Romney out of race

[Hendo]

Romney just declared that he was "suspending" his campaign after spending $35million of his own money. So it looks like McCain for sure now.

I guess America's just not ready for a Mormon president...

[robbersean]

I am far, far too happy about this. I detest Mitt Romney.

[RonK]

This is my favorite part of his concession speech.

"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror,"

Hilarious.:rolleyes:

[Telfer]

Nice line, Ron.

Yeah, what a nice example of Republicans completely forgetting what terror is and who is actually instilling it in Americans.

[Miss Mason]

Mitt Romney was the poorest man's Ron Reagan. I hate him on policy never mind what his religion is.

I am concerned about "suspended."

That's what Edwards said.

Does it mean they can come back?

[robbersean]

Mitt Romney always comes back. He's like Jason, or Freddy, or the Terminator. Just when you think he's gone...

He ran for the Senate in Massachusetts in the 90's and lost to Ted Kennedy (of course). Then he left the state and ended up running the Winter Olympics. Then he came back to Massachusetts, and somehow tricked the state into electing him governor. Then he proceeded to oppose gay marriage, and stem cell research, as well as slashing education budgets across the state. Plus, it was always kind of suspected that he only wanted to use the position of governor as a jumping off point for a run at the presidency. Lo and behold.


My guess is that he'll lick his wounds for awhile, but he'll be back. He may run for president again, or the Senate again. I'd prefer he go away forever, but I know that that won't happen.

[mrandy]

Both candidates suspended their runs in order to maintain their delegates and potentially play kingmaker down the road. Way more likely for Edwards then Romney, since Huckabee would have to prove he can play outside of the south, and Romney seems to hate them both anyways. Edwards has a possible chance to basically use his tiny stack of delegates to swing it.

[Biddle]

I heard an interesting comparison on NPR the other day that John McCain is "this generations equivalent of Gerald Ford". I had to look up Ford on the wikipedia to see what they were talking about. But I think it's an astute comparison. Picking up the humiliated Republican party's slack after a national nightmare of a president, McCain would also preside over a military quagmire and a national recession that he inherited from the previous administration (which was also a Republican administration).

I don't mind that the Repubs have stepped up and nominated McCain. He's going to be an easy candidate for the Dems to beat. His own party barely tolerates him. He's not pious enough. Not pro-Repub enough. Not the first choice for any Republicans. He's only marginally better than Romney. And it's going to be very hard for the Repubs to get out the vote for someone that they don't believe in. Even if he runs against "the black muslim guy" or "the hardline bitch who used to be married to that noteable philanderer, Bill Clinton." It's just hard to get excited about a guy with all the charisma of Elmer Fudd.

And so, the pieces fall into place for a Democratic president to take office in 2008. Doesn't matter which candidate we run. Even Clinton, with her lackluster appeal to the Dems (she still thinks the Iraq war was a necessary move, but I BET that language changes, if she gets the nomination) has a good chance to beat McCain. And if Obama gets the nomination, fuggedaboudit. Obama wins in 08.

Obama versus McCain = A Slam Dunk. Dem president elected. No Question.
Clinton versus McCain = The Battle of The Second Choices. (Because neither party would, in the heart of hearts, want either of those two in office.)

[Edison]

For the few who haven't seen the comparison;

http://www.lifestyle13.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/mitt-guy.JPG

[Edison]

Mitt Romney was the poorest man's Ron Reagan. I hate him on policy never mind what his religion is.

That's a frightening picture you paint, Rachael. 'Cause Reagan was a pretty fucking poor President in his own right.
Just a refresher for the youngsters;

-Under Reagan, we sent the deficit skyrocketing, growing faster in real dollars than under any other president, including the current one.

-We cut social spending to the bone, creating the homeless problem by turning hundreds of thousands of mentally ill people out on the streets.

-We appointed Antonin Scalia to the Supreme Court.

-We cut school funding, trying to classify ketchup as a vegetable.

-We severely cut funding for science and research, claiming that 'curiosity should not have to be supplemented by the government'.

-We banned the Beach Boys as attracting the wrong sort of crowd. ..The Beach Boys for Chrissake!

-We re-instituted mandatory draft registration for military duty. Many of the conscientious young who refused to register were brought to trial and prosecuted as criminals, forced to pay fines and/or actually imprisoned.

-We traded arms, money, drugs, and hostages between Iran and the Nicaraguan rebels.

-We gave chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein.

-We claimed that trees and cows cause most pollution.

-We deregulated the Savings & Loan industry, and we all know how well that went, don't we?

-He catastrophically lowered taxes in 1981, creating debt so bad he raised taxes each of the next six years and still didn't make up for it. And while he streamlined the complex and exemption-riddled income tax, his changes created the largest ever shift of tax burden from the wealthy to the middle-class and working poor.

-He took executive action to end a labor dispute by firing every air traffic controller in the country, worsening an already volatile situation in the airline industry.

-His 'war on drugs' campaign has been a categorical failure, and is still being used to undermine some basic constitutional rights.

-As Governor of California in the late 60s, he attempted to turn the WWII Japanese internment camps into prisons as a way to resolve the 'non-conformist youth' problem.

-More appointed officials were indicted and convicted of crimes than under any other president.
_______________________


Reagan was a bad president, who promulgated bad policies and appointed bad people. It's only sad how short a memory people have about the guy and his administration. He was a facist and a corporate tool.

But, the guy gets old, senile, dies, and everyone canonizes him.
It sickens me how much Reagan's name is lovingly invoked by aspiring Republican politicians.
"Ahh, the golden age of the Reagan years,.." (..complete with his 'trickle-down' economics).