Well, it was RedMan that claimed that Gingrinch was gonna play the "Real HardAss"

I have no idea what to make of RedMan.

I'd say that it would make discussion a lot easier if we could all just agree that RedMan is representative of the typical Republican primary voter. Cool?

I wonder if Huckabee regrets not running again. I didn't really follow the race four years ago so I don't know why he felt out of favor then but he seems to appeal to the same people as Gingrich and doesn't have the baggage that Newt does.

I dont share your faith in Newt's ability to play the game. Honestly I think the guy is going to implode sooner or later, the question is will be after the republican primary when he's up against obama or before?

I think he was fully aware that he would have had a decent chance at the nod. If he regrets anything, I don't think it would be based on a sudden thought of, "Hmmm, maybe I could have won."

As a person who usually votes GOP and can't stand Huckabee, I was relieved as could be when he decided not to run.

Come on dude, are you really this out of it? You can't see the difference between a parts supplier who can cut you off if you get too far behind on your invoices, vs. a hospital which has to do whatever it takes to save your life - no questions asked?

@fivethirtyeight

wow he puts way more faith in gingrich's ability to hold himself together than i do. Also I think he underplays the threat of Romney to Paul.

I haven't read a post of his in years. Better to just look at the pretty word pictures he creates, and go ahhhhh.

I know I'm late to the IQ and debate discussion party, but it's pretty clear Obama is a slightly above average debater (in that he won't make a huge gaffe) and compared to most presidential candidates is slightly above average intelligence-wise. Romney is almost definitely smarter than Obama or Newt, and probably a better overall debater. This doesn't really mean anything and there is only a small correlation between intelligence and debate ability (if you are an awesome debater, chances are you are pretty smart, but if you are pretty smart you aren't necessarily even a good debater).

Clinton (Bill) is both smarter and a better debater than all of the above.

Speaking of that, serious thread derail, but of the 20-21st century Presidents, who are the best debaters and most intelligent? Not sure on debating, but I'd assume top 5 most intelligent are Wilson, FDR, Clinton, Carter, and Nixon in some order.

All I'm saying is health(and all) insurance is for profit. So obviously someone who is not covered through work and has to buy their own will pay more in monthly premiums than the typical cost of health care for a person of their age/gender.It's clearly financially better to just pay your doctor bills yourself as they come or insurance companies couldn't stay in business.

I could have afforded to buy health insurance for 20 years but instead I just chose to pay my bills as they came and you are acting like that's a bad thing. I must think differently because I won't buy auto insurance either,I did have to post a bond and if I am at fault in an accident and don't pay for it a lien can be placed on my house.

What's funny is doctors/hospitals encourage govt help. Last year my daughter fractured her foot playing soccer. The total bill was $1400. The receptionist was adament about me filling out paperwok for govt help. I said"I have a check right here." She was still giving me the impression that she'd rather have me apply for govt assistance with medical bills than take my $1400. Then when I refused to do that she brought me all kinds of brochures for insurance,when I told her my family is covered for anything catastrophic she still was very insistent I look into it,just weird.

Lol way to completely ignore the point that even though you weren't paying for it, you already had catastrophic coverage on everyone else's dime. It's nice that you've found some twisted internal logic to this that makes you feel like you weren't freeloading for 20 years, but that doesn't change the fact that you were.

Good point,I'm gonna get rid of my catastrophic coverage I have now.

I'm guessing that now you have a few more assets to worry about than you did in your 20s.

I wonder if he knows that no one reads his posts because of how they are formated? I read the first couple but when I realized he was not changing that tilting style I just started skipping them.

It would be interesting to see a poll on who actually reads Redman's posts. Are conservatives and liberals skipping Redman?

Redman,

Nobody reads your posts! Wake up man. If you want to have a voice here you need to get with the grammar and punctuation program. It just seems like a waste of time for you at this point. You have alot to say but nobody is listening.

That list looks reasonable to me. I pause a bit at FDR but I don't have a ready substitute for you.

yep, I skip them and am always pretty surprised when I see people quoting him and responding (I skip those too).

I don't skip them, but I don't read them very critically either. I just sort of look for entertainment in his posts. The posting style itself is enough to at least mildly amuse me.

If Wilson and FDR were so intelligent how come they had such terrible policies?

You picked them out for that reason but left Carter alone...?

Newt had energy and excitement? It's not long ago we were loling at him for trips to Hawaii and for losing his entire staff. Energy!

***LIKE DIS IF YOU CRY EVRYTIME***

Energy and excitement surrounding them, he said. I think he was referring to the base of support that has amassed around these candidates at times, including Newt now.