GOP Primary Megathread!

[DGuller]

Latest news from Iowa:  Romney won the preliminary count, Santorum won the final one, so Iowa GOP decided to call it a tie.   

[Admiral Yi]

Latest news from Iowa:  Romney won the preliminary count, Santorum won the final one, so Iowa GOP decided to call it a tie. 

It doesn't matter what they call it.  Iowa's dirty little secret is that the caucus results have no real meaning.

[Razgovory]

Iowa will go for Obama anyway.

[Jacob]

Romney - kind of slimy

This is from Doggate, or other things too?

More of a general aggregate, Doggate doesn't really factor into it. I think the thing that solidified it was the "you know... I've been worried about pink slips a few times in my life too" bit. Not necessarily particularly egregious on its own, but a millionaire son of a millionaire (who thinks his effective tax is around 15% and just may release his tax records to show that) trying to claim fears of unemployment as his own for political gain - it just rang way too hollow.

I mean, I understand the political logic behind it, but it was just terrible. I don't think he'll be a terrible president, necessarily, but the man strikes me as slimy.

[Valmy]

What about Ron Paul?  The guy has come in second in the last two runs.

He's completely unelectable

Sort of the sad part is he gets most attacked in these primaries for the good stuff, the foreign policy stuff, and everybody seems to be cool with the bad stuff.

I naturally disagree with Raz that he is a one issue guy and completely obsessed with ending income tax.

[Valmy]

He's good on civil liberties and foreign policy but crazy on economics. Too big a risk to vote for, I'd say. If he did get elected I'd be worried because the range of what he could do goes all the way from really terrible to really good, and I'd tend to fret about the potential for really terrible. He seems like a decent guy on a personal level, for what that's worth.

Except the President does have tremendous powers in law enforcement and foreign policy but is limited in his ability to override congress on things like money supply and tax rates. 

[garbon]

My fairly superficial impression on the Republican candidates:

Romney - kind of slimy, wishy washy, out-of-touch super rich guy.
Newt - full of himself, vile.
Santorum - seems like a decent guy who genuinely holds positions I don't agree with.

In terms of policy, I think Romney would probably be the best Republican candidate from my point of view, while Santorum's probably the guy I could respect the most. Either one would be fine, though I'd vote for Obama were I an American voter.

Newt, however, seems like he would be terrible.

I think Santorum's positions make him a non-decent guy.

[KRonn]

If Iowa can't handle a primary vote, or caucus, maybe the state shouldn't go first. Seems that caucus is a pretty messy, cumbersome event to get a solid vote count anyway.

[The Brain]

Ron Paul can't be president. You won't know if orders come from the actual C-in-C or from someone else.

[Jacob]

Except the President does have tremendous powers in law enforcement and foreign policy but is limited in his ability to override congress on things like money supply and tax rates.

That's a good point.

Still, I'd vote for Obama. He strikes me as a sensible adult, trying to get shit done and succeeding more times than not (especially given the current economic and political climate).

[fhdz]

Sort of the sad part is he gets most attacked in these primaries for the good stuff, the foreign policy stuff, and everybody seems to be cool with the bad stuff.

I'm not sure these folks know enough about economics to be able to see that it *is* "bad stuff".

[Jacob]

I think Santorum's positions make him a non-decent guy.

When I said decent, I meant as separate from his positions. That said, it's perfectly legitimate to not make that separation.

What do you think of Newt and Mitt?

[DGuller]

Ron Paul can't be president. You won't know if orders come from the actual C-in-C or from someone else.

[dps]

If Iowa can't handle a primary vote, or caucus, maybe the state shouldn't go first. Seems that caucus is a pretty messy, cumbersome event to get a solid vote count anyway.

They shouldn't.  It's tradition, and they're dead set on maintaining that tradition.

It wasn't any big deal years ago, but then the media started to pay way too much attention to the outcome.

[Ideologue]

Former Gingrich Wife Says He Asked for 'Open Marriage'

'In an interview to be broadcast Thursday night, a former wife of Newt Gingrich says he asked for an "open marriage" to continue his affair with the woman who is his current wife.
...
"He came to her and said I want to stay married to you and still have an affair with Callista." Marianne said Mr. Gingrich asked her to "share" him. That was unacceptable to her and the marriage ended.'

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/former-gingrich-wife-says-he-asked-for-open-marriage/

OK, I know for whom I must vote on Saturday.