March 2^nd

Today we take a glance (sidelong) at CPAC. This is an acronym for the Conservative Political Action Committee. These folk meet aperiodically in various locations to allow members to air their views.

First an admission: I did not attend the meetings. My comments are based on interviews I saw and fragments of speeches presented on news channels. These are my impressions: I saw the former governor of Texas, Rick Perry, try to slip around the question from Dana Bash about putting “boots on the ground” to defeat ISIS. He finally said that yes he would do that if it was required. How would he decide if it was required? Bash didn’t ask that and Perry didn’t elaborate. For a man surely used to the spotlight he seemed desperately nervous during the interview.  I know this appearance was important to him but his mannerisms did not demonstrate much self-confidence. (Subsequently he claimed Hillary Clinton was “disloyal” because she did not report a 500 thousand dollar donation to the Clinton Foundation for Haitian Relief. All of that money went to Haitian relief.)

Another wowser was Dr. Ben Carson. Some of his quotes are strange. He has said that Obamacare is the worst thing since slavery. He was supposed to have said “worse than slavery.” He insists he didn’t say that but that he did say the worst thing since slavery. I suppose that’s a bit more defensible, but not by much. Was it worse than Jim Crow? Worse than lynching over 4 thousand people most of them black? Ben has said some other curious things although he maintains that he never really said them. What he admits to saying is bad enough. Recently he claimed his religion keeps him from being conned by science.

 Then we have Governor Scott Walker, the firebrand labor irritator. The Governor has claimed that if he can handle 100 thousand angry labor people ISIS will be no problem for him. Now he is on the hook for comparing American labor to ISIS! If you really want to play in the political big leagues you do have to consider how what you say will be perceived by your opponents!

Finally as one of the all-time great quote producers we have Sharron Angle. Sharron has lost a bit of press coverage since she lost a Senate race to Harry Reid in 2012. So many absurdities have come out of her mouth that it would be a joy to list them. Unfortunately she has lost relevance in the political arena so I will list only one: when addressing group of Latino students she said, “Some of you look a little more Asian to me.” She was speaking about criticism of her ads picturing Mexicans illegally crossing the border. She also insisted that Detroit had “sharia law.” And to think that she won’t win the Republican nomination! Oh pshaw!

I have come to believe that once a Republican aspires to high political office something interrupts the neural circuitry between the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the seat of planning and judgment, and the larynx, involved in speech.