Picante Sauce and Why Mitt Romney May Lose the Nomination Race

David Horsey wrote recently that Mitt Romney was the only adult in the GOP Kindergarten Race.  He's probably right.  However, will it matter?

Since the Republican Party was taken over by the Conservative Movement in 1964, they have a different criteria for a leader than simply the ability to win an election.  You have to be a devout conservative, dedicated to their three pillars of military might, a free market economy (which includes dismantling the welfare state) and forced morality, mainly on the issues of homosexuality and abortion.

The surges have come and gone in this race, with Herman Cain now tanking, and Newt Gingrich picking up what Herman Cain and Rick Perry have lost.  This despite the fact that a recent poll suggested that Romney could beat Obama.

I just finished reading Rick Perlstein's, Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus.  He goes into great detail how the conservative movement, which actually began in the 1940s, was rejuvenated with the help of William Buckley Jr. and the conservative youth, who secured Goldwater's nomination.

The Republican Party at the time, was gravely concerned with this force, because the ideals it represented were not party policy.  Moderates, who had rallied around Nelson Rockefeller, saw their hopes dashed when he became embroiled in a scandal, leaving his wife for a younger woman.

So with Eisenhower leading the way, they encouraged other moderates to step up, including ironically, George Romney, Mitt's father.  Of course we know what happened.  Goldwater won the nomination, but was trounced by LBJ.

However, this was not seen as a loss by the movement, but in a crazy way, as a victory.  They now had a catalyst.  Something that would help to establish an "us vs them" political argument.

Lionel Trilling (1905-1975), a member of the New York Intellectuals, wrote of the reactionary nature of the new conservatism:

Such impulses are certainly very strong, perhaps even stronger than most of us know. But the conservative impulse and the reactionary impulse do not, with some isolated and some ecclesiastical exceptions, express themselves in ideas but only in action or in irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas.

I quoted Trilling because he is one of the scholars hated by the New Right.  Not that he was a "leftie", believing instead that "between" was "the only honest place to be."

A comment made by Buckley in 1964, validates the idea of the creation of a reactionary force, rather than a political party.

Buckley had had a conversation with Richard Clurman, Time's chief of correspondents, who wondered just what was Barry Goldwater's appeal to an urban scholar like Buckley, to which he replied:  "Barry Goldwater is a man of tremendously decent instincts, and with a basic banal but important understanding of the Constitution and what it means in American life."

"But what would happen if he were elected President of the United States'?" Clurman asked, to which Buckley responded: "That might be a serious problem."

The Conservative Movement was building a base, and they needed the Goldwaters of the nation to do it for them.  Someone who could reach into the banality of the masses.

I've visited several right-wing websites in the past few days, to get some idea of how the "banal" forces feel about the candidates, and there appears to be a common concern.  The East, as represented by Romney, is trying to take over the Republican Party.  They didn't care if he could win, only that he is deemed to not be a "true" conservative.

It reminded me of those Pace picante sauce commercials, with the "New York City??!!" line.  Very effective marketing.  Change the sauce to the GOP race, and those ads could be revived. Romney is not from New York, but it doesn't change anything.

This is not a race for a Republican leader, but for a Conservative leader.

And if someone like Rick Perry or Michelle Bachmann won, well ... "that might be a serious problem" for all of us.  They are now debating, not whether there should be an attack (even a nuclear one) on Iran, but who should strike first, the united States or Israel.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Why Does the Right Hold the Left to a Higher Moral Standard?

Despite the allegations of sexual misconduct, Herman Cain continues to poll high with Republicans.

And yet they wasted millions of tax dollars in an attempt to impeach President Bill Clinton, because of a sex scandal.  Clinton's was consensual.  Cain's appear to have been uninvited assaults.

When it was discovered that "family values" czar, Vic Toews, had fathered a child with a young staffer, destroying his marriage, there was barely a murmur from the Right.  In fact with mounting scandals, they continue to defend the Harper government, blaming the media and liberals.

David Kuo, a former member of the Bush (G.W.) administration wrote a book, Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction.  He also speaks of this phenomenon.  Despite the horrendous things that George Bush did, the Christian Right stuck with him.  He said it was because Bush was considered to be a "brother in Christ".  A "born again" Christian who might slip up once in a while, and it was their duty to be there when he did.

He did a lot of slipping.  They must have been exhausted.

Kuo broke through the holier than thou image, and while still a devout Christian, is no longer a member of the political movement.  He saw too many things that tested his faith, not the least of which was the fact that the Bush team referred to Kuo and his colleagues, as "the F---ing faith based group".

They were an annoying distraction.

As further proof of their hypocrisy, Newt Gingrich is beginning to "surge".  A womanizer, who cheated on two of his wives, one while she was dying of cancer.

I hope they come out with a sinner's guide book soon, because I'm confused.

I may just be a saint.

Who Gets Kicked Out of the Trailor Park This Week? Herman Cain For Smoking After Sex?

The hottest new reality show, Who gets Kicked Out of the Trailor Park?, also known as the Republican debates, is taking the U.S. by storm.

Across the country sounds of "Don't tell me what stupid thing Rick Perry said this week, I'm taping it!" and "Michelle Bachmann did go to high school, right?" or "You mean, Mitt Romney changed his mind again?!" fill the air.

Herman Cain, once in the lead, has found himself in a bit of trouble though, and Perry is catching up in the polls.  It started with a bizarre ad campaign, depicting his chief-of-staff Mark Block standing, talking, and smoking a cigarette.  Some called it a brilliant "in your face" response to the "liberal elite".  Others,  "an irresponsible disregard for the health of the people Cain aims to represent."  I just call it creepy.  You be the judge.



The ad is having an impact, both negative and positive, but another story may change the opinion of some of his supporters.

Seems our man Cain was charged with sexual harassment.  Conservative parrots are chirping the usual "media bias" and "witch hunt", but if he was hoping to capture any of Bachmann's religious support, he may be out of luck.

I can't wait for the next episode.  I hear that all of the wives that Newt Gingrich cheated on, will be acting as mediators.  At least those still living.

The "real" reality is, that one of these clowns could be the next president of the United States.  I may have to take up smoking.

So Would Stephen Harper Vote for Rick Perry or Herman Cain?

I originally thought that Stephen Harper had more in common with Rick Perry.  Both are strong advocates of the death penalty, guns and the flat tax.

However, Rachel Maddox revealed something on her program this week, that connects him closer to Herman Cain.  Both Cain and Harper are beholden to the Koch Brothers.

On her show Monday night, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow noted that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain is an avid numerologist who is obsessed with the number 45. She also pointed out numerous links between Cain and the conservative billionaire Koch brothers. For instance, before running for president, he worked for the Koch-funded conservative group Americans for Prosperity.

I mentioned Americans for Prosperity before, not only because they are behind the Tea Party, but because they worked with the Harper government on an ad for U.S. TV, that challenged President Obama's healthcare plan.  You can read about it here.

Sun TV's Ezra Levant spent a summer as a fellow at the Koch Foundation, arranged by Charles Koch himself, and has since written a book Ethical Oil, which should be subtitled The Tarsands Smokescreen.

Stephen Harper is using our tax dollars to build the Koch Brothers a pipeline, which will send all the good jobs in the industry South.

Americans don't want the pipeline, but Obama is under a lot of pressure to accept it, on the basis of job creation.  Having Cain in office would be like having the Koch Brothers in office, and would provide a new BFF for Stephen Harper still moping after losing his Georgie.