2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumK&R If You Agree None of the Republican Candidates are Electable
http://mildlyrelevant.com/2012/01/unelectable-republicans/None of them are electable. Love him or hate him, President Obama has no business losing to any of these candidates. Lets do a quick Republican roll call to find out way...
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Douglas Carpenter
(20,226 posts)Under a more extreme scenrio even some of the real crazies could win. I think Obama will probably win reelection. If we are extra fortunate - he might win by a comfortable margin. But it is a good idea to always keep in mind that the Republican nominee might win. It is certainly very possible.
Moonwalk
(2,322 posts)All one need do is mess up some ballot cards, get a right-wing media outlet to declare their favored candidate the winner so forcefully that every other news outlets follow their lead rather than really seeing if it's true...and have the supreme court on one's side if the outcome is challenged. All, alas, possible for a current Republican Candidate--not to mention the Voter i.d. laws that have been put into place recently in order to further stack the deck in their favor.
However awful and "unelectable" the candidate chosen by the Republicans, his ability to win is based more on who comes out to vote than whether anyone really wants him as president. Remember, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." If enough voters who would vote for Obama don't vote, then the fringe will decide for us, and elect any one of those "Not-Electable" Republicans.
frazzled
(18,402 posts)I never thought Bedtime for Bonzo Reagan could be elected; I also thought people would see through the Village Idiot Bush. When I lived in Minnesota I did not believe for a second that a cuckoo wrestler would become governor. I totally overestimated the nation's voters too many times.
It's not about "should" or "could" or "right vs. wrong": the people vote in mysterious ways.
joebaur42
(521 posts)My ultimate point (besides making a few potentially tasteless jokes), is that Romney seems to be the no doubt nominee. And he isn't "Republican" enough to get those voters jazzed up, like Obama did in 2008. I can see him potentially doing well in Ohio, but his rich-guy machismo will be his undoing.
Of course you can't rule anything out, but it seems very unlikely any of them have a shot.
SaintPete
(533 posts)Huntsman could get elected. Maybe...
Bachmann is so out I suspect she'll not be able to even retain her House seat.
Newt doesn't really want it, and that's why he's going all scorched earth on Romney.
Perry always has Texas, but will never be President. Never, ever, ever. He defined himself absolutely as a man unprepared for this job.
Ron Paul could get nominated, but not elected, he's just too much over the map. people like him in congress as a squeaky wheel. No need to promote him at all.
Romney had a chance, but killed it when he fired everyone, and liked it.
joebaur42
(521 posts)In a general election, I could see Huntsman doing well against Obama. But he's not going to get the nomination, because of Iowa and he'll do terrible in South Carolina.
spin
(17,493 posts)Journeyman
(15,031 posts)Yeah, I believe I'll hold on the post-mortems and the "happy dance" until December.
JTFrog
(14,274 posts)Just sayin....
RZM
(8,556 posts)I understand that you don't think they are electable. But in the end, it's not about you, it's about everybody else. And there are a lot of people out there who will vote for the Republican nominee, no matter who it is. Will it be enough? Perhaps not. Probably not. But probably and perhaps are a long way from certainty.
It's very dangerous to assume this kind of thing. The potential for teeth marks on the buttocks is very real.
My main point is simply that Romney will be the nominee and he won't get the hardcore Republicans excited enough to go out on Election Day, like Obama was able to in 2008. Of course there are those who will vote Republican no matter what, much in the same way there are Democrats who thrilled with Kerry and voted for him anyway. But whenever the base isn't jacked up about a candidate, they might decide to just stay home because they're not enthusiastic enough to get out the door.
Consider Mitt won in a landslide and is projected to struggle in South Carolina, that already says there isn't nationwide excitement among Republicans for this guy.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,399 posts)Romney and Huntsman ARE electable but we really only have to worry about Romney as Huntsman is almost guaranteed not to be able to make it out of the GOP Tea Party primary. Romney is about as electable as it gets this year for the GOP. How he manages to thread the needle carefully enough to keep the teabaggers in line, as well as attract moderates and indies to the GOP is anybody's guess.
Rhiannon12866
(205,035 posts)I think that Obama will win by enough of a margin that they won't be able to steal this one...