Russia and the Republicans

I don't want to sound apologetic for Putin and I do believe that he's acting belligerent, but does anyone else get the the feeling that we're trying to create conflict? Is the right preparing for life after Iraq? When we try to stop talking about Muslim terrorism so that we can ignore our failure, who will we hate then? Russia seems good. I feel like Chavez might fight the bill. But I think Chavez is a LOT more ridiculous! Russia could be dangerous. If they wanted to be! I really don't think Putin wants animosity again.... Unless he feels his grip slipping....

Republicans:

Brownback: Doesn't believe in evolution and I think he was in Leap of Faith with Steve Martin about sleazy fake pastors.

Huckabee: Also doesn't believe, but at least he wants to appear friendly. HE CALLED HOMOSEXUALITY AN "ATTITUDE"! What a bigot. His answer on abortion was pretty good. He attached abortion to a culture of life that includes respect for the poor. Well done, Governor Bigot.

Hunter: Actually talked about reaching out to the Democrats

Gilmore: Somewhat reasonable. For a Republican.

Tommy Thompson: Hilarious! Wonderful attitude supporting preventative health care!

Tancredo: Insane on immigration. Great against Bush.

Romney: He's more boring than John Kerry! (and resembles him in many ways) Dumb talking points. He makes the same talking-point silly errors as Richardson. Totally ignores the question. I don't think he has any chance WHATSOEVER.

Giuliani: Strange. He says some things and I wanna scream and other times, I think: Thank god, because he'll probably win his nomination, so at least he's not as bad as the others. He was Associate Attorney General?! Is that below a Deputy Attorney General? He's also a pragmatist. He's not quite as psychotic as he seems. He's a good speaker too. I think he's a formidable candidate. His conflation of environmental health and business health sounded downright Obama-esque. His health-care rant sounded good as a sound byte, but too bad he's way on the right. At least he didn't avoid the issue.

McCain: I feel he's a practical guy who started out saying what people wanna hear. He lost, and now he's trying to be a strange mixture of frankness and lies. HOWEVER. He is one of two to not be TO THE RIGHT of the immigration law! and also singularly, seemed (at least half) against English as an official language. Kudos on that.

Paul: Of course I find him interesting. I think I like him more than any of the other Republicans, mostly because he has a unified idea of what he stands for. However, he did not attack Don't Ask, Don't Tell. He didn't speak against Creationism [sic], but rather only attacked it at as unconstitutional AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL. However, he had an amazing, better even than any answer in the Democratic debate on the most important moral issue. He answered that the biggest problem was "the acceptance just recently that we now promote pre-emptive war. I do not believe that's part of the American tradition." He elaborated and it sent chills up my spine.

I think they all sound silly. The ones who don't believe in evolution should leave. I think Tancredo's in the KKK. That leaves Hunter, Gilmore, Paul and Thomspon in the second tier and Giuliani, Romney and McCain in the top tier.

It seems blatantly clear to me, much more so than in the Democratic Party that with the current 10, meaning without Fred Thompson, that Rudy Giuliani is the only guy that at the moment, seems even half presidential. McCain and Paul are the most intelligent, but Giuliani and Paul are the speakers. Paul sounds too much like a dude (albeit a very intelligent one) in a coffee shop.

I'd say Giuliani, McCain and Paul were the only people I even cared about (except I think Tommy Thompson is funny) watching. Giuliani won and is the biggest snake. McCain might actually turn out to be somewhat reasonable (I know everyone will hate me on that one) and Paul seems to be a burgeoning cult-leader (what's the deal with that).

The Republicans are really awful though. All of them. I feel like it's a clear vote: Democrat and hopefully leave the fake war (War on Terror, not Iraq) or Republican and 8 more years of 1984.