Saturday, October 29, 2011

Repubs Can't Make Up Their Minds

From a HuffintonPost article by political commentator Cenk Uygar on "Why Republicans Can't Make Up Their Minds:"

It seems like every couple of weeks we have a new leader in the Republican field. Michele Bachmann has been there, so have Mitt Romney and Rick Perry, and now Herman Cain sits atop the field. Why can't Republican voters make up their minds?

Here's why -- they don't even believe their own positions. They want someone who is massively conservative and at the same time agrees with them on policy.

The problem is the voters aren't nearly as conservative as they think they are.
So they love the tough talking governor from Texas until they find out he wants to get rid of Social Security. They like that Michele Bachmann doesn't believe in global warming until they realize that she doesn't believe in it because she's bat-shit crazy**. . . . They love [Cain's] ignorance when it comes to science and basic economics, but they hate it when it shows how unqualified he is.

Well, you can't have it both ways. Someone who is remotely competent or sentient recognizes that 97% of the world's scientists are right about climate change . . . that cutting deficits during tough economic times does not stimulate the economy and that firing state workers means [more people without jobs]. . . .

The answer is to fall in love with another conservative politician this week and find out he is a blithering idiot the next. Or worse yet, find out you don't really agree with any of those positions when they affect you (get your government hands off my Medicare!). That's the schizophrenia of the Republican electorate -- they keep switching leaders because they don't even believe their own positions.

Maybe this is going to turn out all right after all for Democrats. The GOP has essentially run out of time for new hats to be tossed into the ring. What you see is what they're going to have come Nov '12. Unless they get smart and nominate Jon Huntsman (which is not going to happen with him at 2% in polls), they'll be stuck with a candidate who has veered so far right he'll lose the centrist voters. Except for Romney, of course, who will just flip his positions as needed.

Without a primary opponent, Obama has not needed to tilt to the left in a comparable way. His worry is that the voters who put him over in '08 will stay home. Hopefully, the GOP nominee will be a scary enough prospect to bring them to the polls.

Ralph

** More evidence today of Bachmann's "bat-shit craziness:" When asked at a rally what she would do to combat bullying in schools, she said "bullying is not a federal problem," so her solution is to eliminate the Department of Education.

Do you follow that logic? I admit, I can't. Does she think the DoE causes bullying?

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