Largely true; it matters to people like Bachmann who need credibility, but to few others. - Edit 1
Before modification by Joel at 15/08/2011 01:04:55 AM
It's a very skewed sampling of a very unrepresentative state and the votes are practically bought. If anyone wanted to pay enough money, he (or in this case, she) could come out on top.
The reason Romney and Perry ignored it in their own ways (and, in the case of Perry, snubbed it by stealing the press over it) is because as front-runners they don't need to waste the money to buy the straw poll. It was only important for candidates who were considered nobodys, because a straw poll win will give them some free press for a few days as the 24-hour news channels analyze to death the most irrelevant piece of political news out there.
The simple fact is that Romney is the strongest Republican candidate, followed by Perry, and one of the two of them will end up going up against Obama. Whether or not that person wins will probably have a hell of a lot to do with what the economy and jobs situation looks like, because it will be a referendum on the do-nothing President rather than a vote "for" the other candidate for a lot of voters (particularly independents).
I support Romney, but I could hold my nose and vote for Perry despite his social conservatism. If neither of them wins (and assuming no one better, like Christie, jumps into the race) I will just not vote rather than give a vote to anyone else. Maybe I'll write my own name in as a write-in. I'm old enough to be President.
The reason Romney and Perry ignored it in their own ways (and, in the case of Perry, snubbed it by stealing the press over it) is because as front-runners they don't need to waste the money to buy the straw poll. It was only important for candidates who were considered nobodys, because a straw poll win will give them some free press for a few days as the 24-hour news channels analyze to death the most irrelevant piece of political news out there.
The simple fact is that Romney is the strongest Republican candidate, followed by Perry, and one of the two of them will end up going up against Obama. Whether or not that person wins will probably have a hell of a lot to do with what the economy and jobs situation looks like, because it will be a referendum on the do-nothing President rather than a vote "for" the other candidate for a lot of voters (particularly independents).
I support Romney, but I could hold my nose and vote for Perry despite his social conservatism. If neither of them wins (and assuming no one better, like Christie, jumps into the race) I will just not vote rather than give a vote to anyone else. Maybe I'll write my own name in as a write-in. I'm old enough to be President.
You realize that Perrys much touted "job creation" record boils down to
1) A lot of people whose major qualification is the ability to ask "Do you want fries with that?" and
2) a lot of government jobs at the new (in many cases, duplicate) state agencies he created, which have been insulated from budget cuts in other states by the fact the Texas Legislature only meets every other year.
In the latter case, by the time Perry has to run hard for the GOP nomination, his chief merit, job creation, is likely to have evaporated when the next Legislative session axes government jobs to offset budget shortfalls as other states have. Meanwhile, while conservative Texas RAFOlk may not share that fear, even state GOP chairman worry that Perry will reek of Bush to the rest of the nation. Not that it matters, because the corporate (i.e. important) "wing" of the party is so solidly behind Romney that they even create new corporations for the sake of anonymously donating a million dollars to his campaign (incidentally doing an end run around the limits on donations by ACTUAL "people"). Romney's your nominee, and probably our next President; I assume he won't be in office long before we find out if he's the anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-tax presidential candidate or the pro-abortion, anti-gun, pro-tax MA governor. Maybe I should start a pool....
Not that ANY of it matters because, even though Obama consistently leads all Republican candidates by a fair margin (double digits over anyone but Romney), if there's one thing the "Hope and Change" candidate has proven it's that you get your corporate President no matter what because those are the only ones running; all we're debating now is which one of them gets the honor. Like I say, enjoy your second "one time" corporate tax holiday, because, Democratic Senate and "socialist" President notwithstanding, I think it's only a matter of months until it becomes law yet again. If you have any doubts about the real score, bear in mind this is the same "small government" GOP that didn't stop at slashing taxes for the major donors, but ran up $4 trillion worth of new debt invading two sovereign nations and passed the "USA PATRIOT" Act to silence its critics.