Is There Anyone Else Running for President?

While I have ridiculed some of the unlikelier efforts to run for president (I'm talking to you, Rick Santorum and Lindsey Graham), I should probably devote at least a little space to the horde of third-party candidates that have gathered once again tilt at windmills. Here are some of the more notable Quixotes under their party banners (source):

American Freedom Party

Robert Whitaker of South Carolina leads the ticket for this party. I am not sure what more to say about this party except that the article posted here on their website proves that they are burdened with some serious mental disorders.

Constitution Party

There are several candidates from this party apparently running for the nomination. They have their seven principles on their website. They look to be, in the contemporary environment, pretty reactionary. It is interesting to note that they would have been very middle of the road or even somewhat liberal viewpoints a century or less ago.

Green Party

The watermelon party: green on the outside and red on the inside. They also have fielded several candidates for the nomination Darryl Cherny of Northern California has his exploratory committee's web presence on Facebook..

Libertarian Party

As always, the Libertarian party has gathered their merry band of misfits for another nomination party. Most notable among them is Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico. His webpage has some jazzy music and focuses on the examination and redefinition of liberty and freedom.

Party of Socialism and Liberation

This party has the perfect PC ticket. They have already selected their candidates: a hispanic woman for the presidency and a black man for the vice presidency. Gloria LaRiva comes out of California and Eugene Puryear is from DC. There platform appears to be straightforward socialism. They mix a little environmentalism in with their ideas, saying that "for the Earth to live, Capitalism must end!".

I always thought that socialism was meant to save the working class. Looks like those workers can go fuck themselves, 'cause were savin' the planet!

Peace and Freedom Party

Believe it or not, Roseanne Barr is running for president! Along with a few others, she is seeking the nomination for the presidential ticket of the Peace and Freedom Party. What I don't understand is how Gloria LaRiva is also running for this party's ticket. Maybe this is like taking the side bet in blackjack.

Prohibition Party

It may be hard to imagine but there is a Prohibition Party in this country. And when I say Prohibition, I mean the ban-alcohol party from the early 20th century. You might want to laugh at the idea, but the man running for president under this banner has held elected office as the leading member of that party. Most third-party candidates cannot say the same.

Reform Party USA

The Reform Party was started back in the 1990s under Ross Perot. It still exists to day and is still putting forth candidates for the presidency. This year, the sole candidate on the ticket appears to be Ken Cross.

Veterans' Party of America

There is also a party dedicated to viewing politics through the eyes of veterans. More than that, though, they also have a platform with pretty clear statements and a focus on constitutionality and border defense.

And Then There Nine. Or 16. Wait. How Many GOP Candidates Are There?

So Rick Perry dropped out of the race. It looks like bullying tactics are working pretty well for Donald Trump.

Perry was one of the earliest victims of Trump's aggression. Trump hammered down on Perry's alleged intelligence deficit, saying that the ex-governor of Texas should have to take an IQ test before being allowed to enter the GOP debate. Just this humiliating charge was enough to noticeably diminish Perry's standing in the polls.

In Rick Perry's defense, I don't see what makes him so apparently less intelligent than any other political candidate. According to this Gene Expression article from a 2011 edition of Discover magazine, Perry got Cs and Ds in his college courses back in the late 60s and early 70s.

Youths of today, granted Cs practically just for showing up at school, do not understand that a C grade was pretty respectable back before the days when everyone was expected to go to college. I suspect that a review of college grades for many great statesmen would reveal lackluster academic performances. Great men do not tend to fare well in the institutions of docility that pass for schools these days.

The saddest part of the whole debacle is that Perry gave up his job as governor of Texas early this year to run for President. Now, many candidates give up positions in order to run for another office. However, it must hurt to have the whole dream turned to shit so quickly.

If he had at least made it to the primaries, he might have felt justified in the decision to quit. Now he must be missing the security and privilege of his former position.

Nevertheless, Perry is out and the dwindling has begun. Also, the Donald has once again been provided with another headline and indirectly free publicity.

Is Donald Trump Sinking His Own Ship?

Recently, Donald Trump has tried his hardest to sabotage himself in the GOP race for the presidency. He has done this before with comments about Megyn Kelly and others but with little or no impact on his poll numbers. It remains to be seen how his latest efforts will hurt his chances or not.

Trump vs Carson

A few days ago, Ben Carson was asked to distinguish himself from Donald Trump. He responded with a remark that referenced matters of faith. He seemed to suggest that Trump's religiosity was insincere, since citing a favorite passage from the Bible would be too personal. This was not a very targeted attack and it takes a little effort to even see it as a disparaging remark at all.

That did not stop Trump from going on the attack as soon as he learned about it. He immediately referenced Carson's own faith history and shed doubt on the idea that he has been a man of faith all his life.

“All of a sudden he's becoming this man of faith," Trump snorted. The billionaire candidate also called Carson, who is renowned for neurosurgery, an "okay doctor." That is what we called damning with faint praise. Trump definitely shows here how his aggressiveness has served him in the world of business.

Carson, to his credit, heard about the dust up and apologized if it had seemed his intent to cause insult. I have not heard back on whether Trump responded in any way.

Trump vs Fiorina

"Look at that face!" Trump huffed as he spoke with a Rolling Stone interviewer and pointed to Carly Fiorina, who had just appeared on a nearby TV screen. "Would anyone vote for that?"

The cry over this one involves sexism but I think, if I may interject my own sexist viewpoint here, that this is really all about the delicacy women have with regard to their features. Had he said this about Jeb Bush, everyone would have laughed. But, as Trump immediately pointed out after letting another gaffe slip through his lips, you're not supposed to say bad things about women. You especially should not call them ugly.

The funny thing here is that all the people who are upset have probably made many a joke or laughed at many a joke about Trump's hair. But a chick's face is off limits, right?

How it Hurts

Everyone, even most republicans, think that it is funny to make a Jeb Bush joke or laugh at Lindsey Graham's attempt at the presidency. However, Carson and Fiorina belong to special groups which political correctness does not allow to be insulted in today's world: minorities and women.

I was initially surprised when I heard that Trump had gone after Carson. Carson's race generally leaves him immune to many of the most vile weapons available in a politician's arsenal. I was also curious to hear exactly how Trump had bungled this one.

But the details are quite boring. He never really insulted Carson. He made a quite probable reference to Carson's faith being a rather recent invention. Nor did he say that Carson was a lousy doctor. Plenty of people would love to be "okay doctors" in this world. It is only that he undermined the public idea that Carson was brilliant that caused Trump trouble here.

Trump also attacked a woman but this is not a first for him and it has not hurt his numbers before. Plenty of women support Trump and have publicly stated that they forgive him these faults because of other more important traits.

Does It Matter?

I think that this only looks like a major confrontation from the headlines. It is pretty obvious, after you read the first few articles about it all, that the media is trying to dig up a story here.

In the end, this is really good for Trump. I mentioned in a  previous article that the Donald's biggest enemy right now is this slow period between now and the first primary. The media continues to make headlines for him at no cost to his treasure chest.

Clear and Present Danger for Donald Trump

If you are a fan of Donald Trump, then it might be easy right now to get carried away with enthusiasm and assume that he cannot be stopped. After all, Jeb Bush is basically imploding with omega male misery and the myriad other contenders are, for the most part, swirling and spinning in the wake of Trump's speedboat.

The only real threat appears to be Ben Carson. But ask yourself, are the other candidates trying to imitate Carson to make up the difference or are they imitating Trump? GOP candidates are trying to fire up the rhetoric and appear as outspoken as the Donald now but this is a pathetic effort doomed to failure. Even the dimmest bulb in the room sees through this effort and, worse, they are going to turn off many of their more traditional supporters.

However, if you have been through a few political cycles, you can see a serious but ambiguous threat to Trump's continued popularity.

Time Destroys All Things

Trump towers someday. But maybe not in 2016!

Just think, the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary are still four months away. Once those events occur, leading candidates have headlines to help carry their efforts to the next round of primaries. You can either count on winning a primary or doing better than expected to generate some free publicity and keep people interested.

But we are not in primary season. If you want to be noticed and gather support, you need to create your own stories. Now, so far Trump has had little difficulty doing this. The press has been giving him free publicity for several weeks but he was still considered a sideshow just a couple months ago. Now he has to slog through four months of quiet time.

The other candidates, even those with just a few percentage points of support, can still come back if they manage to hold on. Just like stocks usually bounce back from lows and reward investors who hold on to them, candidates can recover when emotional support for a frontrunner fades away as time passes and nothing new happens. That support has to go somewhere and it can trickle down to these stragglers and make some headlines for them.

I am not saying that Trump cannot do it, only that he has a different game ahead of him now. He has garnered a lot of press and support for being outspoken. Over four months, that will get old. He will probably have to begin producing policies and plans and compete with these others in their own games.

Clinging to a Bush

Jeb Bush has a lot of money. He can hold on. He might begin to look very good to people who tire of Trump's bluster and seek comfort in traditional candidates.  Other GOP candidates may share the same hope. Ben Carson can hope to appear as the safe and sensible alternative to "the crazies," as John McCain referred to the earliest supporters of Trump over a month ago.

Donald Trump Pledges to Stay in the GOP

I did not think that he would do it but apparently Donald Trump has pledged to support the GOP even in he loses the nomination. Given his stubborn and maverick style, I thought that he would refuse to do so and end up running as an independent if he could not pull off the nomination by next summer. Having thought it over for a couple of days, I think I can see a few good reasons why he would do so.

• He cannot get on the ballot in some states without such a pledge. I think that this is a total bullshit move on part of the GOP but apparently some primaries, such as South Carolina, operate under such rules.
• He is increasingly confident that he will, in fact, be the nominee and refusing the pledge accomplishes nothing.
• Being the Donald, he has no intention of honoring the pledge if it works against him.

There is good reason for Donald Trump to sign it now that the latest poll shows him beating Clinton in a head-to-head election. The Trump avalanche in the GOP appears to be increasingly inevitable.