My day started listening to Mitt Romney smear John McCain on Morning Joe, with a direct assist from Joe Scarborough, who has slipped back into the sort of talking points douchebaggery we can associate with movement conservatism. The party simply must be defeated.
I simply can not believe Romney is sitting here invoking Reagan. These folks will say anything.
Carol
I get the feeling that Reagan, if he could come back from the dead, would say that “NONE of you are me!” Stop pretending!”. It’s interesting seeing Republicans do this, to the point where it looks like nobody could come up to him. We Dems are proud of FDR, Truman, Kennedy, and give some props to Big Bill, but we don’t act as if history and leadership stopped with any one of them.
dslak
I want McCain to eke out a win against Romney, just so the bloodletting can continue as close to the general as possible. I’m at least hoping Romney is dumb enough to stay in it if he’s within striking distance of McCain, and that Huckabee will keep yapping at Romney’s heels along the way.
gypsy howell
Hate to tell ya, but Reagan was the beginning (or at very least a continuation of) of all this douchebaggery that’s going on in the republican party. Every time I hear this current crop of asswipes claim his mantle, I cheer. It’s another nail in the coffin of the St Ronnie Legacy, which, like the old senile bastard himself, can’t die soon enough.
dslak
True enough. Reagan pandered to the base, but at least he didn’t believe all the bullshit he spouted. In the GOP consciousness, Reagan is simply a more popular version of Dubya.
Carol
McCain..Romney. I’m rooting for McCain too, for other reasons. I think Romney will eventually get tired of not getting enough for his money if he doesn’t get enough wins to justify. I think the real bloodletting could be between Huckabee and McCain. How soon will Huckabee start talking about McCain as if he’s the godless spawn of Satan? And McCain’s advisors will caution him to be careful not to piss off the fundamentalists who are the workhorses of the Republican Party. The fundamentalists do all of the organizing and getting out the vote.
Do you know that one theme that hasn’t been talked about is the financial implosion of the Republican Party? As long as I’ve followed politics, it was the Republicans that were far better funded, while the Democrats held bake sales and passed the can. People dropped out of the Democratic race because they couldn’t raise money or tap into the big donor rolls. Not this year. When Dean lost Iowa, we found that he was broke, and the netroots raised money to pay his bills. This time, nobody has asked anyone to retire a single penny of campaign debt. Dodd, Kucinich, Richardson. Nobody.
Even Gravel doesn’t seem to hurt all that much. Meanwhile McCain borrows against his life insurance policy, Romney self-funds, and Huckabee does what he can. Even Huckabee, who would be a natural point of fundraising for a netroots, is broke.
dslak
I don’t expect Huckabee to go after McCain, but it would be cheap entertainment if he did.
Carol
dslak, it’s cheap entertainment I think we will see soon. Huckabee could well pick up the support of wary social conservatives and those other factions who may think he’s malleable enough to their concerns. In a two-man race, Huckabee will have some cash and freedom to go nuclear and hope McCain snaps.
Xenos
Not to nitpick, Carol, but Richardson has been emailing supporters for cash to retire debt. I am highly curious about Edwards’ financial condition, too… by suspending, rather than ending his campaign, he is allowed to keep fundraising, so I suspect he needs to.
Carol
Sorry Xenos, I wasn’t aware. But I don’t think it was a big deal on the big blogs so I missed that one. But it wasn’t lack of funds that kept him from continuing, I’m pretty sure. More than likely some bills come in after the campaign that have to be retired such as hall rentals, electrical bills and so forth. Needless to say, the cost of moving things in and out of storage and other wrap-it-up expenses can’t be calculated before being done.
Wilfred
I like to think of Mitt Romney as a giant gas finger, bringing socons, fiscons and theocons together into a giant gascon of harmonious equilibrium.
apistat
“Senator McCain is a fine man and I understand why right now he’s going to dress himself in conservative garb, but his track record and the bills he fights for are a long way from conservative.”
Video Link
I’m absolutely amazed he was able to keep a straight face while he said that line.
demimondian
Sorry, Carol, but dKos has been passing the hat to retire Dodd’s debt, too — and Dodd sent me a note the day after he pulled out asking for help retiring his campaign’s debt.
dslak
I just voted in the first online primary, for Democrats living abroad.
4tehlulz
Voted in MA at my kid’s school. It wasn’t packed, but people were streaming in and out regularly.
BTW, the advantage of voting in a rainstorm — no assault by supporters with signs, leaflets, etc.
Carol
Well, I missed both then. But the main premise stands. The Republicans are running basically on a shoestring this time, which is unusual for them. There’s not a whole lot they can do about it either. They have no real netroots, so online fundraising is out for the most part. Bush can’t raise money without taking sides. There’ s still direct mail, but the crowd that responds to that is getting past the point where they can-or want to-spend large sums due to a mail solicitation. So where is the money going to come from until the Republicans have a nominee? We could see a Republican nominee heavily in debt even before the official start of the general election.
When the Democrats finally have a nominee, it’s probably a guarantee of a $50 million online weekend of fundraising, not to mention the sums that a prospective nominee may have already banked. The winner could start running the general electoin ads and strategy right away, while the Republican has to spend several days fundraising simply to compete.
I likes our chances.
When the Democrats finally have
Dennis - SGMM
Al Giordano, who blogs at The Field, and who predicted both the Kerry and Kennedy endorsements, is now saying that Al Gore will endorse Obama. He writes that, if Obama does well in today’s primaries, Gore will likely endorse Obama February 12th. It’s a good post as is the post to which Giordano links. Needless to say, Hillary is not amused.
Billy K
I’ve always wondered if these people believe this bullshit or they lie knowlingly. My best guess is maybe 25% know they’re lying, while the rest have managed to brainwash themselves into believing what they say. But I could be wrong.
bobbob
Joe cannot hide his viseral hatred of Bill Clinton. This is a holdover from his years in Congress. It goes to show that people fundementally do not change.
I have to admit I do watch his show because there isn’t much else on that is not into the whole celebrity thing in the mornings. He seems to try to be fair most of the time. But when he talks about Bill you can see the veins stick out of his neck and he cannot say enough bad about the guy.
myiq2xu
Reagan believed all kinds of bullshit.
Napoleon
My understanding that he “suspended” for technical reasons, namely that he can not drop out and claim matching funds later to which he is entitled (remember, unlike HRC and BO he agreed to take matching funds in the primary).
I donated to Edwards and I am on his e-mail list and I have not recieved one solicitation from him since he dropped out.
myiq2xu
I plan to follow the advice of former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and “Vote early and often.”
So I have a busy day ahead of me.
softwareNerd
Since this is an open thread, I thought I would post a link to blogger Myrhaf’s take on the crucial choice between cynicism and idealism that lies before the Democrat voters.
SpotWeld
Does anyone else get the impression that this whole “mantle of Reagan” is some sort of code phrase that pretty much means “I’m going to be just like Bush, and if you’re enough of a good and loyal Bushie to understand that, you’ll be allowed on the gravy train if you get me into power… just nod and don’t mention anything that happened in the past seven years out loud.”
bob
Fuck Reagan and all his admirers. Fuck Bush. Fuck Bush. Fuck McCain. The last good republican was Teddy Roosevelt and HE was an imperialist asshole, too.
Doubting Thomas
Why not? Don’t tell me you think Reagan was a true conservative!
TR
I watched that this morning. My favorite part is where his liberal co-host Mika pointed out that Reagan actually raised taxes — in 82, 83, 84 and 86 — and Scarborough scoffed at her, pretending that was patent nonsense. Sorry, Joe, but history says otherwise.
The way these idiots portray Reagan these days, not even the man himself could live up to the legend.
TR
Someone in the conservative movement — Norquist? — made an excellent point that the last thing Reagan would ever have done would have been to present himself as a reincarnation of an earlier Republican president and call for a restoration of past policies. “Vote for me, and I’ll bring back the Eisenhower years!”
Very true.
Chris Johnson
I think if Reagan came back from the dead he would say “ngaa hgnnnn gaaaaaa”. After all he was pushing hard into senility even by the end of his Presidency. People behave as if he embodied the part he played, but it was post-Nixon PR orchestration, he wasn’t so much of a policymaker.
Perhaps you mean, if Reagan’s IMAGE came back from the dead it would say ‘none of you are me, stop pretending’?
But images don’t die, his image NEVER died. And like ‘conservatism’ it apparently can be made to say whatever you like…
limbaugh's pilonidal cyst
Don’t worry, John, they’re defeating themselves. Not even the Democrats can be this lame anymore.