The Presidential Election 2012: Looking Back

The 2016 election is on the horizon, but sometimes it is good to look back at previous years. During the 2012 campaign, I endeavored to take a break from political commentary because it never really does anyone any good, but I had to comment on the cheer-leading I read about Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. Here is what I thought during the 2012 campaign:

During the last four years anyone who remotely supports Obama has been called an Obamabot, or how we revere Obama like Jesus, but I guess all these generalizations go out the window when it comes to Romney and company. Personally, I did not get the appeal of Romney's use of paternal language talking about how he has five sons and "knows" Obama is lying about his wanting to cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans, which those who have done their research all know he does plan on cutting corporate tax records. Flip-flopping will not get you out of this one. However, the weird defenses and cheer-leading for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan seem very surreal to me.

You know the real media is supposed to be watchdogs of the government, and Paul Ryan complaining about an unfair question thrown his way during the election is a bit disconcerting. Now we hear that Ryan thinks that interview questions should be scripted, and I find that to be censorship.

He does not want to address how he wants to cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans but claims he is in support of after-school programs for kids. Ryan is in favor of cutting many domestic programs that help Americans because he is allegedly supposedly, all about prosperity for our people. This prosperity comes at a cost, and he will not be losing sleep at night if inner city kids have less funding for programs such as Head Start. Well, Ryan is in support of after school programs for kids that do not require our taxpayer dollars, and are religious based. The secular-minded people are out of luck if they want to send their kids to Head Start or Girls and Boys Club, which happen to receive some federal funding. Ryan would love to cut even more aid from federally funded programs like Head Start and Girls and Boys Club, but he is not worried about this. Of course, talk about starting a new war with Iran is definitely on the agenda, and Romney and Ryan have talked a lot about how they see war as inevitable. No camp David Accords or Clinton Peace talks on their watch.

Not sure why the interventionist pro-Romney crowd think thus, but I guess they have never watched documentaries on refugees and displacements of populations. I suppose they have not read the studies or met the homeless veterans who are psychologically scarred by war. I even had a few pro-war people tell me how peachy it would be to increase our military expenditures, but how welfare recipients are draining our economy. Never mind that in a civilized international community we take care of our own people, and actually take into consideration the interests and rights of other countries. So many Americans are tired of military intervention everywhere, and talk about how they want to cut a teacher's salary here. You just cannot make those arguments anymore as we have caught you on it. There is this thing called YouTube, and a lot of us to do rely on the regular news to get our info.

I really do not even take these musings seriously as it seems all the Romney and Ryan supporters are over protective of their candidates, by will attack Obama at all angles. Some are talking about what a great Catholic Ryan is, and others are using swear words and derogatory put-downs for anyone who thinks a reporter should not just throw Ryan softballs.I hate to break it to you, but Ryan is not my priest or rabbi, and I do not care about his religion as it has no place in government. Actually, if you keep telling me what a good Catholic he is and knowing he was to cut family planning services for women, I am going to see him as mixing religion with politics, which is a no-no per our Constitution.

I pretty much ignored the Republican debates, but I heard some comments from Ron Paul made on the Jay Leno show about how Michelle Bachman does not like Muslim people. That was enough to make me not want to watch those debates, and even watching Romney flip flopping and interrupting at the debate with Obama was not my cup of tea. At that moment I had the urge to scrub my bathtub as I knew it would be much more stimulating, truly.

I really do not think brash people win debates, and I still found many articulate points Obama made during his contributions to the first presidential debate. However, I want to see Obama be harder on Romney next debate, and point on his outsourcing. Ryan and Romney do not have my best interests in mind, or most average Americans best interests for that manner, and many of us are not their groupies. Swear words and putting his detractors "in their place" will not win people over to your side. Usually the more surreal and emotional the verbiage, the more bonkers and unrealistic the presidential and vice presidential candidate. Ryan and Romney take the cake, as there were actually things I liked about John McCain. Sarah Palin was a bit over the top, but John McCain himself actually made a few good moderate points. That Republican party has gone farther to the right, and even though I was never a conservative, it was much easier to perhaps find common ground with them twenty years ago. Now it is all about playing by their rules. Obama needs to stop trying to find common ground with these people as they think they know everything.