And that’s fine with me.
In 2010, when the Tea Party won quite a few House seats and a couple of Senate seats , many people were wrongly tricked into believing that a serious political movement had begun and a rise of the Far Right was imminent.
(Frankly, I believe these were ‘protest candidate’ candidates that were elected mostly because the country was at the height of the Great Recession and there was a lot of misery and demand for change out there.)
Well, the call for change is coming to an end, the country is on the mend and the Republicans that want to keep their jobs are drifting back to the center.
And if they don’t drift to the center they will, most likely, be voted out of office because the wacko Right is no longer a viable alternative.
And, I believe, much of this rejection of change is because of a Sean Hannity EPIC FAIL.
It turns out, the majority of Americans do not want to live in Sean Hannity’s world.
His is a world of constant conflict for the sake of ratings. A world of hammering a message over and over and over again turning his audience into something similar to school children in North Korea.
And it’s a message that never wavers: “Anyone but Obama…” (The Republican pundit establishment has apparently changed that slightly – “Anyone but Obama or Romney…”)
Well, because of this message – and the millions who follow Mr. Hannity – the Republicans may well be stuck with Rick ‘The Stick’ Santorum (just as they nearly got stuck with Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry).
I can now confirm, with 0% of the vote counted, Rick Santorum has LOST the 2012 general election to President Obama.
There is no question Santorum has already lost without one vote being counted. Bob Dole’s loss to Bill Clinton in 1996 will be considered a close race compared to an Obama vs. Santorum election.
Santorum will, most likely, get the lowest number of female votes in the history of Presidential elections (unless you count the Presidential races in which women did not have the right to vote).
However, Santorum will, most likely, win the Fascist vote as he is the candidate with the most images on the internet with a Hitler mustache Photoshopped onto his face.
Now, what’s crazy about all this is I firmly believe Sean Hannity, deep down, doesn’t care how people live their lives. I firmly believe that if the ratings dictated a different point of view, Mr. Hannity would shift on a dime to the Left and still claim that his moral compass has never wavered.
He would refute this claim vehemently. And, to be fair, he has never had to face that problem because there are millions of Americans that he has focused on that love the bomb throwing, the red meat and any other political metaphor you can think of.
But because of this extremism and, yes, short-sighted view of the world, Sean Hannity is costing his political party the chance to win against a vulnerable incumbent.
It is obvious we are living in a crazy time when Ann Coulter is the voice of reason at CPAC. Say what you want about her, she is not a stupid person. She knows there is only one candidate that has a slight chance against President Obama and that is Mitt Romney.
Why the Republican establishment hasn’t thrown everything behind Mitt is beyond me. Perhaps it’s because there is also a feeling Mitt Romney cannot win either. (I am one of those people.)
But he’s really the only choice there is to even get close to the lofty John McCain numbers of 2008.
Of course, Sean Hannity (and Rush and all the others) could swing things by full on endorsing Mr. Romney. But if he did, he would lose half his audience and his street cred as a bomb throwing ‘lover of freedom’ (though most people would consider ‘love’ and ‘freedom’ two things that are lacking in his political philosophy).
Mr. Hannity really doesn’t care who is President. It is probably more fun for him to criticize President Obama than it was to defend President Bush. And it certainly won’t be fun for him to have to defend President Santorum (who, remember, has 0% chance to win).
Like I said – it’s completely fine with me. The implosion of the Grand Old Party is actually quite amusing.
God speed, Sean Hannity – you are President Obama’s best friend these days.
Jill Kennedy – OnMedea
It’s like that line from Godfather 2 – “By being strong for my family could I actually… lose my family?” Or seomething to that effect.
Sean believes that he knows the formula for conservative republican victory. The problem is when anyone tries to use that formula their poll numbers bottom out. Sean just chooses to ignore that fact and keeps pounding away like you said, Jill.
A true conservative could never poll more than 20% of the vote. Its just the facts. They have to let someone slightly to the center gets some traction or it is over. agreed.
No matter what, i intend to vigorously support whoever becomes republian nominee because they are all heads above what we are experiencing now.
Breck-
Its that type of lemming following that got you republicans where you are now. If the meats rotten DON’T EAT IT! Just because someone put it in front of you doesnt mean you have to take it.
Face it, Mittens, Gingrich and Santorum are all much, much worse than you manufactured Obama fear.
Obama is more middle of the row, center-right than you republicans want to give him credit for. That is part of the rights problem.
See, you prove your ignorance, lack of intelligence and reactionary self with that statement. Clearly there are people currently running for the Republican nomination that are not as good as Obama. Actually, I would bet that the majority of Americans would disagree with you, and simply state that NONE of the current Republican contenders would make as good a president as Obama.
Republicans and yes Sean Hannity definitely included, have caused so much harm to this country and people thinking that any of these GOP candidates are going to create jobs is a joke. Republicans have the House right now and have done everything but create jobs. They have attacked environmental regulations, and wanted to cut, cut and keep cutting benefits. When we have the GOP agreeing to spending cuts and added revenue we can solve some of our pressing issues. Until then the GOP owns the Bush tax cuts and wants them to never end regardless of how much that keeps adding to the deficit.
Keep dreaming, Jill. Rick Santorum has about as much of a chance of winning the GOP nomination as I do.
I wish he could though…so President Obama can mop the floor with this one-note Johnny.
Great post, Jill! There is nothing more fun than watching a bunch of right wing wackos from the failed and obsolete Republicon Party make complete fools of themselves in front of everybody.
This cadre of Republicon clown is so pathetic, they couldn’t run for dog catchers if they weren’t being bribed and propped up by big corporate money. and Sean Hannity sits there propping no one up except that they must beat Obama. Even he must know it’s all over and no one will. He can’t say that or people will stop listneing.
This situation has an almost eerie symmetry with 1972. The insurgent wing of the party out of power is leading the party over a cliff. The establishment wing of the party is discredited and out of ideas. The insurgent wing is so blinded by animosity towards the incumbent that they fail to realize the lack of popular support for their position. McGovern ran as the anti-Nixon. Gingrich and Santorum, are running as the anti-Obama. There is a divisive struggle between the party establishment and the insurgency, just as there was in 1972. Whoever the nominee is, they will have to cater to the insurgent wing with the consequence of alienating the rest of the electorate.
And the clown car parade continues. This guy is a throwback in all of his views to the 13th century. And when he tries to discuss middle class issues, he pulls things out of his nether regions. This makes him perfect for the GOP, but bad for America.
One republicon is just as bad as the other. They all babble the same old failed agenda…. deregulate the economy and add more risk, de-tax the wealthy despite the fact that they don’t need the money, and deny climate change threatens our future generations. Ugh! Talk about pandering to the upper 1%! ENOUGH!
Does a subscription to free grape koolaide come with this article?
I’m not sure I follow you, Ken. Please explain.
Jill, I believe he’s making reference to the Reverend Jim Jones & the Guyana massacre. Maybe he’s positing that all the Republicans should off themselves with a little cyanide mixed into their drink.
Fun fact: Kool-Aid was invented in my hometown of Hastings, Nebraska by Edwin Perkins, whose wife Kitty was a friend of my grandmother’s. It was originally called Fruit Smack, & came in a liquid form.
The creepiest thing about that picture of Sean “Insannity” Hannity is that while his mouth may be smiling, his eyes aren’t, which proves the obvious point that it’s fake, but the more subtle point is what is the expressed emotion coming from his eyes? When you smile, the corners of your eyes turn up as well, that’s how you know it’s genuine. His are not, they’re flat. Sean is also making a concerted effort to not show his teeth, making the smile all that much more weird.
It is a photo shoot, you simpleton…
Liberals…
Rick Santorum was a lawyer for professional wrestling.Back in the late 1980s, the family-values candidate played a central role in deregulating professional wrestling in Pennsylvania as part of a team that lobbied the state government to get wrestling’s status changed from sport to entertainment. WWE’s formal acknowledgement that their product is “sports entertainment” has saved the company millions of dollars in taxes and state athletic commission fees. It also deregulated the pro wrestling industry and eliminated government oversight – which many have argued led to the proliferation of drug abuse among performers and premature deaths.
I’m sorry, but I do not agree with you. Granted there is little chance of beating Obama. Unfortunately, that is the case if you are a conservative.
However, in my opinion Santorum has a slightly better chance that Romney because, unlike Romney, he actually believes what he says whether you agree or disagree with it. When you factor in the current Obama attack on the Catholic Church, which I have written about on my website, you must see why Santorum is surging:
http://www.hollywoodrepublican.net/2012/02/the-catholic-church-v-obama/
Further, you must also remember that there are two types of independent vote out there, not just one. The two are the fiscally conservative, socially liberal and the fiscally moderate, socially conservative. Which do you think Romney and Santorum will get. Neither will get both. Hence the dilemma in the Republican Party right now.
Do you go with the strong social values or the conservative fiscal values? This time we do not have both in the same candidate. In my opinion, the strong social values have a better chance because Obama has made them an issue. If he didn’t, Romney would be the clear better choice. Since he did, Santorum is the clear better choice.
Thanks for a good post, Frank. I think you’re putting a lot of faith (no pun intended) in the Catholic Church issue. Last time I checked, Catholics are not a huge Republican base. Wasn’t the Republicans (I know it was a long time ago) that said a Catholic could never be elected President (said about President Kennedy and his brothers)… I know Santorum and Gingrich are Catholic but still you’re only talking about 23% of the U.S. population and probably more than half are registered Democrats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States
Plus, this issue is going to make the majority of women in the country run for the ballot box to vote for Obama because it appears to be an issue driving by old white Republican men. Nothing more divisive than that group.
Also, if Republicans really want to side with the Catholic Church so much on this issue – maybe they come out against the Death Penalty – like the church.
Jill:
I’m not saying that the Catholics will come out and vote for Santorum in the same way that the blacks voted for Obama 90%. I’m saying that the Fundamentalists Christians now have a reason to make the election about social issues and therefore, Santorum will get the second type of independent vote that I’m talking about.
However, I’m not going say that the Republicans have any chance in the election barring some major economic collapse in the next few month.
Thanks for the kudos and I hope you can see it to promote my site.
Cheers,
I have two huge issues with this lot of Nay Sayers. The National Budget and Social Darwinism.
Firstly, all candidates want to lower the federal deficit, awesome. To do this, they want to cut the federal government budget by trillions while simultaneously cutting taxes. Abolishing the IRA, a flat tax rate of 15%, and a non-defense budget decrease in government spending of 54% makes me wonder what the deuce these folks are thinking. Polls show that most Americans are OK with the Warren Buffet rule and tax hikes on those making over 250,000 in income but no right winger will even touch the subject (can we say super PAC?). Note…This doesn’t even touch the capital gains tax hullabaloo….BUT I digress… With budget proposals like these, these candidates are going to loose every vote but the rank and file reds. Fine with me.
Issue two: Social Darwinism. First coined during European conquests in Africa, this theory that “we are right and we must educate the heathens” has found its way into main stream Republican ideology. You see it in VA with the new abortion regulations being muscled through the state congress. You see it during the debates when the candidates have tried to explain their views on things like contraception and gay marriage. I find it offensive and degrading to every person that is not “white, male, straight, and christian.” It would be nice to see the moral posturing end and have these candidates actually mind the job at hand: running the country.
Obama will enjoy a second term, of that I have no doubt. Nothing Hannity can do from this point forward can change that. He wants to keep his job like everyone else and that depends on ratings. I’m sure he will continue to act out as he as always done. The saddest part of this entire charade is that there are literally millions of Americans that believe what he says…. How does this happen?
Ann Coulter, intelligent ??? You’ve got to be kidding. she’s just as big a goofball as the rest of the neocons.
“I am emboldened by my looks to say things Republican men wouldn’t. Ann Coulter, as quoted in TV Guide (August 1997),
“If you wanted to teach people about the great things about America, a college campus is the last place you’d send them. Even fanatical Muslim terrorists don’t hate America like liberals do.” Ann Coulter — CPAC conference, 2002
And by the way, she just endorsed Romney at CPAC last week. First she was for him, then against him, now for him again. At least she checked her gender before coming out for inSanitorum.
I’m not saying she’s right, Bill (make that ‘correct’ – she’s definitely Right). She’s a nutjob. I’m saying she’s intelligent. There is a big difference. I hate that nasty women – but she is intelligent. She can read. She can write. She knows how to tie her shoes (presumably). You have to have a certain amount of intelligence to spin and twist the truth the way she does.
Granted Jill. She does have a brain (Abi Normal ?). Thanks for qualifying your observation.
The flip-flopping endorsement at this juncture seems a possibly desperate survival reaction, close to fight-or-flight conflict-resolution response.
What reasoned conclusion would have ever thunk Rick ?
Can’t help but wonder if their viewership/income is greater with a dem in office. If in some twisted way, they’re actually predisposed to promoting someone who can’t win.