Day: August 17, 2011

A Major Challenge And Testing Ground For GOP Presidential Candidates: Five Debates In Six Weeks In September And October!

The eight person Presidential race for the Republican nomination in 2012 now faces a major challenge and testing ground: Five debates over a six week period in September and October are scheduled, bound to thin out the race in a major way!

Debates scheduled to occur are as follows:

September 7 at the Reagan Library in California
September 12 in Tampa, Florida, site of the national convention next year
September 22 in Orlando, Florida
October 11 in Hanover, New Hampshire
October 18 in Las Vegas, Nevada

For political junkies, there is much to look forward to!

Is Rick Santorum Becoming Soft And Fuzzy?

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, the only person in the Republican Presidential race who has served in the Senate, has had a reputation for hard nosed, aggressive rhetoric throughout his career and during his Presidential run.

Santorum, who ended up fourth in the Ames, Iowa Straw Poll, behind former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, said yesterday that he will not drop out of the race as Pawlenty has done.

At the same time, both yesterday and last week, Rick Santorum sounded as if he is becoming soft and fuzzy!

Imagine this social conservative, who has strongly condemned gay rights and gay marriage, being critical of Iran for its treatment of gays! What has happened that he worries about gay rights in Iran, but not in America?

Yesterday, he was strongly critical of former Texas Governor Rick Perry for his threatening language toward Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke. Santorum said it was unPresidential behavior, comparing it to Michigan Congressman John Conyers calling for the impeachment of former President George W. Bush years ago.

Santorum declared that someone running for President should not use loose language threatening people and accusing them of treason because we do not agree with their views on public policy, and also should not talk about impeachment of a President!

Austin is not Washington, DC, Santorum said, and he declared that Perry needs a learning curve to understand the differences. He seemed to be passing judgment on Texas politics as he criticized Perry.

This is all very shocking, as by showing concern for gay rights in Iran, criticizing an attack on the Federal Reserve, and ridiculing Texas politics, all sound like Santorum is losing his social conservatism and his Tea Party credentials, or his attempt to gain their backing!

Rick Santorum actually sounds reasonable for the first time in years! What is going on, Rick?

Michele Bachmann And Hollywood Celebrities: John Wayne And Elvis Presley!

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is running for the Republican Presidential nomination, but she has shown herself to be a total embarrassment when it comes to having accurate information both about American History and Hollywood celebrities. One has to wonder how one could trust her economics knowledge if she fails to have basic understanding and knowledge of what a President should know!

As is well known, Bachmann claimed that New Hampshire was the birthplace of the American Revolution with the military events at Lexington and Concord, rather than Massachusetts!

She also claimed that the Founding Fathers ended slavery, seemingly not realizing that it continued until the Civil War, and that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and other Southern Presidents all owned many slaves throughout their lifetimes.

But even more shocking is her lack of awareness about Hollywood celebrities. She earlier claimed that John Wayne, the actor, was born in Waterloo, Iowa, as she was, rather than the mass murderer John Wayne Gacy!

Now, yesterday, on the 34th anniversary of the DEATH of Elvis Presley, she wished him HAPPY BIRTHDAY! How can she NOT know the difference, and one can imagine Elvis fans, and even those who are not Elvis fans, rolling their eyes and sighing!

Bachmann praised Elvis, which is also interesting, as it is Evangelical Christians, which she says she is, who CONDEMNED Elvis, his clothes, his gyrating hips, and his music 55 years ago, when he first appeared on the musical scene.

Having visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland two weeks ago, and seeing the film footage of evangelical Christian ministers saying Elvis was in league with the Devil and other things more horrible, it makes one laugh at their bigotry, narrow mindedness, and backwardness, and makes one wonder how well Michele Bachmann understands her own religious beliefs, or is she simply propagandized, and now wishes to perpetrate her propaganda on the rest of us with her holier than thou statements on gay rights, abortion, and many other issues–and in the process taking away personal freedoms as those ministers 55 years ago wished to do in the field of music!