Reuters photo
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, shown in South Carolina earlier this week, is to drop out of the presidential race today. Perry couldn’t catch fire even in the backasswards, white supremacist state of South Carolina, polling dead last.
When I saw yesterday that Texas Gov. Rick Perry was polling at only 6 percent in South Carolina, putting him at fifth and last place, I wondered why in the hell he was remaining in the race. He came in at fifth place in Iowa and sixth place in New Hampshire, and if he couldn’t do well in fellow secessionist red state South Carolina, it definitely would be all over for him.
Maybe — just maybe — Perry figured that he’d rather his paltry support in South Carolina go to the top not-Mitt-Romney candidate when South Carolinans vote on Saturday, and that’s why he reportedly is dropping out of the race today. South Carolina, after all, very most likely is the last chance to deny Romney his crown. (Or maybe it wasn’t a bit of actual selflessness at all; maybe Perry just didn’t want another humiliating loss…)
Only about a third of South Carolinans want Mitt Romney to be the Repugnican Tea Party presidential candidate, but with Perry’s departure, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul remain in the race to split the anyone-but-Romney vote three ways.
I have to wonder if the far right is going to make Ron Paul its Ralph Nader of sorts, blaming Paul’s candidacy for splitting the vote and enabling Romney to win the party’s nomination.
Anyway, I believe that it primarily was a combination of two things that sank Rick Perry’s candidacy: the fact that the last governor from Texas who became president now is He Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned even within his own party, and the fact that Perry’s debate performances were disastrous. Overcoming the inevitable comparison to He Whose Name Shall Not Be Mentioned would have been a tall order for Perry, but Perry’s utterly unpresidential presence doomed him.
Let’s just hope that Perry remains politically dead outside of his own backasswards state of Texas.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
markinjapan
Brassawe
President Barack Obama
Watching Frogs Boil
Ted Zeppelin
Jacob Freeze
Salon.com
Comments
The likeliest Repugnant ticket will be Mitt P and Santorum VP, and if that isn't enough to get to scare the bejesus out of liberals and progressives -- and anyone else with half a brain -- and get them to vote for Obama, I don't know what will.
There is one small ray of hope, for Obama -- and the rest of us thinking people. Newt may be so pissed at Mitt that he runs as a third-party candidate and divides the Repugnant vote. After all, he's got nothin' to lose; he's done in the Repugnant Party in any case, and meantime, he can keep sucking in millions from Christian Conservative millionaires disenchanted with Mittmormon.
The news item is here:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/signal/romney-nosediving-south-carolina-gingrich-surges-205809297.html
So it appears as though it will be Romney or Gingrich who wins South Carolina. The question appears to be whether or not the anyone-but-Romneyites can consolidate enough support (in Gingrich) between now and Saturday. They have precious little time.
Thing is, of the remaining four Repugnican Tea Party presidential contenders, Romney has always done better in matchups against Barack Obama than has any of his opponents. (Source: http://pollingreport.com/wh12gen.htm )
Repugnican Tea Party Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer did horribly in her first gubernatorial debate -- she blanked out on live TV for several awkward seconds -- and after that disastrous debate she decided not to participate in any more debates. Yet she went on to win the election in November 2010 nonetheless, because the people of Arizona are fucktards.
I don't see that Texans are any different. In fact, they're worse, from what I can tell from here in California.
My guess is that the 2012 Repugnican Tea Party veep candidate will not be someone who has run for the presidential nomination -- my guess is that it will be someone like U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. They'll want someone who isn't a middle-aged or old white guy in the No. 2 spot on the ticket, I'm thinking. (Rubio, for instance, would be a nod to the Latino vote and to the more youthful vote.)
I'd be surprised if Gingrich were to try to run as an independent/third-party candidate. I wouldn't be shocked if Ron Paul did so, though... Of the 2012 Repugnican Tea Party presidential contenders, Paul has always been the biggest outsider. We'll see...
Will it be Mitt MeGreedy as the final distasteful candidate?? Or Newt?? Either one are equally distasteful. Yet I do think Rubio will be the VP pick. He has tons of big money backers and will surely pull in the up and comers of the Latino votes.
I have no idea what Newt would or wouldn't do, but it seems to me that he won't be able to overcome Openmarriagegate. Unless Newt wins South Carolina on Saturday, I think he's probably toast.
With rapidly changing U.S. demographics, I think that it would be a mistake for the Repugnican Tea Party to have two white guys on the 2012 ticket. The 2010 Census put whites at 72 percent of the American population, so no more than about 36 percent of Americans are white males.
The Repugs tried a woman at the No. 2 spot last time around, so I kind of doubt that they'll try that again this time. So yeah, Marco Rubio is looking like a strong veep candidate to me...