Stuff to Read

The Fraying of a Nation’s Decency.” Yes, I’ll be removing my Amazon ads as soon as I feel alert enough to do it. Messing with the template takes more skill than just blogging.

The Phony Solyndra Scandal.” I’m glad someone finally explained what the righties are drooling about now.

Conservatives are still trying to repeal the Voting Rights Act. They never give up.

I don’t have the energy to explain all the reasons why I think Michael Kazin comes across as a clueless twit, but for starters I’d say the Left is not as well organized or as loud as the Right because we don’t have the billionaire bankrollers that the Right has. Or the media in our pockets. Or the army of lobbyists. Or …

Well, we’ve still got Krugman.

Florida Straw Poll Won by … Cain?

If you’re a supporter of the GOP establishment, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that Rick Perry came in second in today’s Florida Straw Poll, nearly tied with Mitt Romney at third place. The bad news is that the runaway winner was Herman Cain.

Cain, former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, was one of just three contenders who showed up to speak at the Saturday convention. He got a particularly enthusiastic reception, disputing the “rumor” that he couldn’t win the election and saying it was time to send “a problem-solver” rather than a politician to the White House. “Send Washington a message!” he said, bringing the crowd to its feet.

Listing crises on everything from the economy to moral values, he said he could “hit the target called fix-it.”

Yes, running a chain of pizza parlors is just like running a country. Just yell, and the employees will scamper around and bring those cheese suppliers to heel.

The straw poll is meaningless except as a test of momentum, I suppose, but the participants paid $175 each to attend a political event in Orlando called Presidency 5, hosted by the Florida GOP. And I assume some of the participants came from out of town. This crew didn’t just wander in off the streets, in other words. Most probably are active in Florida Republican politics.

In a field that might be called Mittens and the Seven Clowns, the base definitely prefers the clowns. Results:

Cain, 37%
Perry 15%
Romney 14%
Santorum, 11%
Paul, 10%
Gingrich, 9%
Huntsman, 2%
Bachmann, 2%

Bachmann’s falling off the map, it seems. Are these clowns going to take turns at front runner? Is T-Paw sorry he dropped out so soon?

Update: Someone with more time and patience than I have please explain to this pathetic boob what the word “racism” means. The concept seems to elude him.

GOP Vs. the GOP Base

Since Thursday night’s Republican presidential candidate debate, what passes for the GOP “intelligentsia” has been really, really down on Rick Perry. In fact, I haven’t heard anyone on the Right say anything positive about him for a couple of days.

So does this spell the end of his front runner status? Perry is campaigning hard to win the Florida straw poll being held today, and if he pulls it out we might see a whole lot of backtracking.

Nate Silver writes,

Mr. Perry’s Intrade contract has been bid down substantially since Thursday night’s debate. Going into the evening, bettors gave him roughly a 36 percent chance of winning the Republican nomination. Now, his odds are all the way down to 26 percent.

I understand that Mr. Perry had a poor evening on Thursday night. But that seems like an awfully strong reaction to it — probably an overreaction.

Nate points out that only a small part of eventual Republican primary voters watched the Thursday night debate, and also that Perry’s standing in the polls hasn’t changed significantly in several weeks. But the most telling thing was that while most of the rightie pundits agreed that Perry bombed in the debate, there was no consensus among them about who won.

Mr. Kristol, for instance, was so dismayed by the performance of Mr. Perry and the other candidates that he called for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to enter the race. Mr. Erickson said he thought Herman Cain performed well. Byron York of the Washington Examiner declared Rick Santorum to be the winner.

Seriously?

Nate thinks that unless and until the bobbleheads reach a consensus on who the front runner should be, and fall in line to support the anointed one, their influence on public opinion will be minimal. And everyone but Perry and Romney are polling in single digits.

My question is, are rank-and-file Republican primary voters paying any more attention to what the likes of Kristol, Erickson or York are saying than they are to the content of the debates themselves? Today’s straw poll might tell us something. Although the straw poll by itself may not mean much, if Perry shows he’s still got some Big Mo with the rank-and-file, you might see some genuine panic set in among the bobbleheads. They might even be spooked enough to fall in behind someone else they seem to universally loathe — Mitt Romney.