Republican Primary Megathread (poll now updated)

[Jari Head]

Well, looks like Frothy has committed another foot in mouth incident here when he told Puerto Rico "Speak English If You Want Statehood" This is how not win friends and influence voters.
Some parts of the article.

Santorum said he did not support a state in which English was not the primary language.
"Like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law," Santorum said. "And that is that English has to be the principal language. There are other states with more than one language such as Hawaii but to be a state of the United States, English has to be the principal language."

To quote the late Col. Potter, "Bull Hockey!" that statement shows Frothy don' know what he's talking about.

The Constitution does not designate an official language, nor is there a requirement that a territory adopt English as its primary language in order to become a state.

Puerto Rico has about 4 million people and its population can vote in partisan primaries but not presidential elections. Puerto Ricans on the mainland have the same voting rights as other U.S. citizens.
Santorum's statement may fall flat with Puerto Rican Republicans, who have always argued that issues of language and culture should be controlled by state governments and not the federal government.
It also could alienate the 4.2 million Puerto Ricans who live on the U.S. mainland, including nearly 1 million in presidential swing-state Florida.

Da whole of the article --> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/rick-santorum-puerto-rico-english-statehood_n_1345464.html

[The UK in Exile]

So he's a moral black hole, maybe?

That would work. "Newt Gingrich, a moral singularity so dense that not even light can escape from it. And hide your women when he comes to town."

the fucker, he comin, he comin to your town.

[The Rich Port]

Well, looks like Frothy has committed another foot in mouth incident here when he told Puerto Rico "Speak English If You Want Statehood" This is how not win friends and influence voters.
Some parts of the article.

Santorum said he did not support a state in which English was not the primary language.
"Like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law," Santorum said. "And that is that English has to be the principal language. There are other states with more than one language such as Hawaii but to be a state of the United States, English has to be the principal language."

To quote the late Col. Potter, "Bull Hockey!" that statement shows Frothy don' know what he's talking about.

The Constitution does not designate an official language, nor is there a requirement that a territory adopt English as its primary language in order to become a state.

Puerto Rico has about 4 million people and its population can vote in partisan primaries but not presidential elections. Puerto Ricans on the mainland have the same voting rights as other U.S. citizens.
Santorum's statement may fall flat with Puerto Rican Republicans, who have always argued that issues of language and culture should be controlled by state governments and not the federal government.
It also could alienate the 4.2 million Puerto Ricans who live on the U.S. mainland, including nearly 1 million in presidential swing-state Florida.

Da whole of the article --> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/rick-santorum-puerto-rico-english-statehood_n_1345464.html

He alienated a LOOOONG time ago the first time he opened his big fucking mouth.

[Tmutarakhan]

...
Summed up, even the most natural political western democracy political allies* of the Republican party think the Republicans have driven off the cliff into a sea of toxic political poison that renders informal international alliances undesirable.


*The Australian Liberal Party probably excepted.

If the Australian Liberal Party ever makes the news in a big way in the US, the Republicans will start shouting "Goddamn LIE-berals!!!" because they'll be confused by the name, and the Aussies will be left scratching their heads.

[Neutraligon]

...
Summed up, even the most natural political western democracy political allies* of the Republican party think the Republicans have driven off the cliff into a sea of toxic political poison that renders informal international alliances undesirable.


*The Australian Liberal Party probably excepted.

If the Australian Liberal Party ever makes the news in a big way in the US, the Republicans will start shouting "Goddamn LIE-berals!!!" because they'll be confused by the name, and the Aussies will be left scratching their heads.

Sounds about right. The name means everything.

[Ashmoria]

"Hide yo wives, hide yo girls he gonna be adulteratin' everybody."

"Mistah Newt been workin' real hard tryin' to fix da country, he done worked hisself up somethin' AWFUL!"

he could not love his country so much if he did not love your women more (often)

[Free Soviets]

Well, looks like Frothy has committed another foot in mouth incident here when he told Puerto Rico "Speak English If You Want Statehood" This is how not win friends and influence voters.
Some parts of the article.

Santorum said he did not support a state in which English was not the primary language.
"Like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law," Santorum said. "And that is that English has to be the principal language. There are other states with more than one language such as Hawaii but to be a state of the United States, English has to be the principal language."

To quote the late Col. Potter, "Bull Hockey!" that statement shows Frothy don' know what he's talking about.

The Constitution does not designate an official language, nor is there a requirement that a territory adopt English as its primary language in order to become a state.

Puerto Rico has about 4 million people and its population can vote in partisan primaries but not presidential elections. Puerto Ricans on the mainland have the same voting rights as other U.S. citizens.
Santorum's statement may fall flat with Puerto Rican Republicans, who have always argued that issues of language and culture should be controlled by state governments and not the federal government.
It also could alienate the 4.2 million Puerto Ricans who live on the U.S. mainland, including nearly 1 million in presidential swing-state Florida.

Da whole of the article --> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/rick-santorum-puerto-rico-english-statehood_n_1345464.html

two things:
1) mittens' sweep of the colonies is totally solid.
2) i would like to reiterate my support for welcoming the 4 new states of puerto rico oeste, puerto rico central, puerto rico suroriental, and san juan into the union. come on guys, you' get to both freak out the racist republicans and hold a shit-ton of power in the senate.

[Ashmoria]

Well, looks like Frothy has committed another foot in mouth incident here when he told Puerto Rico "Speak English If You Want Statehood" This is how not win friends and influence voters.
Some parts of the article.
To quote the late Col. Potter, "Bull Hockey!" that statement shows Frothy don' know what he's talking about.

The Constitution does not designate an official language, nor is there a requirement that a territory adopt English as its primary language in order to become a state.



Da whole of the article --> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/rick-santorum-puerto-rico-english-statehood_n_1345464.html

two things:
1) mittens' sweep of the colonies is totally solid.
2) i would like to reiterate my support for welcoming the 4 new states of puerto rico oeste, puerto rico central, puerto rico suroriental, and san juan into the union. come on guys, you' get to both freak out the racist republicans and hold a shit-ton of power in the senate.

each one would have more people in it than wyoming does.

[Farnhamia]

two things:
1) mittens' sweep of the colonies is totally solid.
2) i would like to reiterate my support for welcoming the 4 new states of puerto rico oeste, puerto rico central, puerto rico suroriental, and san juan into the union. come on guys, you' get to both freak out the racist republicans and hold a shit-ton of power in the senate.

each one would have more people in it than wyoming does.

More people live in the county just west of Denver than live in all of Wyoming, and I bet way more ride the NYC subway system on any given weekday, too.

[Ashmoria]

each one would have more people in it than wyoming does.

More people live in the county just west of Denver than live in all of Wyoming, and I bet way more ride the NYC subway system on any given weekday, too.

im pretty sure that idaho/montana down to new mexico/arizona (combined) have fewer people than NYC.

[The Archregimancy]

"Hide yo wives, hide yo girls he gonna be adulteratin' everybody."

"Mistah Newt been workin' real hard tryin' to fix da country, he done worked hisself up somethin' AWFUL!"

Mistah Newt - he dead.

This is how a campaign ends... not with a bang, but with a whimper.


Conrad and Eliot references in one post.... I must be tipsy.

[Farnhamia]

"Mistah Newt been workin' real hard tryin' to fix da country, he done worked hisself up somethin' AWFUL!"

Mistah Newt - he dead.

This is how a campaign ends... not with a bang, but with a whimper.


Conrad and Eliot references in one post.... I must be tipsy.

Scared the hell out of me, I thought Newt had withdrawn from the race!

[The Archregimancy]

...
Summed up, even the most natural political western democracy political allies* of the Republican party think the Republicans have driven off the cliff into a sea of toxic political poison that renders informal international alliances undesirable.


*The Australian Liberal Party probably excepted.

If the Australian Liberal Party ever makes the news in a big way in the US, the Republicans will start shouting "Goddamn LIE-berals!!!" because they'll be confused by the name, and the Aussies will be left scratching their heads.

When I was living in Lynchburg, Virginia (the town that gave the practice its name!) some years ago, I was constantly having to explain that the fact I voted for Liberal Democrats in the UK didn't mean I was a liberal Democrat.

These days, if I were to go to Lynchburg, Virginia and were to publicly espouse the Liberal Democrat manifesto, I'd probably get, well, lynched for my pains - or at least run out of town as an evil European socialist.

This despite the fact that the current Liberal Democrat leadership is far to the right of the Liberal Democrat leadership when I was actually living in the US.

That aside, the climate change-denying conservative Catholic Australian Liberal party leader Tony Abbott is the only major party leader in a western democracy who has that much in common with Santorum - and even then Frothy would probably consider him insufficiently ideologically pure.

[The Archregimancy]

Mistah Newt - he dead.

This is how a campaign ends... not with a bang, but with a whimper.


Conrad and Eliot references in one post.... I must be tipsy.

Scared the hell out of me, I thought Newt had withdrawn from the race!

Sorry - too much good Portuguese wine. I can see now how that might have been misleading.

I was merely trying to be literary.

Newt would approve, right? After all, he's a historian.

[Farnhamia]

Scared the hell out of me, I thought Newt had withdrawn from the race!

Sorry - too much good Portuguese wine. I can see now how that might have been misleading.

I was merely trying to be literary.

Newt would approve, right? After all, he's a historian.

He is that, but not a lobbyist.

What are you drinking?

[The Archregimancy]

Sorry - too much good Portuguese wine. I can see now how that might have been misleading.

I was merely trying to be literary.

Newt would approve, right? After all, he's a historian.

He is that, but not a lobbyist.

What are you drinking?

White Monte Velho from Herdade do Esporao; it's not a top of the line Portuguese white, but it's surprisingly good value for money. I recommend it as an everyday drinking white; I'm also prone to using it as a risotto base (mackerel and rosemary risotto tonight).

I'd say you've probably never heard of it, but I know a restaurant in the DC suburbs that has it on the wine list, so you never know.

Of course, once the Republicans win office, foreign wines from failed socialist European states like Portugal will be banned as political, economic, and moral contaminants.

I wish I could be sure I was entirely joking there.

[Farnhamia]

He is that, but not a lobbyist.

What are you drinking?

White Monte Velho from Herdade do Esporao; it's not a top of the line Portuguese white, but it's surprisingly good value for money. I recommend it as an everyday drinking white; I'm also prone to using it as a risotto base (mackerel and rosemary risotto tonight).

I'd say you've probably never heard of it, but I know a restaurant in the DC suburbs that has it on the wine list, so you never know.

Of course, once the Republicans win office, foreign wines from failed socialist European states like Portugal will be banned as political, economic, and moral contaminants.

I wish I could be sure I was entirely joking there.

I made a note, I have to stop at the liquor store on the way home tonight. I'm not as much of a wine drinker as Herself is, it's more beer for me (you can take the girl out of Sumeria ...), but I like a nice glass of wine now and then. I don't know if you can get it over there, but Pacific Rim makes a nice dry Riesling I find very agreeable. And there's a chianti, Querceto, I like, too, mostly because that's almost exactly the Latin word for a grove of oaks, but the wine turned out to be very tasty. And always cook with wine you like to drink.

[Serrland]

Well, this upcoming primary in my home state will be like all the others in history memorial (for me, at least). Suburbia and some of the other more moderate, bigger towns in the northwestern part of the state (Rockford, Quad Cities, etc) - Romneyland - against downstate - Santorumville.

Haven't decided who I'll vote for. I'll participate, because there are local GOP primaries on the ballot, too, but I don't look forward to having to pick a nominee. I'll probably end up writing in a "dream candidate" so as to throw away my vote without throwing it to the usual throw away candidate, Paul.

[The Archregimancy]

And always cook with wine you like to drink.

This is one of the golden rules of life.

But perhaps we should avoid a further threadjack.

If we go back to Conrad quotations (and not ones that are also epigraphs to T.S. Eliot poems being simultaneously quoted), one could sum up this entire Republican Primary with four words from Heart of Darkness....

"The horror! The horror!"

The campaign leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky - seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness.

[Serrland]

I also think Mitt has committed a strategic blunder in saying publicly that he can't accept Santorum as his VP because Frothy isn't conservative enough on birth control and abortion. You have to wonder if there's some sort of gene in the Romney family tree that makes him say stupid things that can kill his campaign. But with that quote, not only has Mitt bought Rick Santorum's position on reproductive rights, he's actually committed himself to exceeding it.

With David Cameron passing through DC and sharing a mutual love-in with Obama, it's perhaps worth considering the extent to which the current Republican contest has finally and definitively severed the traditional ties between the Republican Party and the UK Conservative Party. Those links were traditionally strong - though deliberately underplayed on both sides - with political strategists from both parties often crossing the Atlantic to share tips.

Those ties have been under strain for some time - the Bush/Blair love-in and Bush's refusal to meet with Conservative leader Michael Howard because of the latter's criticism of the Iraq 'weapons of mass destruction' justification for Iraq weakened them considerably - but Rick Santorum's recent comments about Margaret Thatcher and the NHS and the Obama/Cameron love-in have clearly demonstrated that the UK Conservatives now consider their US counterparts to be toxic.

Or, as a recent article in the UK's Daily Telegraph (aka the 'Daily Torygraph') put it:

The Tory Party today is united by its fiscal conservatism whereas Republicanism today is principally concerned with social conservatism. The unwavering Tory commitment to eliminating the UK’s structural deficit contrasts sharply with the diverse views held within the party on social and moral issues, from fox-hunting to abortion. The present-day Republican Party, however, is very much the inverse of this. The leading Republican presidential nominees have proposed different but singularly bizarre economic schemes, which don’t amount to a credible response to President Obama’s American Jobs Act. Instead, more attention has been paid – collectively – to advocating a position of extreme social conservatism.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... guage.html

Which leads us to a situation where a gay marriage-supporting climate change-accepting Conservative Prime Minister wouldn't be caught dead being photographed with the Republican candidates, and a Republican candidate - supporting his argument that the NHS destroyed the British Empire - claims that a former Conservative Prime Minister who was, in many ways, to the left of her current successor was a Tea Party Tory who felt her inability to abolish the NHS was her greatest political failure.

Which in turn leads to a columnist in a British right of centre Conservative-supporting newspaper (same link as above) arguing that:

Today’s British Conservatives don’t share this political logic, and as such they now lack a natural American partner. One has to go back a generation and switch parties – to Clinton’s Democrats – to find an American party with any kind of ideological likeness to today’s British Conservatives. Clinton’s record of sustained growth and careful cultivation of a large budget surplus is fiscal Conservatism in action and we shouldn’t be surprised therefore, that his party bears strong resemblance in its aims and political strategy to the current British Conservative party.

I don't doubt that the UK Conservative Party has become more fiscally conservative since the halcyon (tongue partially in cheek there) days of the Reagan-Thatcher relationship, embracing a program of governmental fiscal austerity that out-Thatchers Thatcher - but it's also become more socially liberal, or at least more socially diverse, embracing several gay MPs, and even indeed ministers. It maintains a socially conservative faith-based wing (including my MP, alas), but the latter is marginalised - and is in any case Anglican rather than Evangelical. After all, nobody (or nobody serious) seems to be objecting to Darwin's presence on the ten pound note.

Summed up, even the most natural political western democracy political allies* of the Republican party think the Republicans have driven off the cliff into a sea of toxic political poison that renders informal international alliances undesirable.


*The Australian Liberal Party probably excepted.

Reminds me a bit of a passage from The Lamentations of Jeremiah, to keep with the dramatic theme:

She weeps bitterly in the night;
She sheds tears on her cheeks.
Yet among all her lovers there is no one who comforts her.
All who love her have dealt treacherously with her.
They have become her enemies.

(source: OSB, p. 1172)

[Farnhamia]

With David Cameron passing through DC and sharing a mutual love-in with Obama, it's perhaps worth considering the extent to which the current Republican contest has finally and definitively severed the traditional ties between the Republican Party and the UK Conservative Party. Those links were traditionally strong - though deliberately underplayed on both sides - with political strategists from both parties often crossing the Atlantic to share tips.

Those ties have been under strain for some time - the Bush/Blair love-in and Bush's refusal to meet with Conservative leader Michael Howard because of the latter's criticism of the Iraq 'weapons of mass destruction' justification for Iraq weakened them considerably - but Rick Santorum's recent comments about Margaret Thatcher and the NHS and the Obama/Cameron love-in have clearly demonstrated that the UK Conservatives now consider their US counterparts to be toxic.

Or, as a recent article in the UK's Daily Telegraph (aka the 'Daily Torygraph') put it:

The Tory Party today is united by its fiscal conservatism whereas Republicanism today is principally concerned with social conservatism. The unwavering Tory commitment to eliminating the UK’s structural deficit contrasts sharply with the diverse views held within the party on social and moral issues, from fox-hunting to abortion. The present-day Republican Party, however, is very much the inverse of this. The leading Republican presidential nominees have proposed different but singularly bizarre economic schemes, which don’t amount to a credible response to President Obama’s American Jobs Act. Instead, more attention has been paid – collectively – to advocating a position of extreme social conservatism.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politic ... guage.html

Which leads us to a situation where a gay marriage-supporting climate change-accepting Conservative Prime Minister wouldn't be caught dead being photographed with the Republican candidates, and a Republican candidate - supporting his argument that the NHS destroyed the British Empire - claims that a former Conservative Prime Minister who was, in many ways, to the left of her current successor was a Tea Party Tory who felt her inability to abolish the NHS was her greatest political failure.

Which in turn leads to a columnist in a British right of centre Conservative-supporting newspaper (same link as above) arguing that:

Today’s British Conservatives don’t share this political logic, and as such they now lack a natural American partner. One has to go back a generation and switch parties – to Clinton’s Democrats – to find an American party with any kind of ideological likeness to today’s British Conservatives. Clinton’s record of sustained growth and careful cultivation of a large budget surplus is fiscal Conservatism in action and we shouldn’t be surprised therefore, that his party bears strong resemblance in its aims and political strategy to the current British Conservative party.

I don't doubt that the UK Conservative Party has become more fiscally conservative since the halcyon (tongue partially in cheek there) days of the Reagan-Thatcher relationship, embracing a program of governmental fiscal austerity that out-Thatchers Thatcher - but it's also become more socially liberal, or at least more socially diverse, embracing several gay MPs, and even indeed ministers. It maintains a socially conservative faith-based wing (including my MP, alas), but the latter is marginalised - and is in any case Anglican rather than Evangelical. After all, nobody (or nobody serious) seems to be objecting to Darwin's presence on the ten pound note.

Summed up, even the most natural political western democracy political allies* of the Republican party think the Republicans have driven off the cliff into a sea of toxic political poison that renders informal international alliances undesirable.


*The Australian Liberal Party probably excepted.

Reminds me a bit of a passage from The Lamentations of Jeremiah, to keep with the dramatic theme:

She weeps bitterly in the night;
She sheds tears on her cheeks.
Yet among all her lovers there is no one who comforts her.
All who love her have dealt treacherously with her.
They have become her enemies.

(source: OSB, p. 1172)

an-ne ki-en-gi ki-tuc-ba bi-in-hu-luh uj-e ni bi-in-te
en-lil-le ud gig-ga mu-un-zal iri-a me bi-ib-jar
nin-tur-re ama kalam-ma-ka jicig-cu-ur im-mi-in-de
en-ki-ke idigna buranun-na a im-ma-da-an-kece
utu nij-si-sa inim gen-na ka-ta ba-da-an-kar
inana-ke me cen-cen-na ki-bal-e ba-an-cum
nin-jir-su-ke ki-en-gi ga-gin ur-e ba-an-de
kalam-ma ga-ba-ra-hum im-ma-an-cub nij lu nu-zu-a
nij igi nu-jal-la inim nu-jal-la nij cu nu-tej-je-dam
kur-kur-re ni te-a-bi-a cu suh-a ba-ab-dug
iriki dijir-bi ba-da-gur sipad-bi ba-da-ha-lam

"An frightened the very dwellings of Sumer, the people were afraid. Enlil blew an evil storm, silence lay upon the city. Nintur bolted the door of the storehouses of the Land. Enki blocked the water in the Tigris and the Euphrates. Utu took away the pronouncement of equity and justice. Inana handed over victory in strife and battle to a rebellious land. Ninĝirsu poured Sumer away like milk to the dogs. Turmoil descended upon the Land, something that no one had ever known, something unseen, which had no name, something that could not be fathomed. The lands were confused in their fear. The god of the city turned away, its shepherd vanished."

That "Ninĝirsu poured Sumer away like milk to the dogs" always gets me.

Anyway ...

Gingrich Casts Himself as the Key to Stop Romney

Confronted with intensifying pressure to get out of the presidential race, Newt Gingrich is trying a new argument for continuing his campaign: Conservatives cannot block Mitt Romney’s path to the Republican nomination without him.

[Kaeshar]

Gingrich Casts Himself as the Key to Stop Romney

Confronted with intensifying pressure to get out of the presidential race, Newt Gingrich is trying a new argument for continuing his campaign: Conservatives cannot block Mitt Romney’s path to the Republican nomination without him.

Heh, he's just grabbing for any reason to stay in the race.

IMO, if he gets out, more votes will go to Santorum, so its only logical for him to drop out.

Also, Santorum is polling as winning Pennsylvania. I thought he might actually do worse, but I guess the anti-romney and 'can connect with home state voters' factors kicked in. He is at 36%, Romney 22%, Ron Paul 12%, Newt Gingrich takes fourth with 8%. With a whopping 18% undecided.

[Farnhamia]

Gingrich Casts Himself as the Key to Stop Romney

Heh, he's just grabbing for any reason to stay in the race.

IMO, if he gets out, more votes will go to Santorum, so its only logical for him to drop out.

Also, Santorum is polling as winning Pennsylvania. I thought he might actually do worse, but I guess the anti-romney and 'can connect with home state voters' factors kicked in. He is at 36%, Romney 22%, Ron Paul 12%, Newt Gingrich takes fourth with 8%. With a whopping 18% undecided.

I wonder how much home field advantage Santorum really has, given the home state voters kicked his ass out of the Senate by 17 points. But that was a general election, not a primary, so who knows?

[New Kemet]

I bet Gingrich is hoping that there will be a divided convention then he can become Santorum's VP.

[Tmutarakhan]

Heh, he's just grabbing for any reason to stay in the race.

IMO, if he gets out, more votes will go to Santorum, so its only logical for him to drop out.

Also, Santorum is polling as winning Pennsylvania. I thought he might actually do worse, but I guess the anti-romney and 'can connect with home state voters' factors kicked in. He is at 36%, Romney 22%, Ron Paul 12%, Newt Gingrich takes fourth with 8%. With a whopping 18% undecided.

I wonder how much home field advantage Santorum really has, given the home state voters kicked his ass out of the Senate by 17 points. But that was a general election, not a primary, so who knows?

The Philly and Pittsburgh voters who hate him will not be voting in the GOP primary. The Appallachian rednecks in the rural parts of the state are his people, so in the primary he will do well. He has zero chance (OK, a mathematically incalculably small chance) of winning the state in the general.