Friday, January 15, 2016

Facts and thinning the GOP herd

It's beginning to look like there will be a thinning of the herd of GOP candidates now that the first January debate wrapped up yesterday. I believe this debate shines a light on what we can expect down the road and, if anything, it has changed the mind of many voters and solidified their judgment on others.

Jeb Bush came across as a bush-league debater. He may have been a good governor of Florida, but on the debate stage looks like a stoop-shouldered old man who would rather be playing a game of pinochle or checkers.

Dr. Ben Carson is like that rotisserie chicken that's been cooking in the restaurant window all day. He's done and he needs to acknowledge that to himself. He's a really decent guy but he's not cut out for the blood-letting that politics demands.

John Kasich, for some reason, annoys the hell out of me. He's probably a nice person but he talks too long, and he is never going to close the deal.

Marco Rubio is smooth--he did himself a lot of good last night, but he has an uphill road to climb if he wants to give Trump and Cruz a run for their money. In the kerfuffle he had with Governor Chris Christie, Rubio clearly came out on top. 

The facts don't lie: Christie supported Common Core and very strict gun control, and he supported the appointment of ultra liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. 

But what I believe will sink his generous butt is the fact that he donated to Planned Parenthood. After the videos of how PP harvested baby body parts, conservatives, and a few liberals perhaps, went ballistic.

 Christie's tactic to the factual accusations was to simply deny all of them. "Let's get the facts straight. First of all, I didn't support Sonia Sotomayor."

But the facts are stubborn things, as Ronald Reagan said. According to PolitickerNJ, back in 2009 Christie issued a statement in support of Sotomayor, although prior to that he said that Sotomayor would not have been his choice. 


Christie was doing what people who cite the nice parts of the Koran do: he was using an earlier statement as if there were no later statement.

"After watching and listening to Judge Sotomayor's performance at the confirmation hearings this week, I am confident that she is qualified for the position of Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court." He also added: "Elections have consequences. One of those consequences are judicial appointments. While Judge Sotomayor would not have been my choice, President Obama has used his opportunity to fill a seat on the Supreme Court by choosing a nominee who has more than proven her capability, competence and ability. I support her appointment to the Supreme Court and urge the Senate to keep politics out of the process and confirm her nomination."

Keep politics out of the appointment to the Supreme Court?

For all of Christie's claims that he's a "straight talker," there is no doubt that he speaks with a forked tongue. 

The same is true about his denial of donating to Planned Parenthood. 

Christie is quoted in a 1994 Newark Star Ledger column that he supports PP. His campaign is now claiming that he never made the donation he bragged about. 

It has a funny odor to it.

But it seems like most campaigns do.

It's anybody's guess if this will adversely effect Christie's run, but it probably should. 

There's also that little fact of his relationship with radical Muslim imams. In an article back in 2012, the Clarion Project addresses Christie's relationship with Imam Mohammed Qatanani, who was labeled a radical imam by the Department of Homeland Security. In fact, they wanted to deport him. 

Of the imam, Christie said: "In all my interactions with the imam, he has attempted to be a force for good in his community, in our state with law enforcement, with those of us who have gotten to know him over the years."

Christie went on to explain how he judges people on what he sees in them. So what's the point of having the Department of Homeland Security if you don't care what they see?

So perhaps Christie along with Kasich, should call it a day, at the end of the day. They don't seem to have a chance of winning the nomination and clearing the field would make it easier for Americans to voice who they really want.


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