Sarah Palin

Newt Gingrich’s Hubris Has No Limits!

Ronald 1 Comment

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, has called upon fellow Presidential contenders Rick Santorum and Rick Perry to withdraw from the race and back him as the alternative to Mitt Romney. What hubris he has beyond belief!

The fact that Rick Santorum may have won Iowa, if not ending up eight votes behind Romney, does not seem to impress Gingrich.

The fact that Rick Santorum came in fourth, ahead of Gingrich, who ended up fifth, in New Hampshire, does not seem to impress Gingrich.

The fact that more than two thirds of evangelical Christian leaders meeting in Texas over the past weekend decided to throw their support to Santorum, does not seem to have impressed Gingrich.

Gingrich sees himself as brilliant, intelligent, far above all other candidates in capabilities, even though a vast majority of former House associates and Republican political leaders nationally have attacked his candidacy on many grounds.

Instead, it is Todd Palin, and now his wife Sarah, either endorsing or speaking up for Gingrich, with Sarah avoiding going as far as her husband.

Is not that involvement by the Palins enough of an answer about the legitimacy of Newt Gingrich? The Palins, particularly Sarah, have loads of hubris like Gingrich, but not even with his intelligence and brilliance! They are the mark of the STUPID group within the GOP, which includes former candidates Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain!

Newt Gingrich has stated that if he does not win South Carolina this coming weekend, that the race is over. Let’s hope that such is the case, and that we will stop having to listen to the braggadocio of this pompous, overbearing, obnoxious, egotistical person who has passed his prime long ago!

Mitt Romney’s Running Mate: Who Could End Up As Vice President Next Year?

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It may seem premature to ponder who could be Mitt Romney’s running mate for Vice President, after only two contests, the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire Primary, but speculation is already beginning.

It is not an unimportant issue, as one must remember that a Vice President is one heartbeat away from the Presidency, and we have had nine Vice Presidents succeed to the office of President, mostly recently Gerald Ford, after Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974.

We have now had a longer period of no Vice Presidential succession than ever since the first time the Vice President (John Tyler) replaced a President who had died after one month in office in 1841 (William Henry Harrison).

We have had Vice Presidential choices that have been nightmares, such as Sarah Palin in 2008, Dan Quayle in 1988 and Spiro Agnew in 1968, with the latter two making even opponents of George H. W. Bush and Richard Nixon wish for their continued good health!

Many individuals are being speculated about who would not be good choices in one way or another.

Among these are:

Florida Senator Marco Rubio
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie

All of the above are highly controversial in different ways, and would not draw moderates or independents, crucial in an election more than a nomination battle. And all, except Santorum, have been in high office too briefly, so the lack of experience would be harmful, as each has only finished one year in his or her position in government on a national level, with the exception of Christie with two years in office. Santorum lost reelection by a wider margin than just about any incumbent senator in history, when he lost his seat in 2006.

So, a better list would be the following, all adding to Romney, rather than subtracting:

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell
Tennessee Senator Bob Corker
Ohio Senator Rob Portman
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal
Missouri Senator Roy Blunt
South Dakota Senator John Thune
Illinois Senator Mark Kirk

All of these nine, four governors and five senators, have had experience and come across as less controversial, and all would be qualified to take over in an emergency, if that were to happen.

Of course, all would have to be vetted, but on first look, they all seem to be capable of serving as President if need be, and far better than Palin, Quayle or Agnew!

Mitt Romney, Free Enterprise, And Capitalism On Trial: Is The Future Of America ONLY For The Elite Wealthy?

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It is extremely ironic that we are seeing a bitter debate in the Republican Party over the virtues, morality and future of American free enterprise and capitalism, in the process of picking a Republican candidate for the Presidency in 2012.

Mitt Romney, a man who became obscenely wealthy at the expense of thousands of middle class workers who lost their jobs due to an equity company (Bain Capital) whose only purpose was PROFIT over people, and who now wishes to promote a tax plan much worse in its inequity than the tax cuts of George W. Bush, has caused a split with Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Sarah Palin demanding accountability, while Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh, Rudy Guiliani and just about everyone else wants this split and heated debate to end, as it only helps Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.

For the first time in memory, the whole concept of the goodness of unbridled capitalism is under the microscope, and this is good, as if the system continues without change and much greater regulation, there is the danger of violence and bloodshed by an aggrieved majority of the population, rather than peaceful recognition of the need for radical change to avoid such tragedy!

The great inequity of wealth, and the exploitation of the majority of Americans by a small, greedy group of entrepreneurs cannot continue, and this elite had better recognize that before a turning point is reached that will help no one, and hurt the social stability of America in the future!

The Persistent Hillary Clinton For Vice President Chatter: Does It Make Sense? YES!

Ronald 2 Comments

Chatter is arising again, as it has on and off for a year, that President Barack Obama might ask Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to become his Vice Presidential running mate for the Presidential Election of 2012, with Vice President Joe Biden dutifully steeping aside and becoming Secretary of State in a second Obama term.

This is something that has been dismissed in the past as not going to happen, and not advisable to happen. The author himself is a great Joe Biden fan, and the general feeling is that Joe Biden has done a great job as Vice President, adding distinction to the office.

However, the arguments for Hillary Clinton as Vice President are as follows:

1. Hillary Clinton has improved her credentials as Secretary of State, but is tiring of the constant travel and wants to leave the State Department.

2. While Hillary claims she wishes to retire, and proceed to write, speak and travel, it is hard to believe that the highly competitive Mrs. Clinton really wants to do what she says!

3. With the possibility of a close election due to the slowly recovering economy, Hillary would certainly be a plus for Barack Obama, more so than Joe Biden, as she has great public support, with a present public opinion rating of 64 percent, higher than anyone.

4. Hillary Clinton running for Vice President would be likely to bring more Democratic victories in Congress, which is essential to accomplish the goals of a second Obama term.

5. Hillary would bring more support for the President among women, Hispanics and Latinos, African Americans and young people, the core of the Obama victory in 2008, but flagging somewhat in all areas after the realities of three years in power.

6. Hillary running would bring about the first woman Vice President in reality, an exciting proposition after the disastrous candidacies of Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and Sarah Palin in 2008.

7. The Democratic Party would have a front runner for President in 2016, although others would challenge Hillary, but it would increase the chances of a third Democratic term, and even possibly a fourth Democratic term, in the White House, and extra strength for the Democrats in Congress for the future beyond Barack Obama.

8. So called “shotgun marriages” in politics have occurred before with success, such as John F. Kennedy with Lyndon B. Johnson in 1960 and Ronald Reagan with George H. W. Bush in 1980.

9. Having Bill Clinton, supremely popular almost on the level of his wife, fully working for Obama and his own wife, would make for an exciting, dynamic campaign, creating a “marriage” between two powerful families, and would work well electorally.

10. Hillary could help President Obama in the crucial Midwest, with white working class men and women, her strong point in 2008, and his weak point.

11. Joe Biden would be a “good soldier”, who would willingly agree to step aside, but would get his ideal job, based on his career in the Senate, as having been former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and loving that area of policy, he would have great impact as Secretary of State in a second Obama term, and being 74 by the end of the second Obama term, would not be likely to seek the Presidency or be a real challenge to Hillary or other Democrats at that stage of his life. But since he has good relations with Hillary, he could have a future in the position of Secretary of State or some other important position in 2016.

12. Finally, some might say that the Bill and Hillary Clinton shortcomings might be revived in a race in 2012 and beyond, but that is all old news, not new, and would have little impact, as their reputations have soared, rather than declined!

So therefore, it makes sense at this point for Barack Obama to ask Hillary Clinton to be his running mate, and for Joe Biden to replace her in 2013 as Secretary of State in a second Obama administration, good for all of them, for the Democratic Party, and for the future of America!

Richard Nixon After 37 Years: What It Tells Us About The GOP Race For President!

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Richard Nixon’s grand jury testimony, given in 1975 after he resigned as a result of the Watergate Scandal, and was given a pardon by Gerald Ford in 1974, shows the same Richard Nixon we know–manipulative as always, feeling sorry for himself, and avoiding responsibility for ANYTHING! The National Archives and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library released new evidence a few days ago.

He is a master of the filibuster, as his party has been conducting in recent years in the Senate!

He claims to have no recollection of lots of details, even though he was the master detail man in the Presidency!

Nixon tries to explain away the famous 18 and a half minute gap as maybe a blank spot never erased!

Nixon spent a lot of time in the 298 pages of grand jury testimony talking about his love of foreign affairs, and in complaints about the brutal nature of politics, which he, of course, heavily contributed to!

Imagine if he was around in the age of the internet and blogs and the 24 hour news cycle, when he complained at the time about constant assault from the electronic news media for 30 minutes per evening!

Nixon portrays himself as the victim , a favored tactic of Sarah Palin and other Republicans today who love to attack the media for exposing their fallacies and shortcomings!

He also talks about his fragile health, emphasizing that he could die any minute because of his trouble in the fall of 1974 with leg phlebitis.

So he wants pity, and to be given a pass, and is insulted that he was not given one!

Reading Nixon should make us aware of the dangers of selecting for presidential nominations or elections ANY candidate who makes himself out to be a victim, who has demonstrated lack of ethics, who has obvious mental problems, who is ill informed, who says inappropriate things in debates, who acts strangely in ways that we can see–in other words, ALL of the GOP candidates except Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul! And this includes a much rumored candidate, who thankfully, did not run–Sarah Palin!

The Further Deterioration Of The Presidential Candidates: Can’t We Find Qualified Candidates?

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The deterioration of the Republican Party continues, and it is amazing that whenever one thinks we have reached the “bottom of the barrel”, the situation gets worse.

Many have criticized George W. Bush as not very bright, not very qualified to be our President, and some have unfairly said he is the worst President in American history, a totally inaccurate statement.

But when one looks at all of the faults of George W. Bush, and then examines Sarah Palin who considered running; Michele Bachmann; Rick Perry; and now Herman Cain, honestly it gets worse all of the time and makes George W. Bush look like a genius!

Palin had little knowledge of any subject, but at least had SOME experience in public office.

Michele Bachmann came across as more looney and nutty, but at least had a few terms in the House of Representatives.

Rick Perry came across as making George W. Bush look brilliant, and has proved to be a terrible candidate, but at least he has been Governor of the second largest state for eleven years.

And then we have Herman Cain, with NO qualifications other than having been the head of Godfather Pizza, with NO experience in government at all, and totally coming across as a fool! And then he has sexual harassment charges lodged against him, and he and others start to compare him to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who had similar charges against him in 1991, but overcame them and went on to the Court, where he remains after 20 years.

The point is that Herman Cain is actually far worse than George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry!

it is also true that Herman Cain is no Clarence Thomas, who at least has intellectual qualifications, even if one does not agree with his jurisprudence!

So the GOP gets worse and worse and worse, while Mitt Romney flounders with a consistent one fourth of the party for him, and three fourths against him.

And Jon Huntsman, the best candidate the party has to offer, is “dead in the water” with one or two percent!

What a great tragedy for the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Reagan!

Have We Ever Had A Dumb, Stupid President? Yes, Warren G. Harding And Andrew Johnson!

Ronald 3 Comments

With the growing evidence that many people who run for President are ill informed, lacking in basic knowledge and curiosity about public affairs, and in some cases, plain dumb or stupid, the question arises whether we have ever had a truly dumb, stupid President of the United States!

We are not talking about one’s personality, or level of success or failure as President, but simply someone who was truly the “ordinary” man or woman, who often is not involved or interested in public affairs and does not have the intelligence or knowledge or judgment to be President of the United States!

The question is whether an “ordinary” man or woman should be allowed to ascend to the highest public office, and have the power to affect the lives, not only of Americans, but the world at large.

We have certainly had Presidents who were truly brilliant and intellectual, including John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. That makes a list of 15 of the 43 Presidents, one out of every three.

Then we have had Presidents who were not brilliant or intellectual, but had great qualifications that made them appropriate for the office of President, including George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Rutherford Hayes, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush, making it a list of 18 Presidents, approximately 40 percent, and together with the earlier list, a total of 33 out of 43 Presidents, about 75 percent of the entire list of Chief Executives.

That leave us with ten Presidents who can be divided into two groups: the military generals who had little or no experience in politics–William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses Grant, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, who can at least be given credit as having proved themselves in the military.

And finally, there are six Presidents who can be considered as mediocrity personified–chronologically Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, Chester Alan Arthur, Warren G. Harding, and Calvin Coolidge, but even among them, it is clear cut that TWO Presidents would be considered the closest to dumb, stupid, ill informed, ill equipped to be President, and one was simply a successor not elected, while the other was elected President and was a true disaster!

So if the reader has gone this far, the question is who makes the final cut of the two? They are Andrew Johnson, a terrible choice by Abraham Lincoln for his second term, clearly not thinking about his competence to be President–and Warren G. Harding, who was elected in a landslide by the voters in 1920, and was the absolute total disaster above all Presidents, and did us a favor by dying in office after 29 months as President!

Can we afford nearly a century later to have another Warren G. Harding or Andrew Johnson? Can we afford a Sarah Palin, a Michele Bachmann, a Herman Cain, a Rick Perry? God forbid that were to happen!

The Republican Party: Fiscal Discipline And National Security–Foreign Policy Expertise Reputation Replaced By Incompetency And Ignorance!

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The Republican Party used to be the party of Fiscal Discipline, until George W. Bush and the Republican Congress spent wildly on the War on Terror and a Prescription Drug Plan without raising taxes, and in fact, cut them dramatically on the wealthy, causing the economic crisis of the Great Recession as a result!

The Republican Party used to be the party of National Security–Foreign Policy Expertise, the party of Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush, until Sarah Palin came along as a Vice Presidential choice in 2008, and then Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain came along, all three of them displaying total ignorance of the subject, and Rick Perry not much better!

To believe that the Republican Party could have serious challengers for the Presidency who have no clue on foreign policy or economic matters is something that promotes speechlessness!

Sarah Palin showed plenty enough ignorance, and there was a great sigh of relief when she decided finally not to run for President.

But instead, we have Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain, who seem in many ways, even worse than Sarah Palin.

We also have Rick Perry, who seems even worse than George W. Bush.

What has happened to the party that used to be respectable and knowledgeable, the party of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Bob Dole, George H. W. Bush, John McCain, and yes, even Ronald Reagan?

The Republican Party is in mourning for itself among its Establishment, and the nation should be in mourning as to how far downhill the party has gone!

A major political party with a glorious history in many ways has become an embarrassment to itself, and the nation suffers as a result!

The Phony Manipulator Opts Out: Sarah Palin NOT Running For President! Is Anyone Surprised?

Ronald 1 Comment

Well, finally, at the last possible moment before the window to enter the Republican Presidential race closes, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin declared today that she is NOT running for the GOP Presidential nomination!

Is anyone really surprised? Supposedly, her loyal supporters, (who have to be considered mentally deranged), are disappointed!

But one can be sure that the Republican Party is NOT disappointed, as it was clear that they considered her a major headache and problem, a mistake made by John McCain in the 2008 Presidential Election bringing constant troubles to the party!

Just imagine if McCain had won, and we would have had Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the Presidency! If John McCain survives to January 20, 2017, it will mean that horrible nightmares about a President Palin will have been unnecessary! But If McCain leaves the scene, it will be a fresh reminder of how close we came to being faced with a total moron, a deceptive person, a phony, a manipulator, who was only out to enrich herself by exploiting stupid people who saw her as a savior, and was indeed very successful in enriching herself with her books (probably ghost written), her reality show, and her numerous highly paid speeches, all designed to DIVIDE the American people, rather than help unify the nation!

The thought of this woman in power and making economic and foreign policy and defense decisions is enough to cause one to wretch and vomit! Never has the country been so threatened by a totally unqualified candidate for national office as Sarah Palin!

Since she quit the Governorship in mid stream, and now has decided not to take on the challenge of debating fellow Republicans, an event which would prove just how empty headed she really is, we will, hopefully, never see her gain the kind of publicity she has been seeking for the past three years! She has proved just how LAZY she is, turning down the challenge of doing a REAL JOB for the first time in her life, without copping out!

Goodbye, Sarah, and GOOD RIDDANCE! Don’t come back!

The Long List Of Republican Presidential Dropouts: Why If 2012 Is Such A Great Year For The GOP?

Ronald 1 Comment

Common belief is that 2012 will see the defeat of President Barack Obama, and recent polls seem to indicate such, except, of course, for the fact that polls in the summer and fall of the year BEFORE the national elections are notoriously misleading!

But with such predictions and prognostications, why is it that a long list of Republicans, some of them very attractive possibilities, have decided NOT to seek the Presidency?

First the list of candidates in no special order:

Jeb Bush
Haley Barbour
John Bolton
Mitch Daniels
Jim DeMint
Mike Huckabee
Bobby Jindal
Mike Pence
David Petraeus
Paul Ryan
John Thune
Donald Trump
Rudy Guiliani
Sarah Palin
Chris Christie

That is a list of FIFTEEN people, some of them very appealing in different ways, who have decided NOT to run!

But why?

1. It is an arduous chore, costly, dominating, stressful to run for President, and becomes all encompassing to the candidate and his or her family.
2. It requires tremendous financial and organizational support to make a serious run for President, not easily achieved.
3. It requires a “thick skin” with the strong criticisms and investigations of one’s record, of everything ever said or done, that is automatic when one runs for President.
4. It requires a candidate to be knowledgeable, informed, and to have good debate skills against potential opponents.
5. It is required that a candidate have the “fire in the belly” that he or she is meant to run, and willingness to sacrifice his or her life for a year or more.

With all of the above, one other point should be made in conclusion: The candidate has to believe that Barack Obama can be defeated in 2012, or else it is better to wait to 2016!

The author would contend that many on this list, maybe all of them, see the chore of dislodging Barack Obama from the Presidency to be a very difficult job, no matter what is uttered publicly!

The President will have a billion dollar campaign fund; a record of major accomplishments rivaling the Great Society of Lyndon B. Johnson domestically, certainly the most since the first term of Richard Nixon, the most in FORTY YEARS, that he can be proud of; PLUS exceptional achievements in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and general respect around the world! His record on defense and foreign policy is outstanding, with his ONLY major failure being the economy, one that he inherited and has been unable to overcome due to the total intransigence of the opposition party, which now controls the House of Representatives, and is doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to create jobs, build infrastructure, promote education and innovation, and will go down as the worst Congress in decades!

Barack Obama will be able to call them the “do nothing” Congress as Harry Truman did when he ran for election in 1948. The difference is that even the GOP Congress of 1947-1948, the 80th Congress, DID support the President on foreign policy initiatives, while the Republicans today ignore or dismiss accomplishments of the President in that area! So this is actually a far worse Congress, the 112th Congress, than the 80th Congress was!

So the ultimate conclusion is that the Republicans who decided not to run assume that Obama will win, and are holding their future to 2016, when it is likely MANY of the above will be running for President in a year they project as a year when the incumbent President will NOT be able to run, an open year which maximizes their opportunities for the White House!

Finally, the reception that those candidates for President who are running are receiving is NOT a good sign for any of them, that they will somehow unite the Republican Party and defeat Barack Obama in 2012! There is great discontent over the choices, and that is the reason why there has been a clamor, unsuccessful, to get others in the race. And of course, the Tea Party Movement is also destroying any chance for GOP unity, so if the Republicans want a future, they must divorce the Tea Party Movement after what will be a likely debacle in 2012, if they wish to succeed Barack Obama in the White House in the Presidential Election Of 2016!