Seriously, GOP? Really?

[Dr Strangelove]

Gingrich, Santorum and Romney have now each won one primary. If anyone thinks the campaigning has been brutal before, it's going to get much worse now. They'll destroy each other. Obama need not lift one finger. By the end of the Republican National Convention the stench will be so intense you'll need to put on a space suit in order to stay in the same room as the winner.

[Dr Strangelove]

- Reset policy with Russia. Who here thinks Putin and Medvedev are really nice guys in disguise? Anyone? Beuller? Beuller? Anyone?

The other large party in Russia is the Communist Party. Golly Zevico, I had no idea you were a commrade.

[Boris Godunov]

I was with you until this part. Obamacare is broadly unpopular and I think you underestimate the dislike for Obama amongst both Republicans and Democrats. It's not strong enough to allow a weak GOP candidate to beat Obama, as you rightfully pointed out, but Romney is not a weak candidate like Gingrich and Santorum.

Romney is not as weak as Gingrich or Santorum, no, but he's still a weak candidate overall. Unless you define being a strong candidate as being one with a ****load of money. Otherwise, Romney pretty much is everything a weak candidate should be: loathed by his own party' base (he has had a rather persistent ceiling of 30%) and just lost in a major butt-kicking in one of the most Republican of Republican state to Newt Gingrich, who as you mentioned above is a weaker candidate. Romney is boring on the stump, pretty bad in the debates and has probably made the most blunders of any candidate down the stretch (although not the most severe). Despite running for President since 2008 and being the frontrunner for so long, he's 1-for-3 in the primaries/caucuses so far, only winning in his backyard and getting thumped in SC. Nobody seems to trust Romney very much, which might be because he is documented as having flip-flopped on pretty much every significant issue.

As for Obamacare, isn't Romey the weakest candidate to campaign against that particular issue, if it's such a detriment to Obama's reelection chances? I'm betting the White House would be delighted to pepper Romney with compliments for being the grandfather of it, since it's virtually identical to the plan he advocated in Massachusetts and which he said should be implemented nation-wide.

Democrats loathe Romney, I assure you, and will have no problem backing the President in November. Obama currently has ~80% approval among Democrats, which is right about what Clinton had at this point, and it will only go higher as the election gets closer. Contrast that with Carter and Bush, whose approval ratings among their own party dipped below 50% in their terms, a number Obama has never been remotely close to. The unfortunate fact for Romney is that the more people see him, the less they like him. After all, he decided not to run for reelection after one term as MA governor because his approval ratings were in the 30s...

[Jon Miller]

What is Romney's position on Civil Liberties? I know about Ron Paul and some other Republicans.

And Civil Liberties is what I will vote on in 2012. And probably for the future.

Nope, not voting for Romney: http://glassbooth.org/explore/index/...ic-security/2/

JM

[Dinner]

OK, I'm curious. Other than adopting the health insurance bailout that was originally proposed by the Republicans, and supporting the Republicans' bailout of the financial industry, what has Obama done to make Republicans hate him?

Be black.

[Hauldren Collider]

I don't think most republicans care that he's black.

[Dinner]

There were an aweful lot of signs at the Tea Party rallies saying other wise.

[Jon Miller]

I don't think most republicans care that he's black.

Why do so many Republicans say 'he isn't american, he is a socialist' and so on, which are just not true. Factually not true.

These are all claims that show that Republicans problem with Obama is that he isn't part of their tribe/their group/etc. And he is Christian, he is straight, ... what is the one thing that he is not like the majority of Republicans on?

JM

[Hauldren Collider]

We're back to square one here. It isn't a good enough explanation that he's very liberal, passed a lot of extremely objectionable legislation, and has been a fairly ineffective president? We have to assume it's because he's black? This feels like the 2008 election.

Face the facts--Obama has a lot of flaws. Republicans dislike him for his flaws and for his ideology, not because of his skin color.

[giblets]

I don't think most republicans care that he's black.

When Herman Cain was the frontrunner a lot of Republicans tried to explain why Herman Cain was black but Obama wasn't.

[Jon Miller]

In 2008/2009 when I was in the US it was obvious it was due to skin color, in Virginia at least.

I don't think people have changed so much on this issue.

He isn't very liberal. He isn't significantly left of Bush 1, and isn't left of Clinton.

JM

[Hauldren Collider]

In 2008/2009 when I was in the US it was obvious it was due to skin color, in Virginia at least.

I don't think people have changed so much on this issue.

He isn't very liberal. He isn't significantly left of Bush 1, and isn't left of Clinton.

JM

Virginia voted for obama. Good god. And yes, he is liberal. I don't care if reddit and Paul Krugman don't think it is so.

[giblets]

Virginia voted for obama. Good god. And yes, he is liberal. I don't care if reddit and Paul Krugman don't think it is so.

Librul who doesn't support same-sex marriage, or legalizing pot, or "single payer" health care, or closing Guantanamo Bay.

[Hauldren Collider]

So what's your point? He's not liberal until he buys into literally everything regardless of political reality?

[giblets]

Government healthcare had enjoyed widespread public support until Obama became president and bungled healthcare reform. Is Obama a secret conservative?

http://www.gallup.com/poll/4708/Healthcare-System.aspx