Whether or not it’s a scandal is primarily a dispute over semantics and intent. Whether or not it’s a government failure should not be in dispute. The only thing that makes it not a scandal is that the President knew nothing about it until he read about it in the newspaper, which really should be a scandal, but among his supporters that kind of thing is okay no matter how often it happens.
Other than the VA, I have no idea what “failures” you’re talking about. Even the VA probably does much more right than they do wrong.
They killed patients and covered it up.
The other failures were major news stories. You don’t think Americans’ faith in Obama’s competence plummeted just because?
I read an interesting article this morning that suggested that the noise around Romney is mostly designed to keep Jeb Bush from scooping up Romney donors (who might otherwise find Bush the prettiest contender in the beauty pageant) without Bush having to appeal to Romney himself. This article thought he can keep some of those donors in limbo, either because he wants Bush to have to come to him or because he just wants to keep Bush from getting a big early advantage.
That makes me think that perhaps Romney wants Chris Christie to be President and by putting himself out there can hold off on the rush to Bush.
So maybe Romney stays in the race until late fall 2015, and then just drops out and endorses Christie, assuming Romney isn’t running ahead of the pack already.
Any evidence that this is true, and not just something Time made up?
Regards,
Shodan
The *WSJ *is just mild about Romney 3.0: Romney Recycled - WSJ
That’s true, they weren’t authorized to give those Tea Party groups tax-exempt status. I’ll grant you that that can be considered a government failure. Still tough to lay that one at Obama’s feet, though, since the parties involved were Bush appointees.
And by the CDC’s failures, I assume you’re referring to this year’s flu vaccines having the wrong mix of strains? That sort of thing happens occasionally, and the people who got the vaccines still had less severe cases of one strain, and still avoided other strains entirely. That’s not a failure, that’s just a smaller success than normal.
Can we please limit this thread to discussion of a Romney 2016 candidacy?
“Almost certain.”
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I’m pretty surprised. Obviously, still not a done deal, but I’m surprised he seems to be considering it. It makes me tired just thinking about running once, let alone three times.
He’s serious about seeming serious, anyway. Seems like some kind of ploy to help keep Jeb from locking up all the big money.
Progressive policy outcomes.
But, he can. He has. A lot.
Please see post 129.
Obama is off-topic; Warren is off-topic; everyone but Romney is off-topic.
Please stay on-topic.
Thanks,
twickster, Elections moderator
So, um, back to Romney. I’ll just make a couple of statements about him and if any of you disagree, just let me know:
Romney is electable. He CAN win. And he MIGHT be the strongest candidate the Republicans have. Jeb would be stronger if he wasn’t named Bush. The others all have their flaws just like Romney, and Romney will raise more money than the rest of them.
The problem for Romney and Bush is the same though: it’s hard to beat Clinton with either of them unless the headwinds for the Democratic candidate are just too much for Clinton to overcome. The playbook for beating Romney is still valid and quite effective. The Democrats almost managed to beat David Perdue in Georgia using the same playbook, but again, headwinds and all that. You can’t beat Clinton with old and tired. You can only beat her with new and exciting, but of course also with a track record of getting things done.
I’m glad Romney will be there in case all the other candidates fail to catch on or self destruct, so I have no issue with him running. I also like that he’ll keep Jeb from sucking up all the donor money. With Romney in the race, all the other candidates will get a fair hearing, which I don’t think would happen if Jeb sat atop the field.
I recently watched Mitt on Netflix. He came across as a likable guy, but he has to learn to take no for an answer. This comeback attempt is going to fizzle out well before the primaries.
The first Iowa poll shows him leading Bush and Huckabee, and both have as much name recognition as he does. So he’s definitely going to at least go that far.
I think the guy would be a disaster as President … but he just wants it so much. Can’t we just elect him President for, like a week or something? Then he can get it out of his system and move on.
Romney is an effective manager, so at the very least we’d have a competent hand at the wheel.