I spent the rest of my day with family celebrating my nephews high school graduation. It was a good time and we didn't get home until much later than I anticipated.
The good part of it is that the puppy did not have any accidents while we were gone.
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Between cleaning the gutters and going to the party, I was reading up on the current batch of declared Presidential candidates because, well, you should do that. I mean seriously, how do you cast a reasonable vote if you don't know anything about these people? Voters not learning about the candidates is how we end up with dingbats in office.
So anyways, here are my current thoughts and opinions on the field:
Democrats:
Hillary Rodham - Arrogant, self-centered, gold-digger. She has failed at many things, including her marriage. Given her performance as Secretary of State (think Benghazi), if she gets elected we can expect our allies to turn their backs on us and our enemies to become more aggressive.
Lincoln Chaffee - "I'm a republican! No, wait, I'm an independent!, No, wait, I'm a democrat! Yea, that's what I am, a democrat. Cross my heart, hope to die." This is a guy who can't make up his mind about anything. Personally, I have no problem with people changing their minds but they should have a compelling reason. In Chaffee's case, he changed his mind because it was expedient for him.
Bernie Sanders - Socialist from Vermont. No, seriously, he is a declared socialist but he is running as a democrat. His stated goal is to eliminate "wealth inequality" by over-taxing the wealthy and giving money to the not-wealthy. He loves taxes. His motto could be, "Your money is our money so suck it rich boy." I suspect that he thinks everyone that works is wealthy.
Martin O'Malley - He also loves taxes. As governor of Maryland, he tried to overtake Massachusetts in finding new ways to tax the people. He raised income taxes, alcohol taxes, tobacco taxes and something called hospital taxes. He also raised corporate taxes and sales taxes. His motto could be "Taxes, taxes, taxes! We love taxes more than Bernie Sanders!"
Republicans:
Jeb Bush - Self-declared "defender capitalism and the right to economic freedom", he seems to be able to cut taxes without worrying about any negative impacts on the poor or disadvantaged. I'm not entirely sure he really is a "defender of capitalism" but he sure seems to like the idea of fewer laws/regulations. He's even gone so far as to suggest that any new laws should have an expiration or renewal date.
Donald Trump - Entrepreneur, real estate tycoon, minor celebrity and general moron. We'd all be better off living in Mexico if he gets elected President.
Ben Carson - The anti-Obama. He is a retired neurosurgeon who was a declared independent for his entire life but when he decided to run for President, he affiliated himself with the Republican Party. He did this because, as he put it, "If you run as an independent, you only risk splitting the electorate. I clearly would not be welcome in the Democratic Party, and so that only leaves one party. Fortunately, the fit is pretty good." He claims to believe in a reasonable sized government and personal responsibility.
Ted Cruz - A Canadian. No, seriously, he was born in Canada. And he has those sloping eyebrows that he uses to convey empathy but that make him look like a 1940s cartoon character. Is it even legal for him to run for President?
Carly Fiorina - Former CEO of HP, she merged HP with Compaq and laid off 30,000 American employees while hiring 35,000 foreign employees. After 6 years at HP, the board of directors told her to resign. Now she wants to be President of the United States. Hope she doesn't lay off a bunch of Americans and replace us with a bunch of non-Americans.
Marco Rubio - He looks like he's 15 years old. He also looks like he got beat up on the school playground. Since you have to be at least 35 to run for President, is it even legal for him to run?
As for the rest of the republicans, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, Rand Paul, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum - They all smell the same to me; Ronald Reagan Wanna-be's and Tea Party Clingers. It is my opinion that the Tea Party people have done more damage to the republican party than anything the democrats have ever done. Also, they strike me as the type of zealots who say things like, "The theory of evolution is just a theory!"
I realize it's pretty early in the process but I wanted to get some opinions out there now. There will be others who will declare, like Chris Christie so I'll probably do a recap at some point in the near future.
What I do know is that 2016 is probably going to be another one of those elections where we all have crappy choices to make because there is no common-sense candidate.
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