Anyone else get a kick out of what a huge fail Jeb Bush’s endorsement of Romney turned out to be?
As I mentioned earlier, the whole endorsement already had a certain ‘day late and a dollar short’ aspect to it – right before Super Tuesday, it could have been a big deal. A few days before Louisiana (where polls have Mitt getting spanked) is kind of not a big deal.
But then the Romney campaign inflicted the whole Etch-A-Sketch debacle on itself and their big endorsement sank with nary a ripple across the media universe. Which probably suits Jeb just fine.
Also, anyone else wonder if Jeb is counting on the Mitt campaign being such a huge disaster that it torpedoes the career of whoever Mitt picks as his running mate? Because that would explain Jeb’s support of Marco Rubio for the veep nod – kill two birds with one stone by watching Obama win re-election, thereby leaving the White House open for himself in 2016, while Rubio’s brand gets prematurely poisoned by both the increased media scrutiny and association with Romney.
Maybe that’s a stretch, but it’s gives me chuckles to think about it.
I still say that Jeb wants to be president. I still say that Jeb understands that he can’t be president if a Republican wins in 2012 (because his last chance to run is probably 2016, so he needs an open seat). Therefore, Jeb doesn’t want a Romney to win.
In other words, all men are mortal, Socrates is man, therefore Socrates is mortal.
If Jeb had jumped in earlier, he would have given Romney real credibility among strong conservatives (as well as given Romney enough of a boost in Florida to raise him over 50%).
But what happened is that Jeb waited to jump in until after Romney’s inevitability had become clear. But, he also waited until after the situation had reached the point where Mitt would have no choice but continue on a long, painful, slog that will at least last until June and could very continue right up until the convention.
Had Jeb decided to jump in before Super Tuesday or at least before the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, he could have done some real good for the Romney campaign. But he didn’t.
He waited until his endorsement wouldn’t mean much.
Why? Because Socrates is a man.
The Freedom March from Selma to Montgomery began on this day in 1965.
I lived in Montgomery, Alabama for a number of years and actually have fond memories of that city – the museum of fine art was free, the state archives interesting (if poorly curated and documented), and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (you can bet I took full advantage of the student rush tickets, just ten dollars starting thirty minutes before curtain). Plus, a one-time pornographic theater turned venue for independent and foreign films. I have never seen so many movies as I did then, catching nearly every film (there was only a single screen, so it was a movie a week, basically) that played there.
You also could not escape the history of the civil rights movement there, nor could the cultured veneer cover up extant inequalities.
The picture attached is of the Civil Rights Memorial outside the Southern Poverty Law Center. It was designed by Maya Lin, the same sculptor who also designed the Vietnam War Memorial. By the way, the white haired woman just left of center (next Roy Blunt) is my old boss, Congresswoman Grace Napolitano.
The memorial lists important events in the Civil Rights movement, as well as a quote from the Book of the Prophet Amos: ‘Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.‘
Watch out for omens and portents. Just to be safe, consider adopting a lean and hungry look. It will make you appear more dangerous than you really are.
It is looking like quite a slog, isn’t it?
Rarely has a victory given a candidate less to cheer about.
It’s not exactly Pyrrhic, but it’s… well, it’s something ugly. Something in Latin or ancient Greek that expresses the idea of ‘icky and kind of sad and pathetic, but at least no one died.’
And while the 2008 Democratic primary also dragged on for a very long time, the difference is that Obama, who became the frontrunner after winning Iowa (and never relinquished that status even after losing New Hampshire), grew in strength and further demonstrated the breadth of his appeal in that extended primary.
Romney is highlighting the narrowness and limitations of his appeal during this extended primary.
Arguably, one of the reasons that this primary just refuses to roll over and die, i.e., give Mitt his nomination, is that the ‘establishment’ that has so consistently backed him is having these limitations shoved in their face with every loss and with every unimpressive victory.
An extended primary can be a good thing. It can sharpen a candidate’s skills and highlight his strengths. But that’s not happening here. Mitt Romney is just limping ahead.
Partly, this is because Obama faced a strong challenger in the 2008 Democratic primary in Clinton, so his setbacks were seen as part of contest between relative equals and his victories as hard fought and well won.
Romney’s victories are seen as shallow signs of weakness, because his opponents are seen as rather weak. Neither Santorum nor Gingrich have raised much money in comparison to Romney, but Mitt has still been forced to hemorrhage cash just to eke out meager wins over underfunded opposition.
That’s why we’re seeing establishment figures talk about a brokered convention and hint at a ‘white knight’ (like Jeb Bush, for example) coming in to save the day. Because if Mitt isn’t actually a strong, competent candidate, what the heck is the point of candidacy? They’re thinking that the only way he’ll get to the White House is if he repaints his sprawling, Southern California mansion like a Greek ruin (there’s a metaphor in that; something about ruins, collapse and maybe hubris).
That’s not going to happen, of course, because supposed ‘white knights’ are also seeing Obama’s numbers steadily rise and solidify. Instead, we’ll likely see a slow, painful Bataan march towards a weary and uninspired narrow win by virtue of the slow accumulation of delegates and an ugly to watch process of attrition.
It really is like looking at a car accident.
Dawkins style atheism as a cult.
I always suspected that Elaine Pagels maybe wasn’t the best place to start learning about Gnosticism or the early church.
No surprise to see that this is in LA’s Silver Lake neighborhood (Silver Lake is that town’s hipster central).
My favorite idiot sociopath.
the coffee philosopher 