tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post8959648144134478189..comments2023-10-24T09:06:30.200-04:00Comments on No More Mister Nice Blog: ALL FOUR FRONT-RUNNERS ARE UNELECTABLE -- NOW WHAT?Steve M.http://www.blogger.com/profile/11963290427258439242noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-28740389802627001212016-02-23T03:21:09.101-05:002016-02-23T03:21:09.101-05:00The consequence of having unelectable candidates r...The consequence of having unelectable candidates running is likely to be low voter turnout, as in 2010 and 2014. And we all know what happened then. Yes the electoral college math is different, and Hillary may well still win. But it will be a win without much honor or enthusiasm, without any significant gains in Congress, and a recipe for even more of the dysfunction we've seen since 2010.<br /><br />And in February '17, needless to say, the whole "Who'll be the GOP nominee in '20/Can Hillary expect a second term?" bullshit will start the whole circus all over again.Ken_Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11709548046018362581noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-73757988228203360942016-02-23T01:45:00.837-05:002016-02-23T01:45:00.837-05:00I can barely comprehend how Steve M. so indefatiga...I can barely comprehend how Steve M. so indefatigably provides us with dense, insightful commentary, day after day. I'm gratified to have him back. But it was definitely fun to have the guests running the place for a few days. They're all sorts of wonderful as well. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01629559601528774936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-83830059247888409502016-02-22T22:32:01.124-05:002016-02-22T22:32:01.124-05:00Okay, crazy prediction. No chance of it ever happe...Okay, crazy prediction. No chance of it ever happening, but I occasionally buy a lottery ticket,too.<br /><br />Bloomberg enters the race. The election is a three-way tie. Meanwhile, Obama nominates a Republican to the bench, fully expecting the nominee will be rejected, leaving room for his (he hopes Democratic) successor to appoint a liberal. <br /><br />The three way tie goes to the Supremes ,who appoint the president of their choosing as they did in Bush vs.Gore. However, the new Republican justice turns turncoat and votes with the Conservative majority. And their choice is.....well the court decides that since everything is tied they should pick none of the above. They announce that their choice is made "in the interests of impartiality and neutrality." And with that, they anoint Mitt Romney. <br /><br />And now I'm going back to my cell. The decorators should have finished re-padding the walls by now.<br /><br />Welcome home, Steve. <br /><br />Yours crankily,<br />The New York CrankThe New York Crankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04489472134701718697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-64135082571437701132016-02-22T18:05:46.857-05:002016-02-22T18:05:46.857-05:00I think this is broadly right, though I do would s...<i>I think this is broadly right, though I do would still argue that there's a an order of magnitude of difference between Sanders' electoral weakness and Clinton's</i><br /><br />Read that out to the Sandernista spouse and she said "Order of magnitude? Clinton's way more than 10 times weaker..."William F. Glennonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10557342274820875239noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-69329011148036129982016-02-22T17:33:47.336-05:002016-02-22T17:33:47.336-05:00Assimov wrote a shorty early on about the Multivac...Assimov wrote a shorty early on about the Multivac computer randomly selecting a president from the general population each year. Humorous.<br /><br />About the same he wrote a cashless society. Not humorous.Ten Bearshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06594307610015584119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-43006997383116545422016-02-22T16:06:37.587-05:002016-02-22T16:06:37.587-05:00Wow. I'd better beat a path down to the local ...Wow. I'd better beat a path down to the local Dem office and tell them Hillary's unelectable.<br /><br />Who knew?Luigihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16483229810538275725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-32429608945022816652016-02-22T14:56:54.859-05:002016-02-22T14:56:54.859-05:00Thanks, and welcome back! It's a privilege and...Thanks, and welcome back! It's a privilege and an honor to post here.<br /><br />I think this is broadly right, though I do would still argue that there's a an order of magnitude of difference between Sanders' electoral weakness and Clinton's. And paradoxically, the very unelectability of Cruz and Trump brings up another vulnerability I think Sanders has that Clinton doesn't. Because the way "unelectable" Republicans win is by making their opponents <i>more</i> unelectable. By relentlessly keeping the public's attention on their opponents' weaknesses, thus minimizing attention to their own. Think George H. W. Bush and Willie Horton, or his punk kid and the Swiftboaters. <br /><br />And while Clinton has no compunction about getting down and dirty when necessary, Sanders has his high-minded record of "never running a negative ad" (which stretches the truth a little, but still), which he either maintains (unilateral disarmament) or ditches (flip-flopper!). I don't think he would be able to function at all in the kind of campaign we know Cruz or Trump will run.Tom Hiltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17575511424823512042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-47443124190365497802016-02-22T14:36:22.348-05:002016-02-22T14:36:22.348-05:00Welcome back!
You got to the Zen heart of it whi...Welcome back! <br /><br />You got to the Zen heart of it while Tom and I were flailing in the right direction--this is one of those years where somebody unelectable gets elected. You'd better keep writing, because nobody else can do that.<br /><br />And what aimai said, plus one of the other great things about NMMNB is that it gets her to write stuff.Yastreblyanskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08335868257729063363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-50775957128888545552016-02-22T13:39:39.102-05:002016-02-22T13:39:39.102-05:00Rubio would be completely destroyed, if he even go...Rubio would be completely destroyed, if he even got to the nomination, by HRC and/or her VP choice if her VP choice were, say, one of the Castro brothers. aimaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956073425680585780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-42564060635004299832016-02-22T13:22:00.467-05:002016-02-22T13:22:00.467-05:00Rubio is so reminiscent of Dan Quayle.
We need a ...Rubio is so reminiscent of Dan Quayle.<br /><br />We need a Bentsen.<br /><br />swkellogghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06282997501489101503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-39229767381020747722016-02-22T12:52:00.205-05:002016-02-22T12:52:00.205-05:00Thanks for having me, Steve! It was a breathless r...Thanks for having me, Steve! It was a breathless ride on a runaway sled. I'm sure I speak for everyone in saying that trying to keep this blog flowing at its normal rate of speed took all of us working as hard as we could, while you make it look effortless.<br /><br />As for the subject of this post, I guess I don't think anyone is "unelectable." The voters are faced with a shifting set of choices, and any student of humanity knows that people can rapidly shift their preferences when their choices are changed or begin to slim down. Not only is it true that "buyers are liars" (i.e. Evangelicals will vote for a twice divorced public pervert) but there is a fierce light that beats upon the scaffold and "wonderfully concentrates the mind" of the man about to be hanged, or forced to choose a candidate in the voting booth.Another way of talking about that is to say that when the beer goggles are on many people find something to like in the candidate who is left for them to vote for.<br /><br />The problem that the GOP has is that the party doesn't want Trump, but they are very likely to get him. Of all of them I think Trump has the best chance of beating the Democrat (although I don't think his chances are very good). But the others, Rubio et al? I don't think they have a chance against trump. They'd have a chance against the Democrat (whoever he/she may be) because there is a floor of die hard Republican voters who will always vote against the Dem. But if the nominee is not Trump I don't actually think Trump's voters, or his fans, will switch their vote to Rubio (perhaps they would to Cruz). Because the kind of red meat and 100 proof alcohol that Trump has offered them, the straight up crystal meth of his self presentation and his promises, simply can't be replaced by Mr. Not-Even-Shaving techno boy toy.aimaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956073425680585780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-87199603926760650522016-02-22T12:49:38.439-05:002016-02-22T12:49:38.439-05:00Because of what I do for a living, I was invited o...Because of what I do for a living, I was invited once to participate in an AEI panel discussion, in which I said some things which apparently at least someone there failed to understand because I ended up on a conservative mailing list, which means I occasionally, especially during presidential election years, gets me a lot of free albeit mostly scary but sometimes amusing stuff. In December I received a handy-dandy GOP delegates calculator, which I think now must be defective, because I input the vote percentage received by Senator Rubio in his scintillating second-place finish in South Carolina but it keeps allocating Rubio zero delegates for that, by all media accounts, critical victory.Feud Turgidsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05379322096770703017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-46411417822479085182016-02-22T12:27:25.175-05:002016-02-22T12:27:25.175-05:00My fellow Americans, today, we are all unelectable...My fellow Americans, today, we are all unelectable.Feud Turgidsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05379322096770703017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-62427387901729083962016-02-22T11:27:03.861-05:002016-02-22T11:27:03.861-05:00True, but as you noted, he's got to get there ...True, but as you noted, he's got to get there first. AllieGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07994768860067988405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-29449572459652890212016-02-22T11:16:01.516-05:002016-02-22T11:16:01.516-05:00Thanks, Victor.
And Allie (and Phil), you're ...Thanks, Victor.<br /><br />And Allie (and Phil), you're right about Trump. He's going to attack Rubio brutally, and he'll draw blood (though the eligibility attack isn't a promising start). But if Rubio could manage to get past Trump, I don't think Clinton or Sanders could best him (with the GOP and MSM backing him up). Remember, Clinton couldn't beat Obama , and she's struggling to beat back Sanders. Sanders isn't really a back-alley fighter. Rubio, if he's the nominee (and thus the Trump slayer), would go into the general election as the favored child.Steve M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11963290427258439242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-90721815687501933482016-02-22T11:06:13.198-05:002016-02-22T11:06:13.198-05:00Welcome back, Steve!
We missed you.
Krugman, today...Welcome back, Steve!<br />We missed you.<br />Krugman, today, does his usual excellent job. He dismantles Rubio.<br /><br />Oh, how I wish that the rest of the media read him! Victorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06609452382111686086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-20644655076636969812016-02-22T11:02:44.606-05:002016-02-22T11:02:44.606-05:00It will be hard for the media to keep man-crush Ru...It will be hard for the media to keep man-crush Rubio afloat if ratings/clicks Godsend Trump starts eating his lunch in public. I should have been more specific in my first post. Triple A level bully Christie took Rubio completely out of one primary. What will certified big league bully Trump do?AllieGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07994768860067988405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-29781738072883295612016-02-22T11:00:32.518-05:002016-02-22T11:00:32.518-05:00Even if he miraculously manages to become the nomi...<i>Even if he miraculously manages to become the nominee, though, eventually the Republican voter base will remember/realize Rubio isn't white.</i><br /><br />You mean, the party that elected him, Cruz, Jindal, Nikki Haley, and Tim Scott (the latter two in South Carolina, of all places)? The party that briefly made Ben Carson the top Republican presidential candidate? The party that deeply admires Clarence Thomas and Stacey Dash?<br /><br />Republicans <i>love</i> black and brown people who reinforce the white GOP's messages. <br /><br />But you're right about Trump -- he screwed everything for these folks. Steve M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11963290427258439242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-21357725926404363002016-02-22T10:56:40.842-05:002016-02-22T10:56:40.842-05:00That's also how a lot of journalists think -- ...<i>That's also how a lot of journalists think -- and would it be really be arrogant of me to assume they're stupid?</i><br /><br /><br />Ha! No, that's not arrogance. Read Bob Somerby-- going on 18 years now he's been detailing the fact that our political journalists aren't just sycophantic, front-running fanboys/girls, but are in fact, WILDLY incompetent at their jobs, as well.BKThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15780381542236932101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-1860097890860940852016-02-22T10:53:33.087-05:002016-02-22T10:53:33.087-05:00A man taken down by Chris Christie is hardly invul...<i>A man taken down by Chris Christie is hardly invulnerable.</i><br /><br />But he wasn't. It was a temporary setback. Christie's in New Jersey and Rubio's the media golden boy in waiting.<br /><br />Rubio got bad press for maybe 72 hours after a gaffe that went massively viral, and that should have resonated years later, like Perry's "Oops." Rubio doesn't have Teflon of his own, but the GOP Establishment and MSM keep draping him in Teflon.Steve M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11963290427258439242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-2330454200166066112016-02-22T10:44:33.056-05:002016-02-22T10:44:33.056-05:00Now that Jeb is out, Trump is gonna turn the flame...Now that Jeb is out, Trump is gonna turn the flamethrower on Rubio, and if you thought Rubio crapped himself when Christie went after him...it's gonna be UGLY. <br /><br />Even if he miraculously manages to become the nominee, though, eventually the Republican voter base will remember/realize Rubio isn't white. (Amazed it hasn't happened to Cruz yet.) The Republican voter base is not yet ready to vote for a non-white President, even if he's on their side.<br /><br />I admit it; I never thought Trump was actually going to run. But now that he's in, I don't see any way one of these other schmucks keeps the nomination out of his hands.Phil Freemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05041604069121995890noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3856837.post-31610641717922338312016-02-22T10:37:32.386-05:002016-02-22T10:37:32.386-05:00A sound analysis, except I still don't get you...A sound analysis, except I still don't get your belief Rubio is unbeatable in a general election. A man taken down by Chris Christie is hardly invulnerable.AllieGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07994768860067988405noreply@blogger.com