Is the full court press by anti-Newt forces having an effect? Maybe. You could also argue that even the GOP base can only handle so much of listening to the guy listen to himself talk.
Huntsmania anyone?
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trollhattan
I honestly expected him to flame out with Bachmann-like speed, so it won’t surprise me if the Newton cratering happens as fast as his ascendency. I joked about Huntsmania a week ago and still think, “why not?” (Yes, a gazillion reasons but there have been as many for each supposed leader.) Surely better than a Santorum surge.
shoutingattherain
Loathe Andy Sullivan? Way ahead of ya…
dmsilev
So, we’ve reached Peak Gingrich? There aren’t too many potential Not-Romneys left.
Comrade Javamanphil
Huntsman can win in NH. And then we can all spend the rest of the season discussing how NH is no longer an important contest in the GOP primary because he cannot win south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Do they go back to Bacchman now? It’s not like Obama’s ambassador to China is going to last (plus, he is Mormon). As for Santorum, the man has a “kick me” sign perpetually tapped to his backside.
Hill Dweller
What is the base going to do when all the non-Romneys are gone and they’re stuck with Willard and his glass jaw?
Mike Goetz
Huntsman has gone from 9% to 13% in the only state in which he is actively campaigning. That’s a “mentum”?
No, it’s going to be Romney. And Obama will beat the balls off him and humiliate the Republican Party. That’s it.
Scott P.
Of course, the lesson they’d take away from that is “we oughta nominated the crazy one.”
Dork
In more ways than one.
Alesis
This is really the big test on whether the Republican establishment can force the talk radio/FNC/Tea Party Wing to toe the party line. Rush is sticking to his anti-Romney guns and Ailes isn’t feeling Mittens either.
The Villagers however are soiling themselves in fear (“Full Unconcealed Panic” is exactly right from Sully) that Newt could pull out a couple wins in the early states and make Romney look like the loser he most certainly is. Bad enough that Huntsman has less of a shot at the nomination than that churl Ron Paul…
I’m loving this and more power to Newt for the nom I say, he wouldn’t be any worse that a President Romney anyway.
Violet
I haz a sad that Newtmentum seems to be over. It’s been fun watching him. Maybe being the underdog will make him scrappier in tonight’s clown car meetup.
Zagloba
Hey! Some of us are trying to eat lunch here!
Ian
They are having ANOTHER debate tonight??? This must be a ploy to kill liberals who are drinking every time something funny happens in the debates.
dmsilev
@Violet: If we’re really lucky, we’ll see Mean Newt tonight. Newt is very good at Mean, and it would probably appeal to this year’s version of the GOP base. If nothing else, it would make for amusing TV.
The Moar You Know
@Scott P.: Just like 1996. Or 2008.
They believe this because it’s correct.
Violet
@Ian:
It’s the last one before Iowa and it’s moderated by Fox. Could be very interesting to see the forces at play there. Last chance to impress voters. Chance for Fox and Ailes to frame questions in such a way as to influence voters away from Newt and Paul, but to…which candidate? Romney? Last chance for Paulites to show their support in the audience.
It’s the last public clash of the GOP establishment, such as it is, and Ailes and the teabaggers and the Paulites. Who knows what will happen.
Yevgraf
Speaking of clown cars, I spotted this little tale today.
nydailynews.com/gossip/duggars-family-holds-memorial-baby-jubilee-shalom-distributes-photo-miscarrie…
Sick fucking freaks.
gaz
The GOP nominee sideshow is causing a run on popcorn in my area.
Monkey Business
Quick! Someone sound the Horn of Urgency!
youtube.com/watch?v=73Wb14NZ01E
gaz
@Monkey Business: Full. Of. Win.
Chris
@Scott P.:
This.
Enough of them already blame McCain’s RINOism for losing the 2008 election. If the New England Mormon with Obamacare and a socially liberal past under his belt gets nominated and loses, they’re going to fucking lose it.
Well. I mean, like, really lose it, even more than they’ve lost it up to this point, at any rate… uh… never mind.
The Truffle
I hope the GOP has more debates. I hope the GOP has at least 60 debates! If they keep having these ridiculous debates, Obama won’t even need to campaign in 2012. Every time one of these clowns says anything, it will a. be great joke fodder and b. guarantee another 10,000 votes for Obama.
dmsilev
@Chris: Peak wingnut is a lie.
trollhattan
@Yevgraf:
I’d be okay with reinstituting mandatory sterilization, briefly, to shut these freaks down for good.
Waldo
They all suck, of course, but I still don’t understand how Santorum is perceived by GOP voters to suck any more than the rest of ’em. Is he really any dumber/crazier/know-nothing-er than Bachmann, Cain or Perry? C’mon, give the guy a chance. He’s hung in there this long — be a shame if his persistence wasn’t rewarded.
gaz
@Waldo: I think the answer is quite simple.
The base finally learned how to use google.
I love that word. Base. It describes them on so many levels =)
adding: Their “gut” now associates Santorum w/ teh ghey buttsecks…
Dan Savage and his readers are awesome. That project was a suitcase nuke for santorum’s presidential aspirations. Win. He so richly deserved it too…
The Truffle
@Waldo: Santorum’s probably hoping for a VIP slot and realizes his chance at the main prize isn’t good.
Really, though, Santorum gives off a “closet case” vibe, which sets him apart from the rest of the crew.
If the GOP candidates were Smurfs, we’d have Batty Smurf (Bachmann), Dopey Smurf (Perry), Grumpy Smurf (Gingrich), Nearly Forgotten Smurf (Huntsman), Fickle Smurf (Romney), and Closet Case Smurf (Santorum).
Alesis
@Waldo: No Charisma. Even Mitt has a little swagger. Santorum looks and sounds too like the dweebs some of them beat up in high school.
Frankly Dan Savage’s “Google-bomb” is probably the high point of Santorum’s political career.
gaz
@Alesis: LOL!
Hungry Joe
@Waldo:
Because Santorum is the weasely, whiny kid you couldn’t help snapping a towel at in P.E. even if you weren’t the kind of guy who snapped towels at people.
gaz
@Alesis: Also, Too: Romney is no different in the charisma department. He has the charisma of week old roadkill. And yet he’s an awful lot closer to clinching the nomination than Santorum (not that it matters – they’re both sure losers in the general)
trollhattan
@Alesis:
I think his biggest liability is this photo:
austinist.com/attachments/matthewodam/santorum.jpg
Okay, that and the fetus story. He’s a sick f*#k down to his core.
gaz
I still think Santorum was primarily done in by the google bomb – at least as far as the base goes.
I don’t buy the arguments about him being too weasely or sanctimonious for the base. As far as the wingnuts go, these attributes are features, not bugs.
Still – if not the google bomb – it might be because he (looks like he should) wear glasses and looks like a wimp.
edited for clarity.
gaz
@trollhattan: I love that photo.
Sometimes life imitates photoshop.
heh
p.a.
we’ll see if the authoritarians follow orders on this one.
Anoniminous
@Violet:
I know.
I purchased a giganto bag of Pre-Stale Theater/Movie House popcorn and American Processed Imitation Butter-Like Substance just for that Debate.
Trump canceled and I haz a sad.
(And a giganto bag of Pre-Stale Theater/Movie House popcorn and American Processed Imitation Butter-Like Substance I have no use for.)
Hill Dweller
@trollhattan: I’m not sure which is worse, that picture or the Huckabee family photo with matching outfits.
Waldo
@gaz: I’d like to think that was the reason — cuz he totally brought that on himself. But I wonder if most of the base is even computer savvy enough to use the google.
gogol's wife
@Zagloba:
My biggest problem is when someone mentions Rick Santorum in polite society and I can’t explain why his name makes me giggle.
catclub
Which came first, the google bomb to define santorum, or losing PA senate re-election by 18?
Approximately simultaneous?
catclub
@trollhattan: The wife is the scariest looking to me. I can imagine her chanting “Make ye the corn” and looking to chop him into fertilizer.
The Other Chuck
@catclub:
The google bomb. He made the remarks that prompted the, ah, Savage attack while he was a sitting senator.
gaz
@Waldo: two words:
redstate.com
freerepublic.com
’nuff said
Violet
@trollhattan:
That picture is the best thing ever. It looks like a fake from a skit on SNL, and yet it’s real. Even The Onion couldn’t make it up.
Tonal Crow
Please let Gingrich be the NOMinee. And Trump and/or Paul (possible as Trump/Paul) run an “independent” bid.
I’m afraid Obama needs all the help he can get.
trollhattan
@catclub:
Love it! Let’s have the snark dial set to twelve please.
Much is said about using the spousal and kid units as props in political theater, and I suspect they’re generally willing participants, but sometimes you just shouldn’t do it. Like after you get caught cheating, or get kicked out of office.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The google bomb defines Santorum – he let his own name get turned into a vulgarity and did nothing about it. The Base(r) isn’t so loony as not get that’s not the man to have as president.
DFH no.6
@p.a.:
Bingo.
Of course they’ll follow orders, but right now they’re getting conflicting orders from different authorities.
They’ll get that sorted out (sooner rather than later, I think).
Then they’ll be lockstep as usual in the general.
SFAW
Re: peak wingnut being a lie: although I believe that to be true, one of the questions that comes to mind: does the function graph for wingnutitude vs. wingnuts who believe it resemble the hyperbola for a standard inverse relationship? Or is there some non-zero asymptote?
To (I hope) be more clear: will the percentage of the population who adhere to or believe some wingnut tenet approach zero as the wingnuttiness gets crazier and crazier? (Hyperbola/imverse)
Or is there some non-zero percentage (say, 27 percent), who will continue to believe Teh Crazy, no matter how crazy it gets? (Asymptote)
I bet some enterprising soul could write a research proposal, and get a big grant from either Soros or the Kenyan Muslim Soshulist Fascist Society of Aztlan, to explore just that question.
Shalimar
All the other candidates are piling on Newt now. Hopefully he holds up and they don’t get the chance to smear Santorum everywhere.
different-church-lady
I have been predicting Huntsmania for at least a week now. But does anyone listen to me? No, nobody listens to me…
harlana
the death-cheering, soldier-booing, child-labor loving, racist (thanks, Newt, for ramping up the racism back to the “welfare queen” days, btw, good job!) clown show is a gift to the Obama presidency and guarantees his re-election, regardless of the republipath nominee
they have become simply the party of sociopaths, as evidenced by their candidates
Jewish Steel
Chait says there is a glimmer of hope for us Newtiacs:
harlana
and can the media just put the rest all the concern-trolling about whether you should judge a presidential candidate by his past affairs/plural marriages just because we are talking about a fucking republican candidate here? are they fucking serious??
these are the assholes who started this shit. Newt started this shit. he should be hammered bloody with it. he should be beaten to a pulp with a picture of a beautiful, smiling Obama family.
No one of importance
@gaz:
Yes. He’s done in by the fact that he makes Mitt Romney look charismatic, and he’s a whiner. So is Romney, and it’s hurting him. Santorum’s just been out as a whiny godbotherer for longer.
And he always looks like he’s worried someone can see the semen stains on the back of his trousers. Not appealing.
gaz
@No one of importance: lol @ yer last sentence.
so true. He constantly looks worried. It’s so obvious now that you state it. heh. Never really noticed before – figured he just looked like a douche-canoe…
harlana
i admit i haven’t researched Huntsman really, so this is pretty objective from what i’ve seen of him. he strikes me as a book-smart airhead type who fancies himself a hip eccentric. if he wanted to separate himself from the pack he would call out the republican party but he runs away from it like a frightened woodland creature.
doesn’t matter if he appears and sounds relatively sane, he’s a Mormon and he worked for Obama, so he’s toast
Hungry Joe
@SFAW:
They’ve been getting crazier and crazier, with no sign that any of the Base is sloughing off. So it’s the asymptotic approach: all ahead full, straight on till doomsday.
SFAW
Hungry Joe @ 58 –
I tend to agree with you, but there’s something about the asymptotic view that scares the shit out of me. I’m worried that my kids live long enough – hell, that I live long enough – to see human sacrifice (i.e. hearts cut out on the altar of Ste. Ayn) become an accepted part of wingnut theology. (I almost wrote “wingnut thought”, but realized that’s self-contradictory.)
At times like this, I often think of James Spader’s speech on “Boston Legal”. It’s depressing.
mike in dc
Ron Paul can win Iowa. If he can win Iowa, he could win NH. If he actually were to win both states, he’d be the first Republican non-incumbent to ever do so, as I understand it. It would be seriously amusing, just to see talking heads a-splode trying to rationalize it all away.
Hugh
Agh! An Andrew Sullivan link! I feel dirty, jacking up his towering narcissism a tiny bit more with my click. Why didn’t I look more closely before I followed that link? Why?
SFAW
mike in dc –
I heard something interesting the other day: in the past, whichever candidate won both NH and Iowa did NOT go on to become President.
I have no idea if that’s true, but I thought it was interesting. Which kind of tells you what a thrill-ride my life is.
Lojasmo
@mike in dc:
Paul is polling low double digits in both states, except PPP.
Get reality.