American Rhetoric: GOP Witches Brew – Candy Cain and Eye of Newt…

     As the GOP race to the primaries gets hotter and faster, so do the rhetoric and revelations about certain candidates. In recent weeks, there have been two stand-outs; Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich. One can’t control his mouth, the other (it has been alleged) can’t control his libido. But I digress…

Pictured: (l. to r.) GOP candidate Herman Cain, Sharon Bialek and Ginger White.

    For as much of a drama-consuming culture as we have here in America, these GOP candidates certainly aren’t letting us down in that respect. Herman Cain has been plagued with allegations of sexual harassment lately, by Sharon Bialek of Chicago, Illinois. The alleged “groping” was said to have taken place during a 1997 meeting with Cain, who was then CEO of the National Restaurant Association. Ms. Bialek had gone to meet with Cain due to losing her job with the association. While Cain denies that he ever groped, or even met Ms. Bialek, her ex-boyfriend has come forward in her defense, corroborating her statements. ⁽¹⁾

     Then there’s Ginger White, an Atlanta, Georgia businesswoman. White claims that she was engaged in a thirteen-year affair with Herman Cain. Cain has countered that White was simply a “friend” that he aided financially but that his wife, Gloria Cain, had not been told anything regarding Ms. White. Now, Herman Cain has stated that he will be “reassessing” his presidential campaign.^(2) (3)

     This situation brings to mind not one, but three instances of either alleged or affirmed presidential impropriety. In 1802, allegations were made in the press regarding an alleged affair and children sired between President Thomas Jefferson and one Sally Hemings, a slave woman who was also the half-sister of Martha Wayles Jefferson by Martha’s father, John Wayles. The allegations were published in the Richmond Recorder by one James T. Callender, a political journalist of the day. Jefferson’s response to the allegations? He remained silent. He neither affirmed nor denied the story, thereby depriving his detractors of any ammunition they would have otherwise garnered from a public denial or affirmation.

     During the presidential campaign of 1884, Republicans discovered that Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland had fathered a child out of wedlock with one Maria Crofts Halpin. When confronted with the emerging scandal, he decided to pursue a two-pronged approach. Publicly he ignored the scandal, but told close advisors that if asked, to tell the truth. While the popular vote was close, the vote in the Electoral College gave Cleveland the majority, with 219-182. Grover Cleveland thus became our twenty-second President of The United States.

     Then there was the infamous Monica Lewinsky affair of 1998, (also known as “MonicaGate,” “LewinskyGate,” “ZipperGate,” pick your pet name!) a media circus impeachment proceeding and a hair-splitting debate on what exactly constitutes “sexual relations.” As we all know, President Clinton famously and firstly announced to the American people at the time, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” but then was forced to backpedal.

     (SOAPBOX=ON) If it t’were me and I was running for high office, any skeletons rattling around in my closets would have to be inventoried first. Then, if any of them slipped out and presented themselves, any “damage control” would be made easier. In Herman Cain’s case, denial isn’t working out too well. His numbers are going downhill fast, and if you ask me, I do believe his days of office-seeking are numbered.

2012 GOP candidiate Newt Gingrich

     On a semi-related note, GOP candidate and former Speaker of The House Newt Gingrich isn’t making any new allies or friends in the low-income sector lately. During a campaign stop in Iowa yesterday, Gingrich stated that children growing up in poor neighborhoods do not have a solid work ethic.⁽⁴⁾ Specifically, he stated that;

     “Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works so they have no habit of showing up on Monday,” and also that, “They have no habit of staying all day, they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash unless it is illegal.”

     Mr. Gingrich appears to have a very narrow, elitist view of the poor. Are we sure we want to send someone like this to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? I think not.

American Rhetoric: Surf’s Up, Let’s Go Waterboarding

Who stands where?

     As 2011 draws to a close and 2012 comes nearer, all political eyes are on the GOP race. The big question; who will run against the incumbent, president Barack Obama one year from now? It seems like there is a GOP debate happening somewhere, on some channel or another, almost every week. It’s no wonder, there being eight candidates in the running!

     On Saturday, yet another in a long list of televised debates took place, and the topic that kept coming up was our nation’s use of waterboarding as an “enhanced interrogation technique,” and where each of the eight candidates stood on the issue. (In not only my own opinion, but also in the opinions of the UK, the UN and several high-profile diplomats, dignitaries and former statesmen, waterboarding is indeed torture!) Here’s what we know:⁽¹⁾

•      GOP candidate and former corporate CEO Herman Cain stated, “I don’t see that as torture. I see it as an enhanced interrogation technique.” [FAIL]

•      GOP frontrunner and Texas Governor Rick Perry stated, “This is war. That’s what happens in war,” while defending waterboarding’s use as an interrogation technique. [FAIL]

•      Rep. Michele Bachmann referred to the practice as “…very effective.” [EPIC FAIL]

•      Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney declined to comment on the matter during the debate, but his aides to the Governor later stated that he (Romney) does not believe that waterboarding is torture. [FAIL]

•      Both former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman and Texas Rep. Ron Paul decried the practice as torture. [HOPE?]

     Now, according to everything I have ever read on the subject, waterboarding is torture. Several people who have questioned the labeling of the practice as torture and voluntarily underwent waterboarding to make first-hand judgements on the matter have subsequently changed their minds, affirming its torturous nature. These include author Christopher Hitchens and radio personality Erich “Mancow” Muller. John McCain, 2008 presidential hopeful and Arizona Senator has stated on numerous occasions that he considers the practice to be torture. Political talk show host and commentator Sean Hannity has previously stated that he too, would undergo the practice to show that it is not torture, however he has not made good on this promise to date.

     If you ask me, I think that we should take everyone who thinks that waterboarding is not torture, and waterboard them. Give them a first-hand perception of what exactly waterboarding entails, what it does and how it feels. Then let them try to reach the same conclusion.

     BY THE WAY! Has anyone else noticed the resemblance between GOP candidate Jon Huntsman, and Shooter McGavin, from Happy Gilmore?

Identical twins, separated at birth?

American Rhetoric: Cain Is Not Able, and A Defective Catcher’s Mitt

GOP candidates Herman Cain and Mitt Romney

     After today’s developments in the world of politics, I am really starting to feel like none of the GOP candidates truly has their finger on the pulse of what’s happening in America today. I have definitely scratched two more from the Cybersattva list today; Herman Cain and Mitt Romney.

     In the past few weeks, there has been a series of demonstrations and protests on Wall Street, which have now spread to other cities including San Francisco. The “Occupy Wall Street” (which we’ll shorten to “OWS” for reading purposes here) protests on the part of disenfranchised Americans have been met with mixed reactions from the political world. In New York, over 700 people were arrested last Sunday after blocking traffic lanes and attempting to march across the Brooklyn Bridge during that day’s OWS protest.⁽¹⁾ Earlier today, demonstrators marched from the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco, down Market Street to City Hall, with a police escort.⁽²⁾ The main difference between Sunday’s and today’s demonstrations; no one got arrested today.

     Today, GOP candidate Herman Cain, former CEO of the Godfather’s Pizza restaurant chain, directed the following comments at the OWS protesters:

     “Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself!” Cain said. “It is not a person’s fault because they succeeded, it is a person’s fault if they failed. And so this is why I don’t understand these demonstrations and what is it that they’re looking for.”⁽³⁾

     Cain stated that the protesters were attempting to distract the country from president Barack Obama’s “failed policies.” GOP candidate Mitt Romney, during a campaign stop in Florida yesterday, described the demonstrations as “dangerous” and “class warfare.”

     It would appear that the people are a little more than a bit peeved at our government’s record of bailing out large corporations that are continuously exporting jobs overseas. It would seem that the citizenry are getting tired of seeing companies like AIG and Bank of America⁽⁴⁾ receive substantial amounts of taxpayer dollars, and then turn around and either squander the funds on huge bonuses and frivolous trips, or put the screws to their customers by raising their fees.⁽⁵⁾ It is these same taxpayers who were mere months ago, threatened with having their benefits cut or discontinued because Washington could not fund them. I would ask Messrs. Herman Cain and Mitt Romney: is it any wonder that more and more people have become disenchanted with the way things are being run? Are you really that surprised that this is happening?  -W A K E   U P!-