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The Spectacle Blog
Here I make the case that Bill Kristol is right that the GOP field is still open. Kristol reports on the latest poll:
“About four of five voters said it is too early to say for sure who they support for the nomination, with just 19 percent saying their minds are already made up.” And I argue this: “[I]f Gingrich can rise from the political dead all the way to third in the polls, why can’t Santorum catch the next wave? Or why can’t a Jindal jump in with just the right finesse and surge like Cain did, and like Perry and Bachmann did before Cain?”
I also will note that Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin still have made no endorsement in the race. In a race so volatile, a key endorsement actually can make a huge difference. If I were Rick Santorum right now, I would be beating paths to both of their doors. Ditto if I were Cain. I’d also be laying the ground work to make nice with Michelle Bachmann. And I’d be calling Paul Ryan “just to chat” about once a week.
Meanwhile, if I were Karl Rove, I’d be looking at all of Mitt Romney’s weaknesses and thinking how vulnerable he would be against Obama, and I’d be picking up the phone and calling the Louisiana governor’s mansion.
You know, people say Bobby Jindal bombed in his only national speech. Well, the last time somebody famously bombed in a nationally televised speech, so badly that he was all but booed off the stage, was a guy in 1988 whose given name at birth was Billy Blythe. We know him as William Jefferson Clinton, and he bedeviled us for two full terms in the Oval Office (but not in the Lincoln Bedroom, because it was for rent). One ill-received speech does not break a career, especially when the candidate is an incredibly able debater and retail politician.
View all comments (10) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Quin Hillyer
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/10/25/pence-jindal-ryan-kristol-is-r
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Cam O. Milety| 10.25.11 @ 11:56AM
When Palin creating media buzz about whether she would run or not, the filing deadline of 10/31 in Florida kept coming up. Doesn't that create a hard deadline for anyone wanting to jump into the race at this late date?
Cam O. Milety| 10.25.11 @ 12:02PM
BTW ... not a single blog yet about Perry's flat tax proposal? Over at redstate, aka the Perry Fan Club, there's a post about it that's only got four comments. Hotair's got a link to Perry's birther comments at the top. Is Perry's campaign so completely dead in the water that he can't get more buzz than this when he makes a direct challenge to the 999 mess?
Hank| 10.25.11 @ 12:48PM
I also remember that deadline being discussed. Now, all of sudden, the field is "wide open" again? I don't buy it. I think this is the author simply chasing the latest bright shiny object because he doesn't like the actual choices.
Al Adab| 10.25.11 @ 11:57AM
The names are legion and the depth of the future GOP fields are encouraging. Today is the issue. We must begin where we find ourselves and plan for the next twenty years or more in order to stabilize the country and its economy. Bouncing from one party back to the other in alternating decades will only make matters worse through the uncertainty of it. We desperatly need a period of quiet and growth. Another 25 years such as followed the 1983 recession.
Casey Abell| 10.25.11 @ 12:25PM
I'll translate Quin's column: Cain is too clueless even for me!
Paul McGrath| 10.25.11 @ 1:13PM
That's twice today I've now read the name Karl Rove on these pages. Karl Rove, the genius behind the thoroughly inept Bush administration.
How is it that he has become the sage of the Republican party?
Al Adab| 10.25.11 @ 1:38PM
The problem with the Bush 43 administration was the Ford administration ie Cheny and Rumsfeld. It was they remember who stood with Ford against the Reagan candidacy in 1976.
W| 10.25.11 @ 4:21PM
Good point, Al.
It seems, though, that the same faces are retreaded in both Dem and Rep administrations. I guess that's the point of the book by Codevilla, "The Ruling Class."
martin j smith| 10.25.11 @ 3:30PM
Wow brains at work. No kidding ? Of course we have to know these candidates better and that especially includes Romney who needs to be vetted by the gang of fellow candidates. Lets find out especially Romney's policies and his plans if elected and how would he change our dire economic situation or would he make deals with Socialists. So lets move on and for G-d sakes have debates that are refereed by Conservative Talk Radio people not Communist News Nyetwork.
Bob| 10.26.11 @ 2:50PM
Bill Kristol is a neo-Republican. We don't need him or his "Blown-up Brain" to tell anyone anything. His insider status is only exceeded by his total smugness. He adds zero to the conversation. After all, he thought all of the Bushes were just fine.