Political Irony

7 Comments

1. Arthanyel wrote:

   As things stand right now, the only Republican candidate that has a prayer of beating Obama is Romney – and in my opnion it is will take prayers and potentially divine intervention to give the Republicans a win. The Republican primary will be so skewed to the extremeist base that even if Romney survives he’ll have to disown all the things that make him the only real competitor.

   I still believe if a real indepdent candidate was available they would have the best shot of winning ever, but there are no real candidates with broad appeal and no sign of any on the horizon. And I haven’t even been able to find a single human being anyone would like to see as a candidate.

   Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 1:51 pm | Permalink
2. David Freeman wrote:

   My heart tells me that Arthanyel is right about the Republican candidates and I hope so too.

   My head, however, remembers being excited when Reagan was nominated because I thought he was unelectable. Ever since then, I have hoped for the Republicans to nominate their least extreme candidate even if the contest becomes harder for the Democrat.

   Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 2:16 pm | Permalink
3. Dan wrote:

   You don’t have to be rich to see the errors of TEA logic, just paying attention… we’re doomed, doomed I tell you!

   Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 2:37 pm | Permalink
4. TENTHIRTYTWO wrote:

   I personally am very worried about the outcome of the election, no matter which one of the mixed nuts gets pulled out of the bag.

   Remember, Reagan didn’t have the noise machine running at 150dB 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Virtually all the candidates have been able to say patently, demonstrably false things with little or no repercussion.

   My wife and I had a recent exchange very similar to #1 and #2. I also hope that she’s right…that it isn’t possible for the fundamentalist to be elected. But considering the absolute nonsense that I’ve been seeing a lot of people nod in agreement with, combined with the general “everything sucks, lets try someone else” attitude, I think it is possible. And terrifying.

   Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 3:13 pm | Permalink
5. Dan wrote:

   Even if an extreme GOP candidate cannot be elected, s/he will continue to shift the Overton window to the right. It’s also a bad sign about where the country is headed, even if Obama retains the White House.

   Saying that it’s ‘good’ that an unelectable candidate is nominated is sadly just an attempt to rationalize our fears.

   Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 10:33 pm | Permalink
6. Max wrote:

   Have you looked at Obama’s approval numbers lately? And with the bottom falling out of the economy, again! It doesn’t matter who the Republicans nominate. They are all more electable than Obama at this point.

   Friday, August 19, 2011 at 1:07 am | Permalink
7. Arthanyel wrote:

   Max: That’s conservative propaganda. Obama’s approval ratings are low – and the Republicans in Congress have approval ratings so low that you would have to get out of the gutter to stop blocking their snorkel. Obama shows in polls as losing to a “generic” Republican, but in the same polls when matched against any ACTUAL Republican he winsm in most cases wth a healthy margin.

   If the Republicans could put forward a moderate, rational candidate – the kind of candidate Romney *could* be if he didnt have to pander to the extremes – then if the economy stays tanked and Obama’s approval ratings stay low, the Republicans could win. Not because they are Republican, but because they are “not Obama”.

   All that said, I think the President is now doing EXACTLY what he needs to do – start coming out with fairly detailed, specific plans to make progress, have those plans be moderate and reasonable, and dare the Republicans to shoot them down – which if they do, they only look more extreme and petty, and if they don’t, will help Obama’s approval ratings.

   Frankly I would rather they just pass things that will work and stop playing petty politics, but it seems a forlorn hope given the Congress.

   Friday, August 19, 2011 at 11:51 am | Permalink