2012 Republican Candidates

I have been looking over the main republican candidates for the 2012 election and I have come up with some thoughts on them. I have four different things that I looked at for the candidates. My thoughts, the candidates' political culture, other stances, and Do I Want Him/Her to Get the Nomination are the four categories.

To find out more about political culture, go to http://academic.regis.edu/jriley/421elazar.htm.

Michelle Bachmann (Rep from MN)
My thoughts: Bachmann is a candidate that literally scares me. She believes climate change is not real and has said that CO2 makes up 3% of the atmosphere (actually .03%).(1) She wants to repeal “ObamaCare” and constantly invokes her faith whenever possible (there’s no problem with being religious but I believe people shouldn’t talk about it constantly, not everybody believes the same thing)

Political Culture: Minnesotan’s tend to be individualistic and she is no different. “Individualism and personal responsibility have always been the bedrock of the country”(2)

Other stances: Pro-life, Pro 2nd Amendment

Do I want her to get the nomination: Yes, but only because right now it looks like Obama would definitely win in the general election.

Newt Gingrich (Former Speaker of the House and Former Rep from GA)

My thoughts: In terms of his views, I feel as if he could be liberal enough for me to be okay with his election. He believes in creationism but says that beings could have evolved.(1) However, he does make me uneasy. If he says something that is not popular in his party, he quickly backtracks. Earlier this year on Meet the Press he said that he disagreed with the Ryan proposal. He quickly backtracked when the constituents were unhappy.

Other stances: Pro-life, Pro 2nd Amendment, Against same sex couples, homosexuality, etc., Against Unions

Political Culture: Traditional

Do I want him to get the nomination: No. He is too quick to change his story when there is a backlash and he definitely couldn’t get the nomination for the Republican Party. I am actually surprised he hasn’t bowed out yet.

Jon Huntsman (Former Gov of Utah and Ambassador to China)
My thoughts: I really don’t know much about Huntsman to make an informed decision at this moment. My impressions thus far though make me believe he could give Obama a great fight.

Political Culture: Moral

Other Stances: Immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan. Pro 2nd Amendment
Do I want him to get the nomination: I don’t enough if I’d be okay with him being the next president with the lack of information I have as of now. Like I said above, he may have enough to beat Obama so I’d probably say no at this point.

Ron Paul (Rep from TX)
My Thoughts: Ron Paul is a politician that makes Michelle Bachmann look like Hillary Clinton. My hope is that he quickly bows out to ease my mind.

Political Culture:

Other Stances: Pro-life, Immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan, would dissolve the DoE, Pro 2nd Amendment, Against 14th Amendment

Do I want him to get the nomination: Not even a little bit. I honestly think he scares some Republicans too.

Rick Perry (Gov. from TX)
My thoughts: George Bush was also a governor in Texas. If that isn’t enough for you, his college transcripts (especially social studies-related) were so poor it makes me think he is not smart enough to lead even a little league team. His personality seems to shout, “It’s my way, or fuck you!” I don’t even like democrats that act this way so I would definitely hate to see him get anywhere.

Political Culture: Traditional

Other Stances: Believes that “Climategate” is real (been proved to be false). (1) He believes that both intelligent design and evolution have holes and should be taught together.
Pro-life, pro states rights, pro 2nd amendment (2)

Do I Want Him To Get the Nomination: Not even a little bit. He seems like he’d easily lose to Obama but I don’t want to think about the chance that he could do well.

Mitt Romney
My thoughts: Four years ago, I didn’t care for Romney, but now I think he may be an interesting candidate. He believes in man-made climate change and that God created through evolution. (1) He has had a tendency to “flip-flop” on his positions though which could eventually be problem. Although I must say it means that he isn’t too stubborn to realize any flaws in his thought processes.

Political Culture: Moralistic

Other Stances: Pro-life, Pro 2nd amendment, against same sex couples

Do I Want Him To Get the Nomination: For a republican, I wouldn’t mind seeing him get the nomination right now.

Sites
1: http://www.lukesci.com/2011/09/06/all-of-the-2012-republican-candidates-on-climate-and-evolution/
2: http://2012.presidential-candidates.org/Bachmann/Issues.php