The Republican Nomination For President: The Race For The Race For The White House

She energized the simple minded conservatives and those simpletons would not have voted any way except Republican whether there was a Palin or not.

One thing I found sad about the debate I saw today was that Perry and Romney kept attacking each other over things they did well. Republicans should applaud Perry for his policy of not punishing children for their parents' illegal immigration. Likewise, they should applaud Romney for Romneycare; the program proves that universal healthcare can be realized with minimal government involvement, consistent with conservative blueprints from the Nixon administration to the Heritage Foundation. If Republicans keep disowning their leaders for getting things right, it's no wonder they start looking like loonies to people outside their hard core.

I had forgotten Johnson was even in the race.

From what I've read most observers saw it the way the author of the article you reference did, with the big news being how bad Rick Perry performed. I saw a clip of him blowing the opportunity to score points on Romney's supposed flip-flopping. It was painful.

Either he wasn't willing to spend the time and effort to properly prepare for questions and issues he had to know would come his way or he's just not all that sharp. Obviously didn't see the debate last night but I understand that he had another hardtime with the issue of providing the children of illegal immigrants with in state tuition cost eligibility.

I actually don't have a big problem with the idea if they were brought into the country when they were minors and have lived model lives since then. I don't think they should be given scholarships or perferred enrollment status but I don't believe that was part of the plan. I like the fact that Perry sticks with what he says and doesn't allow moderators or audiences to scare him into backtracking, but I didn't like the fact that his answer implied that those who disagreed with the plan were bigots who didn't like the way these kids spelled their names. There is a principled argument against the plan that doesn't require a foundation of bigotry.

His poor grades in last night's debate seem to be universal and he attracted some snarky attention from pundits and bloggers on the right. Other than his family and campaign staff the person who has been most disappointed by these performance has got to be the guy who created this:

http://twitter.com/#!/rickperryfacts

Now it remains to be seen if he's this year's Fred Thompson.

Illegal immigration is the one topic I can think of where I feel somewhat close to Perry.

As an englishman please keep the tea party as far away as possible. Obama had a lot of promise but unfortunately had to compromise, in his second and last term I would hope for more, if the senate weere behind him.

The reason Obama got elected was because Mccain ran on the republican side. We had 20 years of proof that he was a spinner. Bush wasent well known which was why he was elected but if people would have researched him as Thomas and i did they would have realized what a Duch bag he is. But the average U.S. citizen is too lazy or too stupid to do their own research. Its so much easier to let some radio or tv idiot tell you what to believe. Weve been fucked since ronny raygun was elected and its not getting any better.

Let's see, only you and Thomas researched W which is why you didn't vote for him. I think I can believe that if his research on Bush didn't lead him to believe the man was a douche bag (for a second there I thought you were calling him a Dutch bag which makes no sense but is a hell of a lot funnier), Thomas might have found himself considering casting his vote for him. You though? Never.

Your hatred of Republicans runs far too deep to ever allow you to even imagine voting for one. If you actually did any research on Bush it was limited to nutty left wing blogs and intended to find bits of hateful tripe you could scrawl in this forum: He's a dry drunk! His grandfather cut deals with the Nazis! He cheated his way through Yale and pulled strings to get out of going to Vietnam!

So the reason that Obama won in 2008 is because all the lazy and stupid Americans who rely on radio and TV idiots to tell them what they believe, this one time had actually been paying attention to McCain's career over 20 years.

Brilliant.

You really have gone through the looking glass haven't you Finnbar? You actually believe this crud.

Well izzy, it is obvious that 69,456,897 Americans of voting age are lazy and stupid and only 59,934,814 of them are eager geniuses like Finn.

I suppose it takes a unique genius to see the left wing bias in American Media, and the presidential qualities of Michelle Bachmann.

With only a 57.37% turnout in 2008, a high since 1968, the "Obama Factor" (a word derived from the same root as "fact" I should imagine), and if we give them roughly half each in the 26 to 30% range, "TOUCHDOWN!!" to the Dems, and the abstainers must have been 42.63%.

The Abstainers have it. The motion is carried.

Obama's too cute for that line up I saw. He's got them all saving up and then when the markets turn and the spring blossoms banish the Winter Witch and the President can be seen bounding up all the steps that his staff can find, so that the nation can feel itself bouncing on the balls of its feet, by osmosis, confidence begins to return and the indicators look to have bottomed out and are on the upward slope by November and the jolly cash registers are ringing their thrilling tune (pobboing) from sea to shining sea.

He'll worry about the indicators turning down in March if they turn down.

I hope nobody ever does that disgraceful trick on me. Mr Flynt obviously attended the wrong sort of schools.

I think that you're safe, Spendi.

But aren't you admitting to actions that are, in and of themselves, more disgraceful than what Flynt is doing?

Just consider all the innocents of Iraq and Afghanistan that would have been saved if that cokehead chickenhawk had been properly exposed for what he really is.

I didn't consider them in the least disgraceful at the time. I saw it as a duty. It is how others, the envious, would perceive it and use it to discredit me.

And Mr Flynt is tempting somebody to make stuff up. You know how Americans believe every word a woman alleges and that there is little the man can say in defence.

He is certainly not a member of the League of Gentlemen.

In fact what Finn offered was merely a very compact and ironical demonstration of the confused contradictions in Rabel222's rather meaningless argument. What was unreal about that?????

You've not just gone through the looking glass, you have eaten the food and supped the drink.

Well, that explains it all !

Replace republican with politician and you would be partly correct. But you can only recognize your own thoughts, not what others think. No comprehension.

The Florida Straw Poll (nicknamed "P-5") will be later today, with the results expected to be announced around 6 pm ET. The St Petersburg Times has a comprehensive article about the campaign hoopla taking place today.
> Some 3500 delegates are expected to vote. Unlike the Iowa event, which revolved around which candidate could bus in the most supporters, this group actually contains people who seem to be genuinely undecided;
> The names of all of the candidates will be listed, but Perry is the only one who put a lot of effort into the P-5;
> That may turn out to be a wise decision by Perry because, by most accounts, he had another bad debate on Thursday (which was seen by some 6 million pairs of eyeballs - the highest viewership thus far). He has a reputation for not being a good debater and pundits (including many who are biased) say that he seemed to get more and more tired as the debate dragged on with him being the pinata.
> Romneycare/Obamacare, as suggested earlier, doesn't appear to resonate with many Repubs right now as being a critical issue for Romney. Social security is still important. But where Perry took the biggest hit was on immigration. I figured that would be a controversial issue in the debate, but it turned out to be bigger with many Repubs - fiscally and socially. (Get me re-write on that paragraph)
> Note: former FL Gov Jeb Bush (R) supported issuing drivers' licenses to illegals (or something like that) and then Rep Marco Rubio (R), now a Senator, voted for the Dream Act. But that was then and now is now.
> Perry will win the P-5 by about 7 points over Romney today. That is smaller then expected. Cain could end up in the top 4.