Clintons' cathartes aura
By R.A. Hawkins
web posted December 4, 2006
I just finished reading Dick Morris' commentary on presidential candidates for the GOP. He has been a mystery to me for years. He is one of those people that is more of a switch hitter than James McGreevey, the former hetero and then gay governor of New Jersey. I wonder if McGreevey will also become a Republican now. That's what Dick Morris did. Dick Morris has been one of those people that the media likes to call a maverick. I guess that's supposed to make him a political gunslinger or something. After watching him switch to helping the Republicans again, I began to wonder why he did it, other than to make certain he had a job. I have never been able to take someone like him seriously because he has no specific ties.
He wrote an article about Hillary Clinton having a good chance of winning in 2008 and discussed the importance of beating that with a Condoleezza Rice candidacy. Although I'd prefer her over Hillary because she understands the importance of many things, including the Second Amendment, it sounds like he thinks we should make this move just because of Hillary. Actually Ms. Rice is one of the smartest people we have in DC right now. But Dick Morris drives me nuts because I always wonder what kind of a party switch he's going to try to pull off next. He used to be Trent Lott's advisor then he switched to the Clintons and now he's a Republican? Why are we listening to this rudderless individual?
He even discussed the possibility of McCain and Giuliani running for office. What a wonderful choice that would be! McCain masquerades as a conservative and the media tries their dead level best to help him. I remember the media talking about him as being pro Second Amendment. I decided to check that out because they weren't as hard on him as they should have been over that. He tried to get a law passed in his home state that would require the purchase of a gun cabinet with each firearm purchased. It didn't surprise me to hear the Democrats pick that idea up and run with it. I suspect they got it from him. Giuliani is openly anti-gun so they would be perfect together as Democrats.
The primary thrust of Dick Morris' article was that the Republicans don't have a candidate. He said in another article that Newt Gingrich would enter the race in ‘07 if someone didn't step up to the plate. I wouldn't mind seeing that happen in spite of the fact that the religious right would have a lot of trouble with him. But that's part of the problem I see in American politics these days. I as a citizen am more interested in what laws a person tries to foist off on us than I am in the personal life of someone like Newt. He led the Republican revolution in the first mid-term elections when Clinton was in power and I'd like to see him do it again.
It is a sad thing that in order to make it into office these days we consider how this or that swing group will react. It is even more annoying to me that people will always have that rather foolish habit of wanting everyone else to be just like them. But people get what they deserve no matter what. The rest of us just get to suffer. And we suffer because some people just can't get over themselves.
I would prefer to see the Republicans return to conservative values and drop the gimmicks. Principles were what propelled them into office against liberal gimmicks. Wallowing in gimmicks is what has cost the Republicans so dearly. That is the only quagmire they have had to deal with and it is a self-made quagmire. They need to recapture their values first and then try to capture the offices they seek. If they want to get all gimmicky and focus groupy they should try to do that with how they're going to present their message instead of who is most likely to win based on certain groups of swing voters.
In case you don't know what a cathartes aura is; it is quite simply a turkey buzzard. This particular turkey buzzard has been feeding off of the carrion of the republic for far too long. If we keep listening to him he will remain well fed as we Americans continue our downward spiral into obscurity. 
R.A. Hawkins is the author of "Through Eyes of Shiva", available through http://www.amazon.com/. Visit http://www.entropical-paradise.com/ -- Entropical Paradise - The Home Of R.A. Hawkins for more commentaries and editorials by R.A. Hawkins. Comments are always welcome. Please send them to ra_hawkins@earthlink.net. © 2006 R.A. Hawkins