GOP eats their own.

[RandFan]

First they came for Newt.

Newt Gingrich better hope voters who lapped up his delicious hits on the “elite media” and liberals don’t read the Drudge Report this morning.
Or the National Review. Or the American Spectator. Or Ann Coulter.

If they do, Gingrich comes off looking like a dangerous, anti-Reagan, Clintonian fraud.

It’s as if the conservative media over the past 24 hours decided Gingrich is for real, and they need to come clean about the man they really know before it’s too late.​

Now they are gunning for Santorum.

Republicans are staring down the increasingly real possibility that Rick Santorum could snatch the presidential nomination away from Mitt Romney and with it any idea that they could mount serious opposition to President Obama in the fall.

As a result, many have started to hit the panic button, and they’re doing so in a way you probably wouldn’t have expected from the GOP, which still counts evangelicals among its strongest and most reliable base vote. Nevertheless, the freakout is evident from the Romney-allied Drudge Report homepage right through to radio host Laura Ingraham’s national airwaves.

Rick Santorum, conservatives and his opponents started to say Tuesday, is just too dang extreme.

​

 

[MattusMaximus]

Nom, nom, nom



ETA: having said that, I actually do think Santorum is too damned extreme. I would much prefer to see him drop out of the race so that the more reasonable, moderate Romney could return. At least then there might be some semblance of a reasonable election run, instead of the clown show the GOP has been putting on display.

 

[RandFan]

Nom, nom, nom

I know, huh.

 

[Tony]

ETA: having said that, I actually do think Santorum is too damned extreme. I would much prefer to see him drop out of the race so that the more reasonable, moderate Romney could return. At least then there might be some semblance of a reasonable election run, instead of the clown show the GOP has been putting on display.

I think he is too extreme as well, but I want to see him win the nomination. A Santorum loss would make it hard for conservatives to claim that Republicans loss the election because the candidate wasnt conservative enough. Conservatism needs a solid thumping in an election, only then will there be hope that the brakes can be put on the advance of this bankrupt ideology.

 

[keale]

I know, huh.

I love great entertainment

 

[leftysergeant]

I can totally appreciate schadenfreude when the victim is a total schmuck. If they nominate Sick Rick, the GOP will get a good dose of "what-the-hell-were-you-thinking."

We need to humiliate the GOP as well as stop them. Letting them do it themselves would be even morefun.

 

[bozothedeathmachine]

I think he is too extreme as well, but I want to see him win the nomination. A Santorum loss would make it hard for conservatives to claim that Republicans loss the election because the candidate wasnt conservative enough. Conservatism needs a solid thumping in an election, only then will there be hope that the brakes can be put on the advance of this bankrupt ideology.

This pretty much sums up my thinking as well. The only thing that makes me worry is what happens if something comes up in the meantime that would give Santorum an actual chance?

 

[Tony]

This pretty much sums up my thinking as well. The only thing that makes me worry is what happens if something comes up in the meantime that would give Santorum an actual chance?

Well, we still have a while to go before the nominee will be decided. If we see a brokered convention, that will be around the end of the summer. The time between then and November is a small space for something to happen. Such an event would have to be pretty severe and the public would have to put the blame unambiguously on the president for it to really swing the election.

 

[Monketi Ghost]

I know, huh.

It's just... so... I used to be the kind of guy who'd be smirking and cracking jokes about it, laughing it up.

But this, it's ...sad. Half of us are... willing to vote for... idiots.

 

[Tricky]

I think he is too extreme as well, but I want to see him win the nomination. A Santorum loss would make it hard for conservatives to claim that Republicans loss the election because the candidate wasnt conservative enough. Conservatism needs a solid thumping in an election, only then will there be hope that the brakes can be put on the advance of this bankrupt ideology.

That's a reasonable position, however, I worry that something might happen. The stock market might crash or Obama might get discovered in bed with an intern. Then Santorum would be president, and that thought gives me the heebee jeebies.

Well, we still have a while to go before the nominee will be decided. If we see a brokered convention, that will be around the end of the summer. The time between then and November is a small space for something to happen. Such an event would have to be pretty severe and the public would have to put the blame unambiguously on the president for it to really swing the election.

As I understand it, true "brokered" conventions can't happen anymore. They are a remnant of days when party bosses decided the delegates, not primaries, and a number of states would head to the convention still unpledged. They could then throw their support to whoever they liked. Because of primaries or caucuses in almost every state now, that is extremely unlikely. Also, delegates are no longer the minions of the party bosses, and will not step in line as easily as in the past. Sure, there could still be a surprise, but not a complete dark horse.

 

[Distracted1]

Santorum is just the latest extremist to distract the conversation from the actual eventual nominee- Romney.

The extremist nature of his rhetoric (like Perry's, Gingrich's, Paul's) is played to independents to make Romney appear calm and reasonable by comparison.

Limbaugh is working the long game with the conservatives. He is gradually shifting away from calling Romney an "establishment" candidate, claiming instead that Romney is being "nudged towards conservatism" by the popularity of candidates like Santorum.

This sets up a nice niche come election time; Romney can portray himself as someone who "stands up to the Republican establishment" without ever actually having to state a concrete position on anything.

 

[RandFan]

It's just... so... I used to be the kind of guy who'd be smirking and cracking jokes about it, laughing it up.

But this, it's ...sad. Half of us are... willing to vote for... idiots.

That's a fair point. It is sad and troublesome. A president can really muck things up for awhile (see GWB admin).

 

[RandFan]

Santorum is just the latest extremist to distract the conversation from the actual eventual nominee- Romney.

The extremist nature of his rhetoric (like Perry's, Gingrich's, Paul's) is played to independents to make Romney appear calm and reasonable by comparison.

Limbaugh is working the long game with the conservatives. He is gradually shifting away from calling Romney an "establishment" candidate, claiming instead that Romney is being "nudged towards conservatism" by the popularity of candidates like Santorum.

This sets up a nice niche come election time; Romney can portray himself as someone who "stands up to the Republican establishment" without ever actually having to state a concrete position on anything.

I'd be willing to find this line of argument more compelling if Romney and his supporters were not spending so damn much money. That they are leads me to believe that they are not certain that they have this in the bag.

 

[Tony]

That's a reasonable position, however, I worry that something might happen. The stock market might crash or Obama might get discovered in bed with an intern. Then Santorum would be president, and that thought gives me the heebee jeebies.

I'm not trying to dismiss your concern, but how likely is that to happen? Has something like this happened in any presidential election the last 100 years or so?

 

[Distracted1]

I'd be willing to find this line of argument more compelling if Romney and his supporters were not spending so damn much money. That they are leads me to believe that they are not certain that they have this in the bag.

Romney is campaigning against Obama. So is the RNC. Santorum is a useful sideshow.

 

[RandFan]

Romney is campaigning against Obama. So is the RNC. Santorum is a useful sideshow.

That does not address my point. The money being spent is being spent to attack Santorum. If what you are saying is true then why not just spend the money attacking Obama?

 

[jj]

I think he is too extreme as well, but I want to see him win the nomination. A Santorum loss would make it hard for conservatives to claim that Republicans loss the election because the candidate wasnt conservative enough. Conservatism needs a solid thumping in an election, only then will there be hope that the brakes can be put on the advance of this bankrupt ideology.

Tony, while I agree with half of what you say, Santorum is not a conservative, he is a Christian Talibanist totalitarian.

A conservative would never, EVER call for such radical change.

 

[Tricky]

I'm not trying to dismiss your concern, but how likely is that to happen? Has something like this happened in any presidential election the last 100 years or so?

McCain had a reasonable chance to beat Obama until the stock crash in October of 2008.

Kerry was leading Bush handily until he got Swiftboated.

Yeah, stuff can happen.

 

[Distracted1]

That does not address my point. The money being spent is being spent to attack Santorum. If what you are saying is true then why not just spend the money attacking Obama?

I am not in Michigan, so I don't see all the ads. My "Youtube" search shows me lots of ads wherein Santorum attacks Romney, but not so much the other way around.

 

[RandFan]

I am not in Michigan, so I don't see all the ads. My "Youtube" search shows me lots of ads wherein Santorum attacks Romney, but not so much the other way around.

This really isn't a controversial point.

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney has pulled out the big guns for the must-win Michigan primary next Tuesday, unloading nearly $1 million this week alone for TV attack ads targeting rival Rick Santorum.

Romney long has had a fund-raising advantage. But his campaign has been spending it fast, shelling out $19 million while taking in $6.5 million last month, federal filings show.
That’s not sustainable, and it didn’t stop Santorum from scoring big primary wins in January.

There's no way in hell Romney would spend that kind of money if he thought he had the nomination in the bag.