In the last year, the national polls for the Republican presidential nomination have been led by many different people including the freakish and shameful pseudo-candidacy of Donald Trump. But Republican primary and caucus voters have shown much better judgment than you would think given the . . . . Continue Reading »
So why did Ron Paul go after Santorum more than Romney yesterday? Is it an alliance because Romney is a secret paleolibertarian, or is it a secret bargain so that Romney would make Ron or Rand Paul the VP nominee? Please. Ron Paul trained most of his fire yesterday on . . . . Continue Reading »
1. Henry Olsen is one of the few I’ve read who didn’t think Santorum had an outright bad debate. He is right in one sense. Even with all the pressure on him, Santorum wasn’t as whiny and hostile as he was in the early debates. That’s something. But . . . . Continue Reading »
So the vacationing Carl Scott made the following observation that I think deserves more attention than it will get in the comments section: The key here is Peter’s 35 state claim [Peter Lawler passing on a story from the Politico that Santorum would lose 35 states.] Where is the data or the . . . . Continue Reading »
1. I think it is a huge deal for Santorum. My sense is that a large plurality of potential Republican voters would prefer to vote for Santorum, but also don’t want to vote for a bumbler or sure loser. This group doesn’t want to vote Romney, but they’ll do it if . . . . Continue Reading »
1. So I was talking to a friend of mine about Romney’s inability to connect with conservative audiences. I don’t know how someone can run for office for so long and yet be be so bad at imagining the mental universe of his target constituency as to believe that they would . . . . Continue Reading »
There has been a lot of thoughtful commentary on the HHS Mandate the last couple of weeks. Ross Douthat and Yuval Levin argue that Obama levels the ‘little platoons’ of civil society in favor of expanding the power of the state. Here is Levin: “In this arena, as in a . . . . Continue Reading »
1. The national and Michigan polls seem to be trending in Santorum’s direction to a greater or lesser degree. It isn’t obvious to me what Romney does about this but this anti-Santorum ad isn’t getting it done. Does anybody on Earth believe that Romney . . . . Continue Reading »
Reihan Salam is one of my favorite policy writers and he had some interesting thoughts about how the issue of gay marriage impacts Rick Santorum’s chances to win the general election. This caught me a little short: But the notion that opposition to same-sex marriage is rooted in . . . . Continue Reading »
I really like the guy but the skeptical comments regarding Santorum by Bryan, Sara, Stephen P, and Peter Lawler deserve attention. Take the whole women in combat thing. His point about group dynamics isn’t crazy, but he is just off. He just isn’t quick enough or . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
