background preloader

Election Blues

Facebook Twitter

Is This the Most Boring Election Ever? Why Republicans are scared of Mitt - War Room. The good news for Mitt Romney is that the big names in conservative politics are starting to acknowledge the overwhelming likelihood that he’ll be the Republican presidential nominee and line up behind him.

Why Republicans are scared of Mitt - War Room

The bad news is that it’s taken them an excruciatingly long time to reach this point – and even now, their support seems reluctant, qualified, even grudging. Take Jim DeMint, the South Carolina senator and one of the most influential voices in Tea Party politics. The South Carolina senator provided Romney with a big assist on Thursday, declaring that “I’m not only comfortable with Romney, I’m excited about the possibility of him possibly being our nominee” and hinting that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich should reassess their candidacies.

What DeMint didn’t do, though: actually endorse Romney. So, officially, he still hasn’t taken sides in the race. Emotions in politics make us rational. New research shows that we seek more information if we become anxious.

Emotions in politics make us rational

(Photo: Colourbox) Traditionally, letting your emotions rule who you vote for in parliamentary elections is considered as being in bad form. Good democratic citizens keep up to date and well-informed about the subjects debated in the community and vote rationally, while the uninformed citizens and those with an attitude to politics that is without nuances allow themselves to be controlled by opportunistic and charismatic party leaders. Traditionally, therefore, an emotional attitude to politics and voting is considered as being uninformed.

But new research shows that it is our emotions that turn us into ‘ideal citizens’. “An emotion such as anxiety often means we are better informed,” says Else Marie Holm, who recently defended her PhD thesis, ‘Emotions as Mediators of Framing Effects’, at Aarhus University’s School of Business and Social Sciences. Jon Stewart: Mitt Romney is the 'Least Bad Chocolate' in the GOP 'White Man's Sampler' CNN Allows Sarah Palin to Play Out Brokered Convention Fantasy. I guess CNN thinks Sarah Palin isn't getting quite enough face time on Fox News to pretend anyone thinks she's still relevant in the Republican primary race and to play out their little fantasy about there being a brokered convention this year, which would be a disaster for the Republican Party.

CNN Allows Sarah Palin to Play Out Brokered Convention Fantasy

We've still got a lot of the "anyone but Mitt" crowd wishing that another Republican would get into the race, but Palin's name is never one you hear bantered about these days. It's usually either Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan or Jeb Bush, all of whom have their own litany of problems. Dennis Kucinich and "wackiness" - Glenn Greenwald. Last week, Rep.

Dennis Kucinich and "wackiness" - Glenn Greenwald

Dennis Kucinich was defeated in a Democratic primary by Rep. 'Candidate Walmart for President' Releases First Campaign Ad. What Might Have Been: Dennis Kucinich, ‘Joe the Plumber’ Match Up. Archive. When a party quits on its candidate - War Room. George Will has concluded that neither Mitt Romney nor Rick Santorum is likely to be elected president and believes that conservatives should set their sights on a more “attainable” 2012 goal: holding the House and winning the Senate.

When a party quits on its candidate - War Room

“If Republicans do, their committee majorities will serve as fine-mesh filters, removing President Obama’s initiatives from the stream of legislation,” Will writes in a column that won’t be published until Sunday but that was teased by Politico’s Mike Allen today. What’s striking is how early Will seems to be raising the white flag on the presidential race. Election Day is still eight months away, Barack Obama’s approval rating remains under 50 percent in most polls, the current economic recovery seems very tenuous and could stall at any moment, and general election trial heats put Romney (and Santorum, for that matter) within striking distance of the president.

Tea Party Report: Super Tuesday. Romney and Santorum Vie for Blue-Collar Vote. Yana Paskova for The New York Times FACTORY WORKERS Employees at Gregory Industries in Canton, Ohio, got a visit from Mitt Romney on the eve of Super Tuesday.

Romney and Santorum Vie for Blue-Collar Vote

At a metal works in Canton and a welding factory in Youngstown, in mailboxes and on the radio, Mr. Save the Rich! The remaining Republican candidates are gearing up for the March 6th Super Tuesday primary elections, with Mitt Romney carrying forward his momentum from wins in Arizona and Michigan over competitors Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul.

Save the Rich!

As the primary season progresses and the race increasingly turns into a close one between Romney and Santorum, it’s worth reflecting on just how reactionary this bunch of misfits has become, and what’s at stake as their proposals are seriously by the American public. This primary season has increasingly degenerated into a shootout between candidates seeking to prove they are the true heir to Reagan’s conservative legacy. No matter that these candidates are significantly further to the right than the tax-hiking Reagan. The myth of Ronald Reagan has become far more potent than the actual Reagan – and Republican candidates have exploited that myth to push some of the most noxious policies imaginable. Indecision 2012 - Countdown to Loving Mitt - Jeb Bush - The Colbert Report - 2012-01-03.

Sunspots and Republicans. Suddenly the right has gone truly crazy.

Sunspots and Republicans

It must be sunspots. We’re three years into sunspot cycle number 24 and it crests in activity with 59 sunspots in early 2013, the weakest sunspot cycle in a hundred years, therefore not much help in the earth’s current cooling phase, during which – contrary to warmist doctrine – CO2 levels have been rising. Overall there has been a fairly steady warming trend of 0.5°C per century since 1680, which is when that notorious playboy Charles II of England began racing his Ferrari at Silverstone. If you’re into sunspot theory, increased negative ionization during sunspot maximum periods increases human excitability. Monica Crowley: Occupy Wall Street Movement Was Orchestrated by President Obama to Attack Mitt Romney.

Colbert Weighs in on Romney and Santorum Trying to Connect With Voters Ahead of Michigan Primary. The terrifying race to the loony right - Republican Party. This originally appeared on Robert Reich's blog.

The terrifying race to the loony right - Republican Party

My father was a Republican for the first 78 years of his life. For the last 20, he’s been a Democrat (he just celebrated his 98th). What happened? “They lost me,” he says. They’re losing even more Americans now, as the four remaining GOP candidates seek to outdo one another in their race for the votes of the loony right that’s taken over the Grand Old Party. But the rest of us have reason to worry. A party of birthers, creationists, theocrats, climate-change deniers, nativists, gay-bashers, antiabortionists, media paranoids, anti-intellectuals and out-of-touch country clubbers cannot govern America. Yet even if they lose the presidency on Election Day they’re still likely to be in charge of at least one house of Congress as well as several state legislatures and governorships.

They were not pleased to have a Democrat back in the White House in 2008, let alone a black one. Fox News' Mitt Romney Photo Flub - The Colbert Report - 2011-15-12. Indecision 2012 - Arizona GOP Debate - The Colbert Report - 2012-23-02. Brzezinski: GOP Presidential Race 'Embarrassing as an American' On Topic - GOP Presidential Candidates - Ron Paul - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 11/21. On Topic - GOP Presidential Candidates - Herman Cain - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 11/21. On Topic - GOP Presidential Candidates - Michele Bachmann - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 11/21. Indecision 2012 - Three Men and a White-Haired Man-Baby - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 02/23.

For Ron Paul, a Distinctive Worldview of Long Standing. Bob Daugherty/Associated Press In 1979, Ron Paul, right of sign, and other members of Congress stood on a truckload of simulated gold bricks to show their opposition to giving up the Panama Canal.

For Ron Paul, a Distinctive Worldview of Long Standing

Hard times, and fear of worse, were constants in ’s boyhood home. His father and mother worked tirelessly running a small dairy, and young Ron showed the same drive — delivering The Pittsburgh Press, mowing lawns, scooping ice cream as a soda jerk. He also embraced their politics, an instinctive conservatism that viewed Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman as villains and blamed Democrats for getting America into wars. As a young doctor in training, dissecting cadavers or practicing surgery on dogs, he would tell all who would listen about how the country was headed down the wrong path, about the urgency of a strict gold standard and about the dangers of allowing government too much power over people’s lives. While the Austrian economists who deeply influenced Mr.

Hard Times, Hard Work. The Vagina Ideologues - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 02/13. The Vagina Ideologues - Sean Hannity's Holy Sausage Fest - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 02/13. How a Filthy Rich 196 People Will Buy Our Election. February 16, 2012 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com here. At a time when it’s become a cliché to say that Occupy Wall Street has changed the nation’s political conversation -- drawing long overdue attention to the struggles of the 99% -- electoral politics and the 2012 presidential election have become almost exclusively defined by the 1%.

These political action committees, spawned by the Supreme Court’s 5-4 Citizens United decision in January 2010, can raise unlimited amounts of money from individuals, corporations, or unions for the purpose of supporting or opposing a political candidate. “This really is the selling of America,” claims former presidential candidate and Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean. Bill Moyers: Decoding Political Campaigns. GOP Debate Audience Boos Contraception. 2012 Presidential Candidates Quiz: Find Your Match - 2012 Presidential Election - ProCon.org.

Education from FactCheck.