CPAC straw poll: Paul 31% Cruz 11% Carson 9% Christie 8% Walker 7% Santorum 7%

[Indy Texas 🇺🇦🇵🇸]

I thought Cruz's "ask President Dole and President Romney" attack was distasteful. Not so much for John McCain, but still, the point stands.

This made me think of something I've always wondered - why is the GOP so disdainful of its history to an extent that Democrats and liberals never approach?

It amazes me how these people can nominate someone one year and then express open, unadulterated contempt for them just a few years later.

Compare the way the Right and the GOP treat George H. W. Bush - a one-term president who was far-removed from hardcore conservatism - to the way the Democrats and liberals treat Jimmy Carter - also a one-term president who was far-removed from hardcore liberalism.

Democrats don't openly mock failed candidates like Gore and Kerry (or even low-hanging fruit like Dukakis) while the Republicans seem to want to pretend every president and presidential candidate other than Ronald Reagan never existed.

[Indy Texas 🇺🇦🇵🇸]

I guess it shows that Paul is the GOP front-runner, unless the Establishment unleashes and nominates a Jeb Bush or a Tim Pawlenty or a Marco Rubio, who has gone from Tea Party conservative to a establishment candidate in a year.

Can we stop pretending he's relevant? Please?

If only it were 2011...

I don't know why Minnesota voters and most voters in general don't like him at all. I thought he had a soothing Midwestern appeal .So sad.

My parents are friends with one of Pawlenty's fundraisers from 2012. He's an electric utility CEO who knew Pawlenty and his wife from when they briefly lived in Houston and worked as attorneys here. I got the impression when he mentioned it to me that he was doing it more out of a sense of personal obligation than any enthusiasm for his campaign or the prospect of him winning.

I think T-Paw's problem is that he's incredibly dull but he's not smart or wonky enough to pull it off. Ted Cruz is dull - he's not a particularly uplifting or exciting speaker and he has a sad, droopy blobfish face - but he's also got the mental equivalent of a V12 engine. He's crazy but I've never doubted that he isn't an exceptionally intelligent person by the standards of most politicians. I don't see that with Tim Pawlenty. He's the person you see every weekend at your daughter's softball game and whose small talk follows the exact same script every single time. And you say you should get together to play golf sometime but you never do. And he suggests your wife should give his wife a call sometime but she never does.