While so much attention has been focused on the race between Obama and Clinton, few people have noticed that things aren’t as rosy as they appear with the Republican race. Andrew Malcolm writes in the LA Times Politics blog:
In the last three months, [Ron] Paul’s forces, who donated $34.5 million to his White House effort and upward of a million total votes, have, as The Ticket has noted, been fighting a series of guerrilla battles with party establishment officials at county and state conventions from Washington and Missouri to Maine and Mississippi. Their goal: to take control of local committees, boost their delegate totals and influence platform debates.
John McCain (who my father-in-law referred to as a “Democrat” yesterday) clearly doesn’t have enthusiastic support among the Republican base. This is causing problems with Republican GOP conventions across the country where Paul supporters are trying their best to ensure that he gets enough pledged delegates to be able to speak in St. Paul. They created mayhem at the Nevada State Convention, are being targeted by the Missouri GOP for their alleged disloyalty to John McCain, and are finding both success and special GOP counter-measures against them in several other states. Meanwhile, to demonstrate the depth of his support among younger people, his book was at the top of the Amazon bestseller list for a week after it was released on 4/30 and is still in the top ten (#7) today.
Paul has already said he won’t endorse McCain, and with the Libertarians potentially having a candidate with very good name recognition among Republicans (former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr), the GOP may have much bigger unity problems than the Democrats this year.
Go, you Paultards!!
It would be sweet beyond measure if the GOP convention turned out to be the cranky and contentious one. I suspect, as I bet you do as well, that Dr. Paul himself will endorse Barr.
I won’t comment on your f-i-l’s strange view of McBush.
Last Week’s Retro Kwik Kwiz:
In 1952 the L.A. County Democrat(ick) Central Committee rejected a potential congressional candidate who was ‘too liberal.’ Who was the barftard libtard reject?
[] A. Actress Helen Gahagan Douglas, defeated in a 1950 Senate election by Richard Nixon
[] B. Blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo
[] C. Neocommunist writer Lillian Hellman
[] D. Neocommunist thin man Dashiell Hammett
[] E. NeoMarxist Groucho Marx
[] F. Farmer Goldy garden despoiler Jessica Rabbit
Lucky winner of the retro Kwiz gets his posts kicked by Lee.
@2…JC’sKR…
That would be Ronaldus Magnus Reaganus…
The Piper
Rabbit again loses to The Piper. Same stuff, different day.
Bad news, obama has crossed over. He’s now showing false patriotism by wearing a flag pin.
I can’t tell by the photo if the flag pin has 50 stars or 57 stars.
I wonder if it has anything to do with clinton being up 36 points and he thought that “change” to wearing a flag pin might get him some of the votes of the uneducated bible-thumping gun-toting inbreds.
What’s attractive about a candidate who supports a 30% federal sales tax (on top of state sales taxes)? Are Paul’s supporters nuts? Or taxaholic Republicans?
@4 Off your Ritalin again?
@1
I won’t comment on your f-i-l’s strange view of McBush.
It’s a good indication that McCain isn’t gaining much ground with those who believe that his maverick past was never a positive trait. To them, he just looks like a politician willing to sell out for political gain – which is ironically exactly how he looks to Democrats now. McCain is f*cked every which way this year.
Could obama be the next dukakis? The dukakis former campaign manager sees the similarities.
It isn’t just die-hard Clinton supporters who are pointing out the similarities. Even some Obama backers who believe that the nomination fight is over see the possible parallels, and are determined to avoid them, or at least try.
Now that the media is finally starting to report on FlipFlop McCain his free ride is over. Where are the medical records Johnboy? Why won’t you release your wife’s tax records like every other candidate has done? Why do you continue to fight the release of records related to POWs? Why do you embrace the man who calls himself a pastor and the Catholic Church the “great whore?” How will you control your famous temper?
And many more…
How about a Paul-Nader ticket? Coming up with a platform might be a bit tricky.
Piper: Sounds correct. Why was “none of the above” one of the choices? Oh, well.
Reagan was a washed up B-lister by then. Soon thereafter, he ratted out his liberal acquaintences to HUAC and got on wingnut welfare.
The rest, as they say, is history.
@9
Could obama be the next dukakis?
Only if you’re dumb enough to think that Bush was the next Reagan. The unpopularity of the GOP is at levels far beyond what they were at the end of Reagan’s two terms.
Ron Paul, and now Bob Barr, the “Ralph Naders” of the conservative thinkers.
Baaa haaa haaa haaa haaa haaa.
Looks like 1992 all over again.
Obama in a landslide victory with Paul and Barr siphoning off Republican votes.
Baaa haaa haaa.
It’s great to be a Democrat.
Wow. Apparently “magnus” is the new word meaning “afflicted with early symptoms of Alzheimers.” Those crazy kids and the inventive ways they use language these days!
If McCain would like to learn what straight shooting is all about then he ought to take a good look at Bob Barr. The man has become a libertarian tiger, calling it the way he sees it. I wouldn’t vote for him but I do respect him – infinitely more now than ten years ago when, with his own moral failings, he ragged on the Clenis.
@14 “landslide victory”
I do hope that all the resulting exploding heads wind up on YouTube for our viewing pleasure.
@15…Tlazolteotl…
Ronaldus Magnus Reaganus on his worst day was clearly better than any Democrat who’s had the job on any day. Can’t say their best day since that would be an oxymoron.
BTW…I was genuinely impressed by your take on the Kentucky Derby tragedy. Out of the box, you demo’d what appears to be legit knowledge and a sober analysis of what happened. I also very much appreciated the links you posted to some of the great horse races of the past.
I won’t pretend expertise in an area I don’t have it, and thoroughbred racing is just such an area. Still, there’s something pretty special to watch those monsters move with both fierce energy and grace.
Again, you offered good information and reasoned thinking. When it comes to that, politics aren’t important.
The Piper
Just wait till that nutburger pastor, the Rev. Wright is seen on RNC commercials 5 times every hour for weeks before the election. This will be Barry Hussein’s Chappaquidick.
I’m gonna vote for Ron Paul, and I don’t give a shit what anybody here or the neo-cons over at Stefan’s blog thinks.
That’s the good thing about an election: you can write-in whomever you want.
“Magnus” is the name of a rather strange configuration file that’s part of the Netscape/iPlanet Web server program. I don’t think anyone, including the original authors, quite understands what it’s supposed to do, to say nothing of why it was called that.
Anyway, good to see ya back, Piper. Where the heck have you been?
Well, thank you for that, Piper. Secretariat was doing his thing just as I had the ‘horse bug’ most girls growing up do. And I had family that was involved in the business locally for awhile. But yes, there is something amazing in watching a 1200-lb beast racing along at 40 mph on his tip-toes. And really, Secretariat was a truly great horse. I was very saddened by Barbaro’s breakdown, maybe he was a great horse too, but he didn’t get to prove it to the world.
Nowadays, I can be found watching the 4Hers showing off their horses and their horse-handling skills at the Fair every year. A little slower pace, but exciting in it’s own way. Some of those kids really put in a lot of effort and it shows in some of the amazing things they can get their horses to do for them.
@19
Just wait till that nutburger pastor, the Rev. Wright is seen on RNC commercials 5 times every hour for weeks before the election. This will be Barry Hussein’s Chappaquidick.
Whatever, more Americans are bothered by McCain’s connections to the current President than are bothered by Obama’s connections to Wright.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/107.....Obama.aspx
If all the RNC does is bombard us with Wright ads, all they’ll be seen as is a bunch of pathetic losers with nothing to do but play the race card. I’m hoping they do it.
@20
Sadly, your vote won’t count:
http://washington4ron.blogspot.....ident.html
If you can’t vote for Obama, vote for Barr.
19 I have a better idea. Let’s forget having debates between the actual candidates. Instead, put Wright and Rod Parsley on national television and challenge them to see who can break glass first by screaming at the top of his lungs. Meanwhile, going into the commercial breaks, Tim Russert can scratch his hemmorhoids, Katie Couric can see how widely she can smile without tearing her face in half, and George Stephanopolous can try to touch his finger to the tip of his nose with his eyes closed.
@22…AF…
Out plotting and scheming.
The Piper
Good grief, they really did cremate troops at the Friends Forever Pet Crematorium Service!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....components
Can we dream about a Barr/Paul ticket as Libertarians? Not that Obama needs a third party siphoning off R votes, but, hell, such a Libertarian ticket could very well beat McCain in a few states–Montana comes to mind.
“Ronaldus Magnus Reaganus on his worst day was clearly better than any Democrat who’s had the job on any day.”
Like the day he asserted ketchup is a vegetable? Yeah, sure. You bet.
I’ve yet to see any analysis that makes the case for this without relying on a ridiculous case of the post-hoc fallacy, convenient lapses in memory or both.
Ronald Reagan asked us if we were better off than we were four years prior. We can ask that same question vis-a-vis the past quarter century, and, for all but a handful of the most wealthy (and “elite” as one can possibly get), the answer is the same today as it was when Reagan first asked the question.
@28
It may be Barr/Gravel if you can believe that. If Barr can get into the debates too, this gets really interesting because his recent transformation has made him the far more principled conservative, and that will clearly come out in a debate.
Piper’s been at Elitist Training Camp.
The Tommy
Now that freak Bob Barr has announced that will draw even more support for FlipFlop McCain. I predict the margin to be 30 points – go Dems!
Like the day he asserted ketchup is a vegetable?
And the day he said smog comes from trees.
And the strange way he posited an invasion from Mars in one or two of his speeches and in dialogue with Gorbachev.