A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT? THAT'S A GLOOMY PROSPECT INDEED!

         Among the horde of Republican hopefuls who have declared or are soon to declare their candidacy for president of the United States, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker appears to be the current front runner by a very narrow margin.
        That should tell us something about the caliber of those who hope to represent the Republican Party in the 2016 presidential election! It tells us even more about the political discernment of the red side of the American electorate. How can any discerning voter want a President who would behave the way Scott Walker has behaved as Governor of Wisconsin? (See SCOTT WALKER FOR PRESIDENT?)

        On the blue side it looks as if Hillary Clinton is still likely to .be the Democratic Party’s nominee. Although none of the Republican candidates comes close to matching Hillary’s experience and qualifications for the office, given the Republicans’ historical effectiveness at negative campaigning she is by no means a shoe-in to win the presidency. The smear campaign has already begun, as predicted (see GET READY FOR THE HILLARY BASHERS).
        The same determined minority that enabled the G,O.P. gains in the 2014 mid-term elections will be working hard to win the White House. What a disaster that would be, if it should happen! It could happen, if the irresponsible majority who slept through the mid-term elections don’t exercise their right and fulfill their duty as citizens to vote.

        What if one of the right-wing ultraconservative candidates, like Scott Walker or Ted Cruz, should win the nomination and (perish the thought!) the election? The dysfunction resulting from the G.O.P.’s control of both houses of Congress has been damaging enough. Witness the Republican-controlled Senate’s inexcusable refusal to ratify the nomination of Loretta Lynch as Attorney General of the United States, not to mention their total failure to cooperate with the Administration on any of its foreign or domestic initiatives. They have certainly proved themselves to be the Party of No!
        Given the conceivability, however, if not the possibility of such a prospect, i.e. a G.O.P. victory in 2016, I hope a worthy Republican candidate will emerge who can rise above the hawkish extremes of the present collection of hopefuls. Jeb Bush comes closest to fulfilling that role among the current list of would-be nominees. It should be kept in mind, however, that even the election of some such person would not insulate the nation from the sad reality that electing a reasonable, moderate Republican president, if one can be found, would also mean electing the G.O.P., with all its neo-con, big business, anti-civil rights baggage.
        That is a gloomy prospect indeed!