Pun Salad

Eight years ago, I was planning to vote for Rand Paul in the New Hampshire Presidential Primary… and he dropped out of the race before I had the chance.

Now he's taken the time and money to launch a "Never Nikki" campaign. His disagreements seem to center on foreign policy, with also a mention of her (stupid) idea to ban anonymous social media posters.

But this bit really had me rolling my eyes:

Ramaswamy is an unhinged conspiracy babbler. Among many (many) other problems, Trump wants to put a 10 percent tariff on all imported goods, a $300 billion tax increase. DeSantis has a lousy record on free speech, both for pro-Palestinian students and corporations he doesn't like. RFKJr is an actual science denier (not merely a skeptic) and a bigger-government advocate.

And alleged-libertarian Rand Paul likes these guys better than Nikki? Puh-leez.

The Hill sought out the opinion of a local politician about Never Nikki: Sununu.

I gotta say that I still care what Rand Paul thinks. I just wish he'd think better things.

All that said, let's do our weekly snapshot of the betting odds:

I really thought Nikki would get a boost out of Chris Christie dropping out. Ah well.

Also of note:

• I am taking a stand against … … something. It's hard to avoid f-bombs these days, but I'm (frankly) kind of tired of them. So I'll censor Jeff Maurer's headline: Haley and DeSantis are Showing How They Will [bleep] Everything Up and Hand Trump the Nomination.

  Watching the Republican field get winnowed down has been like watching a Vietnam movie. You start with a large group; in the first debate, there were eight people in the platoon. A few were obviously dead men walking — Burgum and Hutchinson were clearly going to get smoked as soon as shit got real. The others got got one by one over time. Big Timbo (Scott) stepped on a land mine. The Skull[bleep]inator (Mike Pence) got taken out by a sniper. Now, we’re down to just Reaper D (DeSantis) and 12 Gauge Nikki (Haley), while Sergeant Trump cowers under a table at base camp in Saigon.

  Wednesday’s debate between Haley and DeSantis was less stupid than the others. Of course, the episode of Baywatch where they find a treasure map was less stupid than the other debates. Unfortunately, this debate was most maddening of all of them, because it showed the road map for how Haley and DeSantis might hand the nomination to Trump. Which I think would be bad for America and, worse still, terrible for political comedy writers.

  And probably mostly-libertarian bloggers too.

• They are really making me dislike them. Eric Boehm brings the bad news: DeSantis, Haley Highlight GOP's Deeply Unserious Approach to Social Security.

  As a member of Congress a decade ago, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis recognized the seriousness of the crisis facing Social Security.

  Between 2013 and 2015, DeSantis voted multiple times for budget plans crafted by then-Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R–Wis.) that, among other things, aimed to raise the Social Security retirement age to 70 and make changes to how cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security beneficiaries are calculated. Those proposals never won majority support in Congress, but they were prudent, fiscally conservative proposals that would have helped postpone Social Security's quickly approaching insolvency.

  That might as well be ancient history from the perspective of the 2024 Republican primary. During Wednesday's debate in Iowa, DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley clashed over Social Security—with DeSantis accusing Haley of supporting some of the same changes that he once actually voted for and promising not to "mess with seniors' benefits."

  Boehm goes somewhat easier on Haley, although he points out that she attacked DeSantis for his past support of raising the retirement age, a reform she supports herself.

• These aren't words that go together well. You will note that the bettors returned Michelle Obama to our table last week, and while she's still a long shot, she got a significant bump this week. What's going on with that?

  Eagle-eyed Ann Althouse noted this Mediaite article that might explain it: Fox News Hosts: Michelle Obama 'Wants To Run' For President

  Fox News hosts claimed that former First Lady Michelle Obama wasn’t actively campaigning for President Joe Biden’s re-election bid because she was concerned about his candidacy and had political aspirations of her own.

  Hosts of Tuesday’s Outnumbered claimed that Mrs. Obama’s recent appearance on Jay Shetty’s podcast, On Purpose, in which she said she was “terrified about what could possibly happen” in the election year ahead, was a first step in testing the campaign waters for herself.

  “She wants to run,” said co-host Kennedy. “So, this is her way — now that she’s talking about politics, if she were really concerned about the future and tenor of the country, she would be on the campaign trail with Joe Biden. She is just as concerned about him as she is about Donald Trump. This is her way of sending out a little canary into the coal mine to see if it lives, and I think this could be beginning of her campaign.”

  That would be … I guess the word is "interesting".