Tuesday, July 19, 2022

"Hogaaan!"


Jazz Shaw, "Larry Hogan's exit in Maryland demonstrates the damage he is doing"
Maryland is holding its primary races today and the one attracting the most attention is the battle to determine who will replace outgoing Republican Governor Larry Hogan who is barred from serving again by term limits. The GOP primary is essentially a two-person race between Kelly Schulz, Hogan’s chosen successor, and Dan Cox, a MAGA candidate who has been endorsed by Donald Trump. The Democratic field is crowded and it includes the names of some heavy hitters in that party who can smell some blood in the water and believe they can finally be rid of their Republican nemesis. Unfortunately for the people of Maryland, they’re probably correct. (CBS News)
The Republican race for Maryland governor in Tuesday’s primary election pits a candidate backed by outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan against a rival endorsed by Donald Trump.

It’s an early showdown on Hogan’s home turf as he weighs a 2024 White House bid, potentially against the former president.

On the Democratic side, the crowded candidate field includes the former head of the national Democratic Party, a bestselling author, the current state comptroller and a former U.S. education secretary.
This entire affair has been totally frustrating from the beginning. In 2014 and 2018, watching the Governor’s race in Maryland was exciting because of the almost unique nature of Larry Hogan himself. He managed the nearly miraculous feat of not only winning Maryland’s highest office as a Republican in a state where Democrats hold a two-to-one advantage on the generic ballot but also maintaining approval ratings that most other politicians would cut off their right arm for.

But now we’re going to be treated to a primary race between a Hogan wannabe without anywhere near the broad support that the Governor has built and someone whose main claim to fame is an endorsement from a former president that is broadly despised in the very blue state of Maryland. Just because a significant majority of voters like Hogan, that doesn’t mean that they’re going to dutifully go line up to vote for someone new that he endorsed. Meanwhile, the Democrats have candidates with national name recognition lining up to take on the winner of the GOP primary.

Almost from the beginning, it seemed fairly obvious that the GOP would lose the Maryland governor’s seat once Hogan was done. But he had the option of instead throwing his hat in the ring to replace Chris Van Hollen in the Senate. Van Hollen is currently recovering from a stroke and isn’t doing much campaigning. (He does have a primary challenger, but doesn’t seem very worried about her.) With his massive approval numbers and an anticipated red wave on the way, Hogan would have stood an excellent chance to flip that seat. And nabbing a Democratic seat in the Senate would have been far more valuable than simply holding on to the governorship.

But instead, Hogan continues to prance around in various media appearances and talk about a run for president in 2024. As if there is anyone out there in the GOP that’s yearning for a Hogan presidential bid. Hogan wins in Maryland because a lot of Democrats vote for him. There’s a reason for that. He is so “moderate” and far to the left compared to Republicans in other parts of the country, Maryland is just about the only place where Hogan could win a statewide race. If he thinks he’s going to be carrying the GOP primaries in any red or purple states, he’s delusional.

So the most likely scenario I see here is a case where instead of trading the Governor’s office for a Senate seat, the GOP just winds up surrendering both of them. And then Hogan rides off into the sunset to retire in obscurity when his presidential campaign (if he even launches one) falls flat on its face. Larry Hogan isn’t doing his party any favors here and I’ll predict that he won’t be remembered fondly after this is all over.

24 comments:

  1. (((Thought Criminal)))July 19, 2022 at 12:25 PM

    Hogan does have an advantage that he doesn't even have to be conservative on the national stage. The Republican Party doesn't even bother doing that anymore. Nobody voted for Trump because he was "the conservative" option.

    My guess is the Hogan-backed candidate will win the primary, and lose the general election by less than the Trump-backed candidate would have.

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  2. The Republican Party, nationally, unfairly but mostly fairly, is still due for having the Trump beat out of them for refusing to take a bath when Trump shit on everything.

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  3. Never-Trumpism is a winning strategy for both parties. There is nothing more toxic to a candidate than a Trump endorsement.

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  4. The Republican Party as a whole could probably renew interest in themselves by seeking the death penalty for Donald Trump and spinning some "Democrats are soft on crime" guitar solos from it.

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  5. You know how bad you have to be this year to lose to a Democrat?

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  6. republiturds are that bad in spades. btw, how dumb do you have to be to vote republiturd?

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  7. (((Thought Criminal)))July 22, 2022 at 9:13 AM

    The go-along-to-get-along factor among Republicans, those that would vote for a full blown America-hating left-winger like Trump if you just put an (R) next their name, has already dropped by half in the last two years.

    I know precisely "how bad you have to be this year to lose to a Democrat." Get caught on tape being endorsed by Trump or make his Big Lie the centerpiece of your campaign for office (to fight Democrats and Never-Trumpism with Eric Greitens' machine guns), and your candidacy is fuct.

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  8. Heck, in Maryland the DGA gave Trump's pick for governor $1.5m and helped him win over a former DNC chair. Thanks, DGA.

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  9. Sounds like they've got the science right. If I were a Democrat, I'd love to run against a guy hobbled by a Trump endorsement.

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  10. Haven't you claimed that Trump WAS a Democrat?

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  11. I will admit one thing. Republicans are generally brick layers, Democrats brick throwers...

    “A concept is a brick. It can be used to build a courthouse of reason. Or it can be thrown through the window.”
    ― Gilles Deleuze, "A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia"

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  12. (((Thought Criminal)))July 24, 2022 at 5:19 PM

    Haven't you claimed that Trump WAS a Democrat?

    There's no "was" to it. The Democratic Party has no "Democrats in name only." These days, you don't even have to have a coherent or consistent ideology to be a Republican. Brick throwing is all Trump has.

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  13. That's the great thing about laissev-faire capitalism, beamish. When a better product comes out, it destroys the competition... even when that competition is of the "Krony" capitalism variety. Sorry, but Big G has GOT to go.

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  14. (((Thought Criminal)))July 28, 2022 at 10:40 PM

    Sorry, couldn't hear you over the interest on Trump's Big G debts compounding.

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  15. You mean his pay-offs to Mitch's Deep State praetorian b*tches?

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  16. Ah yes. Trumpy Bear just sat in the White House signing budgets for the hell of it. ::rolls eyes::

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  17. He did get some bookings at the old DC Post Office Hotel though...

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  18. (((Thought Criminal)))August 6, 2022 at 2:35 PM

    The Trumpoid Eric Greitens lost the Missouri primary.

    Greitens was a political liability long before Trump gave him the kiss of death (a Trump endorsement). The other Trumpoid buffoon Mark McCloskey (the guy that Trump pardoned for brandishing an unloaded AR-15 at protesters, because the world needs more empty threats in discourse) lost the primary by the most.

    Pretty sure that Missouri, probably the most conservative state in the US, is done with Trumpian antics. The Show Me State was shown, and not impressed.

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  19. (((Thought Criminal)))August 7, 2022 at 9:04 AM

    Heh... A long time Democrat here switched parties and ran as a Republican claiming to be pro-police and pro-Trump (talk about cognitive dissonance) and lost badly.

    Bad miscalculations. If the next Republican Party platform doesn't denounce Donald Trump and tell his supporters to go straight to hell, I kinda doubt they'll win in 2024.

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