The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Any Real Chance’

Posted on | September 26, 2011 | 24 Comments

“Pawlenty . . . is widely viewed as the only candidate in Thursday night’s Fox News debate with any real chance of becoming the nominee of his party or President of the United States.”
— Ben Smith, Politico, May 6

Seems like forever ago, doesn’t it? T-Paw was “the only candidate . . . with any real chance,” and Ben Smith didn’t even bother to name the other candidates in the Greeneville, S.C., debate. But the other four are all still running, while Tim Pawlenty quit the race six weeks ago.

One of those candidates with no “real chance” was Herman Cain, who stomped Pawlenty like Godzilla stomped Tokyo that May night in South Carolina. And it was Cain’s victory that was the first hint that maybe T-Paw didn’t have “any real chance” after all.

Nobody at that time expected that Pawlenty was on his way to presidential oblivion and now, in the wake of another Godzilla-style stomping by Cain, another “real chance” victim is in denial:

Perry is little more than a month into the race, his advisers say, and he has proven that his message can resonate powerfully. Their view is that unlike Mitt Romney, Perry still has plenty of room to grow his support.
“We will continue to take our message of being a consistent conservative, who has a proven record of creating jobs and fiscal discipline to Washington,” said Perry strategist Dave Carney, pointing out that Romney came in behind Perry in the straw poll.

Yeah, Dave: That message that conservatives “don’t have a heart” really did resonate powerfully. But let’s go back to June 9, right after Dave Carney quit Newt Gingrich’s campaign:

Dave Carney, the former senior aide to Newt Gingrich who is also an adviser to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, says his departure from the Gingrich camp is entirely unrelated to growing speculation about a possible Perry presidential bid.
“This is totally unrelated to Rick Perry,” he wrote in an email just now.

Yeah, Dave: Totally unrelated. Which is why, a mere five days later, you were at Rick Perry’s side when he arrived for a New York meeting with the Big Money boys.  Wonder what they those Wall Street guys think of their investment now that the first drafts of Perry’s political obituary are already online. Here’s Jennifer Rubin of The Washington Post:

Perry’s debate debacle was not an isolated event. It simply crystallized the quietly expressed worries that he lacks serious ideas and the ability to advocate them. Reaction from operatives, officials and other GOP insiders ranged from disgust to dismay.

And by the way, to paraphrase Michele Bachmann’s new fund-raising appeal, if you don’t hit my tip jar, you don’t have a heart!




Category: Election 2012, Herman Cain, Media Bias

Comments

24 Responses to “‘Any Real Chance’”

  1. JeffS
    September 26th, 2011 @ 12:58 pm

    Is Dave Carney related to Jay Carney?  That might explain a lot.

  2. DaveO
    September 26th, 2011 @ 1:21 pm

    Someone smarter than one wrote recently: never dismiss the power of oratory.

    Most folks were impressed by the SCOAMF’s speaking skills (until the TOTUS broke down).

    Herman Cain, after Palin, may be the best communicator of the bunch. 

  3. DaveO
    September 26th, 2011 @ 1:21 pm

    Correction: please replace “one” with “me.” See?

  4. t-dahlgren
    September 26th, 2011 @ 1:23 pm

    Any chance Rubin’s “other GOP insider” would be more accurately phrased as “others deep in the Romney camp?”Closing your piece with a quote from her was not a strong move, might as well quote Davey Wiggle.

  5. Joe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 1:44 pm

    Predicting the future is a crap shoot.  From picking who is going to be president, to Stacy’s roulette system, we just do not know how things will turn out. 

    So follow your heart (and head), pick the candiate you think is best, and go with that for a while. 

    Drive Recklessly. 

  6. Joe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 1:44 pm

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S75Rfva9O8

  7. Datechguy's Blog » Blog Archive » Defective Masts, HMS Guerriere, Morning Joe and conventional wisdom
    September 26th, 2011 @ 11:17 am

    […] seems to be unable to process events in front of them. He has a much longer memory than the folks on the panel Seems like forever ago, doesn’t it? T-Paw was “the only candidate . . . with any real […]

  8. Daily Pundit » And People Pay Attention to Politico’s Leftist Bilge? Amazing!
    September 26th, 2011 @ 11:47 am

    […] ‘Any Real Chance’ : The Other McCain “Pawlenty . . . is widely viewed as the only candidate in Thursday night’s Fox News debate with any real chance of becoming the nominee of his party or President of the United States.” – Ben Smith, Politico, May 6 […]

  9. Bob Belvedere
    September 26th, 2011 @ 4:03 pm

    She’s definitely of The Establishment.

  10. Anonymous
    September 26th, 2011 @ 4:09 pm

    Bye-Bye Herman

    Dear Lord, can even one conservative candidate not be in love with the taste of shoe leather?

  11. Joe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 4:27 pm

    I want to know who were the “prominent Republicans” encouraging Christie to run.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204010604576593182650732322.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

  12. Joe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 4:29 pm

    Stacy, did some of those orange men head over to team Herman?  WTF is he thinking here? 

  13. elaine
    September 26th, 2011 @ 4:57 pm

    Bill Kristol, Ann Coulter… people like that.  I’m sure there were some upper echelon GOP party folks heaped in there, as well…

    But my point is, it isn’t the average republican voter who’s pining for Christie.  I don’t see many commenters on blogs say, “we need Christie.”  It’s just the inside the beltway types saying it.  And they’re saying it because they know Christie’s just another RINO, like them.

    But these folks are scared sh!tless to have Palin in the race.  And the weaker the GOP field looks, the more likely it is that Palin steps in.  So, that means the inside the beltway types have to find someone to short circuit that eventuality.  Thus they clamor for Christie.

    BTW, Kristol and the other “prominent Republicans” have been working on Christie for quite some time.  Remember how, not that long ago, Christie was saying that he absolutely had no desire to run for president at this time?  Yeah, well… guess these prominent republicans can be quite persuasive…

  14. Herman Cain on Obama: ‘I’m Listening to All This Bulls–t That He’s Talking About’ : The Other McCain
    September 26th, 2011 @ 1:15 pm

    […] and Herman Cain’s persistence against the odds is an inspiring example.PREVIOUSLY:Sept. 26: ‘Any Real Chance’Sept. 25: From Marco Rubio to Herman Cain: How the Crist Factor Hurt Perry in FloridaSept. 24: Dear […]

  15. elaine
    September 26th, 2011 @ 5:16 pm

    For me this is just as bad as when Cain BS’d his way through the Palestinian “right of return” question in one of the early debates, then was asked about it a couple days later on Fox News Sunday.  He admitted on FSN he didn’t know what the right of return was, but he did now.  Then he later added that he’d never BS his way through an answer; if he didn’t know the answer, he’d admit that.

    Well, sorry, but he didn’t know the answer at the debate.  He BS’d his way through it.  Then he claimed he’d never BS his way through an answer.

    This is like that… this is like Perry telling people “you have no heart.”  The fact is that if we’re serious about cutting the deficit and balancing the budget, then some people aren’t going to get free money from the government for whatever it is they want it for.

    BUT… and this is the point Cain misses — churches, private charities, and compassionate individuals will be there to help the less fortunate in their hour of need, when the government can no longer live up to its obligations to them.

    The point any true conservative would make is that the community itself will help the needy; we don’t need government doing OUR job.

    I’ve had problems with Cain, but this comment that basically we just shouldn’t worry now about how to pay for an emergency is problematic, because there will ALWAYS be an emergency.  If the justification for continuing to spend money we don’t have is that we shouldn’t play politics with people’s tragedies, then there’s always going to be people experiencing tragedy.

    Today it’s people who’ve endured a natural disaster.  Tomorrow it’s the long-term unemployed.  The day after, it’s a new disaster.  The day after that, it’s… you get the idea.

    The problem is that we’ve had decades of spending where precious few politicians worried about where the money would come from.  And now that’s caught up with us.  We MUST have the backbone to stop it.  That isn’t heartless, it’s practical.  It would be heartless if we just let people suffer, but we don’t need government to give people a check; we must be willing to give aid and assistance on an individual basis.

    If Cain misses that point, then he’s not ready or suited to be President.

  16. Joe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 5:16 pm

    I know Kristol, Coulter and Ingraham are on the list…who are the rest of them?  We need names. 

  17. elaine
    September 26th, 2011 @ 5:41 pm

    Do we?

    For too long, the political insiders and party leaders have been driving the nomination and basically telling the rest of us to shut up, suck up any of our misgivings, and support whoever ends up the nominee.  And for far too long, what we’ve ended up with is some “compassionate conservative” or milquetoast RINO the insiders assure us will appeal to the undecideds in the middle.

    Every time we ignore our misgivings and vote the way they tell us to, it’s disastrous, even when the nominal republican wins.

    So why should we care who they support or even who they are?

    I don’t give a rat’s behind who the “prominent republicans” are… all I care about is wresting power away from them and putting control in the average voters’ hands.  We probably don’t need to know their names to do that…

  18. Joe
    September 26th, 2011 @ 6:10 pm

    I would like to know who they are so I can denouce them. 

  19. elaine
    September 26th, 2011 @ 6:27 pm

    Okay, fair enough.

  20. Adjoran
    September 26th, 2011 @ 7:30 pm

    Nah, “Jay Carney” is just a stage name.  His real name is Doogie Howser.

  21. Adjoran
    September 26th, 2011 @ 7:40 pm

    You mean those alarmed by Perry’s poor debate performance?  Who wasn’t?

    But since you don’t like Jen Rubin, I guess he did just great . . .

  22. Adjoran
    September 26th, 2011 @ 7:40 pm

    You don’t need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

  23. Adjoran
    September 26th, 2011 @ 7:44 pm

    The “Christie dreamers” are just like the “Perry dreamers” two months ago . . . “we don’t know much about him, but from the little we do know, he sounds fabulous!  Let’s back him!”

    Christie is nowhere near the conservative Perry is – he’s pro-gun control, cap ‘n’ tax, Ground Zero Mosque, and Jersey Shore.  Christie has figured that much out, even if all his admirers have not.

  24. rosalie
    September 26th, 2011 @ 11:44 pm

    I have high hopes that we’re going to ignore the pompous asses who think they know better than us.