Seriously, Republicans, This Is The Best You Can Do? None Of These 2012 Candidates Can Beat Obama

Seriously, Republicans, This Is The Best You Can Do? None Of These 2012 Candidates Can Beat Obama

Henry Blodget
Business Insider
March 5, 2011

The Economist provides the handy chart below assessing the Republican presidential field for 2012.

The bottom line?

If this is the best the Republicans can do, they might as well concede right now.


Do you seriously think Romney or Huckabee could beat Obama? Seriously? Romney couldn't even beat McCain. Huckabee got off to a great start with mainstream Americans this week when he blasted Natalie Portman for getting knocked up without a husband. (Never mind Bristol Palin). The Sarah Palin bubble has burst, and now she just terrifies people. Chris Christie is losing steam in New Jersey, and he's not running. Newt Gingrich couldn't win a decade ago (and, according to fellow Republicans, he's a weirdo).

Unless there's some great undiscovered hope waiting in the wings--or unless there's another economic crisis--the Republicans are toast.

Sarah Palin
+ Tea Party Heroine
- Scares everyone else



You seem quite keen on Christie. Why is he not running if he is seemingly electable and popular?

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:You seem quite keen on Christie. Why is he not running if he is seemingly electable and popular?

Maybe it's a personal thing with him. Being a president of this country is no easy task. It also might be a strategy on his part, too. He might appear to not be interested in the job and then, BOOM, he'll be running.

If he does decide to run, Obama is toast. He's the type of candidate that this country needs after all the years of GOP and Dem bullshit-talkin' politicians.

Until several weeks ago, I actually thought Huckabee was a reasonable choice. He has a decent resume, and he had a decent personality. Plus, at that time I thought he was more "moderate" than most others. But his shenanigans of late have completely ruined his chances IMO.

Sarah Palin
+ Tea Party Heroine
- Scares everyone else

Tea party heroine is a POSITIVE?

Only messing wi'tcha

You have a serious point though: can/do the Tea Party appeal to moderates and centrists? Clearly Palin as an individual does not

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:You have a serious point though: can/do the Tea Party appeal to moderates and centrists? Clearly Palin as an individual does not

I believe that the so-called Tea Party members of Congress and candidates can appeal to moderates and centrists. I think this was thoroughly proven in the mid-term elections back in November of 2010.

The key to the future success of a Tea Party-backed Presidential candidate is going to be message discipline. But you can be sure that the mainstream media will excoriate any candidate backed by the Tea Party, particularly if that candidate is an actual conservative, and will attempt to manipulate the selection (as they did during the last Presidential election cycle) of the Republican Party's nominee by giving more favorable press to the most liberal of the candidates vying for the primary win while vilifying the most conservative.

This is why message discipline is going to be so very important - the successful candidate will not react to the predictable mainstream media war that will be waged against them and not couch their messages in placating manner in a vain attempt to win media favor. They will say what they mean and mean what they say and be unapologetic about it - think Chris Christie.

dblboggie wrote:They will say what they mean and mean what they say and be unapologetic about it - think Chris Christie.

Unlike Mitt Romney. If the GOP nominates him, they might as well forfeit the election. He's a right wing John Kerry.... a flip-flopper. Of course, the media was happy as hell to push on McCain back in '08. They knew he'd sink. They'll do the same with Romney.

I remember all too well watching the media "pick" our presidential nominees. They gave face time to certain candidates and none to others during the nomination process. When there were 7 candidates on either side, the media had it's "picks" and pushed them. Of course, the blind voters ate it all up.

Blind voters are those who don't do ANY research. They just go with what's put in front of their faces. There were those who voted for Obama because he said this and that. There were those who didn't vote for Obama only because he was a "Muslim" and that's pretty fucking piss poor.

TexasBlue wrote:

dblboggie wrote:They will say what they mean and mean what they say and be unapologetic about it - think Chris Christie.

Unlike Mitt Romney. If the GOP nominates him, they might as well forfeit the election. He's a right wing John Kerry.... a flip-flopper. Of course, the media was happy as hell to push on McCain back in '08. They knew he'd sink. They'll do the same with Romney.

I remember all too well watching the media "pick" our presidential nominees. They gave face time to certain candidates and none to others during the nomination process. When there were 7 candidates on either side, the media had it's "picks" and pushed them. Of course, the blind voters ate it all up.

Blind voters are those who don't do ANY research. They just go with what's put in front of their faces. There were those who voted for Obama because he said this and that. There were those who didn't vote for Obama only because he was a "Muslim" and that's pretty fucking piss poor.

Precisely. Far too many American's rely on Entertainment Tonight and the broadcast evening news shows for their information sources during elections (and that's when they even bother watching the evening news).

But the Tea Party phenomenon and the last mid-terms gives me a little more hope that the electorate won't be fooled so easily... not a lot of hope, but some.

dblboggie wrote:Precisely. Far too many American's rely on Entertainment Tonight and the broadcast evening news shows for their information sources during elections (and that's when they even bother watching the evening news).

But the Tea Party phenomenon and the last mid-terms gives me a little more hope that the electorate won't be fooled so easily... not a lot of hope, but some.

The gall of the media pushing McCain. It pissed me off. When he was nominated, that's when I turned 100% towards the Libertarian candidate. McCain is (and never was) a conservative. Romney is not (and never was) a conservative. Even my ex-gov that's going to run (Pawlenty) is no conservative. He is, by Minnesota standards (which isn't saying much). The electorate is more powerful in the south than the north. Southern cons will see Pawlenty and Romney for what they are.

Having said that, if either one of those two actually won the WH in 2012, I'd sit back and watch. I won't just send my love and backing their way.

TexasBlue wrote:

dblboggie wrote:Precisely. Far too many American's rely on Entertainment Tonight and the broadcast evening news shows for their information sources during elections (and that's when they even bother watching the evening news).

But the Tea Party phenomenon and the last mid-terms gives me a little more hope that the electorate won't be fooled so easily... not a lot of hope, but some.

The gall of the media pushing McCain. It pissed me off. When he was nominated, that's when I turned 100% towards the Libertarian candidate. McCain is (and never was) a conservative. Romney is not (and never was) a conservative. Even my ex-gov that's going to run (Pawlenty) is no conservative. He is, by Minnesota standards (which isn't saying much). The electorate is more powerful in the south than the north. Southern cons will see Pawlenty and Romney for what they are.

Having said that, if either one of those two actually won the WH in 2012, I'd sit back and watch. I won't just send my love and backing their way.

While I certainly hope the most fiscally conservative candidate wins the primary, and I will do what I can to make that happen, in the end I realize that politics is ultimately a game of compromise and there is not a chance in hell that I will vote for Obama or a third-party candidate - I am going to vote for the Republican nominee, no matter who it is; because there is not a single one of them that are as bad as Obama has been. I live in the real world and I've worked on the Hill... you never get everything you want, ever - and while you try to, and do your best to limit your compromises, there's a time when the better part of valor is to take the best one can get.

Let's face it, McCain would not have been as bad as Obama - not by any stretch of the imagination.