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Tag: confederacy of dunces (Page 2 of 4)

Rick Santorum’s bizarre views about sex hold back his campaign

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) speaks to delegates during the Republican Party of Florida Presidency 5 Convention in Orlando, Florida September 24, 2011. REUTERS/Phelan Ebenhack (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS)

Rick Santorum is notorious for his comments about gay marriage and homosexuals. But his strict Catholic upbringing leads him to comment about sex quite often, and he seems intent on imposing his views on everyone else.

We’ll repeal Obamacare and get rid any idea that you have to have abortion coverage or contraceptive coverage. One of the things that I will talk about that no president has talked about before is I think the dangers of contraception in this country, the sexual liberty idea and many in the Christian faith have said, you know contraception is OK. It’s not OK because it’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.

Really? Now he has a problem with contraception?

With the collapse of Rick Perry and the incomprehensible abortion comments from Herman Cain, I thought there might be room for a conservative like Santorum to emerge as one of the anti-Romney candidates. But Rick Santorum’s obsession with sexual issues keeps holding him back. He also seems clueless that these views might hinder his campaign.

He’s certainly entitled to his opinion, and many believe that the sexual revolution has been a bad thing for our culture (I don’t), but he seems intent on turning the clock back. As a result, the only thing he’s really running for is a commentator position on Fox News.

Hopefully I’m wrong, as Santorum would be one of the easiest Republicans for President Obama to defeat in 2012 if he somehow snagged the nomination.

The Buffoonery of Herman Cain

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain waves as he arrives on stage before the start of the CNN Western Republican Presidential Debate in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 18, 2011. REUTERS/Richard Brian (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICS)

Few people if any thought Herman Cain could be a viable candidate for the GOP nomination. I certainly didn’t think so, particularly when he made some early gaffes.

Yet he’s leading the polls, presumably because he’s a Tea Party conservative with a sunny personality who has been pushing a simplistic 9-9-9 plan. How long will it last? Who knows when you consider some of the candidates that the Tea Party supported in the 2010 Senate races.

Even before Cain’s embarrassing debate performance last night, Joe Klein called him out in response to this Cain quote:

When they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan, I’m going to say, you know, I don’t know.

Klein wasn’t impressed:

Let’s say Cain was just joking, which is his all-purpose excuse on the myriad of occasions where his ignorance erupts into public view. Let’s say he actually knows that the name of the country is Uzbekistan. Does a prospective President of the United State really want to make fun of that? I mean–and I hope, Herman, you’re listening–there is a major airport in southern Uzbekistan that NATO has been using as a crucial transfer point for troops and materiel headed into Afghanistan. Wouldn’t want to tick off the Uzbek president, Islam Karimov…because it might make life significantly tougher for our troops over there. Not the sort of thing one jokes about, Hermanator.

I know what I’m about to say is impolite, but Herman Cain strikes me as something of a jerk and an ignoramus. He has made absolutely outrageous statements about Muslims, immigrants and homosexuals; he takes the most extreme position imaginable on abortion. Indeed, I have never, ever seen him acknowledge the idea that complexity exists in the world…or that an ability to weed through complex issues might be a qualification for the presidency.

No, the guy is a marketer. He had other people handle administration and finance at Godfather’s; he was all about the pies. Hence, we have his 9-9-9 plan, a truly rancid scheme to benefit the rich at the expense of the rest of the country, a scheme that would tax a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread.

As if to make Joe Klein look like a genius, Herman Cain had one of those days yesterday that would make normal people cringe. First, he stated on CNN before the debate that he would be open to trading all the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for an American soldier held hostage by al Qaeda. He was called out on this idiotic statement by none other than Michele Bachmann. If Bachmann makes you look stupid, then you really have problems.

He also sounded like a buffoon as he tried to explain his 9-9-9 plan by using fruit metaphors. The other candidates were not impressed, and I doubt that anyone other than die-hard Tea Party fanatics thought me made any sense. The candidates pretty much ignored Cain after that.

Who knows what happens next. I think Romney took some serious shots yesterday and Rick Perry is obviously going to keep on swinging at him.

Can money save Rick Perry?

Republican presidential candidate Texas Governor Rick Perry. REUTERS/Brian Snyder (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICS PROFILE)

Rick Perry has been taking a beating, and not from Democrats. Perry has been pounded by his rivals for the GOP nomination and also by other conservatives after a string of humiliating debate performances. His comments on Social Security along with past positions on issues like HPV vaccines and permitting illegals to get in-state tuition rates in Texas have made him a target. He’s plunging in the polls and his wife is complaining that they’re being targeted for their religious beliefs.

But it’s still too early to count Rick Perry out, mostly because he has a ton of money. He raised $17 million last quarter, and he has a ton of cash on hand to go after Mitt Romney. Of course this is bad news for Romney and good news for Barack Obama, as it raises the possibility that Perry will use his money to weaken Romney and hammer him for his countless flip-flops.

The rise of Herman Cain and Romney’s flat poll numbers suggest that the GOP electorate is desperate for a conservative to emerge to take on Obama. Again, this is great news for Obama. This should also give Perry some hope, as Cain says things on a daily basis that disqualify him as a serious candidate.

That said, we can’t count Cain out either. We’ve seen that the Tea Party wing will nominate anyone as long as they come across as pure enough (see Sharon Angle and Christine O’Donnell), so maybe Cain will last longer that we expect.

In the end, the entire field is looking more and more like a confederacy of dunces. We knew we would have some wackos like Michele Bachmann and some earnest yet strange candidates like Rick Santorum, but this field looks worse and worse each day.

Rick Perry goes full crazy

Rick Perry seems to have a knack for saying stupid things. Several years ago he implied that Texas might consider seceding from the United States. Now he’s saying that Ben Bernanke’s decisions on monetary policy would be “almost treasonous” if done in an election year. Of course this genius neglects to mention that Bernanke was appointed by George W. Bush and that he greatly expanded the money supply back in 2008 to avoid an economic collapse. You also have to love the irony of Mr. Secession claiming that someone else is almost treasonous.

We’re in a poisonous climate where both sides are yelling at each other, and I suspect Perry’s entrance in the 2012 presidential race will just ratchet things up. He comes across as a fanatic on most issues, and already Karl Rove is freaking out and saying that Perry needs to tone things down.

In the end, he’s just joining the confederacy of dunces leading the GOP presidential field.

Herman Cain – Not ready for prime time

Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain speaks during the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana June 17, 2011. REUTERS/Sean Gardner (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICS)

Herman Cain has generated some buzz in the Tea Party community, but he’s showing that he’s not ready to mount a serious campaign for the presidency. His latest comments offer a good example:

Herman Cain said Sunday that Americans should be able to ban Muslims from building mosques in their communities.

“Our Constitution guarantees the separation of church and state,” Cain said in an interview with Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday.” “Islam combines church and state. They’re using the church part of our First Amendment to infuse their morals in that community, and the people of that community do not like it. They disagree with it.”

Last week, the Republican presidential candidate expressed criticism of a planned mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, telling reporters at a campaign event that “This is just another way to try to gradually sneak Sharia law into our laws, and I absolutely object to that.”

If you’ve graduated from high school, it should be easy for you to recognize the stupidity of these comments given that we have a First Amendment in the Bill of Rights.

It’s not uncommon for someone from the business community to generate buzz on the left or the right with common sense criticisms of our government. That’s the easy part. But these businessmen are not disciplined, and many of them are used to being surrounded by people who let them spout off ridiculous statements without any pushback.

So you end up with egomaniacs like Donald Trump spouting off outrageous comments, and then people like Herman Cain who are ignorant about basic policies and constitutional principles.

He might scores some points with the Angry Right, but his candidacy is finished.

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