Current Republican front runner Texas Gov. Rick Perry
Well, it’s great to be back at Conn after vacation, and I hope that everyone was able to kick back and relax a little. I was up in Maine for most of this summer, and it kept me away somewhat from all the politics and news. You can imagine, then, how much catching up I’ve had to do in the last week or so. As it turns out, quite a bit has happened! Let’s take a quick look around the world of politics to see where we stand.
We have a new Republican presidential frontrunner, in case anyone was wondering. Texas Gov. Rick Perry has risen to the top of an anemic field, leading former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney 30% to 18% according to the latest CNN poll. The Tea Party has welcomed Perry’s entrance, and it isn’t surprising. Let’s face it; it’s obvious the Michelle Bachmann campaign has a very committed base. Unfortunately, that base seems to be about 4% of the Republican electorate. Perry and Bachmann are fairly indistinguishable on many major policy issues (Bachmann has a slightly more conservative reputation, but considering Perry recently took pride in having allowed 234 executions in Texas and compared Social Security to a Ponzi scheme, I think it’s going to be hard to out-conservative him.) Tea Party supporters haven’t had a hard time switching to the Perry camp, probably because they see an extreme conservative gaining traction in the polls with the donors. The donors, of course, see a handsome, religious politician with an affable handshake, an agreeable grin, an empty head, and a willingness to be influenced by business interests. What’s not to love?
President Obama just released his new jobs plan in a well received speech the other night. To some of us on the left who had criticized Obama as being weak against the Republicans and slow to respond forcefully to attacks, the speech offered a ray of hope in this period of an eternally cloudy capital. As strange as it sounds, a $447 billion job creation act is a small price to pay for avoiding a potential double-dip recession. The bill includes large spending on infrastructure, which we were going to need to replace in the future as it is, as well as hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts for middle and working class Americans.
Quick quiz for American Tax Policy 101; what makes more sense in a recession, a) cutting taxes for the wealthy, or b) for the poor and middle class? If you answered a, you should probably stop watching Fox News and reading the Wall Street Journal so much, and if you answered b, well done! As much as the Republicans hate to admit it, the money from tax cuts is much more likely to be spent by people at the bottom of the socio-economic than by those at the top. Having many people spend money on food, household appliances and college educations right now helps the economy more than the top one percent of the tax bracket saving up for new yachts and airplanes they may not ever even buy.
Sunday marked the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and I was at least hopeful that the country could mark the occasion by putting incendiary rhetoric and blatant politicking to the side for a day. Of course, I was wrong. The NRA sent an e-mail to its supporters detailing the bravery of some American firefighters and troops. The message came with an appeal to donate to the NRA so it could “tell more stories” like those in the e-mail. I almost feel silly articulating what’s wrong with this, because it seems so simple. The NRA certainly doesn’t need your money to tell stories of American heroism. After all, they just sent an email with the stories, and the last time I checked, it didn’t take a stamp to send an email. So instead, they’ll use this money to fund the gun lobby. Because obviously, that’s just what America needs. On the anniversary of the day where we saw the horrifying death of over 3,000 of our fellow Americans, I just can’t picture what could possibly be more appropriate than fundraising for assault rifles.
And in case anyone still remembers this guy, Tim Pawlenty endorsed Mitt Romney for president. That should bring at least a dozen votes into the Romney column.
