None of the GOP presidential hopefuls are supported above a level of about 23 percent according to polls released by New York Times and CBS News. Mitt Romney's dilemma typifies the party's dilemma. Romney, a Mormon, must get the religious extremist vote to get the nomination. If he gets it, he risks losing the White House. The GOP is now paying for having made a Faustian pact with religious right and other extremists.
The numbers come from a CBS story headlined: Huckabee Soars Into GOP's Top Tier.
(CBS) Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's meteoric rise in the polls is not, it turns out, an Iowa-only phenomenon. According to a new CBS News/New York Times poll, the former Arkansas governor is running neck-and-neck with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in the race for the support of GOP primary voters nationwide, and all the momentum is on Huckabee's side.
Huckabee was supported by 21 percent in the poll, up from a mere 4 percent in October, thanks largely to a swell in support from Christian conservatives. He trails Giuliani by only 1 percentage point - a statistically insignificant margin. While Huckabee's support has more than quintupled in the past two months, Giuliani has seen his fall by 7 percent.
Huckabee just pulled off a cart-wheeling flanking maneuver to strike at Romney's rear --the source of Romney's support. To be fair, Romney could not have done otherrwise. But with only 23 percent to work with, there is no chance that any Republican can find mainstream running room. That goes for Rudi Giuliani --equally insane by any standard.
While Giuliani and Huckabee led among GOP primary voters, Mitt Romney - seen as Huckabee's top rival for the support of Christian conservative voters - also saw his support increase slightly, from 12 percent in October to 16 percent now. Both John McCain and Fred Thompson have seen their support crumble. Thompson has seen the most dramatic drop, falling from 21 percent in October - good enough for second place - to 7 percent now, tying him with McCain for fourth place.
However, Republican primary voters, as a group, remain fluid, suggesting there is still room for movement in the GOP field.
Stuart Rothernberg, editor of the Rothernberg Political Report points out that none of the candidates have been able "to coalesce support behind him". Unless Rudi Giuliani turns over some rocks, it is unlikely he will find enough support to beat any Democrat. There is an explanation. Carl Jung stated that as much as thirty percent of any population consists of incipient psychos, presumably kept in check by a majority of some two-thirds.
Having accused the GOP of mass insanity on numerous occassions, I would venture that the GOP is down to its base of some 23 percent: nut cases, religious fanatics, and other right wing extremists, a GOP base that is 180 degrees out of phase with the rest of the populuation, the principles of our founding, common sense, decency. The fanatics represent the party's hard core which finds in George Bush's failures, his only successes. I am increasingly confident that sane folk will call them what they truly are. Abysmal, miserable failures.
The GOP will lose against any Democratic candidate because it is unprepared to condemn what Bush has done to the nation. No GOP candidate is prepared to tell the truth: George W. Bush is a traitor to the US and its Constitution. Nevertheless, this miserable excuse for a party should pay the price for having supported the overthrow of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and our every international obligation since George Washington.
There ought to be a price to be paid for having been criminal, stupid, and arrogant!
http://existentialistcowboy.blogspot.com/
Len Hart is a Houston based film/video producer specializing in shorts and full-length documentaries. He is a former major market and network correspondent; credits include CBS, ABC-TV and UPI. He maintains the progressive blog: The Existentialist Cowboy
Ron Paul's economics are a relic of the middle ages
Ron Paul makes me cough too. But not in a good way. Ron Paul would abolish Social Security ==the ONLY government program which works. It runs a surplus. Otherwise, the government could not routinely raid the Social Security trust fund.
The GOP philosophy is this: break Social Security so that the party can justify abolishing it or worse "fixing" by using it's "failures" as excuse to enrich their Wall Street cronies. The GOP war on Social Security endangers not only the "security" of millions of Americans, it endangers to their lives, health, and well-being.
Ron Paul is NOT your friend. Wall Street will LOVE him.
"Broken" is another term with which the right wing hopes to "frame" the Social Security debate. Social Security might have been running a surplus were it not for GOP greed and incompetence. At last, turning Social Security over to Wall Street is not "personalizing" your retirement. That's the frame. What it is, in fact, is a payoff to Wall Street for its support of the GOP. The GOP/Wall Street insiders will make a killing off your money. Facts from the "no frame zone".
I met and interviewed Ron Paul numerous times in Houston. It was to the "right" of the GOP! And still is. His economics are medieval. He's learned how to make them sound good. And any idiot looks good beside the likes of Bush, Huckabee, Romney or Giuliani.
Ron Paul is the GOP's Trojan Horse.
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Len Hart (122 articles, 158 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 474 comments)
on Saturday, December 15, 2007 at 4:49:20 AM
"Ron Paul's economics are a relic of the middle ages"
Though I agree with the fact that Ron Paul is "no friend" to the U.S. people (Domestically), his foreign policy, is better than either Hillary's, or, for that matter Obama's! (Both being war mongers - and wholy or at least mostly, owned by Corporate interests. Ron Paul might, with the right mix of Congress / Senate be kept on the straight and narrow here at home, (under control) while ending "foreign entanglements" abroad.
Ideally, Dennis Kucinnich would make the best candidate, Mike Gravel might not be bad either. Of the "front runners" John Edwards is the most tolerable. His idea of a "national healthcare plan" leaves me scratching my head, as he would keep the leetching private insurance companies in the equation, (regulated) but hey - if thats his worst attribute, I suppose we can live with that. I know I could (at least for the time being).
The chrony that Bush just snuck in to head the VA (wants to privatize it).... I hope congress soundly rejects him.... Medicaid and the VA are essentially the only models for Universal Healthcare in this country (VA being the most efficient of the two). The trouble with the VA is the damned raping of its funding by the rest of the government (on both sides of the aisle).... in spite of this, many centers and clinics do operate efficiently (I know mine do).
Bsalk. (N.Y.)
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Brad (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 31 comments)
on Monday, December 17, 2007 at 5:04:21 AM
Americans are provincial folk. That's how Bush STILL gets away with his incompetent foreign policy. Paul cannot get elected on foreign policy. His economic policies, however, will be so disastrous, his foreign policy will matter little to the family has fallen off the "laissez faire" ladder. During the Reagan administration, I doubt that those formerly middle class, suburban homeowners who were reduced to living under bridges gave a crap about Reagan's foreign policy. Just as well, Reagan blew it on the foreign policy stage as well. He armed Iran and, with the money, financed terrorists. Terrorism was worse under Regan's regime and it will prove to have been under Bush. Secondly, Reagan blinked when Gorbachev put complete nuclear disarment on the table at Rekjavik. Reagan's tax cut of 1982 was quicily followed by a trend that continues to this day: the rich get richer and the poor poorer. But for a brief respite under Clinton, the trend continues to this day. It will be even worse if Paul takes the nation back into the middle ages.
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Len Hart (122 articles, 158 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 474 comments)
on Monday, December 17, 2007 at 10:23:52 AM
Yeah, how thoroughly modern you are, Len. Let's just keep pouring money down the infinite sinkhole of entitlement programs and winless wars until someone (Chinese, Arab -- take your pick) decides to cash in our IOU's and our fiat dollars become so much fancy toilet paper. Thank God we have you to save us from those medieval concepts of sound currency and fiscal responsibility.
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John Bowery (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 20 comments)
on Monday, December 17, 2007 at 1:29:28 PM
Yeah, how thoroughly modern you are, Len. Let's just keep pouring money down the infinite sinkhole of entitlement programs
What "entitlements" are you talking about? Surely, you must mean the billions in corporate welfare to which our fascist, corporate heads feel they are entitled. You couldn't possibly be talking about Social Security to which I AM entitled because it's my money. Ron Paul, BTW, wants to abolish the only government program that works. How smart is that?
If you are going to throw a strawman at me, you could, at least, be original. The first time I read your comments was about thirty years ago in a GOP campaign manual that, I am sure, was distrubuted to all the GOP candidates in SE Texas. That would include a young Ron Paul. "Entitlements" my ass! I've been writing about this since long before Ronald Reagan assumed the Presidency and proceeded to bankrupt the nation. [It was Richard Nixon who had already taken the US off the Gold Standard]
Since Ronald Reagan, the rich have gotten rich and the poor poor. Under Bush Jr. the rich are getting rich even faster. Google "L -curve" for a graphic illustration of just how this nation has descended into third world status as a direct result of some thirty years of GOP economic incompetence, stupity, and old fashioned self absorption. As I mentioned, Reagan promised smaller government and a balanced budget. In fact the tripled the national debt and doubled the size of the bureaucracy. How conservative is that? He lied about Cadillac driving "welfare queens" who didn't exist. On top of all that, he financed terrorists. I repeat: it is a statistical fact that terrorism has been worse under GOP administrations at least since WWII. I also recall several "Wars on Porn". Well, it's still here. I really wish the GOP, however, would just go away. Who needs their practiced lies?
The GOP is not a political party. It's a crime syndicate. And an incompetent one at that.
...and winless wars until someone (Chinese, Arab -- take your pick) decides to cash in our IOU's and our fiat dollars become so much fancy toilet paper.
Where did I say that the dollar --under Bush --was worth anything? Who the hell do you think you are arguing with and about what? I have been warning about endemic weaknesses in the dollar for years.
Thank God we have you to save us from those medieval concepts of sound currency and fiscal responsibility.
I have news for you --NOTHING that is commonly called "money" has instrinsic value. It all boils down to faith and credit. There was NEVER enough gold in Ft. Knox to support the dollar. I was told by European bankers just recently that the imminent collapse of the dollar has more to do with GOP policies and Bush's credibility than with "fundamentals" --whatever you think they might be. Briefly, other nations are fed up with our shet and are dumping the dollar. They might have done a long time ago but it is especially convenient for them to do so now. The dollar was only strong when it was a convenient international medium of exchange that is no longer the case. When I knew Paul, he wanted to go back on the gold standard. Lotsa luck! See you in the middle ages. I have my own straw bed. You'll have to find your own.
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Len Hart (122 articles, 158 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 474 comments)
on Monday, December 17, 2007 at 2:19:24 PM
