Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I really should read my own blog.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

It’s the corruption, stupid.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Second rate reporter says what?

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / Open Thread: GOP Primaries — Still Plenty of ‘Entertainment’ Left

Open Thread: GOP Primaries — Still Plenty of ‘Entertainment’ Left

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(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.

Reader Interactions

59Comments

  6. 6.

    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.

  7. 7.

    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?

  8. 8.

    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.

  9. 9.

    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.

  10. 10.

    handy

    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.

    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.

  13. 13.

    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!

  14. 14.

    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.

  15. 15.

    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.

  16. 16.

    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.

  20. 20.

    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.

  21. 21.

    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.

  22. 22.

    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.

  24. 24.

    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.

  27. 27.

    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.

  28. 28.

    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.

  32. 32.

    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.

  34. 34.

    butler

    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.

    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.

  36. 36.

    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?

  37. 37.

    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

  43. 43.

    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.

  44. 44.

    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.

  45. 45.

    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.

  47. 47.

    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?

  48. 48.

    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.

  51. 51.

    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.

  53. 53.

    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.

  54. 54.

    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?

  57. 57.

    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.

  58. 58.

    VidaLoca

    give someone a hand out?

    Not a job? From one of the Job Creators?

    Oh, OK. “Give someone a hand job.” That might be just the winner of a slogan they need.

  59. 59.

    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.

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