Back on June 10th I asked this question and came up with no satisfying answer. I wrote that as the serious GOP candidates showed up, the 2012 presidential race would tighten. So far the race may have tightened, but as of yet no serious GOP contenders have shown up. Let’s review the roster.
Cain, Gingrich, Santorum, and Paul seem to be after thoughts. Tim Pawlenty was so well known that in my previous post on the subject I called him Tom. Palin still runs around the country ringing bells just like Paul Revere, but still hasn’t joined the race. Huntsman, I don’t even know for sure if he’s still running. So let’s concentrate on the supposed big 3. Romney, Bachmann, and Perry.
Let’s start with Texas governor Rick Perry. He’s Bush plus the Tea Party as The Progress Report points out. He’s from Texas, he gets most of his campaign money from big donors like big oil, and quite frankly, he just says stupid shit. For instance he thinks the government should get rid of all regulations. As ThinkProgress points out, here’s what that would mean.
Under such a moratorium, the Food and Drug Administration would stop approving new drugsand preventing human experimentation; the USDA would stop checking for food safety; the EPA would stop monitoring for poisons in drinking water; the Library of Congress would stoploaning materials to blind people; the NTSB would stop investigating airplane accidents; HHS would end Medicare payments; no more patents, copyrights, or trademarks would be issued; DHS would stop protecting chemical facilities from terrorist attacks; the Treasury would stopprinting currency; financial sanctions on hostile nations like North Korea and Iran would end; and the Federal Reserve System would shut down.
Would you like some E. coli with that burger Mr. Perry?
Next up is Minnesota representative Michelle Bachmann who still believes the founding fathers ended slavery. She dislikes gays and her husband runs a program to retrain gays to be “normal.” Her world view is almost entirely shaped by her perverted view of Christianity. She won’t be satisfied until all Americans believe as she does. The word pluralistic is not in her vocabulary. Doesn’t that sound like the leaders of some middle eastern countries who govern monotheist states?
Finally, we have former governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney. He is the only GOP contender who appears to be serious. First of all, his father was the Republican governor of Michigan, George Romney. So he has actually seen what the republican party used to be like. Less government, less taxes, but smart.
The GOP has made a living by dumbing down. They win elections by making it a zen like art to talk to average voters while acting average. They call democrats elitist. That’s O.K. with me. I don’t want my president to be average, I want him or her to be elite.
Still, for conservatives Romney is a Mormon and created a “socialist” health care system in Massachusetts. For me the problem is he doesn’t know the difference between corporations and people. Here’s some help Mitt.
These are people.
This is a corporation.
One of the best quotes I have read in a while came from a new social work friend, Jan Falk.
so let me get this straight- republicans have voted against the best interests of the following groups: women, the sick, the elderly, children, gay and lesbians, the middle class, union members, the poor, students (elementary, middle, high, college and graduate school), mentally ill, immigrants…so who is left? oh yeah, the top 2% wealthiest, so yea, you should vote for them.
Well said Jan. The conservatives are no longer conservative, they are radical. Most new conservatives are not conservative at all, they are bat shit crazy. I’m still waiting for a serious GOP contender to stand up.
