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[Classic]

But is that what you really want shinra?

[Shinra]

But is that what you really want shinra?

[Mongrel]

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/intraparty-attacks-could-be-november-liability-for-romney/#more-22801

Interesting assessment of the Bain Capital kerfuffle from Nate Silver.

[Mongrel]

Huntsman's going to announce he's dropping out tonight. Probably be announced on the news source of your choice shortly.

[Thad]

Pity, but hardly unexpected.  For fuck's sake, he's polling below Colbert.

He's not the moderate that some have made him out to be, but he IS the most qualified candidate in the race, and I respect him.  In a more rational year he would be the frontrunner.

Maybe '16.

[McDohl]

You fool!!  This is not a time for moderate sanity!  THIS IS A TIME TO STOP THE OBAMA/REED REGIME!

[Shinra]

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/12/intraparty-attacks-could-be-november-liability-for-romney/#more-22801

Interesting assessment of the Bain Capital kerfuffle from Nate Silver.

My problem with this assessment is that the implication that there's a strong defense to being part of a company like Bain Capital, and that Mitt Romney only needs the time between now and the general election to figure out what it is.

When everything was looking up and our economy was pristine and everyone thought the people on wall street were our friends keeping us in prosperity, maybe, but even the republicans are bitter about how badly we were screwed by wall street and the big banks. That picture of Romney and his buddies posing and holding hundred dollar bills and wearing shit eating grins is not going to leave the public memory, not going to leave the memories of his opponents, and the best defense that Romney can possibly go on is 'capitalism is the economic foundation of America'. That's not much of a fucking defense when we're in an election cycle with an electorate that is more vehemently against capitalism than any other election cycle in the last 80 or 90 years.

Romney is obviously going to win the primary, but I am looking at him as a John Kerry candidate. He's the 'most electable' and 'most safe' option. The republicans hate him and the democrats hate him and I think his best prayer of getting elected right now is to shut the fuck up and hope the Democrats keep screwing up. Every time he opens his big fat mouth he says one more thing that his opponents are going to use against him during the general election.

[Mongrel]

Man, I soooo want Paul or some other idiot to run as a third-party Candidate and troll the shit out of this election.

[Thad]

the best defense that Romney can possibly go on is 'capitalism is the economic foundation of America'.

Disagree.  The best defense he can give is "Look, those companies were in trouble anyway and we made them profitable again.  Those people were going to lose their jobs no matter what we did, and without us it would have been even worse."

Which now that I type it out sounds an awful lot like the Dems' defense of the stimulus package.  (Which I happen to think is a perfectly valid one.)

That's not much of a fucking defense when we're in an election cycle with an electorate that is more vehemently against capitalism than any other election cycle in the last 80 or 90 years.

I doubt the vast majority of Americans would ever describe themselves as "against capitalism", vehemently or otherwise.  I wouldn't refer to myself that way, and neither would the bulk of the OWS crowd.

That said, yeah, even on the Republican side we're seeing various varieties of adjective-capitalism criticized.  Crony capitalism, vulture capitalism.  And that's very, very interesting to me -- even the Republicans are conceding that capitalism is not ALWAYS good.

Romney is obviously going to win the primary, but I am looking at him as a John Kerry candidate. He's the 'most electable' and 'most safe' option. The republicans hate him and the democrats hate him and I think his best prayer of getting elected right now is to shut the fuck up and hope the Democrats keep screwing up. Every time he opens his big fat mouth he says one more thing that his opponents are going to use against him during the general election.

That and the flip-flopper label.

As I've said before, an election where neither party's base is enthusiastic favors the incumbent, while an election where the economy is in the shitter favors the challenger.  It'll be interesting to see which force is the stronger.

[Thad]

Radio say Perry about to announce he's dropping out.

Down to 4.  Ron Paul's going to stick this out until the convention, like last time; he's not in this to win, he's in it to get his message out.  I think Santorum's in it for much the same reason; he might not make it as far as the convention but I expect he'll hang around.

I think Gingrich will drop out next, but it'll be after Florida at the earliest and things are going to get progressively uglier in the meantime.  He still thinks he has a shot and, what's more, it's his LAST shot given his age.  That and he's a bitter old prick who has no problem doing serious damage to his party and its frontrunner before he goes down.

[Mongrel]

Plus Perry's endorsing him, so he'll think he just got a boost.

Also in the news this morning: the final official recount in Iowa actually gives the state to Santorum by 36 votes.

[Thad]

Not quite; two districts' ballots were lost.

Basically irrelevant; it was a tie two weeks ago and it's a tie now.  It's not like this is going to swing the race.

[Mongrel]

Oh I know, but Santorum is going to try and argue that it matters, which ought to be worth a giggle or two.

[Brentai]

Obama gives a speech at Disney World; Romney mockingly refers to it as "retreating to FantasyLand".

I can't wait for the next four years of Orlando blaming that offhand comment for every economic ill it encounters as a result of 15 years of municipal mismanagement. 

[Thad]

So for those who haven't been checkin' the news today, ABC's about to air an interview with Newt's second wife.  The big soundbite everyone's talking about is her claim that he, after copping to having a six-year affair, suggested they stay married and have an open marriage.  (NOTE: Admitting to a six-year affair and then saying you want to keep doing it qualifies as having an "open marriage" in the same way that "eating dinner on a Satanic altar" qualifies as dabbling in Wicca.)

Will be interesting to see how many SC evangelicals hold their noses and vote for him anyway -- God knows this isn't any worse than what everybody already knew about Gingrich, but new details make the whole thing seem new again and are going to agitate the holy rollers who, two days ago, figured that cheating on his first wife when she had cancer was water under the bridge.

At any rate I think Santorum's probably pretty happy right now.

[Mongrel]

The rich part is that various reports this morning showed Gingrich possibly leading South Carolina (doesn't matter until the chips actually fall, but you get the idea).

[Thad]

Yeah, he's blaming the media.

He said that bringing this up is as close to despicable as anything he can imagine.

I can imagine something closer to despicable.

[McDohl]

What, like being indicted and fined for ethics violations while serving as the ranking member of the House of Representatives?

[Mongrel]

The list of top donors to Ron Paul's campaign is kind of interesting:

US Army $24,503
US Air Force $23,335
US Navy $17,432
Mason Capital Management $14,000
Microsoft Corp $13,398
Boeing Co $10,620
Google Inc $10,390
Overland Sheepskin $10,350
IBM Corp $8,294
US Government $7,756
DUNN Capital Management $7,500
Corriente Advisors $7,500
Greenstreet Co $7,500
Northrop Grumman $7,272
Lockheed Martin $7,208
Intel Corp $6,855
US Dept of Defense $6,524
United Technologies $6,316
Federal Express Corp $6,255
Entergy Corp $5,900

By way of comparison, here's Romney's (I don't have Newt's):

Goldman Sachs $367,200
Credit Suisse Group $203,750
Morgan Stanley $199,800
HIG Capital $186,500
Barclays $157,750
Kirkland & Ellis $132,100
Bank of America $126,500
PriceWaterhouseCoopers $118,250
EMC Corp $117,300
JPMorgan Chase & Co $112,250
The Villages $97,500
Vivint Inc $80,750
Marriott International $79,837
Sullivan & Cromwell $79,250
Bain Capital $74,500
UBS AG $73,750
Wells Fargo $61,500
Blackstone Group $59,800
Citigroup Inc $57,050
Bain & Co $52,500

Romney's is actually hilariously similar to Obama's, IIRC.

[Bal]

Newt Gingrich, adulterer and multiple divorcee, believes in the sanctity of marriage.