How to choose a president

Posted by Greg Laden on June 9, 2011
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“I gotta make a choice and go with the intelligent woman who’s every bit as attractive”

That’s what Michele Bachmann’s new high-powered advisor, Ed Rollins told Politico the other day.

This is perfect. We are being asked, by the Bachmann campaign, to chose between Bachmann and Palin using the following decision chain:

1) Is the candidate attractive? (Yes/No)

…2a) If No, reject candidate.

…2b) If Yes: Is the candidate intelligent?

……3a) If no, reject candidate.

……3b) If yes, vote for candidate.

And this is supposed to lead us to select Michel Bachmann over Sarah Palin? And that is how we are supposed to pick the leader of the United States?

This comment by Rollins, who directed the Huckabee campaign and Reagan-Bush ’84 and numerous others, is part of what is being called a “spat” (I suppose that’s a reference to the term “cat fight” which I’m sure everyone is trying to not say) that erupted yesterday between Bachmann and Palin (or at least, their campaigns).

Bachmann’s manager said “Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years. She got the vice presidential thing handed to her. She didn’t go to work in the sense of trying to gain more substance. She gave up her governorship.”

To this the Palin campaign has responded by demanding an apology, according to the morning news shows. Meanwhile …

On Wednesday, Michael Glassner, Palin’s chief of staff, responded with a statement of his own: “Beltway political strategist Ed Rollins has a long, long track record of taking high profile jobs and promptly sticking his foot in his mouth.”

Rollins also told Politico: “I don’t think Palin runs, and if she does, we will deal with it. There obviously is a trend in the media to link them. In the long run we want Palin and her people as our allies.”

Good luck with that.

Source: Stuff I heard on the TV and this story in the Washington Post.

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Comments

  1. #1 Abdul Alhazred
    June 9, 2011

    And this is supposed to lead us to select Michel Bachmann over Sarah Palin?

    Hell no!

    Draft Condi! :)

  2. #2 Abdul Alhazred
    June 9, 2011

    Sorry, I almost forgot the obligatory pic.

  3. #3 James Sweet
    June 9, 2011

    I think the Bachmann campaign is making a blunder in criticizing Palin at this point. It’s nowhere near a done deal that Palin is going to run — many people put the odds below 50/50. And whoever the GOP nominee is, she is going to need the support of the millions of rabid/vapid Palin fans out there, you betcha. Implying that Palin is dumb is a bad move at this point.

    This is doubly true for Bachmann, who cannot really run an effective “I’m smrter ‘n you” campaign at this point. I could see a Republican candidate going for the endzone and trying to appeal to serious conservatives, while leaving the Tea Party idiots in the dust. It would probably fail, but it’s a legitimate tactic. But Bachmann’s not going to be able to run that kind of a campaign, she needs the support of the idiots — and calling Palin stupid or ugly is going to undermine that goal.

    I think Obama has a really good shot at 2012, I simply cannot see any of the Republican candidates mounting a reasonable challenge. Maybe Pawlenty. He’s just crazy right-winger enough to appeal to the teabaggers, but just mainstream enough that serious conservatives might not have a heart attack voting for him. So hopefully the nominee won’t be him :)

  4. #4 Phillip IV
    June 9, 2011

    James Sweet @ #2:

    I could see a Republican candidate going for the endzone and trying to appeal to serious conservatives, while leaving the Tea Party idiots in the dust.

    And despite the Teabaggers’ whining and raving about real conservatism and not voting for Mitt Romney under any circumstances – as long as Obama is black they’re still going to vote for whoever gets the GOP nomination, even if it’s Fred Karger. The trick is getting through the primaries, after that the Baggers will be in the bag. Unless, of course, one of the Tea Party favorites runs as an independent, but I don’t really see that happening right now.

    That’s the problem with the overheated rhetoric – you can’t tell your followers that Obama is the anti-Christian Fifth Horseman of the Communist Gay Apocalypse and then expect them to sit out the election because the GOP chosen one is slightly to the left of the right edge.

  5. #5 Greg Laden
    June 9, 2011

    I’m assuming that Michele Bachmann will run as an indy if she is not nominate by the Republicans. All indications point in that direction, including the fact that god told her to be president, and that she’s essentially a founder of the tea party which sees itself as independent.

  6. #6 NewEnglandBob
    June 9, 2011

    Actually, neither is very attractive when they screw up their faces at real questions or are sneering their praise-the lord-Jeebus horseshit.

    As far as intelligence, My 4 year old granddaughter far surpasses either of those two empty headed morans.

  7. #7 daedalus2u
    June 9, 2011

    If Bachmann provides Palin with some opportunities to make some big money giving speaches, all will be forgiven.

  8. #8 Rich Wilson
    June 9, 2011

    Here’s a handy guide:
    http://people-press.org/2011/06/02/republican-candidates-stir-little-enthusiasm/ (last chart on the first page)

  9. #9 Andrew
    June 9, 2011

    The only open question to me is which will be the candidate for President and which will be the candidate for Vice President

  10. #10 Andrew
    June 9, 2011

    Oh, no, that made it look like I was supporting both of them. What I mean to say is that I can’t wait to see the way that contest is settled. Targets? Wrestling? Bear Skinning?

  11. #11 Kermit
    June 9, 2011

    Andrew: “I can’t wait to see the way that contest is settled.”

    Well, they’ll have a serious debate on American history and the relative merits of various political philosophies O_o

    Then arm wrestle.

  12. #12 MacTurk
    June 9, 2011

    NewEnglandBob(no 6)wrote “As far as intelligence, My 4 year old granddaughter far surpasses either of those two empty headed morans”.

    The PROPER Teabag spelling is Maroon, please!

    I think you might be unintentionally insulting your grand-daughter. Comparing her to Bimbo and Bimbette is setting the bar very low, no?

  13. #13 Art
    June 9, 2011

    The GOP is going to win this one when, during a debate, Sarah and Bachmann have a classic cat fight, fall into a conveniently placed mud puddle, and suffer a highly improbable series of wardrobe failures that leaves nothing to the imagination but avoid censorship because, technically, all that was shown was mud.

  14. #14 Vic
    June 9, 2011

    I thought he meant he’d vote for Tina Fey.