Likely Presidential Hopefuls Air Their Skeletons

[+EdwardGlen]

fyi;

 

All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.

- John Arbuthnot

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20110225/ts_yblog_theticket/likely-presidential-hopefuls-air-their-skeletons

 

Some may regret their original actions, and others have long ago reconciled the delicate matters with the public. But like them or not, most candidates eying a presidential bid will soon be forced to address the skeletons in their closets.

 

That's already happened for several potential contenders. Just this week, conservative former House Speaker Newt Gingrich publicly addressed his extra-marital affair and Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee spoke about his decision to grant clemency years ago. And the list doesn't end there.

 

Below, we review the potential 2012 candidates' biggest liabilities and what they've recently had to say about each matter:

 

Newt Gingrich's affair: Gingrich may be a conservative icon, but critics have seized on his stormy marital past to question just how much he takes his family-values platform to heart. The former Speaker cheated on his first wife and initiated divorce proceedings during her cancer treatment. After marrying that mistress, he later cheated on her with another woman whom he later married. This week, Gingrich was asked to reconcile his personal life with his policies-- including his opposition to gay marriage-- during a student forum at the University of Pennsylvania. Gingrich's response:

 

I believe in a forgiving God, and the American people will have to decide whether [that's] their primary concern. If the primary concern of the American people is my past, my candidacy would be irrelevant. If the primary concern of the American people is the future ... that's a debate I'll be happy to have with your candidate or any other candidate if I decide to run.

 

Mike Huckabee's clemency grant: When he was serving as governor of Arkansas in 2000, Huckabee commuted the sentence of prisoner Maurice Clemmons, and made Clemmons immediately eligible for parole. Years after he was set free, Clemmons killed four police officers in Washington state--bringing Huckabee's clemency grant promptly back into the spotlight. During the 2008 GOP primaries, both the press and Huckabee's rivals brought brought up the Clemmons case during debates and interviews, but the issue never really developed as an obstacle to his campaign. Even though he seems to be backing away from a 2012 run, Huckabee seems to be hewing to his earlier position on the Clemmons case; he told reporters Wednesday that he still believes Clemmons' original sentence--108 years for burglary at 16 years of age--was unfair. Here's his reply, via TPMDC:

 

And most people wouldn't have served -- they wouldn't have even been sentenced to 11, much less served 11. It was clearly a disproportionate sentence, based on all the other cases like his... Quite honestly, I'd love to tell you this isn't true-- but that kid was black. And if he'd been white, and upper-middle class and had a good attorney he wouldn't have served a day. He'd have had probation, he'd have gone to see a counselor, and he'd probably gone to college, and he'd probably be on Wall St. making a couple billion bucks a year.

 

Mitt Romney's state-run health care plan: Under Romney's direction as governor, the state of Massachusetts implemented a health plan that included an individual insurance mandate--the very program that conservative candidates now denounce as a job-killing feature of "government-run health care" Romney's been questioned repeatedly on whether he supports the Obama administration's health-care overhaul, and how he'd approach health-care issues if he were still governing Massachusetts today. In an interview this month with ABC News, Romney defended his past plan by differentiating between a federal mandate and a state one. His spokesman issued a similar defense this week to the Boston Globe, but for the first time in recent memory, he added that the former governor is "proud" of the plan. From spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom:

 

Mitt Romney is proud of what he accomplished for Massachusetts in getting everyone covered... What's important now is to return to the states the power to determine their own healthcare solutions by repealing Obamacare. A one-size-fits-all plan for the entire nation just doesn't work.

 

Haley Barbour on race, lobbying: This isn't so much a skeleton for Barbour, as a perception problem: the issue of race continues to dog the Mississippi governor. First, Barbour made headlines for suggesting the civil rights era wasn't that bad, then he was asked to condemn a state license plate honoring Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Ku Klux Klan leader. Meanwhile, advocates of harsher border enforcement have questioned whether he, his lobbying company, or some combination thereof, aided Mexico in pushing for amnesty for illegal immigrants. And that was all in just the past few months. Barbour has defended himself on all of these fronts. Here's his most recent statement Monday on the license plate:

 

I said accurately this is not going to happen...The bureaucracy denied it, the legislature won't pass it and if the legislature passes it, it won't become law because I won't sign it.

 

Mitch Daniels' drug conviction: The Indiana governor spoke out this week about his 1970 conviction on charges of drug use as an undergraduate at Princeton. In an interview Monday with The Daily Princetonian, Daniels made no excuses for the incident, for which he received a $350 fine:

 

I don't make excuses for anything. Justice was served...I had used marijuana and I was fined for that, and that was appropriate.

 

Sarah Palin's tenure as governor, rumors: The former governor of Alaska has been the target of rampant rumors ever since she jumped into the national spotlight as the 2008 vice presidential nominee. This scrutiny is not about to let up as she ponders a presidential bid. Case in point is a new tell-all book about Palin, which includes accusations she violated election law. Palin hasn't addressed the book outright, but she did respond to a new controversy that erupted because of it. Also this week, the political gossip website Wonkette discovered a Facebook account linked to Palin's personal Gmail address offering effusive support for Palin and daughter Bristol. The page disappeared shortly after Wonkette's report, but not before Palin took to Facebook in an attempt to dismiss the controversy:

 

On a side note, there's always buzz about fake Sarah Palin Facebook and Twitter accounts. Please know that this is my only authentic Facebook account and SarahPalinUSA is my only authentic Twitter account. Pay no attention to the fake accounts and their fake messages.

 

Tim Pawlenty's pardon: The governor of Minnesota had few known skeletons in his closet when he started talk about a 2012 run, but Pawlenty had to wrestle with his own Huckabee-style scandal last November. A man Pawlenty pardoned faces new charges of molestation. Following reports on new information related to the case, Pawlenty said he no longer stood by his original decision:

 

Had this new information been available to the Board at the time of the pardon request, the pardon should not and would not have been granted.

[mizerman]

All of the people you mentioned in your thread scare the CHIT out of me!

 

1.) Newt was the one banging the drums against Slick Willie during the "Monica/Cigar" thing. All of that while HE was cheating on HIS wife at the same time. Newt = A true hypocrite.

 

2.) Mike Huckabee - he's now on Fox/Faux/Fake News...need I say more?

 

3.) Mitt Romney - he looks like a space alien AND he is a huge hypocrite as well because Obama's health care plan is actually very close to a carbon copy of the very plan he successfully implemented while he was governor.

 

4.) Haley Barbour - if he doesn't remind you of Boss Hawg from the old Dukes of Hazzard tv show...I don't know who does! LMAO! (And, this racist azz clown was riding around on Rick Snyder's campaign bus before the gubernatorial election this past November right here in Michigan)

 

5.) Mitch Daniels? - he's obviously still recovering from his double testicular removal operation. Otherwise, he'd be FOR full-scale legalization of cannabis

 

6.) Sarah Palin - she makes me seem like a nuclear physicist. I actually think her I.Q. is that of a tree stump

 

7.) Tim Pawlenty - if you look up the word "hypocrite" in the dictionary you'll see his mug shot

 

 

Love the post EdwardGlen!

 

Mizerman

 

p.s. where is my Iolite and coffee?

[Bisharoo]

All of the people you mentioned in your thread scare the CHIT out of me!

 

 

Love the post EdwardGlen!

 

Mizerman

 

p.s. where is my Iolite and coffee?

Yes, where indeed!

[mizerman]

Yes, where indeed!

Buddy, we still haven't made it over your way yet to the fruit and veggie place...

 

The Iolite is "quite the little percolater" and looking forward to showing you one of the best little inventions known to man-kind.

 

Happy Saturday!

 

Mizerman

 

p.s. we need someone "like" Mayor Bloomberg to be president - some person who is smart, already rich - or someone who won't be influenced by lobbyists...who actually does the right thing for US

[+420Atheist]

fyi;

 

 

I believe in a forgiving God, and the American people will have to decide whether [that's] their primary concern. If the primary concern of the American people is my past, my candidacy would be irrelevant. If the primary concern of the American people is the future ... that's a debate I'll be happy to have with your candidate or any other candidate if I decide to run.

 

 

 

Great post EG. I love this quote by Gingrich. This is one reason I am an atheist. This guy cheats on his wife while she is undergoing cancer treatment and divorces her. As long as he says "Jesus forgive me" he can continue his immoral and unethical behavior without repercussions. As an atheist I have to live a moral life now because I want to be remembered as a good person in this life as I see nothing beyond it.

 

I also love how Gingrich tries to downplay it as his past. The decisions he has made in the past speaks directly to his morals. I could even forgive the guy for one affair but to divorce his wife while she is undergoing cancer treatment is cruel beyond my imagination. How could you do that to someone you once loved?

 

On the bigger 1012 question I really do not see any of these people putting up a big challenge to Obama. I think Huckabee currently is the closest in the polls and has the least amount of baggage. I will be looking for citizenship in Canada if Palin wins.

[Bisharoo]

[+EdwardGlen]

 

 

NICE!!

We are ALL thinking WTF!

[+Silverblue]

Tree stumps have MORE intelligence than palin. She's a bad example for women. People like that make me wonder if they're really human or just look that way, this includes the lowlifes that think they represent us, the ones who are trying to undo our law. Human? I think not. The one thing guaranteed about politics is, if there's a skeleton in someone's closet, someone else will find it. Be careful of rumors. The truth does have a way of getting out.

 

Sb

[+EdwardGlen]

Tree stumps have MORE intelligence than palin. She's a bad example for women. People like that make me wonder if they're really human or just look that way, this includes the lowlifes that think they represent us, the ones who are trying to undo our law. Human? I think not. The one thing guaranteed about politics is, if there's a skeleton in someone's closet, someone else will find it. Be careful of rumors. The truth does have a way of getting out.

 

Sb

 

Sb

 

I know as well as you there are probably some very qualified persons out there but because of the money it takes to run a campaign they are pretty much precluded from the start. There was a item on MSNBC that puts an estimate at up to one billion dollars for the 2012 presidential run alone and I see it going that high.

 

With-out being born wealthy or having amassed a large fortune politics has become a hobby for millionaires instead of a calling to serve your country and citizens.

 

Good Health

 

Ed

 

We are ALL in this together(Just glad I'm on the right side)

[+Silverblue]

Sb

 

I know as well as you there are probably some very qualified persons out there but because of the money it takes to run a campaign they are pretty much precluded from the start. There was a item on MSNBC that puts an estimate at up to one billion dollars for the 2012 presidential run alone and I see it going that high.

 

With-out being born wealthy or having amassed a large fortune politics has become a hobby for millionaires instead of a calling to serve your country and citizens.

 

Good Health

 

Ed

 

We are ALL in this together(Just glad I'm on the right side)

Very well stated. It's so sad when money becomes the sole focus of life. Serving our country by representing its citizens and carrying out their wishes is a very noble calling, when money is not the focal point. When money is an incentive, it seems all interest is lost on doing what's right for The People. This certainly is not the world I thought I was growing up in. I've got more compassion, more common sense, I'm more responsible, considerate, reliable, and much more honest than all of those dumdums combined. Us poor people are far richer than they'll EVER be!

 

Sb

[+420Atheist]

As Republicans go there is one I kind of like. Gary Johnson. He is running in 2012 but he does not seem to have the financial support to pull it off.

 

Palin could not name a single founding farther. Now I enjoy history and on a good day can name all 7 of them. On a bad day I can only get 4 or 5 but not to even be able to come up with George Washington or Ben Franklin is just lame.