Who will be the Republican Nominee For President?

[Habbaku]

Want to make a bet on it? 

I'm willing to.  My $100 to your $100 that Gingrich won't be elected president in 2012.

Pass.  I'm not making a bet that screws me if Newt doesn't even get the nomination.

[Sheilbh]

President Gringrich. Wow.

As far as I can see it the only politician who can beat Obama now is Angela Merkel.  So it could happen.

[Fate]

The sad thing is that Mitt Romney for all his flip-flopping fakery is really a God-fearing guy who honestly seems to have been attacting to politics because of the potential to improve the world he lives in.  (well that and following the family business)

Whereas Newt is an arrogant, self-aggrandizing asshole who believes in nothing other than his own self-promotion, and who switches religions as often as he switches wives.

Yet to many evangelicals Newt is their new savior from Mitt.

The mind boggles.

Really, it boggles the mind? Evangelical don't think that Mormons are Christians. That is quite enough to explain the current standings of Newt vs Romney with respect to that constituency,

[Eddie Teach]

Newt's been pretty consistent in the areas that matter. The Tea Party and the Contract with America stem from the same desire to shrink the government. Romney otoh was fine with government health care when he was governor. For all their rhetoric about family values, conservatives still recognize that the candidate's positions on matters of policy affect them much more than his fidelity to his wife.

[The Minsky Moment]

Newt advocated  a health care insurance mandate and shilled for Freddie and Fannie. 

Newt is consistently for Newt.  Beyond that you takes your chances.  Conservatives hear what they want to hear.  For some reason they have decided to hear no evil about Newt.  It is the triumph of hope over experience.

[Eddie Teach]

Eh, you may be right. I haven't been paying much attention to him since his speaker days.  I do think the image he's projecting now is the same he had when fighting Clinton. Romney had to do the calisthenics necessary to appeal to both the Massachusetts general electorate and Republican primary voters, so it's no surprise not all of them trust what he says now.

[Viking]

United Kingdom: Our Special Relationship

Mr. Cain will restore our special relationship with Great Britain – our closest ally for nearly two centuries.  In noticeable decline under President Obama, the Cain Administration will turn the relationship around so that our two nations start working as a team once again.   America and Britain have stood together in both World Wars, and most recently Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. Our military alliance and economic ties remain crucial to world stability.

hmm... need to do a bit of math here.... 200 years? 1811... what was the name of that war again.. oh, yes, "The War of 1812". But, he does say "nearly".. since when have the US and UK been allied? August 14, 1941 imho. That was 70 years, 3 months and 17 days ago today.

But.. I do agree with the concept of clearly communicating what the realtionship is. BS is never good.

[Razgovory]

Newt advocated  a health care insurance mandate and shilled for Freddie and Fannie. 

Newt is consistently for Newt.  Beyond that you takes your chances.  Conservatives hear what they want to hear.  For some reason they have decided to hear no evil about Newt.  It is the triumph of hope over experience.

Well he's certainly smarter then most of the crowd up there (though that's not exactly hard.  My cat could outwit Perry).  A certain degree of pragmatism is admirably.  I've never found ideological purity that great, but then I'm a Dem, so take that for what it's worth.

Newt has a massive disadvantage in my book.  He's a Timmay.  He wrote Alternative history.  Put in a negative light, Newt Gingrich is the only candidate who has written a history book where Lee wins Gettysburg and Germany won WWII.

[Sheilbh]

I don't think he is that smart actually.  I think Huntsman, Paul and Romney are certainly smarter - maybe Santorum too.  I think Gingrich is just a bit of an intellectual bully and show off in style.

[Admiral Yi]

Yi's gonna owe me like $10,000 in 2024.

You're predicting 1000% inflation starting next year?

[Berkut]

  It is the triumph of hope over experience.

That worked out well for the Obama supporters.

[Berkut]

Why isn't Huntsman an option?

He seems so sane compared to the rest, perhaps that is the problem.

[Malthus]

The sad thing is that Mitt Romney for all his flip-flopping fakery is really a God-fearing guy who honestly seems to have been attacting to politics because of the potential to improve the world he lives in.  (well that and following the family business)

Whereas Newt is an arrogant, self-aggrandizing asshole who believes in nothing other than his own self-promotion, and who switches religions as often as he switches wives.

Yet to many evangelicals Newt is their new savior from Mitt.

The mind boggles.

It can only be explained by two factors:

(1) Anti-Mormon feeling; and

(2) Nostalgia for a past time when Republican politicians were reputed to have ideas.

[Admiral Yi]

What's the Huntsman love based on?  All I know about the guys is a) he's Mormon, b) he was the ambassador to China, and c) he supported ObamaPelosiReidStimulus.

[DGuller]

Why isn't Huntsman an option?

He seems so sane compared to the rest, perhaps that is the problem.

Sane = RINO in the empty minds of Republican primary voters.  He's not even a moderate, he's just sane and seemingly pragmatic.  However, Republicans have a lot of cretins to choose from this time around, so they don't need to settle for sane.