From the (very thoughtful) article — emphasis added:
The biggest divide, however, may be their supporters. Paul’s people, who dutifully showed up to hold signs bearing his name at some of Romney’s Florida events, are dedicated to Paul’s policies. Asking them the reasons for their support can easily lead to a 10-minute conversation about the advantages of non-interventionism or the gold standard. Many can live without their man winning the nomination; it’s about the libertarian cause. A Paul supporter at a Romney rally on Sunday said Paul would never win the whole shebang, but he was casting his ballot for him today anyway as “a symbol of protest against the GOP Establishment.”
Many of the Floridians rallying to Romney are often attracted to him precisely because he seems electable; their support is strategic, not symbolic. More often that not, his supporters couldn’t (or wouldn’t) name a particular policy they like; more important to them was the fact that the former governor is a successful businessman who carries himself well and has a relatively unimpeachable personal background. “I like the way he handles himself,” said one rally attendee on Monday morning, when asked what he liked most about the candidate. “He’s a Republican,” said another. “He seems more professional,” said a third. “He’s clean and pleasant,” a woman said at a rally in the afternoon. As former Florida state senator Connie Mack has been putting it in his introductions for Romney, “He looks like a President.”
I saved up for an Anthropologie quilt once. It took a long time, because I was like 15. The quilt was pretty, until I washed it and learned that they didn’t actually do much in the way of sewing it so the batting wouldn’t all bunch up in one corner of the quilt the first time it came in contact with water.
Rick Santorum says it’s “wonderful” if nuclear scientists in Iran die, and we can definitely assassinate them because — get this — we’ve assassinated people before.
Y’know the ones that the president, pretty much every other politician, every military general, and every intelligence analyst was CERTAIN were there? Yeahhh… Now tell me again about the imminent threat of a nuclear Iran. -Joe
I’m sure it’s on the internet somewhere but don’t feel like finding it.
I already pretty much know what everyone is going to say.
That said, I must say that there were some…amusing, I guess you could say? — moments which I much enjoyed.
Topping the list is when Romney was clearly proud of himself for naming like eight Hispanic conservatives in one sentence. He definitely did some flashcards and it paid off.
How much of this was pure pandering I don’t know, but Gingrich definitely hinted at a Gingrich/Rubio ticket. Rubio is hawkish and bad on issues like indefinite detention, to say the least, so that’s making a bad situation worse.
When asked the [stupid and irrelevant] question of whose wife would make the best first lady, the camera pans to Carol Paul were, of course, adorable. For a second when Gingrich mentioned the “three wives there tonight,” or something to that effect, I thought he’d actually brought all three of his wives, which would have been a set up for some Jerry Springer-style craziness (he actually meant Mrs. Paul, Romney, and Gingrich). Finally, Santorum took waaaaaay longer than everyone else and called his wife his hero, which is weird given 1) his presumably complementarian theology and 2) the fact that she apparently lived with an abortion doctor for six years before she and Santorum got hitched (!).
But the best part was definitely Ron Paul being funny. He should do that way more often — it adds a good balance to the heavy policy answers he normally gives. For instance, on his age:
“I’m willing to challenge any of these gentlemen up here to a 25-mile bike ride any time of the day in the heat of Texas…But, you know, there are laws against age discrimination, so if you push this too much, you better be careful.”
On Cuba:
“Imagine you’re in the Oval Office, you speak to Raul Castro. What would you say to him?” Blitzer asked.
“Well, I’d ask him what he called about, you know?” [Paul] responded.
Selected words used by President Obama in his State of the Union addresses, and by Republican presidential candidates in their debates, television interviews and major speeches since May.
Interesting. Santorum seems to be the most inconsistent in terms of topics covered — he has much bigger spikes and drops than the others.
