It’s a hot time for politics in the Republican party. Once they crapped out in Vegas, all the money grubbers headed over to Iowa, spewing their Christian venom, throwing around accusations that bore little or no truth and generally playing clown to Iowa’s farcical election primary process.
As has been the case in the last half century, the Republicans understand that the Iowa constituency is small minded and so they bring their full wrath to small focused problems, problems like gay marriage and abortion. Is the Christian right so lacking in intellectual stimulation that they don’t understand how insignificant it is to the general population, whether two men get married or whether a woman who can’t support a child gets an abortion? The problems of who marries who, or who gets an abortion are not on the list of things necessary to keep this country successful?
Are the Christian conservatives so out of tune with reality that they will let these two relatively small social issues dominate what little independent thought they manage to bring to the table? Apparently so. Now we all know that neither abortion nor gay marriage are small issues to those that are dealing with them on a daily basis, but only as they relate to more universal issues like low wages, immigration or education, all of which are far more universal in the cross sections of the community that they effect. Regardless, the Right has chosen to highlight these problems because they can be more easily demagogued to a more intellectually limited, Christian conservative flock.
At the Jewish Coalition affair, hosted by Sheldon Adelson, the various GOP candidates all did their best to show the billionaire and the rest of the rich Israeli favoring attendees how much they really love Israel as long as Adelson shells out some of his big bucks for them. Be interesting to see how many are still big time advocates of Bibi and his buddies when Adelson stiffs them.
Rick Perry ranted about the dangers of the nuclear pact that we are working on with Iran, without actually being able to read well enough to peruse it. Mike Pence genuflected before Adelson while dramatically calling Israel our most cherished ally, a comment that really had to stick in the craw of a dedicated bigot like Pence.
When Ted Cruz told a joke about baby’s names in Israel, he attempted to do it in Jay Leno style. He crashed and burned, proving what a disaster the White House press dinner would be if he were ever elected president.
The Republicans are off and running again, firing volleys of vitriol into the Hillary’s camp over, what is it now? Oh yeah, the Clinton Initiative and the money that is rolling into it from undisclosed sources. This one is so weak that before the first day of breaking stories, it was already fading from the headlines. It was only weak sisters like network news programing that continued to shill for it. The truth of the matter is, that if the GOP candidates had anything like a national policy to promote they wouldn’t have bothered with it but if you watch them attacking gays and abortion you realize that they have nothing to say about the real problems of the country because they are on the wrong side of all of them. Hence, the Clinton Initiative, which boils down to one very simple question. If big donors to political campaigns don’t have to be revealed, when their money is aimed at destroying the democratic system, why should people donating to a charity that is helping the needy all over the world have to have their names revealed? They are actually trying to do some good. Who cares where the money comes from to save the earthquake victims in Nepal? If Pakistan wants to get its name off the terrorist list and it will give money to help stop the next epidemic in the Congo, I say give till it hurts. I don’t know if Bill Clinton will put in a good word for you but I sure will.