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

Obama said: "It’s time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America. Send me these tax reforms, and I’ll sign them right away."

The blink proves that he's both awake and alive.

I like Obama...I think he has gotten as much out of an horrendous political climate as could be gotten...and he seems a decent, competent person to me. I like his pragmatism.

I enjoyed his speech last night, but my comments to my wife while watching often took the form of, "This seems more like a campaign speech than a State of the Union speech."

I'm happy he did it...the contrast with the crap the Republicans have been spewing at their "debates" was stark and complimentary to the president...but the fact is, the speech sounded more like a campaign speech to me than a State of the Union speech.

American voters are just not too bright.

We’re Fighting Over Two Guys and Neither Side Thinks the Other Can Win

Posted by Erick Erickson (Diary)

Tuesday, January 24th at 5:30PM EST
433 Comments

I am a firm believer that primaries make stronger candidates. But at some point you just have to stand back, take a sip of bourbon, and sigh “Damn” under your breath as you behold the carnage being wrought within the Republican Party.

The fight has gotten so bitter and acrimonious with only three states chosen because neither side thinks the other side can win. Gingrich supporters understand that the secularists in the media — not the Democrats, but the media to the extent it can be separated from the Obama Machine — will spend six months creeping out independent suburban voters about Mormons, holy underwear, Kolob, postmortem baptism, and views on black people and then, as the coup de grace, Barack Obama will fire up millions of dollars of ads on Bain Capital raiding pension funds forcing the government to cover the debt so Mitt Romney could make millions whether he won or lost a deal.

Romney supporters understand Newt Gingrich will open his mouth.

Mitt Romney will find it very hard to beat Barack Obama because of what Barack Obama will do to him. Newt Gingrich will find it very hard to beat Barack Obama because of what Newt Gingrich will do to himself. That’s the simple truth. Both men will have amazingly difficult times beating Barack Obama. It is possible, but probability never favors picking off an incumbent just for starters.

About the only real difference between the Gingrich and Romney camps is that the Gingrich camp intuitive understands this and is happy to go down with a fighter. The Romney camp is still deluded into thinking a milquetoast moderate from Massachusetts who can’t win Iowa twice in a primary is somehow electable.

In the past the Republican Party has had “party elders” who could help the “electable” candidate get to the general election — Ford in 1976 (loser), Dole in 1996 (loser), McCain in 2008 (loser) and the general contempt these “elders” have shown the tea party give the core of Republican voters no faith in their “elders” or leaders any more. In other words, the nomination process has gone off the rails. It has become extremely unpredictable because the base wants to beat its party leaders on the more likely than not correct assumption that it must do that in order to beat Barack Obama.

In short, this election is more volatile than any we have seen in a very long time because the party leaders, after years of learning to corral its base activists have now lost control and lost the respect of the base.

The deadly consequence is a cage match between the base and the establishment both of whom are backing two deeply, deeply flawed candidates with the odds heavily against them in a general election.

Perhaps, just perhaps, it is time for both sides to let the scales fall from their eyes and in a bit of sanity rethink this thing. Time is short, but there is still time. Surely there is someone out there that both the Romney supporters and Newt supporters can agree on who is not named either Romney or Newt.

I am part of the base that will do everything I can to defeat Mitt Romney because I believe he will be a disastrous nominee who will cost us the House, the Senate, the White House, and consequently the Supreme Court. There are Mitt supporters who feel the same about Newt, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul. So maybe we ought to all find someone who we all kind of like instead of heading to Tampa in August all licking wounds and pretending to rally to the man the voters chose between the evils of two real lessers.