Wave of Republican Defections Already Underway

[SoDesuKa]

Coalitions are inherently unstable, including political coalitions. Republican emphasis on message control worked for a while, but it now threatens the political futures of individual candidates. Their choice is between sinking along with every other Republican or striking out on their own for the sake of survival. Expect a number of House Republicans to repudiate their vote in favor of the disastrous Ryan budget.

The wave of defections we'll see later this year is already impacting Republican presidential candidates. Utah Gov. Jon Hunstman is breaking with the party on the issue of border fences, finding them "repulsive," he says.

. . . Huntsman’s tone on the fence — which has become somewhat fetishized on the right, most explicitly in Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) infamous “complete the danged fence” ad — may be a problem for Huntsman among GOP primary voters. Already, a message board hosted by the anti-immigrant ALIPAC is brimming with fury over Huntsman’s comments, such as warning of “Idiot Alert” and “do not trust this person.” Another poster adds: “Well then, Huntsman repulses me.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/23/huntsman-border-fence-repulsive/

Game theorists will recognize the Republican situation as an example of Prisoner's Dilemma. If the prisoners stick together they'll all be punished, but only a small amount. However, if one prisoner defects from the coalition by ratting out the others, he gets rewarded and the others are severely punished. We'll see how it plays out in the Republican primaries. If Huntsman starts to pick up delegates, it will open the floodgates. Newt Gingrich may change his mind once again on the Ryan budget which he initially denounced as "right wing social engineering." Perhaps he'll issue a new press release repudiating everything he said before.

[seafan]

1. Too bad Jon "Mr. Moderate" Huntsman gushed over Sarah Palin in front of Gawd and everybody.

So, Jon Huntsman is "bucking the GOP"?


Huntsman is nothing but a compromised chameleon with a campaign now being run by operative retreads from Rick Scott and Jeb Bush. Looks more like he's wearing the bit while the masters are slapping the reins.


Kind of wipes out the "sensible and moderate" GOP lapel pin, Mr. Huntsman.



Pretty faces ain't gonna rescue this catastrophically destructive, hate-steeped party.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

2. If There's One Thing I Learned From 2004................

.............it's that there is NOTHING in this world worse than flip-flopping. And Republicans hate it more than anyone. So I'm CERTAIN that they won't vote for flip-floppers like Huntsman, Pawlenty, or Romney. I'm CERTAIN of it. Because we all know that Republicans are ALWAYS intellectually consistent. Right? Right?

[starroute]

3. These people look weak when they let themselves be jerked around

If there's one thing all Americans value -- on both right and left -- it's someone who speaks their mind, holds to their principles, and is not the tool of outside interests.

By falling all over themselves to please anybody who says "boo," these potential GOP candidates are revealing themselves as weak, pliable, and capable of being owned. Even the GOP base is savvy enough to know that someone who goes whichever way the wind blows will quickly become the tool of Washington insiders and lobbyists once in office.

If the GOP had any actual mavericks, people who could stake out a consistent and principled position and stick by it, someone of that sort would cut through the current field of losers like a hot knife through butter. But perhaps because of the role of corporate money, there's no room in the current GOP for anyone with that degree of backbone -- and they're going to suffer for it.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

4. The Problem Is That They're Stuck

They all jumped on the George W. Bush "you're either with us or against us" bandwagon in 2000. The problem is that now, the tide has turned and people are sick and tired of the Bush agenda. So now those Republicans have to choose between either 1) Going down with the ship by sticking to an unpopular political philosophy, or 2) Changing with the times and being labelled "weak" and a "flip-flopper." They simply can't win. The Bush presidency, that they fought so hard and circumvented the law for, has ended up being incredibly damaging to the Republicans.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer group of people, either.