Humorless Politics Thread

[buffcoat]

I keep thinking "surely not" every time I see Rick Perry, but I've been very wrong before.

I'm a pro-business Democrat from the South, so Mick Romnee, in his rare non-pandering moments, isn't the worst thing in the world (and Jon Huntsman would have been fine with me, for the most part - his miserable showing demonstrates quite clearly to me the extraordinary lack of anyone with "hey, let's get along" as a campaign slogan appealing to any part of the American public).

However, I need my president to wield the veto pen on these nihilistic psychos in the House (and simple math says they'll almost certainly control the Senate after this election no matter who wins the presidency).  So I'm voting Democrat, just like every other time.

[Kormod]

Huntsman seems like a decent guy, but the economic plan he just put out, which would remove the capital gains tax completely, while putting taxes on veterans benefits and Social Security benefits, is something only an asshole could come up with.

[masterofsparks]

I can't see that Perry is electable in any fashion. In fact, if you're rooting for a Democrat to win the election, I'd say the Republicans nominating either Bachmann or Perry is something you should root for. Despite the high level of frustration with Obama, even among his supporters, I can't see anyone the Republicans have come up with so far beating him in a general election.

[Kormod]

I can't see that Perry is electable in any fashion. In fact, if you're rooting for a Democrat to win the election, I'd say the Republicans nominating either Bachmann or Perry is something you should root for. Despite the high level of frustration with Obama, even among his supporters, I can't see anyone the Republicans have come up with so far beating him in a general election.

I think that Republicans will vote for Perry en masse, Democrats might be motivated to vote for Obama simply because of Perry, but many of them will be too dejected to go to the polls, and independents will vote for Perry because Obama "hasn't worked." Perry is a kook, but I'm sure he can tone down his stupidity, just as Bush did, and win the election. The "Social Security and Medicare are Ponzi schemes" thing might haunt him, but Obama is going to have his own Medicare/Social Security baggage if entitlements get cut this November. There's also a growing meme in the media that supporting policies that do severe harm to the middle class and the poor in the name of "fiscal responsibility" makes you "serious," which should work to Perry's advantage. Texas's high teen pregnancy rate, abysmal high school drop-out rate, and very low ranking in standardized testing scores should matter but probably won't. People will hear about the "Texas Miracle" and think he was some sort of economic savant. They'll also find it refreshing that there's someone they can vote for who isn't so namby-pamby about getting things done.

Bachmann, of course, would never have a chance. She's legitimately crazy, and this would be made obvious to everyone during the general election. The only way I could see her winning even the nomination is if Perry had to drop out of the race due to a scandal (I'm sure the Romney and Bachmann teams are going to put a lot of energy into finding out if there's any truth to those rumors about Perry being gay).

[cavorting with nudists]

My pessimistic gut tells me most of what Kormod says is all too possible, and yet, and yet---if Perry can really withstand having called Social Security not only a Ponzi scheme but immoral and unconstitutional in his own book--published this year, then that will represent a truly amazing sea change in politics--Social Security going from the untouchable "third rail" to some kind of disposable luxury item that only Reagan's fictional welfare queens benefit from.

[Steve of Bloomington]

I keep thinking "surely not" every time I see Rick Perry, but I've been very wrong before.

I'm a pro-business Democrat from the South, so Mick Romnee, in his rare non-pandering moments, isn't the worst thing in the world (and Jon Huntsman would have been fine with me, for the most part - his miserable showing demonstrates quite clearly to me the extraordinary lack of anyone with "hey, let's get along" as a campaign slogan appealing to any part of the American public).

However, I need my president to wield the veto pen on these nihilistic psychos in the House (and simple math says they'll almost certainly control the Senate after this election no matter who wins the presidency).  So I'm voting Democrat, just like every other time.

I saw Huntsman and thought, wow, it's a guy who seems reasonable and intelligent, he is so very doomed in the GOP race. In his case it's not only his 'hey, let's get along' attitude that kills him but also his 'hey, I accept the work of scientists in the past 100 years' attitude that worked against him. Damn shame, really.

[cavorting with nudists]

In his case it's not only his 'hey, let's get along' attitude that kills him but also his 'hey, I accept the work of scientists in the past 100 years' attitude that worked against him. Damn shame, really.

Yes, but when you look at his actual policy positions, he really isn't much closer to the center than the rest of them.  I tend to think he said that thing about accepting the science on climate change mainly so that, if by some miracle he were to become president, he could say "I believe it but I'm not going to do anything about it.  Hey, it could have been worse, you could have gotten one of those dorks who don't even believe it."

[Kormod]

Don't be fooled -- Huntsman isn't interested in protecting the environment (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904583204576544703176083600.html?mod=googlenews_wsj):

Mr. Huntsman says he'd also bring to heel the hyper-regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration and the National Labor Relations Board, all of which are suppressing job-creation. The Huntsman energy policy promises to block impediments to producing oil in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska (see editorial above), while encouraging the safe deployment of fracking for natural gas in the states. Mr. Huntsman dabbled with green energy subsidies as Governor when those were the political fashion, but perhaps he's learned watching the failures of the last two years.

I guess he's saying that man-made global warming exists just to gain some sort of intellectual credibility? Politically, it doesn't make much sense, given that the majority of Republican voters dismiss the belief completely.

[masterofsparks]

I can't see that Perry is electable in any fashion. In fact, if you're rooting for a Democrat to win the election, I'd say the Republicans nominating either Bachmann or Perry is something you should root for. Despite the high level of frustration with Obama, even among his supporters, I can't see anyone the Republicans have come up with so far beating him in a general election.

I think that Republicans will vote for Perry en masse, Democrats might be motivated to vote for Obama simply because of Perry, but many of them will be too dejected to go to the polls, and independents will vote for Perry because Obama "hasn't worked." Perry is a kook, but I'm sure he can tone down his stupidity, just as Bush did, and win the election. The "Social Security and Medicare are Ponzi schemes" thing might haunt him, but Obama is going to have his own Medicare/Social Security baggage if entitlements get cut this November. There's also a growing meme in the media that supporting policies that do severe harm to the middle class and the poor in the name of "fiscal responsibility" makes you "serious," which should work to Perry's advantage. Texas's high teen pregnancy rate, abysmal high school drop-out rate, and very low ranking in standardized testing scores should matter but probably won't. People will hear about the "Texas Miracle" and think he was some sort of economic savant. They'll also find it refreshing that there's someone they can vote for who isn't so namby-pamby about getting things done.

I'm generally a pessimist about presidential politics (thanks largely to the last decade plus), but in the end I think Perry's extremism will scare away the independents.

[cavorting with nudists]

I guess he's saying that man-made global warming exists just to gain some sort of intellectual credibility? Politically, it doesn't make much sense, given that the majority of Republican voters dismiss the belief completely.

Politically, it's just plain suicidal, and his 1% ratings among Republican primary voters seem to bear that out.  Some people speculate that he's setting himself up for 2016--that if the Republicans nominate a total wingnut and lose, they'll be open to someone who appears more centrist next time around.

[Kormod]

I guess he's saying that man-made global warming exists just to gain some sort of intellectual credibility? Politically, it doesn't make much sense, given that the majority of Republican voters dismiss the belief completely.

Politically, it's just plain suicidal, and his 1% ratings among Republican primary voters seem to bear that out.  Some people speculate that he's setting himself up for 2016--that if the Republicans nominate a total wingnut and lose, they'll be open to someone who appears more centrist next time around.

They might want someone who's closer to the center than Perry -- if he indeed wins the nomination in 2012 and then loses the general -- but Huntsman is foolish if he thinks Republicans are going to start believing in man-made global warming between now and 2015. Even if this miraculously happened, they probably wouldn't care about the fact that he believed it in 2011. He's a terrible politician and a terrible person to boot, and deserves being tied with Thadeus McCotter in the polls (admittedly, all of them deserve being tied with Thadeus McCotter in the polls).  Also, if Obama wins a second term, Chris Christie (ugh) is going to be unbeatable in 2016, so Huntsman should just forget about it.

[Steve of Bloomington]

Don't be fooled -- Huntsman isn't interested in protecting the environment (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904583204576544703176083600.html?mod=googlenews_wsj):

Mr. Huntsman says he'd also bring to heel the hyper-regulators at the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration and the National Labor Relations Board, all of which are suppressing job-creation. The Huntsman energy policy promises to block impediments to producing oil in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska (see editorial above), while encouraging the safe deployment of fracking for natural gas in the states. Mr. Huntsman dabbled with green energy subsidies as Governor when those were the political fashion, but perhaps he's learned watching the failures of the last two years.

I guess he's saying that man-made global warming exists just to gain some sort of intellectual credibility? Politically, it doesn't make much sense, given that the majority of Republican voters dismiss the belief completely.

Hyper-regulators. Ugh. Damn those job-creation suppressing people at the FDA!

[cavorting with nudists]

Probably some of you saw a few weeks ago that Huntsman tweeted about liking Captain Beefheart.  One journalist actually decided to press him on details:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2011/09/06/jon_huntsman_passes_the_captain_beefheart_test.html

Hmf.  He comes through credibly enough, except for telescoping "China Pig" and "Orange Claw Hammer" into a single, non-existent song; referring to Antennae Jimmy Semens as "Mascara Jimmy;" and referring to Bat Chain Puller as if that album were ever actually released.

Not that it matters, Rick Perry could start pledging fealty to the Shaggs and it could be revealed that early Half Japanese provides the background music for Michelle's and Marcus's diaper sessions and I still wouldn't vote for any of 'em.

[Kormod]

Of course, Mitt Romney's favorite music, movies, and TV shows (according to his Facebook page) seem as though they were picked by a focus group:

Favourite music   
Roy Orbison, The Beatles, The Eagles, Clint Black, Randy Travis, Johnny Cash,
Favourite films   
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, Henry V
Favourite TV programmes   
Seinfeld, Modern Family, Friday Night Lights, Justified, 30 Rock, American Idol

Seinfeld and 30 Rock, I guess, were chosen to attract swing voters.

I'd love it if someone quizzed him on the main plot points of Friday Night Lights. If he knows his Matt Saracen from his Tim Riggins, I'd be very surprised.

Favourite books   
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Adventures of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Battlefield Earth by Ron Hubbard

This list looks a bit more authentic. I can't imagine how Battlefield Earth works politically, unless Romney's campaign staff looked at all those "best novels" lists (the ones voted on by readers rather than critics) and didn't realize Battlefield Earth is always at the top of them (usually along with Ayn Rand's novels) because crazy Scientologists flood the polls with votes.

Jon Huntsman, unfortunately, doesn't have many specifics on his Facebook page. His favorite music is simply listed as "progressive rock."

As a side note, I looked up "favorite conservative TV shows" and discovered that the contributors at Conservapedia have a weird respect for the Office. They put it at #2, just below Family Ties, on their Greatest Conservative TV Shows list (http://conservapedia.com/Essay:Greatest_Conservative_TV_Shows):

The Office: mockery of liberal political correctness and corporate socialism in an office setting, without a laugh track. The character of Ryan in particular is a lampoon of liberal arrogance and immorality. The show was most popular when it mocked liberals.

[wood and iron]

Ender's Game: the best book about justifying genocide ever!