As new Republican Candidates march to the front lines to take on Barack Obama for the 2012 Presidential election, there is a pattern that the opposition, namely Democrats and especially Liberals, have been adopting: dismiss the candidate as mad, out of touch with reality, or all of the above.  This goes beyond the good old days of campaign slogans and criticizing the opponent’s stances.  Now, Liberals do not even look at what the candidate is saying, or has done, but lurch immediately to her or his mental state; which is often consigned to advanced stages of Bellevue Psychiatric Ward.

Think about it: Sarah Palin in 2008 was skewered as ignorant, looney and other mental maladies for having not been able to field in many cases “gotcha” questions from the media, although admittedly she clearly was not adequately prepared for a highly hostile media and political environment.

Then the 2012 Presidential election cycle rolled around (as soon as the 2008 election results were final that night) and thereafter Michele Bachman came along.  Ms. Bachman may not ultimately win the Republican nomination nor deserve to, but she clearly has some solid messages worth hearing on taxes and the role of government in our lives.

Yet, even conservative bastions have taken to question Ms. Bachman (as well as the Tea Party) with comments like she’s a “canny politician” as if being a successful politician, and leader, does not allow you to be canny (President Lincoln, we are re-evaluating your place in history).

And it leaves the intriguing question of how many major Republican female candidates can the mainstream Democratic party trash before it is no longer known as being sensitive to women and their issues (anyone remember “The Year of the Woman”?)

And then there is Rick Perry who entered the race last week and whom the opposition is now swarming.  The question about the jobs he created in Texas is a valid one, and presumably one he will fare well on.  But inevitably when the substance of the debate is no longer of value, as it never is to Liberals, they will turn to ephemeral issues, like Governor Perry’s penchant for public displays of religion.   Again, credible conservative voices did no favors characterizing his “muscular religiosity.”  The country is in tough economic straits, thanks in large part to President Obama’s wrong and non response to our problems (to play on the phrase “if you break it, you own it”; if you buy it, you must fix it [which the President hasn't]).  Whether Mr. Perry has gone to or will go to religious revivals means nothing to the average voter compared to whether they will hear about such if they are employed or unemployed.

Thus, if there can be one bit of advice that the Republican Presidential candidates should follow, it is this:  it’s the substance, stupid!

-I.M. Windee

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 20th, 2011 at 4:27 pm and is filed under Ruminations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.