Too Republican?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20080624/cm_huffpost/108825_200806241104

This article caught my attention, and provoked me to write:

Uygur asserts that the Republican Party's problem stems from the fact that Republicans have been too far to the right, hence their unpopularity at this point. He claims we are not a fundamentally center-right country, and that we are not as far-right as the Republican Party has taken us.

This assertion flies directly in the face of the facts. Let's look at some of the things the "far-right" Republican Party has done (or not done) during their majority years in the Bush Administration:

- Did not make the tax cuts permanent
- Did not do anything substantial about border security
- Vastly grew the size of the federal government
- Spent so much we grew a record deficit
- Tried to use pork to secure election victories
- Used ethanhol as a way to harvest votes

These are just a couple of the things the "far-right" Republican Party did during their majority years, and notice not a single one of them is even moderately conservative, let alone "far-right".

Reagan said that "the problem with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so".

I would say that the problem with our Republican Party is not that they're conservative, but that they've done so much that wasn't so.

No political party should be re-elected when they abandon the purposes for which they were elected, and the 2006 Republicans were a prime example of that. Sure there were other factors that were essentially out of their control, but the facts are that Republicans failed in their initial mission.

And that's something Oygur fails to recognize.

Miss Mitt?

Now I'm not the type that goes around saying "I told you so", but does anyone doubt that if Mitt Romney were the Republican nominee today he'd be gaining ground on Senator Obama rather than losing it?

Romney was a better campaigner, speaker and thinker. Plus he could rip Obama apart in any debate, especially if it was about the economy. McCain's pleading for a town hall format, and he's praying there's no podium (or teleprompter).

Now I've got to wonder if Mitt Romney should even take the Vice Presidency, assuming John McCain is smart and offers it to him.

McCain, the Pro-Life Movement and Women

Today I read the article, "Why Do Women Give McCain a Zero?" by Robert Greenwald (http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20080610/cm_huffpost/106263_200806101253).

Its first criticism is that McCain received a zero rating from NARAL for all of his "anti-choice" votes that he cast in the House and the Senate.

This attack makes the dangerous assumption that pro-life votes are inherently anti-women. A simple google search on the statistics of women and their abortion views show that Greenwald is drastically off-track.

It turns out that Greenwald isn't the only one who got the story wrong: CBS news did it too back in 2003 in an article called, "Poll: Strong Support for Abortion Rights". The article claims that "just 22% favor a ban on abortion", but fails to mention that 48% of women believe abortion should have stricter limits or completely banned while only 38% believe the status quo should remian. This is a staggering statistic that not only flies in the face of Greenwald's primary argument, but even the CBS article's own title (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/01/22/opinion/polls/main537570.shtml).

Obama Text Message

Yesterday, I texted my friends the following message:

"Why would America kill the snake of communism to just drink its venom decades later by electing Barack Obama?"

Here are a few of the responses I received:

"Because, at one point, Jimmy Carter was president"

"Because rap music and reality TV have turned the average American's brain into apple sauce"

"Because he's hot?"

"I ask myself the same thing every day"

"Because we are ending division in America. We are working to change"

"We'll all be begging for change when he gets done with our income"

"Because Republicans did not stick to their core principles"

"He's one of the biggest threats to America. Period"

"such a good question and I don't have an answer. I just hope America isn't dumb enough to elect him"

"this is a prime example of how history is destined to repeat itself if people don't learn from past mistakes"

"I have to believe Reagan is turning in his grave"

"Great civilizations always decline from the inside"

"Because he has a nice smile and he's so COOOOOOOOOOOOL"

"The blind adoration scares me. People are willing to give up freedom if asked nicely or told it will benefit them"

"We're fine. McCain will win for sure"

The last response reminded me of a quote from Reagan's speech in 1964,

"Norman Thomas, 6 time candidate for President of the socialist party said that if Barry Goldwater became President, he would stop the advance of socialism in the United States. I think that's exactly what he will do"

Is it possible that despite (understandable) concerns with John McCain, he may be our country's last best hope to stop the advance of socialism in the United States?