I imagine everyone from the last go round will run again with someone new to replace Romney so they get up to that magic eight candidate debate number.
The Democrats will fire up the base by promising to put the first woman in the White House while the Republicans fire up their base with endless soundbites from old white guys and the occasional Freudian slip.
Rick Santorum is not going to be elected. He is just as easily hated by everyone on the left, and he doesn't have the tough-guy appeal it takes to fire up the right.
The fact that he reminds everyone of a creepy clergyman out to touch altar boys under their robes is not helping.
So I would be extremely happy if he won the nomination.
they got nothin'. seriously, unless they come up with a moderate swing-state governor or a ross perot-type businessman I haven't heard of yet, it's between the morbidly obese, religious nuts, formerly morbidly obese religious nuts, and rand the randian.
He's a freak! He's a conservative caricature! He embodies a lot of what moderate voters hate about the Republican party. No way in hell he could win. Do you think people want Rick Santorum to represent them to the world? Do you?
So far it looks like the Republicans are going to do what they did last time: issue a parade of clowns that only appeal to the 30% that are going to vote R anyway, while forcing anyone with half a brain and a sliver of conscience to vote D.
While that makes it an easier game for Democrats, we all lose as it means the Dems only have to field someone slightly better than a talking turd.
You can have a presidential candidate from any part of the political spectrum you want, as long as it is center-right or far-right.
@14 True, but until the Republican party either gives up and realizes that they must make dramatic changes to their platform and not just try to say the same old platform with slightly different words or the Republican party splits into two parties with differing platforms that is going to be the case. And the best thing that any voter can do to get good candidates seems to be to keep voting D until the Republican party gets it into their head that if they want national power, they must change. The big issue is voting in Congressional elections. We need higher turn-out on the off-years to convince the Republicans that change is their only option.
Voters would be far, far better served by having two reasonable parties both presenting options for how to make the country better. But we don't have that. And we have to do the best we can with what we have, and try to prevent the damage done by any power that the party that has gone horribly awful may do.
@7 - he is not the joke on the right you seem to think he is; he did extremely well as a grass-roots retail pol...among those on the right.
He will either be a Goldwater "true conservative" or he'll drive the eventual nominee so far to the right as to be unelectable. This is nothing but good news...it shows the GOP civil war is nowhere near over.
Not only would Santorum lose on the gay vote and the woman vote, but he is also going to lose a lot of the religious vote.
Many evangelicals didn't vote for Romney because he is Mormon. Santorum is Catholic and they hate Catholics as much, if not more than Mormons. They call the Catholic church the Whore of Babylon.
He isn't going to gain anyone from the left that Romney couldn't, and he is going to lose some from the right even if he is as batshit crazy as any of the extreme right wingers.
He's been running since he bowed out of 2012.
And you're wrong about the percentage of the gay vote. About 25% will vote for the Republican no matter who it is. That's the way it's broken for the last several decades except when they said something that could be construed as slightly pro-gay and did better.
......b-BUT!! He won 11 primaries---just like Ronald Reagan did in 1976!! *GASP!*
I can't wait to see Mr. Lube 'n' Fecal Matter in a Sweater Vest get creamed again.
You're right, Dan---the 2016 GOP Convention (that utterly AMAZES me how much you have a stomach for!) is gonna be one helluva runny shit storm, complete with the lube.
Grinker? Yeah, it's me, VL. Now listen: I want you to buy AS MANY SHARES AS POSSIBLE of every popcorn manufacturer you can find. We've fallen into the schmaltz pot this time!
Those primary debates are going to be great daily show fodder, as usual. I thought the Herman Cain, Crazy-eyes Bachmann shit show was the pinnacle. We're going to have some awesome white man on white man action in the 2016 primaries. Start photoshopping tin ears onto elephants now!
These guys get out there and they lose their minds. They are so eager to out Right the others that they start saying crazy shit to appeal to their crazy base. In the meantime their handlers are behind the stage having aneurysms because they know the crazy shit they are saying to win the primary are going to come back to kill them in the actual election.
These guys don't think ahead, and are out of touch with reality. That always makes for a fun debate.
The only thing that could make this more awesome is if they can get Sarah Palin and Christine "I am not a witch" O'Donnell involved as well.
All the action is in the State legislatures and the SCOTUS. What we really need is more Progressive governors and a bird flu epidemic in the back rooms of the High Court.
I adore this portion of the quote, "Why didn't you go out and bang me a little a bit, hit me you know,..." It would be even better if he'd ended that statement after "you know" and punctuated with a big ole question mark.
So....maybe, this is what he wants from the media (and perhaps a secret luggage lifter) in his 2016 campaign?
Ophian @19: Agreed, with the caveat that the Affordable Care Act and the momentum of the marriage equality movement and pretty much anything else remotely decent eked out by Obama are still the subjects of a massive GOP hard-on that I'm not at all convinced will go limp by 2016. Meaning there's still some meaningful things at stake for that election, considering the level of batshit petulance on the right.
Also. thank you for flying Church of England, cake or death?
Here's hoping our old friend Raindrop has already registered the Gay Dude for Santorum handle. Speaking of which, Raindrop been conspicuously absent of this thread too...
Fuck, I'm borrowing a friend's mac while he fixes my pc and I don't know how the hell to undo that bold, italicized, underlined idiocy. Hopefully this isn't one of those ones that permanently impacts the thread.
@47, I understand that being "Douchey" is your "meme" here at The Stranger, but here's a clue: Pointing out "subtle humor" ruins it for everyone else. Douche bag...
The Democrats will fire up the base by promising to put the first woman in the White House while the Republicans fire up their base with endless soundbites from old white guys and the occasional Freudian slip.
The fact that he reminds everyone of a creepy clergyman out to touch altar boys under their robes is not helping.
So I would be extremely happy if he won the nomination.
Seriously, there is not enough popcorn in the goddamn WORLD.
Oh, he wants it, all right.
This is going to be awesome. It's popcorn season again!
While that makes it an easier game for Democrats, we all lose as it means the Dems only have to field someone slightly better than a talking turd.
You can have a presidential candidate from any part of the political spectrum you want, as long as it is center-right or far-right.
Pretty poor analogy. Sure, the Bosphorus separates two major land masses, but not by very much. The English Channel is much wider.
Voters would be far, far better served by having two reasonable parties both presenting options for how to make the country better. But we don't have that. And we have to do the best we can with what we have, and try to prevent the damage done by any power that the party that has gone horribly awful may do.
Like Izzard's cake or death? It's an easy call, but not really a choice.
He will either be a Goldwater "true conservative" or he'll drive the eventual nominee so far to the right as to be unelectable. This is nothing but good news...it shows the GOP civil war is nowhere near over.
Many evangelicals didn't vote for Romney because he is Mormon. Santorum is Catholic and they hate Catholics as much, if not more than Mormons. They call the Catholic church the Whore of Babylon.
He isn't going to gain anyone from the left that Romney couldn't, and he is going to lose some from the right even if he is as batshit crazy as any of the extreme right wingers.
And you're wrong about the percentage of the gay vote. About 25% will vote for the Republican no matter who it is. That's the way it's broken for the last several decades except when they said something that could be construed as slightly pro-gay and did better.
I can't wait to see Mr. Lube 'n' Fecal Matter in a Sweater Vest get creamed again.
You're right, Dan---the 2016 GOP Convention (that utterly AMAZES me how much you have a stomach for!) is gonna be one helluva runny shit storm, complete with the lube.
Oh, yes. Please DO run. PleaseOhPleaseOhPleaseOhPlease. It would be a gift... to the democrats.
These guys get out there and they lose their minds. They are so eager to out Right the others that they start saying crazy shit to appeal to their crazy base. In the meantime their handlers are behind the stage having aneurysms because they know the crazy shit they are saying to win the primary are going to come back to kill them in the actual election.
These guys don't think ahead, and are out of touch with reality. That always makes for a fun debate.
The only thing that could make this more awesome is if they can get Sarah Palin and Christine "I am not a witch" O'Donnell involved as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7pv7sO5G…
So....maybe, this is what he wants from the media (and perhaps a secret luggage lifter) in his 2016 campaign?
Also. thank you for flying Church of England, cake or death?
Freudian Slip?
Nice. Very subtle humor.
Well played sir, as it were.