While I do understand the temporary repercussions of building an extension of the Keystone project through several states would help with unemployment and the economy I am having serious doubts about the company involved. TransCanada apparently is England's version of British Petroleum. Their track record thus far leaves little to be desired. Not to mention that they have considered lessening the thickness of the pipeline itself, but their practices as well. Apparently they already have had and still have over 30 lawsuits pending with the American justice system with Texas landowners over the issue of Eminent Domain. Seriously? They're not even a company within the United States. They're a Canadian based oil group. How can they argue over Eminent Domain? It just seems really shady to me. The whole reason they wish to extend the pipeline is because environmentalists have argued that placing the pipeline over one of the nations largest underground aquifers could be detrimental to many state's water supplies. Is this really such a good idea to have an oil pipeline routed through an area that has been prone to earthquakes with a magnitude of over 4.0 on the Richter scale? TransCanada has also admitted that most of the crude that would be piped down to Houston refineries and produced into natural gas and oil would be shipped overseas to countries like China. So exactly how much would it benefit the United States to allow this pipeline extension anyway if we aren't privvy to our share of the oil since our laborers and land would be at most risk in the first place? Here is a link detailing most of the information about the pipeline and proposed extensions.
Well the truth of the matter is that at the current pace the candidates are going Mitt Romney will more than likely be the Republican nominee. By every account of the states left over to hold primaries and caucuses Santorum would have to secure 75% or more of every state in order to overtake Romney's delegate count. I just don't see that happening at this point. With the likelihood of Paul and Gingrich eventually giving up the race in a few months their delegates would come up for grabs. I'm sure Romney's camp has already considered this and will begin courting them some time soon after the candidates drop out. Not to mention the likely chance that the uncommitted super-delegates will also be up for grabs both before and during the convention. Romney's camp will more than likely secure enough of these votes to get the 1,144 needed to secure the nomination. I sincerely doubt it will end with a contested convention. Not saying it isn't possible, just unlikely. Even if it were to end this way there has never been a case of introducing new candidates that had a chance of securing more votes than either of the two who originally entered the convention in the first place. The few times this has happened on both sides of the spectrum (democratic or republican) it has always ended with super-delegates and uncommitted delegates voting for the candidate that had the majority of votes anyway. The worse thing about this contest is in fact the fundraising. While Obama continues to receive donation after donation the republican nominee suffers due to time and discontent with the candidate.
Aside from lack of time for fundraising I don't see heading to the convention without a candidate as a bad thing. In fact, if I understand it right if we don't have a candidate by convention time then anyone can run; even those who aren't in the race currently.
A couple of big surprise candidates would be:
Chris Christie: Although he's a bit too socially liberal from what I understand. Not too mention he dropped the ball of public opinion with flying the flag half staff for Whitney Houston.
Marco Rubio: Aside from being the absolute ideal politician he's lost a bit of respect from me for his cosponsoring of the senate version of SOPA. He gained a little bit of that respect back after dropping the sponsorship and opposing it but this should have been a no brainer from the get go and has me questioning whether he's been bought and paid for by special interest.
Allen West: I flipping love this guy and would be ecstatic if he decided to challenge the candidates. I typically find that when a black guy is constantly referred to as an Uncle Tom I usually like them a lot as I do with West. Well spoken, highly intelligent, patriot.
In regards to Santorum sticking it out: Of course he believes he has a chance to win because he knows just how many people don't like Romney because he's too damn moderate.
Conventionally delaying fund raising this long is a very bad idea but don't for one second underestimate just how badly a very large number of people in this country want our current president out of office; pocket books will be WIDE open once a candidate is chosen. My two cents.
Well, so far it looks as if I judged it just right. With wins in both Mississippi and Alabama Santorum has half the current delegates Romney has. At this rate it truly looks as if the Republican party will approach the convention with no clear leader. Will those who chose Santorum give in and vote for Romney? Just curious if any of you have any comments on the matter. Serious comments please.
What a nightmare for this party. As bull-headed as Gingrich and Paul seem to be this contest may very well end up without a nominee by the start of the convention. How bad is that going to be? Most here seem to go with Santorum, even though the South seems the only likely states he can really win. How does he think he has a chance? Comments please.
Are you just not going to vote Jeff? That's actually a good idea for a rivalry. If you consider the potential candidates sub par at best, would you vote for the lesser of two evils or just not vote? I may have to put that on here if it's not already present.
I see where you're coming from Kaz. I do agree with a lot of what you said, but only so much. If a person needs a little help temporarily I have no problem with that. Those that milk the system are indeed an unnecessary burden on American taxpayers. I would hope that to some degree the government would be watching out for this kind of fraud, and that is what it is. It's fraud. However, that being said, if a person can manage to take care of their children using the EBT system and wishes to have a drink every now and then using their own cash I personally have no problem with that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline
A couple of big surprise candidates would be:
Chris Christie: Although he's a bit too socially liberal from what I understand. Not too mention he dropped the ball of public opinion with flying the flag half staff for Whitney Houston.
Marco Rubio: Aside from being the absolute ideal politician he's lost a bit of respect from me for his cosponsoring of the senate version of SOPA. He gained a little bit of that respect back after dropping the sponsorship and opposing it but this should have been a no brainer from the get go and has me questioning whether he's been bought and paid for by special interest.
Allen West: I flipping love this guy and would be ecstatic if he decided to challenge the candidates. I typically find that when a black guy is constantly referred to as an Uncle Tom I usually like them a lot as I do with West. Well spoken, highly intelligent, patriot.
In regards to Santorum sticking it out: Of course he believes he has a chance to win because he knows just how many people don't like Romney because he's too damn moderate.
Conventionally delaying fund raising this long is a very bad idea but don't for one second underestimate just how badly a very large number of people in this country want our current president out of office; pocket books will be WIDE open once a candidate is chosen. My two cents.
Romney-444
Santorum-202
Gingrich-115
Paul-66
What a nightmare for this party. As bull-headed as Gingrich and Paul seem to be this contest may very well end up without a nominee by the start of the convention. How bad is that going to be? Most here seem to go with Santorum, even though the South seems the only likely states he can really win. How does he think he has a chance? Comments please.