Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Politically Damned United

For my first blog entry I decided to talk about something other than the debt ceiling which has completely saturated the media for the past couple of months.  So in this entry I've decided to shed some light on the only serious GOP 2012 presidential candidates.... or at least in my opinion.  I affectionately refer to this group as The Damned United for reasons that should become increasingly apparent as you continue to read this.  Let’s start with the tea party darling from Minnesota,

Michelle Bachmann:
Bachmann has been a congressional Representative from Minnesota's 6th district since 2006.  She's garnered a great deal of support from the evangelical Christian sect of the Republican Party as well as the tea party (which she belongs to). Bachmann is by far the only candidate who stands a chance against Romney in the Republican primary.

Important Political Facts:
- Bachmann got her J.D. at the O.W. Coburn School of Law an Oral Roberts University affiliate
- Original cosponsor of H.R. 1539, the A-Plus Act, which would allow states to develop their own educational curriculums under the guidance of the U.S. Department of Education
- wants less taxation and government regulation of private companies
-  voted against the College Cost Reduction and Access Act that would raise the maximum Pell grant from $4,310 to $5,200, lower interest rates on subsidized student loans to 3.4 percent from 6.8 percent, raise loan limits to $30,500 from $7,500, disfavor married students who file joint tax returns, provide more favorable repayment terms to students who do not use their education to prosper financially[57] and favor public sector over private sector workers with much more favorable loan forgiveness benefits
-  charged that global warming is a hoax
- called for phasing out social security and Medicaid

All you really need to know:
- Bachmann, along with her husband leads a clinic that attempts to convert homosexual people into straight people.  The mere fact that she actually believes that attempting to change the way people naturally are is okay says more about her character then anything else she's ever done.
- The fact that her J.D is from an Oral Roberts affiliate school also says a lot about who Bachmann is.  Oral Roberts University is an UBER conservative UBER Christian school that has been plagued in scandal for the last 30 years.  The religious dogma that ORU promotes is borders on the inflammatory to say the least
- She believes that we should consider a nuclear strike on Iran
-Bachmann is a hard line tea partier, like she worships at the altar of tea (one possible reason why she recently left her former church)

In the nutshell:
Bachmann is a shinier, more electable Sarah Palin.  She has the same Tea party beliefs and surprisingly the same lack of U.S History knowledge. Bachmann's extremely right leaning political rhetoric probably won't allow her to win the party’s nomination but she could provide the "Palin effect" if she's chosen as a vice presidential candidate.

Now to me the only other viable candidate is Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney:

Important Political Facts:
- Strong Pro-Life candidate
- Created a Universal health care system in his home state of Massachusetts when he was governor
-opposed the health care reforms created by Obama and called them "an unconscionable abuse of power". He hopes to have the bill repealed
- advocates a strong military
-  wants limits on entitlement spending

What you really need to know:
- He could win
- Romney changes his political views at least once a week
- The health care reforms he established in Massachusetts are for all practical purposes identical to the health care reforms Obama implemented....the same reforms he wants repealed.
Romney could easily win the party’s nomination as well as the general election.
- He's a Mormon

In the nut shell:
As you can tell there wasn't much to say about Romney because well Mitt Romney is a generic republican candidate. Since his epic failure in the 2008 republican primary Romney has been conforming his ideals to satisfy the moderates as well as the party hardliners.  Romney is the only presidential hopeful who could beat Barack Obama as long as he can beat out Michele Bachmann for the party nomination.

Now the elephant in the political room is Sarah Palin. Though she hasn't officially thrown in her hat, there is still a pretty good chance Palin could make a bid for the party's nomination.  In all honesty I think she's a joke of a candidate but her presence could detract votes from Bachmann and increase Romney's chances of winning the nomination.

One aspect I didn't focus on is how each of these candidates would help or hurt the black community which to me is of the utmost importance.  The reason I decided to ignore this issue is because I felt like it was already pretty clear.  These candidates (Palin included) would be happy if Roe v. Wade was overturned and for the most part don't support gay rights. So when it comes to the black community, frankly my dears they don't give a damn.

So back to the reason I call them the damned united.  None of these candidates has enough experience or leadership ability to run the nation in its current state.  To be blunt Bachmanns too crazy, Romneys too wishy washy and Palin isn't really worth mentioning.  If any of these candidates were to win the general election the country would be going to hell in a hand basket….quickly.