Pawlenty drops out of race

I'm not sure I would go as far as to call her a loon, but she grew up in Iowa and I think that's the bulk of the reason she's done so well.

The other thing that is kind of scary is that when one party's president has shit the bed, like Bush did and how many feel Obama has, there is a good chance that the other party's candidate is going to win, no matter how extreme.

I don't like Bachmann at all and I don't think her presence bodes well for anyone in either party. Hopefully, this can soon become about Perry and Romney. I also think Huntsman is the best of the group, but I also know he has zero chance at winning.

 

I think a lot of people agree with you and most of those people are tending to lean toward a candidate who they feel is pro-business, like Romney.

 

Aren't these two sentences completely contradictory to a certain segment of the population?

It will be really funny to watch Perry tout his business credentials when he's never held a private-sector job in his life, btw.

 

Bachmann seems to have the Palin Teflon thing going with the base. The crazier she is, the more they bunker down. New Hampshire will obviously tell how serious her chances are. If she does well there, it will be interesting to see if the party goes into overdrive to sabotage her - or instead just gets behind her.

 

In Texas, maybe . . . but a healthy portion of the Texas electorate doesn't have much use for the guy, and not only the Dems.

This is an old song . . .PArry will play in Texas (big towns, and small), Denver, Arizona, the Evangelical Midwest (hi, Iowa) and much of the heart o' Dixie. F education, F the middle class, F everybody who's not just like us? He's your guy.

But he makes the Bush/Romney old-time GOP veterans cringe. His nomination would radically energize casual, borderline Dems, who will crawl over ground glass to vote against him.

 

I just mean that if he was totally crazy, we would know it by now.

I get not liking him. I get disagreeing with him.

But, based on his record in Texas, I think it's kind of hard to predict doom if he was elected President. We already know how he governs.

 

How he governs is largely by taking advantage of particular circumstances unique to Texas that don't correspond to a national stage, at all, and by using federal government backstops to support his swingeing cuts.

How many of those new jobs that he's allegedly created in Texas were taken from another state? Because those won't raise the U.S. job count.

 

People are expressing some great fear of the unknown if we elect a crazy, Christian like Perry.

There's not a lot of unknown. The guy's been in elected office for 26 years (or something like that) and has been Governor for 10.

 

Erm, we already know what happens when you elect evangelical Texas governors to the presidency. So it's not "fear of the unknown." It's remembrances of the all-too-familiar.

You're countering an argument that no one has made.

 

If I'm arguing against a point no one has made, then maybe some folks should give some specifics as to why they think Perry is unacceptable to them.

And, I'm talking about Republicans. I understand why Democrats would not find him acceptable.

 

The biggest issue with Perry as a "job creator" is that, so often, Texas is the opposite of the rest of the country when it comes to job creation because of oil. Many times, Texas is booming because oil prices are going up, when much of the rest of the country is suffering for the same reason. When there have been oil price busts, the rest of the country is feeling great, while in Texas banks are failing and people are leaving the keys in their mailbox and getting the fuck out of town.

I realize Texas' economy is more diversified than oil, but that's still a big driver.

 

Sure. I get that. All reasonable.

But, when a Republican says they wouldn't vote for him if he's the nominee, I'm guessing it's not because they're not sold on his record of jobs creation.

What -- for a Republican -- could be so objectionable that he wouldn't get your vote if he is the nominee?