So where does last night’s debate leave us? I’d say stage 4, although not all have made it that far:
Denial √
In this stage, the world becomes meaningless and overwhelming. Life makes no sense. We are in a state of shock and denial. We go numb.
Anger √
Be willing to feel your anger, even though it may seem endless. The more you truly feel it, the more it will begin to dissipate and the more you will heal.
Bargaining √
We become lost in a maze of “If only…” or “What if…” statements.
Depression
Empty feelings present themselves, and grief enters our lives on a deeper level, deeper than we ever imagined. This depressive stage feels as though it will last forever.
Acceptance
We will never like this reality or make it OK, but eventually we accept it. We learn to live with it. It is the new norm with which we must learn to live.
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Comments
Run Sarah Run!
Agreed. I wanted to like Perry, but he lost me last night. Let’s have Sarah get in to see how she does.
I’m not sure even Sarah would help at this point. I think we’re all stuck with the lesser of two evils.
Then you should be pleasantly surprised when she declares her candidacy. Someone said when she quits her job at Fox, she’s getting ready to announce.
RUN, SARAH, RUN!
I admit, I thought with Perry jumping into the race that I might have found my preferred candidate.
To say he’s been a disappointment would be an understatement.
Stage 3 myself… Hoping for Chris Christie to jump in. I feel the inevitability of Mitt Romney though. Such a shame, I would have liked to see him get bested by Mitch Daniels, Paul Ryan, or Tim Pawlenty. How is Romney going to dismantle Obamacare if he can’t bring himself to disown Romneycare? I hope it’s just an anti-flip-flopping political stunt and Paul Ryan will tell Romney like it is and be largely in control of the domestic agenda come 2013.
I just read a description of Christie as “The liberal who hates teachers unions “.
Succinctness lol.
I quite liked Crispy too but that is a bit mean.
However if you could outline 3 points in his favour.I am willing to read them . After all not all of NJ is trash- . It has some excellent boardwalks .
LOL! Great tweet. My husband keeps handing me the cyanide-laced Romney-ade, saying it is tasty and it is the only “electable” option there is. I still haven’t drunk, but it is looking better to me after Perry’s “heartless” performance last night.
Just read the Chris Christie tease on Drudge. So, we think Perry is not Conservative enough on illegals, but we are begging a guy who is for gun-control and the GZ mosque to save us. Oh come on! Remember whoever you nominate if they win will probably get to nominate at least 2 Supreme Court Justices. Be afraid of RINOs, be very afraid. Chrisite is an amnesty supporter and for gun control. Mitt was pro-abortion before he was against abortion and he signed the first gay marriage law in the country. Choose wisely.
Good points, but for me this election is about one issue, elimination of Obamacare. Some of the things you mentioned would be a concern, all else being equal, but I think Christie will be better than most at getting the fiscal house in order while also being electable. Romney isn’t a boat rocker, and Perry is flirting with unelectability. Christie is on very good terms with Paul Ryan, and I suspect, they would make a very good combo for exactly the most important issues of our time.
Christie & Ryan????????
Can you say Laurel & Hardy?
Yes Yes but it could be Fatty Arbuckles ultimate revenge against gossip mongers & evil.
Ryan will be the de facto leader of the House even if he doesn’t have an official leadership position. Christie will work with him closely. I’m willing to go with the most popular VP pick of Marco Rubio, I didn’t mean to imply Ryan as VP. If Christie wins, Rubio could probably be ready to take over in 8 years, then who knows who we’ll have.
I gather you are suggesting this if Christie wins.
Giving you that scenario I don’t really see Ryan as any sort of lion. There may be more TPs new members who see ryan as meek establishment. His plan is not enough- maybe if it was introduced 2000 & USA was 10 years in.
The troubles are much more widespread than 08 where foreign was just a few wars. Now it is the full ME , EU collapse & an even stronger China. USA wil be boxed in & severely hampered by debt.
Ryans plan is not enough.
I see Ryan’s plan as the most optimal passable option. If it can be made more optimal, Ryan will make it that way. He’s interested in being right and actually getting something done. I think he has a gift with maximizing what’s possible as well as articulating to the point of increasing the maximum.
I think Mike you must be a calm well mannered sort of guy. I just don’t see your America. Ryans plan is based on NICE America. – the values of the 1950s -everybody just a little more frugal & we will al get along.
I am too scared to email American folks I have met when I do not hear from them. I guess they are in very much worse situations than I met them in 2010. 2 have suicided.One had to kill all her pets when they lost their house -then she could not go on & killed hersef.
I hope you are more right than me. I see revolution.
On repeal of Obamacare, Christie would not join the other 26 states who challenged Obamacare in the courts. You can easiy find information on this. Feel free to do your own research and choose carefully. I would be thrilled with Jim De Mint, but he is not running and has said he will not. I am left with the current selection and the choices all have different drawbacks. If anyone else actually enters the race I am willing to give them a fair look, but for now my number one priority is getting Obamacare repealed. Number two is reducing taxes to encourage job growth, coupled with stopping the out-of-control spending.
My hope is to help enough House and Senate Conservatives elected to accomplish this.
We seem to have the same priorities: So out of Romney, Perry, and Christie… who is your choice? Assuming you have to pick one, which do you think is the best combination of electability and eliminating Obamacare?
Damocles, what’s the matter with you? Romney didn’t sign gay marriage into law; it was the Massachusetts Supreme Court that ruled gay marriage constitutional there. Romney authored an amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution to make gay marriage illegal and it was rejected by the legislature. Don’t wade into debates without preparing first; you sound like Rick Perry.
One would have expected Team Perry to have prepared for the question of paying for the college education of illegal aliens and come up with some plausible line in response. Poor showing, there. DO NOT believe Romney’s milquetoast pledge to sign an executive order to allow states to opt out of Obamacare. That is NOT a please to rescind the law. Herman Cain and Santorum are looking better every day.
[…] than we ever imagined. This depressive stage feels as though it will last forever.” – Professor William Jacobson“The only thing worse than going out on the campaign trail and getting hauled around in a […]
Romnney?!?!? The hell you say. Run, Sarah, run.
For years I have been asking myself, “Can the GOP really be THIS LAME?” I guess I don’t have to ask any longer. Many of the candidates are simply pathetic. Perry has fizzled in weeks. It has been truly staggering to watch. Of course McCain nearly self-destructed early in 2008 but managed to come back somehow and win the nomination. It is kind of early to rule out a repeat.
But with every passing debate and month it looks like I will be voting for the Constitution Party again next year. I’d love to vote for a Conservative Republican but I never find one on the ballot on election day…
Cain
The perfect outcome would be a third party Eg a Federalist Party that won the executive . He /She would be free to appoint & veto according to the principles of federalism. An Andrew Jackson figure comes to mind.
A Trail of Crocodile Tears for Scotus & Crony judges . (Yeah does SCOTUS have an army bwahh bwahh ) They will weedle themselves back across the desert in time but it would thin their numbers out & let reform /evolution thru.
GOP to get House & a 45 /45 /10 Senate. Don’t care which party but none a majority. Maybe some independents or The Constitutioners.
I visited the USSR in the mid 80s & USA 2010 – eerily similar.
Ya know… at this point… if Gingrich got the nomination, it would sure be fun to see him verbally smack down the press and Obama over and over again…
I would rather Gingrich than Romney. Gingrich/Cain?
If Romney wins the nomination, he will lose the general. His history is far to dem-lite for him to be able to win against a real Democrat.
Why go for the imitation, when you can get the original, and feel self-righteous about it at the same time?
After reading in the conservative blogosphere in the aftermath of the debate last night, it seems like The Rick$ter has taken himself down …….. somehow, he and his handlers have failed to realise that conservatives are extremely passionate about the illegal immigration issue.
This has prompted me to assess again the result of the 08 Election.
Before McCain chose Gov Palin as his VP nominee, he had ZERO chance against the Hopey Changey unvetted affable first Black nominee for POTUS. The conservative base have long memories and would not turn out for a guy who championed:
McCain-Feingold
McCain-Kennedy
When Gov Palin was chosen she electrified the Base and many were able to put aside their skepticism about McCain (which still simmered however) and turn out to vote for McCain-Palin.
But, a significant proportion of the Base would not go to the polls for McCain regardless, and a BIG reason was McCain-Kennedy, which the Base scuttled before it could be passed under W.
Gov Palin is right on this issue of securing the borders first, and she deliberately flew from AK to AZ to personally, physically, stand beside Gov Brewer over this issue.
It beats me how blind Team Perry has been over this, that they couldn’t SEE how this issue would be a killer for The Rick$ter.
The Mitt$ter has Romneycare and his Cronyism.
The Rick$ter has this illegal immigration problem and his Cronyism.
They both lose the Tea Party and Conservative Base over these issues.
It will soon be time for the final Contender to step into the ring. She will take them both on at once ….. The Mitt$ter with her left hand, and The Rick$ter with her right hand.
…. and when she has knocked them both out, she will remove the gloves completely and take on The Chicago Zero.
(DISCLAIMER:the following writing is M E T A P H O R I C A L *__*)
jab, jab, jab … KAPOW
jab, jab, jab … UPPERCUT
jab, jibbajab … jibbajab ……. KABOOM
(leans down, grabs him by the scruff of the neck … holds up his slumping, skinny, metrosexual carcass with one hand …and then continues with the other … )
jab…jab … jab … KAPOW …. jab ….
(continue for 12 months SOLID … )
*__*
*She* is dribbling the ball just outside the paint … watching the clock …. eyeing up the basket …. she has the final possession of this Quarter of the Primary Contest, and wants to make the closing shot …
she sees the others jostling beneath the basket … making contact, bumping, bruising each other … thinking they can block her shot ….
but they don’t know whether she will drive to the basket and go for the lay up, or whether she will take the outside jump shot ……
they just pray she won’t DUNK on them ..*__*
All we need in the White House post-2012 is someone to sign the bills sent up by the Congress which, if all goes well, will be even more heavily GOP in the House, and hopefully majority GOP in the Senate too. Given what happened in 2010, it is likely that many Tea Party-minded candidates will again win big, enlarging the TP congressional caucus. Dismantling the Obama/Pelosi/Reid messes will be top priority. Just sign the bills, Mr. President, just sign the bills. No need to talk or give speeches. Just sign the bills.
Apparently, Rick Perry is not ready for prime time, and I’d really like to see someone other than Mitt ‘Wind Sock’ Romney. It is still early (Guiliani and Thompson were the GOP primary leaders in Sept 2007) and there’s a month or so left before the filing deadline, so there is hope for a candidate more appealing than as the lesser of evils.
Well, I hope there’s hope.
*sigh*
I’m afraid you are talking about the wrong process here. You should be talking the 12 step recovery program for political junkies.
[…] Associate Clinical Professor at Cornell Law School, and he joined us last evening to talk about the most recent GOP debate, including Rick Perry’s Red Soxesque September collapse and the recent BS at the world HQ […]