P
PACE
Guest
Prisms are well known for light speed retardant capabilities, in fact, that is their function; slow down the speed of light so the entire color spectrum is visible to the human eye, Raindrops do this post a heavy rainfall, given enough light, you are blessed with a rainbow.
The Iowa caucus served as a prism last night, to slow down the speed of rhetoric so that the color spectrum of the GOP hopefuls was fully exposed to the naked human eye.
The vote split, between Romney and Santorum speaks volumes to the real divisiveness in the GOP; Romney, the true retail politician, the safe bet to beat Obama, is neck to neck with the social conservative, Rick Santorum, with the purist, Ron Paul, behind them.
Now, looking at the flash poll conducted in New Hampshire, you'll see Romney with a healthly lead, but surprisingly enough, Huntsman, who registered 1% in Iowa, while never campaigning there, streaks up the ladder to sit comfortably behind Romney.
So this creates a bit of a conundrum for the GOP; while Iowa who has the burden of first, clearly sent a message that the party is indeed split, New Hampshire sends a message that they are leaning towards the fiscal conservatives, or rather in this case, dare I say it, moderate republicans, It's no wonder, New Hampshire and of course Maine still hold the most moderate of all Republican Senators, Collins and Snowe, and remember that Rhode Island wasn't far behind for a while with Chaffee. These Senators were the disciples of Bob Dole, who did a fine job in organizing consensus in the Senate.
But you have a raw edge to the GOP which will not compromise, and they will battle any progress in order to promote an agenda, and that would be, make Barack Obama a one term president.
Romney, in his congratulatory speech last night, repeated this dog whistle for those who are not voting his way. He basically pushed aside those who did support him and in typical corporatist ruthless fashion, went after the "market share" he missed.
Of course he did, but that's just the fever, it's really not the virus,
The virus is the raw edge of the GOP further pushing the GOP to the extreme right, while the country remains moderately middle, slightly left or right. This is reminiscent of the Progressive Party or the Bull Moose Party of TR's time, when the party indeed split, and cost themselves politically. I happen to think that TR was correct when he showed outright ire at the machinations of Standard Oil and old man Taft, but in the end, it caused failure, and it was in direct conflict with a democratic way of thinking; the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
Now Santorum, more than likely sincere in his family/faith values, has stepped into territory where he has no quarter, no experience, and no credability, that would be foreign policy. Santorum never once engaged himself as a spear carrier for aggressive foreign policy, why would he have any creds now? he was a US senator and had many opportunities at the time to champion a strong foreign policy, maybe it's because others did it for him, and he does not see that now. Well, that could be the case, but certainly Rick cannot campaign on his experience in this arena, and for that matter, neither can Romney.
In fact, I would feign to guess that both Romney and Santorum have not made many friends either at State or the DOD with their reckless and politically motivated comments concerning foreign policy, specifically Iran. Our DOD is well aware that Iran has a strong Air military compentency, and while cooler heads have prevailed, the comments made to "gather market share" must be considered immature at best and malovent at worst when it comes to this campaign.
But what is surprising, is the change in the GOP; GOP was considered the party of strong military might, and respect thru fear in the world arena, also they are known for being lock step and shoring up behind their blue ribbon taker, no matter what. And let's not forget, there was a modicum of common denominators among the GOP faithful; most importantly, lower taxes.
Now you have a clear color band in the GOP, which is reminiscent of the Democratic party of the 60's. There were purists, radicals, social progressives, etc, and it was a fractious and contentious group who finally came together to organize under the credo, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few".
I would be very interested in seeing the flash polls today in South Carolina, I would be very surprised not to see Santorum at the top of the group. But then again, this GOP is intriguing and interesting for a change.
But their colors are showing, very clearly, and theres another point to made, contrary to popular belief, these candidates are unique in another way;
They really don't like each other, and the all famous talent to compartmentalize one's opinions and facets of life may fail here. Look JFK made compartmentalization of his life a pre-requisite for the presidency, From what I am seeing and hearing, I would say, except for Romney, who appears to have no soul, every one of them would fail in this regard.
JFK had a soul
Romney has a focus group
Love the colors, as usual, they are brilliant
Regards
Pace
The Iowa caucus served as a prism last night, to slow down the speed of rhetoric so that the color spectrum of the GOP hopefuls was fully exposed to the naked human eye.
The vote split, between Romney and Santorum speaks volumes to the real divisiveness in the GOP; Romney, the true retail politician, the safe bet to beat Obama, is neck to neck with the social conservative, Rick Santorum, with the purist, Ron Paul, behind them.
Now, looking at the flash poll conducted in New Hampshire, you'll see Romney with a healthly lead, but surprisingly enough, Huntsman, who registered 1% in Iowa, while never campaigning there, streaks up the ladder to sit comfortably behind Romney.
So this creates a bit of a conundrum for the GOP; while Iowa who has the burden of first, clearly sent a message that the party is indeed split, New Hampshire sends a message that they are leaning towards the fiscal conservatives, or rather in this case, dare I say it, moderate republicans, It's no wonder, New Hampshire and of course Maine still hold the most moderate of all Republican Senators, Collins and Snowe, and remember that Rhode Island wasn't far behind for a while with Chaffee. These Senators were the disciples of Bob Dole, who did a fine job in organizing consensus in the Senate.
But you have a raw edge to the GOP which will not compromise, and they will battle any progress in order to promote an agenda, and that would be, make Barack Obama a one term president.
Romney, in his congratulatory speech last night, repeated this dog whistle for those who are not voting his way. He basically pushed aside those who did support him and in typical corporatist ruthless fashion, went after the "market share" he missed.
Of course he did, but that's just the fever, it's really not the virus,
The virus is the raw edge of the GOP further pushing the GOP to the extreme right, while the country remains moderately middle, slightly left or right. This is reminiscent of the Progressive Party or the Bull Moose Party of TR's time, when the party indeed split, and cost themselves politically. I happen to think that TR was correct when he showed outright ire at the machinations of Standard Oil and old man Taft, but in the end, it caused failure, and it was in direct conflict with a democratic way of thinking; the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
Now Santorum, more than likely sincere in his family/faith values, has stepped into territory where he has no quarter, no experience, and no credability, that would be foreign policy. Santorum never once engaged himself as a spear carrier for aggressive foreign policy, why would he have any creds now? he was a US senator and had many opportunities at the time to champion a strong foreign policy, maybe it's because others did it for him, and he does not see that now. Well, that could be the case, but certainly Rick cannot campaign on his experience in this arena, and for that matter, neither can Romney.
In fact, I would feign to guess that both Romney and Santorum have not made many friends either at State or the DOD with their reckless and politically motivated comments concerning foreign policy, specifically Iran. Our DOD is well aware that Iran has a strong Air military compentency, and while cooler heads have prevailed, the comments made to "gather market share" must be considered immature at best and malovent at worst when it comes to this campaign.
But what is surprising, is the change in the GOP; GOP was considered the party of strong military might, and respect thru fear in the world arena, also they are known for being lock step and shoring up behind their blue ribbon taker, no matter what. And let's not forget, there was a modicum of common denominators among the GOP faithful; most importantly, lower taxes.
Now you have a clear color band in the GOP, which is reminiscent of the Democratic party of the 60's. There were purists, radicals, social progressives, etc, and it was a fractious and contentious group who finally came together to organize under the credo, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few".
I would be very interested in seeing the flash polls today in South Carolina, I would be very surprised not to see Santorum at the top of the group. But then again, this GOP is intriguing and interesting for a change.
But their colors are showing, very clearly, and theres another point to made, contrary to popular belief, these candidates are unique in another way;
They really don't like each other, and the all famous talent to compartmentalize one's opinions and facets of life may fail here. Look JFK made compartmentalization of his life a pre-requisite for the presidency, From what I am seeing and hearing, I would say, except for Romney, who appears to have no soul, every one of them would fail in this regard.
JFK had a soul
Romney has a focus group
Love the colors, as usual, they are brilliant
Regards
Pace