unnamed sources from left leaning news source? who could question that *NM*
random thoughts Send a noteboard - 15/08/2011 01:25:07 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.
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 <a href="http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/08/04/some_question_perrys_electability.html">state GOP chairman worry that Perry will reek of Bush to the rest of the nation</a>. Not that it matters, because the corporate (i.e. important) "wing" of the party is so solidly behind Romney that <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60776.html">they even create new corporations for the sake of anonymously donating a million dollars to his campaign</a> (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.
Tim Pawlenty drops out of the race 
- 14/08/2011 07:20:58 PM
1180 Views
- 14/08/2011 07:20:58 PM
1180 Views
Bummer, I liked him. *NM*
- 14/08/2011 07:23:42 PM
307 Views
Yeah, him and Cain are the only ones I actually liked to hear talk
- 14/08/2011 07:38:08 PM
624 Views
Grumpy and just nuts enough to be entertaining, from what I've heard...
- 14/08/2011 08:15:15 PM
703 Views
Probably better to say he's not polished
- 14/08/2011 08:46:37 PM
623 Views
Yeah, as Aisha says, it's the Islam issue he sounded the craziest on...
- 14/08/2011 11:16:20 PM
794 Views
Re: Yeah, as Aisha says, it's the Islam issue he sounded the craziest on...
- 15/08/2011 12:02:22 AM
638 Views
well I don't think his posistion on Israel will play much of a factor one way or the other
- 15/08/2011 02:07:55 AM
581 Views
I've never really gotten to know him... which kind of says enough.
- 14/08/2011 07:35:40 PM
690 Views
I think Michelle Bachman and Herman Cain are awesome. You should consider them *NM*
- 14/08/2011 09:25:55 PM
333 Views
About fucking time. Now if we could just get Santorum to drop, too.
- 14/08/2011 09:28:53 PM
669 Views
He'd indicated he would
- 14/08/2011 11:47:03 PM
821 Views
Oh, I don't think Bachmann WILL be kingmaker, but that's her goal.
- 15/08/2011 02:39:51 PM
619 Views
bachman is gonna be the vice presidential nominee for either Perry or Romney
- 15/08/2011 04:22:33 AM
647 Views
funny that I only see liberals making an issue of his religion *NM*
- 15/08/2011 05:13:03 AM
313 Views
It's a clumsy attempt to poison the well
- 15/08/2011 05:59:26 AM
580 Views
Re: It's a clumsy attempt to poison the well
- 15/08/2011 07:13:01 AM
638 Views
Dems used to chase the evangelical vote, and the Church never should've permitted a political coup.
- 15/08/2011 09:22:53 AM
823 Views
For the record, I'm not trying to poison any wells.
- 15/08/2011 09:54:53 AM
673 Views
I think the deal with Huckabee
- 15/08/2011 07:21:08 PM
628 Views
Huckabee didn't hide his beliefs, but also made clear he wouldn't try to legislate them.
- 16/08/2011 12:58:48 PM
678 Views
yeah i guess it was s liberal Fox reporter/talking head/whatever the Eff they are called
- 15/08/2011 07:07:07 AM
683 Views
I'm not sure why she had to apologize for saying that.
- 15/08/2011 09:56:39 AM
644 Views
because its not true? Mormons ARE Christians arent they?
- 15/08/2011 04:52:32 PM
673 Views
Except their founder taught, and his church teaches, that man is his own savior.
- 15/08/2011 05:54:28 PM
665 Views
well ok then, i didnt know all that
- 15/08/2011 06:58:22 PM
1134 Views
Precisely; every Mormon you ever meet will ALWAYS insist they're Christian.
- 16/08/2011 01:57:06 PM
754 Views
So nutcase liberals and one woman on Fox News and she had the decency to apologize *NM*
- 15/08/2011 02:04:44 PM
327 Views
I find that highly unlikely.
- 15/08/2011 02:47:35 PM
729 Views
I personally am considering voting for Romney , but I wouldnt underestimate Bachman and her power
- 15/08/2011 04:58:19 PM
663 Views
Also, it is very likely that Palin will not enter.....
- 14/08/2011 09:58:48 PM
675 Views
besides the fact that they both have west Texas accents what similarites?
- 15/08/2011 01:59:45 AM
641 Views
By the way, why did Kay B Hutch run against him in the primary election?
- 15/08/2011 03:43:52 AM
614 Views
Some did want to dump him, over the toll roads and mandatory HPV vaccines for school girls.
- 15/08/2011 03:58:38 AM
687 Views
you call losing by 15 points competing? *NM*
- 15/08/2011 04:07:08 AM
293 Views
It was 12.9%, which is pretty good for a Dem in a very red state during a very red year.
- 15/08/2011 04:26:58 AM
663 Views
Isn't that almost the exact same numbers Obama lost by in Texas?
- 15/08/2011 05:02:57 AM
645 Views
Roughly; are you going to pretend that 2010 was as good a year for Dems as 2008?
- 15/08/2011 05:34:32 AM
621 Views
there was a perception that he was vulnerable
- 15/08/2011 04:48:41 AM
736 Views
He was vulnerable, he only won in 06 with 39 percent of the vote *NM*
- 15/08/2011 01:14:43 PM
303 Views
I have to agree with the take that it's symptomatic of a larger problem.
- 14/08/2011 10:23:02 PM
673 Views
There's no "victory laurel" there. The Iowa straw poll is as irrelevant as lint in one's navel.
- 14/08/2011 11:13:36 PM
683 Views
Largely true; it matters to people like Bachmann who need credibility, but to few others.
- 15/08/2011 12:20:48 AM
774 Views
unnamed sources from left leaning news source? who could question that *NM*
- 15/08/2011 01:25:07 AM
392 Views
Just because you don't like the quote doesn't make the person citing it "left leaning".
- 15/08/2011 02:00:15 AM
658 Views
It was a quote from Politico which is a left leaning news blog and the sources were unnamed
- 15/08/2011 02:14:09 AM
637 Views
If you say so.
- 15/08/2011 03:53:08 AM
651 Views
so you are going to just ignore the fact that your entire argument is based on unnamed sources?
- 15/08/2011 05:12:01 AM
589 Views
I'm not surprised no Republican wants to go on the record with that.
- 15/08/2011 05:51:47 AM
569 Views
I'm kinda curious how this thread got controversial
- 15/08/2011 06:26:15 AM
614 Views
Probably because I opined my impression that most of the viable GOP field looks pretty unimpressive.
- 15/08/2011 09:11:45 AM
1839 Views
I look at politics like I look at sports and call races on what I believe will happen
- 15/08/2011 02:47:35 PM
657 Views
Normally I'd say that's the best approach, but in US politics all teams play for the same owner.
- 15/08/2011 04:04:43 PM
1082 Views
I am trying to keep it to just the facts and my opinion of the race
- 15/08/2011 02:49:47 PM
533 Views
Are we surprised by this?
- 15/08/2011 07:05:59 PM
612 Views
