Newts, Man Dates, Republicans in the Garden of Eden, and Inadvertent Truth

In the category of inadvertent truth: Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich calls Paul Ryan's plan to end Medicare "radical right wing social engineering." He ate crow from the right wing for a day and then ate humble pie. And in anticipation of the many televised ads showing his remarks, he now says, "Any ad that quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood." Reminds me of that old Yogi Berra remark, "I never said all the things I said."

In the category of What the F*** was he Thinking: Another Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum responds to Senator John McCain's impassioned speech against torture and the fact that torture did not lead to Osama Bin Laden's death. Senator McCain, said Rick Santorum, "doesn't understand enhanced interrogation." Presumably, one of Santorum's staff assistants will point out to him that McCain spent many years undergoing torture in a North Vietnamese camp.

Add Arnold Schwarzenegger's name to a long list of Republican men who can't keep their pants on. I know there are Democrats on that list, but the Republican's supposed fundamental Christian spouting off, provides a far greater contrast between the words and the actions on the hypocrisy scale.

On another amazing note, the National Rifle Association is fighting a gun law provision that would give the US Attorney authority to prohibit sales of weapons to suspected terrorists under surveillance pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Authority Act. I might add that US gun dealers are doing a bang up job of arming the Mexican drug cartels.

Next, the "mandates" developed by the conservative think tank, The Heritage Foundation, and supported by George W. Bush, Newt Gingrich, and incorporated into Massachusetts law under then Governor Mitt Romney, is now being challenged as unconstitutional by those same named persons and many states. The US Supreme Court will ultimately hear the case. I am developing a theory, however, that the issue is not a constitutional issue after all. In the context of Republican opposition to the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell and its support of the Defense of Marriage Act, and general opposition of gay rights everywhere all the time, the problem is the name "mandate." They just don't like man dates.

Finally, the Republican candidates for President are a shrinking group. Donald Trump flamed out in glorious fashion. Mike Huckabee is going after the FOX News $$$. Newt Gingrich is named after a small amphibian many of which produce toxins in their skin. Sounds about right. Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann are watching the other candidates self-destruct and biding their time although Sarah Palin is plummeting in the polls while Michele Bachmann is raising oodles of money. Another Republican maybe is Mitch Daniels, who as George W. Bush's Budget Director, oversaw the $256 Billion surplus left by President Clinton become a $400 Billion deficit in GWB's first two years before leaving. Hard to run on that.

So there you go.