And them Democrats look a little better, but they are only somewhat less boring. Are you tippy-tapping away on your laptop now? I want to post about the Democrats.

Romney's not a poll. He is utterly tone deaf in that regard, and hence why he likely can be so comfortable thinking that all you have to do is say you had an epiphany. I mean, if you are managing a retail business, you have different guidelines to drive the operation than if you are in a heavy goods manufacturing company, so Ol' Mitt just pulls up the hard right social card and goes about it his business.

It leaves him wide open in this game, as the strategy deployed doesn't get to change from state to state like it can when going from business to business.

He's dead in the water save for having enough money to go out swinging, wounding all of those around him through his attack ads.

He would make a great VP for the very reasons he makes such a bad poll. He's an excellent problem solver/turnaround artist. He would be an ideal VP to be able to tackle major initiatives and report back to the President as he would as an outside strategy consultant.

Problem is, if McCain gets the nod, he's going to have to select someone that gives the bible thumpers a chubby given he is viewed warily by those clowns. Ol Mitt doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, given his cult isn't as old as their cult.

And there goes an unrealistic wish in the World of politics. Logic dictates the business world, hence why Mitt is likely comfortable with shifting positions as one would business strategies. It works in the business world.

Just like it works to have a consultant as a number two, or special assistant to the CEO. Very logical.

Logic and electoral politics don't mix, as Mitt is finding out ...

You should look again at your paragraph following your last indented quote from McCain. It is not clear where your words leave off and the quote begins. Needs punctuation.

Willard Romney knows he's beat. But he's such a dickhead and he's got so much money, and raising more in Utah all the time, that he'll hang around and delude himself until Super Tuesday.

Don't stay up waiting for the Dem debate results. It's still a two-way race between Obama and Edwards. Hillary failed to score. Richardson? What the hell is he still doing hanging around? He's like the last guy at a party that ended hours ago, still hanging out in the kitchen yakking. You finally just have to hand him his coat and push him out the door. "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here!"

The foreign policy portion of the debate served to show how detached from reality the Republican party is outside of Paul.

Ghouliani actually said that Islamic hatred of the United States has "nothing" to do with our foreign policy! It's all stems from Sayyib Qutb's writings, Romney and Huckabee concur. Can you get any more detached than that?

The debates (especially the GOP's) are degenerative squabbles that have absolutely nothing to do with policy. Do the American people really lack the attention span or intelligence required to listen to a policy debate that is backed up by logic, not by the broad ambiguous statements that we too commonly hear ("I am change" "I am experience" "I am courage" "I am hope" etc.)? No. Voters want and need policy debate--if only the networks would give it to them. Thumbs down to you Mr. Madden for covering the squabble and not the substance.

Simple.

At Mitt's maximum moment of vulnerability, it's easy to deliver a fatal blow & finish him off. All other candidates are taking advantage of a wobble to turn it into a death spiral. Once his fundraising dries up after NH (keep in mind that Romney's campaign has been kept afloat thus far due to massive infusions of his own cash), Mitt will be looking at some grim numbers.

McCain was in a death spiral months back and is now competitive again. I'm sure nobody wants to give Romney some shot at a respectable finish that will allow him to limp along and recover later.

a rather chilling counterpoint to Obama's "hope" message ...

Both spoke well and reassuringly ...

but actually this isn't American Idol and about who makes you "feel" warm and cosy and "hopeful"

McCain's fairy tale was jaw-droppingly out of touch with reality ... Iraq is now a success, thanks to General Petraeus, and George Bush has been unfairly blames for all sorts of bad things that (a) weren't his fault (b) weren't all that bad ('cause McCain would've done the same, like anyone else, because of that odd shift wherein what you might want to do moves from "desirable" to "morally imperative" given enough stovepiped data and spin).

What I heard of McCain last night sounded enough like Daddy Reagan to turn my stomach... Folks who "don't get out much" doubtless would prefer to live on his planet ... (note, I was listening to my TV rather than watching).

I was also struck by the contrast between these big relatively burly macho men and the three Democratic frontrunners (Bill Richardson's broadshoulders aside) ... The Democrats (appearing immediately after) reminded me rather of a panel of schoolteachers .... following a good-old-boys meeting of the Republican "chamber of commerce" or, perhaps, the local auto dealership council. Physically and tonally, the contrast was remarkable. I confess I had not bothered to watch any of the republican debates and so was startled to be startled by that amount of manly (over the hill) "beefcake" on display.

Do the American people really lack the attention span or intelligence required to listen to a policy debate that is backed up by logic, not by the broad ambiguous statements that we too commonly hear ("I am change" "I am experience" "I am courage" "I am hope" etc.)? No. Voters want and need policy debate--if only the networks would give it to them.

No kidding. They might as well have stood up there and said "I stand for good things and oppose bad things, and my opponents all stand for bad things and oppose good things. Vote for me."