 |
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
photography from Guatemala, Maryland, Italy and elsewhere by Doug Terry |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
VISIT DC? AN ESSAY ON WHY EVERY AMERICAN CITIZEN SHOULD VISIT |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
News, analysis, commentary, social trends, culture, politics, government, books, movies, travel, cycling and other stuff |
|
|
T H E T E R R Y R E P O R T 2012 |
|
|
Facts first, logic always, truth before everything |
|
|
|
There are many different ways to look at Rick Santorum’s string of caucus victories on Tuesday (2.7.12). One of them is this: the Republican voters are saying loud and clear they don’t like Romney. Another way: the voters are saying they want someone else to run besides the four left standing. Anyone but these guys! At this point, Romney should be sweeping as the primaries advance, not falling back into second or third place, if he were a normal, consensus candidate supported by the establishment of his party. These kind of non-binding, no delegates selected votes, require dedicated supporters to come out and vote. Indeed, one could argue that this sort of “primary” is silly and a waste of time, since it has no bearing at all on how the state’s delegates to the national convention will vote. Even in high school, when votes were taken, someone got a minimal amount of power and prestige by winning. In these states, it was all prestige. That’s exactly what Romney is missing today. What does he do to get his mojo back? Has he been undermined fatally? Obviously, he will brush himself off and say, just wait, our primaries are coming. Sure they are. It is possible to win the nomination and be utter unelectable and that appears to be not all that far away from where Romney is headed. Newt Gingrich will also get a boost from this. He is still the main, non-Romney candidate, although Santorum, the ex-senator who was thrown out of office in a landslide a few years ago in Pennsylvania, can make an argument that he fits the bill of a prime non-Romney, too. Gingrich, however, gets a boost because his main opponent, Romney, is pulled down by a peg. Make that three pegs, representing three states. I don’t know what the upper reaches of the Republican party are thinking today, but I assume they are crying in their cereal asking themselves, “How did we get in this mess?”. The answer is fairly simple: they embraced the radical conservative ideas of the tea pot Republicans to win in 2010 and they thought they could ride that little tiger to victory in 2012. They also embraced the Supreme Court decision known as Citizens United, which unleashed the super-pac money on our political system, which in turn means that half dead candidates like Santorum have a better than even chance of rising from the dead. They made their soup, now they are cooking in it. Doug Terry, 2.8.12 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCROLL DOWN FOR TOP NEWS HEADLINES (home page only) |
|