However unenthusiastic some of you may be about the Democratic field for 2016, remember that it could be worse — you could be a Republican. As per this post from Dave Weigel, at Slate:
Politico asks 15 close observers of Republican politics, from former presidential candidates who’ve won primaries (Newt Gingrich) to journalists (Ramesh Ponnuru), what the 2016 field looks like après Chris Christie. Whatever one thinks of Rick Santorum, it’s natural to feel a twinge of sympathy when only two of these people suggest that the 2012 runner-up will even run. (Two of the pundits whiff and don’t mention any candidate.)
Really! In his prediction of who’ll make “the first post-Labor Day 2015 GOP presidential debate, moderated by Megyn Kelly,” Bill Kristol manages to include Joe Scarborough and John Bolton but not Santorum—Santorum, who has never, ever hidden the fact that he wants to run again, and who won five binding primaries and five preference caucuses last time…
… Which, in my opinion, means that the Serious Sensible Republicans and their Media Village enablers (insofar as those are separate groups) would very much like for Rick Santorum to go the fck away. And much as I loathe every image and word from the Pennsyltucky Savonarola, I will nevertheless be pleased when he refuses to bow to their wishes and goes on a prolonged slash-and-burn primary campaign. He’s the face of the ugly, sullen, reactionary id of the GOP, and the longer he’s in the spotlight, the more chances the “low information” quadrennial voters have to see what’s festering behind the media’s happy-face, both-sides facade.
If you have the stomach for it, that Politico article is, in its way, informative. Headlined by “Rick Wilson, Republican message and media strategist”:
… Politico Magazine asked some of the smartest and most experienced Republican operatives, pundits and even a former presidential candidate to weigh in on the suddenly unsettled field of 2016 GOP presidential aspirants. Three months ago, this conversation would have sounded like the Republican version of the Hillary chatter we’re hearing on the left today. Most of us would simply have cast Chris Christie as the inevitable nominee-in-waiting. No one can make that argument now, and the continued sell-off of Christie’s political stock has unlocked his formerly rock-solid donor base. It clearly tempts significant players to “buy the lottery ticket,” as Grover Norquist puts it.
If you ask me, Christie is almost dead but too stubborn to lie down. But not all of my Republican colleagues agree. Some of these folks are still Christie fans; some see potential in other favorites like former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, to name a few—and weigh their various strengths, weaknesses and selling propositions. Also making the list are former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan—all with previous experience on the national stage, though with obviously mixed results. Veep wannabe Sarah Palin and MSNBC host Joe Scarborough will get a kick out of being on the list, but almost certainly won’t pull on the snow boots for a trip to Iowa or New Hampshire…
The other respondents are even less coherent; most of them read like they’re scattering business cards at a hiring fair, hoping desperately that if they include enough “strong candidates” someone will call them back. Bill “Always Wrong” Kristol, the man responsible for foisting Sarah Palin on John McCain, smootches “John Bolton, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Mike Pence, Joe Scarborough and Scott Walker” as “the regular season starting nine”. And he’s not even the only one talking up Mike Pence, whose long record of public incompetence rivals Kristol’s own!
The one factor upon which they all agree is how very, very glad they are not to have Hillary Clinton on their team. I believe this is a form of political rhetoric commonly known as “whistling past the graveyard”…