{"id":1736,"date":"2011-03-25T19:16:09","date_gmt":"2011-03-26T01:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=1736"},"modified":"2011-03-25T19:16:09","modified_gmt":"2011-03-26T01:16:09","slug":"american-idolization-of-republican-primary-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=1736","title":{"rendered":"American Idolization of Republican Primary Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let the\u00a0Republican Presidential contest begin!\u00a0 With no\u00a0formally announced candidates\u00a0entered into next year’s\u00a0Republican Primary, it’s interesting to calculate the odds of winning for potential\u00a0entrants.\u00a0\u00a0Based on\u00a0both polling data and common sense,\u00a0we could narrow down the field of likely winners with relative ease.\u00a0 While I am no prophet nor the son of a prophet, I’ll share my thoughts on some of the more popular figures in the GOP who may run for President in 2012.\u00a0 That way, you can either say “You were wrong,” or I can say, “See, I told you so.”<\/p>\n

First, the polls.\u00a0 In the latest Gallop poll <\/a>, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee stands atop the list as the candidate more Republicans and\/or Republican-leaning Independents prefer when asked who they would vote for in 2012.\u00a0\u00a0With 19%,\u00a0Huckabee\u00a0leads Romney (15%), Palin (12%),\u00a0Gingrich (10%), Paul (6%), and\u00a0Tea Party darling, Michelle Bachmann (5%).\u00a0 If Gallop asked\u00a0(which they didn’t), I would have probably\u00a0picked\u00a0Mike Huckabee as well.\u00a0 Not only does common sense tell\u00a0me that he has a reasonable chance of winning, but the fact that\u00a0Gov. Huckabee\u00a0is also a \u00a0former\u00a0Southern Baptist\u00a0pastor doesn’t hurt his cause (at least with me).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Someone from far down the pack — Pawlenty (3%)\u00a0or Barbour (2%) or even the Donald (1%) — could emerge as the leading candidate, but I wouldn’t count on it.\u00a0 Of course, this in only one poll in the early stages of what will undoubtedly be a very long campaign season.\u00a0 Be that as it may, the Gallop poll, while not 100% accurate in predicting the future,\u00a0will come much closer than some other polls ,\u00a0including the various “straw polls” that have already been conducted.<\/p>\n

One such poll, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)\u00a0straw poll, conducted in February<\/a>,\u00a0saw Texas Congressman Ron Paul receive 30% of the vote, giving him his second straight CPAC\u00a0straw\u00a0poll victory.\u00a0 To put things in perspective, former Arkansas Gov. Huckabee received 2% of the vote whereas former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson\u00a0took 6% of the vote.\u00a0\u00a0Even though I live in New\u00a0Mexico, I would venture to say that, nationwide,\u00a0only a miniscule\u00a0number of Republicans have ever heard of Gary Johnson.\u00a0 I’m sure he was a fine governor for the Land of Enchantment — we hit rock bottom with Bill Richardson, who is thankfully gone — but he has no chance of winning the Presidential nomination.\u00a0 And, neither does Ron Paul.<\/p>\n

That’s were good, ole’-fashioned common sense comes into play.\u00a0 Barring some unforseen catastrophic event which wipes out most of the Republican field, Michele Bachman\u00a0has no chance of ever being\u00a0elected the\u00a0Republican nominee for President in 2012 much less President of the United States of America.\u00a0 However, it seems that the\u00a0Republicans (and the\u00a0Democrats\u00a0back in 2008) have followed the formula for American Idol — just show up on stage and think that they are worthy to be there.<\/p>\n

I used to watch the show, but\u00a0ever since Simon Cowell left, I see no reason to watch.\u00a0 Simon was great at what he did — he had an ear and eye for talent.\u00a0 But, if he could see tat you had no business being on stage, he would let you know in no uncertain terms.\u00a0 I know that the producers of American Idol would use some contestants as comic relief,\u00a0but I often wondered where the friends of these\u00a0woefully and obviously untalented singers were when the auditions came to town.<\/p>\n

Where was the best friend or parent or teacher who would\u00a0lovingly and honestly say, “You can’t really sing that good.\u00a0 You have no business trying out for American\u00a0Idol.\u00a0 If you do,\u00a0you will either be rejected outright or you will be “allowed” to audition in front of Randy,\u00a0Simon, and Paula, but will be humiliated on national television as you are being rejected with\u00a0extreme prejudice.”<\/em>\u00a0 Far too many of American Idol wannabes\u00a0 apparently had no one who was close enough to tell them not to make a complete and total fool of themselves.<\/p>\n

Such has become the case with the field of candidates for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination.\u00a0 I’m sure that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is a fine representative for the people of Minnesota.\u00a0 She likewise acquits herself well on various political talk shows like Hannity<\/em>.\u00a0 However, for Congresswoman Bachmann\u00a0apparently has delusions of grandeur which have caused her to explore a Presidential run.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking to ABC’s Jonathan Karl, Bachman said, “I’m in!”\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0Just what is she\u00a0“in” for?\u00a0 Bachmann\u00a0clarified:<\/p>\n

“I’m in for 2012 in that I want to be a part of the conversation in making sure that President Obama only serves one term, not two, because I want to make sure that we get someone who’s going to be making the country work again. That’s what I’m in for,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to the interview, Bachmann will not make an official decision on whether or not to run until June.\u00a0 Is there no one close enough to Michele Bachmann to tell her that she is losing credibility?\u00a0 Does she have so much money (or other people’s money) to burn that she is willing to waste a few months on an ill-fated quest for a sweepstakes prize that she will never win?\u00a0 Let me help her out.\u00a0 She does not have to wait until June to make that decision.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For Michele Bachmann to even flirt with the idea of running for President is ludicrous beyond belief.\u00a0 It simply defies common sense.<\/p>\n

Are there no political figures within the Republican Party that still possess some of the wonderful common sense that made Ronald Reagan such a great President?\u00a0 Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty (what is it about Minnesota?) and Gary Johnson and Herman Cain??? may be fine public servants, but I do not see them sitting in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n

It’s time for the Simon Cowell’s of the Republican Party to speak to some of the potential candidates.\u00a0 This is a serious election in a time of uncertainty at home and abroad.\u00a0 This is no time for comic relief on the national or world stage.\u00a0 We already have a President who, if it were not so sad, is providing enough comic relief to go around.\u00a0 Let the cream rise to the top, but by all means, let’s stop the American Idolization of the Republican Primary Process!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let the\u00a0Republican Presidential contest begin!\u00a0 With no\u00a0formally announced candidates\u00a0entered into next year’s\u00a0Republican Primary, it’s interesting to calculate the odds of winning for potential\u00a0entrants.\u00a0\u00a0Based on\u00a0both polling data and common sense,\u00a0we could narrow down the field of likely winners with relative ease.\u00a0 While I am no prophet nor the son of a prophet, I’ll share my thoughts…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[34],"tags":[46,86,244,261,262,426,428,656,667,712,721,829,830,852,864,904],"class_list":["post-1736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-2012-presidential-primary","tag-american-idol","tag-common-sense","tag-cpac","tag-cpac-straw-poll","tag-gallop-poll","tag-gary-johnson","tag-mike-huckabee","tag-mitt-romney","tag-new-mexico","tag-newt-gingrich","tag-republican-party","tag-republican-presidential-candidates","tag-ron-paul","tag-sarah-palin","tag-simon-cowell"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-s0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}