the right

A funny thing about this Republican primary season is that you never hear the past President mentioned. The GOP field seems to steer clear of George W. Bush as though he was some married gay couple. What's this say about the GOP's track record of picking presidential candidates?

It goes beyond that. In the past 32 years we have had 20 years of a Republican president and 12 of a Democratic one. Democrats have no problem mentioning Bill Clinton, yet Republicans ever only want to mention the first eight years of their 20, which would be Ronald Reagan and when they do that they only seem to remember the second term of Ronald Reagan, ignoring the first when the Gipper did things like raise taxes. So out of 20 years of occupying the White House, the right only wants to remember 20% of their years.

This really comes as no shock. Since President Obama assumed office the right has been on a covert mission to wipe the collective American memory banks of the Dubya presidency. President Bush oversaw the largest economic collapse since the Great Depression, yet the right continues to try and insist that it was all President Obama's doing. We have even seen one Republican candidate, Michele Bachmann, go as far as to try and make us believe that Barack Obama was President in 2003 and ordered the invasion of Iraq.

Something that really deserves more attention is the lack of any powerhouses within the GOP. We saw this in 2008, when Republicans had to suck it up and vote for John McCain. We are seeing it again now with the right trying to figure out which Republican candidate is the lesser of two evils.

Are the people supporting Mitt really supporting him or are they more so going against Newt?

Is Newt's support coming from people who actually believe in Newt, or is coming from people voting against Mitt Romney?

How about Ron Paul? His sudden surge has left a lot of pundits scratching their heads. A man who wants to legalize drugs and prostitution, something so far from the social conservative base that it might as well be in Amsterdam, has become a serious contender in the GOP race.

What's fueling that sudden Ron Paul surge? Is it people supporting Ron Paul or is it people so fed up with the other choices that they have no other option?

In all these questions both options can ring true, but looking at polling data and reading commentary you quickly realize that it's not really support driving these candidates, but rather a lack of any real choice.

One of the problems facing today's GOP is that they have gone so far to the right that they have actually forgotten who they are or in what country they are living. They believe that America is a far right country, when in fact it is moderate, if not more on the left. I come to that conclusion from recently spending a few hours digging through tons of polls on social issues. When you look at things like gay marriage, taxing the rich, a woman's right to choose, the death penalty, social programs, gun control and about any other issue you can think of, America takes a more leftist view.

Gallup has a new poll out showing Americans fear big government more than anything else. Here's the results:

Needless to say this poll is making its rounds on the right, but I would like to see a further breakdown of this poll, asking what fears.

It's no secret that many people don't know what laws and policies are passed until it affects them. Take the TSA body scanners. Most people believe that this is something instituted by President Obama. Little do they know this was a policy pushed through by the Bush Administration and former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who profited big time from the plan.

Or how about recent news of drones being used for law enforcement here in the U.S.? Again, this was something pushed through under the Bush administration, but also continued by the Obama administration.

Throughout this entire week many on the right has been accusing liberals, the media and even other GOP candidates for the Herman Cain sexual harassment story. In those defenses we have also heard things like “what about Bill Clinton”? Well what about him? They bring up a very interesting point.

Bill Clinton’s road to impeachment started with investigations into claims of sexual harassment, in the name of Paula Jones. Yes that is what really got the whole thing going in Congress and there hasn’t been no legal action brought against Cain, but what if he did when election and one of these accusers decided to take the case to court? We would end up with the makings of one of our darkest points in presidential history, but would the right allow investigations go on into Herman Cain if that happened? The laws of double standards from the right dictate not.

The entire point here is that the media is out there doing their job of vetting someone who could be our next President. Since the beginning of this country the media has been our only real vetting process for candidates. They have the tools and resources to find out who we might be electing to be our next leader and they did just that on Herman Cain. Sexual harassment has become a new part of that vetting process and that is because of Bill Clinton. It was the right’s continuous obsession with Bill Clinton’s sex life that made what we see today the norm.

Just think of this when you try to dismiss the story of Herman Cain, Bill Clinton’s problems started with claims of sexual harassment by a former employee. If Herman Cain does become President, is the right ready to relive the 90s when it’s their own party on trial? I highly doubt it.

Since news erupted Sunday night of past sexual harassment allegations against GOP front runner Herman Cain we have heard the same old meme from the right – “it’s the liberal media”. Given how this is a constant defense for the right, despite one of the primary authors of the article being a former reporter for one of the best known conservative publications, it makes it even more interesting that Rick Santorum is now embracing the Politico article:

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign is calling on Herman Cain to offer a more detailed explanation of the sexual harassment allegations made against him during his time as the head of the National Restaurant Association.

“What I would encourage the Cain campaign to do is, if you are the frontrunner and you plan to be the nominee, to be forthcoming so that you are vetted, and we don’t get into a situation where you’re our nominee and we find out things after the fact,” said Santorum strategist John Brabender, speaking at an election preview forum hosted by National Journal.

Santorum’s campaign is the first of Cain’s opponents to jump on the allegations that have been lodged against him. Politico reported late Sunday that two women reached settlements with the NRA in the 1990s after accusing Cain of sexual harassment.

If you ask Democrats the Republicans controlling the House are the problem. If you ask Republicans the problem lies in Senate and and the White House. None of that should really matter though. The problem is that our government is broken and Americans are fed up with it according to a new Gallup poll that shows a record 82%. 

This poll could also show that the Republican plan is working. 69% now say they have little or no confidence in the legislative branch. while 57% say they have little or no faith in the government to solve domestic problems. Those statistics fit right into the "small/no government" beliefs of the GOP, but it get's even worse with 49% now believing that the government poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of citizens. Now while I said this was the affect of the GOP plan, I don't mean it's good news for the GOP.