Seems to me they are shooting themselves in the foot. That they have an institutional death wish. I mean, think about the "issues" that the present crop of Republicans have chosen to hang their hats and fight their battles on. Look at some high profile GOP issues.
1. Staying in Iraq and Afghanistan longer. For pete's sake, this is a loser from the get-go. Most Americans feel we have done enough, spent enough, and taken enough casualties there. Guess who's going to be voting in November, 2012: Answer: a lot of average Americans! Don't the Republicans know that?
2. Strong action against Iran. First of all, President Obama is doing what he can, which is about what any president can, short of direct blustering about military action, which would not help the situation. Most likely, Obama is doing exactly what Gingrich said he would do, but Obama can't talk about it and Gingrich can.
Think about the situation: would you start another war in the Middle East, which we cannot afford, and cannot afford the consequences of, in order to, maybe, delay another war for maybe 5 years, tops? The general Republican answer is: Yes!
3. Waterboarding. Most of the GOP candidates favor using waterboarding, except maybe Ron Paul. Issue DOA. Our military disapproves of waterboarding. Most everybody except Cheney and a handful of Republican candidates reject waterboarding. Including the president who used it, over a period of a couple of years, early in his administration, waterboarding one guy more than a hundred times, the process was so effective. Waterboarding is a nonissue and non-winner outside of a redneck bar past midnight where most of those polled favor nuking Iran and the whole Middle East.
4. Protecting the very rich from increased taxation. Now what do you think about a pack of candidates who hang their hat on low taxes for a tiny minority of the very wealthy, who have been doing especially well lately? Whose votes would you ask for if you were running for office, the 5% or the 95%?
5. Abortion. Look. It's very simple. The Supreme Court has spoken, and there is not much you can do on the national level. Possibly the next president or two might have a chance to name a Supreme Court justice, which will have little effect. Plus, most Americans are content to leave abortion laws where they are, instead of having government dictate to people and doctors what they cannot do with their own lives and bodies.
6. Helping the economy. Now this is not a bad idea to hang your hat on. But look who's doing the talking. An ex-IRS tax accountant and religious fanatic, a life long professional politician, a one-time business executive who has spent a big chunk of his life in politics and running for president, a former fast food CEO who is accused of sexual harassment and misconduct, another pro politician who has learned to feed at the trough of political PACs. And the problem is that each of them touts their experience in helping the economy and putting people to work. That is a joke.
Imagine President Cain announcing a program to aid women in getting breast implants in order to improve their employment chances, Bachmann with a program for subsidizing church-related employment, Gingrich fostering employment in PACs.
To Be Continued.
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