How Can You Start a Campaign Without a Candidate?

So… much like the “H”, the campaign is either falling apart or hasn’t come together yet.

Or is stuck between a couple of barges….

Maybe between a rock and a hard place…

Is this where independents hang out?

I’m tripping over Godwin’s law here… this would make for an excellent family guy joke.

Take a lesson from the Democrats in 2008 – Put an empty suit up there and tout his/her skills as a community organizer, or ice cream salesman, or any other attributes that make him/her totally unqualfied for the job. As Gobbels said, tell a lie, so huge that nobody could possibl believe it. Repeat it with conviction and often. Soon the uneducated masses will accept it as truth. And that children, is how Barack Hussain Obama became the first totally unqualified president of the 57 United States!

Can’t help but think that Huntsman and his loyal little crowd of pals are barking up the wrong tree. He worked in the Obama administration holding an important position, and now he expects to receive the GOP nomination for president? Seriously? In the age of the Tea Party?
http://www.sunstateactivist.org

sittingonmybrains,
.
You’re lecturing us on application of the “Big Lie”? Really??? For real??
.
How big is that “projector” you’re using?

gum,
.
Hey, why not? I’m game.
.
braintrust below has already tried HIS hand at humor.
.
At least I think that was a joke. Who knows, he MAY actually be serious about that.

I wonder if they’ll figure out that the problem isn’t with finding the next generation of “conservative” leaders but that they’ll all have to try to live up to the absurd “conservative” dogma inculcated in the base by the last generation of “conservative” leaders.

Fifty-seven United States?
.
Where do the extra seven come in?
.
Is our education system so flawed that we’ve been teaching kids there’re only 50?

Tell me again why none of the first tier candidates are willing to run in 2012?
.
–Josh Marshall

Looks like they figured it out.

Not exactly first tier but MPR just announced that Thune has said he isn’t running.

So… what are they working on now? Remainder of 2nd tier… or are the 3rd’s already bailing too?

Sounds like a bunch of beltway camp followers waiting to get on a gravy train of their own making. All they need is someone’s caboose. It has no point but fundraising. They’ll get off when the scenery gets boring, the dining car closes, and before anyone important realizes they’re overextended and the books don’t balance. Go to campaignconsultantinaslittleasonehouraday.com…

Sen. Scott Brown came out with an autobiography so maybe that’s a possible indication of a Presidential run… although he’s the only Republican… I mean Democrat… no, that’s right, Republican… that could give Obama any problems with independents in 2012.

** non sequitur **
·
Peter Griffin sees Red H on a build board, gray lettering “Maybe Someday”
·
Someday, Someday, Someday… 80s blur fade.
·
Joseph Goebbels: Nein, zee her mein Furer.
·
Joseph Goebbels holds up a red H made of clay.
·
Joseph Goebbels: Zis is ze motto ve should uze
·
Hitler: Nein, is ze gay.
·
Hitler bends the ends of the H bars and throws them in the corner creating the first Swastica. Fade back to Peter.
·
Peter Griffin: OMG I’ve got to warn the people!

Centfan,
don’t underestimate the ignorance of the average voter when it comes to politics….. We have seen not that long ago that many voters seem more than eager to vote against their own best interest…….

“Fifty-seven United States?”
.
Let me explain – I’m fluent in ‘rightwingese’.
.
The Obama’s 57 states thing goes back to campaign speech where Obama said, “Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go.” Right wingers have seized upon this slip as evidence that Obama is stupid. Like, Sarah Palin level stupid.

It was widely recognized that Huntsman was appointed to be ambassador to China by Obama precisely in order to make it difficult for him to run in 2012.

Although Huntsman is precisely the type of Republican who could beat Obama in a general election, I cannot possibly imagine him winning the GOP nomination, barring some bizarre brokered convention and one of the front-runners having a John Edwards-esque scandal.

Personally, I find it incredibly disturbing that Obama would treat what is probably the most important ambassadorship position as a political Siberia to which he can exile a political opponent. If I could only cite one example to show that Obama’s campaign rhetoric of reform was complete and utter b.s., it would be the appointment of Jon Huntsman.

Maybe so robbert5, but after wars to nowhere, Katrina, and an economy spiraling in, the US voters did resist the siren song of Sarah and at least went with a campaign that was maturely presented.
-
After all, the only reason we ended up with Dubya was the blue dress… only the blue dress… and the convenience in round 2 of holding our military in the field as human shields… oh, I see, THAT ignorance.

“And that children, is how Barack Hussain Obama became the first totally unqualified president of the 57 United States!”
.
Telling slanderous lies about the President is easy. Any traitor can do it.

“If ever a nation was debauched by a man, the American nation has been debauched by Washington. If ever a nation was deceived by a man, the American nation has been deceived by Washington.”
.
—From Rating the Presidents by William Ridings, Jr. and Stuart McIver

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/22/948128/-Cheers-and-Jeers:-Tuesday

“After all, the only reason we ended up with Dubya was the blue dress… only the blue dress…”
.
The only reason we got Dubya is because of an unconstitutional, corporatist, judicial coup by traitorous Federalist Society hacks. The other guy won the election by half a million votes.

The 57 United States? So are the the Untied States of Heinz?

Color me naive, but I am tired of good governance and diplomacy taking a back seat to “political election” gamesmanship.

It isn’t as though Huntsman was totally unqualified. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and had spent time in the Far East previously. He was ambassador to Singapore in the Bush I admin as well as a deputy trade representative in Bush II.

Actually Huntsman was an excellent choice. He speaks fluent Mandarin, has lived in Taiwan and is very familiar with US Asian trade policies. And just to be clear Huntsman was recommended to Obama by Jeff Bader the to Asia expect on the Nation Security Council not some political operative.

57 Untied States of Heinz”
.
Sounds Soup-er!
.
Also, you might want to “lace them back up”.
.
Sorry… couldn’t resist.

Was more addressing the “exile of a political opponent” angle. We need representatives that reflect admin thinking and can support it whole-heartedly. (Maybe that IS the case?)
.
And, unless there was just a dearth of Dem-leaning candidates for the position, I wonder why others weren’t nominated.

Should be in response to 8.2 and 8.3.

afguy, I think the political opponent angle was the one immediately pushed by the mandarins in our press corps. Obama was in the early mode of trying to work in the holy bipartisan manner, but of course that wasn’t what they wanted to report. I think Huntsman was a much better choice than Judd Gregg as Commerce.

Oh, God, yes, Ivy, I agree.
.
With Gregg, it was obvious that Obama was trying to “de-fang” him.
.
There was no way Gregg could come out of that situation a “winner”.
.
Accept = sell-out. Decline = partisan without concern for good of the country.

m0mentom0ri – You’d never sieze on a slip of the tongue by a conservative…. or an outright statement of stupidity, now would you? you are a flaming HIPOCRYTE!!! Libtard.

I’d like to conduct an experiement: Get 10 sixth graders, and wake them out of a sound sleep with the question “How many states are there?”

And he’s an expert on the constitution. Maybe when he was thinking about redistributing wealth there was enough for 57 states worth of people who don’t work.

sittingonmybrains,
.
Symptoms of a brain aneurysm or just bad case of hemorrhoids…
.
Literally, too “close” to call…

@ Ivy & jsfox:
.
Huntsman may have been an excellently qualified Republican ambassador, but he had no place being appointed by an ostensibly Democratic President.
.
I know Americans are pretty weak on languages skills, but I expect more than foreign-language fluency.
.
One of two things is true. Either Obama has a fundamentally Republican outlook on trade policy or Huntsman was a terrible choice.
.
@afguy: If you think that Gregg came out looking bad then you have missed the plot.
.
Obama is the guy who squandered an opportunity to define his policies in stark contrast to the preceding 8 years and he blew it. Obama picked Gregg and then got embarrassed by the rejection..
.
Hell, if Obama was deliberately trying to “defang” Gregg, it looked incredibly weak from a political standpoint. Obama was a newly-elected president with a mandate for change. Gregg was a GOP senator in the minority. Why are you playing defense by even worrying about Gregg?

I disagree. I actually think Obama chose Huntman to be ambassador because of Huntsman’s qualifications. And if Huntsman were to lose a presidential bid because of that appointment, it would speak far more to the uncompromising, dictatorial mindset of the GOP rather than any perceived, unfounded, conspiractorial-loving accusation that Obama appointed Huntsman ambassador for any reasons other than the man’s qualifications. To say otherwise is to denigate both men.

square1, don’t you remember all that Team of Rivals cr@p? The Villagers were so intense on teh bipartisanship that Obama was bringing to DC; David Broder required a fan. It is not uncommon for a president to appoint someone of another party.
.

President-Elect George Bush finally delivered on his post-election pledges of bipartisanship yesterday, announcing the selection of a Democrat, Norman Mineta, as one of the last three members of his cabinet. Mr Mineta, who has been Commerce Secretary in the Clinton administration for the past eight months, was nominated to be Transportation Secretary in an otherwise all-Republican administration.

.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bush-nominates-democrat-to-cabinet-but-falls-short-on-his-pledge-to-unite-america-705382.html
.
The Bush story goes on about why couldn’t he find more Democrats, he was to be a uniter, not a divider, etc. etc. Obama would have had that squared (as it were.)
.
I certainly am not happy with many things Obama has done, but this one is fine with me.

I’m with Ivy on this. In those heady days of “let’s find the angry partisan black community organizer inside our President” there was plenty of pressure for him to find right leaning appointees, especially in defense and economic circles (or areas easily related to that). Huntsman created a relatively big splash at the time as being an obvious nothing-but-net choice and who’da believed Obama wouldn’t appoint a Maoist with Tibetan scalps on his belt and a “Down with Democracy” pin.
-
I didn’t recall Huntsman on the radar as any kind of serious political challenger except maybe at the grown-ups table. Remember, Ron Paul and Sarah Palin are still considered the leading ponies by any “credible” news outlet that wants web hits to show advertisers.
-
If Huntsman couldn’t find his feet with a flashlight that would be another story. As it is I’m sure Mr. Huntsman is quite happy to be in a position to have all the opportunities for all the opportunities and nothing but happy powerful connections surrounding him. I can’t imagine being in a thankless, back stabbing, and perverted Presidential campaign as a prostituted and cornered candidate would be his first alternative choice.

As a general rule, I am not that sympathetic to “Obama had to…” arguments. When Obama was sworn in, he had a massive honeymoon and the GOP was in disarray. Obama appointed Gates to SecDef, Gethner (a former Republican) as Treasury Sec., and as we already discussed he first offered Gregg the Commerce job. He further appointed a bunch more Republicans to various defense and intel positions. And then he ended up renominating Bernanke as Fed Chair. I’m not buying that Obama HAD to pick Huntsman or he would have been vulnerable on the bipartisanship front.
.
As for Huntsman’s political prospects, I bet you can’t find a single article from back when he was appointed that DOESN’T mention his presidential aspirations. The idea that Team Obama was ignorant of how the appointment would affect Huntsmans’ prospects doesn’t pass the smell test.
.
My personal guess is that Obama likes Huntsman, wouldn’t mind him running and winning in 2016, and thought that the appointment might derail Huntsman in 2012 but boost him in 2016.