As I watch this Republican presidential primary season proceed in a manner roughly consistent with the course of the Costa Concordia, it has led me to a suspicion I feel honor-bound to share: I think the Republicans are throwing this thing.
I'm not yet sure why. It could be that it better sets them up for a president they actually want in 2016, or that Mitt Romney made a $10,000 bet against himself, or that there's some sort of a sweater-vest endorsement deal in it for Rick Santorum. As I said, I'm not sure why. What I am sure of however, is that they can't really be trying to win.
The thing about elections is that to win them you need voters willing to, you know, vote for you. And at the current rate the Republican Party is going, they may have to start resuscitating every dead white male since the Whiskey Rebellion to have any shot at winning outside of Utah, or a Gingrich-family-settled lunar colony.
The end of last week, taken by itself, was stunning. On the heels of the Tea Party takeover of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the GOP managed to make it exceedingly clear to the vast majority of women that their concerns measure somewhere on a scale between those of chattel and Charlie Sheen.
In Virginia, Governor Bob McDonnell signed both the loony Personhood Amendment and a bill passed by the state's legislature that will force many women to submit to an "invasive, transvaginal ultrasound before seeking an abortion." How about this Bob, next time you or your friends go and get your health-plan covered Viagra, you submit to a catheter? Deal, sport?
In New Hampshire, a female Republican legislator -- to the amazement of an onlooking medical professional - offered that a woman's using birth control can cause cancer. Prostrate cancer. In men. I'm not joking.
Not to be outdone, car-thief turned car-alarm gazillionaire Rep. Darrell Issa held a hearing on health care plans and birth control coverage on Capitol Hill. Who was qualified to talk there, according to Issa? A bunch of old white men. Who wasn't? A Georgetown University Law Student (or any other female) who lost an ovary because the University's (a Catholic one) health plans don't cover birth control.
Meanwhile, Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida thinks covering birth control would hurt homeless veterans. How would it do that? Apparently only Rep. Jeff Miller of Florida knows. But I'm positive raising taxes 1 percent on those making over $10,000,000 a year to get homeless vets off the streets is something Miller would support because he cares so much about them. I'm just sure I've heard that proposal of his somewhere.
But the proverbial cake, as it were, was taken by general right-wing uber-nut and big Rick Santorum supporter Foster Freiss. He told Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC that birth control wasn't that expensive. Why, all women needed to do was hold an aspirin between their knees! Get it!
I think Freiss' pre-9/11 mentality is showing--9/11/1901.
Now as someone who thinks the Republican Right in our current day in age is a cue ball short of a game of pool, I watch with bemusement. A recent Democracy Corps poll--a Democratic outfit to be sure, but one that has honestly predicted Democratic Party woes in the past--has found that the Republican Party brand is "in a state of collapse," with 50 percent of voters having a negative feeling about it. Not surprisingly, the poll found that voters who gave Democrats their huge victories in 2006 and 2008 are returning to the fold, led by "a resurgence and re-engagement of unmarried women."
Gee, I wonder what could be leading to that?
Tied in with attacks on Social Security and immigrants, courting the older white vote and the Hispanic vote might pose some interesting challenges for Republicans too. Luckily, like the female vote, I can't think of any states [Florida] where those voters [Nevada] might be important at all [Arizona] in the 2012 presidential election.
Cliff Schecter is the President of Libertas, LLC, a progressive public relations firm, and the author of the 2008 bestseller "The Real McCain." Email Cliff at cliffschecter@gmail.com. Distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
Cerulean posted at 1:11 pm on Wed, Feb 22, 2012.
I love this, “a woman's using birth control can cause cancer. Prostrate cancer. In men.”
And guess what else folks? Its FREE!
Good column Cliff Schecter!
Arizona Willie posted at 1:57 pm on Wed, Feb 22, 2012.
Of course they ( Republicans ) don't want to win.
That's why last time they ran McCain and the Alaskan Dingbat.
They know that the Bush Administration caused fantastic deficits by starting two unfunded wars and the Medicare Prescription program and with all the tax cuts. And that their deregulation of the financial industry caused the financial meltdown that had to be bailed out.
And they know that they have no real solution to any of the problems because their genetic code only allows them to say " cut taxes " and they know taxes have to be raise to get money to pay on the bills created by the Bush Administration.
The prospect of actually winning gives Republican politicians nightmares.
They would much rather sit back and belly ache and blame Obama while all the time voting NO on anything he tries to do to fix the problems.
Rich posted at 2:45 pm on Wed, Feb 22, 2012.
And, of course, Obama has done so well.
Arizona Willie posted at 4:37 pm on Wed, Feb 22, 2012.
Rich, he hasn't done too badly. The stock market is up to 1300 again, unemployment is dropping.
Despite the best efforts of Republicans to defeat everything he has tried to do he still managed to get enough done to do SOME good.
Imagine how much better things COULD have been if the Republicans actually worked for the good of the country instead of just trying to ruin Obama's Presidency?
The resident Goldwater political operative, Patterson, even admitted in print that his stomach sank when the unemployment numbers went down.
That is an admission that the Republican leaders would rather see people lose their jobs and lose their homes than have Obama be successful.
Does it make you proud to be one of those Republicans who wishes people would suffer so they could try to blame Obama?
Dale Whiting posted at 5:58 pm on Wed, Feb 22, 2012.
You know Cliff, there was a time when we all thought that "It's the economy" would be the conservative ralleying cry. Why they have forgotten the economy is beyond us all.
So, for all you Neo-conservatives out there "It's the economy, stupid!" For stupid is as stupid does, and today's crop of Republican candidates are acting stupid! Just ask Forest Gump!
Dale Whiting posted at 6:00 pm on Wed, Feb 22, 2012.
One correction Cliff. That Georgetown law student was a friend of the 31 year old lady who lost her ovary and likely will go on to suffer pre-mature menapause! The victim of this insanity was too sick to travel to the Halls of Congress!
Slabside posted at 6:30 pm on Wed, Feb 22, 2012.
@Arizona Willie: "Rich, he hasn't done too badly (Obama). Oh yes AW, he has been quite the success. Let's take a look shall we?
This President has more "First" in his first three years in office than any other President ever.
A gallon of regular gasoline the day Obama was inaugurated was $1.79
on average in the U.S. Today that price is $3.59, a 100.6% increase.
The number of food stamp recipients has risen since Obama took office
from 31,983,716 to 43,200,878, a 35.1% jump.
Long term unemployment soared 146.2% during the same 32 month period
from 2,600,000 to 6,400,000. Staggering hope and change isn't it?
American citizens living in poverty have risen 9.5% from 39,800,000
to 43,600,000, and the number of unemployed has jumped almost 25% from
11,616,000 to 14,485,000 as of August 31, 2011.
The number of unemployed blacks has risen from 12.6% at the end of
George Bush's term to 15.8% today, a 25.4% increase, and finally, our
national debt is up 34.4% from 10.627 trillion to 14,278 trillion *
First President to refuse to show a valid birth certificate.
First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then
deny he was a foreigner.
First President to have a social security number from a state he has
never lived in.
First President to preside over a cut to the credit rating of the
United States.
First President to violate the War Powers Act.
First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally
obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico .
First President to defy a Federal Judges court order to cease
implementing the Health Care Reform Law.
First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from
a third party.
First President to spend a trillion dollars on shovel-ready jobs and
later admit there was no such thing as shovel-ready jobs.
First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of
companies to his union supporters.
First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act
through executive fiat.
First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the
deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S. , including those
with criminal convictions.
First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of
his political appointees.
First President to terminate Americas ability to put a man in
space.
First President to encourage racial discrimination and intimidation
at polling places.
First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being
present.
First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law
unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it.
First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly
speak-out on the reasons for their rate increases.
First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state
they are allowed to locate a factory.
First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath
to protect (Az, WI, OH, IN)
First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been
properly issued years ago.
First President to fire an inspector general of Ameri-corps for
catching one of his friends in a corruption case.
First President to appoint 45 Czars to replace elected officials in
his office.
First President to golf 73 separate times in his first two and a
half years in office.
First President to hide his medical, educational and travel
records.
First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn
it.
First President to coddle American enemies while alienating Americas
allies.
First President to publicly bow to Americas enemies while refusing to
salute the U.S. Flag.
First President to go on multiple global apology tours.
First President to go on 17 lavish vacations, including date nights
and Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends, paid for by
the taxpayer.
First President to refuse to wear the U.S. Flag lapel pin.
First President to have 22 personal servants (taxpayer funded) for
his wife.
First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000.00 a
year at taxpayer expense.
First President to repeat the Holy Qur'an tells us, and openly
admit the early morning call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the
most beautiful sound on earth.
Remember that 32 months of Obama White House we the people have
accumulated national debt at a rate more than 27 times as fast as
during the rest of our nation's entire history, as the Obama's plan
their next extravagant vacation to the Indonesian Island nation of Bali .
Hope and change anyone?
You can come from nowhere, be a nobody, never accomplished anything
in your life and become President of the United States, all because you know
how to talk trash and make people believe you. What a country eh?
Rich posted at 9:43 pm on Wed, Feb 22, 2012.
Willie,
C'mon, as a Prez he has surpassed Bush II and even Jimmy Carter. Been there, lived through it, lived it. Quote the stats, argue about it, but it is significantly worse now then when Baruch took the oath and you know it. I understand philosophy and the desire to say 'what I believe is right' but really ignoring the reality you live in is a little over the top. He's done a spectacularly bad job. Saying he is forward looking and it will work out over the next couple years is one thing, but defending things like what Obama has done, with two years of a majority government is a little much. I live here, in a real world, and so far, he's been the worst President I've seen, and I started with Truman.
Arizona Willie posted at 9:59 am on Thu, Feb 23, 2012.
Dear Editors ... would you please start screening your posters?
It seems quite a few Rush Limbaugh staff writers are posting here under various names.
Thanks
[beam]
Slabside posted at 12:21 pm on Thu, Feb 23, 2012.
"It seems quite a few Rush Limbaugh staff writers are posting here under various names."
Yet, you cannot come up with a decent argument or point out that any of these items that Obozo has done is false. [beam]
Dale Whiting posted at 12:55 pm on Thu, Feb 23, 2012.
Hey Gang,
The general topic of this piece was [in effect] have the Republican lost their heads in taking up issues sure to alienate much of the general public?
I must assume from the way this topic as been avoided, that most of you must agree with Cliff. Our candidates have lost their minds. You all have pretty much afoided addressing the items Cliff has raised. [beam]
Slabside posted at 4:47 pm on Thu, Feb 23, 2012.
All the GOP has to do is display Obamanure's lousy presidential record. The WH is their's. [beam]
samkat posted at 6:17 pm on Thu, Feb 23, 2012.
Well now Dale, the piece was written by a progressive (aka far left liberal). PS: Obama has certainly done enough to alienate many mainstream Americans and not just the Neo-Cons you so affectionately refer to. :-)
onerebel posted at 8:30 pm on Thu, Feb 23, 2012.
AZ Willie, you are a typical Liberal. You believe in censoring anyone with an opposing view point ! Obama is doing a great job alright, at turning us into a mindless Socialist society. He is trying to disarm us, make it so the government can shut down any and all communication for national security reasons. Do they think if China invades us they may forget their two-way radios? The ONLY logical reason would be to stop we the people from rising up against tyranny. Even Media Matters and Move on.org are trying to force any news or talk shows that oppose Liberal beliefs off the air. I often wondered how the Nazi Socialist party in Germany during the 30's could find people that were mindless enough to blindly follow them off the cliff. Well now I know !
mnjcpa posted at 10:33 am on Fri, Feb 24, 2012.
There's so much great commentary here - Slabside & Rich just nail it. And here you are again Arizona Willie - counter any one of the facts that Slabside presented. You can't because they're true.
I for one have thoroughly enjoyed the primary process. Unlike our President, we've been given a first hand glimpse of the candidate's views on a variety of topics. But be assured Dale that when the Republican candidate is chosen - the focus will be on Obama and his abysmal record.