The 2012 Speculatron Weekly Roundup

Last week, we took a break from chronicling the lives of your presumed 2012 candidates because all anyone wanted to talk about was the crazy Friday night near-shutdown of the federal government. That's okay, it was as good a time as any to take a week off.

Of course, having been away for a week, we returned to find the whole 2012 situation in grave disrepair. Did you know that Donald Trump is somehow his-last-naming the entire GOP field at this point? It's true! That is the price you pay when you raise the curtain on the 2012 campaign season four months before any of the major players want to throw their hat into the ring.

And so, it comes as no surprise that at the beginning of the week, a large portion of America's population was actively "dreading" the upcoming election.

And so, some people made some cautious moves. Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney advanced themselves to the "presidential exploratory committee" stage. Tim Pawlenty made an important hire, and for a brief, mad moment had people convinced that he was making a formal announcement candidacy. Mike Huckabee made a few tentative steps that his backers have been begging him to make, Mitch Daniels allowed some new speculation to form around his intentions, Ron Paul began testing the waters and Fred Karger -- the only person who has actually formally announced his intention to run -- started to gain a little more traction, and started to get a little more aggressive.

Nevertheless, this campaign season continues to move by inches -- mainly downward, dragged ever further into the depths by Donald Trump. For all the things you need to know, and some things you'll wish you could forget, please enter the Speculatron for the week of April 15, 2011.

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Michele Bachmann

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Steve Kornacki noted this week the extent to which Michele Bachmann, and her candidacy, is a "useful tool for the Republican establishment."

But that's the beauty of a Bachmann candidacy: Nobody seriously believes she has a chance to win the GOP nomination. The establishment has seen candidacies like hers before, fringe ideologues with devoted followings -- and clear ceilings on their support. The best-case scenario for Bachmann is that she somehow tops a splintered field in Iowa's caucuses (where cultural conservatives hold disproportionate sway). But even then, the rest of the party would quickly rally around her most broadly acceptable (and viable) opponent. The obvious parallel is to 1996, when Pat Buchanan won the New Hampshire primary with 29 percent of the vote -- then watched the other 71 percent of the party flock to Bob Dole in panic. Thus, the GOP establishment has high confidence that it can contain a Bachmann candidacy, if need be. What Bachmann can do, though, is steal attention, money and votes from Palin -- potentially closing down whatever remaining victory scenario exists for the Alaskan.

And Bachmann doesn't disappoint. This week she was promising to run for just one term, and that God told her to stop same-sex marriage (not war or poverty though!), and that she wasn't sure if gay people were a "public health crisis," and then she was saying that she was okay with running for two terms and that Al Franken stole the election and passed Obamacare illegally, and finally she's ended up in a feud with Lenscrafters, so roll on, clownshow, roll on!

Conservatives Pointing Fingers

Michael Hastings Remembered

President Barack Obama's Cabinet

People Who Want More Guns In Schools

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Racist Remarks Made By Politicians

Lies And Distortions Of The Health Care Reform Debate

Steve Kornacki noted this week the extent to which Michele Bachmann, and her candidacy, is a "useful tool for the Republican establishment."

But that's the beauty of a Bachmann candidacy: Nobody seriously believes she has a chance to win the GOP nomination. The establishment has seen candidacies like hers before, fringe ideologues with devoted followings -- and clear ceilings on their support. The best-case scenario for Bachmann is that she somehow tops a splintered field in Iowa's caucuses (where cultural conservatives hold disproportionate sway). But even then, the rest of the party would quickly rally around her most broadly acceptable (and viable) opponent. The obvious parallel is to 1996, when Pat Buchanan won the New Hampshire primary with 29 percent of the vote -- then watched the other 71 percent of the party flock to Bob Dole in panic. Thus, the GOP establishment has high confidence that it can contain a Bachmann candidacy, if need be.

What Bachmann can do, though, is steal attention, money and votes from Palin -- potentially closing down whatever remaining victory scenario exists for the Alaskan.

And Bachmann doesn't disappoint. This week she was promising to run for just one term, and that God told her to stop same-sex marriage (not war or poverty though!), and that she wasn't sure if gay people were a "public health crisis," and then she was saying that she was okay with running for two terms and that Al Franken stole the election and passed Obamacare illegally, and finally she's ended up in a feud with Lenscrafters, so roll on, clownshow... more

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Mort Twain said on 17 Sunday 2011 am30 7:34 am: Send in the clowns, there ought to be clowns. The Republican Party is an actual "clown-creation" machine. What both sides dislike about Obama is his maturity, but now I'd be frightened to have anybody else in charge. We are a sovereign nation with great capability to do good or harm. Obama has been improving things. I would never hand this nation back over to the clowns who sprayed seltzer in our faces while they burned the circus tent. We need maturity even while our media cries out for zany antics. The criteria for "winning" shouldn't be who looks best in a red rubber nose.

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Comments

[njgal4obama]

10:34 PM on 04/19/2011

Slightly irreverent, but it sums up the general scheme of Republican reticence to enter the race: I just love the look on his face, and the jubilant high five!

https://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/photo.php?fbid=195515333822980&set=a.184707118237135.36053.183466205027893&type=1&theater

[the5thhorseman]

10:11 AM on 04/19/2011

Actually, God just spoke to me today, and said to kill everyone on HuffPo, ending with myself. Then Big Bird can marry the Phillie Phanatic and humanity can begin anew

[tangelan]

09:41 AM on 04/19/2011

Trump still hasn't gotten his own slide.

[I once had a Crysknife]

08:55 PM on 04/29/2011

He isn't running anything but the apprentice and his mouth

[GBPackerfan]

09:21 AM on 04/19/2011

God talks to Bachmann? Why? If I understand my Bible correctly, the people God chooses to talk to are those who are ready and able to understand Him. I'm not sure she could understand a Bullwinkle cartoon: she'd probably call Sister Sarah and tell her they need to go huntin' for that talking moose!

[KeyInfo]

09:12 AM on 04/19/2011

I seriously doubt Michelle B. has ever swallowed or allowed anyone to take a ride down the proverbial dirt road. She's a fake.

[ruthtruth]

09:07 AM on 04/19/2011

So she talks to God too. Well I have met many that claimed that they too talked to God. The mental hospital I worked at for 12 years was full of them.

[William Brock]

09:04 AM on 04/19/2011

Bachmann hears God? now, if we can convience her to go to the light the world will be a better place......

[Peter007]

08:45 AM on 04/19/2011

Just about every politician professes a belief in God and every politician reaches out to religious groups.

To place much attention on that is a biased view.

[Kalikat]

08:36 AM on 04/19/2011

What group of people would believe that a person talks to God and gets an answer. Deluded straw for brains tea bags and religious right republicans. Which proves more and more that we do NOT need for education to be cut. We need more funding than ever.

[denicci1977]

01:11 AM on 04/19/2011

I would love to see Tin Foil Queen get the nomination. That would give the entire country front row seats to her out of touch ideas, lack of knowledge, extremism. And the GOP would have to support and defend her like they did Palin. The bar was set so low that all she had to do was wink and put two sentences together which made them declare her the debate winner over Biden. Bachmann doesn't stand a chance either, but I look forward to watching the circus.

[European1919]

12:44 AM on 04/19/2011

This makes an interesting read:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/18/us-economy-credit-rating

[madrediterra]

12:10 AM on 04/19/2011

Republicans would not have won anything without voters over 65. McCain would not have gotten his votes were it not for seniors. These people always vote, but they vote their own best interests. While I'm sure the Republicans who voted for Ryan's bill will spin it, lie and count on poor memories to cover it like cats in a litter box, everybody knows now that they intend to transfer the elderly and disabled's social security and medicare dollars to the rich. It is a simple reverse-Robin Hood and everyone can understand it.

The Tea Party rally numbers are down to 10% of the size of crowds in 2009. I know they still hate leftists, but we do protect those social programs. If you are approaching retirement age but cannot bring yourself to vote Democrat or Progressive, the only way to protect your retirement is not to vote.

Part of me cannot believe Ryan proposed this and the GOP jumped on it. It is cheap with health care dollars for the generation most likely to be frail and ill. It reduces Social Security, which is a bare minimum as it is now and its recipients have paid into it for 40+ years.

Have they gone tea party mad hatter? I don't get it.

[Jerry Aripez]

12:02 AM on 04/19/2011

Conservatives Have Bad Brains

Buck Banks | Apr. 13, 2011

Well, now it’s official. What we liberals always suspected has been proven by science — conservatives’ brains are messed up, which is why they think and act the way they do.

According to a new study published in Current Biology, there is a marked contrast between liberal and conservative brains:

Substantial differences exist in the cognitive styles of liberals and conservatives on psychological measures [1]. Variability in political attitudes reflects genetic influences and their interaction with environmental factors [2,3]. Recent work has shown a correlation between liberalism and conflict-related activity measured by event-related potentials originating in the anterior cingulate cortex [4]. Here we show that this functional correlate of political attitudes has a counterpart in brain structure. In a large sample of young adults, we related self-reported political attitudes to gray matter volume using structural MRI. We found that greater liberalism was associated with increased gray matter volume in the anterior cingulate cortex, whereas greater conservatism was associated with increased volume of the right amygdala.

[justdosomething]

12:30 AM on 04/19/2011

Your the one who believes theis crap.. I think your the one witht the messed up brain.

[Jerry Aripez]

12:43 AM on 04/19/2011

LOL, the ture is killingyou...

[mpilkanis]

07:11 AM on 04/19/2011

Your right amygdala is showing.

[Jerry Aripez]

11:50 PM on 04/18/2011

Palin gets drowned out by crowd and Breibart looses it...In Madison WI Rally against Walker...

http://www.pensitoreview.com/

[Jerry Aripez]

11:41 PM on 04/18/2011

Huckabee Is the One Distorting the Facts of Single Motherhood

Trish Ponder | Mar. 5, 2011

Fundamentalist Republican candidate for president Mike Huckabee said, “Most single moms are very poor, uneducated, can’t get a job, and if it weren’t for government assistance, their kids would be starving to death and would not get health care.”

Facts:
■79.5% of custodial single mothers are employed
■27% of custodial single mothers and their children live in poverty; the other 73% do not
■22% receive Medicaid; 78% do not
■23.5% receive food stamps; 76.5% do not
■12% receive some form of public housing or rent subsidy; 88% do not

[justdosomething]

12:31 AM on 04/19/2011

I don't know where you get your #'s but you are full of it.

[Jerry Aripez]

12:41 AM on 04/19/2011

Put your facts where your mouth is then...disprove it then...

[Jerry Aripez]

12:53 AM on 04/19/2011

Come on Mr 3 yr TSA man...give me some real numbers...LOL...