Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Rodeo Clown Update

There are signs that the Rodeo Clown phase of the 2012 presidential campaign is winding down. The candidates who have been feinting in the direction of a run, with no realistic hope of being elected, are beginning to disappear.

Trump and his bad hair are off the front pages, and not even registering in the polls. Gingrich's team defected last week, en masse -- an expression which, lamentably, doesn't mean "during the Sunday service." Apparently, Newt is a lazy campaigner who takes orders from his (current) wife, rather than his paid handlers.

Sarah Palin is not a serious candidate but may well run simply because she doesn't know what else to do just now. But even she has had a high-profile defection this week.

(In related news, Michele Bachmann, a rodeo clown if ever there was one, has announced her soon-to-be-irrelevant campaign. Heard a woman on MSNBC call Bachmann a winner in the NH debate "because she didn't embarrass herself." Is that really what winning looks like these days? We no longer hold our public figures to the standards of, say, Lincoln and Douglas, but come on. Fr. A. has not yet peed in his pants while preaching, but they aren't going to make him pope because of it.)

In the next few months, the credible candidates will begin to emerge. It's too early to say just who they are and how seriously to take any one of them. Romney appears to be the front-runner, and people are still talking about Pawlenty.

But the Team Gingrich defection apparently opened a door to Texas governor (and sometime secessionist) Rick Perry. After the disaster that was 2000-2008, you might not think that another Republican governor of Texas would be elected again for a long, long time. But then, we never expected a re-election in 2004, so what do we know?

1 comment:

LoieJ said...

I really long for a credible debate in the upcoming election, so I long for a credible candidate, one who don't equate belonging to the Rep party are part of his/her religion, ie. making statements about political positions as if they were statements of faith. I'd also like to see a Rep candidate who is willing to buck the tide in his/her own party on some issues.

Of course, that would also assume that the Dems would discuss their positions in an open minded manner.

But until the Reps show a little independence in their positions, I won't even consider checking their box on the ballot. Occasionally, our local public radio station will have a retired Rep office holder on for an interview. When I hear one of those guys, I can see why I have, in the past, voted for the Reps at times. I would rather consider myself an independent than leaning heavily toward one party.