Why I really want Rick Santorum to be the GOP nominee

[Phokus]

You live within a fantasy world. Big Govt would be just as shitty as it is now if we lived under a single party rule. The reasons are obvious. Lack of accountability, big govt is subject to human imperfections ect. And the fact you try to pin this all on Republicans shows how effing blind you have become.

The people may be on the same page in those countries due to being a much less diverse demographic? And working is subjective anyways. I personally dont find the govt forcing me to tip a server 20% regardless of quality of service(norway) working.

And yet, it works beautifully elsewhere. Canada is pretty diverse and it works there as well. "Big government" isn't a GUARANTEE of shitty service unless you have a significant portion of the population (lets call them, 'republicans') that is too stupid to be allowed to do anything other than breath in air.

I think you touched on something about 'diverse demographics' though:

Let me quote Lee Atwater, Karl Rove's predecessor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater

Atwater: You start out in 1954 by saying, "N-----, N-----, N-----." By 1968 you can't say "N-----" — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "N-----, N-----."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater

I believe this attitude of the GOP is going to go the way of the dinosaur, ESPECIALLY because of Demographics changes. That plus the fact that the rich are actively fucking over the middle/working class, there should be some hope for some of you idiots to finally wake up and get some semblance of a working government going.

 

[Mursilis]

That is as ridiculous a statement as when people say that small government doesn't work because of Somalia.

It was a ridiculous response to a ridiculous post. "If republicans didn't exist, everything would work better"?!?!

 

[Thump553]

I have a theory that the absolute best thing for the future of the GOP would be the nomination of Santorum-and his subsequent crushing defeat. For only then will the GOP actually take a step back and think that maybe, just maybe, the country's populance doesn't want a religious theorcracy cynically wrapped in a false banner of conservatism.

The other side of the coin is if Romney is nominated and loses the GOP will double down on it's batshit craziness in the future-which will kill their otherwise great chances of taking back the White House in 2016.

 

[fskimospy]

I have a theory that the absolute best thing for the future of the GOP would be the nomination of Santorum-and his subsequent crushing defeat. For only then will the GOP actually take a step back and think that maybe, just maybe, the country's populance doesn't want a religious theorcracy cynically wrapped in a false banner of conservatism.

The other side of the coin is if Romney is nominated and loses the GOP will double down on it's batshit craziness in the future-which will kill their otherwise great chances of taking back the White House in 2016.

Me too. The degree to which the GOP has become radicalized has gotten pretty scary. I'm afraid if they nominate the more moderate candidate and lose they will take the lesson from it that they need to become even MORE crazy and unhinged from reality.

Part of me hopes they get the crazy they so desperately want and are then treated to the electoral results of their insanity. Maybe they will be taught a valuable lesson and have their intraparty dialogue return to sanity.

 

[crashtestdummy]

It's going awesome in Greece!

What's going on in Greece is just as much a product of the Euro as anything else. While the Euro was meant to provide stability to Greece, what it really does is effectively deflate the currency from where it would be, making them uncompetitive exporters. The dream of the Euro was to make all of Europe a single economy, but Germany and Greece are still much too far apart to be having the same currency.

(As a side note, just as the Euro makes Greece uncompetitive in exports and manufacturing, it gives Germany an unfair advantage. They effectively use the weaker economies of the Euro zone to inflate their own currency, giving them a big export advantage. It is in its effect similar to China's policy to tacking the RMB to the dollar.)

 

[HomerJS]

And yet, it works beautifully elsewhere. Canada is pretty diverse and it works there as well. "Big government" isn't a GUARANTEE of shitty service unless you have a significant portion of the population (lets call them, 'republicans') that is too stupid to be allowed to do anything other than breath in air.

I think you touched on something about 'diverse demographics' though:

Let me quote Lee Atwater, Karl Rove's predecessor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater

Atwater: You start out in 1954 by saying, "N-----, N-----, N-----." By 1968 you can't say "N-----" — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "N-----, N-----."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater

I believe this attitude of the GOP is going to go the way of the dinosaur, ESPECIALLY because of Demographics changes. That plus the fact that the rich are actively fucking over the middle/working class, there should be some hope for some of you idiots to finally wake up and get some semblance of a working government going.

Wow. Its fascinating having someone's quote codify the MO of the Republican party. This is the kind of stuff I've known for a long time but now the famous Lee Atwater confirms.

All the birtherism is the closest the GOP has come back to the n-----, n----- stuff.

The big push for all the voter ID laws is a continuation of the Atwater phrased "code word" stuff.

 

[Mursilis]

The big push for all the voter ID laws is a continuation of the Atwater phrased "code word" stuff.

That's just dumb. Voting is too important not to protect it from fraud.

 

[HomerJS]

That's just dumb. Voting is too important not to protect it from fraud.

Yeah if widespread fraud was occuring. The GOP can't even handle voting with laws as they exist now. REF: Maine, Virginia

 

[fskimospy]

That's just dumb. Voting is too important not to protect it from fraud.

This has been gone over many times. There is simply no evidence of in person voter fraud of the type ID laws exist to prevent. It serves to erect a barrier to voting and depress turnout, period.

You will notice that the states that pass these voter ID laws make no effort to pass laws to protect against absentee ballot fraud despite the fact that it is the source of vastly more fraudulent ballots. The reason behind this is that absentee votes frequently skew in favor of Republicans.

Whether or not you believe that this sort of fraud is something we need to protect against (and again, there is no evidence that we do), the fact that legislators ignore proven avenues of voter fraud while chasing after this makes their motivations crystal clear. These laws are intended first and foremost to suppress the votes of undesirable constituencies.

 

[Ausm]

This election will not be a referendum on anything. I expect neither party to come away with either a decisive victory or defeat.

If Santorum wins the GOP Primary then the GOP will be crushed in Nov.

 

[Throckmorton]

Of course he isnt because Republicans arent about small govt anymore. They may talk the talk but havent walked the walk in over a decade.

They never walked the walk

 

[Ausm]

Of course he isnt because Republicans arent about small govt anymore. They may talk the talk but havent walked the walk in over a decade.

Umm you gotta go back past Ronnie Raygun to make this statement even remotely factual.

 

[Genx87]

I have a theory that the absolute best thing for the future of the GOP would be the nomination of Santorum-and his subsequent crushing defeat. For only then will the GOP actually take a step back and think that maybe, just maybe, the country's populance doesn't want a religious theorcracy cynically wrapped in a false banner of conservatism.

The other side of the coin is if Romney is nominated and loses the GOP will double down on it's batshit craziness in the future-which will kill their otherwise great chances of taking back the White House in 2016.

I was just talking about this an hour ago with a co worker. Though my context was having Ron Paul run a 3rd party ticket and suck votes away from the Republican candidate like a Ross.

I think Mitt could beat Obama given the right circumstances. Santorum could possibly be the first candidate to not carry a single state. A republican Mondale.

 

[Genx87]

They never walked the walk

Sure they did after the 94 elections. They worked with Clinton and curtailed the growth of govt while enacting welfare reform and reduced the size of our military.

 

[Genx87]

And yet, it works beautifully elsewhere. Canada is pretty diverse and it works there as well. "Big government" isn't a GUARANTEE of shitty service unless you have a significant portion of the population (lets call them, 'republicans') that is too stupid to be allowed to do anything other than breath in air.

I think you touched on something about 'diverse demographics' though:

Let me quote Lee Atwater, Karl Rove's predecessor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Atwater

I believe this attitude of the GOP is going to go the way of the dinosaur, ESPECIALLY because of Demographics changes. That plus the fact that the rich are actively fucking over the middle/working class, there should be some hope for some of you idiots to finally wake up and get some semblance of a working government going.

Are you denying the nordic countries enjoy a much more homogeneous population than the United States? If big govt works there it couldnt be because they are all similar could it? We have such a diverse population from racial, religious, income, and regional attributes there is no way a big govt would work efficiently. You think two people, one from the North East, one from the South share similar priorities? The problem isnt the republicans, it is people like you who think a country that spans 4000 miles with 300 million people can somehow be made into a monolithic thinking mass. And then work as hard as possible to make it happen(create a giant central govt that wastes resources while crushing the people)

Good luck.

 

[Ausm]

Check Santorum's robo calls going out in Michigan...LMFAO

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...that-sounds-like-it-came-from-uaw.php?ref=fpa

 

[Genx87]

Check Santorum's robo calls going out in Michigan...LMFAO

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...that-sounds-like-it-came-from-uaw.php?ref=fpa

Wouldnt Dems want to vote for Santorum anyways? Santorun being the candidate means Obama wins in a landslide.

 

[Ausm]

Wouldnt Dems want to vote for Santorum anyways? Santorun being the candidate means Obama wins in a landslide.

That is correct but watching Mittens fume over it is fun to watch.

 

[quest55720]

I have a theory that the absolute best thing for the future of the GOP would be the nomination of Santorum-and his subsequent crushing defeat. For only then will the GOP actually take a step back and think that maybe, just maybe, the country's populance doesn't want a religious theorcracy cynically wrapped in a false banner of conservatism.

The other side of the coin is if Romney is nominated and loses the GOP will double down on it's batshit craziness in the future-which will kill their otherwise great chances of taking back the White House in 2016.

That is how I feel. Let santorum take a huge beating against Obama and maybe the GOP can move back some to the center on social issues.

 

[IronWing]

I have a theory that the absolute best thing for the future of the GOP would be the nomination of Santorum-and his subsequent crushing defeat. For only then will the GOP actually take a step back and think that maybe, just maybe, the country's populance doesn't want a religious theorcracy cynically wrapped in a false banner of conservatism.

The other side of the coin is if Romney is nominated and loses the GOP will double down on it's batshit craziness in the future-which will kill their otherwise great chances of taking back the White House in 2016.

I disagree. No matter how far to the right losing Republican candidates might be, the talking heads will repeat the "They lost because they weren't true conservatives" mantra that has held sway for the last four decades. This is a race in which Newt is considered a moderate.

 

[woolfe9999]

This election will not be a referendum on anything. I expect neither party to come away with either a decisive victory or defeat.

Given that the parties are not that dissimilar in actual governance regarding fiscal and economic issues (the difference in rhetoric notwithstanding), I'd say it is partially a referendum on how well Santorum's cultural conservatism plays to the general public. I can't recall a GOP candidate who was this culturally conservative getting the nom in a long while, maybe not during my life time.

The reason this is important is because it will send a message to the GOP, one way or another, about what types of candidates, and/or platform positions, they should embrace in the future if they want to stay in power. This is a pivotal election in many ways for the future of the GOP.

 

[woolfe9999]

Me too. The degree to which the GOP has become radicalized has gotten pretty scary. I'm afraid if they nominate the more moderate candidate and lose they will take the lesson from it that they need to become even MORE crazy and unhinged from reality.

Part of me hopes they get the crazy they so desperately want and are then treated to the electoral results of their insanity. Maybe they will be taught a valuable lesson and have their intraparty dialogue return to sanity.

I agree, and I think much of the party base took that very lesson from McCain's defeat in '08. They seized the opportunity to take over the party. I say let them nominate Santorum and let's test their theory.

 

[zsdersw]

Looks like they're telling the audience the size of their penises.

 

[Todd33]

They are not polar opposites. Obama sits at a slight-left from the middle moderate position. Obama's opposite would be Mitt, who sits slightly right of the mid, not Santorum who is far to the right.

This. I'm not sure who is considered "far left" who is actually in office, Kucinich? Most of the "liberals" are quite middle of the road, unlike their counterparts on the right.

 

[Jaskalas]

A referendum on conservatism.

Uh huh... and you think wearing religion on his sleeve isn't the referendum? The man apparently lives for the purpose of pissing off a great deal of the population.

Which has nothing to do with small government principles, the sort that he has betrayed in the past.