Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Republicans: Paul is OK; Forget the Rest
I saw the Republican debates both back in early May and on 2007 June 5. The first debate seemed to focus a pro-life attack on Giuliani; he did sort of OK, while Ron Paul won the debate easily. Gilmore finished last; he should go back and finish up the job of ending the car tax in Virginia. Tonight (June 5), all the Republicans except Paul showed in various ways why they should NOT be President. The debate featured so many references to God that I decided to account for them separately. God does not belong in a political campaign; it violates separation of church and state. Their treatment of gays was abysmal. The conclusions I come to are:
1. Ron Paul is the best Republican candidate for President, and
2. The more the candidates talk, the worse they get.
The evidence for 2 is that the candidates who finished 2nd to 4th are the minor rinky-dink candidates who don't get questioned as often. Certainly Brownback is no saint. Tonight the three big ones, along with Huckabee, finished last, all of them. In any case, here is the score:
Candidate, June score, May score, Total, deducted due to saying God
Paul, +11, +6, +17, -1
Thompson, -2, -3, -5, 0
Tancredo, -3, -2, -5, 0
Hunter, -4, -3, -7, -1
Brownback, -5, -7, -12, -3
Gilmore, -6, -10, -16, 0
McCain, -7, -9, -16, -3
Romney, -8, -7, -15, -3
Huckabee, -9, 0, -9, -3
Giuliani, -11, -1, -12, -2
An interesting curiosity is that the 2nd through 9th candidates have their negative scores in numerical order: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Here are the summaries of the candidates:
1. Paul His statements reflect his libertarian views. He is the only Republican coming out in favor of bringing the troops soon. He trusts the Internet more than the media, and says that national IDs threaten civil liberties. He was the only Republican candidate to correctly identify the moral issue of this era: the War in Iraq. The rest mentioned taxes, spending, and family values, all of which are trivial compared to the War. He said that the War's objective was oil; among the other candidates, only Kucinich has said this. On the religion issue, he said that the First Amendment comes first. All this makes Paul the only Republican worth voting for. He is way ahead of the rest.
2. Tommy Thompson. I have to spell out his name because of Fred Thompson, who has not entered the race yet. He was not asked very often but he seemsed not to be as God-happy and terroristphobic as the other candidates. He did threaten vetoes all over the place, as though he was trying to best Clinton as being the veto monster. He would not send Bush to the UN.
3. Tancredo Several things wrong. He thinks English is a glue for this country. If so, it is an imported glue. English is not the native language of this country; it is the language of a country across the ocean, one that we fought a war of revolution against. He said that Bush governed as a liberal. No. Bush is no liberal.
4. Hunter He did not answer a question properly. His remarks to the lady whose brother died in Iraq were abusive. He said that the war was worth it. Really? Her brother is no longer with us. He said why we needed to go in there; he did not answer why he had to die. He also would consider nukes against Iran. OK, Hunter, if you want to pay $40 a gallon for gasoline.
5. Brownback Once again we consider a rinky-dink candidate. This time it’s a real gung-ho Biblebanger. He believes in creation, which to me is just plain false. His Iraq solution was interesting. A federation with three sort of independent countries. Too complicated. Better simply to make them independent states altogether. The problem here is that Mesopotamia would not have oil and would possibly cause trouble for Shia, Kurdistan, and maybe even Kuwait.
6. Gilmore As I said before, go back to Virginia and finish the car tax job. I still have to pay it. Mr. Gilmore said that he worked hard to make Virginia beautiful. Huh? He didn't stop the developers which are ruining the state. He said Iran is the reason we are in Iraq. I think that is an excuse to invade both countries. He talked about principles when asked what the moral issue was. He created an interesting candidate. Rudy McRomneyson. Well I've got one for him. How about Tanter Gilmibeeani McRomneysonson? That's right, all the Republicans except Paul.
7. McCain He says the hand of God is in the developmenjt of animals, so he really is partly in the creation camp. He offended gay people by saying that he does not want to reconsider "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT). Gays need to be admitted and considered as equals with other soldiers. He says that immigrants are God's children too. That scored him a positive point for saying that we are all part of one human family but a negative point for bringing God into it. McCain is tied for the worst republican right now (with Gilmore).
8. Romney. Romney wants to invest in refineries. Is that a good investment? Soon, oil production will be declining. Will the refineries be needed? Sounds to me like a politician shooting from the hip without checking the facts. He also says now is not the time to change "Don't Ask Don't Tell". He doesn't want the gay vote either. He mentioned God only once, but he also mentioned Christ, bringing in a particular religion into politics. Twice he did not answer the question. He says what we need to be is strong in military, economy, and family values, when there are much better things to be strong in. And one last thing. He says English should be our national language, but he does have a campaign web site in Spanish. Go figure.
9. Huckabee. This character goes out of his way to be the worst Presidential contender. Sorry, he didn't make it. He came out for creationism, as did several other candidates. To me, a candidate for President, to be acceptable, must believe in evolution. He insisted that the UCMJ be followed with respect to gays in the military. No, Huckabee. The idea is to change the UCMJ. As it stands now, it is discriminatory. But what really took the cake was to say that all human lives are valuable, which is Unitarian Universalism's First Principle, then connecting that to a pro-"life" stand on abortion. That is about the most misleading thing that any of these Republicans have said.
10. Giuliani. OK, what is this so-called liberal or moderate Republican doing in last place in this debate? It is his insistence that the effort to catch terrorists is a war. As I said before, it is not a war, and efforts to make it one will lead to real wars. He says if we fail in Iraq, it will become a base for Al Qaeda. Hey, it is already one. He agrees with Huckabee on evolution and wants other viewpoints to be considered. Giuliani, there should not be alternative viewpoints on established scientific fact. It's like having a free and open discussion on the flat Earth. He insists that nuclear power is safe. It is one option, but there are several problems with nuclear power, one of which is the danger of someone getting their hands on nuclear weapons. Lightning did interrupt his talk once; maybe it's the elements telling us that the God these people talk about doesn't exist. I thgouht that maybe (with a pro-choice stand) this candidate stood above the others, but after tonight, I don't think so.
To summarize, Ron Paul seems like a decent candidate, but letting everyone do what they want (especially with resources like oil) may not be the best in our era. Forget all the other candidates. They are not worthy to be President. The Republicans need to nominate Paul for President. If the candidate is Paul, then if the Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton (their worst contender), I would be undecided as to who I would go for. I would pick any other Democratic contender over Paul, and any of them, even Clinton, over any of the other Republicans.
1. Ron Paul is the best Republican candidate for President, and
2. The more the candidates talk, the worse they get.
The evidence for 2 is that the candidates who finished 2nd to 4th are the minor rinky-dink candidates who don't get questioned as often. Certainly Brownback is no saint. Tonight the three big ones, along with Huckabee, finished last, all of them. In any case, here is the score:
Candidate, June score, May score, Total, deducted due to saying God
Paul, +11, +6, +17, -1
Thompson, -2, -3, -5, 0
Tancredo, -3, -2, -5, 0
Hunter, -4, -3, -7, -1
Brownback, -5, -7, -12, -3
Gilmore, -6, -10, -16, 0
McCain, -7, -9, -16, -3
Romney, -8, -7, -15, -3
Huckabee, -9, 0, -9, -3
Giuliani, -11, -1, -12, -2
An interesting curiosity is that the 2nd through 9th candidates have their negative scores in numerical order: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Here are the summaries of the candidates:
1. Paul His statements reflect his libertarian views. He is the only Republican coming out in favor of bringing the troops soon. He trusts the Internet more than the media, and says that national IDs threaten civil liberties. He was the only Republican candidate to correctly identify the moral issue of this era: the War in Iraq. The rest mentioned taxes, spending, and family values, all of which are trivial compared to the War. He said that the War's objective was oil; among the other candidates, only Kucinich has said this. On the religion issue, he said that the First Amendment comes first. All this makes Paul the only Republican worth voting for. He is way ahead of the rest.
2. Tommy Thompson. I have to spell out his name because of Fred Thompson, who has not entered the race yet. He was not asked very often but he seemsed not to be as God-happy and terroristphobic as the other candidates. He did threaten vetoes all over the place, as though he was trying to best Clinton as being the veto monster. He would not send Bush to the UN.
3. Tancredo Several things wrong. He thinks English is a glue for this country. If so, it is an imported glue. English is not the native language of this country; it is the language of a country across the ocean, one that we fought a war of revolution against. He said that Bush governed as a liberal. No. Bush is no liberal.
4. Hunter He did not answer a question properly. His remarks to the lady whose brother died in Iraq were abusive. He said that the war was worth it. Really? Her brother is no longer with us. He said why we needed to go in there; he did not answer why he had to die. He also would consider nukes against Iran. OK, Hunter, if you want to pay $40 a gallon for gasoline.
5. Brownback Once again we consider a rinky-dink candidate. This time it’s a real gung-ho Biblebanger. He believes in creation, which to me is just plain false. His Iraq solution was interesting. A federation with three sort of independent countries. Too complicated. Better simply to make them independent states altogether. The problem here is that Mesopotamia would not have oil and would possibly cause trouble for Shia, Kurdistan, and maybe even Kuwait.
6. Gilmore As I said before, go back to Virginia and finish the car tax job. I still have to pay it. Mr. Gilmore said that he worked hard to make Virginia beautiful. Huh? He didn't stop the developers which are ruining the state. He said Iran is the reason we are in Iraq. I think that is an excuse to invade both countries. He talked about principles when asked what the moral issue was. He created an interesting candidate. Rudy McRomneyson. Well I've got one for him. How about Tanter Gilmibeeani McRomneysonson? That's right, all the Republicans except Paul.
7. McCain He says the hand of God is in the developmenjt of animals, so he really is partly in the creation camp. He offended gay people by saying that he does not want to reconsider "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT). Gays need to be admitted and considered as equals with other soldiers. He says that immigrants are God's children too. That scored him a positive point for saying that we are all part of one human family but a negative point for bringing God into it. McCain is tied for the worst republican right now (with Gilmore).
8. Romney. Romney wants to invest in refineries. Is that a good investment? Soon, oil production will be declining. Will the refineries be needed? Sounds to me like a politician shooting from the hip without checking the facts. He also says now is not the time to change "Don't Ask Don't Tell". He doesn't want the gay vote either. He mentioned God only once, but he also mentioned Christ, bringing in a particular religion into politics. Twice he did not answer the question. He says what we need to be is strong in military, economy, and family values, when there are much better things to be strong in. And one last thing. He says English should be our national language, but he does have a campaign web site in Spanish. Go figure.
9. Huckabee. This character goes out of his way to be the worst Presidential contender. Sorry, he didn't make it. He came out for creationism, as did several other candidates. To me, a candidate for President, to be acceptable, must believe in evolution. He insisted that the UCMJ be followed with respect to gays in the military. No, Huckabee. The idea is to change the UCMJ. As it stands now, it is discriminatory. But what really took the cake was to say that all human lives are valuable, which is Unitarian Universalism's First Principle, then connecting that to a pro-"life" stand on abortion. That is about the most misleading thing that any of these Republicans have said.
10. Giuliani. OK, what is this so-called liberal or moderate Republican doing in last place in this debate? It is his insistence that the effort to catch terrorists is a war. As I said before, it is not a war, and efforts to make it one will lead to real wars. He says if we fail in Iraq, it will become a base for Al Qaeda. Hey, it is already one. He agrees with Huckabee on evolution and wants other viewpoints to be considered. Giuliani, there should not be alternative viewpoints on established scientific fact. It's like having a free and open discussion on the flat Earth. He insists that nuclear power is safe. It is one option, but there are several problems with nuclear power, one of which is the danger of someone getting their hands on nuclear weapons. Lightning did interrupt his talk once; maybe it's the elements telling us that the God these people talk about doesn't exist. I thgouht that maybe (with a pro-choice stand) this candidate stood above the others, but after tonight, I don't think so.
To summarize, Ron Paul seems like a decent candidate, but letting everyone do what they want (especially with resources like oil) may not be the best in our era. Forget all the other candidates. They are not worthy to be President. The Republicans need to nominate Paul for President. If the candidate is Paul, then if the Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton (their worst contender), I would be undecided as to who I would go for. I would pick any other Democratic contender over Paul, and any of them, even Clinton, over any of the other Republicans.
