Rick Perry

The GOP Race Down To Four Candidates: Bachmann, Perry, Romney, Huntsman!

Ronald 1 Comment

So the 2012 Republican Presidential race is down to FOUR candidates in the real world: Establishment Republicans Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, both happening to be Mormons: and Tea Party Republicans Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, born evangelical Christians who promote combination of church and state and have followers who believe Mormons are a cult and not truly Christians!

What a mess the Republicans are in, and it should make Barack Obama feel very comforted after the rough times he has had lately with the Debt Ceiling debate, the lowering of the credit rating from Triple A to Double A Plus by Standard and Poor’s, and the stock market gyrations of the past week!

The Republican Party may boast that they are on the way to defeat of Barack Obama, but instead they are on the way to a bloodletting in the caucuses and primaries, with the Iowa caucus likely to be a battle between Perry and Bachmann, and the New Hampshire primary likely to be a battle between Romney and Huntsman. The South Carolina primary will likely be a battle between the survivor of Iowa and the winner in New Hampshire, and then Florida will play a major role, as the fourth largest state, in determining who the leading candidate will be.

But likely, the battle will go on into the other caucus and primary states and could drag out to June, and severely weaken the party, and strengthen Obama.

So forget Rick Santorum, Herman Cain, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich completely, and Tim Pawlenty has already bowed out ot the race!

And realize, after the bloodletting that will go on in the GOP, the only real hope that will exist for the Republicans to defeat Barack Obama will be IF they nominate either Romney or Huntsman, with the hope by Establishment Republicans that neither will have been fatally wounded during the caucuses and primaries!

If either Perry nor Bachmann end up as the nominee, the election will be a “cakewalk” for Barack Obama.

The upcoming battle can only benefit Barack Obama, as it demonstrates the right wing extremism prevalent in the Republican Party!

A Pitiful Republican Presidential Debate Sponsored By Fox News Channel In Ames, Iowa!

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If a neutral observer was watching the Republican Presidential debate in Ames, Iowa, last night, sponsored by Fox News Channel, he or she would likely come away with the thought: Are these eight people competing for the Presidential nomination of the party of Lincoln, TR, Eisenhower and Reagan the best they can find to run for the highest office in the land? Are these candidates NOT a tremendous embarrassment to themselves, as well as the nation? Even if one is dissatisfied with President Barack Obama, why is it that the opposition party cannot find a candidate who matches the level of past candidates, including losers like Charles Evans Hughes, Wendell Willkie, Thomas Dewey, Bob Dole and John McCain?

When one looks at the eight people in the debate, the conclusions are the following observations:

1. None of the candidates was willing to commit to ANY tax increase at all, even with the theoretical deal suggested of ten dollars of budget cuts for each additional dollar of tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, an unbelievable commentary on the lack of financial responsibility of the Republican candidates who wish to be President of the United States!

2. The number of factual errors and miscues by all of the candidates is mind boggling, and demonstrates just how ignorant of economics, foreign policy, and civil liberties these candidates are!

3. Michele Bachmann came across as totally loony and whacky in her presentation, far weaker than her performance in the last debate which brought her to prominence in June.

4. Herman Cain proved that he should go back to running a pizza corporation, as he has no understanding of any issues, displaying total stupidity in just about everything he enunciated.

5. Rick Santorum surprised when he seemed to defend the rights of gays in Iran, but not in America, but also showed stupidity when he referred to the people of Afghanistan as “Afghanistanis”, rather than Afghans.

6. Ron Paul did his usual ranting and raving like a crazy man, with a total isolationist view that has zero chance to be adopted by the party which has promoted overseas engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq.

7. Newt Gingrich actually improved somewhat, but is already fatally flawed because of past blunders, statements, actions, and resignation of his staff members.

8. Tim Pawlenty also did a bit better, but still comes across as too weak, and often seeming more like a governor who had trouble defending his record against attacks by fellow Minnesotan Michele Bachmann.

9. Jon Huntsman disappointed tremendously, having an opportunity to stand out in the race as the one reasonable moderate centrist, and instead showed timidity, and even distorted what the Obama Administration has done in dealings with China, while he was Ambassador to China, contradicting positive statements about the President that he had made while working for him.

10. Mitt Romney, the theoretical front runner, at least until Rick Perry enters the race officially this weekend of the Iowa Ames Straw Poll, still can be considered the front runner, but he does not enthuse party members or the general public, and when one hears that he is worth $264 million, one has to say how in the world can he understand average Americans, and have the nerve to say that corporations are people, and joke that he is also unemployed!

What a sad commentary on the opposition to Barack Obama, and no matter how displeased many Americans may be with the President, it is very hard to conceptualize that they will vote him out in favor of any of these candidates, all of whom could rightly be condemned as LOSERS in every sense of the word!

Texas Governor Rick Perry: Savior Of The Republican Party And The Nation? NO!

Ronald 1 Comment

The author is shocked that Texas Governor Rick Perry is scheduled to announce his candidacy for President tomorrow, on the day of the Iowa Ames Straw Poll.

It seemed clear all along that all Rick Perry was trying to do was get attention, and build up his massive ego further. He had said he had no interest in the Presidency, but apparently he has been tempted and enticed to run because of all the attention he is getting, which he clearly craves! So this is an ego trip, nothing else!

Is Governor Rick Perry qualified to be President? Well, he IS the Governor of Texas, the second largest state in population and land area, and has been for the past eleven years, longer than any governor in the country.

However, one must realize that the Governor of Texas is more of an honorary position, as it is literally the WEAKEST Governorship constitutionally in the whole nation of 50 states! The Governor of Texas is a media star because of the tremendous size and population of Texas, but he has very little authority and power, and has loads of free time to pursue other ambitions, a fact that helped George W. Bush decide to seek the White House!

It is also said that Rick Perry has presided over a tremendous increase of employment, about 40 percent of the whole nation’s growth in employment in this recession, and Perry loves to brag about it!

But the fact that the vast majority of these jobs are MINIMUM WAGE is ignored, as if one can live and support a family on a minimum wage job! And the fact that the military and oil companies have a major role in Texas also distorts the reality of employment!

The fact is that Texas ranks very low on education funding, as well as educational curriculum in history and science being distorted and inaccurate to the extreme!

It is a fact that poverty in Texas is widespread, one of the worst levels of poverty in America! But Perry has no concern for the poor, the sick, the disabled, the elderly or anyone else, and instead prefers to promote states rights, as if that is the basic meaning of the US Constitution, which it clearly is exactly the opposite, federal supremacy!

It is the fact that health care is very inadequate for millions of Texans under Rick Perry, but Perry has no concern about that reality! Instead, he is refusing to cooperate on the establishment of the Obama Health Care plan, preferring to sue in federal court to deny health care to millions of Texans!

It is the fact that Rick Perry is described by many as a great campaigner, but a very lazy, shiftless governor who avoids work when he can, so it is obvious he loves the battle but not the challenge of leadership!

It is a fact that Rick Perry has no clue to an understanding of economics, and would be a disaster for us, having no clue as to how to promote an economic recovery!

It is a fact that Rick Perry is quite stupid in reality, and is best noted for his cockiness and swagger, reminding many of George W. Bush, with the only improvement from the image of Bush being that Rick Perry would be described as a more handsome man than Bush is, but are we to vote based on looks, or brains and character and intelligence, which in the long run matter more?

It is a fact that Rick Perry would love to make America a Christian nation, rather than what it is–a nation primarily of many different Christian sects, along with other religions! Perry does not believe in our basic principle of separation of church and state, and has no understanding of our history, being extremely ignorant! But then, Perry was a C and D student, much like George W. Bush, so what can one expect?

It is a fact that Rick Perry is a great fan of and is supported by the Tea Party Movement, the reckless, radical group which has helped to cause the downgrading of our credit by Standard and Poor’s, and will stop at nothing to make certain that there is NEVER any increase in taxes on the greedy, selfish top two percent of the population and the corporations, no matter how much it impoverishes the nation and makes a more stratified society with a disappearing middle class!

It is a fact that Rick Perry advocated secession of Texas from the Union,which is illegal and unconstitutional, and over which the Civil War was fought 150 years ago! Former Texas Governor, President, and Senator Sam Houston, were he alive today, would be ashamed of Rick Perry being the Governor of his beloved state, which he felt had gone wrong when it seceded from the Union in 1861 and joined the Confederacy, and courageously supported Abraham Lincoln and the Union during that Civil War!

It is a fact that the Bush family themselves oppose Perry, which says that establishment Republicans who want to remain in the mainstream, as at least father George H. W. Bush wishes, are terrified of the possibility that this unaccomplished, inferior man might be the leader of the free world, with his maniacal belief in his own superiority!

It is a fact that if Rick Perry somehow won the Presidency, the nation would suffer far worse under him than even the worst critics of Barack Obama might imagine!

If Rick Perry is the best we can gain for President in 2012, this nation is in far greater danger and trouble than we can possibly imagine in 2011!

The Death Of Former Senator Mark Hatfield Of Oregon: A Great Public Servant And Mainstream Republican!

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The death over last weekend of former Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon reminds us of just how far the Republican Party has shifted from the 1960s through the 1990s mainstream historical tradition.

Mark Hatfield was a Senator’s Senator, one of the giants of the Republican Party, much admired and respected by Democrats, as well as mainstream Republicans.

The fact that South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond in the early years of Hatfield’s Senate tenure, and newly elected Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum in 1995 moved to harm Hatfield’s seniority over different issues such as civil rights and the so called “balanced budget” amendment, only adds to his historical stature. And today, we have people of the ilk of Thurmond (Rick Perry, for instance), and Santorum himself attempting to be the nominee of his party for President on a platform promoting hate and lunatic ideas, demonstrating the moral crisis in the GOP these days.

Hatfield believed in government, supported social programs with vigor, and opposed defense spending and intervention in foreign lands, having the distinction of NEVER supporting a Pentagon spending bill in his thirty years in the US Senate.

Hafield was a religious man, a Baptist, but believed in separation of church and state. He was the true image of a really religious man, who believed that we are here to help our fellow human beings, not be mean spirited and uncaring about those less fortunate. He was the true follower of the beliefs of Jesus Christ, not phonies such as Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Herman Cain, among others in the GOP Presidential race.

Mark Hatfield was a principled progressive in the Republican tradition, and was willing to cross the aisle to work with Democrats for the good of the nation.

How can we mark his death at age 89, without a sense of mourning that the party he was a proud member of, has become a disgrace, an embarrassment, a dinosaur, as the party has allowed itself to be taken over by greedy, selfish interests, and Tea Party radicals that are anarchists, with willingness to destroy the American economy in their hatred of those less fortunate, and particularly their despising of the first African American President, who if he were white, would not have as much poison and venom directed at him, as Barack Obama has to bear daily from despicable talk show hosts and bigoted, right wing corporate spokesmen, and most Congressional Republicans.

Mark Hatfield will be remembered as in the best tradition of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Robert La Follette, Sr., George Norris, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and numerous other moderate progressives, including Jacob Javits, Nelson Rockefeller, Charles Percy, Charles Mathias, Lowell Weicker, Edward Brooke, Clifford Case, William Scranton, Bob Packwood, George Romney, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. and others not mentioned here.

So may Mark Hatfield rest in peace, and we should continue to honor him, and teach about his principles and contributions to our political history!

Republican Party Seemingly On Suicide Mission, Based On Latest Poll On Presidential Frontrunners!

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The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll shows strong evidence that the Republican Party is on a suicide mission regarding the 2012 Presidential Election.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has a wide lead over all others, and is praised for his experience, leadership, and good chance to compete with and defeat President Obama.

And yet, the Tea Party Movement within the party is very unhappy with Romney, and were he to be the nominee, they would be a major headache and impediment in his Presidential campaign!

Amazingly, a “non candidate”, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, runs second, and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann runs third in the poll. If Palin is not counted in the poll, Bachmann moves up to second, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul ends up third, with no one else in double digits!

However, Texas Governor Rick Perry, a possible candidate who is flirting with the idea of running, and claims God is behind him, has the next most support with 8 percent.

At this point, Tim Pawlenty, former Governor of Minnesota, and Jon Huntsman, former Governor of Utah, have been total flops, with Pawlenty having only 2 percent support, and Huntsman only 3 percent. It was felt just a couple of months ago that only these two men had a real shot at the nomination, other than Romney, but it has not turned out that way at all!

Instead, it is Tea Party radicals such as Palin, Bachmann and Perry that are competing with Romney, and that is becoming a point of fear and some hysteria among establishment Republicans, who can sense that their party is being destroyed by what is best described as the “cancer” of the Tea Party Movement in their midst!

Iowa: Rapidly Becoming Insignificant In The Presidential Nominating Contest!

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The state of Iowa has the first vote in the Presidential contest of 2012, as it is the host of the first caucuses on February 6, 2012. Tons of publicity and media coverage are being given to that state, but it is hard to believe that what happens in Iowa will have any real impact long term on the Election of 2012.

Since the caucuses began in 1972, only two Presidential winners running in a non-incumbent year have won Iowa–George W. Bush in 2000 and Barack Obama in 2008. Ronald Reagan ended up second in 1980 and George H. W. Bush was third in 1988. Jimmy Carter ended up second in 1976 and Bil Clinton fourth in 1992.

The problem with all caucuses, which about one third of the states use instead of primaries, is that only activists are involved, rather than the masses of the population, and they tend to be more extreme–with the Republicans being more to the RIght of center, and the Democrats to the Left of center.

So when it seems that Michele Bachmann is in the lead in Iowa, but that Rick Perry, if he enters, would compete for the evangelical Christian vote, and that Tim Pawlenty will be left “in the dust”, and Herman Cain has some support because of his statements about Muslims and Mormons, and that Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are not seen as serious candidates–all this should tell us that once Iowa has done its part in the nominating process, we are very likely to look back and say Iowa AGAIN had little impact on the ultimate nominee of the Republican Party in the Presidential Election of 2012!

Quinnipiac Polls Shows Dangers To Mitt Romney In Republican Presidential Race

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Mitt Romney seems to many to be the only hope for “moderate” Establishment Republicans, as at least for now, Jon Huntsman and Tim Pawlenty are both floundering in the polls.

But Romney actually faces great dangers, as Michele Bachmann is surging, as shown in the most recent Quinnipiac poll, having 14 percent to Romney’s 25 percent. Also, two non-candidates, Sarah Palin and Rick Perry follow, with Palin having 12 percent and Perry 10 percent, both considered far Right as Bachmann is!

Also, Barack Obama polls ahead of all GOP opponents for the Presidency, with a lead of 6 points over Romney, 12 points over Bachmann, 19 points over Palin, and 13 percent over Perry!

Obama’s greatest support is among women, leading Romney by 11 points, and Bachmann by 17 points! Among men, Romney only leads Obama by ONE point, and Obama leads Bachmann among men by EIGHT percent! And among independents, Romney leads Obama by two points, but Obama is ahead against all others, by 10 over Perry, three over Bachmann, and by 17 over Palin.

It is clear that the only real hope, as things stand, for the Republican Party, is to nominate Mitt Romney and hope for the best, but even Romney seems weak, and has a major challenge overcoming the Tea Party radicals led by Michele Bachmann, and possibly also Sarah Palin and Rick Perry!

So these are indeed difficult times for the Republican Party, not that they don’t deserve it!

The Coming Implosion Of The Republican Party: Congress And The Presidential Race!

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Just as Barack Obama shows evidence of great fund raising, an all time high, and the Republicans show weakness in fund raising, the Republican Party is facing an implosion on both the Congressional and Presidential campaign level!

The Debt Ceiling Crisis has shown chinks in the armor of the Congressional Republicans, as the leadership of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell has split the Republicans on Capitol Hill, into the predictable split between Establishment Republicans and the Tea Party Movement freshmen in the House and a few in the US Senate!

Boehner has been pressured by his deputy, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who is obviously trying to overrule Boehner and push him out, as everyone in the know is aware of Cantor’s personal ambitions to be Speaker of the House!

McConnell, convinced that no deal on the debt ceiling extension can be reached, has come up with a plan he thinks will help the Republicans win control of Congress and the White House in 2012, declaring he cannot work with Obama. His plan is to allow three votes of disapproval on extensions of the debt limit–one now, one in the Fall and one in the Summer of 2012, assuring an extension of the debt but with only Democrats voting for it, giving Republicans a campaign issue to be used in the upcoming election, and avoiding the financial uncertainties of NOT raising the debt ceiling.

Tea Party freshmen are furious at McConnell, and Boehner who has backed him, so a rebellion within the party is in evidence, with Eric Cantor leading it in the House and Jim DeMint and Rand Paul in the Senate!

The thought that the Republicans will somehow be able to use this debt issue as a way to win control of the executive and legislative branches in 2012 is a real long shot, as it is not as if the Republicans did not raise the debt ceiling SEVEN times under George W. Bush! It is much more likely to reverberate against them, and with a split party in Congress, actually cause them to lose seats in both chambers and likely lose control of the House of Representatives, where a switch of 25 seats gives Democrats control, not all that hard to attain!

And with Michele Bachmann surging as the real threat to Establishment Republicans and Mitt Romney, we could see Bachmann become the nominee, and end up as the Barry Goldwater of 2012, as to imagine her winning the White House and helping her party to win control of both houses of Congress requires hallucination on a major scale!

To top it off, IF Sarah Palin or Rick Perry, or both, end up running for the Presidency, still hard to imagine or conceive, it will only complicate the situation even further, and undermine GOP hopes for control, so it is now more likely that they will go back to minority status, through their own ineptness and incompetence, and failure to recognize the needs of the American people in the midst of the aftermath of the Great Recession!

Fascinating “Presidential Freshness” Test: The 14 Year “Window”

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National Journal writer Jonathan Rauch has brought up an interesting point about American history and the Presidency.

What he calls the “Presidential Freshness” Test demonstrates that for someone to be elected President, that person must NOT have been in high public office more than 14 years when he or she runs for the White House.

High public office means the office of Governor or Senator, and under the Presidential Freshness concept, only three announced candidates fit within it–Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman, and Mitt Romney, although Sarah Palin and Rick Perry, both unannounced and unlikely to run, also fit within the limits.

Being a member of the House is no help, as none have ever been elected President, with the exception of James Garfield in 1880, and he was assassinated after only six months in office in 1881.

So therefore, Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul are not considered to have any chance under this test, and Newt Gingrich has a double whammy, being a House member and Speaker in the past, and also having much more than 14 years since his first election.

So every President of the past century has met the maximum of 14 years experience, with the exception of Lyndon B. Johnson who succeeded upon the death of John F. Kennedy, and then was elected for a full four year term.

What it comes down to is that a Presidential candidate can wear out his welcome and be seen as “stale” if he has been on the scene more than 14 years when running for President, so too much experience in years is NOT a plus!

It will be interesting to see if the Presidential Freshness test works in this upcoming election contest!

The Conservative Majority Supreme Court And Texas Governor Rick Perry Message To American Tourists Overseas, Particularly In Mexico: Travel At Your Own Risk!

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Last night, a Mexican national who had committed a heinous murder in Texas was executed, which in itself is nothing unusual, and no one is mourning the individual involved.

But what is to be mourned is the fact that the Supreme Court and Texas Governor Rick Perry have just made safety for American tourists overseas, particularly in Mexico, far less certain.

One might ask: how is that so? The answer is that the International Court of Justice in the Hague had ruled in 2004 that at least 50 Mexican citizens on death row in the United States had been denied their rights under the Vienna Convention, which requires that foreign citizens be informed of their right to assistance from the consular officials of their nation in their legal defense.

Nothing had been done by Congress regarding this, and Rick Perry refused to listen to the appeal of President Obama to delay the execution, allow action by Congress, and prevent the danger that American citizens in Mexico could similarly be treated as Texas was dealing with this inmate.

It is troubling that for political reasons, the conservative majority of the Court and the Texas Governor took action that interfered with the foreign policy authority of the Presidency.

And the biggest loser could be American citizens, who now must expect retribution, and the actions of the Supreme Court and Rick Perry, for political gain, make the warning clear: You are on your own if you get into any kind of legal trouble in Mexico, and maybe, anywhere, in theory.