I Can't Handle Another 10 Months of This
We're on the eve of the New Hampshire primary, so the news networks are prepping their "magic walls" and their "weebles"... yeah, you read that right. The coverage of the Iowa caucuses threatened to outdo the "drama" of the actual vote returns with the "drama" of the technological rollouts by CNN and other networks. I watched the CNN coverage for about as long as I could stand it, which was a few minutes after they decided it was a great idea to give Jim Bob Duggar (he of the 19 children and completely unnecessary reality show) air time.
This is what we are looking at for the next ten months... news media overload of the highest (or lowest) order. And all the media attention on what should be seen as inconsequential small state primaries assists in the idea that these small populations will decide the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States. And because of the media attention, people flip out over the slightest twists and turns and gaffes... and there are a lot of gaffes. I have to admit that these few months of the primary process can tend to be even worse than the general election season, because it's not necessarily 2 sides hurling flith and vitriol at each other, it's several sides... each representing their own candidate who is still in this race.
I know a lot of people have mentioned doing a nationwide primary process where each of 4-5 regions votes in their individual states one week at a time, rotating every 4 years to make sure that each region gets to go first eventually. Much like a lot of other things we want changed with our politics, it's a great idea but one that doesn't have enough traction (or money) behind it. As a result, the votes of 2% of the country (Iowa and New Hampshire) are enough to make candidates decide they have no shot with the other 98%. And let's face it, if this Republican race has taught us anything, it's that things can change quickly. First Michele Bachmann was the main challenger to Mitt Romney, then she fell off and it was Rick Perry, then he fell off and it was Newt Gingrich, then he fell off and it was Ron Paul, and now he's kinda slipped and it's Rick Santorum for now. And Romney could himself slide after he stuck his foot in it today and stated that he "liked being able to fire people." Mind you, it was within the context of "firing" one's health insurance provider, but still, it was something that makes for a tailor-made soundbite.
And what if it does? And what if the comment leads to a Santorum or Gingrich victory in South Carolina? Will the media immediately proclaim Romney done and the race over? Will financial backers of other candidates bail? They shouldn't. It would make a lot more sense for people to campaign nationally, not just Iowa and New Hampshire, and build their firewall in the states where they think their message sinks in best. People have sort of done that in recent years. John McCain dismissed Iowa four years ago, and people declared his campaign dead because of it. Then he won New Hampshire, where he devoted much of his time, and it was game on. Incidentally, when he edged out Romney in '08, he won a whopping SEVEN delegates. SEVEN. And yet, it meant so much. Jon Huntsman dismissed Iowa this year and focused on New Hampshire. Unfortunately, it looks like that won't matter tomorrow. Huntsman's really the only one who hasn't been near the top of the polls in recent months, and that is because he's a little more moderate and served as President Obama's ambassador to China. In other words, he's a RINO.
And so too, apparently is Gingrich now. The Leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, said as much on his show today when he declared that Gingrich used the "language of the Left" in trying to take down Romney through attacking his rich-guy, private equity firm background. Yup, that's right... Newt Gingrich, whom Limbaugh proudly stood beside in 1994 as the leader of the Republican Revolution, is now too far to the Left for the Republican Party. Which shows you how ridiculously far to the Right the GOP has gone. And yet, Romney... with his changeable "I was a moderate until I decided to run for president" views, has been all but handed the nomination by many a pundit. Why? The buzzword right now is "electability", as in Romney has the best chance of beating Obama.
I think that's hilarious. If anything, Romney is about as unelectable as Bachmann, Perry, Gingrich, OR Santorum. Four years ago, Romney was contrasted with McCain with the statement, "McCain looks like the guy who will hire you; Romney looks like the guy who will fire you." And guess what... Romney STILL looks like the guy who will fire you. And coming from a radio industry in which the biggest and worst offender of "slash-and-burn" personnel tactics, Clear Channel, is owned by Romney's former company, Bain Capital, you can see why I would NEVER, EVER vote for Mitt Romney.
But at least that's a reasoned argument. It's not hysterical... and boy have we seen lots of hysteria from the Left lately. I predicted that there would be an "Anyone Who Runs for the Republican Nomination Derangement Syndrome" from the far Left in 2012, and I was definitely right. Everyday, I see someone flipping out about Gingrich, Paul, Santorum, Romney... or sometimes more than one at a time. Hedging their bets to make sure that whomever wins the nomination has already been doused with enough gasoline for them to set ablaze. And I won't even get into Santorum's "Google problem." Not that I would EVER vote for Rick Santorum either. When he was my senator in 2001-2004, I was ashamed that he "represented" me... I was much more of an Arlen Specter fan. Given how divergent my views on social issues are from his, I have absolutely no use for him... but I would never go so far as to create a vulgar fake definition of his last name and make it a top search item on Google.
But that's what we're dealing with... and what we'll be dealing with for 10 more months. Hyperbole and vitriol of the worst kind, from hyperpartisans at both extremes of our political spectrum, courtesy of our modern media and the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" decision. Would an Americans Elect-inspired third party run attract the attention of the 40% of Americans who now identify as independents and cause the echo chamber to collapse on itself? I certainly hope so. As for now, I'd tune all of this out and just watch sports for the next 10 months... but at the moment, the sports media is being just as overdramatic about Tim Tebow. Looks like I'm out of luck.
This is what we are looking at for the next ten months... news media overload of the highest (or lowest) order. And all the media attention on what should be seen as inconsequential small state primaries assists in the idea that these small populations will decide the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States. And because of the media attention, people flip out over the slightest twists and turns and gaffes... and there are a lot of gaffes. I have to admit that these few months of the primary process can tend to be even worse than the general election season, because it's not necessarily 2 sides hurling flith and vitriol at each other, it's several sides... each representing their own candidate who is still in this race.
I know a lot of people have mentioned doing a nationwide primary process where each of 4-5 regions votes in their individual states one week at a time, rotating every 4 years to make sure that each region gets to go first eventually. Much like a lot of other things we want changed with our politics, it's a great idea but one that doesn't have enough traction (or money) behind it. As a result, the votes of 2% of the country (Iowa and New Hampshire) are enough to make candidates decide they have no shot with the other 98%. And let's face it, if this Republican race has taught us anything, it's that things can change quickly. First Michele Bachmann was the main challenger to Mitt Romney, then she fell off and it was Rick Perry, then he fell off and it was Newt Gingrich, then he fell off and it was Ron Paul, and now he's kinda slipped and it's Rick Santorum for now. And Romney could himself slide after he stuck his foot in it today and stated that he "liked being able to fire people." Mind you, it was within the context of "firing" one's health insurance provider, but still, it was something that makes for a tailor-made soundbite.
And what if it does? And what if the comment leads to a Santorum or Gingrich victory in South Carolina? Will the media immediately proclaim Romney done and the race over? Will financial backers of other candidates bail? They shouldn't. It would make a lot more sense for people to campaign nationally, not just Iowa and New Hampshire, and build their firewall in the states where they think their message sinks in best. People have sort of done that in recent years. John McCain dismissed Iowa four years ago, and people declared his campaign dead because of it. Then he won New Hampshire, where he devoted much of his time, and it was game on. Incidentally, when he edged out Romney in '08, he won a whopping SEVEN delegates. SEVEN. And yet, it meant so much. Jon Huntsman dismissed Iowa this year and focused on New Hampshire. Unfortunately, it looks like that won't matter tomorrow. Huntsman's really the only one who hasn't been near the top of the polls in recent months, and that is because he's a little more moderate and served as President Obama's ambassador to China. In other words, he's a RINO.
And so too, apparently is Gingrich now. The Leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, said as much on his show today when he declared that Gingrich used the "language of the Left" in trying to take down Romney through attacking his rich-guy, private equity firm background. Yup, that's right... Newt Gingrich, whom Limbaugh proudly stood beside in 1994 as the leader of the Republican Revolution, is now too far to the Left for the Republican Party. Which shows you how ridiculously far to the Right the GOP has gone. And yet, Romney... with his changeable "I was a moderate until I decided to run for president" views, has been all but handed the nomination by many a pundit. Why? The buzzword right now is "electability", as in Romney has the best chance of beating Obama.
I think that's hilarious. If anything, Romney is about as unelectable as Bachmann, Perry, Gingrich, OR Santorum. Four years ago, Romney was contrasted with McCain with the statement, "McCain looks like the guy who will hire you; Romney looks like the guy who will fire you." And guess what... Romney STILL looks like the guy who will fire you. And coming from a radio industry in which the biggest and worst offender of "slash-and-burn" personnel tactics, Clear Channel, is owned by Romney's former company, Bain Capital, you can see why I would NEVER, EVER vote for Mitt Romney.
But at least that's a reasoned argument. It's not hysterical... and boy have we seen lots of hysteria from the Left lately. I predicted that there would be an "Anyone Who Runs for the Republican Nomination Derangement Syndrome" from the far Left in 2012, and I was definitely right. Everyday, I see someone flipping out about Gingrich, Paul, Santorum, Romney... or sometimes more than one at a time. Hedging their bets to make sure that whomever wins the nomination has already been doused with enough gasoline for them to set ablaze. And I won't even get into Santorum's "Google problem." Not that I would EVER vote for Rick Santorum either. When he was my senator in 2001-2004, I was ashamed that he "represented" me... I was much more of an Arlen Specter fan. Given how divergent my views on social issues are from his, I have absolutely no use for him... but I would never go so far as to create a vulgar fake definition of his last name and make it a top search item on Google.
But that's what we're dealing with... and what we'll be dealing with for 10 more months. Hyperbole and vitriol of the worst kind, from hyperpartisans at both extremes of our political spectrum, courtesy of our modern media and the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" decision. Would an Americans Elect-inspired third party run attract the attention of the 40% of Americans who now identify as independents and cause the echo chamber to collapse on itself? I certainly hope so. As for now, I'd tune all of this out and just watch sports for the next 10 months... but at the moment, the sports media is being just as overdramatic about Tim Tebow. Looks like I'm out of luck.
posted by Dave | 9:12 PM
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