Grumble, Grumble

[MorGrendel]

I know I'm to principled for politics. I recieved an email from my idol Ron Paul, when I noticed his email address had changed, ron.paul@rand-2016.com.

I guess it's fine that Rand has such aspirations, and I guess you have to plan ahead, but it just rubs me wrong anyway.

And for the record, I don't feel about Rand, like I feel about Ron.

[MorGrendel]

Oh, I'm a bit wrong. Rand's site is for Senator, not President. I guess that is not as bad, though something still irks me. Let's see what the Tea Party does over the next few years. Maybe Rand is hedging is bets.

[Berserker]

I think your gut feeling was right Jeff.

"In an interview with Politico, Paul said he was "seriously" considering a 2016 White House bid."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/0 ... 33326.html

[MorGrendel]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/pos ... traw-poll/

Rand won the CPAC straw poll. Of note, Romney won last year. Also, Romney, Gingirth, Bachman, Palin also had speaking roles this year. Rubio also did well. I also saw that Ben Carson got 4% of the vote, and I didn't believe his political career had started yet.

[Berserker]

I don't put any weight into CPAC. They are not representative at all. Palin and Buchman as their keynotes? Where are the moderates? Where was Chris Christie for example? Last I heard he was favorite amongst actual republicans. He wasn't even invited..

[Fritz]

What Serban said. CPAC is full of crazies. It's the right wing version of going to a PETA rally.

[MorGrendel]

I don't put any weight into CPAC. They are not representative at all. Palin and Buchman as their keynotes? Where are the moderates? Where was Chris Christie for example? Last I heard he was favorite amongst actual republicans. He wasn't even invited..

I don't really know what is "representative" anymore? Bachman won the Iowa Straw Poll and was gone less than 3 weeks later. CPAC is a pulse check, nothing more. Though it is not representive of the entire party, since it is attended by a high number of college students it does give you an idea of the values of younger voters and what future voters are interested in. I didn't watch this year, because two year ago they uninivited RP, to be more relevant. Palin equals relevant, I don't what to say. She lampoons Bloomburg, two clowns in a pie fight. That said "Conservative Values" is going to be the buzz word and what keeps the Tea Party connected. Expect that closer to the election a GOP canidate will take credit for the Sequester, because it is a "good conservative plan".

The "moderates" and "middle" are Romney, Portman, and Bachman. Christie was seen as being too friendly with Obama and a villian for accepting "too much" pork. Who ever runs CPAC must have felt this was a way to send a message. Last I checked it was Rubio leading until he fel flat in his state of the union response.

CPAC is full of crazies. It's the right wing version of going to a PETA rally.

Ouch. I was a big fan of CPAC back when it wasent relevant, and the war hawks spent money like . . . Democrats. Guess I'm a crazy, thanks Fritz.

[Berserker]

“If we don’t run Chris Christie, Mitt Romney will be the nominee and we will lose.”
– Ann Coulter, speaking at CPAC in 2011

I guess the CPAC was on the money in 2011..

[MorGrendel]

I'm not sure I get what you are getting at, but I think I was agreeing that CPAC is not much of a barometer. I mean RP won the straw vote every year until it got some attention, and they uninvited him. Then Romney won, and went on to lose the election. Ann was right that Romney was going to lose, but I made the same prediction.

[Berserker]

Yeah, I was trying to be ironic and point out that they were right in something, but didn't follow it, and now that Christie has gained popularity,they didn't even invite him. I agree they are not much of a barometer.