Category: Politics

One round was all that I could handle. I speak of the most recent Republican presidential candidate debate held on CBS. I did see co-moderator Scott Pelley, the CBS heir to the evening news throne, get spanked by Mitt Romney. Pelley told the Mitt that his time was up. It was and Romney called him on that. I bet whomever was responsible for that behind stage got taken to the woodshed by Pelley. But Pelley was wrong. Mitt was right. And I don’t care.

What I didn’t hear and what wasn’t said was perhaps one of the most important discussions to come out of this whole three-ring circus. I speak on the question of whether water boarding is torture. More than one candidate, including Mitt, said nothing. Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann were all for bringing it back. If they are so much for it, then why don’t they volunteer to be water boarded? That would certainly make the seemingly never-ending series of debates more interesting.

Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman spoke against water boarding. If only they could build a candidate that was the good parts of Ron Paul, such as his forthright stand on this and other civil liberties issues, plus many of the good portions that is Jon Huntsman, perhaps they would have a halfway sensible person running for president. Of course, Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman will not be the GOP candidate for president.

The president has reminded the country that he signed an Executive Order prohibiting torture using, among other methods, water boarding. Good for him. I mean, good for him signing the EO. And touting it. He might as well define good versus evil.

While they’re at it:

Good Hair, how much in Texas taxpayer funds has been spent on your security during this ill-advised run for presidential candidate?

Perry: Glub, glub

Congresswoman Bachmann, what kind of evil have you done in your life and have you ever cheated on your taxes?

Bachmann: Glub, glub

Godfather Cain, how many women who worked for you did you hit on?

Cain: Glub, glub

The next debate moderators might bring along their rain wear should the route taken include water boarding the candidates.

Host: And good evening, glub, glub.

Give me a break.

I’m not talking about the 80s TV sitcom starring Nell Carter as the African-American housekeeper for a widowered cop and his young kids. That was “Gimme a Break.”

No, I’m talking about giving me a break from Herman Cain, the African-American running for the GOP presidential nomination, and his selective use of the race card. Cain disparages the race card when it is used to suit the purpose of liberals – or those who are against him — but when it is to his advantage he will deal that tired old card from the bottom quicker than you can say “Black. Jack!”

Of course, with his unexpected political fortunes stumbling rapidly downhill as the ghosts of alleged harassed women past come out of the woodwork you would have to expect the wily Godfather of Pizza to pull something which will deflect the blame. First, Cain chose to point to Good Hair Perry as the party responsible for dropping the dime on him. Then Cain didn’t blame him. Then he did. Cain could certainly hold his own in a “Flip-Flop Off” with Mitt Romney. Oh by the way, remember how Cain’s nose got out of joint over the sign at the Perry deer lease in Texas? The one that was named “N*****head?”

It now seems the Godfather is ready to invoke the Holy Grail of conservative race-baiting with a new political ad that will recall the Senate hearing in which Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — then being confirmed for his life-long judicial seat — uttered the phrase: “High-tech lynching.”  Thomas was the first prominent black political figure — and yes he is a political figure — to tell his fellow African-American conservatives that they can have their cake and eat it too. It is all right to rail against blacks who support Democrats as lazy or “brainwashed” or waiting in the welfare line, and still call attention to a conservative’s own blackness and their past evolving from the days of human bondage.

The Republican Party has become perhaps the best institution ever at using hypocrisy as an art form without thought or remorse. So why would it not be okay for Cain or his fellow black conservatives to say whatever they want to say whether it follows any lines of logic or not?

It would seem that the best way for any politician to get past something such as that allegedly unearthed in Cain’s history is to meet it head on and profusely apologize. Remember Bill Clinton? The American public is one of the most forgiving bunch of people that have been seen unless you kill a couple thousand of their fellow citizens at once, or you preempt the climax of an exciting televised football game with the movie “Heidi.”

Even if Herman Cain is some kind of serial sexist pig he could still stop his campaign, undergo therapy and eventually be rehabilitated in the public eye. Maybe Herman and Tiger Woods should hang out together for awhile.

Regardless of whether Cain did or didn’t harass women during his career as a businessman really makes little difference to the GOP nomination race in the end. While somewhat surprised to see Cain’s stock rise as it did in polls before his latest troubles emerged, I still stand firm in believing Cain has a black snowball’s chance in hell of winning the nomination or even being chosen as a running mate for Mitt Romney the eventual GOP choice. I see no way that Republicans will nominate another black man for a run at the presidency seeing the amount of hatred conservatives have for Barack Obama. Still, the choice for Republicans is less than bright as things stand. I even heard it expressed that many GOP-ers would just as soon reelect Obama than vote for any of those running on the GOP ticket now. The rationale is that the conservatives can verbally beat Obama like a drum for four years while hoping they can find someone to run after his final term is up.

There are dangers in such feelings though. If a Republican is not elected president and the party loses a substantial majority in both the Senate and House, there could come that Whig moment I feel as inevitable and have predicted over the years. Whether the next presidential term are money years for the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity might also be the time a death knell is finally sounded for the Grand Old Party.

Such a prediction I would not like anyone to hold me to, simply because I might be wrong. But one must admit the 2012 presidential race ain’t a Dickens of a time for the Republicans. It’s not the best of times. And it is more likely the worst of times.

Was Rick Perry drunk? Stoned? Medicated? Having a manic-depressive attack?

Excerpts of a speech he made last Friday in New Hampshire have a lot of pundits scratching their heads and comedians have been left with enough material for at least a week. You can watch all 25 minutes of Rick Perry’s “unusually animated” New Hampshire speech, as some newspapers are kindly calling it, if you want to look at this clip on You Tube. I have highlights posted below.

In the uncut version to which I link, and he really is talking about something before the recording starts, Perry begins speaking of how his pastor suggested he read Proverbs. The exact chapter and verse, Proverbs 15:13, basically says that a merry heart makes a cheerful countenance but a sorrowful heart leaves the spirit broken. Then Good Hair launches into a bit about gold and eventually cradles a bottle of local maple syrup. In between, he is goofy, gesticulates like a traffic cop infested with fire ants, smiles widely and laughs at his own jokes.

It was weird.

While the punditry speculates the Texas governor and Republican presidential hopeful might be drunk or stoned, at the very least Perry does seem to have moments during the speech in which he seems like either he is medicated or in need of medication.

I don’t know how many times I saw Rick Perry in my newspaper career. I know at least half a dozen and perhaps more. I never saw him act any differently than during most of his recent TV appearances and televised speeches. He seemed naturally dull and one of those persons who appear to be an empty vessel in which nothing much would stick once it penetrated the inside. I saw him once during an event of more than two hours in which he appeared to polish off a bottle of wine. The event was a roast for an old friend of Perry’s from the Texas Legislature who was a Democrat, as Perry had been at the time he served in the Texas House. The majority of those participating in the roast were also Democrats and roasted Perry, at times, as well as his old buddy. At one point, Perry appeared pissed off and left the stage as if he was sulking. Until this recent speech, that was the most animated that I had ever seen the governor.

Kevin Smith, who hosted the event in which Perry gave his speech, told Washington’s The Hill that Good Hair had not been drinking alcohol and that even though the governor was more animated than he has appeared during the campaign, the thought that he “was buzzed” did not cross his hosts’ minds.

I have been around a good many folks who were as screwed up as a football bat on one substance, if not more than one, or another. Likewise I have been around a fairly good number of people suffering from various stages of mental illness. I am no expert by any means but watching a little more than the highlights — pardon the pun — of this Perry speech leads me to believe, well, I don’t know what it leads me to believe. Like I said, Rick seemed pretty damned strange.

Nevertheless, if the animation and goofiness shown by Perry was written for him, perhaps his speechwriters should tone it down a bit or just nix the humor completely.