(Ben Sargent via GoComics.com)
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Dave Weigel, self-professed libertarian and “jerk“, reminds the easily bored that there’s still ink to be spilled covering the GOP horse race, because “only 12 of 2,286 delegates have been awarded so far“:
Why so few? The Iowa caucuses, as jerks (sorry, again) keep pointing out, where not binding. Only New Hampshire’s primary was binding, and the small state only supplies 12 delegates to the Tampa convention. On January 21, voters in South Carolina will divvy up only 25 delegates, the number halved from 2008 because the state jumped ahead of the party’s schedule. On January 31, Florida will assign 50 delegates — again, number halved as a penalty. So at the end of January, the period when everyone agrees that Romney will “lock up” the nomination, Republicans will have officially assigned 3.8 percent of their delegates. The last time a race ended after so few delegates were chosen was 2000, when Al Gore dispatched of Bill Bradley. And Mitt Romney is not an incumbent vice president.
khead
New thread needs cats.
Samara Morgan
You forgot, self professed Ron Paul voter in 2008.
Baud
Oh, SuperPACs, only you can help keep this clown show going.
Omnes Omnibus
@Samara Morgan: Does that make the linked piece more or less accurate? Neither.
khead
Stuck in moderation due to kittehs again…..
TG Chicago
This is a good point from Weigel. The press wants to stretch this out. If Romney wins South Carolina, expect this storyline to take hold.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
So he’s now complaining about the next-in-line system that the Republicans have set up to pick their next presidential nominee? Or is he complaining about how we all know that Republicans will fall in line because they are a hive mind?
dww44
I heard about the meeting of the far right religious righties coalescing around Santorum on my car radio this afternoon. Who else could they have chosen, seriously? And, in a sane world why would any self-respecting religious organization put Newt Gingrich in 2nd place? How could anyone think that his spouting of religious platitudes is sincere? But then, any number of conservative acquaintances are wholly convinced there is no such thing as Separation of Church and State and one has even posted a link on Facebook to a Heritage article that I should read to become convinced that it’s all made up by liberals.
Southern Beale
Why so few?? BECAUSE THEY SAID SO, THAT’S WHY!
RNC wants this puppy locked up and fast so their bazillionaires can start spending their money attacking Obama not each other.
Wouldn’t it be hilarious if they had to bankrupt a few Waltons to lock up the nomination first? Bwaaahaaahaaaa. Ron-bots will be good for that, if nothing else. They will not be denied their lord and savior.
handy
This is not as strong an argument as Mr. Weigel thinks. True, the total # of delegates issued to Romney for people to declare him the de facto nom is much smaller than in the past, but that’s only because SC and FL jumped the gun.
Who out there really thinks that if Romney gets 37%+ in both of the states thinks anybody else’s campaign isn’t DOA at that point? I mean, really.
khead
One less kitteh link?
handy
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
I think in the end he justs wants to be the contrarian. He does write for Slate after all.
Schlemizel
The thing is the money usually drys up right away for also rans. But Shitizens United ‘fixed’ that & allowed the clown car to keep on rolling!
James Hare
Here’s a theory: Rick Santorum is trying to deal with his google problem! Perhaps he thinks if there’s enough written about him NOT linking to spreadingsantorum.com, he’ll move it down the search results. I think it’s unlikely, but it’s one of the few ways I can think of to defuse that google bomb.
Schlemizel
It really is a good thing that people are not eliminated after two useless states but it would be good for us this year if a couple of the not-mitts would clear out. Still as long as the bozos are knifing each other I’m happy.
grandpa john
Either the pollsters have gone completely wacko, or else some terrific news for mitt is going to explode rapidly if Mitt is going to get anything close to 37% in SC. someone must not be up on the current polls.
grandpa john
@handy: Current polling in SC in nowhere close to 37% for Romney . try low to mid 20’s
Baud
There are still 8 more scheduled debates left. Anything can happen!
ChrisNYC
OT — Ok, so this is repulsive.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/romney-gives-unemployed-woman-cash-on-ropeline/
General Stuck
Getting ready to spool up Columbiana. It’s probly a bad movie, but i don’t care, so long as promised it has a bad ass beauty blowing shit up.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@ChrisNYC: everything I’ve read suggests George and Lenore Romney were good people, old-school Eisenhower Republican types. How did they raise such an arrogant, noblesse oblige-y asshole. Everything about him radiates such smug self-regard.
handy
@grandpa john:
But read Weigel’s argument. He’s basically saying that after FL “Romney hasn’t won anything yet”–even given he does well in both those states. This is silly because everyone knows the Goopers want to wrap this up ASAP so they can start turning the SuperPAC money spigot full blast on the Kenyan Usurper.
Bubblegum Tate
@James Hare:
I dunno…that seems a bit too clever for Rick Santorum.
The Dangerman
So, I expected the Saints to beat the Niners and the Broncos/Pats game to be close. I think I’ll go drink.
Mike in NC
These morons couldn’t organize a free lunch.
SiubhanDuinne
@ChrisNYC:
He said on CBS this morning, “oh, by the way, I care about poor people.”
And it’s TWUE!!
Nellcote
Just to keep it interesting, Ron’s Kids are looking to the Obama 08 playbook to organize and kick ass in that bunch of caucuses coming up.
Schlemizel
@efgoldman: It really is a good thing that people are not eliminated after two useless states but it would be good for us this year if a couple of the not-mitts would clear out. Still as long as the bozos are knifing each other I’m happy.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne: “message: I care!”
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@khead: kittehs!!
Hill Dweller
@ChrisNYC: Willard has a tin ear. I guarantee he thought this would help him politically.
Schlemizel
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
This is just a great argument for a 100% inheritance tax after the first couple of million.
I remember back in the mid-’70s the Rockefeller great-grand kids whining that they were only getting about $17 million a year apiece! They sued the trust fund managers because their rate of return was not high enough.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: And the apples didn’t fall far from the tree – his sons radiate that same smug arrogance.
butler
How adorable. It’s like he hasn’t watched the last 40 years of Presidential Primaries in this country and thus has no understanding of how this almost always plays out.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Exactly. Same GOP tin ear.
Birthmarker
@ChrisNYC: Well, at least we all know now he carries a little cash.
This begs the question though, how many other South Carolinians are struggling with their utility bills this month? And who will help them?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Somebody on Ed Schultz was saying that each of the Romney boys has a ten million dollar trust fund. I suspect one reason they don’t want to release the tax returns is because they might raise questions about the next generation.
I’m not one to romanticize the Kennedys, but they do seem to take the whole “From those to whom much is given…” thing seriously
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: He cares about poor people almost as much as he cares about his dog.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud: Wait, he straps poor people to the roof of his car and drives to Canada?
ChrisNYC
@efgoldman: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: @SiubhanDuinne: Yes yes yes. The only thing I can hope is that this story gets some air. I’m pretty certain that most people’s reaction to Mitt’s handing out 20s on the rope line will be “ewwwww.” What a slimeball he is.
Scamp Dog
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Actually, noblesse oblige means the wealthy should show concern and even provide assistance to the less fortunate. Which is pretty much forbidden in today’s GOP.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: I said “almost.” Romney would never take a poor person to Canada — too much health care up there.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman: I’m sure that’s part of it, but his whole “oh by the way” offhandedness and now this story about Lord Bountiful of the Rope Line — it really is distasteful and offensive far more than the meanest home security system.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Scamp Dog: I was referring more to the sense of noblesse he genuinely seems to have internalized. I’m sure if you woke him up in the middle of the night he would say he’d fulfilled his oblige by “creating jobs”. Part of whatever’s wrong with him, the same hole in his soul that led him to strap a dog to the roof of his car, makes him IMHO an almost pure Randian– “let the foreclosure process run its course” seems to me much more revealing than “I like firing people”. If we ever do see those tax returns, I suspect the charitable contribution will be less than impressive.
ChrisNYC
@Hill Dweller: It’s funny. He and people like Meg Whitman throwing all their cash at these bids, funding these terrible campaigns. Such masters of the universe. And you just know they get ripped off really spectacularly by various consultants and image gurus. Hahahaha.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne: smuggling door-bell-ringers into Quebec
Donut
Did people have the same negative reactions upon hearing that Pres Obama had written checks to people who had written letters that moved him?
Save your hate for the truly awful shit Mittens had done and will do. Plenty of that to come. But hating him for throwing a few bucks at someone who obviously needs help?? The fuck is wrong with you people?
Luthe
@ChrisNYC: I think this would be a great opportunities for Occupy Wall Street. Have a bunch of people get on the rope line, each asking if Mitt could spare a fifty.
Lojasmo
@grandpa john:
Nate silver’s most recent call for rombot was surprisingly high. Nowhere near the ridiculous 37% cited, but close to 39%
TooManyJens
@SiubhanDuinne:
It’s the “oh, by the way” that makes it art.
gaz
@James Hare: I said the exact same thing when people started calling him Rih Santoruh.
I was at least half-joking – but there’s probably a bit of truth to it. And I guess if it deflects the poopy googlebomb to a racist googlebomb the end is the same.
In any case, stupid of him – even if it was intentional. Sounds about right, for that man, now that you mention it.
gaz
@khead: That kitteh (1st link) looks like a slightly darker model of Tunch.
Just sayin’ =)
chinese knock off?
Chuck Butcher
What is striking to me is the percentages who want someone other than Mitt. 75% of IA caucusers, over 60% of NH voters, and at this point it looks like it may be going 70% SC don’t want him. I’d say prefer someone else, but it seems generic rather than specific. Santorum’s numbers in IA looked more like a big chunk of that 25% were, “oh hell, Rick then” than what you’d call supporters.
I’m not ready to jump on the Mitt Coronation Train quite yet, his numbers are so soft I don’t know just what it would take to derail it.
Splitting Image
Okay, so let me get this straight:
The GOP messaging is that they want to “give people a hand up, not a hand out”, and that their plan is about “paychecks, not food stamps”.
And Mitt’s contribution is to…. give someone a hand out?
Chuck Butcher
@Splitting Image:
Not a job? From one of the Job Creators?
Pseudonym
@Splitting Image: Private charity, not big government soshulist t-bones.
CarolDuhart2
@Donut: I think the “ew” is because of the lack of privacy and the over-the-top gesture. Obama writes checks, preserving the recipient’s privacy and dignity. It’s then up to the recipient to tell. Obama never brags about the amount of money he gives, either.
I’ve been in situations where I’ve received a cash “handshake” and appreciated the privacy and dignity of that.
VidaLoca
Oh, OK. “Give someone a hand job.” That might be just the winner of a slogan they need.
Donut
The lady is obviously not in a good spot. Hanging around Mitt’s campaign HQ, tidying up? Following empty busses around? Uh, think about that a bit folks. This sounds like people actually taking pity on her, not necessarily using her for positive PR. Of course she was bound to get noticed, though. That said, is the Romney camp actively pushing this story? Are they actively promoting this as his normal activity and philanthropic bent? Has anyone seen him handing out cash on a regular basis? Did any of you people actually read the story linked???
Like I said, I loathe the guy as much as anyone, but this ie the wrong thing to attack him for.