Bookworm Room

I don’t have an answer to the question in my post title.  All I have is some limited data showing that, while conservatives don’t like Romney, and favor either Gingrich or Santorum, they have a sneaking suspicion that only Romney can win. I’m thinking that sometimes, as the Victorians said, it’s possible to be “too [...]

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I’m planning a trip this summer to Japan, a country about which I know nothing.  Actually that’s an overstatement.  I know some things:  it’s beautiful, historic, and clean (I love that part), and comes complete with great food and well-mannered people.  But that’s all I know. Toji Pagoda I don’t have this tabula rasa problem [...]

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I’ve been corresponding with a group of conservatives who are very strongly divided between Romney and Gingrich.  I’m pleased to say that, while the debate is substantively heated, it also never veers away from common decency and civility.  My latest contribution to the email string, right after mention of a brokered convention, was as follows: [...]

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Yesterday, my sister emailed me a “cheer up” email that’s making the rounds.  It’s intended for women, who tend to feel more strongly than men do that the mirror is their enemy.  The tag line is “It isn’t just us who suffer changes over the years!”  The rest of the email is photos of former [...]

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Does history repeat itself? I fervently hope not. Ok, I have grudgingly thrown my support behind Mitt Romney. It’s not that I am excited about Romney as a candidate, but I am genuinely excited about the need to get Obama out of office before he does irreversible damage to this country. But, here is where [...]

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There is a quality to real leaders called a “command presence”. You know the type: they walk into a room and by their force of presence, command of the facts, unshaken confidence and leadership qualities, they capture the narrative and control the agenda. That command presence is a necessary mark of a good leader. In [...]

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I believe I’ve mentioned on several occasions here that the more I hear from Allen West, the more I like him.  Is he ready to be President?  Is there time for him to step into the fray? Allen West (Photo by Gage Skidmore) I don’t know the answer to those questions, but I do know [...]

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Even though I haven’t been writing as much, I have kept up with my reading.  Indeed, keeping up with my reading is part of why I haven’t been writing.  There’s so much doom and gloom out there, I feel a little too oppressed to write. One of the doomy and gloomy thoughts is that, even [...]

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A friend sent me a link to a post at Whatever, a blog that John Scalzi runs.  Scalzi, who describes himself as a “pinko commie socialist,” is interested — truly, not snarkily, interested — in the views Republicans/conservatives/libertarians currently hold when looking at the Republican primary field.  Having the luxury of my own blog, I [...]

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Let’s see if I’ve got this right, based upon the evidence currently available: Obama is a grandiose narcissist Newt is an egomaniac Hillary is a compulsive liar Mitt seems vaguely asperger-ish, with a weather vane in place of his spine Herman is a serial womanizer (assuming, for the sake of argument, that the claims against [...]

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Every time Newt Gingrich opens his mouth, something intelligent pops out.  I’m beginning to wonder if he’s the tortoise in this race.  Bachmann and Perry have been self-immolating.  Cain is charming, dynamic and ill-informed.  Romney will do anything to win and he has the RomneyCare albatross around his neck.  And then there’s Newt: (Go here, [...]

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If you need one, here is an excellent reminder that the majority of registered voters were the ones who put Obama guy in office.  It wasn’t a ballot box coup, it was a cultural coup. Let’s hope that the voting majority does a bit better in 2012 — and that whomever they elect validates their [...]

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I didn’t watch the debate (broadcast, as always, during peak “caring for family” time), but I’ve read the blogs and pundits and I know who won:  Perryromney (or was it Romneyperry?). I know from at least one post debate poll that Paul won, which I find peculiar. I know that Bachmann looked and sounded lovely, [...]

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By now you’ve heard that the President, who’s been sitting on his jobs speech for days, if not weeks (or maybe years), has suddenly announced that he’s going to give it on the same night as a Republican presidential candidate debate that’s been schedule for months.  It’s a tacky gesture, at best (and at worst, [...]

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One of the big issues heating up for the election is “science.”  I noted the other day that Krugman has thrown down the gauntlet, saying that the Republicans are returning us to a flat earth world, and, many, including Roger L. Simon, have picked it up, pointing out that Krugman and others have totally abandoned [...]

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Ace has an excellent post up today about the way in which the media invariably frames Democratic and Republican victories:  when Democrats win, Americans are intelligently embracing the Democrat agenda; when Republicans win, Americans are acting irrationally, operating from fear, or failing to understand the virtues of the Democrat agenda.  As Ace says: I’d be [...]

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As the primary season heats up, here’s a good question to ask:  If we want to end the primary season with a viable political candidate to face off against Barack Obama, are there limits limits to the nature of the attacks that bloggers launch against the Republican candidates during this primary season? My take is [...]

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The Left is very, very, very worried about Rick Perry.  At Mother Jones, Kevin Drum has assembled a long list of alleged problems Perry has, all of which explain (in Drum’s mind) why Perry can’t possibly win.  Aside from the fact that the list is jaw-droppingly amusing (I’ll explain more below), Drum precedes it with [...]

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Stephen Hayward advances a solid argument that Romney has the lock on the nomination.  As I read it, the core of is argument is that Romney is the seasoned Republican campaigner, whose weaknesses have already been thoroughly exposed by a hostile media.  Perry still has ahead, as Hayward says, a comprehensive and public proctological exam.  [...]

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Interesting item from the New York Times today about a “mischaracterization” (what we knucklewalkers call a “lie”) Obama made during the 2008 campaign. The lede: “The White House on Wednesday declined to challenge an account in a new book that suggests that President Obama in his campaign to overhaul American health care, mischaracterized a central anecdote about [...]

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 We’ve skirted this topic before in Bookworm Room, but never really plunged into it: If you could plan the GOP’s 2012 campaign against Obama, what themes and visuals would you bring into it? This assumes you have a big war chest and carte blanche regarding the many embarrassing and critical things you can bring [...]

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I presented my daughter with the following scenario: Imagine that the president you elected has been in the White House for one term.  During that time, everything that indicates the health of the country is worse than when your man came into office.  Whether one looks at the economy, national security, relations with other countries, [...]

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Paul Ryan seems adamant about not running, but boy! do I like him.  This video perfectly exemplifies his highly intelligent policies and his extremely pleasant persona:

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I’ve long since learned that, if the liberal media endorses an ostensibly Republican candidate, I should run far and fast in the other direction.  Verum Serum has a nice video explaining why Huntsman is the current go-to Republican candidate as far as the liberal media is concerned: By the way, Huntsman’s California background may explain [...]

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I disagreed with John Podhoretz’s casual dismissal of Candidate Herman Cain, but I believe he is absolutely right about the reason more seasoned political figures are saying “include me out”: So why is this happening? Simple. You’ve probably heard that the president and his team are looking to raise $1 billion to run on in [...]

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