It's time to thin the herd

There have been enough debates by now for the public to have formed an impression of the candidates who are contesting for the GOP nomination and so it is time for those with no chance of being the party's standard bearer to step aside so that remaining debates can focus upon those the public had decided to take seriously.

Michelle Bachmann would make a very good president, but the impression she has made is not adequate to give her the victory and she should withdraw.  That she does not indicates that she is no longer running for president but for vice president or, and more likely, Speaker of the House.  There is nothing wrong with these ambitions, but continuing to advance them in this forum is destructive to the GOP and its chances of picking a thoroughly vetted candidate that can defeat Obama next year.

Much the same can be said of Rick Santorum.  He would make a wonderful president, but it won't be him.  At least not this time around.  I think he knows this.  In fact I think he has always known this.  His goal in entering the race was either to secure the VP slot or another cabinet position.  Or to increase his stature back home in Pennsylvania for another Senate run.

Newt Gingrich just might be narcissist enough to have thought he could have gotten the nomination and then won the White House.  But probably even he was not that delusional.  This is almost certainly a vanity run for Newt whose real purpose is to allow him to raise his speaking fees and get a new book deal or two.  Of course a cabinet post or even the vice presidency could also be in his sights.  Whatever his true agenda remaining in the race only harms the party and by extension the nation.  Newt is smart enough to understand this so if he chooses to remain in the race it will be because he has made the conscience choice to put his interests ahead of the country's. 

John Huntsman never had a chance but is probably too stupid to have realized it.  Remember when the White House leaked that Huntsman was the one Republican that Obama feared running against.  No?  Don't be embarrassed it was only in the news for about two days.  Democrats always do this.  They leak the name of some clueless liberal RINO that they know that they could beat in their sleep as the "one Republican that could defeat us" and hope that the GOP takes the bait.  Like we did in 2008.  The result is always the same.  When we bite we go down in flames. 

Ron Paul is the best guy in the race on domestic fiscal issues however his views on national security and the closely related field of foreign policy utterly disqualify him from serious consideration.  If you want to know what Paul's response to a threat from a foreign power would be just look at how The US and the Great Powers of Europe dealt with Hitler.  That is Paulism in a nutshell.  Except that when Germany invaded Poland Europe did, at last" go to war.  If Paul had been running things I doubt that even the Blitz would have stirred him to combat.  After all war is the health of the state.  Paul knows that he isn't going to be president.  This campaign is just a way for him to raise his stature for future book sales and speaking engagements.

Rick Perry might make a good president.  He has a good record as governor of Texas but his views on illegal immigration are deeply troubling.  If 10 plus million Mexicans suddenly gain the right to vote in US elections they will give the Democrats an unbeatable electoral majority for at least the next 50 years.  From that point forward every president and congressional majority will be like Obama/Pelosi on steroids.  If you want America to become Venezuela vote in a president and congressmen who favor amnesty.  Having said that it is still a fact that Perry is the popular governor of a large and very prosperous state so he must, for at least a little while longer, be taken seriously as a candidate in the primary process.  If he continues to implode over the next couple of months he should leave but for now he has a legitimate place in the race.

Herman Cain never expected to get this far but now he is the front runner.  While he has not thought out clear positions on all the issues that a president will have to deal with (especially foreign policy) he has good instincts and as a very successful CEO knows how to seek and follow good advice from legitimate experts.  As the frontrunner he absolutely has a place in the race.  In fact right now he is the candidate I'm backing.

Mitt Romney.  What can you say about Mitt?  He has been running for the presidency since 2007.  I supported him back in 2008 after the Thompson candidacy imploded as the only man who could keep John McCain's name off the top of the ticket but that was just a choice between the lesser of evils.  Romney should not be president but his place as the number 1 or 2 candidate in polls earns him a place one the stage.

As things now stand the debates are so crowded with also-rans in the race only for ego or to further other ambitions that it becomes impossible to examine the three serious candidates properly.  It is very important that they be encouraged to withdraw. 

The mainstream media will not put pressure on any RINO candidate to leave the race while they will restlessly hammer an conservative candidate.  It will be up to rank and file Republican voters to push the dead wood off the stage.  That means that those with a soft spot in their hearts for Bachmann or Santorum need to face reality and let their candidate know that it is time to leave and throw their support behind Perry or Cain (preferable Cain).

Ron Paul supporters are as hopeless as he is.  Libertarianism is a utopian cult which at its heart is as anti-American as the nihilist death-cult of progressive liberalism.  Ron Paul's pod-people supporters don't give a rats ass about the good of the nation as long as they get to run wild through the primary process spray painting their graffiti all over the walls and gaming the results of every electronic poll to make it look like Paul has the support of more than a handful of basement dwelling malcontents.

To sum up the campaign season started early this year so the time has already come to thin the ranks of the candidates.  Otherwise we will wind up with Mitt Romney running against Barack Obama.  Liberal-lite running against Liberal-extreme.

Not a good outcome for the nation no matter who wins.