So Much for Savior Perry

Well this can't be good for the Perry campaign.

Herman Cain, the former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza, won the Florida straw poll today, defeating second-place Rick Perry after the Texas governor worked the crowd of activists with a breakfast speech Saturday morning.

Mr. Cain won nearly 40 percent of the 2,657 people who voted, more than doubling Mr. Perry’s total and that of Mitt Romney, who came in a close third.

Herman the pizza guy beat Rick Perry, the GOP's flavor of the month, in Florida's straw poll after his performance in the most recent GOP debate. And I have to ask: what the hell is wrong with Republican voters? Arguably, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are the most sane, responsible politicians vying for the GOP nomination, but they're not even close to what the polls say the voters want.

First it was Donald Trump, until he exposed himself as a complete buffoon when he jumped on the Birther bandwagon. Then came Michele Bachmann, whose buffoonery is usually excused until she suggested that the HPV vaccine could cause "mental retardation." Then it was Rick Perry, who got cheers for 234 Texas executions under his leadership, but jeers for his Texas Dream Act where illegal immigrants who came to this country when they were children are given a chance to go to college. They were also too quickly reminded of the 43rd president when Perry tripped over his tongue while trying to attack Mitt Romney. And we may as well forget the other six candidates, including Cain, considering the fact that week after week GOP pundits and talking heads are constantly touting new candidates and hoping they'll get in the race.

This week they're returning to the idea of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie yet again... until they take a cursory look and realize he called the fringe right wing "crazies" when it comes to their anti-Muslim rhetoric and the whole "banning Sharia law" thing in places where Sharia law doesn't exist and will never exist. And as of this writing, he had once again stated he's not interested in running for president in 2012.

Who'll be the flavor of the week next week?

CPAC Straw Poll Is In

So the crazies at CPAC, you know, the ones who cheered and chanted for Dick Cheney, voted for their Republican nominee preference. Here are the results:

Ron Raul: 30%
Mitt Romney: 23%
Gary Johnson 6%
Chris Christie 6%
Newt Gingrich: 5%
Tim Pawlenty 4%
Michele Bachmann 4%
Mitch Daniels 4%
Sarah Palin: 3%
Herman Cain 2%
Mike Huckabee 2%
Rick Santorum 2%
John Thune 2%
Jon Huntsman 1%
Haley Barbour 1%

Values Voters: Mike Pence?

A straw vote suggests that social conservatives favor Indiana Rep. Mike Pence to head a Republican presidential ticket...

Everyone's favorite Mama Grizzly came in dead last with 7% of the vote. Even Newt Gingrich beat her with his anti-colonialism, birther crap. She also came in second in the VP straw poll, also losing to Pence. So what they're saying is they like her polarizing style, but don't trust her in the Oval Office.

Mitt Romney came in third with 13% behind Mike "Screw Your Pre-existing Condition" Huckabee.