Day: November 15, 2011

Time For The “Limelight” For Jon Huntsman, The Most Difficult Opponent For Barack Obama

We have seen many Republican Presidential candidates have their “place in the sun”, been “the flavor of the month”, surged in the public opinion polls, as the search for an alternative to Mitt Romney has evolved.

First, we had Donald Trump, who ended up not running for President.

Then, we had Michele Bachmann, followed by Rick Perry, followed by Herman Cain, and now Newt Gingrich.

The problem with all of these candidates is that they have major flaws and weaknesses, along with Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, who have never surged.

And Mitt Romney has been made out to be a “flip flopper” to match any “flip flopper” in the past.

The fact is that Barack Obama has great ammunition against any and all potential GOP opponents for the Presidency, EXCEPT Jon Huntsman!

Huntsman, after all, was given the position of Ambassador to China by Obama. Also, Huntsman presided over a very popular and prosperous time as Utah Governor. He has great knowledge about foreign policy, and comes across as reasonable and rational. It will be very difficult for Obama to mount a campaign against Jon Huntsman.

Will the Republican Party ignore these advantages and the reality that Huntsman is supremely qualified to be President, and use the Mormon issue or the fact that he is, in comparison to other candidates, comparatively moderate, although clearly a conservative, against him?

If the GOP has any common sense, which they seem not to have, they would promote Jon Huntsman becoming the person in the “limelight”, as the person with the best chance of defeating President Obama!

NBC, MSNBC, And Presidential Offspring And Near Presidential Offspring!

NBC and MSNBC have mined Presidential offspring, and even near Presidential offspring effectively.

It has been announced that Chelsea Clinton, daughter of President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will be contributing to NBC Nightly News and Rock Center with Brian Williams.

At the same time, Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of former President George W. Bush, is a contributor to NBC’s Today Show.

Ron Reagan, son of former President Ronald Reagan, is an analyst on MSNBC.

And Meghan McCain, daughter of 2008 Republican Presidential candidate John McCain, is also often on MSNBC.

The Riches Of Embarrassment In The Republican Presidential Field: Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry!

The Republican Party is in the midst of major riches of embarrassment about its Presidential field.

Herman Cain, already having displayed how inadequate a candidate he is in so many ways, adds to the riches of embarrassment when he cannot answer a simple question about Libya when asked, and seems totally confused and out of touch with reality. He is best at repeating his ill fated plan—9-9-9–when asked to explain himself on some issue. He also said he was for collective bargaining for workers one day, and then the next day says he considers collective bargaining to be collective hijacking! He also has the stupidity to ask Henry Kissinger to be his Secretary of State in his administration, as if Cain is about to become President tomorrow! And, of course, Cain forgets or does not know that Kissinger, as great as he might be considered to be by many diplomats, has been out of government for 34 years, and is going on 89 next year, and would be 90 years old in 2013, and therefore, a bit ridiculous to imagine him as a cabinet member at such an advanced age! Cain lives in his own reality, and he has demonstrated total incompetence to be President.

But then Michele Bachmann says the most inane things, and now has suggested that we should be socialist as China is, just the opposite of what she has always professed, and demonstrating no idea of what socialism is in the first place! Whatever she says makes one’s eyes roll, and she and Cain both endorsed waterboarding as not torture, despite so much testimony by people in the military who know it is torture, and produces no verifiable evidence helpful to national security.

And then Rick Perry, who cannot remember what agencies he wants to close, and now advocates a radical concept to “uproot, tear down, and rebuild” Washington, DC, when he cannot even run the state government of Texas adequately and competently, and has been a true disaster in debates and in his other public appearances!

These three candidate have no shame, no embarrassment gene, and seem to be running for the sake of their own warped egos, believing somehow that they are qualified to be sitting in the Oval Office!

They cannot leave the Presidential race soon enough, as they are making our past Presidents alive and dead look better all of the time, even those who were far from adequate in the office!

If this is the best we can do, America is doomed!

Right Wing Religious Zealots Connect Pedophilia To Homosexuality: Totally False And Unjustified Bigotry!

For anyone who believes in the basic human rights of gay men and lesbians, it was predictable that right wing religious zealots would launch an attack on homosexual rights after the arrest of Jerry Sandusky in the Penn State scandal involving his inappropriate sexual contact with young boys.

The fact is that there is absolutely no connection between pedophilia and homosexuality, as the vast majority of pedophilia cases involve adult men with young girls, followed by adult women with young boys.

Pedophilia is a crime, and involves the reality of young people being victimized by adults.

Homosexuality is not a crime, and involves consenting adults male or female, who have a natural inclination toward people of the same sex.

No adult male who is normal wishes to engage in sexual conduct with a child, who is being forced into activity that is non consensual, and even if a child believes he or she is interested in such conduct, legally he or she is not able to consent because of age restrictions in state laws.

It is a tragedy that pedophilia is being seen as an excuse to attack the gay community, which has no desire to promote such sick behavior, and if any individual is involved in such activity, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

It is also sad that gay parenting, gay foster care, and gay adoption is being targeted, when there is absolutely no evidence of inappropriate behavior by gay parents, and yet there is much evidence of heterosexual fathers who abuse their own daughters!

This kind of discrimination and bigotry must be exposed for what it is!

Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, And History: Fact Vs Fiction! Addendum Correction And Apology!

Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck are well known political commentators, and both have millions of fans and followers of their television and radio programs.

Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck have the right to say whatever they wish on their programs, and they have the right to write and publish whatever books they wish to produce!

Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck, however, are not historians who work at producing accurate, valid historical works, and one has to realize that they are more outstanding in producing historical fiction than fact, when they make references to the past via speech or by publication.

So the fact that O’Reilly has published a book on the Lincoln assassination, which the Fords Theatre bookstore in Washington, DC will not sell because of alleged incorrect or unsubstantiated information without documentation, and this decision is backed up by expert historians on the Civil War period, has become the center of controversy.

O’Reilly is, of course, furious, and he has a right to be, as any author can feel, but the historical profession needs to legitimize what is called “history”, and to challenge publications that claim to be “history”, but are in fact historical fiction!

Certainly, there is much interpretation that goes on in the historical community of scholars, but there is a responsibility when there appears to be a lack of accuracy and validity on a book and topic that many will read and believe is totally true, when experts make it clear it is NOT accurate, or backed up by appropriate documentation!

So it means a serious student of history should have a doubting view of anything that Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck (author of a supposed authoritative view of George Washington), or any other political propagandist chooses to publish!

Anyone can write and publish what he or she wishes, but we have the right to make a judgment on its validity and to state so, whether that author likes it or not!

ADDENDUM: It has now been reported that there were only four minor errors in O’Reilly’s book, and they have been corrected, and Fords Theatre has NOT removed his book from their store as reported incorrectly in the media. O’Reilly is owed an apology, and I will also apologize. However, any reader should always be alert to any book published, whether by O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, or anyone else, as to whether it is accurate in its factual basis and documentation!