I had said, in a poison picking scenario, that if republicans, in a mad frenzy of ideological blindness, run their ship aground upon the idiot rocks of populist delusion by turning Cain and Gingrich into serious contenders, I had said that in that sad case I'd have to, if one of them was destined to beat out Romney, hope it was Gingrich who prevailed. Having had a chance the last few days to read some not so fond remembrances and reanalysis of Newt and his 25 years of bloviating self-aggrandizement, pseudo-intellectual posturing, neo-liberal flights of fancy, hypocrisy both moral and political and abject incompetence when it came to the art of governing, I've changed my mind - given a choice of Calamity Cain or Newt the nattering narcissist, I'm gonna probably have to stick with the devil known, Obama - yes, he's been a disaster as far as I'm concerned, but if he gets reelected I'm assuming he'll be boxed in by a house and senate controlled by republicans - bad for the country, sure, since it'll probably mean four more years of ideological stunts and stare downs, but I'm guessing still better than having one of those other two wackos in charge. Jeez - I know Romney has his flaws and I understand why some conservatives would be reluctant to embrace him - but all the not-Romneys are just so objectionable and unelectable, in some cases to a degree that verges on pathetic, if Romney can't nail the nomination down early and this circus carries on for months, I gotta believe the republican brand is gonna be seriously damaged. The best thing that can happen for republicans is that Romney does ok in Iowa [can't see any way that he actually wins there] and then quickly takes New Hampshire, South Carolina and then I think Florida - and then this farce is over.
I have to believe that when all those quality candidates decided not to run they did so thinking that Romney would win and they were fine with that [indeed Christie quickly endorsed Romney after definitely closing the door on speculation of his own run for the nomination] - in other words, they didn't see their absence from the race as a great negative that might impact the fortunes of the country in a worrisome way. Wouldn't surprise me if they're all feeling a bit uneasy about those decisions as they watch Gingrich and Cain rise in the polls.
[although it's reasonable to think that the 'others' may have suffered from same ill winds arrayed against Romney - I mean Daniels was essentially chased from the race for having the temerity to suggest a truce in the culture war, a totally sensible suggestion since democracy is fundamentally about the mitigation of extremes and the tyranny of absolutism through various compromises and accommodations; yes, Christie is loved by the tea party types but also has many 'moderate' positions that would not go down well with the zealots - certainly, I can not imagine Christie grovelling in the sand to appease the Limbaughs et al, in fact I get the feeling he'd relish in pissing them off; a lot of Ryan's work would certainly appeal to the uber right, but he's quite cerebral and I don't think he would have been a comfortable fit with the revolutionary zeal the base seems to be craving]
[and one has to wonder how much of the anti-Romney sentiment is driven by talk radio and how much of that 'talk' is motivated not by a fear that Mitt is the wrong man but rather by a fear that he is indeed the right man and therefore in a position to significantly delegitmize the hyper partisan rhetoric of outrage that is the life blood of talk radio. Certainly there's a palpable segment of right wing animus that is heavily invested in demonizing the Romneys of the world and therefore one imagines that at least some of the anti-Romney fervor is entirely self serving - I mean, how else explain the absurdity of pumping up Gingrich who shares many of the same shortcomings the uber right sees or imagines seeing in Romney plus many, many more on top - I mean he was a paid lobbyist for Fanny and Freddie which means he was essentially a manifestation of everything the uber right supposedly hates about Washington - and yet a poll today on National Review website indicates a majority don't think that's a problem - that's simply insane, it's not rational - and it's usually fear that drives people towards such nuttiness]
