Post Iowa Malaise

++The loser of the 2008 election, John McCain today endorsed a man whom he despised over the years--Mitt Romney. Sounding ancient, McCain claimed that Romney would not lead from behind (the catchy slam at Obama) but would lead like Ronald Reagan in front. McCain adds to Romney's list of aged Republicans along with Bob Dole and George H.W. Bush. The problem with today's endorsement is that it raises the question whether Romney did in fact vote for Ronald Reagan. He claimed in his Senate race that he had been an independent and didn't want anything to do with Ronald Reagan or George H.W. Bush. The other impression of McCain's speech was that like every other Republican this year he never mentioned George W. Bush. It is incredible this year that throughout the Republican debates you never heard mention that George W. Bush was ever President of the United States.

++It seems Newt is now out for blood. He told conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham that he wanted to form an anti-Romney alliance with Rick Santorum. He says that he and Rick are old friends and that they are reformers and do not like how the establishment disrespects conservatives. It will be interesting to see Newt and Rick tag-team Willard in the weeks ahead. Newt was so peeved by Iowa that he and his lovely bridge Callista fled the state by corporate jet prior to midnight.

++What I thought was a Romney dirty trick--getting Rick Perry to stay in the race--may not be that. Rick Perry took his staff by surprise by announcing he would be competing in South Carolina. The early thinking was that Perry felt he should not quit too early like Tim Pawlenty, who now backs Romney. Keeping conservatives splintered benefits Romney but if Perry's statements are to be believed he will be slugging at Romney. So while Romney benefits from the conservative splits, he will be too bloodied from the fighting.

++Labeled conservative elites, it seems that Gary Bauer, Rev. Dobson and Rev. Weldmon have flown to Texas to cook up a way to stop Romney getting the nomination. As Newt so aptly said this morning,"Romney is a timid moderate, who has been rejected by 75% of the party."

++Newt Gringrich was deeply offended last night when Ron Paul called him a chickenhawk. I expect we will see more of this from Paul as he tries to rally his Love Revolution in New Hampshire. But what really interested me was a piece in Buzzfeed, which showed a photo of a young Mitt Romney organizing protestors against the anti-war protests at Stanford University. Mitt at the time had a draft deferment because he was a "minister of his religion" and later student deferments. Buzzfeed has been documenting Mitt Romney's rather luxurious missionary days in Paris, staying in a Chateau, which is now the embassy of the UAE.

++Rick Santorum still retains his bizarre social conservative beliefs such as outlawing birth control but he is trying to sell a blue collar populism and now speaks of being the son of an Italian immigrant, who worked in the coal mines until he was 75. The one aspect of his campaign that has drawn attention is his emphasis on restoring American manufacturing. None of the other candidates have mentioned this. Where this gets him in a libertarian leaning New Hampshire and the deep South is another matter.

++ Herman Cain beat out Buddy Roemer in the Iowa Caucus. Maybe he will have Michelle Bachmann on as a co-host when he gets his Fox gig.

++Richard Cohen, the Washington Post columnist, used the name of this blog "In another country" to describe his feelings about the GOP and their candidates. He felt he was observing the folkways of "another country" and not the lifestyles of Americans. There is alot of truth to this as the Republican candidates sound and even look like they are from somewhere else. Alot of this is the result of existing inside their own media bubble called Fox and actually believing the things they tell each other. For example, it is totally bizarre to hear presidential candidates proclaim they will ignore Supreme Court rulings they disagree with,make war on Iran as the first option and repeal all the financial reforms done by the Obama Administration. This is like hearing people who have ignored what happened to the country in the years 2008 and afterwards. They come off unhinged.