muppet show update

Steve Benen: Gallup has a new poll this morning, asking Republicans who they prefer among their GOP presidential hopefuls. It’s the first national poll taken after several prominent figures – Huckabee, Daniels, Trump, etc.  withdrew from consideration. I found the results rather interesting:

1. Mitt Romney — 17%
2. Sarah Palin — 15%
3. Rand Paul — 10%
4. Newt Gingrich — 9%
5. Herman Cain — 8%
6. Tim Pawlenty — 6%
7. Michele Bachmann — 5%
8. Jon Huntsman — 2%
8. Gary Johnson — 2%
8. Rick Santorum — 2%

…Herman Cain, for example, has a lot more support than I would have expected…Campaign reporters are closely following Pawlenty and Huntsman, but Gallup shows Cain’s support matching Pawlenty’s and Huntsman’s totals combined.

Also note Palin’s second-place showing, nearly matching Romney … after all of this time as a national laughingstock, the former half-term governor is still one of the top GOP presidential candidates at the national level … Palin still has a following, ridiculous though it may be.

Full post here

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Great stuff over at Balloon Juice where they’re suggesting names for the half termer’s movie (see here) – here are a few of them:

From Here to Inanity – Citizen Vain – Mentl – From Within Sight of Russia With Love – Not-Hur – The Devil Wears Mukluks – Driving Miss Crazy – Inarticulate Proposal – Chariots of Bile – The Woman Who Knew Too Little – Clueless – 12 Million Angry White Men – Legends of the Fail

Thank you Suzanne 😉

running ….. for the hills

AP: Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said early Sunday that he won’t run for president because of family considerations, narrowing the field in the race for the GOP nomination.

“In the end, I was able to resolve every competing consideration but one,” the Republican said, disclosing his decision in an e-mail to supporters. “The interests and wishes of my family, is the most important consideration of all. If I have disappointed you, I will always be sorry.”

another one bites the dust

Bye bye Chump 😉

‘live by the freak show, die by the freak show’

Greg Sargent (Washington Post): A funny number from Gallup, which finds that Donald Trump’s “positive intensity score” among Republicans and GOP leaners has plummetted to a lower level than that of any other 2012 GOP presidential hopeful: “….Trump has the unenviable distinction of receiving a Positive Intensity Score of 0 ….”

And let’s not forget that all this was followed by the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

….What a ride! At first the Donald skillfully played the media, adopting a strategy of deliberately tracking in lurid, freak-show-friendly falsehoods in the full knowledge that the resulting media attention – even if negative – would buoy his presidential hopes among GOP primary voters. At first, it worked. But Trump was defined by the freak show, too, and his antics quickly came to look pathetically buffoonish and small when reality – Obama’s birth certificate, the killing of Bin Laden – came along and popped Trump’s balloon, causing him to crash back down to earth.

Live by the freak show, die by the freak show.

Full article here

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My most loved finding in that poll is that 4% of Republicans still don’t ‘recognize’ Sarah Palin’s name and 2% have never heard of Donald Trump …. hey, aren’t they lucky! 😉

muppet show update

Steve Benen: … former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose 2008 presidential campaign was remarkable in its ineptitude, hasn’t ruled out trying again. “My major goal is to elect a Republican in 2012,” he said over the weekend. “If it turns out that I’m the best one to do that, I can probably be talked into doing it or convince myself to do it.”

Washington Post: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will announce his plans to pursue the presidency in 2012 on Wednesday, according to spokesman Rick Tyler.

President Obama reacts to the news:

‘none of the above’

Politico: A presidential primary favorite is emerging among the ranks of congressional Republicans: none of the above.

The dissatisfaction with the likely GOP field — long whispered among party activists, operatives and elected officials — is growing more audible in the House and Senate.

Interviews on both sides of the Capitol have revealed widespread concern about the lackluster quality of the current crop of candidates and little consensus on who Republican senators and House members would like to see in the race.

…There were politicians who are putting off decisions (Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels), politicians who’ve said they won’t run (former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie), individuals who aren’t even politicians (Gen. David Petraeus)…

The float of Petraeus, currently commander of the war in Afghanistan and rumored to be the next CIA chief, highlights the GOP’s quandary. He has repeatedly said he won’t be a candidate … but that hasn’t lessened the ardor among some of his Republican admirers. It’s an indication of the view among some party stalwarts that they’ll need someone better than a conventional pol to beat an incumbent president expected to raise a historic sum of money.

…“We think we can beat the president, but we have to have somebody to beat him with,” said West Virginia Rep. Shelley Moore Capito. “And I think there’s no clear front-runner, and there’s some frustration out there, not that we haven’t nailed it down but that it’s sort of all over the board.”

…Shrugged Arkansas Sen. John Boozman: “Republicans have always been for who’s next in line, and there’s nobody in line.”

Full article here

I usually avoid linking Politico articles, but I enjoyed this one 😉

muppet show update

Thank you lookingglassjourney 🙂

Gallup: Mike Huckabee tops a large list of potential GOP presidential candidates in current support for the party’s 2012 nomination, with 19% of Republicans saying they are most likely to back him. This gives Huckabee a slight edge over Mitt Romney (15%). Sarah Palin is now at 12% after receiving 16% support in three prior Gallup polls. Newt Gingrich is the only other potential candidate who registers double-digit support. Sixteen percent of Republicans currently have no preference.