By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files
AUSTIN, Texas - It took more than 200 years, but the question finally went out last night in Iowa: If elected president, will you be submissive to your husband? Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachman, a Republican in the mold of the annoying Ma Barker, first flinched, then frowned, then fell back on her Mommy mode. She said she and her husband, Marcus, get along most of the time and that they are Godly people.
Well, there you go, went the collective sigh from millions of Americans watching last night's inaugural 2012 GOP presidential debate broadcast exclusively by pro-Republican network FOX. Bachmann stood her female ground, there looking shorter than the male candidates around her, but stuck in the middle like some sexual sandwich. America still doesn't trust a woman for the highest office in the land. Husbands are the problem, as is that monthly thing, as is the potential for mood swings, as is the possibility of an affair with some crazed Russian.
That one we leave to pop-psychologists who will surely write a few dozen books about the conundrum. From what we saw on TV, the debate surprised only in the way FOX questioners framed their unusually rough questions. They asked cypher Newt Gingrich about his $1 million revolving account with pricy jeweler Tiffany & Company. The Newtster replied, but only to say he was tired of "gotcha questions." Gingrich, a former Speaker of the House during the brighter Clinton era, is such a longshot that Las Vegas bookies have stopped taking bets on his candidacy.
The other no-account who may have seen his dream go up in smoke is former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, who spent the evening whining about not being asked questions. He was positioned on the far left of the candidate panel, which perhaps was telling. Santorum lost big, as did Black Georgia businessman Herman Cain, whose appearance at the debate allowed the Republicans to say it is an inclusive party. Cain is this year's Alan Keyes, a glib African-American trying like Hell to belong to the country club set that will soon turn on him. Say goodbye, Herman.
It is still hard to see any of the GOP's aspiring candidates as being presidential. Mitt Romney, the frontrunner and former governor of Massachusetts, was booed and heckled earlier in the day at a state fair gathering in which he was jumped viciously by an elderly lady who wanted him to go on record defending Medicare and Medicaid. Trying mightily, the old lady forced him into stuttering of the sort that tells listeners this guy is just a goddamned loser. Later, in the debate, Romney shined about as much as a sodium lamp in Jack The Ripper's foggy London.
Tim Pawlenty, a dead-ringer for Lee Harvey Oswald and a former Minnesota governor, took his best shots at fellow Minnesotan Bachmann, labeling her a leader of failed causes. He drew a laugh when he noted that Bachmann was listing a legislative bill to do with energy-conserving light bulbs as one of her three main accomplishments. Bachmann, perhaps drawing on her household needs & wants, could only stare at him as if Pawlenty just didn't get the thing women have for light in the home.
To be sure, Bachmann simply does not deserve to be in the presidential race. Pawlenty and her critics are right: She has done little and knows next to nothing.
Sparking the event, however, was Texas Congressman Ron Paul. He took his belt and lashed the U.S. for its meddling in the Middle East, especially as it relates to Iran. It isn't the first time the flinty Paul has gone after Uncle Sam's wicked geo-politics. On the Fox Network, his words seemed seditious; anywhere else, they would have been applauded for being, well, real. It's too bad Ron Paul is so old. He brought back the 1950s in one reference to how the U.S. postured the late Shah of Iran as some goofy American puppet, a calculated planting Paul says eventually led to the anti-American bullshit we now get from Tehran.
As theatre, the debate was one of those Off-Broadway shows you get in New York for $8, amateurish casts talking loudly, but nonethless coming from the dreamer ranks...
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13 comments:
dead-on article. They all looked worse than Obama. Perry won't help.
ALL:...We don't necessarily agree with all comments approved here, but we do adhere to the policy of allowing commentary on issues-of-the-day. Opinions are personal and should be seen as such... - Editor
Mr. Editor, you can't brush it off if it is true. There are rcaists in the Valley. just look around and listen.
Race is everywhere. people are proud of their own. It's here to stay.
Excuse me, excuse me, mr. Editor, if Hispanics are racist it is because we learned from the Anglo Saxons.
They were racist toward the native Americans, they were racist toward the Oriental's who built the railways, they are racist towards Afro Americans, who they used as slaves, these people are racist towards anyone who disagrees with their views. Even their own.
I was glad someone started exposing Michele Bachman and her make believe record of accomplishemts. I think this wiecked witch is blowing in the wind. I don't know how anyone can take her serious.
Good showing Tim P.
Ron Paul was right, the US needs to quit meddling in another coutries business and take care of America. Look at the unemployment lines, and the stock market, need I say more.
I wonder why Herman Cain keeps bringing up, Sherria Law, or something like that. Herman, you are no more than a joke, bro, you don't stand a chance. You and Newt, Rick S. and Michele B. are losers, bro.
Yesterday, on Al Sharpton’s TV program there was a cartoon in the lower left of the picture during most of the program. The cartoon depicted President Obama as Alfred E. Neuman, written underneath, the phrase "What? Me worry?" This was on a regular cable news network not Fox. A lot of Democrats, including myself, are left feeling a sense of loss. Blaming one group or another is not going to change how the voting public views President Obama; his numbers are way down in all of the national polls. I fear that come the election in November 2012, many Democrats will be swept from office, and once again the Republicans will hold the Whitehouse and both houses of Congress. Now is the time for the DNC to start looking for viable candidates to run for President. Time is slipping away.
As it looks now, the Republicans will nominate either Romney or Perry with Bachmann filling out the ticket. It is not a matter of their qualifications; it is a matter of perception, one of failed leadership by President Obama’s team. As it stands now, either combination of Perry/Bachmann or Romney/Bachmann will beat President Obama - regardless of any running mate except Hillary. If Hilary changes her mind and accepts the VP slot, there is a chance we can hold onto the Whitehouse and win back the House. Of course, Hillary will be too old (69) to take seriously in 2016 as a presidential candidate unless she is already the VP, or as the sitting president should she win the nomination this time around and win in the general election.
Keep an eye on Florida U.S. Senator and Cuban-American Marco Rubio as a Vice-Pres candidate for the Republicans. He'll be used to vacuum a few Hispanics to the GOP's fold. Perry may end up being offered the V-P, mainly becuase he is in the Dan Quayle mental league, just not smart enough to be president. But there are others whose names have as yet not surfaced.
Rick Perry's transcript was on the Huffington post sometime back. The grades were nothing to brag about.
Damn, in Harlingen the blog war's continue, Tony Chapa is now fighting with the Chickenbuckets, myleadernews, and now he is blaming the editor of this blog of instigating problems.
That chapa guy fights with everyone, when I see him at el rancho rest, he reminds me of a flea, no vale sebo.
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