Patterico's Pontifications

In keeping with the maritime theme of the day.

Patterico (9c670f) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:33 am

Why not? We all believed that Obozo was your typical brain dead, but harmless liberal – before he was elected.

Mike Giles (760480) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:38 am

You’re right – someone who really opposes “rocking the boat” doesn’t wnat to do something significant.

But the boat doesn’t need rocking, so much as a careful change of course and repair work/additions/gettimng rid of certain things.

If all someone wants to do “rock the boat” all they can do is make things worse. “Rocking the boat” is random action.

I don’t want “rocking the boat.” I want intelligent design. That definitely includes gettimng or rid of some recent sacred cows.

Sammy Finkelman (798a49) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:41 am

I’ve got a random thought. My dad died in November. I call and get the answering machine I get his voice.

Not digging it.

Steve57 (ab7166) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:45 am

2. Comment by Mike Giles (760480) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:38 am

We all believed that Obozo was your typical brain dead, but harmless liberal – before he was elected.

And you discovered that being “brain dead” – never really thinking independently about public issues – is not the same thing as being harmless.

It means other people will do his non-thinking for him. And he won’t overrule them. And Obama – he’s very good at making arguments. They may be factually unsound, but he’ll give it the best try.

Today’s arguments: Selling Obamacare enrollment: (where they seem to believe their own propaganda that it is a benefit to young people to buy those policies)

Sammy Finkelman (798a49) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:48 am

My father died on October 31, 2006, Steve. I still see him in my sleep. Often. You’ll never “get used to it”. Don’t even try.

nk (dbc370) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:51 am

Sorry to hear about your dad.

Steve57 (ab7166) — 3/20/2014 @ 8:00 am

A presidential candidate whose plan is to get elected by not rocking the boat will have no coattails, no mandate, and no moral authority. Of course, if you are a business as usual, Chamber of Commerce Republican, this is a feature rather than a bug.

At the time, I was deeply confused about why Romney seemed to stand Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment (Speak no evil of a fellow Republican) on its head – speaking lots of evil about other Republicans but none about Obama. In the aftermath of Obama II and the surging popularity of Cruz, Paul and the like, it has now become quite apparent that not rocking the boat (and crushing those who dare to do otherwise) is the M.O. of the Republican Party apparatus.

As far as “Obozo” (I like that) goes, he is just a spokesmodel and last year’s model, at that. He is nothing more than a front man and mouthpiece for a wide swath of the authoritarian left. To believe he is somehow a man of depth and substance, an ideaman, or a leader in any sense of the word is to have swallowed Obama’s PR. Even his signature legislation, Ocare, is nothing more than a repackaging of Hillarycare. Barack Obama is Vanna White, coolly flipping the letters, just as he is commanded. It’s not that he is “beneath contempt,” it’s that he isn’t worthy of contempt.

I would argue that the contemptible ones are the MSM, which is derelict from its duty as the fifth estate, and the complicit Republican “opposition.”

ThOR (130453) — 3/20/2014 @ 8:43 am

Didn’t Dole, McCain, and Romney already demonstrate rather conclusively the blithering idiocy of that silly assumption?

ropelight (bc462c) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:07 am

New parody song from Rush:
Russian accented voice sings to Barry:
Come back and talk when you’ve grown a pair!

askeptic (2bb434) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:15 am

Speaking of not rocking the boat, President Obama just said that Mr. Putin took Crimea out of weakness.
At least it sure sounded like him when Rush just played it.
And it is not yet April 1st.

“Don’t rock the boat” was even the theme of one of the low points of 70’s music.

But here is an ancillary proposition:
If you are going to rock the boat, do it for a good reason.
Not insinuating anything about people who may or may not have rocked the boat, just sounds like a principle most of us agree on.

MD in Philly (f9371b) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:20 am

Which is why boat-rockers like Rand and Ted are going to be hard to beat in the primaries. Unless of course they rock boats you don’t want rocked; everyone has some.

Kevin M (dbcba4) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:30 am

Don’t rock the boat if you like the status quo, but if not rock the hell out of it.

Incidentally, in a sailboat race when winds are light the crew will often rock the boat to break the surface tension between the hull and the water to allow the boat to speed up a bit.

ropelight (bc462c) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:38 am

I like boat rocking for the hell of it. It serves a purpose. If the likes of Lugar, McConnell, and Cochran had faced a boat rocker every six years in the Republican primary, it would have kept them honest. And I used to think our biggest problem with “entitlement” came from welfare queens.

ThOR (130453) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:43 am

Rocking boats:

Ted:
IRS reform
NSA (?)
Obamacare for sure
Restructure entitlements, probably differently than Rand
Reduce size of federal government (how much is unclear)
Gut EPA
Restore military power
Clamp down on illegals
Restore traditional foreign policy

Rand:
NSA and intelligence community reform
IRS gutting
Obamacare
Restructure entitlements, probably differently than Ted
Reduce size of federal government a lot
Increased federalism, possibly a lot, returning many things to the states. Marijuana.
Appoint libertarian judges. Justice Barnett?
Foreign policy (direction ??)
Military policy of strict national interest. Degree unknown. Size unknown.

Kevin M (dbcba4) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:45 am

I’ll take Ted for eight years, Alex.

nk (dbc370) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:47 am

One of the reasons I cringe when I hear Romney has something to say these days about current events is that apparently he wants us to regret having elected Obama but at the same time still gives us no reason to think things would be any better with him in the WH.

All the diplomatic opportunities to hold back Russia were previous to the election.

Why wasn’t Romney trumpeting them to the rooftops during the election?

Where’s were all his skillz then?

I wish he’d go back into obscurity as I really don’t want to hear him anymore. Mitt: you lost, you didn’t play hard enough and even if you had I think you’re not the person to face off against someone like Putin or some others in the world.

jakee308 (e940d5) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:49 am

Comment by jakee308 (e940d5) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:49 am

All the diplomatic opportunities to hold back Russia were previous to the election.

Why wasn’t Romney trumpeting them to the rooftops during the election?

Where’s were all his skillz then?

In case you haven’t noticed (you should have when he was fed a softball question by Bob Schieffer on Benghazi) Romney is actually more brain dead than Obama.

Sammy Finkelman (798a49) — 3/20/2014 @ 10:09 am

9. Comment by ropelight (bc462c) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:07 am

Didn’t Dole, McCain, and Romney already demonstrate rather conclusively the blithering idiocy of that silly assumption?

You left out George W. Bush and maybe saying that he won, is not an answer.

How was “W” different than Dole, McCain and Romney so that he didn’t lose, if they all lost for the same reason?

Sammy Finkelman (798a49) — 3/20/2014 @ 10:12 am

How was “W” different than Dole, McCain and Romney so that he didn’t lose, if they all lost for the same reason?

Well, in some respects W lost the first time.

Kevin M (dbcba4) — 3/20/2014 @ 10:30 am

Ah, you shall know them by their assumptions:

George Bush won alright, but not for the same reason the others lost. It wasn’t that W was so good, but that his leftist opponents were so bad.

ropelight (bc462c) — 3/20/2014 @ 10:51 am

This is why I kept saying that I didn’t trust Romney when he said he wanted to cut spending. Glad to see you’re comming around to my way of thinking.

Time123 (066362) — 3/20/2014 @ 11:09 am

SF:

How was “W” different than Dole, McCain and Romney so that he didn’t lose, if they all lost for the same reason?

Kevin M:

Well, in some respects W lost the first time.

He did. Still, it was closer than what Dole, McCain and Romney got. The second time, he was the incumbent, and got about 7% more of the vote, or something like that (figuring Nader voters would have voted for Gore)

Comment by ropelight (bc462c) — 3/20/2014 @ 10:51 am

George Bush won alright, but not for the same reason the others lost. It wasn’t that W was so good, but that his leftist opponents were so bad.

Yes, Gore was less of a good candidate than Clinton. And Clinton had demonized Dole – along with Gingrich – as demonic and partisan budget cutters, who would harm Medicare and let the government shut down over a minor difference.

But then you’re saying: It depends on the opposing candidate.

And you’re not saying that a different sort of Republican would do better (that possibility hasn’t been tested at all, unless you have Reagan in mind but Reagan’s campaign in 1980 was to show that he wasn’t really going to rock the boat, just get rid of Carter and his mistakes.)

Was Obama such a good candidate? Well, he sounded he was more solid, or self-confident, on the economy than McCain in 2008. In 2012, Romney just wasn’t ready for prime time.

It might depend both on the Republican and the Democratic candidate.

Sammy Finkelman (798a49) — 3/20/2014 @ 11:22 am

“It wasn’t that W was so good, but that his leftist opponents were so bad.”

ropelight – Gore’s lesbian manliness coach could just not push him over the top.

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 11:41 am

“If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding.
How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat yer meat?”

Neo (d1c681) — 3/20/2014 @ 11:41 am

Comment by jakee308 (e940d5) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:49 am

That’s some fine revisionist thinking you’ve got there in that and your earlier comment. Romney not rocking the boat and not attacking Obama?

Were you asleep, drunk or stupid?

Day 1 – Repeal Obamacare
Restore Medicare cuts
Romney-Ryan Budget Plan
No Amnesty
Don’t apologize for American values overseas

Seriously, are you all as brain dead as Obama that you can rewrite history so fast like progressive distortionists. You should be ashamed.

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 11:47 am

“At the time, I was deeply confused about why Romney seemed to stand Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment (Speak no evil of a fellow Republican) on its head – speaking lots of evil about other Republicans but none about Obama.”

ThOR – Here’s a thought experiment for you. When you are being viciously attacked by multiple opponents during a primary battle do you a) roll over and play dead, b) respond, or c) respond to both your primary opponents and criticize the policies of your potential opponent in the general election.

I seem to remember Romney taking path c.

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 12:01 pm

Sammy, I’ve got enough on my plate without you trying to put words in my mouth. So, here’s my final words on the topic:

Dole, McCain, and Romney lost because they didn’t rock the boat. They passively remained sitting ducks for leftist smear campaigns and didn’t fight fire with fire. They were locked in a winner-take-all contest but cowardly declined to rise up and fight like men. Consequently, they allowed themselves to be defined as mere targets for outrageous abuse. They failed to demonstrate the manliness Americans expect in top leaders. So they lost.

It was a different story with W, he won because his opponents, Gore and Kerry, disqualified themselves. Gore because of his overarching pomposity, big mouth, limited intelligence, and his rapacious greed – Kerry lost because of his flip-flops, his phony war record, his elitism, and his grasping gigolo ways.

ropelight (bc462c) — 3/20/2014 @ 12:08 pm

i don’t remember Mittens ever really attacking Obumbles, just a lackluster “campaign” which made it clear he was just going through the motions, pretending to be an alternative.

he was no more interested in winning the 2012 election than i am in running for Miss America this year.

redc1c4 (abd49e) — 3/20/2014 @ 12:12 pm

Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream. From Obama’s father.
Or something.

Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 3/20/2014 @ 12:36 pm

Which potential GOP nominee doesn’t want to rock the boat? Jeb Bush strikes me that way and maybe a few others, but did someone say they don’t want to change things or is this a reference to Republicans that don’t want to repeal ObamaCare?

DRJ (a83b8b) — 3/20/2014 @ 1:00 pm

i don’t remember Mittens ever really attacking Obumbles, just a lackluster “campaign” which made it clear he was just going through the motions, pretending to be an alternative.

That how it seemed to me. Still, the economic indicators and Obama’s popularity level meant this was an easy win for the GOP. I wish we had nominated someone who would really make the case against an individual mandate, or strong gun control, or irresponsible deficit spending and tax hikes, but I don’t think candidates who have supported those things in office can do so effectively unless the MSM covers for them.

The real problem is that RINOs have this cover in primaries, and lose it in general elections. With their gaffes ignored and their flip flops ignored, a lot of people are surprised when this ‘ready for prime time’ slick guy turns into a hypocritical gaffe machine the nanosecond this is useful to the democrats.

But why would we nominate these democrat lites in the first place?

We need to get smarter in the primaries. First, we need to remember the same crew that told us Romney was electable, and keep their lack of understanding politics in mind when they suggest a Christ Christie or Jeb Bush in 2016. What they really mean about electability is that they despise conservatives and assume the rest of the world does too.

It’s true that Romney promised to repeal Obamacare on day one. In other words, Romney promised to violate his oath of office on day one. The US President doesn’t lawfully have this power Obama invented to just ignore the laws. Obamacare is the law and it will take a legislature to repeal it or a court to rule it unconstitutional. A presidential candidate promising to so something he can’t is all too typical of cynical politicians, and those who cite these obvious lies are dishonest shills.

Dustin (303dca) — 3/20/2014 @ 1:44 pm

DRJ-
I can’t read P’s mind, but what comes to my mind is the idea that every time Cruz or somebody does rock the boat all kinds of establishment types are having fits.
So the general observation is for those who are having fits to just stop it and say “Amen! Preach it!” to the (boat)rockers.

MD in Philly (f9371b) — 3/20/2014 @ 2:04 pm

“But why would we nominate these democrat lites in the first place?”

Because enough of us vote for them and there aren’t “electable “true conservative” candidates running.

Am I going too fast for you?

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 2:37 pm

“i don’t remember Mittens ever really attacking Obumbles”

redc1c4 – The entire Romney/Ryan platform was a direct attack on Obumbles.

I don’t give a crap whether you like Romney or hate him, I just think the discussion should be honest, not based on revisionist history.

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 2:40 pm

daleyrocks,

Don’t you get it ?—if it hadn’t been for Karl Rove the Puppetmaster forcing 52% of GOP primary voters to punch their ballot for Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum would be President right now !!!1!1
(Roll of the eyes.)
Of course, next time the thread is about Chris Christie, we’ll be told a different story—that Christie’s bear hug of Obama is the reason Obama got re-elected.

Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 3/20/2014 @ 2:52 pm

It’s always fun to see conservatives do the Left’s job for them. Allan Simpson was right about the Stupid versus the Evil Party.

Daley gets it.

Simon Jester (1789ed) — 3/20/2014 @ 3:06 pm

Thank you Simon.

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 3:11 pm

Is it time for Lieutenant General Honore to make a pronouncement for the benefit of the Miss Havisham True Conservatives?

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 3:16 pm

Look at what ace-mediator John Kerry did:

IMRA: (Prisoner Dispute Created By Kerry )

Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/20/2014 @ 3:26 pm

Dustin #32 wrote,
“What they really mean about electability is that they despise conservatives and assume the rest of the world does too.”
————

Ha, ha, that actually sounds like an outtake from one of Chris Matthews’ epic double scotch & soda rants, where he attempts to explain away the true motivations for why people disagree with Obama.
Just substitute “race” or a wisecrack about how we want children to go to bed hungry.

A GOP primary is a choice among the candidates whose names actually appear on the ballot.
Unfortunately, Calvin Coolidge, Ronald Reagan, and Barry Goldwater were not on the ballot in 2012.
I’m sorry, but you still have not made the case for which of the other candidates (Gingrich, Santorum, Bachmann ??)would have performed better than Romney in a general election head-to-head with Obama.

And yelling, ‘closet liberal !!!” or “Democrat lite !!!” does not make a persuasive argument.

Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 3/20/2014 @ 3:34 pm

My random thought is that it is really getting tiresome to have the VERY same conversation/argument rehashing the past over and over on every thread. It’s almost like watching the movie Groundhog Day except Groundhog Day was both funny and somewhat inspiring. Nobody here’s suddenly going to change their minds or come to their senses or have a eureka moment or whatever you want to call it based on just one more insult to our past candidates.

To the best of my knowledge the primary dates are set state by state by their legislatures–not by Karl Rove. And if Cruz or Rand, or Rubio don’t want Iowa and NH to continue to be so influential then they should not already be spending so much time there.

elissa (997c57) — 3/20/2014 @ 3:43 pm

“Am I going too fast for you?”

I think you know the answer to that one, daley.

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 3:48 pm

“My random thought is that it is really getting tiresome to have the VERY same conversation/argument rehashing the past over and over on every thread.”

elissa – no, No, NO, NO, NO!

If we rehash the past enough times we might be able to change the past. It’s like watching a rerun of your favorite TV show and believing this time there will be different ending, or something.

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 3:50 pm

I’ve got a random thought. My dad died in November. I call and get the answering machine I get his voice.

Not digging it.

Comment by Steve57 (ab7166) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:45 am

To each his own, Steve. My own dad died a year ago last December. I have a message from him on my VM at work… something I will treasure for as long as I can.

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 3:52 pm

teh beatings will continue…

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 3:53 pm

Rampant mischaracterizations and errant memories rule!

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 3:54 pm

If we couldn’t all just be like Texas…

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 3:56 pm

Another thing that I’ve been thinking about a lot recently (with all that has gone so horribly bad so far in the second Obama term) is that given the chance to show it, Romney could have been a really great president–an exceptional president.

elissa (997c57) — 3/20/2014 @ 4:02 pm

Mood musics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqMl5CRoFdk

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 4:04 pm

Apparently everything is bigger in Texas.
Or something.

Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 3/20/2014 @ 4:07 pm

It was so ~~funny~~ sad to see Obama answer all sorts of questions by sports journalists about his March Madness picks.
Where does a President who plays so much golf and has so many jam sessions with Jay-Z and Beyonce find the time to “know” that Podunk U has a great three-point shooter coming off the bench ?
I swear, he must watch more college hoops than Dick Vitale.

It would be funny if somebody on Fox News or on conservative talk radio (Prager, Medved, or Hewitt) would invite Obama on to talk specifically about his March Madness picks.
You know that President Chickensh*t would still turn down the interview because of the slight possibility of having to answer questions about Benghazi or the IRS without the aid of a teleprompter or a lifeline from George Stephanopolous.

Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 3/20/2014 @ 4:17 pm

That is such a great classic song. In so many ways it resonates more today than when I first heard it as a pup.

elissa (997c57) — 3/20/2014 @ 4:17 pm

So I’d like to know where, you got the lotion
Said I’d like to know where, you got the lotion

To choke teh choat don’t choke teh choat, baby
Choke teh choat, don’t choke that choat, Rover
Choke teh choat, don’t choke teh choat baby
Choke teh choat-t-t-t-t

Ever since teh election re-hash began
Your repetitive nonsense has sounded like so much breaking wind
And your rants come off like some bad castor oil
There’s rarely been some pants that you don’t start to soil

Your prescription is to run teh pure conservative
We’ve been failing with a businessman so, why not try lawyer?

So I’d like to know where, you got teh lotion
Said I’d like to know where, you get teh lotion

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 4:32 pm

Daley! Not teh Strolling Bones!!!

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 4:35 pm

And yelling, ‘closet liberal !!!” or “Democrat lite !!!” does not make a persuasive argument.

I totally sympathize with the exasperation of people like Dustin, but I also have the sense they’re not as attuned as they should be — or as they have to be (if only for tactically reasons) — to how just much squish, squish, squish exists out there among the populace. Although we Americans (at least so far) aren’t as foolish as are the people of a Venezuela or a specific region like the city of Detroit, we’re also not necessarily a whole lot less foolish than they are.

Mark (cc48f8) — 3/20/2014 @ 4:36 pm

detained at airport
“I have a bomb in my ass”
please give him aisle seat

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 4:49 pm

Whoever the GOP throws at us, I just hope he understands he can win by running on The 2nd Amendment.
Make it the issue in your tent full of Einsteins.

mg (31009b) — 3/20/2014 @ 5:01 pm

ev’ry time I eat
bad Mexican or Chinese
i’m packin’ bomb too

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 5:09 pm

Our bud mg would vote for the Beatles over the Stones, except he doesn’t think voting is all that important.
That’s why he doesn’t vote in presidential primaries.
Or something.

Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 3/20/2014 @ 5:19 pm

Harvard upset Cincinnati.
My perfect bracket is officially busted.
No billion dollars from Warren Buffett for me.

Elephant Stone (6a6f37) — 3/20/2014 @ 5:24 pm

Colonel – Some people are just more comfortable trying to rewrite the past than the future.

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 5:32 pm

Another thing that I’ve been thinking about a lot recently (with all that has gone so horribly bad so far in the second Obama term) is that given the chance to show it, Romney could have been a really great president–an exceptional president.

After Obama, and after W’s last couple of years, it would be an easy thing to follow. So long as you don’t mind mucking out a lot of filthy stables.

Kevin M (dbcba4) — 3/20/2014 @ 5:54 pm

To each his or her own, daley.

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 5:55 pm

Some people are just more comfortable trying to rewrite the past than the future.

Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 5:32 pm

Somebody, please, put that on a T-shirt! I want to buy one.

felipe (6100bc) — 3/20/2014 @ 6:24 pm

Today, on this topic, Elissa and I agree.

JD (534747) — 3/20/2014 @ 6:31 pm

25. “If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding.
How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat yer meat?”

Comment by Neo (d1c681) — 3/20/2014 @ 11:41 am

“If you don’t eat yer meat, you can’t have any pudding.
How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat yer meat?”

Comment by Neo (d1c681) — 3/20/2014 @ 11:41 am

No truer words.

Steve57 (ab7166) — 3/20/2014 @ 6:35 pm

Pudding in British may be what we call sausage, or chicken fried steak, or hush puppies, or other main course items, as well as the desserts like here. http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/the-lounge/uk-people-exactly-pudding So, if you’re a picky eater who only eats the batter off his chicken fried steak and not the meat, then you shouldn’t get any chicken fried steak (pudding) at all.

nk (dbc370) — 3/20/2014 @ 6:45 pm

Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 11:47 am

Since when and in what universe does what a politician promise during an election mean that that’s what they will do?

Are you NEW?

jakee308 (e940d5) — 3/20/2014 @ 6:53 pm

I’m sorry, but you still have not made the case for which of the other candidates (Gingrich, Santorum, Bachmann ??)would have performed better than Romney in a general election head-to-head with Obama.

Ron Paul

Michael Ejercito (906585) — 3/20/2014 @ 6:54 pm

Ron Paul???

Do you know what you are talking about?

Gingrich might have done better, also Santorum.

Sammy Finkelman (798a49) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:03 pm

I can’t tell a lie
barcky barcky puddin’ pie
putin made him cry

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:08 pm

Enuf back-biting
Duty Now For The Future
All Together Now

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:18 pm

teh next Prez must have
cabinet filled with sages
and brush will not count

Colonel Haiku (9c0af7) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:22 pm

Ron Paul ended his presidential campaign in May 2012. According to Wiki he had raised over 38 million dollars. At the time he ended his campaign I believe he had something like 118 delegates, coming in fourth behind Gingrich, Santorum, and Romney.

elissa (997c57) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:25 pm

“Since when and in what universe does what a politician promise during an election mean that that’s what they will do?

Are you NEW?”

jakee308 – What are you talking about and no, I’m not new?

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 7:47 pm

I suppose this is rocking the boat but the Treasury’s official accounting puts the 2013 deficit at a squeester pinched $680 Billion.

Which would be not all that commendable except the GAO today says it was $1 Trillion given expenditures of $3.8 Trillion on revenues of $2.8 Trillion.

Unexpectedly.

gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 3/20/2014 @ 8:39 pm

76. Actually daley is rancid and malodorous.

gary gulrud (e2cef3) — 3/20/2014 @ 8:41 pm

“Which would be not all that commendable except the GAO today says it was $1 Trillion given expenditures of $3.8 Trillion on revenues of $2.8 Trillion.”

gary – Close enough for government work.

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/20/2014 @ 8:56 pm

I don’t know if ES, daley, and elissa will agree, but I once heard something that reminds me a bit of this situation.

I knew a college president years ago, who was a good and decent man then in his 70s. He was African-American, and he could talk about anything with anyone. After all (as he told me once), where he grew up, he couldn’t drink out of the same water fountain as I would have. So he saw and recognized positive changes in our nation. Despite all that, we had some faculty who were marching and posturing and protesting about multiculturalism.

One day, I sat out on a bench while the Prez smoked a cigar (he couldn’t smoke in his office), and asked him what he thought about all that. He smiled.

“Some people,” he intoned sonorously, “would rather have a cause than an effect.”

I haven’t forgotten that, and it applies here. Sadly.

Simon Jester (e948a3) — 3/20/2014 @ 9:51 pm

I’m sick of Democrats. Not because the may be wrong, but because they think they are always right.

I am simply tired of their relentless pontificating about doing this or that or another to make everything perfect.

They can’t. All we can do is to live a good life. It is not up to Democrats to make it for us.

Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 3/20/2014 @ 10:05 pm

It’s all Rousseau’s fault, Ag.

Simon Jester (e948a3) — 3/20/2014 @ 11:00 pm

The Gross Old Party and it’s inbred liars are going to hell.

mg (31009b) — 3/21/2014 @ 3:46 am

Ron Paul???

Do you know what you are talking about?

Someone who would have restored honor, decency, and integrity.

Michael Ejercito (906585) — 3/21/2014 @ 7:18 am

Gingrich might have done better, also Santorum.

Gingrich perhaps, if he could have shown some dicipline, Santorum’s negatives are too high for him to match Romney. SoCons love him, but that’s the end of it. Todd Akin would have stuck to him like a tarbaby.

Kevin M (dbcba4) — 3/21/2014 @ 8:34 am

Which would be not all that commendable except the GAO today says it was $1 Trillion given expenditures of $3.8 Trillion on revenues of $2.8 Trillion.

You’re not counting the $300 billion in magic beans.

Kevin M (dbcba4) — 3/21/2014 @ 8:36 am

Which potential GOP nominee doesn’t want to rock the boat? Jeb Bush strikes me that way and maybe a few others, but did someone say they don’t want to change things or is this a reference to Republicans that don’t want to repeal ObamaCare?

Pretty much any establishment Republican who is angry at Cruz for highlighting how we really need to do something about ObamaCare and the budget.

Patterico (9c670f) — 3/21/2014 @ 7:19 pm

I don’t know if ES, daley, and elissa will agree

I would agree.

Steve57 (ab7166) — 3/21/2014 @ 7:54 pm

Romney was on FACE THE NATION today, interviewed mostly about Russia.

Bob Schieffer had Dick Durbin on as a counterweight after him.

One thing Romney said that if Obama had been tougher on Syria maybe this would not have hapepned.

Durbin countered this was disproven by history. Didn’t the Soviet invasion of Czechoslavakia take place during the Vietnam War, and the conflict with Georgia in 2008 while we had troops in Afghanistan and Iraq? He wasn’t so good on other points.

Sammy Finkelman (798a49) — 3/23/2014 @ 9:49 am

Durbin’s a bigger idiot than Obama.

daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/23/2014 @ 10:11 am

87. The argument of McConnell, Cornyn, Stowell, et al., that, e.g., 404Care must fail on its own, that “the American people must reject” and defeat the bill, obviously points to one, and only one remedy: Vote us power over 2/3 of government.

But this palliative ignores that POTUS is little more than a figurehead swayed by lobbyists and ignored by bureaucracy.

There is no will within DC to dismantle the Federal overlord. The resort to the ballot box is an illusion.

gary gulrud (384f70) — 3/23/2014 @ 11:01 am

3/20/2014

Random Thought

91 Responses to “Random Thought”

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