Super Tuesday is behind us and the road to the Presidency is just as foggy as ever. Both democratic candidates are claiming victory and the republican field is in some disarray, due to the “anti-vote” in support of Mike Huckabee.
Full disclosure, I pulled the lever (touched the screen) for McCain.
Huckabee appeals to the old line conservatives of the party who clamor for a rigid adherence to values. Although I think that Romney is the best manager in the group, the President has little effect on the economy. I prefer McCain’s stronger national security posture and flexible domestic policy.
Ron Paul had a decent showing in the northwest, a location of fierce independents and the former home of Ted Kaczinski (the Unabomber), various militias and many adherents to the “code of the west”. Paul, who hasn’t a prayer of influencing the convention or making a dent in the news cycle the moment he drops out of the race, remains the crotchety curmudgeon.
Ron Paul: “In my day we had to barter in gold and beaver pelts..”
Interviewer: “But congressman, when FDR moved from the gold standard, isn’t that one of the most commonly cited reasons for recovery after the crash of 1929?”
Ron Paul: “When I was a flight surgeon, we had to wing walk to look after our patients…”
He is, bless his heart, a crank.
Huckabee, however, poses a much more challenging puzzle. He will have some influence in the convention.
Hopefully very little.
The specter of a revival of the religious right in the GOP is depressing. Frankly, there is enough to work on with security, economics, education and health care without resurrecting rhetorical constructs like abortion, gay marriage and the inclusion of the ten commandments in public documents.
