Republican Presidential Candidates 2012

[yeahwho]

POLITICAL CLASS CLOWNS
here is a link (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/political-class-clowns/?hp)
NYTimes 11/5/2011
Timothy Egan

For a Republican Party that has spent the better part of its presidential campaign proving that most of its candidates are not smarter than a fifth grader, the real scandal around frontrunner-of-the-moment Herman Cain is not what he knows. It’s what he doesn’t know.

China, for example. Lost in the wave of contradictory statements about his personal behavior was something Cain said a few days ago about the Asian powerhouse.

China, said Cain with his clueless urgency, is “trying to develop nuclear capability.” Anyone who is gobsmacked by this category five level of ignorance concerning a country that has had nuclear weapons for more than 45 years has not been paying attention. Cain makes Sarah Palin, with her eagle-eyed view of Russia from Alaska, sound like a Council of Foreign Relations scholar on a gasbag high.

The clowns have finally taken over the circus, and I mean this with all due respect to those who labor with painted faces and oversized shoes. The party that got itself into a fever over Barack Obama’s imaginary Kenyan birth, and briefly elevated Donald Trump, the main purveyor of that invention, to its front ranks, is now overwhelmed by its own nonsense.

Herman Cain was never — and will never be — a serious candidate. He’s a vanity candidate who got into the race to boost his income as a motivational speaker. And lo, because he can speak, and people like Governor Rick Perry cannot string noun, verb and object together in a coherent fashion, he looks superior by comparison.

As evidenced by his year on the stump, Cain has proved that he knows almost nothing about American life beyond burgers and pizzas, and even less about the larger world.

But Cain is not the problem. It’s his party. Cain gets away with saying that we should have a moat along the Mexican border filled with alligators because there is no reality cop on the Republican beat.

Consider Newt Gingrich, something I suspect many Republicans will now start doing as Cain craters. Gingrich fancies himself as the intellectual among high-office aspirants on the right, albeit a grumpy one. Yet he spent much of his early campaign talking about the nonexistent danger of Shariah law in the United States. In March, when President Obama gave the O.K. for American air support to save lives and oust Muammar el-Qaddafi, Gingrich said it would prove to be one of the worst foreign policy blunders in his lifetime.

Or look for just a moment at Rick Santorum, a man who is obsessed with other people’s sex lives. Last month, this former senator said if he were president he’d wage a campaign against “the dangers of contraception.” He’s serious. “It’s not O.K.,” he said. “It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.”

The former Iowa frontrunner, Rep. Michele Bachmann, thinks the poor should pay more taxes, and that vaccines against cervical cancer may cause mental retardation. I think she gets her information from a guy living in a van down by the river. On the eve of the last Republican debate, Politifact, the nonpartisan referee, rated 14 of her 36 major policy statements as false. And 9 of those 14 were given the “pants on fire” lie designation.

While the nation begs for solutions to the troubles of a hurting and diminishing middle class, Republicans have been talking about whether Mormonism is a cult, and how many Mexicans they can kill with Cain’s alligators. In the process of trying to delegitimize Obama, they have done the same to themselves.

More than ever, the public feels disconnected from the political process. They feel like it’s an inside game, and money always wins. They despise a Congress that fiddles with votes to keep “In God We Trust” as a national motto and rails against a nonexistent rule to regulate dust, but will do nothing to forward funds to repair a bridge. In the last CBS/New York Times poll, Congressional approval was 9 percent. The only surprise was that it was so high.

It does not matter if the sexual harassment story about Herm Cain the restaurant lobbyist came from a plant by Rick Perry or from Bart Simpson. What Cain did after hours is not a worthy discussion because Cain is not a worthy candidate. He should run for something — anything — and study the globe for 20 minutes before assuming he can be president. In the meantime, Republicans have the frontrunner they deserve.

The public already knows the real scandal: our broken politics. On Sunday, in case we need reminding, the disgraced criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff will be on “60 Minutes” giving a little tutorial about life in the nation’s capital. He had 100 congressmen in his pocket, he explains. “We owned them.”

And as long as the political class focuses on the happy-hour antics of a pizza man, nothing will change but the name of the lobbyist counting congressmen in his corral.

[HAL 9000]

The view from over in the UK is quite strange. The Republican party seems to be putting forward a succession of quite stupid people forward as presidential candidates, what the hell is going on? Is it possible that one of these people could be president of the US? That is terrifying.

Is there a credible conservative candidate running? If there is, they are not making the news over here (could easily be our media just reporting on the Trumps, Bachmanns, Perrys etc for their comedic value). Like the character Alan Alda played in the West Wing, someone like that - I could vote for that!

[Dorothy Wood]

I think John Huntsman is a pretty alright dude, but he's got no chance.

It's really sad. These other nuts want to form a Christian nation, they eschew facts, they want to ban everything under the guise of freedom. Total creeps, they're like characters from a dystopian future world. and they have followers. I think they're all repressed perverts.

[kaiser soze]

if one of them makes it into the White House, they'll replace it with a clown car

[yeahwho]

I just reread the Timothy Egan Ed/Op "Class Clowns" again that starts this thread and am amazed at well he has nailed this selection of Republican presidential candidates. After he rightly derides Cain, the next candidate is Gingrich,

Consider Newt Gingrich, something I suspect many Republicans will now start doing as Cain craters. Gingrich fancies himself as the intellectual among high-office aspirants on the right, albeit a grumpy one. Yet he spent much of his early campaign talking about the nonexistent danger of Shariah law in the United States. In March, when President Obama gave the O.K. for American air support to save lives and oust Muammar el-Qaddafi, Gingrich said it would prove to be one of the worst foreign policy blunders in his lifetime.

It's like a special fruitcake all wrapped up just in time for Christmas. Newt Gingrich for President, the republican candidate. He is extra nutty.

[Turchinator]

GOP- what a fucking joke

how can anyone align themselves with these elitists?

release the Ron Paul hounds

[Nicodemus]

POLITICAL CLASS CLOWNS
here is a link (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/political-class-clowns/?hp)
NYTimes 11/5/2011
Timothy Egan


Cain makes Sarah Palin, with her eagle-eyed view of Russia from Alaska, sound like a Council of Foreign Relations scholar on a gasbag high.


Common mistake. Palin never said she could see Russia from her house. That was an SNL skit.

[yeahwho]

Common mistake. Palin never said she could see Russia from her house. That was an SNL skit.

In reference to what? I'm reading that she said she could see Russia from Alaska. Which is what she said to Charlie Gibson on Good Morning America.

[Nicodemus]

Got a link to that interview? This is what I heard on a radio show.

[Nicodemus]

Nevermind. I found it! My radio lied to me.

[abbott]

Dont worry we have two parties here in the USA ... are you happy with the Democrats? I say fuck the two party system, but I would vote for Gary Johnson as a republican or or 3rd party. I wrote him in last election so just happy to see him thinking about it.

I know the political system we have will reject Johnson, but I'm not quitting.

[Turchinator]

PALIN: And, Charlie, you're in Alaska. We have that very narrow maritime border between the United States, and the 49th state, Alaska, and Russia. They are our next door neighbors.We need to have a good relationship with them. They're very, very important to us and they are our next door neighbor.


GIBSON: What insight into Russian actions, particularly in the last couple of weeks, does the proximity of the state give you?


PALIN: They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.


that was her answer, verbatim from the interview.


the funniest part of the aftermath of these comments is that SNL (Tina Fey) just took the excerpts from her interviews with Charlie and Katie Couric and babbled them off WORD FOR WORD.

[yeahwho]

I really wish the republicans could get a slightly more informed candidates as their front runners. Why do the republicans reject or sabotage common sense?

Seriously, look at these presidential hopefuls,

http://2012.republican-candidates.org/

Huntsman and Johnson are the two candidates I hear about on this board the most, but they remain in relative obscurity at this point. Now Gingrich is getting cash, because I guess he's either what republicans like (I find that hard to believe) or he just plays ball so well with Big Money that they'll risk losing cash to keep his crazy ass out there. Which makes 0 sense the more I think about it from purely an investment choice.

Obama gained steam and momentum in December of 2007, he clearly was the candidate to contend with for the democrats. Four years later and only one party to watch we have a situation, no clear frontrunner. Which makes those guys like Johnson, Huntsman unfortunately unlikely to compete.

Some of these big name candidates are spoilers. Like Anti-Nader in your own party. Hogging the stage shunning pragmatic logic.

I thought the Republicans wanted to beat Obama? It looks like they all want to live on as dime store Sarah Palins huckstering their vapid ideas to a splintered beaten constituency, just using the debates as info-mercials.

[yeahwho]

I thought the Republicans wanted to beat Obama? It looks like they all want to live on as dime store Sarah Palins huckstering their vapid ideas to a splintered beaten constituency, just using the debates as info-mercials.

Furthermore;

It's the money stupid, Bob Schieffer from CBS' Face the Nation. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57340975/why-do-they-run-its-the-money-stupid/

[p-branez]

The view from over in the UK is quite strange. The Republican party seems to be putting forward a succession of quite stupid people forward as presidential candidates, what the hell is going on? Is it possible that one of these people could be president of the US? That is terrifying.

Is there a credible conservative candidate running? If there is, they are not making the news over here (could easily be our media just reporting on the Trumps, Bachmanns, Perrys etc for their comedic value). Like the character Alan Alda played in the West Wing, someone like that - I could vote for that!

I have a friend in Asia (based in Hong Kong) who says the same thing - the Republicans are succeeding in finding a group of laughable candidates to put together.

George Will (conservative journalist) criticized the whole process on last week's This Week. He said Republicans and Democrats need a new nominating process that promotes real candidates and eschews book tours.

The "credible" candidates I know are Rick Santorum, former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania. On the same This Week, he constantly referenced his "credible conservative record." There's Jon Huntsman, who is anathema because he took a job, Ambassador to China, offered by President Obama. Even Republican pollsters and strategists know Gingrich will be along the wayside once the microscope is on him long enough. Ron Paul will do well in Iowa - he's the only candidate with a backbone. Romney is the common-sense candidate, but who knows what voters in early states will do.

[Turchinator]

ron paul attracts 9/11 truthers and chemtrail/alien conspiracy theorists for some reason

[DIGI]

....and hippies. Never understood that. He's a nimrod.


And Dorothy, Huntsman is far from being an alright dude. He's a Bush guy and no matter how many appearances he has on Colbert to "seem" like he's alright, he's basically just as big of a twat as the rest of them.

[Dorothy Wood]

well, I never saw him on Colbert. I'm judging him on his record and experience. He's intelligent and flexible, and the type of man who works for the greater good because those are the values he was raised with.

I decided this on my own by reading articles (and yes, wikipedia) before I ever saw him on t.v. Well, wait, no, I've never actually seen him on t.v., just a clip or two online.

[Burnout18]

Romney seems like the only one who's electable in a general election. He has business experience in a weak economy. That would help with the masses of jobless people. Other than that I cant see anyone else winning.

Every new candidate that popped up immediately scored the top spot in the polls, it wasn't a sign the new guy was great, it was a sign the field sucked.

[yeahwho]

Romney seems like the only one who's electable in a general election. He has business experience in a weak economy. That would help with the masses of jobless people. Other than that I cant see anyone else winning.

Every new candidate that popped up immediately scored the top spot in the polls, it wasn't a sign the new guy was great, it was a sign the field sucked.

I was just reading about Romney and his Bain Capitol venture, he was heavily into leveraging companies then dismantling the retirement funds and eventually jobs. Even he says he would of done things differently (must of knew the average schmuck would figure him out) today.

I wouldn't let him hold a flashlight for me, he is not a fellow employee or a person involved in any sort of labor. Quite the opposite. All of these politicians have turned their backs on us as far as us being citizens.

Somebody in these debates needs to seriously address what "Made in America" means. This country is dying in the name of a global economy, even though we were sold a whole different story.

It all should come home to roost, this election I hope, most of us have been beaten up enough that the flat screens and micro-brews no longer cut it.

[Burnout18]

I was just reading about Romney and his Bain Capitol venture, he was heavily into leveraging companies then dismantling the retirement funds and eventually jobs. Even he says he would of done things differently (must of knew the average schmuck would figure him out) today.

It all should come home to roost, this election I hope, most of us have been beaten up enough that the flat screens and micro-brews no longer cut it.

before romney steered Bain capital in that direction they really were a management consulting firm. I think staples is one of his first successful businesses he helped work on.

Hey your identifying the problems, how do you propose to eliminate them? What do overseas manufacturers have that we don't?

[yeahwho]

before romney steered Bain capital in that direction they really were a management consulting firm. I think staples is one of his first successful businesses he helped work on.

Hey your identifying the problems, how do you propose to eliminate them? What do overseas manufacturers have that we don't?

If we as US citizens are willing to let the overall pay scale drop 30-90% and have manufacturing tax lowered by 30-90% everything will be fine.

From the mood on the streets the above logic of turning the USA backwards to something it never was... That isn't setting too well.

[Burnout18]

If we as US citizens are willing to let the overall pay scale drop 30-90% and have manufacturing tax lowered by 30-90% everything will be fine.

From the mood on the streets the above logic of turning the USA backwards to something it never was... That isn't setting too well.

Lowering the pay scale sounds right on the money, but that's where it gets tricky when battling unions and what they say is minimum pay.

But even at that, companies can still pay a chinaman 120 dollars a week for work. How do we compete with that fucking number? There is no where in the US where you can live off of that .

[Turchinator]

dude chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature.

asian american, please

[Burnout18]

dude chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature.

asian american, please

I meant Asian Chinesean

[yeahwho]

Lowering the pay scale sounds right on the money, but that's where it gets tricky when battling unions and what they say is minimum pay.

But even at that, companies can still pay a chinaman 120 dollars a week for work. How do we compete with that fucking number? There is no where in the US where you can live off of that .

Maybe eliminate the unions, ban religion and become communist. Some new form of government/ideology say like, profiled corporate communism.

[Burnout18]

I watch these debates and think as displeased as I am with Obama, There's no way I can vote for newt or santorum. Maybe and I mean maaaaaybe mitt.

These debates are entertaining when you don't have a horse in the race.

[DIGI]

Santorum sweeps 3 states last night? For fuck's sake, what is wrong with people?! I have such a distaste for that guy, not only from being a Pennsylvanian but also from him ousting a pretty righteous relative from the Senate back in 94 due to the Republican overhaul at that time. He has no grip on reality, but people are still voting for him. WHAT THE FUCK!!!!???

[yeahwho]

I'm not too surprised. Romney has money, lots of money. But it's going to be tough to win an election as a fat cat in 2012. I do not see how the Republican Party hasn't figured that out. It looks like some folks do realize that they had better start thinking about options and more realistic nutcases.

Speaking of which, what is up with Karl Rove and Rush Limbaugh calling Clint Eastwood a shill and a dupe for doing a Superbowl ad that has a positive patriotic message?

Do they know it's this Clint Eastwood (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000142/)? He seems to come with some very strong credentials about media. You could've woken up super early every morning the past 81 years and guess what? You're not duping Clint Eastwood on anything that has to do with media.

[Sir SkratchaLot]

If you guys haven't googled "Santorum" yet, do it. He pissed off the wrong gay activist and now he's murked on the internets forever.

[yeahwho]

I guess you could say Santorum is no longer coming up the rear.

[yeahwho]

Straight from Gilligan's Island it's "Thurston Howell III (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI8PlTtM7DU&feature=player_embedded)"

lol

[yeahwho]

link to article Mitt Romney Bails on the Truth (http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/mitt-romney-bails-on-the-truth/)

This Romney guy is delusional,

Mr. Romney told a Cleveland television station yesterday that he would “take a lot of credit” for the industry’s comeback because he recommended that General Motors and Chrysler go through bankruptcy, which they did. “I pushed the idea of a managed bankruptcy and finally when that was done, and help was given, the companies got back on their feet,” he said.

To anyone with the slightest knowledge of what happened in Detroit in 2008 and 2009, it’s a breathtaking statement. The companies didn’t survive simply because they declared bankruptcy; they were bailed out with $80 billion in taxpayer money. That proved to be one of the government’s best investments in modern times, and 1.45 million people are working as a direct result of it.

And Mitt Romney unequivocally opposed that bailout.

It's bizarre. How is he going to defend all of his own utter bullshit let alone the truth about himself in a debate? This may be a boring campaign to some but if you're paying attention to what is passing as a presidential candidate while our Country is held virtually stopped by congress it's mind boggling.

[Dorothy Wood]

At this point all of this is starting to get less funny and more creepy. I'm so sick of the double talk from everyone. How hard is honesty? I've followed presidential elections every term since Bush I, and I have never seen this kind of dishonesty. Granted, I was a kid with limited knowledge for most of them, but geez, Romney sucks. This whole batch of gross people think they have the authority to determine everything...they're fascists, it's unbelievable. I've never been scared of an American politician until now. At least it's getting passive, yet reasonable people irked enough to speak up for once.

Anyway, on a lighter note, he needs to drop the small businesses are in trouble bit. If anything, my small business boss works harder if he thinks taxes are going to increase. It's actually a growth prompt! We end up getting more business to cover the taxes and tighten up the budget. Isn't that what they're asking poor people to do? Why not put the same logic on business? they're acting nuts! they just don't want to change their way of doing things, so they're asking everyone else to suffer instead, it's pathetic. And they're failing, so good, I guess I don't have to be so scared.

[yeahwho]

At this point all of this is starting to get less funny and more creepy. I'm so sick of the double talk from everyone. How hard is honesty? I've followed presidential elections every term since Bush I, and I have never seen this kind of dishonesty

It's astounding and I'm glad that you are following these guys. Mitt Romney wants to be in charge of our USA and this is the way he goes about gathering votes? Taking credit for a bankruptcy? When I posted that article about Edward Conard in the other thread I figured Romney was intelligent enough to distance himself from that guy but as one of the NYTimes commentators so eloquently put it

Wow, the guy is bragging about advocating "managed bankruptcy." Now there's a positive voice we need to lead our country! No need to build, work together, dream big -- we simply need to dissect, dissemble, and manage bankruptcies. Our vision for the future!

Mitt Romney is a vulture capitalist.

[Dorothy Wood]

He really is a vulture. I don't have a problem with reorganizing and buying out corporations when they're floundering, but I do have a problem with the constant evaluation of and dependance on efficiency. So what if you can make 1000 more widgets per hour with a different method of longer hours, fewer employees and more pressure? if method A is working and giving people jobs, then isn't it fine? Can't we focus on fixing social issues for once? It's obvious they aren't going to fix themselves.

These guys, I mean, how much money do they need? They think government is doing a bad job, so why aren't there tons of private schools opening?
Why hasn't the healthcare business corrected itself? They act like private enterprise is infallible, but private companies fold all the time. Institutions are there for a reason, to serve the people, not the bottom line.

[valvano]

So what if you can make 1000 more widgets per hour with a different method of longer hours, fewer employees and more pressure? if method A is working and giving people jobs, then isn't it fine? .

spoken like a true idiot living in a utopian fairyland....

i guess that fact that if you run a business based on your philosophy, but your competition can produce the same widget but with lower costs and better efficiently, you do realize that you probably wont be in business much longer??

based on your desires, horse and buggy companies would still be around?:rolleyes:

[Dorothy Wood]

spoken like a true idiot living in a utopian fairyland....

i guess that fact that if you run a business based on your philosophy, but your competition can produce the same widget but with lower costs and better efficiently, you do realize that you probably wont be in business much longer??

based on your desires, horse and buggy companies would still be around?:rolleyes:

Well, there are still horse and buggy companies, duh. www.buggy.com

I guess I must live in a utopian fairyland. My competition does things more cheaply and efficiently with machinery, but we choose to do most things by hand. And because we do things by hand, we can actually do more. Not the great volume of some other places, but because we are talented and know what we're doing, we get to make things for more prestigious clients.

And we get to be on TV without paying a cent for ad time, because we stand apart creatively enough to be asked to be interviewed and profiled for local news segments. A famous home decor show host even visited the store and gave us a national audience.

Do my bosses have more money than our competitors? probably not yet, but they have better reputations, and can afford a house in the city, vehicles, vacations, etc. And they're gasp...happy!

The world is not black and white, my dear. The more you flap your gums, the more you show your ignorance. I'm sorry you're so unsatisfied with life. Maybe you need to see a therapist?