is Palin’s individual responsibility, but some of which rests with a political process that treats defeated candidates as cannon fodder.
..of he? Bad grammer such as that actually hurts.
Granted this is the worst of the worst and they won’t be elected. But @Mom, they are/were all elected
@Steve Thomas
Agree with you. GOP has a far deeper bench than the Democrats do.
Maybe the Democrats haven’t dug deep enough. Who knows, there
might be a big surprise somewhere in the future.
But I don’t really believe that.
Punchak,
Part of the reason why the Dem’s lack a deep bench is they have a weak “Farm System”, ie. investing in local and state races. After the 2000 Presidential elections, the DNC made a strategic decision to target the various Secretaries of State. The GOP made the decision to go after the state legislatures and governors mansions. The main rationale for the GOP’s strategy was to be in the best position for the 2010 census/redistricting. The GOP, for better or worse, held both the Whitehouse, and the Congress and figured it could afford to shift focus to the states. (unfortunately, the proceeded to bungle this advantage and lost the congress in 2006) A quick look at the number of state legislatures in GOP hands, vs. those in Dem hands, presents part of the answer as to why the Dems have a shallow bench: They haven’t focused on developing the states as places from which to draw potential presidential contenders.
No argument here. This theory is illustrated right here in PWC. No support that can be seen. It appears as though the party is a cork bobbing around on a pond.
There is also this issue of states rights…not a biggie with Democrats. I haven’t met a Republican who didn’t have a special place in the heart for states rights.
Walker. Hands down.
Oh dear God!!![clutching chest]
So much for teacher rights.
The R’s have a deep bench, huh? Only if you mean deep as in sunk!
Only a couple have any chance in the general, and those will have to tack so far right to get through the primaries that they’ll lose the independants.
Not to mention the fact that the dem’s are now controlling the message, reference Mitt and others talking about income inequality. Hard to beat a party when you adopt their talking points.
Goodness…now we’ll have to listen to a “War on Teachers” mantra? Well, the Good Book does mention “wars and rumors of war”, but I’m sure it meant real ones.
I thought you had been listening to it. Have I not been doing my job? There most definitely is one.
Unfortunately, too many politicians think they can clean house by trashing “the unions” and to support education by kicking the teachers in the face. That just isn’t the way it works.
@middleman
“Only a couple have any chance in the general, and those will have to tack so far right to get through the primaries that they’ll lose the independants.”
And the Dems have Hillary and Warren. That’s it. Two. Ok, throw in Biden and O’Malley. Of these, only Warren isn’t so banged up that she could win a general. Please let it be Biden. Please, Please. Please.
On the GOP side: Bush, Christie, Walker, Jindal, Rubio, Paul, plus the next tier, Romney, Kasich, Daniels, Perry. Plus the next Tier, Cruz, Carson, Huckabee, Blount.
As far as candidates for the nomination moving in the direction of the primary base, you act as if this phenomena is 1) new, and 2) is something only Republicans do. Look for the Dems to move left, chasing their base as well.
Notice how many of these potential GOP nominees are current or former Governors.
“Not to mention the fact that the dem’s are now controlling the message, reference Mitt and others talking about income inequality.”
This is news? Dems control the mainstream media. Mitt Romney? The only reason he’s relevant today is his name ID. Even the, ahem “Establishment” GOPers I know say “he had his shot, time for someone new”. But it’s good he’s creating a buzz. The vultures in the media will circle him for a time, and allow the other camps to get rolling.
Lastly, you seem to ignore history. How many times has one party kept the whitehouse after at two-term presidency? Rarely, and certainly not on the heels of an administration that was mediocre at best.
Fewer people to laugh at on the D side. You never know who might just crawl out of the woodwork. Webb has already crawled. Then there is that rascally Warner. If he is ever going to move in that direction, he needs to do it now before he becomes too tainted by the Senate.
Who would want the shame of either house of Congress on them.
@Moon-howler
“Then there is that rascally Warner.”
Who just might end up with Federal corruption charges on him. That thing is still simmering over there.
The challenge for Democrats is they have so few ex-governors to tap, and even fewer current ones. I predict our next president will be one, especially after having elected a senator. How many senators have been elected in modern times? If you take away those who were VP’s ascending to the presidency upon the death of a president (Roosevelt/Truman, Kennedy/Johnson), how many Senators have run, secured their nomination, and went on to be elected? Anyone? Anyone?
Now ask yourselves how many governors have been elected? Face it, the voters want executive experience, and I am sure the job former-Senator Obama has done will weigh heavy on the minds of those coveted Independents.
Yes, because the Republican message in 2014 was income inequality.
Oh wait, no it wasn’t. The Republican message was…. nothing. Yet you still got smoked like cheap cigarillos.
Something tells me your coalition isn’t going to turn out at quite the same rate to vote for an old, white lady.
Cato, stern look. Be very respectful on this blog of old white ladies.
As we learned in the 20th century, if you take individual freedom away by overt force, people will fight to restore it. However, the lesson of the 21st centrury is that there are many – to many – willing to slowly and quietly give up individual freedom in the name of government imposed security, entitlement and political correctness. Indeed, today we are being told to fight for entitlement, immorality, regulation and control. More and more laws are being passed to make being an AH illegal. Its gonna be hard to look back and see how we went from rugged individualism to the village controlled by the political elite. Those presenting themselves for election on both sides, could not make this conflict clearer.
I am not sure what you have really said, Blue.
@Steve Thomas
Check the polls. Most of the folks you’ve named are seen as too extreme by the majority of voters. And the tea party ads will be all over the moderates in the primaries.
But it’s way too early to really tell much about either party.
@Cato the Elder
Smoked by R’s in gerrymandered districts with low turnout. Presidential elections are a completely different animal.
Actually, R’s campaigned on the economy and middle-class issues, and immediately started back in with culture war issues after taking office. Folks won’t forget that.
Unfortunately people forget it all the time. That’s what I find so horribly irritating.
Elizabeth Warren is 65 … wouldn’t have guessed that. She seems more youthful.
Hillary’s 67. Biden is 72, which is why I don’t expect him to make any serious attempt to run.
I think you would have made the same observation about Hillary and Elizabeth Warren 30 years ago. Warren is just perkier.
I don’t really care about much of anything other than the supreme court appointments. I figure I am not going to be hob-nobbing with them on a personal level anyway.
Romney came to his senses.
He is NOT running.
His withdrawal just increased the concentration in the clown pool. He was one of the few non-clowns.
True, Moon. Romney, by life experience and temperament, gave every indication of being an excellent President. He was probably our best-credentialled nominee since the 1st Bush. It was a shame that he could not shake off the messy, nutty dust of the primary campaign. I hope he will stay engaged in GOP politics and bring his world knowledge and common sense to our future activities.
Scout, I agree with your sentiments. He really couldn’t shake it off. He shouldn’t have taken it on in the first place.
Scout, you do remember that Romney started things off by alienating and marginalizing 47% of the population? F Romney, F Romney’s resume. The guy is an abject tool to my eyes.
And a resume that basically consists of raiding companies, producing nothing of value, hardly seems like something to run for President on. “I ran the Olympics”. Big f-ing deal.
As I’ve said before Romney is a Rorscach test on ethnicity and political persuasion. To white Republicans, he looks like a prototypical executive and a solid Presidential contender. To many of the rest of us, he looks like another crook in a suit.
I do kind of thank God he didn’t win, and that I/we don’t have to suffer through a Romney administration.
I’ve got a new girlfriend … she’s a committed Democrat … I feel myself sliding leftwards a bit …