COMMENTARY | If there is one thing that the nine Republican debates -- and assorted forums and conventions -- have shown the American people, it is that James Carville was correct about the GOP nominees: They are pathetic. Of course, that was a downgrade from being "a joke," the Democratic strategist's first label for the collective. And after the meltdown by the group at the CNBC Republican debate Wednesday evening in Rochester, Mich., there can be only one sensible and logical choice for the Republican nomination -- former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.
However, since that particular candidate cannot seem to get above 5 percent in the national presidential preference polls, the next most reasonable choice would have to be former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. How does this compute?
If ever there were a more ridiculous bunch of people running for president outside of a Hollywood spoof or a "Saturday Night Live" sketch, it is the group now running for the GOP nomination. Sure, there have been other races with some colorful characters (in 2008, the Democrats had Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich and former Alaska senator Mike Gravel), but none like the motley crew representing the Republican Party for 2012's nomination. Here is how they rank after one-third of the debates and seven weeks prior to the first primary election, the Iowa Caucus (Jan. 3).
Herman Cain, currently the frontrunner in the national polls, has become embroiled in a decade-old scandal concerning sexual harassment allegations, a scandal that seems to widen with each passing week. And that doesn't take into consideration his 9-9-9 Tax Plan that egregiously places the tax burden on those in the middle income brackets, allowing corporations and the wealthy to pay far less than they do at present. Or that electrified Mexican border fence. Only Republicans responding to the polls seem to think he should still be nominated and if winning the election in 2012 is the number one GOP priority (ask Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell), his nomination would most likely mean certain defeat.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, the woman who plans on eliminating everything, believes there should be no corporate taxes and no mandatory minimum wage, thinks gay people are of Satan, and is an habitual liar, made a run for the lead early in the campaign but has fallen to low single digits in the polls.
Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, will say anything in his attempt to play off of his undeserved "smartest guy in the room" image. Not only does he allow others to misrepresent him, but he flipped on what President Obama should have done in Libya after Obama did what Gingrich himself suggested and has uttered nonsense like fearing that his grandchildren will live in a secular atheist Muslim-controlled U. S. (a contradiction in terms).
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas might be the best choice Republicans have, besides Huntsman, as the most consistent in his positions. And you would think that his libertarian views would ignite support in the tea party movement. Considering that the tea party has been co-opted by the more religious social conservatives, those identifying themselves with the movement back Cain, Bachmann, and Perry. But Paul can't seem to do much more than win numerous straw polls. His national poll numbers remain steady around 10 percent.
Texas governor Rick Perry seems to only stop being incoherent at the debates long enough to forget things. All should be forgiven, though, since it was such an extremely long list of three. (And he is undoubtedly rethinking the rethinking of not attending some of the future debates .) He has offered a ridiculous 20 Percent Tax Plan, which is optional and only adds to the mountainous tax code he maintains needs reformation. Considered the anti-Romney -- due to Romney's heir apparent status within the Republican Party -- Perry meteorically shot to the top of the national polls, only to watch his campaign slump into the low teens after a month of poor debates.
As for former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, whose extremism is matched only by Bachmann's, what needs to be said other than he believes the Social Security problem (a scare tactic by the GOP, since the administration is considered to remain solvent for at least another quarter century) was the result of aborted fetuses.
And Romney? Romney has shown himself a deft politician, handling himself well in the debates. He certainly looks presidential. But Romney has become known as a flip-flopper (even if Rick Perry famously couldn't quite explain the vacillations). He is also a Mormon, which makes his election support problematic among evangelicals, a high number of which look at Mormonism as a cult.
But Romney has remained a consistent frontrunner in the national polls. Despite his constant repositioning on issues, he also seems to be the only reasonable choice -- given that the polls do not seem to indicate that Huntsman or Paul will climb out of their current polling positions -- Republicans have for their nomination. Obama's reelection campaign has already centered much of its message on Romney. Even Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" called the race, jokingly naming Romney the nominee after the ninth debate via the "mercy rule."
So, Romney looks as if he will most likely become the Republican Party nominee in 2012. Maybe. That is, of course, unless the GOP's desire to replace of President Obama is such that they do not care if the next president looks like an ill-prepared jingo-spewing imbecile. One would think eight years of the Bush administration would have been more than enough to push for at least a more presidential-appearing president. Given the candidates and their present poll positions , one would be incorrect.
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