Who's a Candidate?

By Mitchell

News headline from AP: "Gingrich eyes possible White House run in 2012." Of course, this comes as no surprise to some of us. . .

Sometimes the Truth Hurts

By Drew

Wow, Terry's really en fuego in generating the comments from his excellent post. I wish I could get that many people to read my stuff, let alone comment on it.

(By the way, since we started highlighting the first letters of stories, have you noticed how many of them begin with "W"?)

(Perhaps digressions like that are one reason why so few people read me.)

Anyway, a great piece today from Burt Prelutsky at Big Hollywood (and if you haven't checked that site out, do so. You might think it a little uneven, but the good stuff there is really good) on being a lapsed Democrat, Obama, etc. A few excerpts:

There are only three or four of them I can even imagine being friends with or wanting to have as next-door neighbors. But there are only two of them, Carter and Obama, whom I regard as unmitigated disasters. While it took Carter four years in office and 29 years out to achieve his greatly deserved recognition as an incompetent, a phony and a sanctimonious anti-Semite, Obama has pulled it off in just a few short months.

He has managed this by displaying his general incompetence by surrounding himself with clowns like Joe Biden; the seriously corrupt, such as Bill Richardson and Tom Daschle; and too many tax cheats to list in the space available.

Obama has also proven himself to be a liar of such proportions that if he had started out life like Pinocchio, [Mitchell, I hope you ignore that] his nose by this time would stretch from sea to shining sea. He has fibbed about everything from barely knowing Bill Ayers to never listening to a Jeremiah Wright screed, from banishing pork and lobbyists to providing transparency and change we can all believe in. On top of all that, while spouting the usual political piffle about economizing and saving the environment, he hosted the largest, most expensive inauguration in history, and from the way he and his posse jet around on the fuel-guzzling Air Force One, you’d think he was a rock star.

[...]

The scariest part of all this is that so many Americans continue to root him on. Those of us who are opposed to his agenda are accused, like Rush Limbaugh, of hoping America fails. Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth. What we’re hoping for is that America can somehow survive this frontal assault on our freedoms, and that our economic system can remain basically intact in spite of the combined efforts of Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Frank, Dodd and Geithner, to destroy it.

[...]

For what it’s worth, now that the president has fired CEO Rick Wagoner and taken over General Motors, do you suppose it will henceforth be called Commander in Chief Motors, and that Cadillac, Buick and Chevrolet, will be re-named Michelle, Natasha and Malia Ann? Which reminds me, it’s still nothing but a rumor that Obama fired God earlier today, claiming that the universe isn’t big enough for both of them.

My old friend, Pat Sajak, who, when not busy spinning his wheels, is politically savvier and wittier than any of the talking heads you find on TV, has revised the question that plagued Richard Nixon 60 years ago to better fit GM’s new chief honcho: Would you buy a new car from this man?

And the concluding line:

Although I am not usually given to omens, I can’t help feeling it means something that the next presidential election will take place on November 6, 2012, the day before Gen. David Petraeus turns 60. I, for one, can’t think of a more appropriate birthday present for the man and the nation than giving him a well-deserved promotion.

Hmm, that's interesting. This is at least the second time I've seen Petraeus' name come up in connection with 2012. What do you make of that?

The 2012 Campaign (continued)

By Mitchell

From Fox: Gingrich Considers Presidential Run.

Be sure not to forget where you read this first.

2008 is the New 2010 Is the New 2012

By Mitchell

Back in May, I wrote a follow-up to a February piece regarding the impact of the 2010 elections on the 2012 presidential campaign. In both pieces I stressed how important it was for any Republican presidential candidate to be out there campaigining for GOP candidates nationwide, not only helping them win but also picking up goodwill (and IOUs) in the process.

The model for this was 1966, when the tarnished Richard Nixon (loser in 1960 presidential race, 1962 California gubenatorial race) campaigned tirelessly for Republicans throughout the country. Following the 1964 Republican debacle, the GOP made significant inroads in the '66 elections, providing Nixon with a whole lot of both goodwill and IOUs - and credibility, which may just have been enough to help him hold off Ronald Reagan and win the 1968 Republican nomination, and subsequently the presidency.

My assertion was that the GOP needed a leader who could become the public face of the party: "[s]omeone to speak for the party in the media, to energize the base and rally the troops, to campaign for Republicans nationwide and hold the administration’s feet to the fire." Using history and precedent as a backdrop, I concluded that logic pointed in the direction of Newt Gingrich, and at this early date I'm still inclined to that opinion.

However, I also added this caveat:

McCain’s running mate might fit the bill, depending on who it is and whether or not this person had come through the campaign without being tainted by defeat or antagonizing activists in either wing of the party. A tall order, but parties have traditions of looking at former running mates as potential candidates, so anything’s possible.

Which leads me to the results of this week's run-off election for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, won handily by Republican Saxby Chambliss. Chambliss got a lot of national Republican support in winning that critical election, but none perhaps as important as that of the vice presidential candidate, one Sarah Palin:

“I can't overstate the impact she had down here,” Chambliss said during an interview Wednesday morning on Fox News.

“When she walks in a room, folks just explode,” he added. “And they really did pack the house everywhere we went. She's a dynamic lady, a great administrator, and I think she's got a great future in the Republican Party.”

Chambliss said that after watching her campaign on his behalf at several events Monday, he does not see her star status diminishing within the party.

The Republican also thanked John McCain and the other big name Republicans that came to Georgia, but said Palin made the biggest impact.

“We had John McCain and Mike Huckabee and Gov. Romney and Rudy Giuliani, but Sarah Palin came in on the last day, did a fly-around and, man, she was dynamite,” he said. “We packed the houses everywhere we went. And it really did allow us to peak and get our base fired up.” (H/T Greg Pollowitz at NRO's Media Blog.)

Now, 2010 is still a long way away, let alone 2012. But methinks the race for 2010 (which is really the starting point for 2012) has already begun. And although that race is sure to be a long one, if history is any indication there's one thing we know for sure: there's already a leader.