The Day After--Afternoon Coffee at the Last Manatee

We at the Last Manatee want to warn readers that Teabaggers in Florida want to exterminate the Manatee because it is not protected by the Constitution or are they mentioned in the Bible. You really can't make that up.

The "Cooch" here in Virginia just suffered a mortal blow when the Federal Appeals Court threw out his challenge to the Affordable Healthcare Act , vacating the decision by Judge Hudson that ruled against it. They also threw out Liberty University's suit also. I'm sure some Dominionist could explain why Christian fundamentalists are against healthcare. But, too bad!

So the pundits are trickling in with their comments. The Beltway says that Romney won. I agree if debates were really debates and not theater for different voters. The war whoops from the audience last night came on all attacks on Obama's character and on Rick Perry doubling down on his record of executions in Texas. I like how the Guardian (U.K) was appalled at the bloodthirsty nature of the crowd. On Perry executing an innocent man, a Perry supporter said that was the reason he was voting for him,"It takes real balls to kill an innocent man."

Other observers note the similarity of W debating McCain and how W looked clumsy, ignorant and unaware and we all know how that turned out. Perry just hired W's pollster for his campaign. Perry did not hurt himself with his supporters. Erickson and others expressed dismay but are right that it was his first time out, while for Romney it was his umpteenth debate over two cycles.

Militant Republicans get defensive when the media criticize the ignorance of their candidates and how they speak. This turns into fund-raising fodder and they only defend that person even more, as witnessed by "I am not a Witch" Christine O'Donnell. At the presidential level this rough and inarticulate stuff is a mark of the Alpha Male's machismo. So in Perry's case, it will benefit him during the primaries. One casualty of the night was Michelle Bachmann because the Christian Right, which has been split between the two, has to switch to Perry's maleness and Bachmann will have to be submissive.

I'm ambivalent about Ed Schultz' view that Perry's Ponzi Scheme remarks actually helped him for the primaries and among the young. Karl Rove today is going crazy over Perry's social security remark and Romney's camp sent out an e-mail that "Perry has lost the election." But Comrade Karl is deeply concerned about Florida and that the average Republican primary voter is senile and drools and will be turned off by Perry's remarks and tried to link the Party to it.
First, the spin will be to blame the constant airing of Perry's views as another liberal plot against conservatives and by the hundredth time primary voters hear this they will believe it. However, in a general election, people judge his remarks as evidence of his extreme views, not so much the substance of what he said.

It's interesting to see Rick Perry's debating style, which is in-your face. The Obama campaign had one camera that just recorded Perry throughout the evening, when he was answering and when he was not. Perry is apt to go after Obama once the bell rings for the purpose of rattling him. McCain's camp always felt that McCain made a mistake not taking it to Obama from early on and getting him to either get angry or react. It will be interesting to see whether Perry's style holds up. I'm sure the Obama campaign is now studying all the body language. Perry likes to crowd personal space--like when he moved in on Ron Paul and later Mitt Romney.

Peggy Noonan came up with the most unsual criteria on whether Perry would be judged a success. " If you can imagine listening to him for four years without throwing up in your mouth." Then he's a winner. That's putting the bar rather low.

I think Perry will not wear well. Throughout the night, he showed how nasty he can be and looked menacing. Generally, voters don't vote nasty for President but times may have changed.

Mitt is--well, weird. Last night was probably the best night Romney has had on the campaign trail over two campaigns. His economic plan didn't make sense but none of them ever do. His defense of social security was to show his moderation and compassion.

But there was something that stuck out at me and has always bothered me about Romney--his condescension. He was condescending about Perry and he is always condescending to Barack Obama. During the last campaign, all the other Republicans literally hated Romney personally. It was a visceral thing. It is the characteristic that was the downfall of both Al Gore and John Kerry--this sense of privilege and superiority. If you don't think it exists, remember Romney is expanding his La Jolla beachfront property as his West Coast White House, his version of Reagan's ranch.

I don't know whether Romney's condescension comes from inheriting great wealth and making more or from his Mormonism. Romney is further up the church ladder than the Huntsman family and I wonder if this hasn't worn off. At his level, you are taught you can become a God and your wife a Goddess. If you have been conditioned to this all your life, it's bound to show. Mormons have a self-understanding of themselves as a persecuted minority and history bears them out. But there were mundane reasons for this. The primary gripe by Christians in the 19th century was the Mormons' overt sense of superiority over their neighbors and their fraudulent business practices. Also polygamy was considered rather exotic.

Romney's new tact about Obama saying he's a nice guy but totally inadequate for the job plays well to the Republicans but if you step back, you have to ask what are Romney's qualifications for saying this. Even though his father did try to get the Mormon church to abandon its racism, if you grew up being taught the "Book of Abraham" was a divinely-inspired text which shows that blacks are the people of Ham, it's bound to creep into your attitude toward African-Americans and particularly someone with an African name. His remarks are too condescending by half.

(Historical note, The papyri which Joseph Smith claimed he translated with divine help were later examined by the University of Chicago and found to be ordinary Egyptian funeral papyrii. There was no mention of Abraham or the people of Ham anywhere. This created a scandal in the Mormon hierarchy and they have tried to distance themselves from the book, which is pretty tough since their "prophet" claimed it was divinely inspired.)

Almost all national polls show Romney being the most competitive of Republicans with Obama. By Republican tradition, he should be the nominee, second time out, former Governor, wealthy man. but there are deep suspicions about his character and from conservatives there is disdain for his apparent lack of a strong belief system--or at least a belief system that he could share with other Americans. That's why I think the antipathy to him among conservatives and evangelicals will hurt him in the primaries.

The other winner last night was Jon Huntsman, a self-described Jack Mormon. Utah-born and raised, his grandfather ran a saloon and his mother was a devout Mormon so his religiousity has more of a regional, Western taste to it. John Weaver, his campaign chairman, is trying to find air in the field and focusing on New Hampshire. Weaver is banking on people's disdain for Romney and alarm by the crazy right to provide Huntsman with the opportunity. Because of Huntsman's almost non-existent showings in polls, they had to lobby CNN for his addition to next week's debate. The kiss of death to Huntsman has been his relationship with Obama as his ambassador to China and also his rationality. He scored when he spoke about not signing any pledges on any subject.

The next debate will be on CNN and is cosponsored by the Tea Party Express.

There is one issue that has been hanging over President Obama from the beginning of his presidency--which is the manner and nature of his leadership. I voted for him because of his nature and calm demeanor. I thought the usual Alpha Male bluster and posturing had been ruinous to our country and that a new generation could embrace another style of leadership. But the critiques from the Left and the Right keep demonstrating to me that Americans crave the authoritarian father figure--the decisive leader who will also serve as the paternal figure.

Ultimately, deep down this also gets back to Obama's race because we have been conditioned to accept White Alpha Male behavior as the ideal in the United States. Whites are totally obtuse to this. I like cool and intellectual but a majority of Democrats and Repubicans do not.

But this time the Alpha Male brings to the table a radical Right agenda that has not seen the light of day since the Depression era. We should read up on our Wilhelm Reich, who studied this phenomenon.