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05
Nov 2011

One Small Voice: Romney, Obama & The Game of Thrones

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“Why so glum, Ellsworth?” Peter Keating asked.  “You’ve been in a bad mood all week.  I thought a fresh bowl of vichyssoise would cheer you up.”

My friend Peter Keating and I were back at La Crêpe Michel, taking a weekend off from posing as protestors at the University of New Mexico for the (un)Occupy Albuquerque demonstrations.  I’m always willing to endure great hardships for the cause, but I can only tolerate so much rubbing elbows with the great unwashed, who make up the bulk of our Progressive street agitators.  The tea baggers are a bunch of bible thumping ignoramuses, but at least they have been known to bathe on occasion.

Needless to say, I was in a foul mood.

“I thought  you would be ecstatic, Ellsworth,” Peter said.  “The Republican Presidential race is in a full meltdown, just like you predicted a few weeks ago.  Their new front-runner, Herman Cain, can’t get his story straight about those sexual harassment allegations.  Rick Perry had that bizarre melt-down in New Hampshire, which has been all over YouTube.  Newt Gingrich is still Newt Gingrich, and Mitt Romney can’t take a consistent position on anything.

“It’s like you wrote in your last column.  The Republican race has turned into the three week death march by the Boston Red Sox.”

“Dear lord, Peter,” I replied.  “You don’t actually believe the tripe I put in my columns, do you?  Like any good liberal columnist worth his or her salt, half of what I write down for public dissemination is an outright lie.  The rest are minor fibs, and only a small part is truth.

“The fact is, Peter, this last week may have sunk President Obama’s chances at re-election.”

“How can you say that?” Keating cried.  “I know the President is still down a bit in the polls, but he’s starting to get his mojo back, and the Republican race is a total debacle.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.  The problem, Peter, is that the only two conservatives who had a chance of keeping the nomination away from Mitt Romney took themselves out of the race this week.

“Regardless of the truth of those sexual harassment allegations, Herman Cain’s handling of the issue this week was an amateur hour.  Cain was just starting to become a credible standard bearer for the Tea Partiers, and then this happens.  Cain simply cannot survive this.

“The same with Rick Perry, who had the money to overcome his awful debate performances and become the conservative alternative to Romney.  Now, this loopy maple syrup video hits, and he’s done as well.  Even the right wing nuts won’t vote for someone who seems mentally unhinged.

“So, Peter, who is the credible conservative alternative now to Mitt Romney? Newt Gingrich – who has enough baggage to sink the Titanic?  Michele Bachman – who is like a highlight reel of the worst of Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell?  Rick Santorum – who is polling in the range of 3.5% in Iowa, well behind the rest of the field, and not going anywhere?

“No one, Peter.  There is no credible conservative alternative to Romney, not anymore.  If Romney wins in Iowa, which is now likely, and if he wins in New Hampshire, where he is now at 40%, with a 2 to 1 lead, and if he wins in South Carolina and Florida, the race for the Republican nomination will be over with the Florida primary on January 31st.”

“I thought that’s what we wanted,” Keating replied. “Everyone says the right-wingers will stay home if Romney is their nominee.  They say he’s no different from Obama.  Even George Will wrote last week that Romney is the Pretzel Candidate, and could lose the GOP seats in the Senate and the House.”

“More disinformation,” I said.  “George is simply bitter that his hero Mitch Daniels stayed out of the race.  George and Karl Rove and the other Republican insiders are all prodding Mitt to discipline his campaign, firming up his positions, to get him ready for the general election.  The Republican intelligentsia can read the polls and evaluate the field as well as we can.  As of this week, the Republican race is over.  Romney will be the nominee.”

“But all that flip-flopping on the issues will kill his chances, won’t they Ellsworth?

“Hardly.  That stuff matters to the ideologues, but they hate our guy Barack so much 99% of them will hold their noses and vote for Romney a year from now.  The key is the swing states, and that’s where Obama is in real trouble.  As of right now, Obama and Romney are even in twelve swing states.  Those numbers will move in Romney’s favor once he wraps up the  nomination.  If the economy does not improve dramatically, we Progressives are in real trouble.

“Depressing?  Well, ponder this, Peter.  Romney wraps up the nomination early, and makes the right wingers happy by putting Marco Rubio on the national ticket with him.  Rubio helps the Republicans with both conservatives and Hispanics in swing states like Florida and New Mexico.  With the current field in New Mexico’s first congressional district going nowhere, and with judicial redistricting likely to keep the lines similar to what they are now, Jon Barela is likely to jump into the race.

“New Mexico Progressives could be facing a 180 degree reversal of 2008, with Romney/Rubio defeating Obama/Biden, smarty pants Heather Wilson  beating our golden-boy Martin Heinrich, and Jon Barela winning back CD1, simply by reminding everyone of why they hate Marty Chávez so much.”

Keating stared at me, horrified, unable to say a word.

The Iron Throne

“That’s what happens when you play the Game of Thrones, Peter.  You win or you die – metaphorically, of course.  One day, you sit atop the Iron Throne, like our man Barack, lord of all that you survey.  The next, you are Eddard Stark or Marcus Tullius Cicero – cast out of power, with your political head on a spike.

“There is no middle ground, Peter, for Barack or for us.  We Progressives could be the ones on the death march.”

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08
Oct 2011

One Small Voice: The 2012 GOP Death March

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To the great joy of yours truly and my fellow travelers in the Progressive movement, the race for the Republican Presidential nomination continues to mirror the three week death march by the Boston Red Sox at the close of this year’s baseball season.

Despite President Obama’s continued vulnerability in the polls – the rabble simply do not know what’s best for them – the adults in the GOP are all taking a pass on the race.  Frantic pleas from the Republican establishment notwithstanding, a steady stream of plausible nominees have declined to run, starting with Jeb Bush, followed in the ensuing months by Bobby Jindal, Marco Rubio, Mike Pence, Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan and most recently Chris Christie.  Thanks to the Florida Republican Party, the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire Primary may now be in December – forcing a stampede toward the early selection of a flawed nominee, who will have no chance against our man Barack in November.

So what are the Republicans left with?  According to the latest Zogby Poll, the current standing of Republicans actually in the race are as follow:

Herman Cain: 38% and rising.  Yes, you read that right.  The pizza man, talk show host and current tea party favorite has moved up quickly in the polls after winning a Florida straw poll, despite never having served in elective office.  Mr. Cain’s only prior elective experience was losing a U.S. Senate primary in Georgia, getting only 26.2% of the vote.  Cain shows a shocking lack of knowledge, which does not seem to trouble his Know-Nothing supporters, who still have fond memories of their gal Sarah Palin.  How does running a business qualify anyone to run a government?  The guy simply has no experience.  In a general election, our guy Barack would eat this guy for lunch.

Mitt Romney: 18% and stagnating.  Mitt is the GOP intelligentsia’s last best hope to win the general election.  Alas, Mitt’s numbers have failed to move much over the past four years, consistently staying at or below 20%.  Republican primary voters all know Pandering Mitt, but 4 out of 5 still don’t like him, or trust him.  Romney is still the snooty rich kid everyone hated in high school, and the bible thumpers still can’t get past the special underwear.  The establishment is terrified that as soon as the tea baggers pick their horse, Mitt will be toast.  They have every right to be.  Remember what happened to Mike Castle?  Mitt is next.  This little video from the Perry campaign is just the start of what’s to come:

Rick Perry: 12% and dropping like a rock.  The current Texas Governor makes his predecessor, W the ignorant, look like “the smart one.”  Rick was at 41% in early August, but then he started opening his mouth at the debates, and it was all over; that, and folks started to read his book.  Now, it comes out that Rick’s family owns a place called the “N—–head Ranch.”  Perry raised $17 million before all that came out, but the money is about to dry up.  Owning a ranch named with the “N word” is radioactive — at least outside of Texas.  Stick a fork in Perry.

Ron Paul: 12% and has hit his ceiling.  Twelve percent of likely Republican primary voters believe in black helicopter Fed conspiracies, doing away with Air Traffic Control and stop signs, and are certifiably insane.  For Dr. Paul, those folks are his base.  Unfortunately for the good doctor, the remaining 88% of the GOP electorate are somewhat sane, and will never go for him.

Newt Gingrich:  4% and doomed.  As a former Speaker of the House who lead the 1982 Contract with America Republican Revolution, a 4% showing is an embarrassment.  Newt’s entire staff resigned en masse when he insisted on a taking a Greek cruise with wifey-poo in the middle of the campaign.  An insufferable, sanctimonious pant load even in his irrelevancy, Newt needs to save himself from further embarrassment and just go away, but he won’t.

Jon Huntsman, Jr.:  4% and in the wrong party.  Probably the strongest general election candidate in the field, but you can’t stand up for science and against a literal interpretation of the Bible and win a Republican primary.  Jon would likely pull 30% if he switched parties and took on Barack in New Hampshire, but he won’t.

Michele Bachmann:  3% and close to hitting bottom.  Michele was riding high at 34% in June, but she lost everything when Perry entered the race the day she won the Iowa straw poll.  Perry’s implosion has not seen her support return, and she has now become as irrelevant to this race as Alex Rodriguez in October.

Rick Santorum:  1% and going nowhere.  Google his last name, and you’ll see why.

Gary Johnson:  Below 1% and lucky to get an invite to a debate.   How can a pro-drug, pro gay marriage atheist do so poorly with Republican primary voters?  Gary was smoking dope when he thought he had a shot at this.

So there you have it.  Romney might pull out a Christmas Day win in New Hampshire, but he has no chance in South Carolina, Florida or any other state outside New England.  With Perry and Bachmann imploding, Herman Cain might actually run away with the nomination.

Now you know why the Republican beltway establishment was so aghast when Governor Chris Christie took a pass on the race last week.  As my friend Bill Maher pointed out last night, the GOP insiders saw Christie as their last hope to reign in the wing-nuts, kicking them upside the head à la Tony Soprano.

Now, the rabble is set to run amok and nominate the national equivalent of Sharron Angle or Christine O’Donnell, who will promptly drive the Republican Party off a cliff.  Independents may be disgusted with Barack, who has not been The One they have been waiting for, but where else are they going to go?

One word to my Progressive friends:  It is far too early to celebrate.  True, it’s hard to see Mitt making it past South Carolina, but if he somehow survives and wins the nomination, Romney could cause problems for Obama.  After all, like Barack, Mitt will say or do anything to get elected.

More worrisome is the prospect that an early Romney disintegration could prompt a late entry into the GOP race.  If Romney falters early, the establishment might yet find a savior who could cause us problems in November.  Christie or Paul Ryan are possibilities, but if there were to be a late entry, my money would be on Mitch Daniels.  Midget Mitch took a pass on the race this summer, saying his wife and daughters wanted no part of him volunteering for vivisection in the Republican primaries.  Mitch knew the crazies would target him for his “truce on social issues” stance.   If you want an idea of how the right wing nuts in the Republican base reacted to that, just go to this link and review some of the comments.

Why Governor Daniels as a late entry, you ask?  The man just came out with a book, Keeping the Republic, and politicians don’t just come out with serious books like that unless they’re up to something.  Waiting for a Romney collapse might be just the ticket for him – Lord Cheney and the Bushies in exile turn to Daniels in March, with desperate pleas that only he can save the party, and the country.  Mild mannered, smarty-pants Mitch jumps in, rights the ship and gives Barack fits in the general election.

Hopefully it won’t come to that.

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28
Aug 2011

One Small Voice: Heinrich in Hiding

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Martin Heinrich

“My God, Ellsworth, that awful Heather Wilson is at it again.  Have you seen her column in today’s Albuquerque Journal?”

My friend Peter Keating and I were having a late breakfast at the Frontier — not one of our typical haunts, given the absence of French cuisine from the menu, but every once-in-a-while, I feel obligated to rub elbows with average folk.  Those of us in the intelligentsia need to interact with the rabble on occasion to maintain our common touch, even if it requires enduring the odor of cheese enchiladas doused in green and red chile.

“Yes, Peter,” I replied with a sigh.  “Of course I saw her column.  What of it?”

Heather Wilson

“Wilson excoriates our guy Martin Heinrich for hiding from the voters,” Peter said, waiving the Opinion section at me.  “This is what she writes:

Over the last few years, as the dominant party in power in Washington, Democrats have racked up a dismal record on job creation and spending. It’s something they don’t want to talk about with New Mexicans, which is probably why only one of New Mexico’s four Democrats in Congress is willing to face the public and answer tough questions at town hall meetings.  …

Our representatives in Washington work for us.  Whether we agree or disagree with what they’re doing, we deserve to be heard and they have an obligation to listen.

Rep. Martin Heinrich recently stated that he had no time for town hall meetings and no time to take questions from his constituents.

The excuse is new, but the absence isn’t. Heinrich hosted only one town hall in the summer of 2009 before voting in favor of the health care bill that increases taxes, cuts Medicare and unconstitutionally expands federal government power.

“Wilson then goes on an extended rant about excessive government spending and the multiple failures of the Obama Administration, concluding with this:

I don’t agree with the big-government, heavy-regulatory approach of Heinrich. But I am one of his constituents, and the people of the First District deserve a chance to ask him questions, and hear directly about what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. Until he stops hiding, we’ll have to let his record speak for itself.

“Heather is calling Heinrich out, Ellsworth.  I think Martin has to confront her on this, or he will look like a total coward.”

Live Coward

“Better a live coward than a dead hero,” I shot back.  “Facing angry voters is the last thing Martin Heinrich needs to do.

“Think about it, Peter.  Are you really suggesting that Congressman Heinrich should walk into some community center or middle school cafeteria, subjecting himself to an unscripted grilling by members of the general public?

“What do you think would happen?  Local news crews would show up, transmitting images across the state of angry, out-of-work citizens ripping into our guy Martin over the loss of jobs under the Obama Administration.  That, or we would see enraged seniors upset about Obama Care, or middle-income tax payers incensed with out-of-control government spending.  In other words, you would be sending him right into the jaws of the Tea Party. 

Dead Hero

“Is that what you want, Peter?  Martin Heinrich is the Golden Boy of New Mexico Politics, but we can only put so much on those narrow shoulders of his.  We can’t just throw him to the mob.  We don’t want a dead hero – a martyr to the cause.  We want to win.”

“But Ellsworth,” Keating protested.  “Heinrich is an incumbent congressman running for the U.S. Senate.  He has to engage his fellow citizens on the issues.  He has to convince the public of the wisdom of our enlightened Progressive policies!”

“Oh dear, Peter,” I sighed.  “This is not high school civics.  We don’t win elections on the merit of our Progressive agenda.  The vast majority of voters — Republican and Democrat – are complete imbeciles, and have no idea what’s good for them.  They don’t read newspapers or watch C-SPAN or other news shows.  The morons decide how to vote based on those slick 30 second ads that they see during football games, telenovelas and American Idol.”

Eye Candy

“We’ll run some nice ads reminding everyone how handsome our boy Martin is, and run even more ads ripping the hell out of Heather Wilson and the Republicans – just like that big lie we hung around Jon Barela on Social Security.”

“But what if the voters decide they actually want substantive conversations with their next U.S. Senator, Ellsworth?” Keating whined.  “Hiding Heinrich for the next year and a half could back fire.”

“A few slick ads will keep the great unwashed in line.  Meanwhile, we’ll hide Martin in a box  until after the election.  No unscripted interaction with voters, no policy pronouncements of any substance, and no debates or confrontations with that smarty-pants Heather Wilson.  We’ll play it safe.”

I finished off by sweet roll, and downed the last part of my orange juice. 

“We can’t have a repeat of 2006, Peter.  Just remember what happened to Patsy Madrid.  She had a healthy lead, and we all told her to stay away from any debates, but she wouldn’t listen.  You remember what happened next:  Heather got Patsy so flummoxed Madrid couldn’t answer an easy question about taxing the rich.  If Patsy had stayed home, she would have won that election and would now be well into her third term in Congress.

“Fortunately, Martin Heinrich knows he is thoroughly outmatched by Heather Wilson.  Martin knows he can’t stand toe-to-toe with Heather in a substantive debate.  He won’t make the same mistake.”

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20
Aug 2011

One Small Voice: Texas Ugly, Playing It Safe & La Bohème

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“Okay, Ellsworth, tell me what you’re up to.”

My friend Peter Keating had just picked me up at the airport in Albuquerque, and we were enjoying a late lunch on the patio at La Crêpe Michel.  I was enjoying a cool bowl of vichyssoise and sipping a dry Bergerac, having just returned to New Mexico after a two month sojourn in Provence.  Peter and I had tickets in Santa Fe that evening for La Bohème.

“The last few months have been an absolute disaster for our man Barack,” Keating continued, “yet you’re almost giddy.  What are you up to?”

Peter knew that on my way back, I had stopped off for a series of high level meetings with top officials in Washington – David Axelrod and Wesley Mouch from the campaign, Andy Stern and Cuffy Meigs from the unions, Warren Buffett and Orren Boyle from the business community.

“Ellsworth,” Peter whined.  “Tell me what’s going on.  The Progressive movement is on the verge of annihilation, and you’re sitting here calmly sipping your soup.”

 “Don’t be so hysterical, Peter,” I replied.  “Your leaders in Washington know exactly what they’re doing.  Orren tells me the big money corporate socialists are lining up nicely for the upcoming campaign.  Most of our successful business tycoons are like Warren and Orren — not sociopaths like Hank Rearden or Howard Roark.   Cuffy says our union friends are grumbling a bit, but they’ll be on board.  We should have well above a billion dollars in campaign cash. 

“You needn’t worry too much, Peter.  The President is well on his way to re-election.  And, if it all plays out as planned, our gal Nancy Pelosi will be restored to her rightful place as Speaker of the House.”

“Ellsworth,” Peter sighed, “you’ve been in France too long.  Maybe you haven’t heard, but Obama has only a 40% approval rating.  He was rolled by the Tea Party in the debt ceiling negotiations last month.  All the Progressives are mad at him, the right-wing lunatics hate him, and independents are deserting him in droves. 

“Obama’s done, Ellsworth,” Keating cried.  “I can’t believe how far down he has fallen, but I don’t see how he can be re-elected.  To be honest, given his lack of leadership on any of the issues we Progressives care about, I’m not even sure he’s worth re-electing. 

“Oh grow up, Peter,” I said sharply.  “I’ve come to expect tripe like that from the great unwashed in the blogosphere, but you’ve been around me long enough to know better. 

“Let me explain this to you – again.  Petey, the one and only thing that matters is winning the 2012 election.  The country, quite frankly, can go to hell for the next year and a half for all we care.  If economic disaster and a little starvation wins us the election, and we remain in power for another four years, it will all be worth it.  The great thing about a catastrophe is it makes it easy to scare the crap out of your average voter.  Nothing motivates the electorate like fear.”

I paused and slurped my soup.  Keating was aghast. 

“How do we win, you ask, with the President so far down in the polls?  He doesn’t take a controversial position on anything.  We give America a year and a half of bromides.  Taking a tough stand ‘for the good of the country’ makes enemies, Peter.  The rabble may say they want the hard truth, but they don’t.  We’ll let Republicans do that.  Let them emulate Profiles in Courage.  We won’t make that mistake.

“Just look at what happened to Paul Ryan when he stuck his neck out on Medicare.  Virtually every Republican in the House joined him, on a useless vote that we will wrap around their necks in 2012. 

“That commercial we used last year, dumping grandma off a cliff, was child’s play.  Wait until you see the barrage we have planned against all those Republican incumbents who took the plunge on that vote come next year.

“But playing it safe isn’t good enough for you, Peter?  You want Obama to show political courage?  You want him to be a leader?  You want him to play Leonidas? 

“Do you know what happens to heroes, Peter?  They get slaughtered.”

“But how can Obama win, Ellsworth?” Keating whined.  “That ‘bad luck’ speech he gave last week reminded everyone of Jimmy Carter and that malaise speech.  He’s dead in the water.  Everyone says so.”

“As always, Peter, our salvation will be the Republicans,” I replied.  “The race for the Republican Presidential nomination is down to three candidates: Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Mitt Romney. 

“What about Rick Perry, you ask?  Perry has the Texas swagger of George W. Bush — on steroids.  He makes W the ignoramus look like a Rhodes scholar.  Global warming is a hoax, he says?  Evolution is just a theory with lots of holes, he adds?  Comments like that will win you the bible belt, but will lose every single swing state.  Perry is a coyote shooting nut case.  He can’t win a general election.

“Michele Bachmann?  She is Christine O’Donnell, Sharon Engle and Sarah Palin rolled into one.  She became a tax lawyer out of obedience to her husband?  That loses her most of the women’s vote.  She can’t win either.

“Mitt Romney?  The establishment might swing the nomination to him as a last resort, but the tea baggers will never go for Mitt.  He reminds everyone of the stuck up rich kid they hated in high school.  His habit of switching positions kills him with the right-wing base.

“That leaves the Repubicans with nothing.  I hear that when Karl Rove was in town last week for Heather Wilson, he was still lamenting the decision by Mitch Daniels not to enter the presidential race.  Peter, Karl can say all he wants on his website about Governor Perry being a plausible nominee, but it rings hollow.  Karl knows Perry can’t keep his mouth shut, and he knows he can’t win.  Karl also knows Rick Perry will turn the race for the nomination into a bare-knuckled brawl — a divisive Texas ugly blood bath.”

“Folks might be disappointed in Barack Obama, because it ends up he is not The One they’ve been waiting for.  Still, Barack is smooth and glib, and most voters still like him on a personal level — whatever the hell that means, because no one really knows the man.  With Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan and Chris Christie out, the Presidential race is over.   In a few months, we can start focusing on the down ballot races, like winning the open Senate seat for Martin Heinrich.

“As long as Barack plays it safe, we can sit back with our big pile of money and mop up after the Republicans destroy themselves.”

__________________

As an added bonus, here’s a clip the Santa Fe Opera’s production of La Bohème:

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22
May 2011

One Small Voice: Cowards

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Joshua Chamberlain

On July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine held the end of the line of the Union Army at Little Round Top.  Wave after wave of Confederate attacks decimated Chamberlain’s regiment.  Retreat or surrender was not an option, as either would result in Confederates turning the Union line, defeating the Union Army from the rear, and probably winning the Civil War for the South.  Out of ammunition, Chamberlain ordered “BAYONETS”, and he attacked the stunned Confederates, winning the engagement, the battle, and ultimately the war.

Move to the present.  On  February 11, 2011, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels gave a pretty speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference.  He warned:

Mitch Daniels

In our nation, in our time, the friends of freedom have an assignment, as great as those of the 1860s, or the 1940s, or the long twilight of the Cold War.  As in those days, the American project is menaced by a survival-level threat.  We face an enemy, lethal to liberty, and even more implacable than those America has defeated before.  We cannot deter it; there is no countervailing danger we can pose. We cannot negotiate with it, any more than with an iceberg or a Great White.

I refer, of course, to the debts our nation has amassed for itself over decades of indulgence.  It is the new Red Menace, this time consisting of ink. We can debate its origins endlessly and search for villains on ideological grounds, but the reality is pure arithmetic.  No enterprise, small or large, public or private, can remain self-governing, let alone successful, so deeply in hock to others as we are about to be.

Need I illustrate?  Surely the consequences, to prosperity, world influence, and personal freedom itself are as clear to this audience as to anyone could appear before.

Do I exaggerate?  I’d love to be shown that I do.  Any who think so please see me in the hallway afterward, and bring your third grade math books.

If a foreign power advanced an army to the border of our land, everyone in this room would drop everything and look for a way to help.  We would set aside all other agendas and disputes as secondary, and go to the ramparts until the threat was repelled.  That is what those of us here, and every possible ally we can persuade to join us, are now called to do.  It is our generational assignment.  It is the mission of our era.

Late Saturday, Governor Daniels announced that because of family considerations, he will not be a candidate for President of the United States.  In the face of our “generational assignment … the mission of our era”, Mitch is running away.  Daniels joins a long list of prominent Republicans who have declined to run against Barack Obama in 2012:  Mike Pence, John Thune, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Rick Perry, and now him.

As a Progressive, I am ecstatic. 

The adults in the Republican Party are cowards.  They talk big and can give a nice speech, but at the end of the day they are nothing but a bunch of — excuse my French — pussies.  None of them wants to get their hands dirty.  None of them  want to get down into the muck, and to do what would be necessary to defeat Barack Obama and our media backed political war machine.  None of them have the stomach for it – even Chris Christie, who has stomach to spare.

The adults in the GOP have surrendered their party, and their future, to lesser candidates.  Who are they going to nominate?  Pandering Mitt Romney, who changes his deeply held beliefs as the wind blows?  Tim Pawlenty, a Republican imitation of Michael Dukakis?  The back-stabbing Newt Gingrich, who is well into his dotage?  Herman Cain, who has never held elective office, and whose only electoral experience was to get 26% of the vote in a U.S. Senate primary?  Jon Huntsman, a refugee of the Obama administration?  Tea Party favorites Michele Bachman and Sarah Palin, who would drive the GOP off a cliff like Sharron Angle or Christine O’Donnell?  Libertarian jihadists Ron Paul and Gary Johnson, who are fighting over the 5% of the electorate who want to legalize heroin and return to the gold standard? 

That’s it?  Pathetic.

The so-called adults in the Republican Party have left the nation with a freak show.  Why?  Because none of them have the cajónes to take on Barack Obama.  

This is all great news for the Progressive movement and our union allies.  With Barack a sure thing for re-election, we can focus our energies on winning key U.S. Senate and House races.  We might just return our gal Nancy to the Speaker’s office, and elect enlightened progressives like Martin Heinrich to the Senate.   With a weak standard bearer, quality Republicans will decline to run up and down the ballot.  The national effort will be disjointed and demoralized, just like 2008.  No Bush/Cheney campaign juggernaut to worry about next year. 

Thanks to this great abdication, 2010 will be a one election aberration, as we continue our march towards more government and more enlightened rule by those of us in the elite.  One neck ready for one leash, as I always say.

Republicans don’t have any Joshua Chamberlains running around, ready to fix bayonets and lead the charge to stop us.   All the heroes are dead.  RIP.

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01
May 2011

One Small Voice: Hector Goes Off the Reservation & Mitch Could be Trouble for Barack

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New Mexico State Auditor Hector Balderas - Who Does He Think He Is?

“What’s wrong, Ellsworth?” my friend Peter Keating asked.  “You’ve been cranky all week.”

Peter and I were grabbing an early bite at Le Chantilly in Albuquerque, preparing for a meeting with Cuffy Meigs and leaders in the local teachers’ union.  With the exception of the abysmal failure of the Atlas Shrugged movie — which gives me immense pleasure — it has been an awful week.   Some of you drink when you get depressed.  I eat French pastries.

“Where do I start, Peter?” I sighed.  “After months of careful planning, getting everyone on board behind our guy Martin Heinrich in the open U.S. Senate race, Hector Balderas decides to go off the reservation. 

Next year was promising to be a repeat of 2008, where Democrats unified behind Tom Udall while the Republicans slaughtered each other in a bloody primary. 

“Now, Hector wants to cut the line, and is trying to win the nomination by pitting rural Democrats against our Progressive base in Albuquerque and Santa Fe.  Meanwhile, Heather Wilson is just killing John Sanchez in the early polls, and she may take the Republican nomination unopposed, or with only nominal opposition. 

Heather Wilson - Insufferable Smarty-Pants

“We are headed for a blood bath – a repeat of the Casey Luna/Bruce King debacle of ’94 – which will hand the U.S. Senate seat to Ms. Smarty-Pants for the next 20 to 30 years.”

“I thought you liked Hector, Ellsworth,” Keating said.  “You were all for him running for AG in two years.”

“Attorney General?  Sure, Petey, that would be fine, but not the United States Senate.  The senate seat is important.  We need a reliable Progressive, a solid union guy, an ardent environmentalist, someone who can be relied upon to do what he is told.  Someone willing to lie when we need him to lie to win an election - like our boy Martin Heinrich.  You remember what he did to Jon Barela last year, with that social security ad that scared the crap out of all the old folks?  Martin will stoop to anything.

“Hector, alas, is his own man, a moderate on some issues, even a conservative on some social issues.  Our big money Progressive donors in Albuquerque and Santa Fe won’t like that.  Plus, Hector won’t play ball with our lobbyist friends on K Street, which is the last thing we need.”

“So what are you going to do, Ellsworth?  Submarine him?”

Martin Heinrich - Eye Candy

“This is all very touchy, Peter.  We need the rural Hispanic vote to win general elections, but we can’t let those people actually run the party.  Hector is going to get the rabble from the rural areas all stirred up, thinking they should be in charge, and one of them should be the Senator. 

“What is it Hector says in his video — ‘I won’t be the candidate of the lobbyists or the insiders.  I’m not running to be their Senator.  I’m running to be yours.’  

“A senator with a mind of his own?  Please.  We can’t have that.”

I nibbled at my cheese croissant, and sipped my cappuccino.

Governor Mitch Daniels - Egghead

“But that’s not the worst of it, Petey.  It looks like that other insufferable smarty-pants, that midget from Indiana, will be entering the Presidential race.  He could be dangerous.”

“Mitch Daniels?” Keating asked.  “You’ve been saying for months that Obama would crush him.”

“That’s the lie we use for public dissemination, Peter.  No, Daniels is the one candidate who worries us the most. 

“Mitch has quite the reputation for careful planning, and thinking strategically.  This whole ‘will he run’ or ‘won’t he run’ melodrama has been a ruse.  Karl Rove, Jeb Bush, George Will and the rest of the Republican elite have been plotting for months for Daniels to enter the race.  Mitch has been coy, but it turns out he has a full campaign organization in place. 

“Mitch is ready to go, and will — soon. 

“It seems to me Haley Barbour was just a stalking horse.  Mitch and Haley are buddies from the Reagan years.  The plan all along was for Haley to keep the big money folks on hold, let the media ridicule pandering Mitt and the rest of the field, then bring in Mitch at the eleventh hour to save the day, like Harry Potter defeating Voldemort, or in Mitch’s case, like Frodo Baggins riding out of the Shire to destroy the Ring.”

“Friday, Mitch announced he’s going to sign the most conservative anti-abortion funding bill ever passed in the United States, gutting Planned Parenthood.  So much for the “truce” on social issues.  Overnight, he goes from zero to hero with the social conservative crowd.  It’s all been well choreographed.  A brilliant job, actually.”

“But Daniels is dreadfully dull, Ellsworth,” Keating said.  “I mean, could he actually beat Obama?”

“In a general election, the Daniels campaign won’t be a replay of the McCain/Palin amateur hour.  He’ll resurrect the Bush/Cheney 2004 war machine.  Mitch and his team will have precinct level turnout operations in key states, and will build a competent, methodical, well funded juggernaut.  Obama had better be ready, or his bony little African-American butt will get shipped back to Chicago on a rail.”

“I’m worried, Peter.  America might just dump Barack for the reincarnation of Calvin Coolidge.  This whole thing has Rove’s fingerprints all over it, and I don’t like it. 

“It’s depressing.  Hand me another pain au chocolat.”

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17
Apr 2011

One Small Voice: Neutering Atlas Shrugged

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“My God, Ellsworth, that was the worst movie I’ve ever seen.  I actually started having flash-backs of being back in school at Stanton, with you-know-who.”

My friend Peter Keating and I were grabbing a late dinner at Café Jean Pierre, which happens to be across the parking lot from the Century Rio 24 Multiplex.  Keating and I are big movie buffs – we see everything with Hugh Grant, George Clooney or Meryl Streep – but Friday night was no such occasion.  We had just finished enduring Atlas Shrugged Part I.

We didn’t pay admission to see Atlas Shrugged, of course.  Neither of us wanted to send a dime to the right-wing nut who independently produced the movie.  Rather, we purchased tickets to Robert Redford’s new flick about the Lincoln assassination.  Bob is a reliable Progressive, and we always make a point of supporting his work.  So, we paid to see The Conspirator, and then snuck into the theater next door to watch the Ayn Rand screed. 

“Oh, stop whining, Petey,” I said, as I dug into my Ratatouille and sipped a nice Beaujolais recommended by the sommelier.  “Opposition research is important.  Think of it as enemy reconnaissance, doing our part for the cause.”

“I know, Ellsworth,” Peter sighed.  “But it really was horrible.  All those smug, self-absorbed jerks in suits texting on their iPhones – and that was just the audience.”

“True,” I replied.  “All the Ayn Rand Assholes really were out in force, weren’t they?”

“So what nasty things are you going to write about the movie in your column, Ellsworth?  I hope you really let them have it.”

“I’m going to write as much about that movie as I did the Enwright House, Peter.  Nothing, not a word.”

“But why?  How are you going to keep people away if you don’t tell them how awful it was?”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Petey.  The media has already done a nice job of slamming the movie – Variety, Roger Ebert, The Washington Post, Maureen Dowd – all the usual suspects.  Even some on the other side have panned it. 

“No, at this point, the less said about that movie the better.  It doesn’t have a single car chase, or sex scene, or gratuitous display of medieval violence – which apparently will have to wait for Part II, when Danneskjöld makes his appearance.  No, audiences will fall asleep watching self-absorbed industrialists arguing with each other in boardrooms, and sipping wine in hotel lobbies.  It won’t last long in the theaters.”

“But isn’t this a golden opportunity for you to discredit Rand’s philosophy?”

“Peter, I don’t waste my time debating the minutia of Objectivism.  It’s fine to paint it with a broad brush – ‘Ayn Rand preached selfishness and greed as virtues,’ or ‘Remember Whittaker Chamber’s denunciation of the book over fifty years ago –  ‘From almost any page of Atlas Shrugged, a voice can be heard, from painful necessity, commanding: To the gas chambers — go!’”

“But why not pile on, Ellsworth?  Her philosophy is monstrous.”

“From afar, yes.  If you look at it more closely, however, you run the risk of people actually picking up the book and reading it, and that’s where we can get into trouble.  Take for example Rand’s admiration of the human spirit, her advocacy of what she repeatedly calls ‘the heroic nature of man.’  What do we do if people take that to heart?  They might start to believe it.  We Progressives know people are dolts — sheep to be led to the slaughter — but we can’t say that to masses. They’ll get their backs up.   

“Let’s take another example.  Should we argue against the virtue of productive work, or denounce the creation of wealth?  The old bromide that ‘money is the root of all evil’ appeals to the simple minded, but is ultimately self-defeating.  The producers of wealth — the work horses we in power rely upon to start businesses, employ people and pay taxes — might get pissed off.  What if the producers start to realize they don’t need us?  What if they quit, like John Galt advocates in the book?   We can get away with denouncing the idle rich, but we have to lay off the producers, because we need them to survive. 

Ayn Rand in a Hat - Bizzaro

“My point, Peter, is that digging too deep into Rand’s philosophy can get us in to trouble.  The best approach goes like this – ‘Ayn Rand?  You don’t take her seriously, do you?  Her philosophy is simplistic, a phase people go through as sophomores in college.  You’ve grown out of that, haven’t you?’ 

“Or this – ‘Atlas Shrugged?  My dear, that’s an awful book.  Don’t waste your time reading that tripe.  I thought you were a Christian?  You know Ayn Rand was an atheist, don’t you?  She’s in hell with all the other robber barons.  You should stay away from her.’  That line really works with the tea baggers, who are all a bunch of bible thumpers. 

“If they persist, ask if they realize Objectivism is a cult, like the Scientologists or the Hari Krishna.  Point out how Ayn Rand excommunicated supporters, her bizarre sexual affair with a member of her inner circle, and her feud with conservative icon William F. Buckley.  Tell them that when Rand died in 1982, a 6-foot-high floral dollar sign was erected by her open coffin.  

“In other words, turn her into a cartoon.  Ridicule is the way to pry people away from Ayn Rand, not reason.”

“I just don’t see what the big deal is, Ellsworth,” Keating said.  “The theater just now was only half full.  Not that many people have ever heard of Ayn Rand, and few are able to make it through her book.”

Congressman Paul Ryan - a Mortal Threat

“The problem is not the number of her acolytes, but their influence.  Alan Greenspan was one of her closest followers back in the day, and look where he ended up.  Now she has a whole new group of disciples – Congressman Paul Ryan, for example, the new Chairman of the House Budget Committee, requires everyone on his staff to read Atlas Shrugged.  Ryan’s new budget is premised on the notation that people don’t need all of our new government welfare programs, or even those of us in the elite to lead them by the nose. 

“Ryan is a true believer, Peter, and allowing people like him, who fully absorb her philosophy, to get into power threatens everything we Progressives have worked for since the New Deal.  Who knows how many ignoramuses will watch that awful movie, and then buy the book.  Some of them – a small number, mind you – will actually read the damn thing and understand it.  Then, they will have their Ayn Rand Epiphany, and we will have lost them forever.

“Make no mistake.  Ayn Rand is dead and buried, but she remains a mortal threat to people like us.  We need to pry people away before they understand her, not by arguing the merits, but with a sneer and a shrug – if you will.”

______________________

Here’s a video clip from a few years back, where Stephen Colbert did a brilliant job of ridiculing Atlas Shrugged and Ayn Rand.  Colbert is a pro:

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27
Mar 2011

One Small Voice: Republican Holy War & John Sanchez is Sarah Palin in Pants

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“You see, Petey, it’s like I’ve been telling you for weeks.  The open U.S. Senate seat is in the bag, because the Republican Holy War has officially started.”     

My friend Peter Keating and I were enjoying a late breakfast at the San Marcos Cafe outside of Santa Fe.  Peter was working on a Feed Store burrito while I toyed with a Quiche Lorraine, as I scanned the Internet on my iPad.     

Joe Monahan

I had just been reading our pal Joe Monahan’s post on Friday, and was reveling in recent developments in the U.S. Senate race.  Our friend Joe does yeoman’s work for the Democratic Party and our union allies, sticking a knife into the backs of Susana Martinez, Heather Wilson and R.J. Berry at every conceivable opportunity.     

In his post on Friday, Joe gleefully reported on the coming Republican meltdown, covering the tour of Washington, D.C., this week by our erstwhile Lieutenant Governor, John Sanchez, as he made the rounds seeking support for a primary race against Ms. Wilson:      

John Sanchez

It’s game on for the 2012 Republican nomination for the US Senate.  Lt. Governor John Sanchez went from putting his toe in the water to jumping in the lake as he slammed former ABQ GOP Congresswoman Heather Wilson as a relic of the past and began to position himself as the true conservative in the race:     

Do they want a return back to the days of moderate-type leaders [whose] conservative compasses [weren’t] pointed in the right direction?  Or are they looking for somebody who doesn’t have to reinvent himself? …  I think the choice for U.S. Senate is abundantly clear.

Heather Wilson

Sanchez, 48, elected lieutenant governor in November, has two statewide nomination wins under his belt.  In 2002, he was the GOP candidate for governor and then there was last year’s win for the Light Guv nod.  Wilson has strength in ABQ, but has faltered in the conservative rural areas of the state.  She faces the same scenario again if that vote begins to consolidate around Sanchez and the Light Guv relished piling on:

I know personally what it takes to win in a primary, unlike Heather Wilson, but also what it is to win in a statewide election, unlike Heather Wilson as well….  I don’t have to kind of reinvent myself during the primary season.  I can talk honestly and sincerely about being a true conservative.   For her to then somehow now in 2011 as she starts a new bid for the U.S. Senate, that she somehow wants to define herself as a fiscal conservative and that’s just simply not the case.

Wilson lost the 2008 US Senate nomination to conservative Rep. Steve Pearce.  Now she will soon have a repeat battle on her hands as Sanchez says he will announce his plans “relatively soon.”

“Calling this a mere ‘repeat battle’ is an understatement, Petey.  Our boy John has come out of the gate driving a long spear right through Heather’s mid section. 

“This is everything we Democrats could have hoped for.  Instead of a coronation for Heather, we get a fourteen month Republican bloodbath that will lay waste to any chance the GOP had to win the senate race.”     

“Oh, I don’t know, Ellsworth,” Peter said.  “The Republicans managed to win the Governor’s race last year after a bitter primary. ”     

“That was different,” I insisted.  “Unlike 2010, Barack Obama will be at the head of our ticket in 2012.  Plus, the union bosses know this election could be Armageddon for them, if we lose.   The public employee unions will be fully mobilized, pounding the pavement, dragging our voters to the polls by the scruff of the neck, if necessary.     

“Anyway, the primary race for Governor didn’t heat up until a few months before the election.  Sanchez has already thrown fuel on the fire, insuring the race between him and Wilson will have over a year to smolder and burn – and believe me, it will, because we are quietly going to do everything we can to fan the flames. 

“Heather knows a loss ends her political career.  She will rip John’s guts out, and John will rip Heather’s guts out.  This will be total war, total annihilation.”

“So we win either way,” Keating said.  “It doesn’t matter who wins?”    

“I didn’t say that,” I replied.  “We need to kill off Heather Wilson’s career while we have the chance — just as we would for all of the other smarty pants Republican intellectuals, if and when we have a chance at them — like that Boy Scout Mayor, R.J. Berry, and that Hamlet of Indiana, the egg head Mitch Daniels.  If Heather somehow wins the primary, she could win the general election, and then we’ll be stuck with her for over thirty years, like we were with Pete Domenici.   No, I prefer the right-wing ideologues like Christine O’Donnell and Sharron Angle.  They go down in flames in general elections.”

“But if Heather’s so smart, how does she lose the primary, Ellsworth?”  

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Peter.  We can count on the tea baggers and right-wing crazies to spend the next year beating up on her.  Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin and the Club for Growth are sure to jump in, denouncing Heather as a Washington insider, a RINO and a traitor. 

“Fortunately for us, Republican primary voters are morons.  Stick a fork in Heather – she’s done.”    

“But what makes you so sure we can beat John Sanchez?” Peter asked.  “We didn’t have much luck against Susana Martinez last year.”     

John Sanchez - serving orange juice at 30,000 feet

“Oh please,” I replied.  “The George Will and Peggy Noonan types in the local Republican Party think Sanchez is a light weight.  The man is a roofing contractor with a high school education, for Christ’s sake.  He even worked as a flight attendant during a period when he said he was a businessman.

“Remember that line from the Bill Richardson commercial slamming Sanchez in 2002  – ‘While Bill Richardson was cutting taxes for New Mexico, John Sanchez was serving orange juice at 30,000 feet.’ 

“Big Bill CRUSHED Little John in the general election.  With Sanchez as the Republican nominee, this is going to be Udall/Pearce redux.    

“No, we won’t have any problem convincing voters that John Sanchez is Sarah Palin in pants.   Needless to say, we’ll wait until after the primary next June to point that out.   Then, with Heather’s career dead and buried in the primary, our golden boy Martin Heinrich will be a sure thing against Sanchez in the general election.  

“Like Tom Udall four years ago, the Democratic and Progressive leadership will make sure Heinrich doesn’t have a contested primary.  Unlike the Republican leadership, which will let their primary degenerate into chaos, we have our eye on the ball.”

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27
Feb 2011

One Small Voice: Stopping Heather Wilson

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“Jeff Bingaman really screwed us, Ellsworth, both Democrats and Progressives.”

Peter Keating was fretting again.  We were sitting in our favorite booth at the Standard Diner on Central, headed back to Santa Fe after our recent trip to Wisconsin. 

Peter and I had just spent a week in Madison, posing as members of the teachers union.  It was a favor to our friend, union apparatchik Cuffy Meigs.  The whole ordeal was tedious — standing outside with fake home-made signs, consorting with the riff raff — even if it was our riff raff.  Yet, it was for a good cause.  That fascist Scott Walker must be stopped.

Anyway, Peter and I were sipping a nice Silver Palm Cabernet, munching on fish tacos, and catching up on our favorite political websites with our iPads. 

I was disappointed to see that our fave Damian still hasn’t posted that new Faustus Valdez piece he promised almost a month ago.   Slacker.

Then, Peter started whining again about the Bingaman retirement.  “I don’t understand it, Ellsworth.  Bingaman had re-election in the bag.  The seat was safe — no Republican could touch him.  Now, the senate seat is in play, and we might lose the Heinrich seat to boot.”

“Now Peter,” I replied.  “Don’t be such a worry wart.  The primaries are over a year away.  We have plenty of time to get this sorted out.”

The Original Ignoramus & Heather Wilson

“But Republicans are probably going to nominate that awful Heather Wilson.  God, I thought we had put a stake in her heart years ago.  What if she beats Martin Heinrich?  Heather would be a Senator and that goody two-shoes Jon Barela would be a Congressman.”

“Never underestimate the stupidity of the Republicans, Petey.  The sensible thing for them to do, of course, would be to nominate an adult like Heather Wilson.  She is tough and experienced and can raise money, but they won’t nominate her, just like they won’t nominate that egghead Mitch Daniels for President. 

Mitch the Egghead

“You see, Peter, the Republican base doesn’t trust smarty pants intellectuals.  I mean, Daniels was all but endorsed last week by David Brooks of the New York Times.  That kills him with the tea baggers.  Heather was a Rhodes Scholar and Mitch went to Princeton and Georgetown.  Both make the mistake of thinking they can reason with the electorate.  The problem is, you can’t. 

“Voters are sheep.  The key as a candidate is to tell them how smart they are, but say silly things like you can balance the budget without raising taxes or cutting off grandma’s social security.  If you actually confront them with the reality of the situation and challenge them to think about it, like Governor Daniels does, they get mad at you and vote for the potted plant.”

“But I just can’t see anyone beating Wilson in a primary, Ellsworth.  Not this time, with Pearce out of the picture.”

My Favorite Republican

“Oh, I don’t know.  We can count on Jim DeMint, Sarah Palin and the Club for Growth to drop in, and to anoint the New Mexico equivalent of Christine O’Donnell or Sharron Angle.  Those two lovely ladies single-handedly kept the U.S. Senate in Democratic hands last year. 

“We Progressives might be in real trouble if we actually had to run against Heather or Mitch in a general election — but don’t worry.  The crazies will find some ignoramus who has the ideological purity of a suicide bomber to run in the primary.  Heather will lecture  and nuance and show everyone how smart she is, while the dolt anointed by DeMint and Palin will spout platitudes and posture and win the GOP nomination, only to get slaughtered in the general election. 

“Just you watch, Petey.  Empty suit or not, our golden boy Martin Heinrich is going to be a United States Senator.”

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30
Jan 2011

One Small Voice: Mitch Daniels? Are You Out of Your Mind?

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Governor Mitch Daniels - boring über budget nerd

Of late, bloggers on this site and students at Yale have been promoting the presidential delusions of one Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana. 

The latest hopelessly early PubliusNM poll has Governor Daniels in the lead for the GOP nomination, even though no one outside of Indiana or Yale has ever heard of him, and the somber Mr. Daniels has yet to indicate he is sufficiently unhinged to seriously consider the idea of making the race.

Let’s put a stop to this right now.  Governor Daniels has no chance at winning the nomination, let alone the general election.  All of this is good news for those us in the Progressive movement, as a Daniels presidency would be a disaster for our agenda.

First, Governor Daniels has already burned his bridges with the Republican base.  Last June, he actually suggested to the Weekly Standard that “social issues are secondary to the country,” proposing “a truce on the so-called social issues.  We’re going to just have to agree to get along for a little while,” until economic issues are resolved.

“So-called social issues?”  If you want an idea of how the right wing nuts in the Republican base reacted to that little suggestion, just go to this link and review some of the comments.  The anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, intelligent design crowd will have none of that. 

The teabaggers don’t want a truce on social issues – they want HOLY WAR.

Mind you, Governor Daniels has all the proper right-wing stands on the social agenda.  He is not a pot smoking, pro-choice atheist (or at least agnostic) like New Mexico’s own Gary Johnson.  However, Mitch lacks the requisite enthusiasm to satisfy the crazies, and he has thus far been unwilling to pander to them like Mitt Romney, who knows no shame in switching his positions to suit the electorate he is his courting at the moment.  Given a chance to recant, Mr. Daniels declined.  Thus, the nuts can be counted on to put a stop to Governor Daniels before he gets anywhere close to the nomination.

While sober elements in the Republican Party think the country is on the edge of economic disaster, the lemmings who actually decide Republican primaries seem determined to dive off a cliff by demanding the candidate who hates gays, abortions and atheists the most. 

Thus, we Progressives can look forward to GOP blood baths in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, which will drive the bulk of the electorate back into the welcoming arms of President Obama.  After a rough stretch last year, Barack has his mojo back, and as soon as he is safely re-elected, we can depend on Mr. Obama to steer sharply back to the left.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, Governor Daniels has no chance at the Presidency because he is — well — on the SHORT side. 

Forget Mr. Daniel’s experience in the Reagan administration, his work as director of OMB or his successful tenure as Governor of Indiana, where he won re-election in 2008 in the face of the national Obama landslide with an 18% margin, including 20% of the African-American vote. 

None of that matters.  Governor Daniels simply cannot win because he is only 5-foot-7 inches tall –and that is with his shoes on.

No less than the New York Times addressed this vital point back in August, noting that in the last 21 presidential elections, the shorter candidate has won only four times.  “The age of television has only made the issue more stark,” the Times observed: “the moment that the two candidates stand side by side for the debates, the difference is there for all the world to see.”  Put Daniels on a stage next to Obama, and Mitch comes up to Barack’s belly button.

Former Governor Mitt Romney - nice hair and perfect teeth

American voters want their Presidents big and strapping, like Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.  Just look at the photo of Governor Daniels with  W. and Jeb Bush from the article in the Times, and you know he has no chance of ever being elected President. 

Mitt Romney will change his views as he deems it expedient, but he is tall and good-looking, and he has nice hair and perfect teeth.  Romney will tell the religious nuts everything they want to hear, and while few of them will believe him, they will vote for pandering Mitt every time over the smarty-pants budget wonk whose feet don’t hit the ground when he sits in a chair. 

The rabble can be counted on to squash Mr. Daniels presidential aspirations simply because of something as inconsequential as his stature.  Thank goodness for that, because if voters ever started to actually listen to the governor and were given a chance to vote for him, our man Barack could be in trouble.

Fortunately, Americans want a President who reminds them of John Wayne or Ronald Reagan, not Frodo Baggins.  Governor Daniels has no chance.

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