Silliness abounds in the GOP, even at local level

Regular readers of this blog recognize that critique of the GOP is neither absent, nor on vacation upon these pages.

This year’s cast of GOP presidential nominee wannabes are genuinely hilarious, but simultaneously saddening precisely because they are so cartoonish. There is little, if any, of what they say that can be taken seriously. Take, for example, Texas Governor Rick “Niggerhead” Perry, whose nickname for an outcropping of rock upon a tract of land owned by him or his family earned his first public criticism, and then, his public debate gaffe for his complete inability to recollect three governmental agencies.

And then, there’s Herman “I never touched that woman, oh yes, now I remember” Cain, whose claim to fame – other than verifiable accusations of gross sexual groping, the fact that his tax scheme came from the video game Sim City, his utter ignorance of foreign policy exhibited by proudly inventing a name of a fictitious country with his “Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan” remark, etc., ad nauseam.

The silliness doesn’t rest there.

In Madison County, Alabama, the president of the Madison County Republican Men’s Club, Elbert Peters, recently told the Huntsville Times newspaper that a straw poll they would recently conduct of eight GOP presidential candidates – Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum – would conduct would include “Anybody but Obama,” and “Other.”

Having served numerous years as an election official in various elections throughout the state, I can attest that such nonsensical answers as “Mickey Mouse,” and other ludicrous answers as Mr. Peters gave is a prime case in point that illustrates disrespect. It is neither sarcasm nor irony, neither does it illustrate any other ideal or point except to exemplify utter disrespect and contempt. And yet, it is not disrespect for the party, but for the process and the people and laws of the United States.

UPDATE:

The Huntsville Times reported that the presidential preference straw poll conducted at the Madison County Republican Men’s Club November 2011 monthly meeting had the following results:

Total of 207 votes cast

• Newt Gingrich – 94 votes – 45.4 %

• Herman Cain – 28 votes – 13.5 %

• Ron Paul & Mitt Romney – 24 votes each – 11.6 %

• “Anybody but Obama” – 21 votes – 10.1 %

• Rick Perry – 6 votes – 2.9 %

• Jon Huntsman & Rick Santorum – 3 votes each – 1.4 %

• Michelle Bachmann – 2 votes – 1 %

• “Other” category – 2 votes – 1 %