All right, I guess the primary season has started in earnest. Guess I better write about it. (When no one running for the Republican nomination makes you do back flips, yet you know you’ll vote for the winner, the whole exercise becomes one of grim resignation.)
Congratulations to Rick Santorum for winning Iowa.
Yes, I know Mitt Romney had eight more votes (at this writing), but such a slim margin somehow seems almost less becoming than if he’d lost by 1,000 votes.
Of course, what Iowa means long-term is definitely arguable. It’s not been a particularly reliable indicator of the eventual winner. It does tend to cement a few intermediate narratives, though. I think the biggest immediate takeaways from last night are:
- Newt’s unambiguously back on the ropes. Tough to say what he’ll do—isn’t it always?—but he hasn’t much time at all to right things.
- Even her staunchest advocates must now acknowledge that Michele Bachmann is done. That toothpick is coming out spotless. (Recall this is the state of her birth, and as Jim Geraghty noted, she finished just six points ahead of you and me.) We’ll see her again, but it’s time for her to fold her tent for 2012.
- The incessant application of “inevitable” to Mitt Romney, executed primarily by mainstream media and other Obama supporters, has not made it so. I mean, eventual nominee McCain finished fourth in Iowa in 2008, but Romney spent a lot more time and effort there.
Now Santorum has his own problems, and I don’t call myself a big fan. However, he is certainly a more credible “conservative” than Mr. Romney. Also, his unapologetic embrace of Christ means he’s guaranteed to generate at least a few days’ worth of polite discourse from our oh-so-civil, tolerant, and loving friends on the left. Have a look?
Let’s see what Santorum does with his moment.
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Well, he IS definitely more of a “conservative.” Of course, comparing Romney and Santorum on the Conservative Scale is like comparing me and a duck. It becomes readily apparent that one of us is Avian and the other isn’t.
One columnist wants to say that this is a clear statement of the popularity of conservatism: a mandate of sorts. As much as I’d like to believe that, fact is that the MSM still has the bully pulpit, the average American has the IQ of the aforementioned duck and Iowa isn’t historically an accurate thermometer for the eventual candidate.
So I cheer the results and am cheered by them, but I’m still not practicing my waddle.
…and half of them are even dumber than that! 🙂
You’re right. I wasn’t being particularly fair to the ducks.