Harlot

Bachmann recently stated in South Carolina that on the first day of her administration, has prices would decrease to less than $2 a gallon, and she went on to criticize President Obama's administration of mishandling gas prices, and she pointed after that before President Obama took office gas prices were below $2, and now they are above $3. However, obviously the president has little control over the cost of gas and gas prices due to the fact that the price of crude oil is controlled by mid eastern nations such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, and also other nations that are in OPEC, which is an organization of mostly middle eastern nations who are some of the biggest oil producers in the world.

Bachmann did lay out a plan to lower the restrictions on oil drilling, but there was a recent report that stated that even if the US opened up its East Coast and West Coast for oil drilling, only 500,000 barrels would be produced and the world uses over 89 million barrels a year, and by the time that 500,000 barrels are produced, which is by 2030, the world consumption would have already increased to 100m barrels. Also, OPEC has pledged to cut production if the US increases its production, which means that the prices would still remain the same if not go higher. So what do you think? Can Bachmann lower gas prices to lower than $2 if she becomes President?

I've been keeping track of the GOP campaign for President for the last couple of months, and I want to give my opinion of some of the candidates and then mention which candidate I think has the best chances of winning a general election. I am going to try to be as reasonable as possible, and give reasons for why I feel the way I do about certain candidates and why I think they have a chance of winning or don't have a chance at all.

Mitt Romney
I think Mitt Romney is probably the best candidate on the GOP side and has the best chance of winning the general election. I think he has a little bit weaker when it comes to winning the primary because he isn't as aggressive an far to the right as some of the other members who pride their campaign on Tea Party politics. However, he seem to stay above the fray and re-frame from launching personal attacks on other candidates. He looks much more presidential, and looking presidential is all about character and class. I don't think it is presidential material when someone constantly launches attacks rather than focusing on their own campaign and policies. As far as I can tell Mitt Romney has done that, and even when he attacks other candidates, the attacks usually have a sound logical basis or at not so harsh to the point that it looks like he is simply pandering to the far right GOP base rather than simply speaking his mind and telling the people what he truly believes. That is one of the main ways he different from the majority of the other candidates, especially those that are on the GOP side and in the primary. He seems to be well informed on all the issues, he is a moderately charismatic guy and a decent speaker. He is in a good position at the moment, and may be the winner of the GOP primary and possibly the general election if President Obama can't get his campaign together.

Newt Gingrich
I think Newt Gingrich is probably one of the most intelligent people who are within the GOP party when it comes to policy, and certain the most intelligent when it comes to those who are currently running for the GOP nomination for President of the United States. I've monitors him for quite a while, and his knowledge of how Washington works, and the effectiveness of the legislative process seems to be beyond the knowledge of every other candidate in the party. He usually don't pointlessly attack other candidates, and just like Mitt Romney, he looks above the fray. However, his only weakness is that he is so boring and uncharismatic. He can talk all day about policies in detail, but he doesn't seem to have the power to inspire people, and that is what is needed in order to win a campaign. People don't always vote for the smartest person on the stage, they vote for the person who they can remember most, and the people who present policies in a way that is easy to understand, logical, appealing, and emotionally moving. I can't see him winning the GOP primary, and if he does, the GOP is in trouble in respects to the general election. I highly doubt he is a man who can beat Obama. John McCain has a better chance of beating President Obama in a general election than he does. Another issue is that he seems a bit uncompromising and stubborn. This is obviously just a first impression since I don't personally know him, but it seems that his unwillingness to compromising may have been what lead to the collapse of his campaign earlier this year, when his entire campaign team pretty much quit on him, walked out, and join the campaign of other candidates.

Michele Bachmann
I think Michele Backmann is in no way presidential material. She is only slightly more intelligent than Sarah Palin, and it appears that she does not have the intellectual capacity of candidates such as Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. I really want to say that she is the dumbest candidate in the entire GOP field. I can't think of any candidate more dumber in respects to politics and policy making on the federal level unless Sarah Palin or Donald Trump decides to throw their hats in the race. However, I can say that she is a good speaker and knows how to use talking points. Because of that, despite her perceived lack of knowledge, she has a chance to win the primary, especially due to the fact that she has closely aligned herself with the far right GOP base, and the Teaparty. Also, when she won the Lowa straw poll, that showed that she could mobilize people and she had a base to support her campaign. Nevertheless, she is probably one of the most far right candidates in the race, and she has not problem launching personal attacks at other candidates that are running in the primary or President Obama. Everytime she is on stage she talks about President Obama being a one term president, and that seems to be all that she talks about. It is always about the policies of President Obama or how terrible he is when she is on stage. She is going to have to talk about more than President Obama if she wins the primary and is thrown into a general election. I personally don't think she can win a general election, and she will have a hard time winning over independents. One good thing about her is that she did steal the fire of Sarah Palin. She took the lights and cameras right off of poor Sarah lol.

Herman Cain
I think Herman Cain is the candidate with one of lowest chance of winning. I comes off as the 2nd dumbest candidate in the race, with the exception of Michele Bachmann. He is just a loud mouth, but nothing he says ever has any substance. He just talks talks talks, and run his mouth. Another problem that he has is that he makes comments that he is not willing to stick with. For example, his comment that he would not allow Muslims in his administration. He made that comment, and later retracted it after he visited with Muslim leaders, and he claimed that he lacked knowledge of Islam when he made the comments. Who wants a President that lacks knowledge of other cultures? That is a recipe for disastrous foreign relations. Even if he thought that about Muslims, no candidate who is Presidential material would say it because we have to work with countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Kuwait, who are all Muslim allies who are important to the national security of the US. Another thing is that most of our oil comes from Muslim nations. The guy is not stable enough to be President, and he has completely no chance of winning either the primary or the general election. I can't really think of any strength that he has. He isn't even good at moving a crowd or speaking. He comes off too much as shouting. Although Michele Bachmann doesn't come off as intellectual, she has the ability to move a crowd and speak in a way that people are attracted to her, and she also knows what not to say as a political candidate.

Ron Paul
I think Ron Paul is probably the most honest candidate in the race. However, his honesty really hurts his chance of winning. I think he probably down there with Herman Cain when it comes to his chance of winning for GOP primary. As for winning a general election, he certainly doesn't have a chance. Although polls show that he can beat Obama, I highly doubt that most of the people taking those polls know who Ron Paul is or the policies that he advocate for. When he starts talking about abolishing the CIA, FBI, and removing all US bases, cutting military spending, abolishing Social Security, and Medicare, and the Department of Education, people will certainly run the other way. His policies conflict with the interest of too many people, and I think they would rather have another 4 years under President Obama rather than risk enduring 4 years under Ron Paul.

I know I am missing come candidate, but those are the few candidate who I think are mot visible. Does anyone else have an opinion on these candidates?

Jeb Bush today was interviewed where he gave his opinion on the 2012 election and I think he hit the nail right on the head when he talked about the GOP's habit of bashing President Obama as a means to winning the 2012 election. I miss the days where candidates argued their ideological points and make logical stances on how to build a better nation, but now all I hear is "One Term President", "Tar Baby", and "You Lie". I don't hear any arguments on how conservative policies will turn around the economic crisis, create more jobs, and help lower the country's exploding financial deficit. It really is a turn off to hear nothing but attacks from people who are just trying to ride a wave of dissent into a political office. I will say that Mitt Romney has been careful not to attack, and has focused a bit more on the issues than on President Obama. However, people such as Bachmann, Palin, and Herman Cain have not presented any solutions, and only spend all of their air times launching attack after attack. Maybe that will play well with the GOP base, but that does not move independents and right leaning democrats that the GOP nominee will need in order to win the general election.

Ronald Reagen is a prime example of how campaign should be ran. I am not a conservative, but he was an individual who stuck to the message and was able to inspire even those who disagreed with him. So currently, I think Romney is probably the most reasonable person on the GOP side. He is no Reagen, but he is a decent candidate compared to the other.

CNN today reported that the rebels are currently hunting for Gadhafi and a ransom of 1.4 million was placed on his head. They said that they want him dead or alive. People are saying that they think that he is still in the country, but I don't think Gadhafi is that stupid. I've been trying to think of countries that would be willing to risk taking him in. For example, there has been talk and speculation that Tunisia has offered to shelter Gadhafi, but they just had a revolution themselves that overthrew the regrieme of their 30+ year president, so it is really hard to believe that they would be willing to take him in and risk the US and France making attempts to initiate another revolution.

There has been talk about Zimbabwe taking him in, but it seems that Mugabe wouldn't want to take that risk either. He already has a trigger on his back, so why would he want to take in Gadhafi and make himself even more of a target for stuff like sanctions and military intervention. Saudi has a long history of taking in overthrown tyrants. They even offered to take in the Egyptian President, but its hard to see them taking in Gadhafi due to their relationship with the West and because of the fact that Saudi and Libya have never had good relations. They have been into it with each other for a long time, and one Gadhafi threatened to bring Saudi to its knees.

The only countries that I can think of that will take him is and not fear the blow back that would result is North Korea and Venesula. He has a good relationship with both countries, but the question is how will he get there at this point, if he is not already there. I think Venesula is probably his best option in terms of living a decent life, but Chavez has been sick lately and if he dies its hard to tell who will take over the country. If someone that is pro-US takes over, then he will absolutely have to get out of the country quickly and find another place for safety and refuge. North Korea is more stable, and less likely to fall. Kim Jong pretty much has that country tied down, and so does his son. So I can't imagine North Korea falling any time soon, so that would be the best long term solution, but who takes to live in North Korea? That is probably one of the worst places on earth to live. It is comparable to East Germany if anyone remember that society. I had a professor who visited East Germany during his years as an undergraduate, and he talked about how gloomy the country was.

However, I can not believe that Gadhafi would still be in Libya. He should know from history that if they catch him, his hand will be put on a platter. You see the President of Tunisia was smart enough to know that, and he, his wife, and children boarded a plane and got out of dodge quickly. They currently live in Saudi Arabia. But if Gadhafi is still in Libya, his best bet is to fight to the death. Its been to go down in a storm of gun fire rather than to be beat down in the streets where people can do the most gruesome things....like cut off your genitals or something or cut your head off. Saddam wanted to be shot, but they hung him. Its not a good thing to be hung either, that is not a good way to die. At this point, it is hard to see him regaining control of the country, primarily because it is not just the rebels alone. If it were just the rebel, the revolution in Libya would have been put down a long time ago. It appears that what is pretty much happening is that NATO planes are bombing the crap out of every Libyan military unit that comes into sight, and the rebels are just walking right through the carnage. NATO bombs, and the rebels just walk right into the capital. Even in the most recent development where Gadhafi's compound was over ran by rebels, the compound held off the rebels until NATO carpet bombed it, and then rebels were pretty much just able to walk on him and clean up.

Its been 10 years since the death of the singer Aaliyah, who died in 2001 while making her album called Rock the Boat. I heard the news on the radio and saw it on the internet this morning. She was one of my favorite R&B artist at the time, and it was so tragic to hear that she had died. She died in a plane crash before too much equipment was placed on the plane headed to the US from Bahamas. It goes to show that life can end in an instant, but its good that everyone is remember her today. She had such great talent, and if she were alive today she would be on the same level with singers such as Beyonce.