Comments on: Romney: finally an old pol retires

By: Art Deco

Art Deco — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 20:21:18 +0000

If Obama could run for a third term and his opponent was Donald Trump, he (BHO) would slaughter him. == Some years ago, I saw a study which compared the prognostications of professional pundits (like the crew on Capital Gang) with future events. Their record was worse than you'd expect if they'd made random choices. It should occur to amateur pundits that self-confident people are often Dunning-Kruger exemplars.

By: A_Nonny-Mouse

A_Nonny-Mouse — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 20:19:04 +0000

Welll … maybe Romney is getting the feeling that the Scalding Eye Of Public Attention is about to turn to the offspring of the politically powerful.

Don’t I recall that his son, and Pelosi’s son, and maybe John Kerry’s kid/step-kid, have been reported as having pretty-much the same sort of well-paid “work” arrangements as Hunter Biden? (Oh and don’t forget Chelsea Clinton – she had some position “doing mostly nothing” that paid $600K, IIRC.)

Perhaps he feels that if he bows out now, he and his family will cease being targets for any upcoming political scrutiny of nepotism?

By: Art Deco

Art Deco — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 20:15:23 +0000

The problem with Romney and McCain is that an awful lots of people went to bat for them when they were being slimmed by the left. But neither seemed to have any appreciation or loyalty to those same people.
==
You’re describing George W. Bush. During the period running from 1960 to 2012, the Republican Party almost invariably nominated The-Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is. My guess would be that the constituency for The-Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is amounted to about 1/3 of the Republican electorate and that proved too much of a hurdle for competitors to clear. These deadweight voters were McCain’s principal constituency. Issues Republicans were always leery of him because his shtick after 1998 was antagonism to immigration enforcement and sticking a stiletto into the Republican caucus, even though the American Conservative Union coded his voting record as starboard. Romney was not only The-Guy-Whose-Turn-It-Is, he was facing opponents who were interesting but didn’t ignite any constituency. Issues Republicans were leery of him too.
==
That McCain and Romney proved to be treacherous isn’t much of a surprise, though particular features of it have been. (Cindy McCain, quite gratuitously, using her husband’s signature stamp to issue a public insult to Sarah Palin).

By: jvermeer

jvermeer — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 19:10:50 +0000

By: LeClerc

LeClerc — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 19:07:45 +0000

Don’t let the door…,

By: BrooklynBoy

BrooklynBoy — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 18:06:28 +0000

Cicero
Trump had many accomplishments but you are totally delusional if you think that Trump is a popular ex president who has a chance in Hell of ever being returned to the White House. He is completely unelectable because people (not of course his fan boy base who just adores him) are sick of his fat mouth and boorish behavior. If Obama could run for a third term and his opponent was Donald Trump, he (BHO) would slaughter him.

By: Richard Cook

Richard Cook — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:34:51 +0000

The electorate makes its choice. Destruction of the country vs. someone that brings drama but competence. Elections have mostly been about feelings, except during times of economic downturn. Then pockets rule. Now….we have a clash between feelings and the pocket. Who will win? I suspect feelings in this most unserious of countries.

By: Bauxite

Bauxite — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 17:02:06 +0000

Art Deco – I misread your initial comment. I didn’t realize that you had added the part about “12 months before the election.” Abraxas said “in the runup to the election.” The spring of election year is clearly “in the runup to the election.” That is why I edited my comment. (Until the conventions, and ever after, it certainly felt like W was on the way to losing.)

Do you have any reason why “in the runup to the election” should include candidates who were underwater 12 months before the election, but not candidates who were underwater during the election year?

FWIW, I don’t know why Bush had a big approval bump in the fall of 2003. The initial phase of Iraq War had ended the previous spring. Maybe the capture of Saddam Hussein in December?

By: Bauxite

Bauxite — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 16:55:47 +0000

Cicero – You’re shooting the messenger. It has been made abundently clear over the past two election cycles that, outside of deep red states, the electorate will favor a lukewarm corpse over Trump and Trumpy candidates. Pointing that out is not favoring the lemming (although, I would personnally us a little stronger word to describe Biden).

By: Art Deco

Art Deco — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 16:50:39 +0000

So I would use a broader description –
—
Thanks for the backing-and-filling. We’re all educated.