January 16, 2012

Tonight's debate.

We've been driving all day, but we caught some of the debate along the way, and we're watching the tail end of it now. I'll try to catch up through Jaltcoh's blog.

ADDED: Note to Mitt Romney: The word "legislation," properly pronounced, does not begin with "lettuce."

32 comments:

chickelit said...

I heard that Gingrich called Obama the "Food Stamp" president. I think it's catchy and nothing for POTUS to be ashamed of--FDR was a big philatelist as well.

Scott M said...

When you're twenty points ahead, "legislation" can begin with iceberg and you'll still get the nomination.

Andy said...

Are we still pretending that the Republicans are having a primary?

edutcher said...

The big thing is how, going forward, Milton handles the Bain issue.

He ought to give Newt an Ambassadorship or something for making him realize this was a chink in his armor this early.

Andy R. said...

Are we still pretending that the Republicans are having a primary?

No more than Hatman is that the Democrats have a serious, non-joke candidate.

DADvocate said...

Back in the day when we wanted the voting age lowered to 18, we used to chant, "Lettuce vote!" I think we picked it from Cesar Chavez.

Anonymous said...

Andy -- Are we still pretending that Althouse is a place for you to rail incessantly and inanely against organized religion?

chickelit said...

Andy R. said...
Are we still pretending that the Republicans are having a primary?

Actually, I think they're having their "secondary" but it's kind of an attrition thing.

Revenant said...

He ought to give Newt an Ambassadorship or something for making him realize this was a chink in his armor this early.

I'm sure nobody in Team Romney thought "huh, I bet Obama will attack Mitt for his business practices".

Gingrich's main accomplishment is giving Obama the opportunity to say "even Republicans agree that Romney put people out of work".

The Crack Emcee said...

Gingrich's main accomplishment was not disarming when Romney's folks behaved unethically and no one called them on it, instead pretending he was some kind of unstoppable force for good.

None of you have mentioned the debate:

Gingrich owned the night.

Andy said...

Gingrich owned the night.

I think most people stopped taking him seriously when he gave his concession speech in Iowa and announced that he wasn't running for President any more but was going to stick around for the sole reason of attacking Romney.

I, on the other hand, never took him seriously.

Palladian said...

Are we still pretending that it's acceptable for an adult to wear a crooked baseball cap?

The Crack Emcee said...

I, on the other hand, never took him seriously.

And who's taken you seriously?

edutcher said...

Revenant said...

He ought to give Newt an Ambassadorship or something for making him realize this was a chink in his armor this early.

I'm sure nobody in Team Romney thought "huh, I bet Obama will attack Mitt for his business practices".


Apparently, that's exactly the case.

They've been as flat-footed as Perry's people were on Gardasil and in-state tuition.

I'd say Newt did him a big favor.

Anonymous said...

Poor Andy. Everybody here that matters thinks you are a juvenile twit, dude. Everybody, right and left.

Go to school, Andy. Learn something.

Andy said...

I know you folks usually like to respond to my comments by making "jokes" about my hat, but is anyone actually disputing that Romney is going to be the nominee?

I get the impression that some of you tend to conflate "who I want to win" with "who is actually going to win", but everyone realizes that Romney has this wrapped up, right?

If anyone actually thinks that someone besides Romney can win, let me know who you think stands a chance and I'll explain to you why you are wrong.

Anonymous said...

Andy -- Nobody gives a fuck what you think. You have nothing of any substance to offer about any topic. That's the entire point you fail to get get. This is because you are stupid.

MadisonMan said...

I get the impression that some of you tend to conflate "who I want to win" with "who is actually going to win", but everyone realizes that Romney has this wrapped up, right?

They're in the middle of denial and anger, maybe at bargaining or depression. It takes a while to get to acceptance.

sakredkow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Andy said...

Jeez Andy, what did you do to get these folks so incredibly stirred up against you?

I think a lot of them are upset because when I was laughing at the joke Republican candidates they were taking them seriously and writing heartfelt paeans to their preferred respective idiot.

I think a lot of them are embarrassed now that they took this herd of grifters seriously, and given the option of facing up to what a joke Herman Cain and Rick Perry and Bachmann and Santorum etc. are (and let's not forget Ms. Palin), they would rather direct their anger at me. Did I forget anyone from this year's clown car?

After Republicans made the mistake of picking McCain because he was most "electable" and getting trounced by Obama, and then realizing that they are stuck with Romneybot and his "electability" this year because they don't have any serious candidates, I understand why they are so upset.

And now that Romneybot has locked this one up, they are doing everything they can not to admit that I was right months and months ago back when they were falling for whatever idiot was the flavor of the week and I told them they only had one candidate who wasn't a total joke.

Or maybe they are just really offended by a hat that is slightly askew.

sakredkow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sakredkow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Andy -- You don't understand politics. You don't understand the people here. You are an idiot.

Tell us about how you Occupied! stuff. That was awesome. How'd that go?

Known Unknown said...

Isn't lettuce just another word for money?

Romney isn't that far off.

Joe said...

I saw only a clip of Gingrich on the news. Is this guying running for the Republican nomination or the democratic nomination?

Wally Kalbacken said...

Newt was en fuego!

Rosalyn C. said...

Frankly, what offends me is AndyR.'s snarky attitude which disrespects the people and the process, regardless of the quality of the individual Republican candidates. I don't want to be rude, but what he thinks and his opinions are ultimately irrelevant.


BTW, once upon a time, there were people who believed that Hillary Clinton was the inevitable presidential nominee of the Democratic party in 2008. She thought so too until Iowa. There was nothing inevitable at all about Obama winning the nomination -- frankly, he ran a really dirty campaign in Iowa and in Texas with the caucuses, etc. and Hillary wasn't expecting that.

Revenant said...

They've been as flat-footed as Perry's people were on Gardasil and in-state tuition.

I think they weren't expecting to face those attacks from so-called conservatives. Newt killed whatever remote chance he had at a spot on the ticket with that lame-brained little stunt; he might has well have attacked Romney for not supporting the "right to choose".

deborah said...

Andy, God told me he wants you to put your hat on straight.

Cedarford said...

The problem with Gingrich is that while he is crowing about what a masterdebator he is in having 40 years experience playing to his audience, and pointing out he (Newt) agrees with Obama that Romney is a heartless jobs killer - Newt also succintly reminded most voters why he was so despised in the 90s as a nasty character with an overblown ego.

So in head to head polls in January, Obama leads Gingrich by 8-15 points, Perry by 10-18 points, Santorum by 6-10 points, Paul by 2-6 points..

But with Romney, Obama only averages a 1 point lead. With Romney beating him in 40% of the polls taken...during Newts democrat-inspired "jobs killing capitalist" attack on Romney.

Problem with Gingrich is that half the country starts thinking he is without ethics and tempermentally unfit to be President, and Newt is working hard to introduce himself as something other than that to those who do not remember him from the 90s.

Writ Small said...

The dynamics of this race make it Romney's to lose (thanks Newt), but when all remaining candidates coordinate attacks on the frontrunner, they do real damage - as happened last night.

Romney has often been the number two guy, which meant there were plenty of skirmishes between others. That was much less the case last night. Did anyone else see Santorum and Perry congratulating each other at the first break? They looked like two teammates in the dugout after one just scored a run.

Newt was very strong once they moved beyond the Bain stuff. I would not be surprised to see Romney's SC lead shrink a lot. Tough night for Romney.

Scott M said...

Are we still pretending that the Republicans are having a primary?

As much, I suppose, as we were pretending the primaries meant anything when Hillary and Barack were going at it. What a joke that was and high drama to boot. Rule breaking rewarded and the party of the "little guy" with their knickers of aristocracy laid bear.

pm317 said...

They looked like two teammates in the dugout after one just scored a run.

This is what Edwards and Obama, the two girls, did to Hillary -- ganged up on her in at least one of the debates I saw in primary 2008. She was unfazed.