We’ve yet to have a real Republican primary (inasmuch as the primaries have been open ones thus far, and don’t make me talk about Iowa’s non-binding caucuses), so I thought I’d make an argument for my favored candidate: Zeeba, the Syphilitic Camel.
Ok, I’m not going to keep up this trope. I’m no Dan Collins or Frank J. Fleming.
But seriously, people need to chill. No, I don’t particularly like Newt’s demagoging (forgetting his personal issues . . . and ties to Fannie Mae, etc.). I don’t like Santorum’s “squishiness.” I don’t like Romney’s opportunism. And don’t get me started on Ron Paul.
All that said, I will gladly vote for any of these four, come November, over Obama.
(Buddy Roemer? Who is that?)
I checked out on the various debates long ago. I am tired of the whining about “unfair” attacks of Republicans on Republicans. Most of the whining is about attacks that will be pulled out by the Obama side, should its various targets be the nominee. It’s not like there’s any deep opposition research that’s going on here—and many of these issues center on items that had been brought up before regarding these particular candidates. If they can’t handle it during the primary season, they will get slaughtered in the general election.
This ties in with Dan’s post on Santorum: if someone doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to put up with the fairly mild crap that has come from Republican side, they are definitely not going to survive the tidal waves of sludge from the Obama camp and the various satellite groups that pride themselves on their independence (though their allegiance will be well known in advance).
I don’t really care which guy wins the Republican nomination: by the time primaries get around to New York, the decision will likely be foregone.
I don’t like any of these guys personally, and I don’t really like any of their “principles.” But then, I stopped expecting that any politician would extricate us from any situation.
And that’s what all these guys are: politicians.
People who look to politicians for salvation get what they deserve. All I ask of them is that they quit screwing around with me. (I know that’s not going to happen, but still—can you screw around with me less than the prior guy did? A lot less?)
I can’t get worked up about any of them, positively or negatively, and I will not give any of them any money—because, to a large extent (other than teams for legal challenges on vote fraud), the money is irrelevant.
This general election is going to be a referendum on Obama. And, due to the man’s near-ubiquity on the airwaves, people are well aware of his record.
I don’t care about Obama’s college grades. I don’t care who actually wrote his books. I don’t care if he’s had a little sumthin-sumthin on the side. I don’t care if he’s lying about quitting smoking.
The man has a record in office now. He’s actually been forced to stick to a single job, and take responsibility for executive decisions, though he’s given himself plenty of vacation time.
So, all I have to ask is:
Are you better off now than you were four years ago?
UPDATE (JM): Credit for the Zeeba meme—and photo—must go to Professor Glenn Reynolds, of Instapundit.
- Excited
- Angry
- Not as Angry
- Bored
- Indifferent
- Sad
Well said!
It took us a hundred years to get into this mess, and there isn’t any miracle worker running for office who will get us out of it in a couple of terms. We can still save ourselves, but we, the people, are the ones who are going to have to do it.
Nobody in Washington is going to do it. All they can do is hinder us, one way or another.
I’m seriously down with reducing the hindrances, but they are not going to go away, We are not going to see any kind of miracle, based on what the Politicians or Bureaucrats do or don’t do.
I’m interested in electing a President. I’ve already got a Savior, and he’s not running for office this term.
Disclosure: my first Presidential vote was for Clinton in 1992. I was 18.
I was at the rah-rah rallies when I was in college, and that was exhilirating.
And then came the reality.
Since then, I have been alive to the need to keep politicians in line. And I have been involved in small-scale politics (village councils, co-op board, college groups).
One must discipline pols by smacking them on the nose as often as necessary. Maybe reward them from time to time when they do right.
But mainly smacking them.
“…ego te absolvo…. “, in so much as I can. I did no better myself.
I voted for Dick Nixon my first Presidential election. It doesn’t get too much dumber than that, although given who he was running against, the best I could have done would have been a write-in.
I know better now, but I didn’t then.
I just gotta add that though I’m generally in favor of local political involvement, it can lead to tyrannical behavior by know-it-all busybodies, which can be worse than impersonal edicts from a far-off federal bureaucracy.
Around here, it’s environmentalists using lakeshore ordinances as an excuse to push their idealogical agenda.
People who look to politicians for salvation get what they deserve. All I ask them is to quit screwing around with me
I try to take comfort in the idea of the separation of powers, politicians’ and bureaucrats’ propensity for in-fighting, and the sheer size of the nation. All things which make it difficult for any single president to do damage on the scale of their ambitions. That doesn’t make it any less important to elect someone who is going to do as little damage as possible, though.
Exactly.
And, in my opinion, any of the Republican candidates will do less damage than Obama.
I’m not making the argument that people shouldn’t vote for whom they like in the primaries — they absolutely should. But I think that “electability” and all that crap is ultimately going to be irrelevant.
It’s going to be a referendum on Obama, and you’re going to see people who don’t particularly like whoever the Repub candidate is voting for him — because he’s not Obama.
It’s going to be a referendum on Obama
Indeed.
My hope is that whoever gets the GOP nod will campaign almost exclusively on the long list of Obama failures. Starting with an ad campaign centered around the question, “Cash for Clunkers? Are you f***ing kidding me?” wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. Or, “Are you having a good time paying off your neighbor’s mortgage?”
The list is endless.
A lot of us would like for the Republicans to be that smart, but they are not called the Stupid Party for no reason.
Given the target rich environment we have available, it’s at least a 50-50 chance that the Republicans will base their entire campaign on Entitlement Reform and more Financial regulations.
Yeah. That’ll win it.
Yeah. I said “hope” — it’s not rational and probably not very realistic, but it’s slightly better than just throwing my hands up in disgust.
I’ve been throwing my hands up in disgust and swearing that I’m done with the fools on a fairly regular basis since about 1976. It usually takes me a year to 18 months to get over it, which gets me back onboard for the mid-terms.
I keep telling myself….”Well, maybe this time they’ll smart up a bit.”
Eventually, you get used to the self-delusion.
I hate to be a “birther” here, but it looks like Zeeba the SC might have been foreign-born. Check the Hebrew lettering on the “Camel Ride” signs at bottom left of the candidate’s photo. Maybe Zeeba’s a dual citizen? Whatever. Unlike the experience of the present occupant of the Oval Office during the ’08 election, Zeeba won’t get a free ride from the press for an unconstitutional candidacy: I can see journalists out the wazoo descending on Zeeba’s place to do some dumpster diving looking for dirt just like that. Zeeba’s name on the ballot might not even make it past Sheriff Joe if the long form birth certificate doesn’t, or present-day citizenship papers don’t, hold up to scrutiny. Kinda worries me, if you know what I mean.
And here I thought we might have had a winner in Z-SC, especially given Instapundit’s endorsement. But it’s starting to feel increasingly like Zeeba’s just another pretty-face tabula rasa candidate. Bummer.