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SEQUESTER: The Horror!
March 1, 2013 | 4 comments
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SOTU Preview: Human Props, Budget Fights, and Wedge Issues
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Hello, I Must Be Going
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Weekend Political Wrap-Up, Paul Ryan Edition
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Esquire Blogger Sees Paul Ryan, Shreds His Safety Net
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The Spectacle Blog
The exit polls were wrong. They clearly oversampled Mitt Romney supporters. Romney not only didn’t win Mississippi. He came in third in both Southern states tonight, keeping Newt Gingrich alive and watching Rick Santorum remain the candidate of conservatives.
Of course, the difference between victory and defeat was rather small. Romney did better among evangelicals than expected. It was a closely fought contest with all three of the main candidates taking around 30 percent of the vote. But another opportunity for Romney to close this out was missed. Republicans need to understand that even if Romney wins — and the delegate count was barely affected by this, as Romney gets nearly as big a haul as Santorum and Gingrich while already boasting a large lead — some real weaknesses in his candidacy have been exposed.
View all comments (26) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/03/13/exit-stage-wrong
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somnolence| 3.14.12 @ 12:06AM
So. Look at the map in the WSJ today with the blue in the West for Romney, and count on New York, New Jersey, and possibly Illinois in his delegate column(he'll remain close enough to gather delegates everywhere anyway), and you'll see it is rather academic he gets above 1144 by the Convention. Gingrich is borderline delusional.
Clint| 3.14.12 @ 6:39AM
Duuuuuhhhhh !
Obama Was A TRAPSTER, But Mittens Was A TARPSTER. Obama Is An ObamaCarester, But Mittens Is A RomneyCarester.
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To A Brokered Convention.
florin| 3.14.12 @ 10:16AM
And why Mr. Antle do you talk about Romney's 'weakness' and not talk about gingrich's sick insistence that he can win or at least destroy Romney. Even when Romney wins, you and everyone else, make it seem as if he lost. Get a grip and do some honest reporting. Romney was not supposed to do nearly as well in the south but he did almost as well as Santorum...gingrich said last night was essential for him...he lost...why not talk about his delusional belief that he still has a chance...it should be a battle between Santorum and Romney - but newt is a spoil sport and unless the money from his gambling mogul buddy dries up, gingrich will go on and become more and more delusional....
Vern Crisler | 3.14.12 @ 1:25AM
Gingrich is the only viable candidate to win against Obama.
Pete| 3.14.12 @ 12:53PM
He can't do it by himself. He needs to work with Santorum. Both need to stay in the race.
ayrnieu| 3.14.12 @ 3:38AM
Does anyone remember that this is not going to end up a five-way race, with Santorum continuing to take the union (*spit*) voters, Paul bringing in and then getting the youth vote, etc? Romney's weaknesses against these three are not necessarily his weaknesses against Obama.
For investigating the latter, you might start with the former, but you don't save any time - you still have to dig into Romney's strengths against these three, where he may yet be weak against Obama.
Derek Leaberry| 3.14.12 @ 9:08AM
There are virtually no union voters in the South.
PCC| 3.14.12 @ 6:29AM
I don't see how this adds up to Romney weakness in the general election. Does anyone believe that Mississippi or Alabama is going to vote Democratic in November?
Teflon93| 3.14.12 @ 7:47AM
Those "weaknesses in his candidacy" aren't new, Jim---they've been present throughout and we've told you about them.
What is new is simply that it is finally dawning on you that Romney isn't "inevitable".
This primary cycle has exposed a huge weakness in the conservative commentariat---you've lost touch with conservatives.
Time to get out of the NY-DC corridor and talk to some conservatives.
Derek Leaberry| 3.14.12 @ 9:03AM
Romney still polls well among homosexual Republicans. Got to give him that. Feminist Republican women like Romney, too.
florin| 3.14.12 @ 10:17AM
If you don't have an intelligent comment to make Derek Leaberry, don't make any ... unless you are a homosexual panting after Romney...get a grip and get a life!!
Teflon93| 3.14.12 @ 10:28AM
florin---homosexual or feminist?
Derek Leaberry| 3.14.12 @ 11:01AM
Why don't you post by your real name, boy? Coward?
Eric Dondero | 3.14.12 @ 9:23AM
OMG.
A whole article and James Antle didn't even mention the words "Ron Paul."
Progress, perhaps? Maybe James is just embarrassed by Paul's 4.5% showing in Mississippi?
Clint| 3.14.12 @ 12:48PM
Uh Oh !
The Screwball Israel Firster Smear Bund Maniac, Eric Rittberg-Dondero Is In The Building.
“My fellow Jews need to buck up,” says Eric Dondero, editor of Libertarian Republican.net, over the phone from Houston. “The big problem right now is Islam and Islamism invading our country. And if they want to continue to move in, we need to fight back. Their culture is coming here.”
Dondero, a former staffer for Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, has blogged extensively about what he calls “creeping Sharia Law” over the past several years. He says if you want to know what Sharia looks like in the United States, all you have to do is look at Europe, where he claims Muslim Europeans have “invaded” the countryside.
“They’re invading Switzerland and a Swedish island called Malmo, where the Muslims are raping all the European and Swedish women,” he says, recalling that city’s reports of lawlessness between the Jewish, Muslim and Neo-Nazi populations. And he fears that if Sharia Law isn’t banned in all states the way it was banned in his, the U.S. is next."
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To A Brokered Convention.
MikeBee| 3.14.12 @ 10:27AM
Conservative plan for success: Rick and Newt join forces, with Newt as VP, Newt giving all his delegates to their joint effort. Ron Paul backs out; he'll never win.
I guess I'm dreamin' about Ron Paul backing out; he's been there all the while to split the conservative vote, and enable Old Party Line Repubs to win.
But, Rick and Newt? Hmmmmm...........
Clint| 3.14.12 @ 12:56PM
Watch What Ya Wish For, Faux Conservative RINO-CINO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?f....._embedded&
v=IU2AvSwzuok
The Tea Party Rebellion Heads To A Brokered Convention.
MikeBee| 3.14.12 @ 2:40PM
Clint,
Would you please grow up? Your snide name-calling is not welcome here. The fact is that Ron Paul doesn't stand a chance of winning the nomination. He never did in previous attempts. He never has gotten anywhere close. He's a great guy with a LOT of good ideas. I especially like his desire to return to a gold standard. But, he stands against his own conservative ideas, as he constantly splits the conservative vote, so that we lose.
Drek| 3.14.12 @ 10:40AM
Big night, HUGE night for Santorum. Not in terms of delegates but in terms of optics and perception.
Gingrich was dead right too that the inevitability line about Romney has COLLAPSED.
And in not unrelated news, THE OTHER MCCAIN might get his ambassadorship yet............
Pete| 3.14.12 @ 12:52PM
The two together can stop Romney from getting to 1144 delegates. Don't forget Romney will lose half the delegates allotted to him in Arizona and Florida.
We see a second bias in the media. The first is for Obama, and the second is for Romney. Both refuse to accept the truth.
Drek| 3.14.12 @ 6:28PM
As for Florida and Arizona, rest assured the GOP establishment will provide some kind of arrangement whereby Romney gets a good chunk of the delegates from those states. We can't go relying upon the GOP making good a stand against Florida and Arizona that only hurts their fair-haired boy.
We just have to stop Romney, as Gingrich articulated last night.
After that is made clear, which will occur even prior to the conclusion of the primary season, then that conversation can get kicked off.
Get your popcorn ready..........
Lloyd| 3.14.12 @ 12:29PM
Eh. Romney got plenty of delegates out of MS and Alabama. He also won two contests anyway last night,so he actually increased his delegate lead.
Question for Santorum supporters. The Illinois primary is Tuesday. Will Santorum now admit he's Catholic again? In Mississippi he's been going to Baptist services.
Pete| 3.14.12 @ 12:50PM
Another example of misrepresenting the numbers. Romney got 40 percent of the delegates. He needs 50 percent on the average to get to 1144 delegates. Romney lost ground yesterday.
Santorum is looking good in Illinois. If he wins will Romneyites finally admit their guy is a weak candidate despite outspending everyone 4 to 1?
Pete| 3.14.12 @ 12:48PM
Romney supporters have been over-stating Romney's support all along. They are trying to win by stating his victory is inevitable. That is hardly the case, proven once again. What is inevitable is that he will keep outspending his opponents 4 to 1. His supporters must be rich and desperate.
Windy City Commentary| 3.14.12 @ 1:17PM
The Romney campaign and his Republican media sycophants are running on pure inertia. Nothing that comes out about Romney between now and nomination day matters anymore to the Republican media. All the little instances about Romney's competitors were examined under a microscope, but once Romney won Florida, the Republican media decided that vetting the candidates could cease now that Romney was in the lead.
Fiscal| 3.14.12 @ 3:48PM
It doesn't make any difference who gets the nomination, it is in the bag for Obama unless some big event happens. This is because the demographic segments who will elect the next President are women, seniors, and Hispanics -- they are the swing voters. People on the extreme right and left will vote ideologically. Republicans have done everything in their power to make women dislike them -- especially educated, suburban women. Republicans have also taken both sides of the debate about changing Medicare and Social Security and this will hurt the senior vote. Bush got between 38-44% of the Hispanic vote in 2004, but this growing segment has also been hurt by the campaign rhetoric so you can expect that vote to be reduced to about the high 20's.
That means whoever becomes the nominee, must choose a woman or Hispanic as a running mate and must promise not to change Medicare or Social Security -- the two biggest budget items on the federal budget.
Perhaps if one of the candidates was likeable, it would make a difference. Romney is NOT likeable and neither is Gingrich. Santorum is likeable but he is going to scare suburban women.
So in the end, it doesn't make any difference who the candidate will be -- not one of them has what it takes to win.
Therefore, it doesn't matter whether Romney knows about business (he knows nothing about foreign affairs) and Gingrich is an egomaniacal loose cannon, both are severely flawed and cannot win once Obama's advertising hits the streets. Romney is already almost out of money because of what he's had to do to get this far and he won't put any of his own money into the race. The only real choice, then, is Santorum because he is the most ideologically aligned with extreme right wing Republicans. This should prove, once and for all, whether having a "true conservative" makes a difference.
Personally, I don't like any of them because they are not libertarian enough both on fiscal issues AND social issues. If they happen to get elected, do any of you really see cuts in Medicare, Social Security, defense or foreign assistance? Including debt, that is over 80% of the federal budget and to get that budget balanced, we need to cut about 40% out! In fact, Romney's plan creates a lot more debt than Obama's plan because he lowers taxes without lowering spending. Where have we heard that before? Bush II????
Those of us who are more libertarian and have supported Republicans over the years, are weary about more wars, more military spending, and involving the government more in social issues. The party has become no more fiscally responsible than the Democrats.
And one correction to the diatribe here.... a single payer national health plan would be significantly less expensive TO THE COUNTRY than any of the Republican alternatives. Anybody who has done the math knows that. The issue is purely a libertarian one -- i.e., do you want the government to make decisions for you? In the end, Obamacare will actually lower health care costs over what we have now.