New Hampshire

I think I need to come out of the closet here.  I think that Mitt Romney is the only viable candidate for the Republican Party in 2008.  Some thoughts:

John McCain needs to lose in NH.  Call it a mercy killing.  He has no money, no organization, and will be 72 come January 20, 2009.  He's a war hero, he's not a quitter, he's honest.  Those are the positives.  He gutted the first amendment, he co-authored the most broadly, deeply, and monumentally repudiated bill in modern history.  To me, honesty is a virtue, necessary but not sufficient in an elected official.  I disagree with him and he will have to do much more than whine about Romney's "attacks" to make me lose my basic respect for his devotion to this country.  But, he is whining.

Mike Huckabee is gaining weight.  I think he should become president so that he can pass laws to regulate what people put in their mouths.  Then I want the FBI to catch him on CCTV stuffing fried twinkies in his yob.  Then I want him impeached for unlawful caloric intake.

Where's Giuliani?

The Onion has a hillarious piece (no pun intended) about Hillary's latest ploy to attract voters: she repudiates her candidacy.  The direct result of Hillary's crash and burn is a case of "Beware what you wish for" for Republicans.  I'm afraid that their focus on her as Public Enemy No. 1 has really contributed to the loss of ideological focus.  Elections should be about ideas, about the philosophy of governance.  They almost never are: they are often about reaction to the previous tenure and about the personality, the aura, of the candidate.  Hills is totally hobbled by this reality.  While she is an intrepid campaigner, she seems unable to grasp the cognitive disconnect between her spoken campaign ("I am the agent of change...") and the visual campaign (being joined on the stage by Madeleine Albright, Bill's petulant blame-laying, Bill's interminable "it's all about me" schtick, Bill period).  Tonight there are rumors of a shake up in her campaign, but it's like Mammy said, you can dress her up, but she will always be a mule.*  A nasty, communistic, foul-tempered, shrill mule.

* [Scarlett to Rhett] "She said we could give ourselves airs and get ourselves all rigged up and we were like race horses and we were just mules in horse harness and we didn't fool anybody. "

 

Comments

[aelfheld]

If someone would wake Fred up he might be a viable candidate.

Giuliani's Florida 'strategy' is stupid - by the time the votes are recorded no one's going to remember who he is.

Out of Huckabee, McCain, and Romney, I'd have to go with latter. Huckabee is a Bible-thumping Socialist, and McCain is a mercurial media-hound - both are dangerous, disingenuous, idiots and would do as much harm as any of the Socialist - whoops, Democrat - candidates.

[Rachel]

Aelfheld, the sleepy guy woke up last night. Lets hope he stays awake!


Out of Huckabee, Romney and McCain, I'd go with McCain. Huckabee is loco, Romney is such a panderer and liar, he makes my skin crawl, and McCain is old and well, one can hope.

[Outlaw Mike]

Hi bbmoe, were I American I'd also endorse Romney. He sometimes comes across as a slick guy, but I heard he made a name for himself as CEO of Bain Equity AND had a relatively good record as Mass. governor. I'll take that over any qualifications a senator might possess. Plus, at some occasion he clearly identified jihadism as the biggest danger facing civilization. Then he seems to be dynamic and in (very) good health. About his being a mormon: I couldn't care less.

[Tom the Redhunter]

Geat minds think alike, bbmoe, Romney is my guy too! He is right on all the issues, and smart and articulate. He's got top-notch executive experience, and would not have made the mistakes in administration that GWB has. Unfortunately, he's from the Northeast and I don't think conservatives trust him for that alone. Also, his conversion to all conservative causes is distrubingly recent. Lastly, he might come across as <em>too</em> smooth, too good looking. That said, he's still my guy.

I also agree with you about McCain. When he's talking about the war on jihadism he's great, as he is on foreign policy in general. He'd hold the line on spending too, and he's a social conservative. Other issues.... not so much. But although I have a lot of reservations about him, oddly he might be the one with the best chance of beating Hillary or Obama.

If Huckabee wins the nomination we can kiss the election goodbye.

Guiliani has a "late primary" strategy, which is why we haven't seen much from him. He actually looks strong in Florida and some of the Super Tuesday states. If it works we'll be calling him a genius, of not, a dope.

It'll certainly be interesting.