Republicans are taking a closer look at their potential 2012 field and are not impressed. Case in point – George Will. He fires shots across the bow of Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich in his latest column:
If pessimism is not creeping on little cat’s feet into Republicans’ thinking about their 2012 presidential prospects, that is another reason for pessimism. This is because it indicates they do not understand that sensible Americans, who pay scant attention to presidential politics at this point in the electoral cycle, must nevertheless be detecting vibrations of weirdness emanating from people associated with the party.
The most recent vibrator is Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas who won the 2008 Republican caucuses in Iowa and reached that year’s national convention with more delegates than Mitt Romney, and who might run again.
Will describes Huckabee’s 2 week run of sticking his foot in his mouth over Huckabee’s Obama is Kenyan gaffes and walkbacks. Will adds this wisdom:
Republicans should understand that when self-described conservatives such as Malzberg voice question-rants like the one above and Republicans do not recoil from them, the conservative party is indirectly injured. As it is directly when Newt Gingrich, who seems to be theatrically tiptoeing toward a presidential candidacy, speculates about Obama having a “Kenyan, anti-colonial” mentality.
…
So the Republican winnowing process is far advanced. But the nominee may emerge much diminished by involvement in a process cluttered with careless, delusional, egomaniacal, spotlight-chasing candidates to whom the sensible American majority would never entrust a lemonade stand, much less nuclear weapons.
Yikes! It’s true but harsh. In the past the GOP usually lines up behind an establishment pick. The establishment favors Mitch Daniels or Mitt Romney. However we are in the new age of the Tea Party and I don’t know that they will line up behind the establishment pick.
The Economist shows the weakness of the GOP field in handy-dandy chart form.
Business Insider adds an even more stark assessment of the GOP’s chances:
(Do you seriously think Romney or Huckabee could beat Obama? Seriously? Romney couldn’t even beat McCain. Huckabee got off to a great start with mainstream Americans this week when he blasted Natalie Portman for getting knocked up without a husband. (Never mind Bristol Palin). The Sarah Palin bubble has burst, and now she just terrifies people. Chris Christie is losing steam in New Jersey, and he’s not running. Newt Gingrich couldn’t win a decade ago (and, according to fellow Republicans, he’s a weirdo). Unless there’s some great undiscovered hope waiting in the wings–or unless there’s another economic crisis–the Republicans are toast.)