Crazy Politics

[dreams_of_wings]

So Romney just suspended his bid for the Republican nomination. His rhetoric about why he is doing so is whack-tastic. According to CNN, Romeny said that if he continued to run it would "forestall the launch of a national campaign and be making it easier for Sen. Clinton or Obama to win." He continued with these gems

Comments

[cos]

That's actually a pretty standard right wing talking point. Giuliani was the one who pushed it the most among the Republican candidates this election, but a lot of them use it.

Romney is just bowing to the inevitable. McCain more or less won the Republican nomination on Tuesday. He got about half the states, Romney & Huckabee split the rest, and McCain already had a lead. Now he has a comfortable path to winning enough delegates to get the nomination, while either Romney or Huckabee would pretty much have to win every single state from now on with better than 80% to get enough delegates.

[dpolicar]

yeah, what he said.

I first remember it coming up in 04, when Bush announced -- pretty much in as many words -- that the terrorists would rather have Kerry as President.

Tell me more

[ohmyqueen]

Tell me all about what you think right now about McCain vs. Clinton vs. Obama. It's an emergency and I trust you.

Re: Tell me more

[cos]

"all" I think? That's a lot! Be more specific?

... though you could look at the links I collected about Obama.

[bluegargantua]

Here's the problem:

McCain can now coast in and gear up for the national election.

Clinton and Obama get to exhaust themselves financially trying to win this thing. It may not be settled until the convention. That's a lot of money that's been drained from the eventual nominee's election war chest.

later
Tom

[ceo]

On the other hand, this is keeping both Democratic candidates in the news until someone wins. And both of them, particularly Obama, have been raising money at a much higher rate than any of the Republicans.

Also, the rules change once a candidate is nominated, though I forget the details. This was an issue in '04, because the Democratic convention was a month before the Republican one, which meant that Kerry had to stretch his post-nomination finances another month.

[mistergoat]

So the question arises of whether they (and a certain former President) will tear each other apart, or whether they'll compete on decent terms. Definitely could have an impact on whether this burns the Dems out or helps them gain support.

[autumnsshadow]

i've found myself having the conversation a lot recently that this is the first election in which i've found the front-running, Republican candidates downright scary. i mean, Bush is bad enough, but his approach is ignorant and neglectful. i find myself cringing at the prospects the Republican party is bringing to the table.

[dancingwolfgrrl]

The Dubya is pretty scary! In fact, the major point in McCain's favor, in my eyes, is that he's at least against torture. And I am appalled that this is even available as a point to have!

[autumnsshadow]

dunno, maybe i just don't scare easily.

McCain says he's against torture, and i believe he means it, but that's an easy one to spin once you start defining some things that sound a lot like torture as not really torture...like waterboarding, for instance - McCain is against it, but do you think he'd hesitate to blame Congress for not being specific enough to outright ban it if it were advantageous to do so? i'm not so sure. i would hope so.

[radtea]

This is a point in McCain's favour. However, he voted against Specter's amendment to the Military Commissions Act of 2006. This amendment would have removed the violation of habeas corpus protections from the Act. McCain also voted in favour of the Act in it's unamended form.

Ergo, he is as much an enemy of the Constitution as anyone.

Clinton and Obama both voted for Specter's amendment, and against the Act.

It would be extremely unfortunate if Clinton and Obama expend most of their time and effort in the next six months fighting each other rather than the enemies of constitutional government.

McCain can effectively start campaigning for President today. Clinton or Obama may have many months to wait for that to happen. But I'm betting that neither of those great patriots would be willing to put aside their overwhelming personal ambition for the greater good of the nation.

[ayelle]

Ditto, ditto, word, IAWTP. (Argh.)

[lightcastle]

You didn't know the Democrats were helping the terrorists?

It's been the talking point for ages. It's very easy - everything that isn't doing exactly as the Republicans say is helping the terrorists. Basically, if we don't install a pro-business right-wing theocracy, the terrorists have won.

See?
Easy-peasy.