Claudette Konola
 
Let me start by saying, once again, that I will never understand the way that Republicans think. It is possible that I also do not understand the way that media political analysts think.

The consensus seems to be that the two front runners going into the debate are the winners coming out of the debate. There isn’t much difference among the candidates in terms of content:  lower taxes, get rid of regulations, Drill Baby Drill. My impressions therefore are on the way the candidates came across to me, a progressive, who is never going to vote for any of them.

Mitt Romney reminds me of a used car salesman. Strategically he positioned himself well when he took on Perry about Social Security. My problem with him is that he always sounds so hesitant when he speaks—like he just can’t get his mouth to wrap around the words. Superficial, I know, but if he wins the nomination he will be up against a silver tongued devil, and the contrast will be stark.

Rick Perry reminds me of the high school quarterback. He is affable, and won’t back down even when the entire opposition team tries to sack him and pile on to make matters worse. I can’t take anyone seriously who is failing science and needs a tutor just to stay on the team. I can hardly wait for the seniors in Florida to ask him about his Ponzi scheme comment.

Michelle Bachmann’s star has been eclipsed by Perry. She reminds me of the prom queen, who is more concerned with her looks than getting the highest grade on the SAT tests. She sticks to message, but the message is shallow. I might have the prom queen analagy wrong, since nobody seems to have told her that women look powerful in red. Had she not dressed as a little brown sparrow, maybe more questions might have been directed in her direction. Nancy Regan understood that. She was in her trademark red.

I seem to be in a minority when I think that Jon Huntsman is the most appealing candidate. In one way he scares me—I believe he could be the candidate that could attract enough independent voters to take the White House away from Democrats. In another way he isn’t as scary as the other candidates—he actually believes in science, and knows about foreign policy—which is the job of a president. I liked his comments about getting out of Afghanistan. The MSNBC pundits think he is ho-hum.

The rest of the line-up just bored me, with the possible exception of Ron Paul. Paul seems like the crazy uncle who comes for Thanksgiving, and has all kinds of crazy ideas, none of which he is able to clearly articulate. 

 
 
Iowa Straw Poll

Most of you know that I faithfully watch Meet the Press on Sunday mornings. It is a tradition started when I was a child and watched that show with my grandfather. I really liked Tim Russert, and groused about the show when David Gregory took over after Russert’s death. I didn’t think Gregory had the chops to grill both sides of the aisle. From my perspective he leaned too far to the right. He may be growing into his role—he didn’t irritate me nearly as much today.

Today David’s guest was Michelle Bachmann fresh from her straw poll win in Iowa. The thing that continues to strike me about Bachmann is her confidence and authority. She is unflappable. Read Narcissits Rise to the Top to see why that is striking.

Yesterday Rick Perry rained on Bachmann’s parade by announcing his bid to be the GOP nominee. Bob Shrum today on Meet the Press called Rick Perry a barracuda who will eat Bachmann alive. Clearly Bachmann and Perry will be competing for the evangelical vote. It was the consensus on the Meet the Press panel that neither will be the eventual nominee. Neither will Tim Pawlenty, Lawrence O’Donnell’s pick for eventual nominee on his show The Last Word. Pawlenty left the race today. He was unable to raise enough cash to keep going.

Unions

Several unions announced this week that they will boycott the Democratic convention in South Carolina. There were similar rants when the convention was in Denver, which ended in a compromise when union workers were allowed to work the Pepsi Center. After reading the linked article about Grover Norquist, I have to ask the unions, ARE YOU NUTS?

Who Rules the World

I direct you to an article that analyzes the people and companies that control at least $46 billion in wealth, and how they are picking the pockets of ordinary Americans. Conservatives, in comments on the Sentinel’s on-line edition, recently accused me of engaging in class warfare.  I confessed in a follow-up post to this blog. Warren Buffet, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway said, “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” It is the middle class that is losing, and nothing the GOP is offering is going to change that.

The Impact of War

Finally I direct you to a really sad story about a soldier who couldn’t get the help he needed.

Homework

Narcissits Rise to the Top

Grover Norquist Wants to Destroy Unions

Pawlenty Quits

Latinos Don't Like Rick Perry

Who Really Rules the World?

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Political Polls

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About the Impacts of War
 
 
As a Democrat, I’ve been watching the field of Republican presidential candidates with amusement. Clearly we were in the middle of silly season. We had the Donald, with the fox on his head, trumping his NBC TV show. We had Sister Sarah tweeting herself into oblivion. We had the Huckster pretending that he was going to leave the most lucrative job he’s ever held after signing a really big long-term mortgage on a really big house. And we had the Newt bashing the darling of the House and killer of Medicare as we know it. Lots and lots of fun.

But we also had Romney raising $10,000,000 in one day—or at least telling the press that he did. It seems we have dueling Mormons. While some TV pundits are saying that Tim Pawlenty will end up being the Republican candidate, my money is on Jon Huntsman. Of course, since I’ve never been able to think like a Republican, there won’t be much money in the pot. The rift inside the GOP means that primary contests are going to depend on get-out-the-vote efforts of the various factions. If reasonable Republicans come out in huge numbers, we’ll get a nominee with a living brain cell, and that will be someone like Huntsman. I’m thinking that the Tea Party may have a bit more passion in getting out the vote, so we could be looking at Michelle Bachmann, a candidate who obviously flunked American History.

The biggest negative Huntsman has is that he worked for the Obama administration. The biggest positive that Huntsman has is that, while working for Obama, he was stationed in China—America’s biggest financial threat. He has real world experience in international affairs, which if you remember the Constitution, is the one area of U.S. Government controlled by the presidency, with the only limits imposed by Congress being financial limits.

Now, I’m not saying that I’m going to vote for Huntsman, I’m just saying that if Obama is going to be a one term president, running Michelle Bachmann isn’t going to get the job done.

Homework

Huntsman in New Hampshire

Huntsman Interview

Mormons Worry Huntsman Isn't Morman Enough

What Huntsman Has to Say About Himself

Michelle Bachmann Quotes