In my opinion, the office of the presidency has been degraded because of the bullshitting and pandering required to get the job. In the mass media age where hype and cheap one-liners are prized over substance, smart successful "boring" people are looked over.
I feel this acutely as I look at the clusterfuck that is the 2012 GOP primary contest. I have written about my thoughts on Romney in a previous thread, where I assess his strengths and weaknesses. The Republican Party has a good chance of nominating a man whose primary selling point has been, "vote for me because i go nuts on debate moderators when they ask questions i don't like, and i will BRING IT to Obama in the debates. Then the American people will see just how awesome i am!" Hence, Gingrich's anger and unpleasant demeanor are now seen as presidential attributes.
Meanwhile, Romney is being assailed for what precisely? He made too much money? He's too fucking successful and was good at everything he touched? He's not "charismatic" enough? Charisma is nothing more than a euphemism for being regular guy that every dumbfuck in America can somehow relate to. Let's face it. Romney is just different from 99.9% of us. He's too smart, too accomplished, too picture perfect, too moral. Most Americans do envy people like Romney. When they look at him, they see their imperfections and failures in life. And they HATE him for it.
The recent Vanity Fair article does a good job of dissecting Romney. Worth a read.
You could easily make a similar claim about Huntsman yet the GOP completely ignored him.
Romney is being disliked because I, and many other conservatives see him as a fairly liberal dude who has no convictions. It is pretty hard for most people, in their adult life, to change opinions as much as Romney has. This year, grassroots Republicans wanted a real conservative- and there is no real candidate. Ron Paul maybe- but his FP scares a lot of people. No one knew who Jon Huntsman was, I don't blame the voters- he did a horrible job of getting his message out. Huntsman on paper is Romney- Mormon, a governor, white, and rich. His policies are better, but he never really played to his strengths in any contest and kept fighting the specter of Romney. Gingrich is a great debater, charismatic, and did the Contract with America. I personally like the guy, but I think his negatives may be too hard to overcome in the general election, so I will probably vote for Romney.
Romney is rich, donates 10% of his money, has a nice wife and kids, both of which he respects, is successful in business, the Olympics and was a governor, yet hillbilly Republicans want to nominate a fucking philandering, lobbyist troll.
I am a pretty hardcore Republican, but have nothing in common with the tards down south. Oh well, 4 more years of Obumbles.
Americans who live overseas have to re-register to vote each year by the end of January. I did it today, and I registered Republican for the first time since 1996 so I could vote for Ron Paul in the Louisiana primary. I then took a LONG HOT shower.
I mentioned it on Twitter and a couple people asked me who I've voted for in the past for President, so I thought I'd answer it here. I attained legal voting age in 1987.
1988 - Bush 1992 - Perot 1996 - Dole 2000 - Bush II (most disgraceful vote of my life) 2004 - Abstained out of pure fucking disgust 2008 - Paul
Gingrich is awful, and it's a sad testament to Romney's ineptitude that Gingrich could still be considered a serious candidate.
Obama's a shoe-in, fellas. Might as well get used to the idea now (unless the GOP pulls its head out of its ass and runs Paul against Obama).
except bush II 2000, this was my exact voting record down to the very abstention in 2004.
At least Bachmann's out
1) Romney made his money the least popular way possible (trial lawyers might have him beat). 2) He has the personality of a dirty dish rag.
Romney in absolute free fall:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/01/newt-gi…
I will never, ever, ever vote for Newt to do anything. I wouldn't allow him to be the assistant manager of a Dunkin Donuts I owned. Atrocious. Way to go fundies, way to go.
Newt is going to run the angriest, quasi racist campaign imaginable. If you think this country is split now, just wait until Obama gets re-elected.
The sheer stupidity of the American electorate never ceases to amaze me. Gingrich represents everything that was wrong with the bush years. In fact, almost everything that the tea party said they disliked about the Bush administration Gingrich supported. Yet they vote for him in droves. On top of that, they weren't all that bothered by the fact that Romney is a flip-flopper or that he created the precursor to Obamacare. What really got them riled up was that Romney was a successful capitalist. Now they will be further incensed that he minimized his tax burden. I'm embarrassed to be associated with these clowns.
Obama - One Big Ass Mistake America
Newt's racism is hilarious. He doesn't even attempt to hide his disdain for minorities. Jon Stewart does a masterful job (as always) of taking the asshat apart:
The Daily Show
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Supposing Romney doesn't get his shit together, I wonder if the republican establishment is going to start pushing a new candidate. About ~1200 delegates are available after Florida which would be enough to win the nomination. Christie maybe?
Romney is not a good candidate. I personally like the guy and respect his enormous success, but it's a shame that he appears to have no principles on which to stand and I don't think he actually wants to attack Iran but he doesn't have the fortitude to stand up to his neocon PNAC adviors.
Fact is he never caught on because he is not a conservative and doesn't inspire people. Seriously, how are his policies different than Bush? Background = / = policies btw.
Right now I have Obama with a 92% chance of winning reelection, Paul with 5%, Romney 3%, Newt 0%.
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if romney were to run on his moderate principles, there is no way he would get the republican nomination. his shifting positions is nothing more than a political tactic - which, admittedly, makes him come off as disingenuous at times - but given how polarized the political environment has become in this country, you have to make a hard push to the right if you want to eventually take a go at obama. it's a dose of realism and pragmatism, which we desperately need at the moment.
in sum, i think it's not so much a reflection of romney as a candidate or an individual, and more of the unfortunate and dysfunctional political system we currently inhabit. don't know if romney is the guy that can restore confidence in the US - or if any one individual can - but he sure is way more palatable than newt...
Newt is such a piece of shit. I will vote for Ron Paul if that scumbag gets the nomination. Mother fuck. 4 more years off Obama the ass clown. God damnit.
I hope people realize that if Paul were the nominee he'd win by 10%...and yes ANT I know people like their entitlements.
YObama. 4 more years, strap in fellas
romney is a baller buysider who did more to earn his money than that serial political prostitute gingrich. if he weren't such a shill for some constituencies i particularly hate i'd vote for him in a heartbeat. this is why i am voting for paul again.
"america's broke: all of you moochers domestic and international go fuck off."
Romney will crush Obama in the GE. This is a guy who has a history of success (Bain, Olympics) and was able to win the governorship of a blue state. While this might not carry weight with conservatives, Romney clearly speaks to moderates including myself who cringe at the Tea Party / Evangelical wing of the party.
I honestly trust Romney with our country. I think he won't get us into any crazy foreign entanglements. I think he would be good for business. I think he is perhaps the first president who would truly understand the global financial markets, (and be able to talk man to man with Big Ben).
The most unique thing about Mitt is that everybody who has ever worked for him sings his praises. He's always been the best. I want the best running our country.
It'll be harder for him to win the primary than the GE. he liberal base is disenchanted and Obama is not doing anything to shore up moderates.
You don't mean Bernanke do you?
Plenty of people who ostensibly "understand" the markets will disagree with other people who also "understand" the markets. Would you want Soros as president, since he seems to understand the markets so well? George and Ben could have really cool chats about how great QE14 is going, it would be real swell.
Romney is the most qualified man for the job but it is likely he won't make it there. there are just too many retards within voting population... to this day, I am horrified by the stupidity of many American voters when George Bush was elected as our president twice.
How is Romney different than Bush in terms of his platform? Besides the fact that Bush campaigned on a humble, non-interventionist foreign policy?
He went to HBS FFS!!!
Used to be only land owning males could vote. Maybe we need something along the lines that unless you pay Federal taxes you cannot vote. Way too many morons pulling the lever.
I think Democracy slowly dies because people begin to realize that a morons vote is the same as en informed person.
This.
I'm not gonna lie but America is full of retards. And those retards having voting rights.
i'm voting Camacho '12
fuck yeah
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Why did he hate Ron so much?
Expediency, I guess.
Or Ron was stealing the scene and he was green with narcissism fueled envy.
[
Literally the entire top half and left side is devoted to taking down Newt. I love Drudge, he has actually done a good job promoting Paul also.
I think he meant Ronald Raygun, not Ron Paul. Drudge is a closet Paul fan, if you ask me.
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[quote=Nobama88]^^^ Oh yeah, that makes sense.
Here is a good article (main article on drudge right now): http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/289159/gingrich-and-reagan-ellio…] Yeah I meant Reagan...I should have just spelled it out, my bad.
So that article leads me to believe Newt thought Reagan's efforts to squelch the global spread of communism were inadequate - Did I interpret that correctly? And on that issue, wouldn't Ron Paul have been for leaving those countries alone, thus allowing Communism to spread uninhibited? Just a thought.
Somebody needs to hit the reset button on the Republican Party. Bush II-McCain-Romney/Gingrich is just a brutal run. Ron Paul was the party's only shot.
Watched only the highlights last night. Sounded like Romney murdered Gingrich...
Also, Newt is batshit crazy and sees himself as some type of historical figure when he is in reality just another run of the mill politician. He wants to invade North Korea and colonize the fucking moon. How anyone takes this guy serious is beyond me.
and somehow ron paul is the one who is considered crazy.
Romney is basically Mr.Perfect. Good-looking, tall, perfect family, worth $250 million, no skeletons in his closet, went to Stanford and HBS, donates to charity etc
I don't think Americans can relate to a guy like that. They want trash like Sarah Palin, Gingrich with multiple divorces, affairs, illegitimate children etc. or some guy who their favorite rapper tells them to vote for (Obama).
He didn't go to stanford
He was at stanford for his first two years, went to France for his missionary service, and then transferred to BYU when he came back to the states. In 1971 he graduated and entered the harvard jd/mba program, where he was top of his class.
http://stanfordreview.org/article/mitt-romney-at-stanford-in-1968/
He also has terrifying policy positions and no principles, but yeah he's perfect other than that.
Just finished reading the Vanity Fair article. The man is a machine. He's what we need if we want to compete with the Chinese. We need an emotionless robot. Enough of this wishy-washy, wimpy, feel-good fairness bullshit that is dragging us down.
I'm voting for Romney so he can stop inflation through the golden plates standard.
It would be ideal if Romney wins it all. However, in case Gingrich wins the nomination, I would rather have Obama back in office.
Really? You sure we're gonna go with "perfect"? Cuz this seems kinda bizarre to me:
Yes, the Romneys Converted Mitt’s Dead Atheist Father-in-Law to Mormonism
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