I think something is very noteworthy about the present race for the Republican Party presidential nomination. That is, the Republican Party has fragmented into so many different personalities it is almost like watching a horror show. No one candidate seems to have a lock, because no one candidate seems to satisfy every different facet of the GOP’s fragmented personality split. Born again Christians seem to like Huckabee, but on the other hand, he is not really conservative enough (some would say not conservative at all) on economic and foreign policy issues.
Giuliani of course is conservative on economic and foreign policy matters, but many of the party faithful consider him far too liberal on social issues. As if that were not bad enough, he seems not only morally challenged in his personal life, but ethically challenged as well.
Then you have McCain, a conservative, but also a maverick whom many Republicans feel is a traitor-what they call a “RINO” (Republican In Name Only), due to his past stands on immigration and campaign finance reform, to name just a few examples. They also wonder about his mental stability.
Everybody seems to like Mitt Romney. The problem is, no one seems to trust him, though they want to. Yet, they view him as a northeastern elitist without core values, a man who will adopt any stand necessary to win elections, a man who for example once supported abortion rights as governor of Massachusetts, and now as candidate for President, is conveniently Pro-Life. Like fellow Massachusetts politician John Kerry, he is the penultimate flip-flopper.
Add to this the fact that a great many of the Christian conservatives view his affiliation with the Mormon religion with a suspicion eye, and you have yet more angst.
Then, let’s take a look at Ron Paul, who seems to represent what might well be the future Republican state of mind-pure insanity in the midst of hopelessness.
So, out of all these candidates, which one seems to most represent the values of the Republican Party in general? None of them that I have mentioned manages to do so, though there is yet one who does, and he is former Tennessee Senator and Hollywood actor Fred Thompson. He is the true face of the Republican Party past and present. Take a good, long, hard look at him, and you are looking into the face of profound clinical depression.
Yes, the Republican Party, the Grand Old Party of Lincoln, Taft, and Reagan, has fragmented, the sum total of its parts broken up, and broken down. If they don’t get their shit together, I have this idea there is no way they can hope to win against the merciless ruthlessness of Hillary Clinton, or the hopeful promise and enthusiasm of Barak Obama, or the populist appeal of John Edwards.
At the rate they are going, even Kucinich might give them a run for their money. All the Democratic Party has to do is gently take him off to the side and tell him the Klingon Empire is not interested in peace negotiations at this time.
