Another bad day for Republicans

The Republican candidates for the presidency just can't seem to stop stepping all over themselves during this pre-primary season. Yesterday was another bad day for the top contenders.

First of all, we had Cain's bizarre ad that had everyone scratching their heads and wondering whether this guy is really serious.



Then there was Perry stepping all over the launch of his so-called "tax plan" with his own version of birtherism.



This stunt was reviled by almost every Republican leader out there and led conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin to call him "unfit and unserious."

Perry is playing the role of a Texas A&M frat boy, not a contender for leader of the free world and commander in chief. Can such a person be taken seriously?

This is not a problem, by the way, that his staff can fix. This goes to the candidate’s character and judgment. If such a person would stoop to birtherism and secession, and let anti-religious bigotry go without condemnation, where does it stop?

Finally, Romney goes to Ohio to congratulate Republicans who are working to maintain legislation that denies workers their collective bargaining rights. But he won't endorse their work.



That led to this statement from the Club for Growth, pretty much summarizing what we all know about Romney.

The big problem many conservatives have with Mitt Romney is that he’s taken both sides of nearly every issue important to us. He’s against a flat tax, now he’s for it. He says he’s against ObamaCare, but was for the individual mandate and susbidies that are central to ObamaCare. He thinks that collective bargaining issues should be left for states to decide if he’s Ohio, but he took the opposite position when he was in New Hampshire. This is just another statement in a long line of statements that will raise more doubts about what kind of President Mitt Romney would be in the minds of many Republican primary voters.

Overall, the situation is so bad that Bill Kristol is still searching for that "savior" candidate.

The race seems to be more open and fluid than conventional wisdom has it. In particular, it strikes me that as everyone focuses (understandably) on Romney, Cain, and Perry, Gingrich is increasingly well positioned for a serious challenge. And mightn't at least one of Mitch Daniels, Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, or Jeb Bush be rethinking his decision not to run?

(On a side note, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the idea that Kristol agrees with me. But I do think we should keep an eye on Gingrich.)

And finally, you KNOW Republicans are in trouble when Pat Robertson is warning that they've gotten too extreme!



I seriously don't know how this gets better for Republicans. Perhaps they can find some way to dig themselves out of this hole they seem so intent on climbing in to. But while it would probably be good for our country to actually have two sane competing parties, I have to admit that this spectacle is kinda fun to watch.