Patterico's Pontifications

Of course, that could have been said some weeks ago too.

Rich

FoolishCop (89b424) — 4/10/2012 @ 7:45 pm

I’ll merely quote something I saw in a non-political forum a week or so ago:
The GOP race is all over except for the shouting. Of course, since this is the GOP, there is still a lot of shouting to be done.

JBS (883a38) — 4/10/2012 @ 7:47 pm

Every time I hear the words “suspends campaign” I think of McCain’s foolish move in 2008.

Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 4/10/2012 @ 7:47 pm

BTW, to put this into proper perspective, I overheard on one of the MSM channels a claim that his daughter’s hospitalization this past weekend was a factor in Santorum’s decision. So perhaps it’s proper to pray an extra prayer or so for Bella.

JBS (883a38) — 4/10/2012 @ 7:50 pm

No love lost from TEAs. This guy was the darkest horse at the start which is the only reason he made a run to the 3/4 pole.

Good. Willard will bore everyone to death by convention.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 4/10/2012 @ 7:51 pm

Kevin, I think “suspends campaign” is a magic incantation that allows the candidate greater flexibility in raising funds to pay off remaining campaign debts, and also impacts control of delegates. Apparently there are things a candidate can do if he suspends his campaign, which he can’t do if he officially ends it.

JBS (883a38) — 4/10/2012 @ 7:52 pm

congratulations Mr. Governor Romney on this victory you have done America a significant service!

I bet you sure are happy to be the nominee it’s like a thing with you, huh?

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 4/10/2012 @ 7:58 pm

If the candidate “suspends” the campaign he is eventually eligible for Federal Matching Funds, which would be used to pay off campaign debts if they intend to stop racing.

Also, they are technically still in the race if something terrible happens to the front-runner.

I don’t think there is much control of the delegates. In round 1 the delegates are required to vote for the candidate (I don’t know if that’s still true if the candidate drops out). After Round 1 the delegates can vote for anyone regardless of their candidate’s status. The only way it gives Santorum extra control over the delegates is that he could theoretically prevent Mitt from winning the first ballot if Mitt has fewer than half of the delegates and none of the other candidates releases their delegates. But if Mitt is going to win anyway there is not much point in that.

A candidate can ask his delegates to vote for someone in particular after round 1, but a candidate cannot force their delegates to vote for anyone in any round, other than voting for the candidate himself in Round 1. For example, Rick can’t give his delegates to Newt.

Daryl Herbert (faf269) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:00 pm

Good. Willard will bore everyone to death by convention.

Comment by gary gulrud

You’ve beat him to it in my book, Gary. 100 dollar bet still stands.

Colonel Haiku (d207d8) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:05 pm

Mike Shedlock:

“As bad as Obama is on foreign policy, Romney is worse. I cannot and will not vote for either Romney or Obama. Many independents feel the same, and they will be the key to the election.”

Granted, Mish is a Paulbot, but the guy knows finance like Uncle Milty. If Romany knew squat he’d be all over him like permabull Kudlow.

Paulbots, and Herr Scheiss himself, have totally lost interest in playing.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:09 pm

“Gingrich sent $500 to Utah for primary filing fee — but check bounced…”

Never figured him for a sh*theel…

Colonel Haiku (d207d8) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:15 pm

9 Just to remind everyone, your bet was “No brokered convention and a new POTUS”.

Since I’ve already said there will be no brokered convention that leaves a $100 on Ogabe living ’til Jan. 20 and being re-elected or declaring martial law and suspending Elector’s convention.

I don’t like the bet.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:17 pm

Gary, you seriously need to chill.

elissa (5b642c) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:19 pm

11. Well, you seem to be an expert.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:19 pm

Happy Feet, how’s that boyfriend search coming along ?

[You need to keep a consistent name unless it’s a sockpuppet thread please. –Stashiu]

Sad Eyes (0ae97d) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:21 pm

13. Uh huh, I’m the unhinged one.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:22 pm

Somebody needs a nap, I think. You folks who want to hold your breath when you don’t get your way? Jeez. Time to get BHO out of office. You can work toward that goal, or you can have a tantrum.

Guess which you will choose?

Simon Jester (f16f89) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:27 pm

Having Huck’s braintrust, (Stewart, Gidley, Cox), only gets you so far,

narciso (5fca68) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:31 pm

Against stronger opponents, Santorum would have been knocked out of the race many weeks ago. He’s a good man who was, at best, an average candidate, and he would have been a disastrous nominee for the GOP. I wish him and his family well, and I appreciate the grace with which he’s withdrawn, but his persistence has imposed costs on the party that were unnecessary, and if (as some argue) he made Romney a better candidate, that process had certainly ended at least six weeks ago.

He’s a 1990s Republican. That has some redeeming features to it, but he would have been extraordinary vulnerable to Obama’s flim-flam and misdirection, and he would have gladly fought the election to an honorable but crushing loss over the most extreme social-conservative issues. I will be very, very, very disappointed if Romney bumps him into the Veep nominee position.

Beldar (8fdc17) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:35 pm

Rob Portman – shiny and new! – let him float

he’ll float back to you!

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:38 pm

In 1996, B.J. Dole and Gnome, 49% of eligible voters picked themselves up off their cots.

Indeed, had Perot not run Dole mathmatically could have won. The 8.4% would have given Dole 49.1% to Slick’s 49.2%. Maybe the electoral count, somehow, could have worked in the GOP’s favor like Shrub versus Chakra.

Paul endorsed Barr, Baldwin and McKinney in 2008. I kinda think he will endorse fewer candidates this time. Turnout will be similar.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:39 pm

Folks:

I would say the biggest boost this gives to the GOP is that Mitt Romney now has no need to campaign heavily — or even much at all — for the primaries in Connecticut, New York, Delaware, Rhode Island, California, or New Jersey (states he almost certainly won’t win in the general election)… nor for that matter in states like Louisiana, Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Arkansas, Kentucky, Texas, South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, or Utah — states that are almost certain to go again to (or revert to) the GOP, assuming this election is anything like normal.

This allows the Romney campaign to run as a general-election campaign from this moment on, focusing for the most part on purple states, both bluish-purple and reddish-purple, that might go either way, depending on how much advertising, personal appearances, and ground-game (including GOTV) the campaign does.

He’ll still make appearances in every state, I’m sure; but those appearances will be dictated by the tempo of the campaign, rather than by the schedule of GOP primaries.

I suspect that campaign flexibility is even more important to Romney than the extra money.

Dafydd

Dafydd the Chin Puller (632d00) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:40 pm

I’m sure Portman is a nice man and picking up OH is a virtual necessity. Lots of necessities on the board.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:44 pm

I didn’t realize that Santorum dropping out had financial ramifications for Romney, apart from Mitt being able to poach some of the Santorum donors. Don’t candidates get to raise money for both the primary and the general election? Romney gets to spend his primary bucks up until the moment he is officially nominated at the GOP convention (Obama gets to do the same, by the way), then he suddenly gets to ask all of us for another infusion of money for the general election. If I were to send Mitt Romney the max $2,500 today, wouldn’t he put that into the primary money pot and then hit me up for another $2,500 right after the convention?

JVW (4d72aa) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:53 pm

What Beldar and Dafydd said.

I wish Santorum had done better but, as Roger Zelazny wrote, hold a wish in one hand and something else in the other and see which one comes true.

nk (52d02a) — 4/10/2012 @ 8:58 pm

______________________________________________

“As bad as Obama is on foreign policy, Romney is worse. I cannot and will not vote for either Romney or Obama. Many independents feel the same, and they will be the key to the election.”

Not sure if people who feel that way are so far to the right — or are in such a peculiar ideological category that it’s hard to pin down — that Obama to them, oddly enough, isn’t the ultra-liberal he truly is.

In a way if someone perceives Romney as being not much less leftwing than Obama is, or if they deem the gap between the two politicians as being so narrow that it’s imperceptible, than ironically enough such an observer could very well not detect the nuances that make Obama an unrepentant ultra-liberal. A 100%, certifiable ultra-liberal with all the trappings of authentic “goddamn America” sentiment to boot.

Mark (411533) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:06 pm

25. What I wish is second week in Sept. a patriot with general name recognition does a YouTube saying “O what the hell, I’ll serve if America really wants me to”.

Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris, Pat Sajak, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, you know someone with gravitas who reads and hasn’t been preggers lately.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:08 pm

It’s very important Obama lose in November.

I also think it’s very important that those pursuing this goal not react harshly to those who are legitimately frustrated with the GOP. They are right to be aggravated. I know in 2010 I was expecting 2012 to see some real lions of conservatism with awesome records.

That didn’t work out, and it’s time to explain how Obama is really sufficiently wrong on the issues and in record that it is justified to vote for Romney despite reservations conservatives legitimately have.

Fast and Furious, a lack of a budget, over politicizing many issues, and a dangerous foreign policy are all sufficient reasons to support Romney.

I believe this election will come down to a couple of percent. I believe Obama’s campaign recognizes Romney’s problem with conservatives and GOTV and will make sure to do their best to make conservatives feel alienated by the GOP. Don’t help them. Show respect for conservatives who are on board yet by recognizing their frustration and then explaining why Obama is sufficiently wrong to justify voting for someone who we don’t agree with on some important matters.

Dustin (330eed) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:10 pm

Clint Eastwood, Chuck Norris, Pat Sajak, Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams

Really? Hollywood clowns and word processors? Really?

nk (52d02a) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:14 pm

26. But for the knowledge that the wheels are coming off regardless of who we elect.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/

Nouriel Roubini is Dr. Doom, Mish is just a numbers guy.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:17 pm

That may be, Gary. I think we’re in deep trouble and very few in DC are serious enough to fix the budget issues.

But that’s not the only issue.

Israel and Iran are major issues, too. Our DOJ is a major issue. Gun rights are an issue.

If you just write off hopes for a stable economy, there’s still enough reason leftover.

Dustin (330eed) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:23 pm

29. Exactly. For what we are about to receive they’re all about as fit.

We need a Lincoln or a Washington, this time out, and obviously that isn’t happening.

Nine million homes in the foreclosure pipeline with homes already valued at 2003 levels. Fifty eight percent employment participation rate. Baltic Dry Index at an all time low.

World wide depression, new war in ME imminent, certainly by November, refineries shutting down in NE, eleven ships being mothballed, this is not a ‘rough patch’.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:30 pm

Israel and Iran are not major issues. It would make absolutely no difference to America if neither existed, except saving us some defense and foreign aid money.

nk (52d02a) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:32 pm

Well, they are major issues to me.

I also think what happens in the Middle East does turn around and affect the USA. When the Cold War ended, many said ‘it’s the economy, stupid’ and dismissed foreign policy as largely irrelevant.

I think this perception should have ended on 9/11.

Dustin (330eed) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:34 pm

Ah, nk, your post about Zelazny made me wonder if “Random” is the same Random in “Nine Princes in Amber.”

What we need is Corwin, of course.

My favorite Zelazny novel is “Doorways in the Sand.”

Simon Jester (f16f89) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:37 pm

My daughter is into Zelda games, and I’ve been telling her that the concept is the same as in Jack of Shadows. My favorite is Lord of Light, I have reread it at least a 100 times, it’s sheer poetry, but Doorways in the Sand is wonderful in every sense of the word.

nk (52d02a) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:40 pm

33. Iran has already stopped shipments to Greece, France and UK, today Spain. We offed Gaddafi because they supplied Italy and France and that spigot is still mostly cranked.

Egypt is allowing rockets to be fired from the Sinai. IMF demands permitting funding to Egypt is probably not going to be met. Turkey’s current account deficit has been running over 11% for a year, Syria ceasefire will not hold.

You are mistaken. These are similar circumstances to those prior to WWI. Ben, ECB and Japan in providing $9 Trillion to banks are goosing the cost of food 50% in these countries.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:44 pm

Japan hit Pearl because we shut off their oil. When Israel hits Iran we will likely be compelled to finish the job. China gets a lot of their oil from Iran.

Look out Taiwan and the Spratleys.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 4/10/2012 @ 9:53 pm

“Lord of Light” is lovely, lovely. “He preferred to drop the ‘Maha’ and “Atman,’ and called himself ‘Sam.'”

Simon Jester (f16f89) — 4/10/2012 @ 10:02 pm

Maybe we should stop playing God and let those people work out their own destinies?

If we were to act, maybe Cambodia’s killing fields would have been a good start? And we voted absent in Darfur, as we are now in the Congo, where little girls are gangraped and little boys are conscripted to be little killers and rapists, so we can have diamond rings.

nk (52d02a) — 4/10/2012 @ 10:04 pm

Israel and Iran are not major issues. It would make absolutely no difference to America if neither existed, except saving us some defense and foreign aid money.
Comment by nk — 4/10/2012 @ 9:32 pm

— Care to rephrase, counselor?

Icy (962b81) — 4/10/2012 @ 10:13 pm

No. Neither is necessary to America’s well-being.

nk (52d02a) — 4/10/2012 @ 10:34 pm

If we were to act, maybe Cambodia’s killing fields would have been a good start? And we voted absent in Darfur, as we are now in the Congo, where little girls are gangraped and little boys are conscripted to be little killers and rapists, so we can have diamond rings.

Yes, those were times we should have acted.

Maybe we should stop playing God and let those people work out their own destinies?

I guess I have two reactions.

First, suppose we did just announce we would no longer interfere with any matter that happens outside our borders. How long would it take for the radicals in the world to accept the truce?

Second, interfering is often justified morally. And I don’t think it’s always feasible for people to overturn tyranny on their own. I’m not sure the USA would exist without French interference in the Revolution.

When we talk about Iranians and Israelis working out their destinies, there’s a lot of wisdom to nk’s view of non-interference. I think US interference has caused a lot of problems. Mossaddegh, the Shah… It didn’t work out. Many of our efforts haven’t worked out.

Hopefully we can do better. I don’t think we can safely just let this nuclear powderkeg find its own destiny.

Dustin (330eed) — 4/10/2012 @ 10:35 pm

If Isreal and Iran were to cease to exist this exact moment, I would still be sitting on my couch, eating Hersheys and sipping Jack Daniels, tonight and every other night.

nk (52d02a) — 4/10/2012 @ 10:37 pm

But they have their own Hersheys and Jack Daniels and sense of survival and they’ve been around as long as we have and maybe they’ll want Hersheys and Jack Daniels for another more night.

nk (52d02a) — 4/10/2012 @ 10:39 pm

Zelazny, especially in his early stories, was simply a brilliant stylist. The writing itself was just as entertaining as the stories he told. The first Zelazny story I ever read was “This Mortal Mountain.” Not his best story, by any means, but — oh — the writing; it takes your breath away, it’s SO well-written.

Icy (962b81) — 4/10/2012 @ 10:45 pm

g.g. and His Sunshine Band reprise his greatest hits.

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/10/2012 @ 10:47 pm

Dang it, Icy, we have finally come to perfect agreement on something — Roger Zelazny.

nk (52d02a) — 4/10/2012 @ 10:48 pm

Hershey’s and Jack doesn’t sound like the worst way to spend an evening.

I think most folks in both countries would very much like to be around tomorrow and for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, it’s not up to them. It’s up to the twelver ayatollahs. These people believe that the return of Mohammed al-Mahdi will rid the world of injustice. That’s not altogether different from the Christian view of the rapture’s ultimate result. But some seem to relate eliminating injustice with eliminating Israel. I really hope these guys don’t test any theories they may have about nuclear weapons triggering this great justice.

Dustin (330eed) — 4/10/2012 @ 10:51 pm

I knew there had to be at least one thing . . .

Icy (962b81) — 4/10/2012 @ 10:58 pm

SF is where some people manage to find common ground.

Icy (962b81) — 4/10/2012 @ 11:01 pm

The great ones, Zelazny and Vance, were lucky to have been writing when militant lesbians had not taken over the editorship of the sci-fi publishers. Obligatory homosexual sex content. Even Glen Cook succumbed.

There’s little now that I would allow my daughter to read. Riordan and Collins.

nk (52d02a) — 4/10/2012 @ 11:22 pm

49 Dustin

The problem is not so much any theories about the 12th Imam, but any theories about nuclear deterrence being a big hoax, and that if they drop a bomb, nobody will actually drop a bomb on them in retaliation. Especially if where they explode one is Israel.

I think China, or its military, is very interested in breaking the nuclear taboo, so some people in Iran might be getting a lot of free advice in this regard.

From China’s point of view, it’s all right even if there is retaliation, so long as it gets condemned by the United Nations Security Council and the International Criminal Court. (I mean, standard nuclear retaliation would be a war crime. It’s an open and shut case.)

Sammy Finkelman (1b40e8) — 4/10/2012 @ 11:38 pm

There does tend to be a tendancy towards progressivism (in the guise and name of libertarianism) in a lot of “modern” SF. “Anything is possible” becomes “anything goes” because — well, you know — the key to our future evolution is to adopt a “do whatever feels good” attitude about life.

Icy (962b81) — 4/10/2012 @ 11:43 pm

That’s why Israel will prepare to launch a preventative attack before November, and when he sees that happening, Obama will beat the Israeli attack to the punch, because having Israel do it – and ineffectively and incompletely to boot – would, in his mind, risk a big Mideast war.

(By then Assad may be back in control, and Egypt in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood and virtually allied with Iran. The best window of time to attack was March)

Obama will start bombing Iran no later than about October 29th, unless Iran completely caves into the sanctions before then, or starts the fighting itself before by attacking U.S. Naval vessels.

Would Mitt Romney be willing to bet $10,000 that that won’t happen? As it is, he may bet the presidency on it and really go out on a limb that Obama will let Iran get the atomic bomb with delivery systems.

Romney actually has already gone out a limb, but that was on his Etch a Sketch pad. What he would say after the nomination is what would count.

Sammy Finkelman (1b40e8) — 4/10/2012 @ 11:51 pm

any theories about nuclear deterrence being a big hoax, and that if they drop a bomb, nobody will actually drop a bomb on them in retaliation. Especially if where they explode one is Israel.

That’s another good point. What matters is their perception rather than the reality, but their perception that they could get away with such an attack is borne out by the attitudes of much of the world.

Of course, Israel has a second strike capability because of their submarines, and I think there are some might actually be undeterred by the damage that would do to Iran. It probably worries me more than it does a few of them.

Iran and Israel really ought to be friends, as we’ve discussed before. Not in some generalized ‘everyone can get along’ way, but because they are natural allies with a rich history together.

Dustin (330eed) — 4/11/2012 @ 4:09 am

Two evils again. Romney gets the nod over Obama because his is a slower death.

cedarhill (73543f) — 4/11/2012 @ 4:25 am

“he would have been extraordinary vulnerable to Obama’s flim-flam and misdirection”

Yes, Beldar, a fatal flaw indeed. And they called Newt undisciplined….

SarahW (b0e533) — 4/11/2012 @ 5:13 am

So we have a frontrunner who recommended the IM, after the failure of Masscare, who was indifferent
about the high cost of gasoline, whose most prominent backers, like Julian Robertson, were in favor of cap n trade schemes, what am I missing.

[note: released from moderation. –Stashiu]

narciso (dfa41c) — 4/11/2012 @ 5:58 am

Narciso – that we are stuck with his sorry robot hide?

SarahW (b0e533) — 4/11/2012 @ 6:32 am

It seems verbal tantrums aren’t just limited to Teh Won…

Colonel Haiku (59db3e) — 4/11/2012 @ 6:35 am

I’m sure once they replace the positronic core, he’s good to go,

narciso (dfa41c) — 4/11/2012 @ 6:41 am

And once again the media picks the “moderate” Republican to win the Primary and will turn him into a a right wing lunatic by the Convention.

Every time since Reagan. Left wins. Cocktailers win. Nation loses.

Bill (af584e) — 4/11/2012 @ 7:04 am

‘It has begun’

http://nation.foxnews.com/andrea-mitchell/2012/04/11/nbc-s-andrea-mitchell-suggests-mormons-are-racist

narciso (dfa41c) — 4/11/2012 @ 7:12 am

Narciso – Well, they were for a long, long time. And recently enough that Mitt was raised on it.

I’m sure Romney is not, and the church has repudiated the egregious teachings, but the accusation will have a sticky quality because of the grain of historical truth.

Persons predisposed to make Romney an unattractive candidate will make the most of it.

SarahW (b0e533) — 4/11/2012 @ 7:40 am

(I’m sure Romney is not racist, that is)

SarahW (b0e533) — 4/11/2012 @ 7:40 am

Well it’s Andrea Mitchell, but the rage virus has moved on from ‘crazy Larry’

narciso (dfa41c) — 4/11/2012 @ 7:43 am

Let’s just sit back and pop bon bons on the couch while the Suez and Straits of Hormuz slap shut:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ND11Ak01.html

The problem with our side is us.

gary gulrud (1de2db) — 4/11/2012 @ 8:06 am

Plus teh VAT!

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/11/2012 @ 8:07 am

Yeah that’s coming. Aren’t we lucky.

SarahW (b0e533) — 4/11/2012 @ 8:27 am

Let’s just sit back and pop bon bons on the couch while the Suez and Straits of Hormuz slap shut:

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ND11Ak01.html

The problem with our side is us.

Comment by gary gulrud — 4/11/2012 @ 8:06 am

So what if Hormuz and Suez slap shut? Give those camel molesters a chance to drink their oil, in place of anything better, if they don’t reopen them.

Or maybe we should all bow to King Abdullah?

nk (52d02a) — 4/11/2012 @ 8:29 am

I thought Shater was supposed to be the smart one in the Brotherhood, cutting your nose, to spite your face.

narciso (dfa41c) — 4/11/2012 @ 8:29 am

That dog just won’t hunt;

http://hotair.com/archives/2012/04/11/two-thirds-in-skewed-wapoabc-poll-want-obamacare-overturned-in-whole-or-in-part/

narciso (dfa41c) — 4/11/2012 @ 8:34 am

~~Sanitarium~~ Santorum was the absolute worst of the contenders. He Is a nanny statist, a “get te govt out of my life so I can put it into yours” republican. Once, Glenn Beck asked Rick about Bloomberg banning salt, and Rick said, without the slightest sense of hypocrisy or irony, “this idea that the government has the right to tell you what you can or can’t ingest into your own body is absurd.”

This libertarian is glad he’s done.

Ghost (6f9de7) — 4/11/2012 @ 8:37 am

In 2008, after eight years of the stupidest, most destructive president since Andrew Johnson train-wrecked Reconstruction, the GOP nominated an antiquated clown and a promising but highly problematic and premature VP, against a guy who was a) running against the retard Bush, and b) surfing a wave of MSM propaganda whose like I have never seen in my forty-something years. In that overwhelmingly Dem-favored environment, with a moron RINO at the Republican helm, the GOP only lost by roughly four points.

Their backroom boys have had three years since then to select a candidate with strong potential, vet him backstage, and train him to hit all of Obama’s plenteous weak spots.

Instead they dribbled out the amusing jackass Gingrich, the ludicrous Herman Cain, the lightweight crackpot Santorum, a whole cast of obscure nitwits, and a mild-mannered rich guy who lost last time, and who nobody is sure is even really a Republican.

Tell me, GOP strategists… Is this actually what you do for a living? If I did my job like that I’d be gone in less than a week. Maybe this is just a hobby of yours? Maybe you concoct GOP strategy in your mother’s TV room, during commercial breaks of Two Broke Girls? What is it, really?

Because it isn’t serious thought.

[note: released from moderation. –Stashiu]

d. in c. (ac417f) — 4/11/2012 @ 8:42 am

72. Have a globe on your desk, or book shelf, counsellor?

Insufficient supply to Europe where WWI&II started. Germany is bankrupting the Mediterranean, the Schengen agreement will be the first to go, then the depressed economies and finally the ‘exporters’.

These events are not hypothetical, the next POTUS will have consequences including trade and FX war.

gary gulrud (1de2db) — 4/11/2012 @ 8:47 am

Rush won’t say what the upheaval might be before or after convention, but no one is happy:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/04/10/santorum_suspends_so_what_now

gary gulrud (1de2db) — 4/11/2012 @ 8:51 am

So now we’re down to two GOP candidates I’d never support.

CrustyB (69f730) — 4/11/2012 @ 8:56 am

Don’t sweat the small stuff, Gary. The dead dinosaurs will still be there after the Arabs have gone back to 7th century where they want to be.

nk (52d02a) — 4/11/2012 @ 11:26 am

Israel gives the US a heckuva lot of avionics technology – if they were wiped off the map we likely wouldn’t have the kind of air superiority we have now (if we want).

A google search on ‘what does israel do for the US’ gives some neat hits. They give a lot of intelligence information, they’ve provided military support, they do incredible things for our computers and agribusiness, amongst others.

luagha (5cbe06) — 4/11/2012 @ 12:59 pm

Please don’t get me wrong. It’s just that I have no love for the sowers of thunder. Not the Islamists and not the Ultra-Orthodox Jews. Who both think they are on a mission from God. And send young men out to die for that idea.

War is a foul, stinking thing. Let them taste it for themselves and leave our young man here to chase young women and make babies.

nk (52d02a) — 4/11/2012 @ 2:06 pm

I can’t speak to any individual of course, but I wonder how many of these “all the Republicans suck” comments are from Mobys.

Sure, there are some who honestly view a lack of fervent ideological thunder in some desired micro-direction to mean that X and Obama are peas in a pod, but you really have to be on the further reaches of the right edge not to see the clear danger that Obama’s re-election would pose.

Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 4/11/2012 @ 2:24 pm

Stashiu — why was my remark at #75 placed in moderation to begin with? I see nothing red-flaggy about it in the least.

Not angry, just curious. If moderation standards around here are to be arbitrary and/or weird, then I’d just as soon not expend my time commenting here to no practical avail.

Cheers.

d. in c. (ac417f) — 4/11/2012 @ 2:42 pm

I think it was probably the R-word.

SarahW (b0e533) — 4/11/2012 @ 2:57 pm

If moderation standards around here are to be arbitrary and/or weird, then I’d just as soon not expend my time commenting here to no practical avail.
Cheers.
Comment by d. in c. — 4/11/2012

Whether your commenting here is of practical avail or not I will not judge, but the line to cross to have something not allowed is somewhere between the stratosphere and the moon. I do not know what was caught by the filter automatically, there may be some changes or complications in technology, as in the last week I’ve seen more nonsense spam get through than in the last 2 years total, I think.

Having read your post, I think it was that you referred to “Obama”.
At least now GWB is no longer the “stupidest, most destructive president since Andrew Johnson”.
😉

MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 4/11/2012 @ 3:14 pm

d. in c., with the exception of Obama, who was Richie Daley’s buttboy, every candidate for president has clawed his way up, and not been pushed up by either a Democrat or Republican Machine, in the last half century. All those clowns up there are selfish, self-centered hogs in the public trough who think they should be President themselves. None of them are going to sincerely unite behind any candidate.

nk (52d02a) — 4/11/2012 @ 3:20 pm

If moderation standards around here are to be arbitrary and/or weird, then I’d just as soon not expend my time commenting here to no practical avail.
Comment by d. in c. — 4/11/2012 @ 2:42 pm

— Well, if the moderation standard fits . . .

Icy (962b81) — 4/11/2012 @ 3:24 pm

Andrew Johnson was not destructive, just an ineffectual drunk who could not deal with the radical Republicans. He drank, instead of working. Obama plays golf. Eisenhower the same.

nk (52d02a) — 4/11/2012 @ 3:24 pm

Zimmerman in custody; charged with second-degree murder.

Icy (962b81) — 4/11/2012 @ 3:29 pm

I admit that I know little of Andrew Johnson’s presidency, so I defer to nk on that, my main point was how GWB has been eclipsed in just about every negative description by the one, who should have played more golf, much more golf.

MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 4/11/2012 @ 3:29 pm

Eisenhower accomplished a heckuva lot of NECESSARY things while in office.

Icy (962b81) — 4/11/2012 @ 3:32 pm

zombie narrative
of a brokered convention
still haunts the gary

Colonel Haiku (59db3e) — 4/11/2012 @ 3:41 pm

I’m not worried at all about Santorum making any kind of comeback ever again. I know he thinks not losing Pennsylvania maintains his viability but this was a one-shot dealio for him. It was a flukey thing to start with and he only got as far as he did cause poor pitiful perry imploded so spectacularly.

happyfeet (a55ba0) — 4/11/2012 @ 3:47 pm

It is indeed good that Obama is incompetent, since his destructiveness is thereby limited.

Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 4/11/2012 @ 6:23 pm

Icy #87: If you choose the gambit of trying to make your point with a joke, then the joke has got to be funny: because if not, then your point remains unmade (as @ 87).

Why not speak to me clearly and directly like a man?

Ah, that’s right, I forgot…

d. in c. (17012e) — 4/11/2012 @ 7:19 pm

D in c – it was the ‘tard word, likely.

JD (bf9ca8) — 4/11/2012 @ 7:35 pm

Comment by d. in c. — 4/11/2012 @ 2:42 pm

As SarahW and JD said, it was the word “retard” early-on. It’s been a long-time filtered word.

Stashiu3 (cd7afe) — 4/12/2012 @ 2:26 am

… as in the last week I’ve seen more nonsense spam get through than in the last 2 years total, I think.
Comment by MD in Philly — 4/11/2012 @ 3:14 pm

It looks like some of the filtered IP’s and keywords I’ve collected are now missing. I am teaching Akismet those again. There may be a few more getting through than before, but not really that many really. It’s just that I’m not around to nuke them before anyone really has a chance to see them. I used to get them within seconds because I was constantly monitoring. I have some real-life things going on that make that impossible now. There are times when I am out for days at a time which lets things build up to where they are more noticeable than before.

Akismet is learning though. 😉

Stashiu3 (cd7afe) — 4/12/2012 @ 2:34 am

Icy #87: If you choose the gambit of trying to make your point with a joke, then the joke has got to be funny: because if not, then your point remains unmade (as @ 87).
Why not speak to me clearly and directly like a man?

— Asked you for details about the white people you knew personally that were murdered by black people.

Icy (e372e3) — 4/12/2012 @ 2:34 am

Ànd you did it very glibly. You don’t deserve a response in a “do tell” tone of voice, and you aren’t going to get one.

Pro tip: don’t go through life being an @$$hole about such things.

d. in c. (ac417f) — 4/12/2012 @ 6:51 am

Hey, if it’s too painful for you to relate your personal experience, I understand. For my part, I was inviting you to share some anecdotal evidence in order to bolster your “Derbyshire was fired for boldly telling the truth” stance.

Icy (e372e3) — 4/12/2012 @ 11:40 am

4/10/2012

Santorum Suspends Campaign

101 Responses to “Santorum Suspends Campaign”

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