politics

[psocoptera]

Dear LJ, I am confused by Republicans. Seriously, Gingrich? Isn't he primarily famous for screwing up badly enough as Speaker in the 90s that he had to leave office? And Santorum lost his seat, and Romney - I guess Romney chose not to seek re-election, but I don't exactly remember anyone around here being sorry to see him go. Is President of the US really now a consolation-prize job?? I'm not saying I was a fan of McCain, but he was at least a successful Senator, in the sense of holding his Senate seat, and Bush was a successful governor, in that same sort of pass-fail sense. Whereas it seems to me that Gingrich and Santorum have already flunked out of national office and Romney dropped out and these are really the strongest candidates the Republicans can field? It's like if Gray Davis was running for the Dems, like, wouldn't that just seem ridiculous?

Comments

[irilyth]

I like the theory that the Republican Party is in the process of being torn in three, between the small-government libertarians, Christian evangelicals, and imperial neocons. I've lost track of which one Romney is, actually -- maybe more of a neocon than an evangelical? But in any case, that these deep divides lead to candidates who are more on the fringe, and thus crazier. And Romney and Gingrich may simply be the sweet spot of "somewhat crazy, but not too crazy" or some such.

Also, I don't know much about Richard Nixon's early career except from reading Dave Barry, but my impression is that it was largely believed to have ended several times before he was elected President. TSOR (Wikipedia) suggests that he lost the Presidential election in 1960 (to JFK), and then lost the election for Governor of California in 1962 (to Jerry Brown), after the last of which he said "You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference". (And I thought there was a third thing, but I can't find it offhand.)

[sheepboyofchaos.livejournal.com]

"I've lost track of which one Romney is, actually"

I wouldn't be surprised if he has the same problem.