Insanity
| Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. Rita Mae Brown, Sudden Death (Bantam Books, New York, 1983), p. 68. |
Answer: If you're Rick Perry, fifth place out of five with just a 6% approval rating, you go for negative campaigning against the President. In Rick's case that means dragging up the birther question that President Obama soundly answered with then-presidential hopeful Donald Trump first brought it up, right before the birth certificate was produced, right after which a U.S. special forces team went in and killed Osama bin Laden. We don't hear much about The Donald anymore, unless you're Rick Perry and you decide to "just have some fun" at The Donald's expense. With that kind of a comment, Rick Perry comes across as a real jerk. Not presidential material at all.
Jeb Bush Weighs In
Not only did Perry strike a nerve with the rank and file such as myself (being a Democrat, mind you), he struck all the wrong sorts of nerves with Republican heavyweights. Jeb Bush, in an email to the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin, stated "Republican candidates should categorically reject the notion that President Obama was not born in the United States. It is a complete distraction from the failed economic policies of the President." Well, not to put too fine a point on this Jeb, but all of this economic shitstorm we're still in the middle of started on your big brother's watch...
Whatever my issues with Jeb, I never said the man was stupid. Far from it. Jeb Bush graduated from the University of Texas at Austin Phi Beta Kappa in 1973 with a B.A. in Latin American Studies, taking only 2 1/2 years to complete all his coursework. How did Rick Perry compare? He graduated from Texas A&M University with a 2.5 grade point average in 1972, with a bachelor’s degree in animal science.
I know what you're going to say. There are lots of studies showing a poor correlation between college grades and future success. And that may be true with selective statistics. But I've seen both men in action. If I had just two choices, Rick or Jeb, I'd choose Jeb in a cold New Your minute. Jeb projects a far more polished, far more intelligent demeanor than Rick ever has. Jeb is demonstrably more intelligent and Gets It, both in college as well as in life. Perry doesn't, and has demonstrated this repeatedly, especially his dismal performance in every recent debate he's participated in.
Besides, as everyone knows, just as any Georgia Tech graduate will always be better than any University of Georgia graduate, so any UT Austin graduate will always be better than Texas A&M graduate.
It's such a pity Jeb is a Republican.
But Wait, There's More!
This birther controversy got its start amongst the Teabaggers. And that's not the only extreme position they've taken with regards to Obama and the Democrats. The extremism in the Republican party has gotten so bad that Pat Robertson said [LINK], and I quote:
Those people in the Republican primary have got to lay off of this stuff. They’re forcing their leaders, the front runners, into positions that will mean they lose the general election. Now whether this did it to Cain, I don’t know, but nevertheless, you know, you appeal to the narrow base and they’ll applaud the daylights out of what you’re saying, and then you hit the general election and they say “no way” and then the Democrat, whoever it is, is going to just play these statements to the hilt. They’ve got to stop this! It’s just so counterproductive!Oh my! I wonder how long it will be before the extremists label Robertson a RINO (Republican in Name Only), further proving Robertson's point?
Well. If they want to lose, this is the game for losers.
The Republican insanity isn't just on the fringe anymore, it's endemic to a good portion of the party, enough that the candidates feel they have to play to party crazies to get elected. God help us all.
Update 27 October
Pat Robertson clip from which the transcription above is taken.
Did Robertson say "I don't know whether this is what happened to Cain," or "I don't know whether this is what happened to McCain"?
ReplyDeleteNo need to add this comment. Just trying to help.
That's a good question. I'm only cutting-and-pasting from the blog Right Wing Watch. I did re-play the video (I've embedded it above) and my poor ears hear "Cain", but I'll bet he meant "McCain".
ReplyDeleteClowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right here I am stuck in the middle
ReplyDeleteAll I know is that Pat Robertson – no relation – said that Haiti was hit by an earthquake because their people made a deal with Satan to get rid of the French; that "one man, one vote" is a bad idea for South Africa because white people need to have their minority rights protected; that Nazism, Satanism, and homosexuality "seem to go together"; that Orlando is risking hurricanes because Disneyworld had 'Gay Day'; that the sky is blue because blue is less dark than black; that Islam is "the religion of the slavers"; and that Planned Parenthood teaches bestiality.
ReplyDeleteIf he thinks that the current potential presidential candidates risk alienating the mainstream American, I'll take his word for it.