candidates

Stupid blog posts showing up on the wrong day...

I want to talk about the Republican candidates for President. And I'm gonna try to do this fairly. I'm obviously left leaning, but I consider myself non-partisan. There's plenty of Democrats that I dislike and some Republicans that I do like. It's just that, in general, while I don't agree with everything Democrats say, I tend to disagree with almost everything Republicans say.

Newt Gingrich is largely responsible for the Republican party as it stands today. He was one of the major forces driving it to the radical extremes that currently define it. He is as responsible for their love of spewing lies, hate, and poison as Ronald Reagan was for their love of irresponsible deficit spending. He started, but isn't primarily responsible, for the party's attacks on their own people who weren't considered radical enough. A policy that was being extended to the state level when the GOP got knocked down a few pegs 4 years ago.

I have to say that Rick Santorum is honest. I hate everything he stands for, but at least you know exactly where he stands. The man opposes equal rights for gays, legalized abortion, any form of birth control, women having jobs, and the National Weather Service (yes, really).

Mitt Romney just comes off as sleazy. I keep expecting him to start trying to sell me "Miss. O'Leary's Snake Oil". Every time I see him or hear him talk I like him less and less. The weird thing is, if all I looked at was his record as Governor I'd think he was an alright kind of guy. But he's had to spend the last few years saying what would win him an Republican Primary instead of what would win him a national election.

When I moved to DC I saw people handing out flyers for Ron Paul. I knew next to nothing about him, so I took the papers and gave them a read. Reading them went a bit like this:

flyer: One...
me: Yeah.
F: ...plus one...
M: Sure.
F: ...plus one...
M: Still with you.
F: ...plus one...
M: OK.
F: ...equals ham.
M: Uhhhh... that's not even wrong. That's just nonsense.

I mean, I respect the guy for a few things. He brings up issues that no other candidate, Republican or Democrat, will talk about. He's campaigning because of issues he cares about instead of because he wants to be President. It's just that his solutions are bug shit crazy.

I want to say that I knew something about Rick Perry at one point. I remember hearing him talk, reading articles about him, and not liking him. But all I really remember is that he's from Texas. The first thing I learned about him is that he's Rick Perry, Republican from Texas, and anything that came out of his mouth after that just went into the basket marked "yep, just what I'd expect from a Texas Republican".

Jon Huntsman is running for President. I'm sure there's something else to him, but I'm not aware of it.

I feel a bit sexist lumping Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin together. But, holy crap, they take crazy to a new level. They make Ron Paul look sane. At least he has one foot in a recognizable reality. Take the world view of Santorum with the detachment from the truth of Gingrich and the Libertarian views of Paul and you have Bachmann, Palin, or George Bush Jr.

Obama... I don't like everything the man has done. Nor should I expect to. But look at all he's accomplished even with every last Republican fighting him on everything just to be fighting him. They even fought bringing the Olympics to America just because Obama supported it. He did away with "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" not by telling the Justice Department to back down, but by making sure it died through proper channels. And I'm still a bit stunned that he got even a heavily flawed health care reform bill passed.

Some of my Republican friends have grudgingly agreed with the idea that "Obama is worst candidate for President, except for all the others."