Taibbi writes: "The most interesting part of seeing these guys up close is seeing the way people like Rick Santorum and Gingrich respond to Romney in person: They appear to find him physically repulsive, their noses even scrunching up at him when they address him, like cops opening up a trunk with a body in it."

Matt Taibbi at Skylight Studio in New York, 10/27/10. (photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

Romney Bombs, and Other Thoughts on the GOP Debate

By Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone

20 January 12

have an article about South Carolina and the GOP race coming out in Rolling Stone soon, so I can't say too much about that race here. But I do have a few quick notes about last night's debate in Charleston, which I had the misfortune to attend.

• I was astonished to wake up this morning and read, in this morning's Wall Street Journal, this assessment of Romney's performance: "Mitt Romney turned in one of his strongest debate performances, defending his business record and laying into President Barack Obama as aggressively as he has in any previous debate."

I don't know Journal writers Patrick O'Connor or Neil King, so I can't say for sure if they were there last night, but if they were, were they watching the same event as the rest of us? I thought Romney was a disaster and last night very nearly achieved the impossible: sharing a stage with Newt Gingrich and looking like the bigger asshole.

To me, the exchange where he fell overboard mid-answer and had to ask moderator John King what the question was ("But you asked me an entirely different question?") came close to being an Ed Muskie moment.

The most interesting part of seeing these guys up close is seeing the way people like Rick Santorum and Gingrich respond to Romney in person: They appear to find him physically repulsive, their noses even scrunching up at him when they address him, like cops opening up a trunk with a body in it. And I think it's real, I don't think it's an act. Romney is so totally insincere and calculating and soulless, it physically offends other politicians. It's incredible to watch.

• I've given up trying to predict this race. Watching the events of last night, I saw plausible nomination scenarios for all four candidates. Don't forget that if the merry-go-round of incompetence continues much longer - if Romney and Newt and Santorum keep hot-potatoing frontrunner status and primary victories - Ron Paul is going to waltz into the convention with a mass of delegates and a legit argument that he was the strongest and most consistent candidate.

• Standing next to the bloodless corporate cipher Mitt Romney and the pompous, bloviating egomaniac Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum - creepy religious lunatic Rick Santorum! - came off like Clarence Darrow breaking up a Klan rally. "Rick Santorum, en fuego!" cracked one of the reporters in the media room, during Santorum's tirade about Newt's "grandiosity."

• After the revolution comes and the Show Trial/Firing Squad period of our history begins, someone from CNN is going to have to answer some very tough questions about "Kevin," the cheesy guy the network brought onstage before the debate to warm up the crowd and introduce John King. Casual viewers at home did not have to see this performance, so I won't share anything about it here, but if anyone among the press or the audience from last night has an explanation for me about that whole business, please write to me and let me know, because I'm very confused.

Anyway, I have to get back on the road to a Mitt rally. More later ...

P.S. I'm giving away a hi-res "Starve The Squid" poster to the reader who comes closest to calling tomorrow night's election results. I'm guessing:

Gingrich 31

Romney 23

Santorum 23

Paul 23

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+57 # psadave 2012-01-20 16:25

What about Cain/Colbert?

+94 # Richard Raznikov 2012-01-20 18:25

Matt might have a good guess, but a question he doesn't ask is, are we talking actual votes or what's announced after the computer viruses fix the machine totals the way somebody wants them?

My own guess on actual votes: Paul, 17%; Gingrich 8%, Romney 4%, Santorum 5%; Nixon 7%, George Bush 3%, Jeb Bush 3%, Prescott Bush 3%, John Yoo 2%, None of the above 48%.

Only one GOP candidate has an IQ higher than room temperature, and his economic policies are screwy. What a circus.

+22 # artful 2012-01-21 05:30

I would have guessed Paul gets 15% and None of the Above gets 50%. Aside from those, your estimates seem right on . . . said he hopefully. I wonder whether the average IQ of the "family values" voters in SC exceeds room temperature?

+24 # Barbara K 2012-01-21 07:32

LOL! Artful, I think you are right on there. To hear the things they cheer says it all about their "values" and how low on the IQ pole they are. They are totally lacking in empathy too. If we want to know the values of these evil baggers, just listen to what it is they cheer. What a bunch of nutty savages they are.

NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!

our livelihoods and future is at stake

+51 # James38 2012-01-20 21:15

I have been in a state of shock for months about the utterly ridiculous field of candidates the Republican Party has fobbed off on the US this time. I have never (and I was at the convention at the Cow Palace when Eisenhower was nominated) seen or even in my wildest dreams imagined such a gaggle of useless loosers. The McCain candidacy seemed pretty nutty in an almost normal way until he went off the rails totally with his pick of the Incredible Wolf Girl, but this bunch takes the cake all the way out into far left field, where the remaining louts are having a ghastly food fight with it, hurling gobs of sugary hydrogenated oil and artificial coloring at each other like inmates in the loony bin from hell.

(to be continued)

+25 # pbbrodie 2012-01-21 06:58

Didn't you mean to write "way out into far RIGHT field?" I really don't believe any of these people have any idea where left field is.

+2 # James38 2012-01-22 09:58

LOL, good point, pb!

+62 # James38 2012-01-20 21:16

(continued from previous post)

I suppose this is all you can expect from a party that has totally left reality behind, spouting economic theories that were disproven years ago, raving about the wonders of private health insurance for profit, when every other developed country in the world has figured out that a single payer system is far more efficient, delivering better health care to more people for less money. I mean the Tea Bagger Boggle has rotted the minds of the gullible public so thoroughly that the spectacle has become a running proof of how incredibly lousy the US education system has become. Only a large segment of the public utterly lacking in the basic facts of history or logical thought could be duped by such nonsense - and the leaders keep pushing more of the junk around in the Senate and the House. This is not a proud moment in US history. One hopes that somehow enough people wake up between now and November to elect some sane Representatives and Senators. If we give Obama a Congress he can actually work with, we might be able to survive. Elisabeth Warren is a bright light showing the way. Come on folks, get real. We have to get the evil clowns out of government. Never vote for a Teabag.

+13 # Barbara K 2012-01-21 07:27

Amen, James 38! I agree totally with you. The Rs have such a gaggle idiots running that it's nauseating to have the news rubbing them into our faces on a daily basis until I want to gag at the sight of any of them.

NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN !!

our future is at stake

-10 # Billy Bob 2012-01-20 21:30

My prediction:

Romney 28%
Gingrich 23%
Paul 23%
Santorum 18%
Colbert 8%

My prediction for November:

Obama 1%
Romney 1%
Paul 1%

+12 # susienoodle 2012-01-20 21:36

RIchard
That's a really good idea. They should have "none of the above" as an option in the other primaries where the ballot may not have been printed yet. I bet None would win.
I'll never, ever vote for another rethug in my lifetime, but am old enuf to have lived thru a few decent ones, like Chuck Hagel, who had the common sense to leave politics. Hard pressed to think of another good one tho, even tho there must have been more than one. Evert Dirksen maybe, I think he was rethug.

+10 # bigelowrs 2012-01-20 21:37

I just love Richard's comment above.
But he is assuming way to much intelligence on the part of South Carolina Republicans.

+22 # upthecrik 2012-01-20 21:39

One can't help but think that this clown show is doing nothing but driving independents full throttle to Obama.

-4 # LeeBlack 2012-01-20 21:40

My guess:

Gingrich 25

Romney 24

Santorum 28

Paul 23

+29 # Bill Clements 2012-01-20 22:56

Does it really matter what those results will be? What credibility will the results they announce to the media have after the fiasco in Iowa? You know, the Iowa Caucus where they up and lost all the votes to eight precincts? Really? And no serious follow-up by the GOP (or even the media apparently) to find out how that happened? Because, as it stands, declaring Santorum or Romney the winner is pure conjecture. It's arbitrary. And means little.

If the GOP pulls this sort of shit on their own candidates, just imagine what we're likely to see in the 2012 elections? That's over and above all the voter suppression tactics already in play before our very eyes.

+39 # foxglove16 2012-01-20 23:00

"Romney is so totally insincere and calculating and soulless, it physically offends other politicians."

A much more elegant way of saying he's the most phony person I've ever seen. He makes me gag. From "Corporations are people my friend" ( I ain't your friend you asshole.) to "I asked my wife if I should run for president and she said 'Do you think you can save America?' I said 'Yes' and she said 'Then you should do it'". Give me a break! *urk*, excuse me, I think I'm going to vomit.

+21 # ecoarchitect 2012-01-20 23:19

I really like Richard Raznikov's commentary above - and definitely the circus comment. The GOP lineup all seem to be misanthropes and all spouting the same mythology about 'The Free Market' somehow producing democracy, whereas China proves everyday that Capitalism works just fine under an Autocracy. I prefer to try to think like Thomas Frank on these matters. page 11, "Now, there is nothing really novel about the idea that free markets are the very essence of freedom. What is new is the glorification of this idea at the precise moment when free-market theory hs proven itself to be a philosophy of ruination and fraud. The revival of the Right is as extraordinary as it would be if the public had demanded dozens of new nuclear power plants in the days after the Three Mile Island disaster; if we had reacted to Watergate by making Richard Nixon a national hero." Thomas Frank.

+16 # jamal49 2012-01-21 00:08

So, what's the right-nuts talking about regarding a "John King moment"? Hannity was positively euphoric over Newtie's response (or lack of a response) to King's barely uttered question. So, now the tighty-righties have a new catch-phrase? Like, "getting Kinged" which, I guess, is like "getting Borked" or something? (Sigh) When will America ever be rid of this cancer on the American body-politic that is the republicon party?

+15 # Grumbler 2012-01-21 00:28

Izzy Ferreal 20
Polly Andry 17
Ophelia Pulse 16
Eddi Pouskom Plecks 10
Etta Hogg 10
Lena Daze 9
and Huey, Dewey, & Louie bring up the rear.
I just wish I cared which of the idiots the Publicans choose. If this is the best they've got, it's a sad day for the Republic.

+25 # judgeroybean 2012-01-21 00:33

This is a general comment about Romney's taxes. Could his shyness perhaps be due to the fact that many millionaires (and presumably him) invested heavily in various mortgage-related securities in the last decade through hedge funds, and thus were directly involved in causing the collapse of 2008. In other words, isn't it likely that we are going to learn that Romney was not satisfied with his $200 million from Bain, but was trying to double or triple that with speculation in credit default swaps and the like, with disastrous results for the 99%? Even more toxic would of course be evidence that Romney in some way benefited from a taxpayer bailout, so that his losses in such speculation were covered by Paulsen, Geithner and Bernanke, with Joe Taxpayer footing the bill. Naturally, his tax returns would offer at least some clues about this for journalists and the rest to follow up on. Just a surmise; what do others think about the likelihood of this?

-20 # tomo 2012-01-21 00:48

Because, as Matt says, the Republican menu is very unappetizing, I expect the next President of the United States will Barack Obama. It's a shame--because he has done nothing to deserve re-election. He is at least as duplicitous as Mitt Romney--but he carries it off better. At least until one looks at the near 180-degree divergence of his actions from his words.
[Whenever Obama says something good (which is actually quite often), I shudder--because I can be fairly sure that whatever he is going to do, it's not going to be THAT.] By reason of Gingrich's pomposity, I don't think there is any circumstance that could lead me to vote for him. Sanctimony of presence makes Santorum impossible. As for Romney, he tells lies as a kind of trademark of his style, but--perhaps because of his Mormonism (as with Nixon's Quakerism)he has no gift for it at all. This leaves Ron Paul. Unlike Obama, Romney, Gingrich, and Santorum, Ron Paul actually believes in something. Some of it is quite strange. But one of his ideas amid the general strangeness is that we should stop going into other countries and killing people. The other four believe quite the opposite. I am just strange enough to think Ron Paul is right on this point; and I think I will probably vote for him in November.

+28 # pbbrodie 2012-01-21 07:10

I don't believe Ron Paul would last 3 weeks as President. The Military Industrial Complex wouldn't allow him to dismantle their golden egg laying Goose. Within 3 weeks, we would have the Vice President as President!
On a softer note, I could never in a million years vote for Ron Paul because of all of his "strange beliefs," as you put it. Although his stands on war and the size of the military budget are admirable, there is hardly anything else admirable about his views and, in fact, the rest of his views on nearly everything are down right detestable!

0 # Richard Raznikov 2012-01-21 18:05

Quoting

I don't believe Ron Paul would last 3 weeks as President. The Military Industrial Complex wouldn't allow him to dismantle their golden egg laying Goose. Within 3 weeks, we would have the Vice President as President!
On a softer note, I could never in a million years vote for Ron Paul because of all of his "strange beliefs," as you put it. Although his stands on war and the size of the military budget are admirable, there is hardly anything else admirable about his views and, in fact, the rest of his views on nearly everything are down right detestable!

You ought to credit him also with his gutsy positions on the Patriot Act, restoring the Bill of Rights, and nailing the banking crooks and the fed. He's the ONLY candidate who's right on these things, including Obama. Yes, his economic ideas are on the fritz but when you consider how crazy the rest of these clowns are, Paul looks pretty good to me.

+3 # steppxxxxz 2012-01-21 01:45

Mitt is actually even creepier than Cheney.....who is merely a sociopath. Mitt is a scary non person. I suspect Paul does really well tomorrow night.....18% or something....Mitt at 15 and Newt around 12. Santorum might score lower than expected.....but however it plays out its still hard to imagine Mitt getting this nomination.

+7 # pbbrodie 2012-01-21 07:12

I live in South Carolina, unfortunately and leaving soon, and I believe Santorum will win. The religious lunatics here will assure this.

+29 # ER444 2012-01-21 01:47

I find it absoloutely frightening that these clowns are the best and the brightest of one half of the political spectrum of what they like to call "the greatest country in the world". Even more frightening is the thought that Obama in his second term (I mean really he simply has to win against these ugly, heartless, self-serving morons) will have to deal with these deranged fools in order to accomplish anything. I just hope that Mr. Obama finally realises that you can't compromise with uncompromising people. One last question... is one half of our country REALLY so brainwashed or stupid to want to let these clowns represent them in Washington ?? I mean... really.... come on get serious....this really isn't funny any more.

+11 # Bill Clements 2012-01-21 12:53

Time to wake up and smell the coffee, ER444, but, yes, 50% of America really IS that stupid and brainwashed. It's sad to say, but it's way past time we stop considering ourselves the greatest country in the world.... unless we're limiting that to who has the biggest military.

+8 # James38 2012-01-21 16:15

Bill and ER, There is a George Carlin statement to this effect - Get an idea of the average person. Then realize that half of the population is dumber than that.

One major problem is failing to understand that education is the foundation of our society, and that we must never cut back on the quality of the educational system. Sadly, this priority is not understood, and we have allowed the US educational system to be degraded horribly. Somehow we have decided in many areas that low taxes are more important than good education. There couldn't be a worse mistake. If the average citizen can not and does not understand issues and logic and economic reality, the society is doomed. The whole Teabagger madness is based on ignorance. We need to re-elect Obama and elect a Congress he can work with, and seize the opportunity to reestablish education as the vitally important part of our infrastructure that it is.

(to be continued)

+3 # 666 2012-01-22 04:30

Sadly James38, the importance of education has not been forgotten by the George Orwell Party (GOP). It's not a question of "letting" go to hell, it has been and continues to be at conscious political choice by the elite (dem & gop) to dumb down the sheep and make them easier to enslave. The wholesale dismantling of free quality public education -- sometimes under the guise of good intentions -- has been going on for a good 50 years. The current president/ial candidates (ALL included) prove how successful this dismantling has been - and how permanent it is. We're nearing the point where anyone with more than half a brain and the skill to use it critically will be considered a terrorist.

+10 # James38 2012-01-21 16:17

(Continued from previous post)

I went to High School in California, graduating in 1956. That period was a golden age for education in California. Now the state has allowed that resource to be chopped into bits. I took Latin in my freshman and sophomore years, had good science courses, and a lot of excellent teachers who were proud of their work and demanded that the students paid attention. It was a real educational experience, and I am eternally grateful for it. We must rebuild our society so that kind of educational experience is universal. It will give our society a whole new enthusiasm and feeling of community if we express and share that goal.

+6 # BobbyLip 2012-01-21 02:12

Circular firing squad, yes. Guns pointed in the correct direction, possibly but not certainly.

+30 # Ralph Averill 2012-01-21 02:15

And they said Vaudeville is dead! I used to think that George W. Bush was rock bottom, that the Republican Party could descend no further. There seems to be no threshold of embarrassment. They insist that they hate Obama yet seem determined to all but guarantee his re-election with this high school low comedy satire of an election process. I know there's something else going on, I just can't figure out what it is.

+7 # pbbrodie 2012-01-21 07:14

What it is is that the Powers That Be have Obama carrying their water and don't really want a change.

+12 # Ralph Averill 2012-01-21 08:18

That doesn't wash. Given Obama's weakness in the polls, the Republicans would take the opportunity to install their own puppet in the Oval Office. The problem seems to be that they can't get an electable puppet, (i.e. Chris Christy,) to run. I think the Republicans believe they can't beat Obama, and are putting most of their efforts into Congressional races, which is what everyone should be doing.
It's all about Congress in 2012!

+3 # James38 2012-01-21 15:48

Agreed Ralph. Of utmost importance to elect a congress Obama can work with. Of course we have to be very careful to get the vote out for Obama at the same time. Try to imagine the disaster if we fail to do that? Any of the currently likely Repugnants would be worse than W, and I never thought that would be possible.

0 # Bill Clements 2012-01-21 12:55

No, nothing else going on. Don't knock yourself out thinking too hard on that one.

+17 # reiverpacific 2012-01-21 04:46

To call these "Debates" is a sick joke really.
I'd love to see the ghost of William F. Buckley as "moderator" of this sorry lot. I didn't agree with him much but I respected his ability to put his views across and he had a wickedly sly sense of humor and a touch of class. He was "conservative" rather than a "Reactionary" which is now the norm.
"Conservatives" had voices of reason and balance and there must still be some out there but they are drowned out by the hate-mongers, pseudo-theocrats and medievalists who would enslave us all and destroy the very planet we live on rather than be in any way reasonable evolutionary or progressive.
Perhaps that ol' flatulence in human form Rush Limp-blech will step in and point at one of 'em: end of story, beginning of "Running for -what was that again"?

-2 # colpow 2012-01-21 04:56

Gingrich 29%
Santorum 27
Romney 23%
Paul 19%
Cain 2%

Remember, he's still on the ballot and some folks just might not know he's not running anymore!

+29 # lcarrier 2012-01-21 05:01

The Republican Party is completely broken. They leave conservatives a choice among a heartless tax-dodger, a shameless self-promoter, a homophobic religious nut, and an anti-choice, anti-everything Social Darwinian. Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Eisenhower must be spinning in their graves.

0 # tclose 2012-01-23 08:03

What a great comment. Nailed it.

+17 # stonecutter 2012-01-21 05:42

A tip for Rachel Maddow, whose policy wonk creds I respect but whose sonics and on-air "comic" schtick make fingernails dragged on a blackboard sound like Claire de Lune: the crowds in SC didn't show up to see, let alone listen to Herman Cain; if he was tossing free hot pizzas from the back of a stretch limo, starving homeless people would think twice if they first had to endure his oratory-for-imbeciles. The crowds were there for Stephen Colbert, a native SC'ian, favorite son and very funny guy whose socks have more crowd appeal than Cain, or any of these other fools.

As for the debate, who can write it better than Matt Taibbi? I love this guy; he captures the surrealism of the whole sordid carnival; this risible mess is only a couple of tonal rungs above Tyrone Power's film noir gem "Nightmare Alley". Newt calling the media "despicable"? Pot, kettle; keetle, pot...blah,blah,blah, blah. LMAO.

My own prediction about the SC outcome: who gives a shit? Truth is if they keep lurching down this road, David Patraeus could bypass the whole primary grind and step up at the right moment just before their convention to "save the party" from sure defeat and probable oblivion. He'd have that old Eisenhower glow around him, a true throwback candidate, and suck the wind outta Romney's sails faster than Newt can swallow a Triple Whopper at BK. That's my conditional prediction; IF it happened, Obama would have himself a horse race. What was the deal for the CIA gig?

0 # James38 2012-01-21 16:42

Very well said, Stone, and I agree about Petraeus. I think he might even be a decent President, and it certainly would be refreshing to see the Repuglicon response. I would love it if he stomped on the Teabagger fringe that has so grotesquely usurped so much control over the party. I would hope if he or some other equally intelligent Republican ran, they would do it with enough integrity to put sanity above pandering to the lunatic fringe - someone willing to lose before they would deny and sully their own values. We would certainly see if there were a reasonable number of real Republicans hiding in the woodwork. That would bring them out into the light.

+13 # Sandy G 2012-01-21 06:50

The entire republican party, debates, candidates, issues, the whole schmear resembles a Seinfeld-farce, only, it most definitely isn't funny. These people - the candidates, the party 'hats', the herd of sheep following them - promise to be a National embarrassment for years into the future, all the more if one of them gets elected. (God Forbid)

+4 # punk 2012-01-21 07:01

i am sorry for being off topic, but could everyone please take a look at this petition against a military response to iran?
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/161/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9208

PS a candidate more loathsome than gingrich with his promotion of covert actions and deniability that sums up his lack of integrity in every sphere? NOT EVEN POSSIBLE!

+15 # JayMagoo 2012-01-21 07:05

I would like to see a thoughtful, well reasoned, non-emotional commentary about the debates from an old-time Republican, one with intelligence, class and dignity, so we could have the perspective of seeing just what effect this is having on the Republicans of old. I am a Democrat, but I'm also old enough to remember the day when Republicans were our opponents and they comported themselves in a way that brought credit and respect to the Republican party.

+7 # Bob-Investigates 2012-01-21 07:58

TO JayMagoo: The problem is this, "a thoughtful, well reasoned, non-emotional commentary about the debates from an old-time Republican, one with intelligence, class and dignity..." NOPE! They are either dead or hiding in a cave somewhere. The "thoughtful, well reasoned, non-emotional commentary" from a Republican in the last million years came from David Brooks when he said, "the Republican Party isn't normal." BOY, talk about the under-statement of all time! The way things keep going, maybe the Republican ticket in November will be Ronald McDonald for Prez and Raymond the Amish Comic for VP. Or, more cartoonish: Daffy Duck and Krusty the Clown.

+5 # stonecutter 2012-01-21 12:57

@ JayMagoo

They're all dead, or might as well be. If Lowell Weicker, a strong GOP voice in the Senate Watergate investigation and hearings, was still a player (he's 81 and long since out of the picture), he'd probably be metaphorically stoned to death in the public square by the current GOP lunnies. Same goes for John Danforth from Missouri. Guys like Mark Hatfield or Jake Javits have long since faded away.

We're left with the rotting carcass of their former rational, responsible, inclusive party.

0 # Billy Bob 2012-01-21 14:13

Ah yes! The days before Nixon and the "Southern Strategy".

+3 # James38 2012-01-21 16:22

Read "Conservatives Without Conscience" by John Dean. He offers an excellent perspective on the conversion of the Republican Party into a dysfunctional Authoritarian madness.

0 # UGHOMER 2012-01-21 07:52

Willard Romney - 38%

Newton Gingrich - 36%

Richard Santorum - 17%

Ronald Paul - 8%

(Nicknames or middle names for The Chief Wannabe shouldn't be permitted. )

0 # elmont 2012-01-21 08:12

Even when he's not writing about Wall Street malefactors, Matt shows his stuff. He's one of a very small group of writers I like to read just for the pleasure of his language. The 'Show Trial/Firing Squad' line is priceless.

All of that said, I wanna win the damn poster. So I'm saying:

Romney 32
Gingrich 28
Paul 24
Santorum 16

My 2 cents.

+3 # LTR 2012-01-21 08:17

So, Matt, why can't you tell us about the weird warm-up guy? isn't it your duty as a reporter to tell us what we don't know, can't see, can't discover on our own?

0 # elmont 2012-01-21 11:11

I'm guessing we'll have to purchase a copy of Rolling Stone for that little tidbit...

+6 # bethie1941 2012-01-21 10:53

I have a question that's a little off topic but I have yet to hear anyone address with Mitt Romney. If he's so anxious to lead this country, why does he do everything in his power (and some very questionable) to ensure that he pays so little taxes in support of our government?

+2 # berensmann 2012-01-21 10:58

On the left there's an empty blue suit,
Then comes a cuddly bully called Newt,
Next is Goody Two Shoes,
And old Howard Hughes,
What a stange assortment of fruit.

+2 # sol4u2 2012-01-21 11:35

WOW politics has become a farce. Whether Republican or Democrat we the people MUST vote in those running for Congress / Senate who listen to and stand for the people of this country not the "party line"!! It takes three (3) to run the country - the Congress, the Senate and then the President. That said we the people not the 1% MUST see that objective, bipartisan, moderates are elected in November to both the Senate & Congress as that is where the power lies. We need representatives who will help move us back to employment, economic growth, building America's infra structure and help it get back its sense of pride. But most of all we need representative who will stop our war mongering, bring out young men and women (and those not so young)home and say no to any military expansion, and definitely say "NO" to Israel and its obsession with destroying any Arab nation with whom it disagrees. It is time to build America not worry about foreign policy. Bring the rich fat cats to task and tell them no company is too big to fail - and prosecute those who destroyed the American dream to make a quck million / trillion / billion (watch "Margin Call") NO MORE BAILOUTS with our tax dollar (another 750 billion may be in the works) We need to clean house both Congress and Senate and get rid of the fat cats Washington is not where one goes to make their million and if you did you should share it with your constituents who you represent! Our livelihood and future are at stake!

+1 # Richard Raznikov 2012-01-21 17:53

[quote name="sol4u2"]we the people not the 1% MUST see that objective, bipartisan, moderates are elected in November to both the Senate & Congress as that is where the power lies. We need representatives who will help move us back to employment, economic growth, building America's infra structure and help it get back its sense of pride. But most of all we need representative who will stop our war mongering, bring out young men and women and say no to any military expansion... Bring the rich fat cats to task and tell them no company is too big to fail - and prosecute those who destroyed the American dream..."

There's no such thing as an 'objective, bipartisan moderate,' and we don't need that anyhow. 'Moderates' would continue the same policies of Bush and Obama which got us into and sustains this mess: foreign policy adventures and kissing the ass of big business and bankers at home.

Unless we get money out of politics, we'll never make it.

0 # stonecutter 2012-01-21 13:01

OK, I'm caving....

Gingrich 35 %
Romney 30
Paul 21
Santorum 14

+1 # Billy Bob 2012-01-21 17:27

Why is it so unpopular to make a prediction?

Oh well, mine was wrong anyway. Gingrich won. The repug party is really coming unglued.

I still predict 1% for Obama, Romney and paul in November. I think it will be the same 1%. They can share it.

+2 # rhgreen 2012-01-22 07:50

The SC result will say more about South Carolina than it will about the winner. It is an over-emotional racist Jesus-obsessed place which was called the glands of the Confederacy (Virginia was supposedly the mind and - I think - Alabama the heart). It hasn't changed. Frankly anybody SC likes should immediately be ruled out as fit to be US President. Or, to put it more politely, SC is and always has been anomalous. It is far from typical of the US, thank God.

+2 # suzib123@gmail.com 2012-01-22 11:09

I am struck that Mitt thinks that firing his health insurance company and taking his business elsewhere will accomplish something! What planet is he on? The free market and health care should NOT be used in the same sentence.
Just for your info Mitt, the next insurance company, if you can get them to insure you, will be no better than the last, charging you more to give you less. Wake up and smell the coffee!!!

0 # mmeppie 2012-01-23 14:21

Neither Romney or Gingrich will be the nominee. Paul will go quietly along picking up delegates and will show up at the convention with 15-20%. If neither Mitt or Newt ends up with 50%+1 delegates it will go to the second ballot and become a brokered convention. You will see Christie, Florida's Gov. Bush, Mitch Daniels, or someone picked by the Republican establishment. The pair fighting it out today are too damaged and the Republicans want to WIN.

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