Ace Don’t Love Him No Herman Cain

Posted on | October 29, 2011 | 96 Comments

Everybody knows I love Ace, so much so that I laugh even when he’s viciously mocking my candidate:

[H]e talks like a f–king dumbass much of the time, and when he’s not talking like a f–king dumbass, he’s doing an empty folksy pander which is all very nice for those who are receptive to it but says nothing about policy or ideas or competency for office. . . .
Cain could very well win the nomination, if people just want an angry old dude spouting dumbass crap as their nominee. Which is what I think the people actually want, and I’m sick of instructing them that maybe they should rest their Emotion Muscles a little bit and work out their Thinking Muscles some more.

One way or another, you gotta admit that’s funny.

If you don’t like Herman Cain, you think it’s funny that Ace is calling him “an angry old dude spounting dumbass crap” because you agree.

On the other hand, if you do like Herman Cain, you think it’s funny that Cain’s improbable success has driven Ace to the point of helpless exasperation where he’s writing this kind of stuff.

Obviously, I’m in the latter category.

And I know Ace’s basic problem: He was in the room when Rick Perry announced at the Red State Gathering. Ace was lured to South Carolina and told he was buying a one-way ticket to glory on the Smilin’ Texan Express. (“Howdy. Thank you, Erick.”)

Alas, there was a detour on the road to glory: Three September debates in which the Smilin’ Texas was first kinda OK (Sept. 7 at the Reagan Library), then kinda bad (Sept. 12 in Tampa) and then Holy Creeping Jeebus Did He Ever Stink the Place Up (Sept. 22 in Orlando), followed by his embarrassing wipeout in the Sept. 24 Florida GOP straw poll.

Has any dream ever died such a hard death so quickly? It took just six weeks — a mere 42 days from his Aug. 13 announcement to the Sept. 24 straw poll — for the Perry bandwagon to crash and burn. And rather than blaming their humiliation on the geniuses who convinced them the Smilin’ Texan was all that and a stack of pancakes, instead the disappointed bandwagon-jumpers blame . . . Herman Cain.

Look, it’s not just Ace. I’ve witnessed the same reaction from other people who jumped on the Perry bandwagon and who, to this day, will tell you that Rick Perry is the only viable alternative to Mitt Romney so that to be for Herman Cain (or any other Republican candidate except Perry) is to be de facto pro-Romney, as they see it.

The rage of the Perrybots toward Cain especially is boundless, cosmic, infinite. Remember that when the first rumbles of a Perry candidacy were heard in June, Cain had seemingly already shot his bolt. He got a bump from the May 5 debate in Greenville, but couldn’t capitalize on it, and then Michelle Bachmann stole the show in the June 12 New Hampshire debate. By mid-summer, all the pundits figured Herman was through, and his disappointing fifth-place finish in the Ames Straw Poll seemed to confirm that judgment.

Nobody (and I do mean, nobody, including me) predicted Cain would have such a magic moment in Orlando, getting more votes in the Florida straw poll than Perry and Romney combined. Perry supporters probably dismissed it as dumb luck, but remember what I wrote:

As late as Friday afternoon, none of the pundits expected the Atlanta businessman to win the Florida GOP’s “Presidency 5” straw poll. But if what it took to win was a dynamic speaker who could bring a roomful of grassroots Republicans to their feet, Cain’s victory was in some sense inevitable. . . .
As the old saying goes, luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunity, and Cain was perhaps uniquely prepared to take advantage of the opportunity Perry’s stumble presented.

It may be tempting to dismiss as mere show business Cain’s ability to light up a GOP crowd, but it’s a skill he has obviously worked hard to develop. And the dismissive attitude toward that aspect of Cain’s candidacy — he is far and away the most inspiring speaker in the field.

And while Ace calls him “an angry old dude,” Cain is actually a cheerful, optimistic, humorous kind of guy. He is eminently likeable, and being likeable was the edge that George W. Bush always had over sourpusses like Al Gore and John Kerry.

His oratorical skills and his basic likeability would be enough to make Cain a formidable candidate, but he’s also got a great personal narrative: Born to humble circumstances, rose to become a successful businessman, stood up to Bill Clinton over HillaryCare, survived cancer — he’s the embodiment of the American Dream, at a time when the American Dream is under siege.

OK, so he’s not an expert at foreign policy and prefers catchy slogans to wonkish details. He’s shown a knack for getting himself tangled up in controversy while improvising answers to questions about issues where most Republicans have well-thought-out positions. Also, his campaign suffers from organizational issues and seems to lack a plausible “ground game” strategy for the early states.

Admit all those caveats about Cain and his campaign and yet — and yet — his strengths are greater than his weaknesses. Herman Cain has enormous potential as a candidate and despite all his flaws and failures he is, after all, winning. As I said the other day, victory tends to become its own argument.

So we have Ace’s exasperation, we have Karl Rove’s whiteboard, and we have Ben Smith’s sneers: “[T]he Republican Party isn’t going to nominate the short-staffed former pizza executive and motivational speaker presently touring Alabama.”

The experts are probably right. The odds favor Mitt Romney, as they have all along. But sometimes unprecedented things happen, and if I were the only one who was getting an eerie feeling about this, you might do well to dismiss it: “Well, it’s just that crazy blogger talking.” But Nate Silver is also beginning to be intrigued:

In short, while I think the conventional wisdom is probably right about Mr. Cain, it is irresponsible not to account for the distinct and practical possibility (not the mere one-in-a-thousand or one-in-a-million chance) that it might be wrong. The data we have on presidential primaries is not very rich, but there is abundant evidence from other fields on the limitations of expert judgment.

We must wait on events. People sometimes forget that about politics: Events matter.

You can’t formulate a statistical probability and then expect the most probable outcome to occur automatically. Stuff happens — including world events over which no American has any real influence — and it changes the whole landscape. We’re 66 days away from the Iowa caucuses, and 73 days from the New Hampshire primary. We don’t know what will happen between now and then, but 74 days from now (Jan. 11, the day after New Hampshire), we’ll be able to say whether the Herman Cain phenomenon is serious or not.

Let Ace mock Herman Cain to his heart’s content. I hope he’s still laughing when I become Ambassador to Vanuatu.

Update (Smitty): Inside Charm City reports:

Earlier this afternoon, it was announced that Herman Cain won the straw poll at the Maryland Conservative Action Network’s Turning the Tides conference in Annapolis “by a wide margin.”

Category: Ace of Spades, Election 2012, Herman Cain

Comments

96 Responses to “Ace Don’t Love Him No Herman Cain”

Wln19
October 29th, 2011 @ 8:05 pm

For all those who say Cain can’t, look up Wendell Wilkie…
Shawn Gillogly
October 29th, 2011 @ 8:13 pm

Cain can. Because not only does he have the genuine personal narrative, he is the exact OPPOSITE of what Ace is crying about: Quite possibly the most OPTIMISTIC candidate in the field. Perhaps Newt could vie for that claim. But neither Romney nor Perry have said anything positive this campaign. And neither have gained ground. People want to believe voting for a candidate makes a DIFFERENCE. Cain is clear that he believes it will.
Norman Invasion
October 29th, 2011 @ 8:15 pm

Ace is to “Unelectable!” as Chuckles is to “Nontroversy!”

I mean, bless Ace for the good he does, but when he gets his mind ahold of a stupid notion he’s like a rottweiler with a child’s arm in his mouth.
Anonymous
October 29th, 2011 @ 8:16 pm

“Cain could very well win the nomination, if people just want an angry old dude spouting dumbass crap as their nominee.”

Cain? Angry? Ace is referencing Cain, right, and not McCain?

Besides, nothing wrong with a “You kids get off my lawn!” type right now. And the cherry on top: Since he’s black!, I understand it will satisfy my congenital racism. Assuming I’m !black, of course.
Rose
October 29th, 2011 @ 8:22 pm

Someone in the comments a while back – here, I think – said this about Herman Cain: “Supporters of other candidates are now beginning to disparage straw polls. That’s fair, but this straw poll was a little different. Just keep in mind that while straw polls are not elections, the emergence of Cain is unique. In order to vote in the Republican Women’s poll you had to be a delegate to their convention, unlike straw polls that can bus supporters in. Second, unlike Ron Paul, Cain does not represent a movement like the Libertarians who form voting blocs and can effectively overwhelm straw polls that make Paul look more popular than he is. Third, it takes more than a 75 cent taco to go to the Republican Women’s Convention is Kansas City (take it from me). Women have flown in from all parts of the country at significant expense to be there. Straw polls are not elections, but Cain gave an electrifying, persuasive speech to a cross section of active Republican women and got an overwhelming endorsement.

And a final point, Republican women make up a lot of the worker bees during an election, passing out literature, going door to door, manning the polls. That’s why elected Republican officials pay them a lot of attention. Republican women did not to go to Kansas City to give Herman Cain a win in the straw poll. The fact that he won big was solely due to his ability to convince the delegates that he was the one they wanted for President. That’s big.”

It is big. It says a lot about THE MAN. The IT factor.
Tom Callow
October 29th, 2011 @ 8:49 pm

As to Ace, I have saved comments from a post about a month ago when he said some of the most hateful things about Palin and anyone who would like her. I am a 56 yr old man and it made me feel badly that someone like Ace would display his misogyny at such a deep level.
Ace of Spades is a site I go to and I like the comments and I like the site, but I lost a LOT of respect for Ace during the last few months with his palin hatred.

Off Topic : Cain should have called into the Grizzly Fest today it would have done him good.
I like Herman and I think he can be elected.
I like Palin and she is not running, but from what I saw and heard in the online conference thingy today then a large and i mean LARGE part of the electorate is looking for someone to follow, someone with vision and heart. You do not need to be a politician to win this election cycle and you need to be American and proud of it. Cain fits that bill nicely.
dad29
October 29th, 2011 @ 8:54 pm

Stacy, it is IMPOSSIBLE not to like Cain.

It’s also IMPOSSIBLE to figure out what the Hell he’s saying; today he went into reverse on the life-issue and stated he’s a GHWBush-kinda guy; he would allow children to be killed for the sins of their fathers.

Mark Block is hauling in ~$280K/year according to the financial statements of the campaign. For THAT money, he could smoke less and advise more.
Anonymous
October 29th, 2011 @ 8:55 pm

To be fair, Ace positively savaged the MSNBC commenter over her “knows his place” comments in his very next post.
Adjoran
October 29th, 2011 @ 9:03 pm

Cain is WINNING now? Wow, impressive – I didn’t know ANY delegates had been selected yet. Man, this guy sure does move fast!
JadedByPolitics
October 29th, 2011 @ 9:08 pm

The Perry supporters have become leftists in their assault on Cain, they accuse him of doing 999 to save himself some money because he is “rich”, they attack him for just about anything they can while telling you why their pathetic candidate “can” win, he cannot win a debate but somehow he will win the whole shebang against Obama, their lack of reasoning is well very liberal like and disconcerting to say the least for this conservative!
KG
October 29th, 2011 @ 9:13 pm

I think Cain, if elected, will do a whole lot of talking, but end up not doing a whole lot of anything.

I do hope he’ll surprise me and actually do a bangup job. But his 999 plan doesn’t give me much hope, because it shows that he is willing to add a whole new tax on us. That’s a no-no in my book.

As I’ve posted at Ace’s: No new taxes, I don’t care how low they are. No. New. Taxes.
just a conservative girl
October 29th, 2011 @ 9:20 pm

I no longer feel that Cain is up to the job, but this is way over the top. He always seems like a happy and optimistic guy.
Anonymous
October 29th, 2011 @ 9:55 pm

“[T]he Republican Party isn’t going to nominate the short-staffed former
pizza executive and motivational speaker presently touring Alabama.”

So a putative conservative candidate who can apparently do more with less in an age where pragmatism and economy are essential is bad?

This Cain fellow is growing on me. Keep mining for flaws, anti-Cainbots. It’s exposing gold. Sweet, marketable, profitable ore.
Anonymous
October 29th, 2011 @ 9:57 pm

Likability is a double edged sword. Likable people tend to find other people likable, by way of example Reagan liked Tip O’Neil and liking him trusted him. Pity that. By his account Bush liked Putin and liking him trusted him.

The Iowa caucuses, if nothing else presents an interesting political experiment. The conventional wisdom says that to win there you must meet everybody three times and milk at least one of their cows and spend enough to develop an infrastructure for getting enough people to spend an entire evening to vote for you. How absolute that wisdom is depends entirely on Iowa Republican’s willingness to compromise their traditions by not selecting someone based on how many of the hoops the they’ve made candidates jump though in the past.

Santorum is following the conventionally accepted path to victory but with little money for infrastructure. I suppose one can overcome a lack of money by inspiring enough people. At any rate Santorum says by caucus time he will have been in all 99 counties.

Bachman hasn’t spent as much time on the ground as Santorum but has spent alot more money on her ground game.

Romney is late to the effort in Iowa this time but may be able to benefit from supporters from last cycle who haven’t committed to any of the other candidates. This to some extent skews the experiment adding to the list of things I don’t like about Mitt. I suspect among the many other things against him the fact that he’s basically blown off Iowa in favor of NH makes him uncompetitive.

Making a virtue of necessity, Cain seems to be relying on various media forms and a “new kind of candidate with a new kind of campaign”.

It will be interesting to find out who’s right.
Zilla of the Resistance
October 29th, 2011 @ 10:03 pm

Didn’t Ace ruthlessly savage Pamela Geller when she pointed out CORRECTLY that Perry is an islamoblow? Isn’t he one of the many Perryists who have gone rabid against every single person they come across who does not see islamoblow Perry as GOP Jesus? OF COURSE he’s going to trash Herman Cain, and anyone else who does better than that islamoblow Rick Perry!
How in the hell he gets ‘angry’ from notoriously happy and cheerful Herman Cain is beyond my understanding, but like I’ve said before, that is some strong-assed koolaid that the Perryists be swilling!
Oh, and one more thing; Rick Perry says that islam is a religion of peace, which should TOTALLY disqualify him from the Oval Office unless you are an islamic supremacist or islamoblow dhimmi jackass. Also, Rick Perry sucks, I cannot stress that enough. His fans are as bad as 0bamazombies and just as mean.
Garym
October 29th, 2011 @ 10:40 pm

It blows my mind that certain bloggers who are pimping a candidate that is lackluster and has no fire, utterly trash other candidates and thier supporters. Ace lost my clicks when he went after Palin and her supporters and now as a stated Perry supporter, he acts like what he railed against.
Edit: Screw Ace
MrPaulRevere
October 29th, 2011 @ 11:32 pm

I like Ace (as much as you can like someone you’ve never met) I think he’s an incisive wit with good analytical skills. And on top of that he took the time to reply to several e-mails I sent him during the great LGF implosion during the summer of ’09. Having said all of that, I find it really hard to believe that he did’nt know Perry committed electoral suicide with the “you don’t have a heart” remark during the debates. I knew it. Anyone with a brain knew it. And he knows it too.
ThePaganTemple
October 29th, 2011 @ 11:33 pm

He’s ahead in all the polls Adjoran. That’s no sure sign that he’s going to win any primaries and this delegates, but its looking good for him right now. He’s giving Romney quite the challenge, isn’t he?

Or maybe it would be more appropriate to say Cain now faces Romney as his biggest challenge.

Such as it is.
ThePaganTemple
October 29th, 2011 @ 11:36 pm

Perry’s major advisers are former Crist supporters, which tells you all you need to know. Perry supporters should ask themselves, what is it about Rick Perry that would make big money donors and associates of Charlie Crist throw all their influence and support behind him, to such an extent that they are willing to go to such desperate lengths to derail the “Cain Train”.
ThePaganTemple
October 29th, 2011 @ 11:37 pm

999 will be forgotten about within a year of Cain’s assuming the presidency. He’ll agree to a flat tax compromise, or like Bachmann says, a flatter and lower tax.
Joe
October 30th, 2011 @ 12:12 am

Adjoran is right. And Stacy is always dismissive of early polling. Let’s not get too cocky. I like Herman Cain, I want him to succeed, but he has to actually win a few states.

Still a guy who is willing to take on Newt “Master Debator” Gingrich in a Lincoln Douglas style debate has some kick in him.
Joe
October 30th, 2011 @ 12:13 am

Oh and Rick Perry, he is not debating any more. He is debating with himself. So he can be a master debator too.
Danby
October 30th, 2011 @ 12:42 am

Okay, the problem with Perry is that he’s DUMB. The kinda dumb that people like Ace always accused Palin of being. He can’t hold his own in a debate because he’s slow witted and doesn’t really understand much of what’s going on around him. Sure, he’s got a good smile, great hair, is charming and affable and has good conservative and Christian instincts, but he’s just not that bright.

That’s why the Perrybots are so angry. They hitched their hopes on the guy. He looked good, well-spoken, good record. Texas over the last 4 years is a great story for conservatives and should have been good for Perry. But it’s become obvious that Perry’s the kind of governor who shows up for work, does what he’s told by people much smarter than he is, and goes to bed at night with not a thing on his mind. He SHOULD have been the answer to Romney. He’s not. He can’t think on his feet. He doesn’t even understand WHY a conservative might not like in-state tuition for illegal aliens.

Having pinned their hopes on Perry, watching him sink like a stone in the polls must have been infuriating. They can’t get angry at Perry, he’s still running, he still has a small chance. There’s that guy up there. The one smirking and smiling and firing up the crowd. Soaking all the oxygen out of the room. It must be his fault! HE must be the dumb one! He doesn’t have every answer scripted! He stole Perry’s spot in the primary. And his supporters, they must be dumb too. Perry has the best script that money can buy, why aren’t people buying it?

So anyone who can’t ignore Perry’s slow wit, anyone who likes Cain’s oratorical abilities, anyone who doesn’t prefer their candidate is withholding their support from Perry, who they think has earned and deserves it. Since any other explanation, fails, it must be from base motives or more likely stupidity.
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 12:42 am

Ace plays pretty fair, in general, but then, almost as if it’s out of his control, he’ll unload on a candidate, often in ways highly disproportionate to their overall candidacy (their good points, bad points, and supporters).

He can’t help it, but he, Allapundit, those “Powerline” guys, the Bill Crystal style “conservatives”,and many others represent a respectable number of “bed-wetter” types on the right that think somehow that this upcoming election is about having the Republican party gain control of the government. Preferably with someone in charge that has all the markers of having gone through some venerable university in the East.

As if.

The bed-wetters can’t stand the notion that a huge number of regular folks have decided that things have gone far enough with this rotten, John McCain-style “moderatism.” We’ve seen where it always ends up, which is ALWAYS more like Obama, and less like Reagan. They worry so much about “electability” that they’ve lost perspective on the problem.

Why bother to trust the superiority of your position, the superiority of your logic, the economic factors in play, and the philosophical underpinnings of the candidates, when you have an election to win? No, it all comes down to managing operational cynicism. We have to WIN baby, at all costs, even our principles.

No I’m not saying these folks are unprincipled. I’m saying they will accept a glorified, non-practicing lawyer with good bearing, the ability to drive a podium, and a winning smile if they think he can win. They just can’t risk losing with some educated-in-the-midwest, common-sense Conservative with solid principles. They think we will fail miserably if we nominate someone who may mis-speak from time to time, and who hasn’t spent the last twenty years planning on this election. It’s a risk we just can’t take.

Well I can. Screw the Republican party if they want another McCain/Dole/Bush type, moderate icon as their leader. The pull to elect a moderate comes from nervous nellies who would rather ride over the falls in comfort than do the hard work of steering us away from disaster.

We need to take this risk. As Mark Steyn points out, folks keep asking, “is this the hill to die for?” Well pretty soon you’ve lost so much ground waiting that you have already lost the war. The fact is, we cannot afford to “WIN” with a squishy sellout. If that’s winning, then the game is already over.

I love Ace’s writing, and most of his viewpoints. But the brother needs to sign up for more risk in saving this country, not less.
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 1:04 am

I assume that’s a direct quote?
Dave C
October 30th, 2011 @ 1:06 am

The Republican party was almost destroyed by one “Compassionate Conservative”

Do they need to nominate another ‘Compassionate Conservative’ like Perry to finish the job?

Not event going to go into what Romney would do to the country besides hand Obama another term.
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 1:10 am

Well, yeah, Ace is always going after “the stupid,” wherever he sees it. It’s just that sometimes his rants seem to equate (by way of being the target of his rant) stupidity on the level of say, a bizarre, logic-impaired, a-historical, lunatic-level comment by someone like Alan Grayson, with a campaign-trail misstatement on some issue by a Conservative.

The two types of stupid, they are not the same. But somehow they both get the same treatment.
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 1:13 am

That’s my hope. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s so good at bringing things together, that whatever passes will be called “The Cain Plan.” So terms like “fair tax” and whatever will just be replaced by that name.
Dave
October 30th, 2011 @ 1:17 am

So you don’t have a heart, but you’ve got a brain? How about courage, got any courage? Maybe we can ask the wizard for a stronger conservative candidate!

😀
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 1:23 am

Spot on.

Anyone who can’t see that the millstone of Romneycare guarantees a loss against Obama, is someone who is far too lost in the statist ozone.
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 1:27 am

Hey, get with the program. We’re all winners now.

Here’s your participation trophy.
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 1:34 am

I think Cain might surprise folks in such a debate.
ThePaganTemple
October 30th, 2011 @ 1:49 am

That’s not really fair. Some people just aren’t good debaters. I think I’m basically as smart as anybody up there, as far as common sense and ability to learn at least, but I know enough to understand that if I was up there trying to debate those guys I’d be drooling and stammering like some blabbering idiot. And that’s probably including Perry. I’d make Santorum look sane. I’d make Paul look like the most rational, reasonable person alive. I’d make-well, you get the point.
Adjoran
October 30th, 2011 @ 2:03 am

Do I gets to make me a speech?

Six weeks ago Perry was ahead by more than Cain is now (looks more like a statistical dead heat in meaningless polls), now he’s trying to find someone to listen to him.

Remember Michelle Bachmann, who did so well in the first New Hampshire debate and actually won the Ames Straw Poll? Me either.

At this point in the national polls in 2007, the top two contenders for the GOP nomination were Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson.

I’m just saying Charlie Sheen has 25 million better reasons to say, “Winning!” than Cain does right now.
Adjoran
October 30th, 2011 @ 2:05 am

I don’t believe that is true. He’s hired a couple former Crist operatives to work in Florida, as well as a couple of Scott people. His main advisers, as I understand it, are still the people he’s had relationships with for years in Texas races.

Not that whoever is running the show for Perry right now wants his name in the papers . . .
Adjoran
October 30th, 2011 @ 2:12 am

Most people would. Perry’s problem is we were told he was a great debater before he entered the race. It was part of the hype. I didn’t see either of his gubernatorial debates, but some say he did very well, more than held his own. But those were two-man contests with more time to explain your position. He’s right that the mass fusterclucks we are holding now don’t allow the issues to be discussed, they are just opportunities for media to get feuds started so they have something exciting to report the next day.

If you suck at chess, don’t call ahead to tell everyone you are the best player in the county.
Adjoran
October 30th, 2011 @ 2:25 am

Sorry, but if enough “regular folks” had made the decision you believe they have, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. The simple truth is we won back disaffected swing voters in 2010 that we lost in 2008. We stand a good chance of keeping them on fiscal issues as long as the Democrats can’t paint our candidate as too extreme to be trusted.

The risk you and Mark Steyn seem willing to take is four more years of Obama in the White House. The judicial appointments and regulatory shenanigans alone are enough to make that too big a risk to take for the sake of some purity test.

The fact is that while 40% of Americans now describe themselves as conservative, an all-time high, most of them aren’t “conservative” in the way you and I understand the term. Sure, they are generally for lower taxes and less government, but when you start talking specific cuts that are required, they get scared and vote Democratic.

Our target audience of swing voters aren’t even that conservative, since the Tea Party is currently viewed less favorably than the hippies on Wall Street. Remember, we aren’t talking about bright people here, they voted for Obama last time.

It is going to take some serious pain to recover from the hole Obama has dug (although both parties have contributed to the insanity for 40+ years), but if you tell people about it straight, they will waffle.

How do you think we got into the mess we are in? Not because Americans are too smart, that’s for darn sure.
Adjoran
October 30th, 2011 @ 2:26 am

Baloney! Even a squish like W only won by a whisker. A more conservative candidate would have lost big. The extra fringe vote in 2000 was on the left.

Gore would have been Obama in advance.
Adjoran
October 30th, 2011 @ 2:29 am

Nuts! ObamaCare is only one of many reasons to vote against Obama. Romney says repeal ObamaCare.

Anyone who was going to vote against Obama but won’t because Romney supported a state version of it probably wasn’t going to vote against him anyway.

Besides, Congress must repeal. The President only has to sign it.
Dave C
October 30th, 2011 @ 6:21 am

I doubt that Romney has the political will to repeal it.
ThePaganTemple
October 30th, 2011 @ 7:26 am

When somebody is ahead consistently in all polls, sometimes by double digits, that’s a pretty good sign the person is ahead. Not all polls are meaningless. Rasmussen, for example, shows Cain ahead, as does Quinnepiac.

Does that mean Cain’s nomination is practically assured at this point? Of course not.

No candidates victory is “inevitable” (ahem)
ThePaganTemple
October 30th, 2011 @ 7:43 am

I’m going to sound like a squish here, but you and Adjoran below are both right in some respects. Without going into a lot of detail, I’ll just say this problem will only be solved by electing more and more conservative Tea Party style candidates not only to national office, but to the state and local levels as well. Because that’s what is going to change the party.

But before you can elect enough conservatives to the party to change its philosophy of governing, you have to change the hearts and minds of the people who elect them. And that is frankly going to take more time than we have in this election cycle. It’s going to be a long drawn out process that’s probably going to take the next two or three cycles of steady, consistent gains. And that’s going to take a lot of outreach, and a lot of splainin’

There are some things you have to be able to give good, consistent answers for. Sometimes, it’s in/not in the constitution is not a good enough answer.

For example, when somebody says, “what’s wrong with making ‘the rich’ pay their fair share as long as we give tax breaks to small business'”, you should explain it this way-

1. Regulations are hampering small business as much as taxes

2.When big business pays higher taxes they have to raise their prices on the small businesses they supply, who either can’t absorb the cost, or have to lay off workers and/or not hire new workers, or pass the cost on to the rest of us.

I hear one with regularity, but you almost never hear anybody point out two, or I don’t anyway. And that’s just one example.
ThePaganTemple
October 30th, 2011 @ 7:46 am

That’s why we look back with such fondness on the two terms of President Dole.
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 7:58 am

Yes, on the one hand, that bothers me (not just with Ace). But on the other hand, that’s why you read Ace. Also, it’s not totally wrong to hold your side to a higher standard.
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 8:02 am

I hope so. Calls to refer to his web page are kinda sorta OK in a 30 second format, but won’t stand up to Gingrich’s mastery of details in a long format debate.
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 8:04 am

That would be a dumb attack in a Republican primary. Do you have any examples of that?

Most of the attacks on 999 (from Republicans) that I have heard are over the substance of sales taxes and VATs.
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 8:07 am

Good lord, that was a stupid episode. There are a lot of reasons not to like Perry, but this is not one of them.
Zilla of the Resistance
October 30th, 2011 @ 8:46 am

His islamophilia is THE MOST IMPORTANT reason not to support him!

Islam does not have good intentions for the United States and we fail to recognize that at our own peril.
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 8:48 am

Yeah, see, I’m calling BS on “Islamophilia.”
Anonymous
October 30th, 2011 @ 9:11 am

His attitude towards Islam in general appears to be similar to Bush’s. That is not reassuring. It was under Bush that the infiltration of so-called moderate Islamists into our security apparatus began. While Perry isn’t necessarily an Islamophile there is no evidence that he regards the concept of Moderate Islamists with the necessary skepticism. It would be informative to hear him opine on how hopeful he is for the “Arab Spring” to end well.