Starting off with the third Republican debate last last week: Carson and Trump, especially the latter, toned down which was surprising in Trump’s case considering the subject of the debate which was supposed to be finance and Trump’s career in business.
Marco Rubio got the better of Jeb Bush in an exchange begun when the former Florida Governor attempted to take Rubio to task – at least that was what it looked like he was trying to do anyway – based on Rubio’s spotty attendance record as a US Senator. Bush told Rubio that he should show up for work when it came to light that Rubio had missed over seventy Senate votes in the last year, which does seem like a high total if it’s true. (Note that Obama and John Kerry, Democrats both, had missed comparable time in their respective runs for President.)
That’s not the point though. Rubio confronted Bush with the following repost: “You’re only saying that because someone told you that attacking me was the right way to go,” or words to that effect at any rate. Well, no fucking kidding, Rubio. Talking about stating the obvious. And besides, isn’t everyone trying to do the same thing to everyone else in the first place?
The accolades garnered by Rubio were both heartening in the sense that it makes me happy when Jeb gets knocked but disheartening at the same time.
Disheartening in the way that the whole debate and the race in general, seems to be playing out. Chris Christie whom I actually can’t really stand, put it out there that the “American people” aren’t interested in personal attacks but would rather hear discussions dealing with issues like jobs, education and health care, although the latter dies in Republican-land – won’t glorify it by calling it a “nation” because that would imply some kind of principled approach to policy-making beyond the “I-Me-Mine” approach favoured by the more conservative segment of American society.
These men and one woman are not – to use a seasonal reference – the most brightly lit pumpkins in the window, you realize. According to Bloom’s taxonomy, there are eight different types of intelligence such as athletic, intellectual (intelligence), artistic musical and emotional as well as a few others. These guys may be inclined to be intelligent – but in many of these cases, this would not be intelligence in the sense of the word as it is generally understood and used.
Let’s deal with the obvious idiots: Michael “Mike” Huckabee is an opportunistic, bible-thumping, evangelistic moron. He’s the one who went down to Kentucky to defend the rights of 
he then incarcerated county clerk, Kim Davis, who had directly disobeyed state law by refusing to grant marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. A candidate for chief executive spouting off about judicial tyranny is certainly not my cup of tea to put it mildly. The fact that Huckabee doesn’t see the obvious contradiction between occupying the Office of Chief Executive on the one hand, and supporting a blatant law-breaker on the other, speaks to how ridiculous this clown’s campaign for the Presidency is, unless of course this guy has decided to cater to the lowest common denominator within the American electorate, the so-called reactionary Tea Party and voters of their ilk. If this is in fact true, it may make Huckabee a bit more politically astute than I have given him credit for but he’s still an idiot.
Donald Trump, yes, The Donald, Donald Duck. Certainly not an idiot in the usual sense but one nonetheless. A blusterer who could be dangerous if he wasn’t so dumb, again not in the conventional sense of dumb but dumb in the sense that he actually believes that transferring his personal lifestyle and ways of making his financial, business and various decisions to running a country, much less to his dealings with other world leaders would be the successful way to go. “We’ll build a wall … and get Mexico to pay for it.” Maybe this is intelligent to the extent that it is manipulative but this kind of thing will not stand the test of time. Not at all, Mr. Trump.
What about his proposal to get rid of some twelve million immigrants? Can a mind that small even begin to conceive of the logistical difficulties alone involved in the execution of so enormous a task? Think of the bureaucracy which would be required – mind-blowing.
Not to mention the social and psychological costs of so vast a deportation – there’s no room in Trump’s brain for considerations of a moral or ethical nature.
You would think that he would be better in measuring the economic impact of so huge a displacement of people. It would be difficult to actually realistically calculate the impact on the American GDP (Gross Domestic Product) if twelve million people were unceremoniously dumped out of the country; regardless of that fact, there will be an impact and I would guess that overall, in the medium term, the impact would be negative. Mr. Trump. Businessman. Beeg businessman. Beeg, huge businessman. Hey Joe. What do y’all really know?
Regardless of all of his wealth and business success, he does not have the intellectual energy to lead what still is the most powerful nation in the history of the world. Like it or not, we live next to the Leviathan and having Trump in charge – which will never happen – would put the entire world in danger. That’s all for Trump. A true idiot with business acumen and loads of bread.
Jeb Bush. Ah Jeb. Jeb the jerk. I was mildly concerned to see this guy announce his candidacy. However, he just hasn’t caught on, continuing to trail badly in the polls, reminding voters of his brother and father, Presidents both. His brother, George W., although meeting with some success in his obvious effort to rehabilitate his image, was intensely disliked. This was an important reason for Obama’s successful bid for the Presidency in 2008.
Jeb’s campaign is dying at the moment, with his financial backers which include his Super Pac (Presidential Action Committee), the latter having raised over $100 million, calling for more bang for their buck. Apparently Bush!s failure to turn things around during the third debate, was too much for some of the wealthy ones who have, with their donations to his campaign, made Jeb’s run possible. Rumour has it that some of these contributors may be looking for another horse on which to place their bets.
Lindsey Graham, Senator from South Carolina, who, on March 7, 2015, at a “Politics and Pies” forum, … advocated the reversal of defense spending cuts and quipped: “If I were President of the United States, I wouldn’t let Congress leave town until we fix this. I would literally use the military to keep them in if I had to.” Great idea from a not the most reactionary person in the group but an idiot nonetheless.
Ted Cruz: a real greaser who has obviously been told to stop using shit on his hair which was a good move but still doesn’t cover up the type of person that Cruz has been proven to be.
He has an informal alliance with Donald Trump, a self-serving move which Teddy-boy hopes will garner him a significant slice of the Donald’s support if and when Trump is forced out of the race as a result of a slide in the polls which has already begun.
Cruz is extremely conservative and proud of it.
Note: In Canada, calling someone a “socialist” is tantamount to labelling your political opponent a “liberal” in the Excited States, which somewhat and somehow the explains the pride (and total lack of reticence) which many Americans take in unabashedly calling themselves and the people they support “conservatives”. By the way, the term “reactionary” is an antonym for the term “progressive” and means “conservative in the extreme”.
A reactionary wants to re-enact the past. That would mean returning to the past including outlawing abortion, getting rid of Obamacare (Medicare), and in Canada, returning to the days of capital punishment.
These certainly are not the only idiots in the group, but it’s a good start.
Peace.
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