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"I'm happy to learn that after I speak you're going to hear from Ann Coulter. That's a good thing. I think it's important to get the views of moderates."
— Mitt Romney (Comments at CPAC 3/2/2007)
Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, is well known for taking sensible positions and then pulling a 180. Last year, he said that the 2009 stimulus "will accelerate the timing of the start of the recovery," but this year he claimed it "has been a failure." Maybe his favorite footwear really is flip flops.
Evolving positions aren't always a bad thing -- but in the case of Mitt Romney, there's no evolution -- just a long series of complete reversals. Cap and Trade? For it before he was against it. Assault Weapons Ban? Yes and then no. Minimum Wage? "It ought to keep pace with inflation." That is until the other candidates say it stifles economic growth and it's time for Mitt to pull the old switcheroo.
Of course this bait-and-switch should come as no surprise to anyone who has looked into Mitt's supposed business experience. Bain Capital's M.O. was to buy up companies with the promise of helping them grow, then decimate their employees, sell-off their infrastructure and pocket the profits. Mitt claims to not be a career politician, but the truth is, his perpetual campaign for the presidency has probably created more jobs than his time in the private-sector ever did.
Evolving positions aren't always a bad thing -- but in the case of Mitt Romney, there's no evolution -- just a long series of complete reversals. Cap and Trade? For it before he was against it. Assault Weapons Ban? Yes and then no. Minimum Wage? "It ought to keep pace with inflation." That is until the other candidates say it stifles economic growth and it's time for Mitt to pull the old switcheroo.
Of course this bait-and-switch should come as no surprise to anyone who has looked into Mitt's supposed business experience. Bain Capital's M.O. was to buy up companies with the promise of helping them grow, then decimate their employees, sell-off their infrastructure and pocket the profits. Mitt claims to not be a career politician, but the truth is, his perpetual campaign for the presidency has probably created more jobs than his time in the private-sector ever did.
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"I don't know what y'all would do to him in Iowa, but we -- we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics... is almost treacherous -- or treasonous in my opinion."
— Rick Perry (New York Times 8/19/11)
In case Bush's presidency wasn't enough to prove that Texas Governors don't belong in the White House, Perry has done an outstanding job of making the point himself. But then again, who needs political leadership when you can rely on God to do the right thing? According to Perry, the economic crisis is part of God's plan, "to bring us back to those Biblical principles of, you know, you don't spend all the money." And his response to the BP Oil Spill and its disastrous effect on his state's coast was "from time to time there are going to be things that occur that are acts of God that cannot be prevented." Maybe Perry is just confusing God with Corporate America.
Beyond his tendency to dodge responsibility in the name of God's plan, Perry has shown his talent for out-Bushing Bush by flatly denying reality. In Perry's world, there is no scientific consensus on global warming, evolution is "a theory that's out there," and don't forget, Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.
Sounds like Perry is the one that's out there...
Beyond his tendency to dodge responsibility in the name of God's plan, Perry has shown his talent for out-Bushing Bush by flatly denying reality. In Perry's world, there is no scientific consensus on global warming, evolution is "a theory that's out there," and don't forget, Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.
Sounds like Perry is the one that's out there...
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"Carbon dioxide is portrayed as harmful. But there isn't even one study that can be produced that shows that carbon dioxide is a harmful gas."
— Michele Bachmann (Think Progress 4/24/09)
Michele is a Tea Party darling who represents Minnesota's 6th District in the House of Representatives. Known for her beyond-extreme views, her confusion about American history, her refusal to debate a 10th grader, and her Evangelical militancy, Bachmann has come out of nowhere, which seems to be where the facts to back up all her crazy ideas are.
With zero tolerance for policies that contradict her radically conservative social views, she also claims to hate federal spending -- until it helps her family that is. Her husband's "pray away the gay" clinic has received over $100,000 in public funds through Medicare payments and an employee training grant. And her hypocrisy doesn't stop there. Bachmann supported dismantling Fannie and Freddie -- the same month she took advantage of this government support to back her home loan.
As if everything else she's said and done weren't bad enough, Bachmann has called for McCarthyesque investigations of her colleagues for their "anti-America" views, simply because they aren't as rigidly irrational as her. Would her witch hunt include a history exam? If so she might not pass herself.
With zero tolerance for policies that contradict her radically conservative social views, she also claims to hate federal spending -- until it helps her family that is. Her husband's "pray away the gay" clinic has received over $100,000 in public funds through Medicare payments and an employee training grant. And her hypocrisy doesn't stop there. Bachmann supported dismantling Fannie and Freddie -- the same month she took advantage of this government support to back her home loan.
As if everything else she's said and done weren't bad enough, Bachmann has called for McCarthyesque investigations of her colleagues for their "anti-America" views, simply because they aren't as rigidly irrational as her. Would her witch hunt include a history exam? If so she might not pass herself.
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"[The Civil Rights Act of 1964] did not improve race relations or enhance freedom. Instead, the forced integration dictated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 increased racial tensions while diminishing individual liberty."
— Ron Paul (Talking Points Memo 5/21/10)
Despite watching his campaign manager and friend, Kent Snyder, die from pneumonia because Kent couldn't get insurance due to a pre-existing condition, Ron Paul remains staunchly opposed to health care reform. But when destroying all social support systems is his reason to run for higher office, how could Ron Paul take a less heartless position?
Ron Paul takes libertarian views to an extreme (Remember the gold standard? Ron Paul sure does). That is, until it comes to social issues. While he thinks the government had no place helping citizens of his own state of Texas recover from hurricanes and other natural disasters -- or keeping guns off of airplanes -- he does believe the government has a place in preventing women from controlling their own bodies and individuals from marrying the person they love.
He may have packaged himself as a true libertarian, but Ron Paul is really just an ultra-conservative -- he takes government de-regulation to unprecedented extremes while supporting government intervention when it comes to social policy.
Ron Paul takes libertarian views to an extreme (Remember the gold standard? Ron Paul sure does). That is, until it comes to social issues. While he thinks the government had no place helping citizens of his own state of Texas recover from hurricanes and other natural disasters -- or keeping guns off of airplanes -- he does believe the government has a place in preventing women from controlling their own bodies and individuals from marrying the person they love.
He may have packaged himself as a true libertarian, but Ron Paul is really just an ultra-conservative -- he takes government de-regulation to unprecedented extremes while supporting government intervention when it comes to social policy.
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"I admire Congressman Paul Ryan's honest attempt to save Medicare."
— Jon Huntsman (Washington Monthly 6/1/11)
Jon Huntsman has taken the route of painting the rest of the field as crazy — not that that is hard to do — while he tries to portray himself as the sole moderate, but don't let him fool you. Huntsman is strongly anti-choice. As Governor of Utah he worked to dramatically restrict a woman's right to choose. But his pro-life view apparently stops there — he supports the death penalty.
Also, in case one flip-flopper in the field wasn't enough, Huntsman has done his best to disavow some of his previously sensible positions. Cap and Trade to protect the environment? He was for it before his run for the GOP nomination. Health-care mandates? Like Romney, he was for them before he started campaigning.
Huntsman promises he would "absolutely" veto an assault weapons ban, and jokes that with a name like his how could he not? But since when do hunters use assault weapons?
Also, in case one flip-flopper in the field wasn't enough, Huntsman has done his best to disavow some of his previously sensible positions. Cap and Trade to protect the environment? He was for it before his run for the GOP nomination. Health-care mandates? Like Romney, he was for them before he started campaigning.
Huntsman promises he would "absolutely" veto an assault weapons ban, and jokes that with a name like his how could he not? But since when do hunters use assault weapons?
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"In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality... It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog. It is one thing."
— Rick Santorum (USA Today 4/23/03)
Santorum's Google problem is only funny because he is so outrageously homophobic. Besides trying to make being anti-gay a fulltime job, he actually thinks the government should step in and keep consenting adults from deciding what to do in their own homes. And in response to news covering the sexual abuse committed by priests on minors, Santorum notoriously said "While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm."
According to Santorum, liberals aren't only responsible for sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, but also keeping America's children from learning the country's history. Noting that history is one of America's worst subjects, he has said that it's because of "a conscious effort on the part of the left, who has a huge influence on our curriculum, to desensitize America to what American values are so they are more pliable to the new values that they would like to impose on America."
The thing is, Santorum's not so great at history himself. Not to be outdone by Bachmann's confusion about Revolutionary history, Santorum has said that Thomas Jefferson would be "spinning in his grave" over separation of church and state. The same Jefferson who coined the phrase "wall of separation?"
Maybe Santorum thought he was talking about Mexico...
According to Santorum, liberals aren't only responsible for sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, but also keeping America's children from learning the country's history. Noting that history is one of America's worst subjects, he has said that it's because of "a conscious effort on the part of the left, who has a huge influence on our curriculum, to desensitize America to what American values are so they are more pliable to the new values that they would like to impose on America."
The thing is, Santorum's not so great at history himself. Not to be outdone by Bachmann's confusion about Revolutionary history, Santorum has said that Thomas Jefferson would be "spinning in his grave" over separation of church and state. The same Jefferson who coined the phrase "wall of separation?"
Maybe Santorum thought he was talking about Mexico...
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"There is this attempt to gradually ease sharia law, and the Muslim faith into our government."
— Herman Cain (Think Progress 3/26/11)
With zero political experience, former CEO of Godfather's Pizza Herman Cain touts his 9-9-9 plan every chance he gets. No, it isn't a pizza deal -- it's his alarmingly regressive tax proposal: replace the federal income tax with a nine percent flat tax, a nine percent corporate tax and a nine percent national sales tax (Not that that would stifle consumer spending or anything). His plan would bring in an estimated $360 billion less than current government revenue.
But don't worry, Cain promises to clean up government spending, with proposals like building a Great Wall of China ("That sucker is real high") right here in America. Of course our wall would outdo theirs: "part Great Wall and part electrical technology... twenty-foot wall, barbed wire, electrified on the top."
And that's not even his craziest idea! In June 2011, he declared that if it were up to him, he would put "oil and coal CEOs in charge of EPA regulations." Sounds like a winner.
But don't worry, Cain promises to clean up government spending, with proposals like building a Great Wall of China ("That sucker is real high") right here in America. Of course our wall would outdo theirs: "part Great Wall and part electrical technology... twenty-foot wall, barbed wire, electrified on the top."
And that's not even his craziest idea! In June 2011, he declared that if it were up to him, he would put "oil and coal CEOs in charge of EPA regulations." Sounds like a winner.
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"I have two grandchildren... I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."
— Newt Gingrich (Politico 3/28/11)
Newt Gingrich might like to think of himself as a do-it-yourself-er. But that's probably only because everyone who has ever worked on his campaign has quit. Shortly after his presidential campaign began, his campaign manager and about a half-dozen senior staff all bailed out in frustration.
Maybe they were having difficulties because Newt was too busy saying offensive things to actually do any work. Things like calling Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor "a racist" -- or saying that poor and black people fail to acquire wealth partly because of their "habits." Maybe it was because he seemed more interested in raking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in Tiffany's bills, vacationing and going on book tours than finding solutions to our country's problems.
Clearly, Newt has a problem getting along with others. When Rep. Ryan released his draconian proposal to slash Medicare and Medicaid spending, Newt actually said something reasonable and called it radical. That is until he realized that "radical" was the new Republican standard and desperately tried to walk back his comments. He really just wants you to like him -- or at least to buy one of his books.
Maybe they were having difficulties because Newt was too busy saying offensive things to actually do any work. Things like calling Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor "a racist" -- or saying that poor and black people fail to acquire wealth partly because of their "habits." Maybe it was because he seemed more interested in raking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in Tiffany's bills, vacationing and going on book tours than finding solutions to our country's problems.
Clearly, Newt has a problem getting along with others. When Rep. Ryan released his draconian proposal to slash Medicare and Medicaid spending, Newt actually said something reasonable and called it radical. That is until he realized that "radical" was the new Republican standard and desperately tried to walk back his comments. He really just wants you to like him -- or at least to buy one of his books.
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"The number one thing that the federal government could do to improve education in this country would be to eliminate the Department of Education."
— Gary Johnson (Washington Examiner 6/21/11)
This two-term governor from New Mexico is out to prove that one libertarian in the race isn't enough. Johnson's biggest claim to fame is that while governor he vetoed more bills than the other 49 state executives combined. Not more than the others individually, more than all of them combined, for a grand total of 750 vetoes. Do we really want a president whose proudest accomplishment is saying no to things? (Well, to be fair, he has said yes to cutting corporate taxes, privatizing prisons and imposing a regressive flat tax guaranteed to hurt working-class Americans and help the wealthy.)
It should come as no surprise then that his main objective is to slash government programs, never mind how many millions of lives they've improved. He'd gut Medicare and Medicaid by 43%. He'd abolish the Department of Education. He's already declared Social Security bankrupt. And the United States? Well, he's written us off as bankrupt too.
What is worse, that the highlight from his last debate performance was a poop joke, or that he stole the joke from Rush Limbaugh?
It should come as no surprise then that his main objective is to slash government programs, never mind how many millions of lives they've improved. He'd gut Medicare and Medicaid by 43%. He'd abolish the Department of Education. He's already declared Social Security bankrupt. And the United States? Well, he's written us off as bankrupt too.
What is worse, that the highlight from his last debate performance was a poop joke, or that he stole the joke from Rush Limbaugh?