More Right Wing Delusional Thinking

From CNN and MSNBC:

One of the observations I have taken away with me from reading right wing blogs is the assumption that exists, both implied and expressed, that the right, and the individual blogger, is representing the views of a wider audience, a silent, invisible majority that is somehow on the verge of emerging. 

Except.... they don't appear to really exist.

Consistently, there is no rational or objective basis for the assertion. The claims below from Herman Cain is just one example.  I don't think there is a candidate in contention for the GOP or Tea Party nod that is in sync with the majority of voters - not on the right, not the center, and certainly not anywhere left of center, and not a majority with independents of any stripe.

Persistently, the choice that has been dominant in the polls has been 'none of the above' or 'undecided'.  The best I've seen so far is a tie, and I suspect that if one polled a larger sample than the one below or the USA Today/Gallup poll, quoted here by CNN recently, no candidate would do as well as 'none of the above'. 

That also tracks with Congress having a poor approval / high disapproval rating, but with Republicans and Tea Partiers being distinctly less liked than their democratic colleagues.  In states where there are Republican governors and legislators, even those who voted for them now tend to regret that choice.  We will be seeing more of that preference with recalls like that of Governor Scott Walker in WI, where polls show 58% of voters want him OUT.

We are a year out from the 2012 election; but this thinking and the thinking expressed in the platforms of the entire panel of GOP candidates appears delusional at best.  Michele Bachmann, as another example, is convinced that she hasn't made any gaffes during her campaign.  (Hello? There are so many it is hard to pick just one, but the HPV-vaccine causes retardation comes to mind as possibly the best known example.)

Maybe that has something to do with their persistent aversion to facts, and their blind embrace of too-far-right ideology.  Hey! Herman!  Blacks don't like you.  A declining number of women like you - most don't.  And it looks more and more like only the fringie birther and other conspiracy crazies on the right support you now. 

But hey - dream on!

 From MSNBC.com:

Cain says his race will help the GOP. But is he right?

By NBC's Andrew Rafferty and Mark Murray

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain is claiming his race will help him win over African American voters.
In a seven-page mailer sent to Iowans over the weekend, Cain writes, "as a descendent of slaves I can lead the Republican Party to victory by garnering a large share of the black vote, something that has not been done since Dwight Eisenhower garnered 41 percent of the black vote in 1956."
But while Cain might believe he'll garner a larger share of the black vote in a head-to-head match-up against President Obama, this month's NBC/WSJ poll — which had an oversample of 400 African-American respondents — tells a different story.
In a hypothetical general election matchup, according to the poll, Obama gets support from 93 percent of African Americans, while Cain gets just 6 percent.
Against Romney, Obama performs similarly among black voters. Ninety-two percent of African Americans would support Obama, versus just six percent for Romney. According to the 2008 exit polls, Obama got 95 percent of the African American vote.
Even with sliding poll numbers, Cain has attracted large crowds at recent events — but supporters attending Cain rallies are overwhelmingly white.
The mailer is the latest sign of Cain's increased fundraising haul at work. The campaign raised more than $1 million for its “Iowa Fund,” and earlier this month Cain announced he had brought in more than $9 million since Oct. 1.