Friday, March 02, 2012

Silly Season? Depressing season is more like it.

First off, I would like to congratulate the Machiavellian genius who wrote the Obamacare bill such that the whole insurance/birth control issue would be timed to kick in right in the middle of the Republican primary. That, sir, was a political masterstroke. If it was just a coincidence, then take your bow and tell everyone you meant it to happen that way.

There's nothing that'll make Republicans shut up about taxes and the economy quicker than queers or dead babies. It's as easy as distracting a puppy with a tennis ball. The GOP might as well adopt the campaign slogan "Four More Years!"

Meanwhile, with his post-Michigan petulant little snit fit captured on camera, Rick Santorum has managed to do the impossible: Become a Republican candidate that I'm even less likely to vote for than Mitt Romney. Way to show off that legendary grace under pressure there, sweater vest man. That's exactly the character trait I want to see in a man who could get the launch controls for America's thermonuclear arsenal confused with his garage door opener and can sic Predator drones on people with the stroke of a pen.

33 comments:

New Jovian Thunderbolt said...

Santorum needs the Harriet Myers treatment. Just go home and spend more time with your fambly, Rick.

mikee said...

Vote in NOvember for whoever is not the current president, as we have seen his version of fundamental transformation of the US, and it ain't pretty.

Hold your nose, vote drunk, close your eyes and pull the lever, take a shower after with lots of soap, but realize your choice is between whoever the Republican candidate is, and President Obama.

Thinking of four more years should empower you to do the right thing.

Bubblehead Les. said...

Well, there's always Newt, right?

Makes me wish Chester A. Arthur was on the Ballot.

SpeakerTweaker said...

Wow. I'm more detached from this thing than I thought. I was unaware of said snit fit. Linky, por favor?



tweaker

Divemedic said...

The argument against an Obama second term is Supreme Court nominations, but I don't see where Romney's nominations would be different, and having Santorum putting religious zealots on the court isn't any more appealing.

I may have to hold my nose and vote for Obama, because at least he will be counterbalanced by a petulant republican congress.

Tam said...

SpeakerTweaker,

I've been looking for the video, trying to find it without a bunch of newscast embedded on either side.

It's Rick doing some mingling and autographing with the fans, and making snide remarks about the Republican Establishment rigging things against him in this petulant tone. The vibe he gave off was almost Nixonian; you could see him updating his Enemies List in his head.

Anonymous said...

It's not about being "against birth control" ...it's about Everybody paying for anything you can dream up .... if I have to subsidize the safety and covenience of every co-ed's at will orgasms, then what is left that I am not on the hook for? I already have to subsidize old geezers' Viagra .... What's next? Hookers and blow for the unemployed? Bachi Boys for the lonely Priests? What!!!????!!!

The Stupid Party is self destructing, giving us a choice of two Big Government policy wonks and a Religious Guy that turns off most of the libertarian crowd.

I'll take John Galt over Obamaville, thankee .... and it's looking more like that will be the choice I'll have to make.

rickn8or said...

"There's nothing that'll make Republicans shut up about taxes and the economy quicker than queers or dead babies."

And they fall for it. Every. Stinkin'. Time.

Unknown said...

I haven't paid any attention to the Republican maunderings. This will be my fourteenth time to vote in a presidential election. As usual I will not be voting FOR somebody; I will be voting AGAINST somebody. The usual "lesser of two weevils". The cornbread is still ruined.

ABO: Anybody But Obama.

Shrimp said...

"It's Rick doing some mingling and autographing with the fans, and making snide remarks about the Republican Establishment rigging things against him in this petulant tone."

That's rich, considering that he lost the support of the Republican "faithful" conservatives by supporting a RINO (Specter) for the Republican Establishment.

Anonymous said...

Democrats run for the office of Fearless Leader.

The Republicans run for Pope.

Gerry

Would vote for good robot at this point

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

I'm going to go with what Divemedic said, except rather than marking the box next to Obama I'll go ahead and vote for Gary Johnson. At least that way I won't have to hold my nose when I do it and then take a shower with a wire brush afterwards.

Pakkinpoppa said...

Ick. Lesser of two weasels is what you mean.

I did vote "for" W the first time, as it was him or the guy who invented the internet. But the second time I voted against Lurch.

This time...why couldn't we just throw the White Pages in the air, whatever page it landed on, drop a spyderco point down, and whoevers name the blade lands near, that's who we vote for...but Noooooooo we got to have 24 months of debates.

In Ohioland, I have heard radio commercials where some alleged "person on the street" says, "nominate the lizard, he's a master debater, he'll show the Teleprompter what for in a debate!" Except you know that if we nominate the unstable dinosaur descendant, the debate questioner will undoubtedly ask a question to make him appear even nuttier than rat crap in the pistachio factory....

Cthluhu 2012! Why go for the lesser of two evils this time?

Pakkinpoppa said...

Ick. Lesser of two weasels is what you mean.

I did vote "for" W the first time, as it was him or the guy who invented the internet. But the second time I voted against Lurch.

This time...why couldn't we just throw the White Pages in the air, whatever page it landed on, drop a spyderco point down, and whoevers name the blade lands near, that's who we vote for...but Noooooooo we got to have 24 months of debates.

In Ohioland, I have heard radio commercials where some alleged "person on the street" says, "nominate the lizard, he's a master debater, he'll show the Teleprompter what for in a debate!" Except you know that if we nominate the unstable dinosaur descendant, the debate questioner will undoubtedly ask a question to make him appear even nuttier than rat crap in the pistachio factory....

Cthluhu 2012! Why go for the lesser of two evils this time?

Mattexian said...

I've suspected, as the way it turned out, that the WH planned to make the contraception thing into a "let's make big business pay for it" issue in the first place, with the way they redirected it from forcing the churches to pay for it.

Getting very tired of this election cycle, telling folks I'm suffering from electile dysfunction, as I'm not turned on by any of the candidates.

Anonymous said...

Rick Santorum making snide remarks about the Republican establishment? Um...Rick was way tied up with the K Street Project and Jack Abramoff, which is about as Republican establishment as it's possible to get. All vanished down a convenient memory hole, much like who was in the White House from 2000 to 2008.

I keep thinking to myself: this is the best the Republican Party can do? Romney never had a principle he couldn't discard for votes, and it seems to escape him that rich Wall Street jerks aren't very popular right now (or ever). Santorum seems to think 14th century Catholicism is a fine model for government, and also seems to have forgotten that women actually vote. Newt's picture appears twice in the dictionary, above "hypocrite" and "adulterer", and he's an all around sleazeball. Ron Paul has some positions that make sense, but unfortunately also has positions that qualify him for a nice canvas jacket with sleeves that tie in the back.

Do these guys want to lose? They don't have to convince debate audiences to vote for them, they have to convince independents. Screaming "I'm more conservative than you!" isn't going to beat Obama. Raving about how birth control isn't a good idea - not about who pays, but birth control itself (in 2012!) - ain't gonna do it either. And yes, Rick Santorum has done just that.

Like I said, do they WANT to lose? Maybe it's eleven dimensional chess and they're all looking towards 2016.

End of rant, stepping off soapbox.

Keith said...

"Would vote for good robot at this point"

HK-47 for president!

LabRat said...

Santorum's history as a petulant little tyrant is already well known to Pennsylvania Republicans.

Kristophr said...

Tam:

They did try to rig the Michigan primary. Michigan was a tie. Breaking their own rules and giving Mittens the two at large candidates would mean that Mittens gets the entire state on the first round of the national convention vote.

This isn't the first state that local Mitt folks have tried to steal by breaking the rules. If you don't step on this crap it will get out of hand pretty damned fast ... like it did with Hillary Clinton and the 2008 Dem convention.


As for the contraception issue ... you are right on. Arguing about the color of the paint while the house is burning down is foolish.

I am far more concerned about Obama's 50% wage and savings tax ( "loosening the money supply" ) than I am about contraceptives.

global village idiot said...

[Perspective]

Gerald Ford was ahead in the polls over Carter and Reagan at this point in 1976.
[/Perspective]

gvi

Tam said...

Anon 1:41,

"Do these guys want to lose?"

That's my theory.

Palin, Christie, Thompson, or Daniels could have beaten Barry like a pinata. What do they know that I don't?

The only rational supposition is that anybody with two brain cells to rub together knows that the brass ring has 100,000 volts flowing through it and therefore wouldn't grab it on a bet.

On the Donk side, Barry's best hope is to ride this bird down in flames and pray for a miracle.

Brad K. said...

@ Tam,

How about we make abortion an 'elective' procedure, uncovered by any insurance or Medicare/Medicaid/Obamacare.

I swear I am going to write-in Hillary Clinton on Tuesday's Republican primary. Gack.

Jake (formerly Riposte3) said...

Anon 1:41,

"Do these guys want to lose?"

That theory has been floating around for a couple of months now. With Greece and the euro getting ready to go into meltdown and probably drag the dollar with it, Iran about to get the bomb and/or get bombed by Israel, and the steadily climbing gas prices, whoever happens to be sitting in the Oval Office is going to take the blame for the effect on the public. It won't matter whether whoever it ends up being in charge had anything to do with it at all, it will be his (and his party's) fault.

It's entirely possible the general idea is "Let it be the Democrats."

Comrade Misfit said...

I would like to congratulate the Machiavellian genius who wrote the Obamacare bill such that the whole insurance/birth control issue would be timed to kick in right in the middle of the Republican primary.

I think that the old rule of "never ascribe to cupidity that which can be ascribed to stupidity" applies here. I suspect that this is an entirely self-inflicted wound.

Sure, the Democrats are egging the Republicans on, which is to be expected, given the national polling on this issue. But the Republicans pulled the pin on this grenade all by themselves.

Tam said...

Brad K.,

"How about we make abortion an 'elective' procedure, uncovered by any insurance or Medicare/Medicaid/Obamacare."

How about we do the even more radical thing and let insurance companies cover whatever they want to?


Comrade Misfit,

I thought I made that abundantly clear with the third sentence of my opening paragraph. Don't let partisan loyalty blind you to tongue-in-cheek sarcasm.

Anonymous said...

I don't suppose we could re-elect zombie Calvin Coolidge could we?

He keep his mouth shut.
And his idea of big spending would be like 1/10th of the current budget.

Both would be quite appealing.

Old NFO said...

Newt is looking better and better sigh...

Anonymous said...

Tam at 4:07

When you look at the number of people who actually VOTE in the Republican primaries, it's a hell of a lot less than the number of registered Republicans. The people who are voting in primaries are folks who are, to put it kindly, pretty out there. This seems to be why the candidates are competing to see how deep in the crazy barrel they can dive. The people you mention just aren't crazy enough to get past the primaries. Moral: get motivated and support the candidate you want, or you put up with the candidate(s) you get.

Note: Daniels' wife and four daughters didn't want him to run. I've always found in those situations that if you're a reasonably intelligent male and you want your life to be as smooth as possible, don't do whatever it is they don't want you to do (within reason anyway).

Anonymous said...

Pakkinpoppa said...

Ick. Lesser of two weasels is what you mean.


With all due respect, no, he didn't. Desertrat meant what he typed. You just missed the joke. Go back and watch "Master and Commander - The Far Side of the World".

:-)

BSR

Ted N said...

Whatever happens, I'm writing in MadMike. It's worth a shot.

the pawnbroker said...

"The only rational supposition is that anybody with two brain cells to rub together knows that the brass ring has 100,000 volts flowing through it and therefore wouldn't grab it on a bet."

What if they held a potus pageant and nobody came?

Comrade Misfit said...

Tam, my apologies. This "silly season" has burned out most of my sarcasm-detection circuitry.

Justthisguy said...

Yes, Ted, I'm for the Welsh Dictator too. He has already promised me that I will not have to go through The Chipper. He has not objected to my proposal that I be throttleman on one of the chippers when the time comes to send the rest of the Flarduh voters and the Flarduh LEOs through them.