Romney Wins Two Primaries: So What!, a Short Story and Some Haiku

Signs of Schizophrenia in the G.O.P. Race

Even though Mitt Romney edged out Ron Santorum in the G.O.P.’s Michigan primary (he won by three percentage points) and waltzed to a victory in Arizona, there still is much cause for alarm among Mitt’s supporters for the Republican nomination.  Having sold its soul to the its right wing in order to win their majority in the House of Representatives, the party is forced to take an ultra conservative view on social issues (abortion, contraception, education, woman’s rights, welfare, labor unions, the environment) which automatically weakens its appeal to the middle-of-the-road independent voter.  Without them, victory in a national election is impossible.   

Rick Santorum represents these antediluvian positions, and to a lesser extent, so does Newt Gingrich.  Last week, I suggested that Newt’s financial backers are keeping him in the race only to prevent his support from drifting over to Santorum which would enable him to outgun Romney in any and all primary races.  Thus, Romney’s chances are preserved by Gingrich’s presence in the race by those who know that Mitt is the only Republican candidate who has a chance of giving the President a battle in the November election. With each step he takes to the right in order to get votes in the primaries, however, Romney loses appeal to independents.

Obviously, Romney is uncomfortable in treading on this ground.  It is strange to him. And it shows like a beacon.  He blurts out words he thinks will appeal to the voters like “I like the trees in Michigan; they’re just the right size” and counters his opposition to the bailout of the auto industry by saying that his wife drives two Cadillacs. Drivers of five year old Fords don't like to hear this.  He is the picture of someone ill at ease with himself, as if he is wondering whether to continue being a right-winger if he gets the nomination, or whether he should move back to the center at that point, or whether he can go in both directions simultaneously.  He is turning into a schizophrenic candidate, and that certainly is no qualification for the White House.  Watch his eyes when he speaks.  They are revealing.

And getting back to Santorum, I guess Rick couldn't afford the tuition at private Catholic colleges so he went to Penn State for his undergraduate degree, Pitt for an MBA and finally back to Penn State's law school (Dickenson Law School) for his law degree. Other than the MBA, Rick's education was partially tax-payer funded since he attended state schools.  I suppose that is where he learned all about the liberal nature of the university community which he now feels causes students to lose their "faith commitment" and are no more than "indoctrination mills."   

This is just one more nail in the coffin of what used to be the Republican Party. It is now starting to dawn on me that Obama may possibly be the first presidential candidate to carry all fifty states, if only by virtue of women voters.  A Santorum candidacy may make that possible, so that is precisely why that will not happen.  There’s a whole mess of primaries next week.  Let’s see what happens.  If the unelectable Rick Santorum dominates them, look for someone else (Mitch Daniels or Jeb Bush) to get the G.O.P. nomination this summer. 
Jack Lippman

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Let me quote from David Brooks' recent column in the  New York Times, in which he accused mainstream Republicans (Brooks is a Republican) of behaving like opossums, slipping into a coma every time they are challenged from the right. He concludes his column with these words adapted from a phrase used about others who ignored what what was happening around them: "First they went after the Rockefeller Republicans, but I was not a Rockefeller Republican.  Then they went after the compassionate conservatives, but I was not a compassionate conservative.  Then they went after the mainstream conservatives, and there was no one left to speak for me." 

                                                                

Haiku - Sandals in the Snow

There are many forms which the Japanese poetry style known as “haiku” takes.  The easiest to compose usually describes something in nature, with five syllables in the first and third lines, and seven in the middle line.  They need not rhyme.  An example might be:

  Snowflakes will not grow,

  Into three foot drifts if they

  Melt under the sun.

But a haiku can be about anything you wish.  Try writing some (in that 5-7-5 pattern) and send them to this blog at the E-mail address indicated in the heading.  Here are a few ideas.  Perhaps you will win a prize.

  If your feet are cold,

  That’s what you get for wearing

  Sandals in the snow.

                              

  Banks too big to fail

  Can do exactly that if

  Uncle Sam allows.

                                            
I was "googling" for a picture of a bank to include at this point, but I came up with this picture of Tyra Banks which looks a lot better than what we all know bank buildings look like.

JL

                                                         

Scorecard:  Over the past seven days, this blog was viewed by 48 viewers in the United States, six in Russia, three each in Germany and South Aftrica, two in Slovenia and Brazil, and one each in the United Kingdom, France, South Korea and Nigeria. 


                                                         

And here's that short story taken from my "archives." 

                                                         Roses

The gate opened.  No longer blocked by it, I rushed forward with all of my might.  To my left and to my right, others were doing the same thing.  I couldn’t run as fast as some of them so I soon fell behind, but looking over my shoulder, I saw that there were others even behind where I was in the throng.  One had stumbled but quickly recovered his footing, probably fearing the lashing all of us remembered having been subjected to at one time or another.  The dirt being kicked up by those ahead of me was pelting my face uncomfortably.  I’m a pretty athletic guy but still, I couldn’t see myself running like this for much more than just a few more minutes. But that’s all I would have to do in order to be able to get to a point about a mile from where I had started running.  Then I would have made it and it would be over.  I settled in comfortably behind a couple of hurtling shadows in front of me, determined not to fall back any further, straining every muscle in my body to keep moving.  I saw one of my cousins to my left doing the same thing, as flecks of foam flew out of his mouth.  Suddenly, without explanation, a space opened up between the pair in front of me and almost simultaneously, I felt a stinging pain across my right side.  And then, sharply, I felt the stinging pain once again.  The opening was still there before me and summoning my last reserves of energy, I surged through it and continued running, although at that point, I couldn’t even see where I was going.  My head was spinning and my thoughts went back to when I was a toddler, playing with Mama in the grass.  Sweet memories, they were.   Continuing charging onward as fast as I could, I must have been drawing upon reserves of strength I hadn’t even known I possessed.  Suddenly, I could almost smell the roses.  “Go, baby, Go,” a voice from somewhere above whispered.  This is what it feels like to win the Kentucky Derby.

JL

Here's a question:  How far into the story did you read before you recognized that the story teller was not "home sapiens." 

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Jack Lippman

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                                                 Animal Kingdom, 2011 Kentucky Derby Winner

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