Is it too soon to speculate on 2012 primaries?

[AZRedhawk44]

Norris/Nugent all the way.

The shockwave of win-awesomeness would collapse the socialist infrastructure in our country!

 

Actually, I think Norris is a bit of a closet socialist.  He lives and breathes "for the children" and I don't think he comprehends the difference between doing that with your OWN time and money versus doing that with the government's (i.e. taxing people via monopoly of force) time and money.

[roo_ster]

Can someone refresh my memory on what's wrong with Huck?

He's a sanctimonious statist twit and an economic illiterate, to boot.  Think John McCain crossed with Richard Simmons, minus the gay bits.

He pardoned half the convicts in the state and has a baker's dozen Willie Hortons to answer for.

I don't care that he was a Baptist big wig, but I despised his political use of Momonism's  theology* against Romney (who I don't care for, either).




* I have nothing against speaking to Mormonism's theological defects, as they are many & varied from my POV.  But, they are not pertinent to a presidential campaign.  Romney should rise or fall on his suitability as POTUS, not his church's idiosyncrasies.

[TommyGunn]

2012
The stupid party will run the same ole establishment jackwagons they always do, the names may be different but that's the only change.
Obama will get relected, the "tea party" wave will fizzle and the dems will retake the house and make gains in the senate.
Then in December the world will end so no biggee.

  Ugh.  If Obama is re-elected I hope the world DOES end in December 2012.

[Boomhauer]

2012
The stupid party will run the same ole establishment jackwagons they always do, the names may be different but that's the only change.
Obama will get relected, the "tea party" wave will fizzle and the dems will retake the house and make gains in the senate.

I don't think the TEA Party movement will fizzle, but I do see the Republicans picking a RHINO candidate over every effort of the TEA Party and Obama winning a second term. Gentlemen, we are f***ed. 5 more years at least of socialist *expletive deleted*it being rammed down our throats.

[RocketMan]

Yep, folks on both sides have wagons of pre-positioned poo to fling at Newt. Sad, he's not exactly a dumb guy.

Yes, he's pretty bright.  And he might even be a decent POTUS were he actually elected.  But he's not as much a conservative as most think, and has skeletons in his closet that make him unelectable.

[AZRedhawk44]

Thinking about this... the republicans (should have) learned something from Obama's campaign.

Come out too early and all your skeletons are available to be picked at.

Obama came out of nowhere and won because no one would ask him any hard questions.  Too enthralled with the black man.

We need someone to come out of "nowhere" in May 2012.  Just in time for the primary circuit and the GOP convention.  Someone so enthralling that the opposition doesn't have time to dig in his closet.

And then we have to hope he isn't a Rudy McRomney RINO establishment republican.

[French G.]

  Ugh.  If Obama is re-elected I hope the world DOES end in December 2012.

What, you think the Mayans didn't know that the last American electoral college would meet in Dec 2012?

[HankB]

. . . We need someone to come out of "nowhere" in May 2012.  Just in time for the primary circuit and the GOP convention.  Someone so enthralling that the opposition doesn't have time to dig in his closet.

The Dems are already digging around in the background of anyone that the GOP could plausibly run - they'll have file cabinets full of dirt good to go as soon as someone declares.

And if they can't find dirt, they - or their willing accomplices in the media - will make something up. (Remember Dan Rather, who used forged documents from a dead man to try and defeat Bush on the eve of the election?)

Of the plausible candidates, nobody is ideal, but Newt seems "best" despite his baggage, the most damaging of which is personal - like the way he was alleged to have treated his previous wife when she was ill. And we DON'T know the full story there.

I think a debate between Newt and TOTUS would be MOST entertaining, especially if the GOP dug in their heels and made darned sure the debate format WOULD be fair. (Of course, I wouldn't put it past The Stupid Party^TM to agree to a debate in which questions were asked by a panel of three individuals - Joy Behar, Michael Moore, and Alan Colmes - with the whole thing moderated by Keith Olbermann.)

[longeyes]

We have a about a year and a half for what's left of the American political process to work.  If people don't smarten up, care enough, work hard enough, demand enough, we're going to get a second-term of Obama.  That will be fatal to this nation as we have known it.  So we have a year and a half to wake up.  Frankly, I don't see the GOP rising very far above business as usual.

[HankB]

. . . Frankly, I don't see the GOP rising very far above business as usual.

BEFORE the election, John Boehner said - repeatedly - that he wanted to set the budget back to 2008 spending levels, WITHOUT Tarp or stimulus spending.

Has ANYONE in the GOP mentioned this since November?

[grampster]

Fox News showed some charts this AM showing the redundancy of government agencies; multiple tens or dozens of different agencies all doing the same things.  Kick em all back to one each and the government is probably solvent.

Reagan's Grace Commission report concluded that if we got rid of the waste and corruption that they actually identified, we could cut our taxes in half and still provide the same level of service the government was doing at the time.  Of course the politicians grinned and chuckled and shook their heads and said Oh My! as did the MSM and they did nothing!

Maybe if the government did shut down next week and we kept it that way for 6 mos. we'd be debt free.  I'd forego my SS check for 6 mos to see that.

[Ben]

Maybe if the government did shut down next week and we kept it that way for 6 mos. we'd be debt free.  I'd forego my SS check for 6 mos to see that.

The problem is that the proposed shutdown solves nothing, because it's not a true furlough. Everyone will receive back pay when they return to work. In fact, the cost of going through the shutdown and startup procedures (and there's a lot of them) for all agencies affected might even cost more than not shutting down at all. If it was a true furlough, that would be another story.

[stevelyn]

I'm hoping for Allen West. I like his style. Plus hearing the leftists, Dems, and the race pimps scream "Uncle Tom Race Traitor!", and generally getting their racism on (and there will be a few "slips" with the use of the N-word by that side, too) on national TV would be an interesting experience...

Yeah, the more I see and hear of Allen West, the more I like him. It'd be nice if the usual line of retread neo-con republican suspects crash and burn early and Allen West got drafted to run for POTUS.

[longeyes]

It's my opinion that we need to step outside the reservation to win this one.  Even the mavericks in the GOP have suspect views on issues like illegal immigration and gun rights.  I don't know if West can win, but any win with an establishment GOP nominee will surely prove to be a Pyrrhic victory.

[Bogie]

I'm thinking that some of the foot-dragging regarding Libya, Egypt, etc., is infighting between the State Department (Hillary) and the Obama machine... He's looking REALLY bad about a lot of stuff, and she is VERY positioned to take advantage of it.
 
Time to go tune-up the bumper sticker printer.

[MrGreenmachine]

I'm thinking that some of the foot-dragging regarding Libya, Egypt, etc., is infighting between the State Department (Hillary) and the Obama machine... He's looking REALLY bad about a lot of stuff, and she is VERY positioned to take advantage of it.
 
Time to go tune-up the bumper sticker printer.

This right here!  Hillary off writing checks the O admin may not be able to cash....   We'll see where it all ends up.  Awfully "convenient" how they get this administrations "war" right near a major election cycle...

[Winterwolf00]

I'm personally gonna vote for Stewart Alexander.
Btw I'm new here so hello. 

[HankB]

Just heard that Michelle Bachman is contemplating a run.

We could do worse . . .

(Oh, wait a minute . . . we already did do worse in the last election.)

[longeyes]

We can pretty much count on one thing: whoever it is will dodge all the truly critical issues.  And we will muddle on and muddle on...until we can't.

We are going to need an "extremist" if we want to save the Union.  Extremist in the sense of clarity and candor.  That means, to me, someone like Col. West.  Our problems are much deeper than just an Everest of debt.  We need to get real about the growing Islamist threat and equally real about illegal immigration, while there's still time.

[SteveT]

It's starting to look like a lot of people won't run.   Reading the news (it's all I have, I'm not an insider).   It looks like Palin, Huckabee and Mitch Daniels will all sit out.   I also don't think Trump will run.   The financial disclosure that he's not actually a billionaire stops that.  I'd also argue that Newt and Bachman are unelectable.

As another poster said, you have to have a machine and money to win primaries.   Especially now that with more states for budget reason stopping primaries in favor of caucuses where you really need a machine to get out the vote.   Caucuses on the other hand favor more fervent voters i.e. Tea Party types.

This leaves us with what?   Romney, Pawtaley, Huntsman, Santorum? (sorry if I spell some names wrong they're not worth looking up)

It's a wide open field for someone to jump in.    But who and when?