Day: January 13, 2015

Chait: Romney Will Come to His Senses

Buck Banks

Eight years ago, John Kerry briefly considered another run for president, after also having failed to oust an incumbent despised by his own party’s base and mistaking the outpouring of commitment on his behalf as an expression of personal loyalty, rather than the partisan loyalty it actually was. Soon enough, Kerry came to his senses. Romney will, too.

— Jonathan Chait, in New York Magazine.

A Romney Run Would ‘Upend the Race’

Buck Banks

It would upend the race. He leads in national GOP polls, but more importantly, Romney would start as the favorite in New Hampshire. The winner of the New Hampshire primary on the Republican side has gone on to the be the party’s nominee in nine of the last 11 presidential elections. Notably, that includes all of the last three cycles. Romney would also threaten former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and move New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie down a notch for the establishment track, setting up the potential for a protracted nomination fight between a couple of establishment candidates, the most viable harder-line conservative and possibly Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). Of course, Romney came within 34 caucus votes of winning Iowa. And if conservatives split like they did last time, a Romney Iowa and New Hampshire sweep is possible.

— Morning Line.

Republicans Continue to Lie About the Economy

Buck Banks

For years Republicans have been spewing doomsday rhetoric about the president’s policies, but the stock market is booming, the deficit shrinking, the economy adding lots of jobs and the dollar robust. … Virtually everything GOP critics have told us would follow from the policies put in place has not come to pass. You would think that this would occasion a few mea culpas, some rethinking, an admission of poor prognostication. But, alas, it continues. Rep. Paul Ryan is now warning in a column that Obamacare ‘is weighing down our economy and discouraging hiring’ and will ultimately ‘collapse under its own weight.’

— Daniel Gross, writing in the Daily Beast.

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