The GOPs identity crisis

Mitts recent struggles this week have been painful to watch. He has resembled “porky pig” in his attempts to explain his Tax Returns (or lack thereof).

Also gaining traction is the issue about Mitt’s IRA. The Wall Street Journal estimated that Mitt’s IRA is valued between $20-$100 million.

Wall Street Journal article:
online.wsj.com...

Considering the most he could have legally contributed is around $150,000 he would have to have the best / luckiest portfolio manager in history to have $19-$99 million in gains on $150k in investments AND survive the recessions we’ve had.

Time article:
moneyland.time.com...

Newt Gingrich put a debate moderator and his ex wife in their place this week as millions watched. The underlying sentiment however will likely cause Gingrich to fade from his second “15 minutes of fame”. Voters will likely re-connect with the underlying tone that Gingrich broke his political “Contract with America” as well as his “moral contract” with two ex-wives. Voters across America will continue to ponder about Newt’s trustworthiness.

Rick Santorum is an enigma. He seems like a kid happy to be at the adult table. He seems outclassed by his “big brother” Mitt, his “cranky uncle” Newt and his “grampa” Ron. Some of his policies may or may not be good for America. He may or may not be a flip flopper. He may or may not be electable as the nominee but doubtfully as President. If he can’t overshadow his GOP competitors how will he handle Netanyahu, Ahmadinejad, Medvedev and Chavez?

Then there’s Ron Paul.

If Ron Paul looked like Mitt and had a slightly less radical position on the military he would be unstoppable. Dr. Paul has solid support among a wide range of voter demographics and the GOP cannot win the Presidential election without Ron Pauls supporter.

The GOP now has two choices – one of the three “main stream” candidates have to adopt a less radical version of Ron Paul’s platform OR Ron Paul has to smooth his platform to be more palatable to the GOP base. The result just may be the best thing for America and the way politics is supposed to work, as long as the eventual nominee doesn’t jettison his platform as soon as he takes the oath of office like Obama did.

Either way the GOP race is going to be fascinating to watch in the coming weeks as the platform solidifies and the GOP is forced to reinvent itself to appeal to the Ron Paul allectorate.