The 2012 presidential contest took an interesting twist this weekend. One lackluster candidate, a former governor of a mid-west state, dropped out after being unable to upgrade his image to “presidential class” and, more importantly, after not finishing first or second in the Iowa straw poll.
And another candidate, after months of great anticipation, jumped into the race with high praise and huge expectations.
You know what this reminds me of? The summer of 2007, and the Tale of Two Thompsons.
Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson was an early Republican candidate in the 2008 race. I guess he though his gubernatorial experience (elected four times), his experience a Bush cabinet member (Sec. of Health and Social Services), and his small town “charisma” would make him a natural in the eyes of Iowans.
After practically living in the state for months, poor Tommy placed sixth in the August Iowa straw poll. The next day, he dropped out of the race.
This is eerily similar to the Tim Pawlenty story. Pawlenty is 18 years younger, and has far less political experienced than Tommy Thompson. What they both lacked was presidential charisma. Nobody had any idea why either one of them was running for President.
The other Thompson that ran in the 2008 campaign was former Senator and actor Fred Thompson. Good ol’ Fred, teased for months and months. He eschewed the Iowa Straw poll, and didn’t officially declare until the first week of September, 2007. He was immediately placed among the front-runners. It seemed the Republicans had found their next Ronald Reagan….
Ol’ Fred was briefly the darling of the Republicans—at least, the ones paying attention to the primary. But it quickly became apparent that Fred just wasn’t up to the task. He came off as a tired old dog that just needed a front porch. He withdrew toward the end of January, 2008. (Parodies of his withdraw—here, here, and here—were among my favorites of the 2008 campaign.)
This is the problem with finding a “savior” that nobody knows anything about.
And that seems analogous to the lateish entrance of Texas Governor Rick Parry Perry. Everyone knows he prays and he is a fundamentalist. A few folks may remember his hint of a Texas secession, which sounds too extreme to be real. Republicans would likely attribute it to an attention-getting, teabagger upgrade to Ronald Reagan’s “…the government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.”
Ahhh, yes, the Republicans have found their new Ronald Reagan. The don’t really know him, but the love him anyway.
And here is where the analogy with Ol’ Fred ends. Because Gov. Perry isn’t a tired old dog. Rather, he is a fucking extremist! I am talking an order of magnitude more extremist than Rep. Michele Bachmann (a.k.a. Ol’ Crazy Eyes).
Ezra Klein has an excellent, and quite positive, review of Perry’s book, “Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington.” Klein highly recommends the book. In it, Perry lays out his extreme “State’s right” position that would remove the federal government from civil rights protections, labor laws, creation of a minimum wage, environmental regulation, gun regulation, Medicare, Medicaid, and education.
This is a level of extremism that is not acceptable to the majority of Republicans, and is likely threatening to the Republican establishment. Hell…it’s pretty much too extreme for FAUX News. Perry has about the same chance of winning the nomination as fellow Texan Rep. Ron Paul does.
If Obama is lucky, it will take many months until Republicans figure out who Perry really is.
To some extent, each major Republican candidates has “issues” that make him or her unacceptable to big chunks of the Republican base. In 2008, McCain was chosen because he was the least unacceptable candidate, and he performed better than any other candidate in most head-to-head polls against Clinton, Obama, and Edwards.
Acceptable choices for the Republicans seem even more limited this cycle.
T Paw=Tommy Thompson
Perry=Fred Thompson
———————-
=> Obama=Jimmy Carter?
“Acceptable choices for the Republicans seem even more limited this cycle.”
What I’ve noticed is that internal forces within the GOP are turning “acceptable” (at least marginally) candidates into wild-eyed crazy radicals — see, e.g., Pawlenty and, to some extent, the recent ravings of Romney (alliteration intentional). Which suggests the GOP nomination process is incapable of producing an “acceptable” candidate, in fact, is designed not to.
This is the strongest proof I’ve seen yet that God doesn’t want a Republican to be president. God wants the African-American guy to be president! And He is going to make sure in the only way He knows how — by making sure Obama is the only candidate on the Nov. 2012 ballot by ensuring the GOPers have no one to run against him! I’m going to try to get the Great Mother Rabbit Spirit come to me in a dream and confirm this. Right now, I’m operating on circumstantial evidence.
The GOPers want to make history. They want to prove it’s possible for a president to get re-elected with double-digit unemployment. This is a tall order, but they’ve got a shot at it.
First, they have to force policies on the Democrats that will make the economy worse to push unemployment up a couple more points — they’re well on their way. Second, they must make sure all of their candidates are unelectable, so there’s no possibility of an electable candidate squirting through their vetting process and snatching their party’s nomination — they’re working on that.
My guess is they’ll pull it off.
The very surreal possibility that anyone with the negative IQ possessed by Rick Perry has a shot of obtaining the Republican nomination and therefore a 50/50 shot at being president of these here Murkin states is a very sad commentary on the capability of our process.
Go read The World’s Longest Praeteritio and see if it does not ring true.
@4 Why do you assume the GOP nominee has an even chance against Obama? There are times when the GOP nomination isn’t worth a roll of toilet paper — that was true in 1936, again in 1964, again in 1976, and it may be true again in 2012.
Published in 2010 to support his run for another term as Texas governor, Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington is a treasure trove of stupidity.
Yglesias already has a The Ten Weirdest Ideas In Rick Perry’s ‘Fed Up’ posted.
@4 Nice catch — that guy concisely explains why Perry will become president, if he does:
“Democrats are not going to take their rightful place as the majority party in the US until they chop the Republicans off at the knees. That’s a requirement. Now, of course, the GOP has gone so far Right it’s in danger of falling into a Horowitz Singularity and emerging as weirdly religious Trotskyites, and the Dems will figure once again that sooner or later they’ll return to power on the backs of what morons their opponents are. Meanwhile, Rick Perry sounds like he believes in something. Barack Obama sounds like he believes in giving speeches.”
Republicans possibly are right about one thing: You can’t trust the average Democrat with a gun. Why? Because, more likely that not, he’ll shoot his own balls off with it.
@7 Doghouse Riley is a blog to follow if you can withstand the painful insight.
fucking extremist! I am talking an order of magnitude more extremist than Rep. Michele Bachmann (a.k.a. Ol’ Crazy Eyes).
daryl, from what i understand, you’re some kind of teachers assistant at u of seattle. do they realize you use vulgar and derogatory language in a publiuc forum? there are standards, appaerently, for off campus actions. if you were marching in a neo-nazi parade, i’m quite sure they would fire you. i think its about time that i excerisize my rights to have my tax dollars spent accountably and contact the dean about your behavior.
Well, if Daryl was at Seattle U, which is a private university, your tax dollars don’t mean shit, mano.
@10
well, laura, i dont take advice from the weaker sex, especially lesbians.
11, ah, you got your facts wrong, thought you were clever, and now you are embarrassed that you were so very wrong. Manoftruth was so wrong. Giggle. Look at you! man of little penis.
@12
ouch, you got me on the little penis laura, you know how guys are about that.
now i have to go lick my wounds.
“now i have to go lick my wounds”
LMFAO!
@12
MOT’s a real live Nazi. I’ve suggested meds and therapy a few times, but alas…
Goopers and deep-fried phallic objects: Rick Perry demonstrates his considerable deepthroat skills…
@ 15
A Leucotomy would be more appropriate. I know people like him. Their minds are twisted, their inclinations are purely sadistic, and their proclivities are violent and forceful. Such folks are incapable of rehabilitation.
Dear Goldy President Bush,
Please reinstate the slave laws. Give the decent ones to all True Christians™ to act as good hard-working slaves, then send all the bad ones back to Afreaka.
It makes my heart feel heavy knowing they are on the loose in the USA, stealing pies, raping women and dealing drugs.
@16,
That’s the best of Daily Kooks? No wonder Markos and his worthless band of morons are more irrelevant than ever!
ROTFLMBBAO!
Hmmm… so the secession issue was started by the AP because they thought Perry suggested it?
How interesting this was not covered above!
Interesting that our leader, President Obama, is finally coming forth with a jobs plan. He will be beat to death with the simple question, “Why did you wait so long?”. That and his bus tour and ObamaCare’s predictable unconsitutionality of the Individual Mandate. An overall failure of leadership and appearance of cluelessness. He was at 19% Strong Approval/43% Approval on Rasmussen this AM and even worse on Gallup & CNN (hardly Republican biased polls).
I suspect Rick Perry will be his opponent. The Tea Party will rally behind him as will the Republican Party in General. Most importantly, Perry will appeal to Independents who are deserting President Obama in droves. It will come down to results on job creation. Obama has become the excuse/blame King. It makes him appear even weaker & more clueless than he already appears. I suspect Hillary will soon be drafted. At least with Hillary, we won’t have a pathetic apologist running around weakening America even more. She’s tough.
Now I hear Obama’s secret job’s plan isn’t coming out until September??? WTF? He doesn’t even have a plan and is gluing one together as we speak. What a fool and poor excuse for a leader. He is going to get clobbered for his way too belated plan and threats about not passing it. Is this guy trying to lose on purpose? Sure appears so. A secret jobs plan, a plan so secret Obama doesn’t even know what it is!
@20
Piddly, trying to revise history, oh self proclaimed master of the google?
So when Perry said this a few weeks prior to your “AP Istigated” tea-party rally answert:
“When we came into the nation in 1845, we were a republic, we were a stand-alone nation,” the governor can be heard saying. “And one of the deals was, we can leave anytime we want. So we’re kind of thinking about that again.”
That was the AP being all “lamestream?” So questioning if Perry stands by his secessionist comments is just the AP putting it in his mouth?
Bwaaa, haaa, haaa. nice try Piddly. Did you hear that on Rush? Did Hannity convince you that Perry talking about secession was just taken out of context by the demon left wing media?
ManofUnkindness: Why try to get Darylfired because you don’t agree with his political views and his right to self-expression on his political blog? What a meanspirted rightwinger you are. Don’t tell me you believe you are “Christian”
also? You want to have someone fired and lose their livelihood because of self-expression? Sounds more like censorship. If you don’t like this blog and the words used why are youever here trolling? Unless you are another paid intolerant troll looking to impede political discourse that you personally don’t agree with.
Well ManofUnKindness change the channel.
This guy is a paid Koch-whore…dumb as they come.
Nice job czechsaaz…
…lovin’ you pnwing the puddybitch!
his country ws founded on the BIBLE and it says that homosexuality is wrong it’s SIN and if this country doesn’t turn back to God it will be ashes like Sodom and Gomorah. …And there is enough proof in nature to prove that God exists along with the Bible which has records of things we know happened. …evidently you are too blinded by Satan or just plain to ignorant to see the LOVE of God. God doesn’t send people to Hell. They choose not to accept his free gift of salvation from sin and have to go there because He can’t allow sin in heaven. Hitler and Stalin tortured and killed people because they wanted the power. they didn’t make a way of escape like God did and to compare God to them is blasphemy. I challenge you to read the Bible through entirely with an open mind and then tell me God doesn’t love you. and as for proof of the Bible how about the Flood scientist have said that there was a bid flood at one time, the bible records that.
TRUECRISTIAN,
I know you’re only joking with your comments, but Christianity, like all religions, is just a tale that grew with the telling. There isn’t any “true religion.” They’re all packs of lies and make-believe adopted and enforced by the powerful to further their aims.
@25
Well at least he is getting paid…which is more than you can say.
23
Puddy probably doesn’t recognize the smackdown you just delivered. He certainly won’t acknowledge it, of that I’m sure.
“They’re all packs of lies and make-believe adopted and enforced by the powerful to further their aims.”
That is to ignore a little girl who is in the news, a Christian, whose last birthday wish has already made this a better world. If lies and make-believe are what led this kid to do what she did, then I say thats’ far better than the lies and make-believe of extremist political ideologies, left or right, that seem to accomplish nothing but harm.
I’m fed up with the indiscriminate Christian bashing that goes on here. You all trash the good with the bad. I suggest that you all improve your aim or STFU.
@31
Wow, non-sequitor. I gave to that little girl’s cause even though I don’t believe in her God. If fear of damnation is your sole (soul?) motivation for doing good, are you more or less righteous than the disbeliever who does good and acts morally simply because it is their own human nature and moral code? If there’s no consequence for evil, is the non-believer who chooses good anyway more righteous than the believer?
If I do good without care for future reward, I am less than you? That’s how it works?
Igor’s taking up the annoined Republican Talking Point of the month, claiming that Obama has never put forth a jobs plan.
Of course, that’s just trying to deflect attention away from the Republicans who were elected to Congress in 2010 on the claims that they were going to do something about the jobs program. When asked, one Republican responded that they did, they kept taxes low and cut the budget (adding to the job problem). Funny, the Republicans tried that in 1929-32, and it didn’t work out so well for them then.
So the word went out to shut up about any Republican jobs plan (there isn’t one), and instead claim that Obama has never issued a jobs plan.
Now, without going back to check the dates, I seem to recall that the 2009 bailouts of the auto manufacturers was a jobs plan, because if they failed then millions of workers in related industries (parts suppliers, etc.) would also fail. That worked out rather well, it prevented a collapse which might have helped turn the Great Rescession into another Great Depression. Republicans opposed that, by the way – bailing out bankers and wall streat brokers is okay, but preserving manufacturing jobs in American is a no-no, according to them.
I also recall the stimulus package for “shovel-ready” jobs, which kept the rescession from getting worse. The Republicans opposed that then, and are opposing it now, by claiming that it contributed to the deficit.
I also recall at least two major addresses by Obama in 2010 in which he laid out the plans for further jobs programs through government spending in infrastructure. The Republican House of Representatives put a stop to that one as soon as they took over in Jan. 2011.
And they know that any jobs program Obama proposes is dead-on-arrival in the House. They just want a target to shoot at in the upcoming election year, in which they will simultanious complain that the proposal is “too expensive, increases the debt when we need to cut spending, etc.), and at the same time claim that “the Obama jobs proposal (which they never allowed to be adopted) has failed miserably because unemployment hasn’t dropped.
So it’s a lie on both counts. In the first place, Obama has had more than one job proposals, the ones that have been enacted have actually done rather well and cost much less than originally expected. Those that weren’t enacted, obviously, haven’t done anything. Secondly, they won’t enact any proposal he sends, so it’s a moot point.
But hey, thanks for playing the game of “lies and deception”. You seem to win when you play in the Tea Party League, where critical reasoning and comparatively recent memory skills arent’ required. But when you move up to the AA’s, you better bring a better game with you.
@30, Crickets. I see Piddly has pissed in other threads since then. I’ll give him this, usually he digs in when beaten and just retypes his comment in bold or all caps. This is as close to a concede as we’ll see from him.
I’m still waiting for Puddy to condemn his buddy Glenn Beck for equating the children killed at the youth camp in Norway with “Hitler Youth”. All I get is avoidance and deflection. Apparantly he agrees with Beck.
@32 What does that have to do with anything I said, czechsaaz? Help me out here. Where did I state, imply or infer anything whatsofuckingever about “fear of damnation” or anything else of which you wrote about?
No you leftist tool. I am on vacation moron. Radio not on. The HA head leftists can corroborate I’ve been visiting many counties all over the fruited plain.
IS that the best you got on secession?
“Wow, non-sequitor.”
No, but your comment has all the trappings of a straw man.
“I gave to that little girl’s cause even though I don’t believe in her God.”
Clean water has nothing to do with God. The girl’s cause is not a call to faith, but simply a call to help others. I was quite clear. When one indiscriminately bashes Christians, one bashes this kid too.
“If fear of damnation is your sole (soul?) motivation for doing good, are you more or less righteous than the disbeliever who does good and acts morally simply because it is their own human nature and moral code?”
You’re making stuff up. Fear of damnation never motivates me.
“If there’s no consequence for evil, is the non-believer who chooses good anyway more righteous than the believer?”
I believe that good deeds can stand on their own, whether motivated by fear of damnation or any other motivating factor.
“If I do good without care for future reward, I am less than you? That’s how it works?”
I hope you’re not trying to tell me that what I do is for future reward. I’ll try to be really clear here. You have no idea what motivates me or anybody else but maybe yourself, if that.
Look, if you want to defend the indiscriminate bashing of Christians, Hindus, or any other people of faith, then just be up front about it.
@38
I honestly don’t mean to offend, n
But the implication of invoking Rachel Beckwith is that good only stems from a Christian worldview. Spend a few decades being told that one can’t be moral without religion, a common cal..of the reborn, and maybe you’ll cut me a little slack.
It is pretty common among Christians to claim that SSL action only comes through a wwjd attitude. That translates to a fear of damnation as a prime motivator.
Oh, I still love ya, czechsaaz. I most definitely have my regrets bringing her into this, but she has obviously been on my mind. I really slipped with that one. My point, and I do have one, is that indiscriminate bashing of Christianity includes bashing the likes of Martin Luther King Jr., Bobby Kennedy and other great progressive Americans living and dead and, yes, little Rachel Beckwith, not to mention myself and others here like Proud Leftist, Besides my believing that this is really, really bad politics, I believe it’s just wrong to go there. We can rightly attack the hypocrisy of individuals, including me, without a broad brush condemnation of a billion or so basically decent people, many of whose votes we’re going to need if we’re to stop the extremist right wing of the Republican party.
“maybe you’ll cut me a little slack”
Of course I will.
@37
I missed the part where you admitted that AP didn’t plant the secession idea into the national narrative. See, Perry only went there ’cause the AP started it. That’s what you meant. Confronted with a fact that Perry said it unsolicited before, Piddly runs and hides.
So you’re on vacation supposedly but you keep dropping in on HA a lot for someone who’s relaxing. Since you haven’t had an original thought, or many coherent ones, on this forum, what blog, radio or TV show convinced you that Perry implying secession is a reasonable option was just an AP gotcha in the past. Can’t blame this one on vacation.
Either you swallowed the talking point from someone which makes you a sheep (Baaaa, Baaa, Baaa) or you came up with it on your own, highly unlikely as stated above, which makes you stupid for failing to check out your theory before posting.
@40
Well said. I pass by the purple and polka dot cross on I-90 almost daily and it chokes me up every time. Even more if my kids are in the car.
39 and 40
Nice job, fellas, of kissing and making up. I do have to join with Steve and say that the indiscriminate Christian-bashing, or religion-bashing, that goes on here at times can be discomforting. Christians have done, and do, a whole lot of good in this sweet old world. I understand all the arguments against religious belief and sometimes feel the sway of those arguments. As a Christian existentialist, I simply find that faith is helpful in the here and now. I have no thoughts or concerns about an afterlife. I believe doing good is its own reward, whatever the motivation for doing so might be.
One thing I despise about the Christian right is that, for nonbelievers, those folks have become the face of Christianity–the gun-loving, tax-cutting, immigrant-bashing, gay-hating, warmongering, union-busting, science-denying, fear-those-who-are-different, sanctimonious pigs who wear their religion on their sleeves (I’m talking the Rick Santorums, Rick Perrys, Sarah Palins, Michele Bachmanns of our country) despoil Christianity in the same way that pouring Heinz ketchup on seared ahi would. They are first and foremost rightwing cultists, the contemporary manifestation of a long thread in American history that ties certain political ideals to religion for pragmatic purposes. It is sad as hell when someone thinks of those people when they think of Christians.
@44 I need to get out more – I had to Google “Christian existentialist”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.....tentialism
I’d say I’m a touch of that. Raised a Christian, I’m someone who rejected God as a kid when horrific things were happening to me and I thought I’d soon be killed, and my prayers were seemingly never going to be answered. I didn’t reject the existence of God, just his help. “I’ll never ask you for anything again. Ever. I don’t want your help. I’ll get through this on my own.” I quickly amended that to add, “I just want you to let me talk to my Mom once in a while.” And then, “Um, and I might have a prayer for someone else, but never again for myself.” A kid’s thoughts at the time, but it’s been that way ever since. But it’s also true that my life has been extraordinarily blessed ever since. Go figure. My God? Sometimes my God is just a glorified switchboard operator. Sometimes, much, much more. A bit of the Gnostic, I do not believe that Jesus was devine, but unlike the Gnostics, Mosaic Law is not my law. If Jesus was devine, then so are we all. As someone into the sciences, I’ve never experienced any conflict between my faith and science. My God seems to get bigger, not smaller, with each scientific discovery.
So if I’m to have my faith labeled, I’d call myself a new-age progressive Christian existentialist Gnostic shaman with a bad fucking attitude towards commies and fascists. I suppose others might just call me an asshole. That wouldn’t be missing the mark.
Steve,
I need to run to the ferry. Hope I get back on HA tonight. I can’t believe what I quickly viewed on “Christian existentialist” from Wikipedia. But, I just scanned. Kierkegaard, of course. But, it didn’t do him justice. Then, your last paragraph. Deserves a whole reply itself.
@46 I’ll check in a little later to see if you’re around.
Steve,
I don’t think Wikipedia does “Christian existentialism” justice. I suppose, though, that such a concept is not easily reduced to an encyclopedic description. Albert Camus is a favorite author of mine, an existentialist who posited hope. Camus proposed (as did Sartre at times) that, indeed, we’re stuck with where we are, what he have, who we are, and this life is all we have, but that doesn’t mean we need to give up. (Read the last couple pages of “The Stranger” concerning a condemned man.) Camus repeated that theme in novels, short stories, and essays (“The Myth of Sisyphus”). To me, that message ties in much with the Gospel. I read the Gospel, and I know our job is never done. We, like Sisyphus, keep pushing that rock (of social justice, peace, understanding, whatever) up toward the top of the hill. We will, of course, never get it to roll down the other side. We will always have to chase that stone back downhill. But, we keep pushing. We will ever keep pushing.
Your Rachel campaign is along those lines. That campaign won’t provide clean water to Somalia. But, you try to do so anyway, in the face of knowing you will not succeed. You do it because not engaging in hope is really ugly. I could quote some Scripture in this regard, but won’t. That’s Christian existentialism to me.
@48 I’d like to throw in my two bits’ worth here. From my perspective as a rabbit, it’s obvious that all the things afflicting humanity are caused by human behavior, and you humans could change your behavior if you wanted to, therefore solving humanity’s problems is easy if you want to solve them.
But if you humans insist on eliminating your own species, we rabbits will be more than happy to take over your ecological niche.
You understand folly. I figure that’s half of understanding our relationship with God. I believe the other half is to understand that to be God is to be really fucking bored. No past, no future, no now, knows all, is all – what a boring existence. And a recipe for mischief. Like I tell my Dear Ms. Wingnut, we may cry now but when we get to heaven we’ll understand. And then we’ll be able to laugh at the folly and at how we wept while here over the sufferings of children.
Speaking of the sufferings of children and Camus, I threw out the “Perhaps we cannot prevent children from being tortured…” quote the other day when writing about Rachel. I was in a way, big into existentialism back in the day, and read all of Camus’ writings in my late teens. I knew where Camus would go with Sisyphus before I read it. It would be the moment I always dread, standing alone at the top of the hill, looking down at the stone. It’s that pause before we summon the will to continue. But we keep going. We have to.
“The sufferings of children were the bread of our affliction, and yet without this bread we would die of spiritual hunger.”
Camus, The Plague
No self indulgences this time, Proud Leftist. I’m elevating my game for Rachel. Her call is really no different than Bobby Kennedy’s. It’s time to seek a newer world.
Folly. Indeed. Nice, Steve. Existentialism in a word. But, not quite Christian existentialism.
You had to grow up early. I did not. I still have not grown up. I still think I’m 26–okay, maybe 32–though my hair is gray and my beard white. Don’t try to talk me out of that. I have not grown up. I’ve got some idealism left in me. Self-indulgence? You bet. You can give money to a cause, or devote yourself to a cause. Or, you can just try, within the limits of being a flawed human (rabbits excluded), to simply better the world around us.