Ezra Klein:

“a joyous romp through the seedy underbelly of presidential campaigning“.

Though not nearly as good as Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime (2008), I still enjoyed hearing insider anecdotes of the dirty dealings.

Double Down: Game Change 2012 is a book written by political journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin about the 2012 United States presidential election, in which Barack Obama was re-elected as President of the United States, defeating Mitt Romney. …

… a behind-the-scenes narrative of the Obama and Romney campaigns.

The book relies on over 400 sources, most of whom are anonymous. The authors treated their interview subjects with alcohol in a private suite or restaurant to get them to open up …

… Rep. Michele Bachmann‘s belief that as a “branier” Sarah Palin she could win the nomination, only to suffer horrible stage fright and a series of gaffes …

Herman Cain‘s initial appeal deflated by charges of sexual harassment and a poor understanding of U.S. foreign policy

Jon Huntsman‘s campaign collapse due to poor organization and attacks by both the Romney campaign and the Obama White House, each viewing the ambassador as a turncoat …

Gov. Rick Perry‘s gaffe-ridden campaign, apparently the result of painkiller use. …

… Karl Rove‘s role in the primaries, pushing Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee to enter the race, only to have both decline over issues of finance. …

Biggest idiot of all — as usual — was Donald Trump.

Romney was criticized for being an out-of-touch fat cat, beholding to the very rich. I feel that charge was fair. Like George W, if elected, he would have had to do everything he could to make the rich richer.

Chris Christie comes out looking best of the many who might have got the nomination instead of Romney. I do hope he runs in 2016. He’s a heavy weight legit candidate. Smart enough and tough enough to do the job. Sadly, skeletons in the closet could derail.

Paul Ryan was a gutsy choice for VP. He kept arguing to put forward alternative policies to Obama — but Mitt’s people wanted to make few specific promises, sticking with anti-Obama rhetoric. Of the Republicans covered, Ryan’s to my mind the closest to a fiscal conservative. His budget was Micky Mouse, hardly better than Obama. But I was hoping it was a first step in the right direction. For example, this week he defended cuts to military retiree benefits. Ryan’s got balls.

Mitt Romney is a good man. He might have been a good President. Might have been better than a term 2 Obama. We’ll never know.

I supported Romney when he first got the nod, hoping that a business man might better manage the nation. Unfortunately he voiced no platform. Weaseled or flip-flopped out of every question. It was embarrassing to listen to him interviewed.

His best moment was in the 1st presidential debate, Wednesday, October 3rd. Romney was good. Obama was terrible.

There are no scandalous reveals in the book regarding Mitt. He’s just as boring in real life as he was on the campaign trail.

HBO Films, which produced Game Change, the film version of the book, has optioned the rights to Double Down. When asked about casting, Halperin suggested Will Smith or Giancarlo Esposito would be his choices for Obama, while George Clooney or Jon Hamm could play Romney.

I’d love to see Clooney playing a Republican. 🙂

In some ways the respective National Conventions symbolize the respective Presidential campaigns.

The Democrats tightly scripted. Disciplined.

Their celebrity loose cannon the biggest hit of the event. Read the transcript of Bill Clinton’s Speech to the Democratic National Convention.

The Republicans. … Not so good.

No need to read Clint Eastwood‘s GOP convention speech: Full transcript. It was a mess, though I still like Clint personally.

2016?

I can’t see any Republican beating Hillary.

They’ll have to take a shellacking before finally turning to fiscal conservatism, abandoning Tea Party trivialities.

Most Tea Party candidates are no more competent to govern than Occupy Wall Street extremists.

If you are interested in what’s really happening in the campaign war rooms, read this book. You’ll never again believe a word an American politician says.