republican presidential candidate Archives

Monday Morning News Roundup

Watch Raising Adam Lanza on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

For the most part, I enjoy watching Frontline. This particular Frontline tells the story of the Newtown, Connecticut shootings. Unfortunately, half of this episode spends a lot of time trying to re-create who Adam Lanza really was. I find that most re-creations are superficial and are not helpful. The second part deals with the debate over gun violence and gun control. This I find more fascinating. One reporter stated that this is the most divisive topic in the United States. There is no middle ground. He compared it to the abortion debate. I agree 100%.

I’m not sure why former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has decided that it’s time for him to step back into the spotlight. He still believes that he lost the presidential race because ObamaCare was too attractive to minority and low-income voters. One of these days, he will read some polls that were not generated by his own campaign and figure out that he was simply unpopular.

One of the promises of the Internet was that it was going to be able to bring high-quality education to everyone. New research suggests that people who are already at the back of the class, as far as learning goes, do poorly with online learning scenarios. (more…)

By ecthompsonmd|2013-03-05T21:09:32-04:00March 4th, 2013|NFL, Obama administration, Party Politics|Comments Off

Closing Arguments – Why I Continue to Support Barack Obama, Civil Rights

I just saw a commercial from the Crossroads PAC. Basically, the gist of the commercial was that Obama has really done nothing for us, so why would we need another four years? As I mentioned yesterday, Barack Obama prevented a second Great Depression. The fact that the economy was actually in free fall seems to escape the folks at Crossroads. The fact that Republicans proposed little or nothing that would’ve helped get us out of the free fall is not addressed in the commercial. Tax cuts, the Republican knee-jerk answer to almost any question, would not have gotten us out of the depression. Fixing the deficit by decreasing government spending and cuts to GDP would’ve worsened our economic situation. This is exactly what Herbert Hoover did in 1930 and ’31. It doesn’t work to fix the economy.

Sorry, I got off on a tangent. Back to my original thought – Barack Obama has stood up and strongly supported women and women’s rights. Basically, he has said that women should be able to decide what is best for their bodies. Now, I wish I could say something positive about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. I simply can’t. Mitt Romney has been a supporter of women’s choice in the past. That was back when he was a moderate, reasonable Republican. Those days are long gone. Now, Mitt Romney, who is trying to appeal to the tea party, does not believe that a woman should have the right to abortion – under any circumstances.

Do you remember when Sandra Fluke testified in front of Congress (well, not Congress because Republicans held a “health” forum and not one woman spoke, remember? So Ms. Fluke spoke in front of a Democratic House forum)? That was an opportunity for Rush Limbaugh to personally attack her. What did Mitt Romney do? Did he stand up for Sandra Fluke’s right to express herself? Did he stand up to Rush Limbaugh and and other conservatives who called Sandra Fluke a whore? Instead, it was Barack Obama who personally called her and encouraged her to speak out. The president didn’t have to do that, but this type of action is in his character. It is in his makeup.

For some reason, conservatives have acted as if the Lilly Ledbetter bill was no big deal. On the contrary, the Lilly Ledbetter Act is a big deal. The simple concept of equal pay for equal work seems to be foreign to Republicans. They say that they want to stand up for individuality. Not so much. Equal pay for equal work. Simple concept.

For all these reasons and more I voted for Barack Obama. He has stood up for the civil rights of all Americans.

By ecthompsonmd|2012-11-05T08:54:58-04:00November 4th, 2012|Civil Rights, Elections, Party Politics|Comments Off

State of confusion

I really try to avoid disparaging anybody. I just don’t think that adds to the political debate. There are plenty of people out there who are pointing fingers and making caricatures of the candidates. Yet, when you look at the Republican field it seems as if there is something missing. Like… a real candidate. Is it possible to have a conservative who is a real person and represents the average American?

Mitt Romney is stiff, wooden and doesn’t seem to have any core convictions besides making money. To say that he has flip-flopped on the issues does a disservice to people who flip-flop on the issues. Rick Perry is a phenomenon in and of himself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like this. I’m not sure how he’s been governor of Texas for over a decade. I’ve met Gov. Perry. He’s the only Republican presidential candidate that I’ve personally chatted with. He’s a nice guy. Unfortunately, he doesn’t come across in superficial conversation as being all that mentally astute. Unfortunately for him and his campaign, he could not have performed worse in the debates. I really think the nomination was his to lose after he stepped in the presidential race with a groundswell of support. He had the Tea Party in his back pocket. All he had to do was perform adequately in the debates. Instead, he tried to place himself to the right of everybody, more conservative than any of the other conservatives. Herman Cain may be the most personable. He comes across as comfortable in front of the microphone. Yet, it’s hard to imagine a conservative winning the nomination of the Republican Party with a different woman coming out of the closet every week and claiming either a sexual relationship or sexual harassment from/with Herman Cain. Then throw in that he’s quoting Pokémon and draws a complete blank on the biggest foreign policy story in the last six months (Libya). Remember Michele Bachmann? It was almost a year ago when Michele Bachmann was raking in millions of dollars and developing this seemingly unstoppable campaign. For the last several months, her poll numbers can’t break 10%. For the life of me I can’t see what conservatives see in Newt Gingrich. It is clear that Newt Gingrich is an interesting man. He’s extremely engaging. He’s extremely knowledgeable. But, it should be clear to everyone by now that Newt Gingrich is out for Newt Gingrich. He is constantly promoting himself, his books and his multiple companies (which all funnel money to him). Rick Santorum is simply out in right field. Remember when he thought the military had found Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction? He was adamant that they had been found. I think when you go out of your way to make a fool out of yourself on national TV, you don’t get to be president. Ron Paul is consistent but is not a conservative. He’s a libertarian. The two are not synonymous. I simply don’t know enough about Jon Huntsman to comment.

We must remember that it is still early in the presidential race. The Iowa caucuses are still five weeks away. There’s plenty of time for candidates to rise and fall and rise again. Yet, when it’s all said and done, I don’t think a strategy of giving more to the rich will win the general election.

By ecthompsonmd|2011-11-29T07:08:37-04:00November 29th, 2011|Elections|Comments Off