House of Eratosthenes

I’m hearing on the radio that a poll has come out saying Mitt Romney broke 30% — a first for him, in five years. He’s spent a full cycle being a “perceived front-runner” but hasn’t had managed to ignite any real enthusiasm. He still can’t. It’s fair to predict he won’t. People who argue with me about “might as well get behind Mitt” keep citing polls, which to me is such a glaring sign of weakness that if they knew how I saw it, they wouldn’t say it. Strong arguments do not depend on what other people think.

Dad forwarded on to me the obituary for my high school counselor. We cannot remember this gentleman with too much fondness, over & above that basic threshold human beings feel for one another when it’s time to answer the Grim Reaper’s call. In my high school days, I was “out of circulation” which is to say the teachers felt no enthusiasm about having me in their classes, and I felt no enthusiasm about giving them reason to feel enthused. Children do not have the maturity to say “I am out of circulation, I wonder what I can do to put myself in circulation” — they’re either in, or they stay out. Today, I make more per year than most of my peers who continued their promising grooming sessions to someday become The Boss; the recently departed recommended something that communicated an unwelcome pessimism, something about scrubbing latrines in the Navy or Air Force. No, he was not giving a compliment to the Navy or the Air Force, nor was it a comment that held the armed forces in any kind of outright contempt. But it was obvious he was looking for a receptacle for the refuse, and he figured that was it.

When The Dark Knight came out, I was so impressed with this scene in the hospital room between The Joker and Two Face that I made a Thing I Know out of it:

Thing I Know #274. Heath Ledger’s Joker had it exactly right. People will choose brutality, injustice, carnage, malfeasance, death or destruction every time as long as the alternative is true chaos. They want to know there is a plan. If they get the idea there is no plan, they go nuts. If there’s a plan, they’re somewhat satisfied, no matter what that plan actually is.

My struggles with high school are of absolutely no interest to anybody, I think, save for parents of kids who are going through some similar trials. And it’s only of limited interest to them, since my experiences do not translate well into advice that could be followed by someone else.

But The Joker did nail it. People go nuts if they get the feeling there’s no plan.

Once they are saddled with “no plan” fatigue, and the question swivels around to stare them in the face “what’s the plan?” — there is this tendency to come up with thought detritus. That, apparently, is preferable to “I don’t know.” A bunch of junk fished out of a swimming pool filter or lint trap in a dryer. Packaged up and presented as a good idea, when the person presenting it lacks the stones to say “This, right here, is a good idea.” Because it isn’t one.

That’s Mitt Romney. He is the good idea chosen by those who are afflicted with no-idea fatigue, and are no longer looking for good ideas.

Republicans choosing Mitt Romney because he’s polling at 30%, is like slugs choosing salt because the salt is polling at 30%.

Republicans choosing Mitt Romney because he’s polling at 30%, is like slugs choosing salt because the salt is polling at 30%.

I’ll be using that quotation sometime this week and possibly all next year.

People accuse me of hating Mitt Romney. Quite the contrary. I actually admire his business acumen and think that he’d be a fine Sec. of Treasury or some other cabinet level post. But I know the electorate apparently better than our fine establishment commentariat do because I think that Mitt cannot win next year against Obama. It’s got nothing to do with the Mormon thing, either. Rather, it’s an acknowledgement of this reality: no matter how many moderates Romney is able to persuade that the smooth talking TOTUS reader is an inferior candidate, that number will be dwarfed by conservatives and libertarians who figure, well, fuck it. I seriously believe that Romney will bleed votes in copious quantities and lose states that almost anyone else would win.

Of course, Romney would be better than the current golfer in chief, but that bar is so low that it’s become more of a painted line. Not a real tough challenge to clear it.

And not that I care, but the nomination of Romney will likely kill the GOP off as a viable party, as conservative and libertarians move on into the political wilderness to start from scratch again.
- Physics Geek | 11/14/2011 @ 11:00
The polls, as usual, aren’t meaningful until the primary voting validates them. Or not. McCain didn’t look like a foregone conclusion last time, either. Me, I’d vote for a turnip over Obamalot.
- dstanley869 | 11/15/2011 @ 09:35

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We Want CertaintyMonday, November 14th, 2011

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Monday, November 14th, 2011