Unified by hatred of Obama, GOP still searches for challenger!

[KansasVoter]

Summary: Dumb-asses in disarray!

NEW ORLEANS -- Southern Republicans wrapped up a three-day meeting in New Orleans on Saturday unified in fervent opposition to President Barack Obama, but wide open at this early stage about whom they want to challenge him in 2012.

Party activists at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference cheered potential presidential candidates such as Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty, as well as absentee Mitt Romney.

But they also readily volunteered objections to the same names: Gingrich has personal baggage, Palin's too inexperienced, Romney pushed Obama-like health care while governor of Massachusetts and Pawlenty lacks charisma.

Given those commonly heard objections among rank-and-file party workers, it appears that no potential Republican candidate can yet claim to be the heir apparent and the race could be wide open.

Take Palin, the former Alaska governor who headlined the recent convention of tea party activists.

She gave an impassioned speech to the Republicans, denouncing Obama's foreign policy and domestic agenda, particularly his energy policies. She favors more oil and gas drilling along U.S. coasts. She has said she may run.

"I'm for Palin," said Vance Martin, a Republican volunteer from Oklahoma City. "She has authenticity; she's a strong constitutionalist, and a fighter. She takes a hit and keeps on going."

Others also said they liked her, but said her work as a small town mayor and her half-term as governor were not enough experience to lead the party's charge against Obama, even if he also had scant experience before winning the presidency.

<snip>

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/10/1573492/unified-by-hatred-of-obama-gop.html#ixzz0kkc7IXDE

[saltpoint]

1. Yo, Michael Steele... if you're lurking on DU I've already suggested

Duke Cunningham to head the GOP ticket for 2012.

No, no, I couldn't accept payment for that advice. Save it for the lesbian bondage clubs and lobbyist pay-offs.

[brucefan]

2. "She takes a hit and keeps on going"?

She keeps on quitting.Whats wrong with these sheep?:shrug:

[theothersnippywshrub]

11. Probably a reference to lesbian bondage. n/t

[calimary]

17. Especially when she wears that tight black leather jacket with those two zippers

in strategic places...

[tridim]

3. There's always Bob Dole

[phleshdef]

13. I'm not sure Bob Dole would want anything to do with today's Republican party.

[Chipper Chat]

4. "wide open about whom they want to challenge him"

Enter.......................
.*.................*.............
.....***....................
...........JEB

[BeyondGeography]

5. Actually, their assessments of their own candidates are pretty clear-headed

K&R

[HughMoran]

6. This 'hate for Obama' is stupid - he's the most likable person

There's no reason for them to use a work like 'hate', it makes no sense at all. He's been as nice as any Democrat to them - how pathetic.

[TlalocW]

7. Problem with the GOP is that they're still looking for another Reagan

Their view of Reagan is complete mythology, but they believe it 100%. There are the true believers who truly want another Gipper, and there are the pragmatists who believe only someone Reagan-esque can defeat Obama. They all have baggage - Newt has had too many affairs (even though he's been officially forgiven by Focus on the Family). Mitt's got the 10W40-weight hair, but he's changed his position on so many things he can't be trusted. Plus he's a Mormon, and even if party-leaders line up behind him, there's still the religious nutjobs in the party that have been told for years by preachers from Falwell to the minister of backwater Baptist churches that they're a cult. Palin, of course, is stupid, but she's got the most energetic supporters who do see her as the next Gipper. She's folksy, telegenic, always mentions that it's certain Americans who are the moral force in the country, and if she does make a mistake every now and then, that's okay cuz she's genuine. Those were all Reagan traits.

If she doesn't get the nomination, she's going to at least put in a good show, and personally, I think that's a good thing for us because unlike the Gipper, there's no cross-over appeal beyond the religiously insane 28% of Americans who make up the base of the republican party. The true believers will vote for her; the pragmatists in the GOP will, but some of them could very well sit out or even say, "Okay, it's not our year; this woman is dangerous. I'm going to hold my nose and vote Obama." The rest of the country will say, "Hell no!"

TlalocW

[opihimoimoi]

8. Democratic Party's Bench overflowing ....GOP's Bench...Weak and nearly Empty

"Houston....we are fucked" ......Poor GOP....collapsed on its own Bull Shit and gasping for air

[ladywnch]

9. OMFG!!! 'she's a strong constitutionalist'... !??!!!!????

she doesn't even know what is in the constitution! Every time she's had a chance to talk about the Constitution she has bungled it in spectacular fashion. I swear the 28% scare the shit out of me!

[Clio the Leo]

10. Does the fact that Ron Paul is doing so well in these straw polls mean anything?

Sure, I know one straw poll doesn't mean anything ... but we're seeing a bit of a trend.

Oh PLEASE let him be the nominee!!!

But would the party establishment shut that down?

[Jennicut]

12. He was the original leader of the tea party movement.

It depends on who votes in these things. The last conference they had was like spam voting, where all these young Ron Paul supporters showed up at the last minute and voted.
Ron Paul is a few sandwiches short a picnic but really, really much nuttier then someone like Mitt Romney. He is also old as dirt. Older then McCain. I doubt he would get the nomination.

[Clio the Leo]

18. 100% fruitcake

I'd vote for Palin over him in a heartbeat if they were the only choices. Palin at least has some street smarts .... Ron Paul is a plain, old fashioned nut.

[Hippo_Tron]

19. I think a lot of that will depend on how his son does in the Kentucky Senate race

Keep in mind that the tea-baggers were started as an astroturf movement by people who prefer party hacks like Sarah Palin. That being said, I think they've inadvertently stirred up more right wing anger than they realize.

The thing that I've found interesting is that all of a sudden the Republicans (probably in part due to the influence of the tea-baggers) want to talk about economics and health care rather than talk about social issues and foreign policy, which are their usual diversionary tactics. Sure they're going to say Obama kills babies and will surrender us to the terrorists, but that's really been a tiny part of their message.

What their message has mostly been is that Obama is a socialist whose health care bill will take away your freedom and make you worse off economically (how exactly they don't really explain). It's interesting that they want to make a poor economy that their party created the center issue of this campaign. It's a strategy either predicated on people forgetting that their party created it or convincing people that the "new" Republican party is different than the old Republican party that created the mess.

My point is if that if economic issues are front and center and social and foreign policy issues are minimized, Ron Paul certainly has quite an opening to be a serious force in the GOP.

[old mark]

20. I look at it like this - The "real" GOP likes Mitt, the RWers like Paul, but

a few like Palin. That will be their "ideological" split-a choice of 3 confirmed losers.

Newt had hopes as did Santorum, but neither got any support.

mark

[livetohike]

14. "scant experience" ??

*Graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School

*civil rights attorney

*Constitutional Law professor at the Univ. of Chicago Law School for twelve years

*Illinois State Senator for 7+ years

*U.S. Senator from Illinois for two years before campaigning for President

How is this "scant experience"? I'm sick of people comparing Palin's experience with President Obama's experience/background and somehow putting Palin on equal footing. She couldn't handle her job as a Mayor of a small town without hiring a Business Manager. She is clearly an example of someone who was promoted beyond her abilities as she won the election for Governor and couldn't handle the responsibilities of the job.

[saltpoint]

15. The Republicans may, in the end, opt for a place-holder campaign

against President Obama, especially if the economic trend is slightly upward and the core issues he's marked out align with public favor.

It's natural for one party to size up the strengths and weaknesses of the other party, especially when elections are looming. Every four years we vote for a president -- either to put a new president in office or decide whether to retain or reject and old one, and so forth. The non-incumbent races are the most interesting to me because they more vividly define the constituencies that create a critical mass which leads to election.

Whether you just glance at the grocery list of potential Puke noms or you fret and sweat over them, it's very difficult to find a rationale for electability in that bunch. If you use the cash filter, Romney is well-positioned, but if you use the religion filter, he would have to renounce his Mormon faith. Kind of a problem for Romney.

If you use the regional filter, the South is over-represented. Gingrich from Georgia. Jindal from Louisiana. Barbour from Mississippi. Perry and Paul from Texas, insofar as Texas is the South. They can't win easily and maybe not at all with a regional candidate heading the ticket if that candidate is no better than that list of Southerners.

The GOP might realize that it has a lot more problems than it thinks, in which case they might concede Obama his re-election and move instead to build a candidate profile for 2016. Thune? Ryan? Huntsman? -- and let this one just go.

Once the Republican nomination is determined the issue will be whether it is worth having.

[mkultra]

16. dont forget the "true lefties" here at DU, they are united as well.