Romney 18%, McCain 17%, the Huckster 16%.

I can't see how Thompson can drop out in this situation. The contest is fluid, and Giuliani's supporters are going to go looking for a more viable candidate. (I know I have.) I can't help but think that most supporting Giuliani are looking at Thompson as their number 2.

I also don't think that McCain is going to fare very well as a front-runner. No one else has; why should Mr. Amnesty be immune to the misfortunes of being out ahead? So Thompson has room to grow.

Huckabee probably will flame out too. I could see his support finally cratering down to a more reasonable 5% or so once he gets spanked in South Carolina. Those voters have to go somewhere, and Thompson is and always will be an acceptable choice for almost all Republicans.

If he does drop out, damn it, he really did lack the "fire" for this thing, and he did us all a disservice by mounting a half-hearted effort. He owes it to his supporters -- who are now more or less equal to anyone else's -- to stick around and see how things shake out.

Thanks to someone.

Odd... Karol endorses Giuliani.

I just think it's funny, as I long supported Giuliani and Karol always told me he couldn't win, etc. Well, it turns out he can't win, and now I'm not supporting him and Karol is.

Thompson On Dropping Out: Story Planted By Rival Campaign: Maybe, maybe not. The important thing I'd like to hear is "I'm not going anywhere." He doesn't quite say that.

"That is absolutely made up out of whole cloth," said the former U.S. Senator from Tennessee.

Thompson said a rival campaign was likely the source of that rumor.

"Can you imagine such a thing in politics?" he asked.

Thompson said his campaign is seeing a "surge" in interest right now, and said he has visited 50 communities in the Hawkeye State in the last couple weeks.

"I'm not going to play into any scenario that's not totally optimistic," he said.

I don't want to hear that the story is false, I want to hear "I'm in this thing until the end."

No Promises: I'm just listening to this now, but Allah says Thompson hedges even on whether or not he'd definitely stay in until New Hampshire.

I really don't get this.

Denial/Clarification: The Politco story about Fred dropping out was sourced to "Republican officials close to the Thompson campaign." I read that as campaign officials, and now see that sourcing indicates nothing of the sort. It merely means "Republican officials" of some capacity, somewhere, who have some connection, possibly minor, to the Thompson campaign. It could be, for instance, some local chairman in podunk county in Iowa, or some minor Republican who had endorsed Thompson in the past.

A Republican official in the Thompson campaign points that out and strongly denies the Politico claim.

Posted by: Ace at 09:58 AM | Comments (39)
Post contains 514 words, total size 4 kb.

I woke up pissed this morning. If Iowa lets Mike "John Edwards with a bible" Huckabee win the caucus, I'm calling in the airstrike myself. It'll be worth the bright flash of pain & slide into sweet, dark oblivion if it takes out all the morons who can't see through a fourth-rate con man who wears his religion in a shoulder holster instead of on his sleeve where it belongs.

Anyway, enough whining, here's the speech in the "extended entry". I added a few "edgy" comments into it this morning, but hopefully not enough to get the Huck-a-bots to stone me to death for heresy at 8pm CST tonight.

more...

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 07:58 AM | Comments (138)
Post contains 1049 words, total size 6 kb.

Referring to Allahpundit's use of the term, which will precipitate an immediate and disastrous worldwide population decline, possibly signalling the end of the human race.

When people start having sex with robots.

Levy lays out his vision of a Brave New Carnal World in Love and Sex With Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships, which, despite its extended riffs on sex toys through the ages, is a snigger-free book. Levy's no Al Goldstein. Rather he's a 62-year-old British chess master turned artificial-intelligence expert persuaded that robot sex can brighten the lives of many, many unhappy people. "Great sex on tap for everyone, 24/7,'' he writes on the final page of the book. What's not to like?

Allow me to raise my hand tentatively and say, "Ummm...professor? I've already lost my husband to fuckin' football and video games for half the year. Can a girl get a break around here? I know why all these damn robots are already made to look like gorgeous Asian sluts, m'kay? I AM NOT STUPID."

Seriously, though. This will not be good for women. Robots don't have menses. Robots are always polite. Their bodies will remain perfect forever. If you dump a robot, it won't come over at 3 am and spraypaint 'tiny dick' on your Camaro.

Bad, bad, baaaad for women. So glad I'll be an old crone or dead before it hits the mainstream.

UPDATE: Tall Dave envisions this wonderful future in the comments:

Before you know it, you'll be walking down the street and see an incredibly attractive "woman" who will let you take her home for a nominal fee -- sanitary, safe, sexy. and probably vastly superior in technique to anything a woman's anatomy can do.

Precisely. A perfect body outfitted with a heated, rotating robo-pooter.
You know what? I make a pretty good sammich. But not THAT good.

It's over, ladies.

Posted by: LauraW. at 07:44 AM | Comments (116)
Post contains 317 words, total size 2 kb.

His name? Jack M.

The man behind the record rise in oil prices to $100 a barrel was a lone trader, seeking bragging rights and a minute of fame, market watchers say...Stephen Schork, a former floor trader on the New York Mercantile Exchange and the editor of an oil market newsletter, said one floor trader bought 1,000 barrels, the smallest amount permitted, and sold it immediately for $99.40 at a $600 loss.

"They absolutely overpaid," he told Radio Four's Today Programme.

"He paid $600 for the right to tell his grandchildren that he was the first in the world to buy $100 oil."

FIRST!

PWNED Noobs! I'm in yur comoditty marketz riggin' yur pricez!

In my defense, how often do you get a chance to make history? I mean, it's not like I'll be stepping foot on the moon or anything anytime soon.

Especially with Oil trading at $100. Jeez...can you imagine how expensive that trip would be?

Posted by: Jack M. at 06:18 AM | Comments (14)
Post contains 168 words, total size 1 kb.

I've just found the defacto unofficial official AoS lifestyle handbook of protocol for all situations. Its called Killing Strangers. I have no idea who wrote it, or what its really about, but the author's chapter synopsis grabbed me as um...very apt. Yes, that's the word I'm looking for apt.

* Motorcycles, ATV's, 4x4's, trains, ambulances, planes, cruise ships, a SeaDoo, a DUKW, and a helicopter.
* Women and witches and beggars and whores.
* Drugs and alcohol and frantic calls to 911.
* Pistols and shotguns and blood and Her Majesty's Prison.
* Passports and oceans and envelopes full of cash.
* Gambling and hurricanes and missing millionaires.
* Guinea pigs and lobsters and wild pigs and sharks.
* Confrontations with the law at home and abroad.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 05:52 AM | Comments (6)
Post contains 133 words, total size 1 kb.

By unleashing his own version of a "Daisy" attack ad against Romney, McCain has in essence ruled out Romney as VP running mate. You can't declare someone unfit, then have them as the next guy in line in the chain of succession. Well, I suppose you could but the voters, idiots they may be, aren't THAT simple minded.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 05:19 AM | Comments (27)
Post contains 72 words, total size 1 kb.

Like a cheerleader's virginity on prom night the Iraq war is lost.
HT:Instaglen

Posted by: Open Blog at 04:58 AM | Comments (9)
Post contains 31 words, total size 1 kb.

Fox and Friends is doing a totally unscientific "Honorary Iowan Poll" by email.

And The Fred! is in the lead in front of Huckabee.
You can vote by emailing friends@foxnews.com

Posted by: Open Blog at 04:21 AM | Comments (8)
Post contains 42 words, total size 1 kb.

Dan has a decent summary of the extent of the damage.

As of this post, AFP and the Canadian Globe and Mail are still running with the fake shit. The Telegraph and Australian Broadcasting Corp, apparently a little more on the ball, pulled their stories.

Now that Facebook pages have been established as "credible news sources" the media will apparently rely on, the line between reality and fiction has become blurred. Personally, I plan on architecting a number of "shocking" and "true", but fake anecdotes that will be revealed on Facebook pages for a number of lesser figures in the public eye. Let the media punking begin in earnest.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 04:21 AM | Comments (3)
Post contains 125 words, total size 1 kb.

Otherwise, it's claimed, he'll drop out and begin working to elect John McCain, possibly with the notion of becoming his Attorney General.

Awful if true.

I hereby command all of McCain's and Giuliani's supporters to align with Fred tomorrow.

No "Fredibility" To This Story: So says a Hot Air commenter.

Another commenter says (okay, here's some hearsay for ya) that a commenter at the Politico story says Fred refuted the story on Iowa TV, saying, “Total fabrication, he never said it either privately or publicly, and it was planted by some other campaign."

Eh. I think someone on his campaign did say that, but so what? These guys are hired hands, professionals. They're interested in the horse-race aspect of the game and issues of viability. They have their opinions on whether someone can make it or not. They sometimes share these opinions. But they are just opinions, and not necessarily reflective of any inside information they might have.

Posted by: Ace at 09:44 PM | Comments (34)
Post contains 190 words, total size 1 kb.