GOP candidates leave much to be desired

I am a registered independent because I refuse to declare allegiance to political parties.  It really is a very simple notion, I vote for the person, not the party.  Some of my more liberal friends have already started supporting the Obama campaign, and while I have yet to declare my allegiance to a candidate, I have to say my choices on the Republican side are not very appealing.

To be completely frank, the GOP has not produced a candidate that I can justify voting for.  Their front-runners right now have made fools of themselves in a whole variety of hilarious ways.  They have said and done completely ridiculous things and show no signs of letting up.

If you are currently unaware of the Republican front-runners, we have a line-up that includes Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann.  Each and every one of them, I am sure, is a fine individual, but they are not future leaders of this country for unique reasons.

Here is the run-down of Obama's competition.

First, Michele Bachmann is a Republican state representative from Minnesota who has enjoyed an immense amount of Palin-esque support in her state.  I fear that her support would not be nearly as strong if they would listen to what she says.

Her mouth is a fountain which spits a stream of endless nonsense.  She has said some of the most ludicrous things that I have ever heard.

Two years ago, she suggested that some expansions to the AmeriCorps program included "provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward."  

More recently she suggested that Glenn Beck could solve the debt crisis, that carbon dioxide was harmless, that going to Iraq was like going to the Mall of America and that the Lion King was gay propaganda.  I do not think MSNBC could make this up if they tried.  

Furthermore, her campaign website offers not a single solution to any problems facing this country.  Instead, it's filled with grade school drivel that amounts to nothing more than a lump of political buzz words. Who's next?

Second, Rick Perry is the current governor of Texas.  He really doesn't seem like a bad guy. He comes off as a regular Joe, a guy you can trust, but I cannot vote for him.  Thankfully, though, I will not be voting for Perry because of his stand on issues, not ludicrous things he says, I hope.

Perry firmly believes that the religious theory of intelligent design should be taught in public schools, despite the Supreme Court already having ruled that it would be unconstitutional.  He also believes that scientists have manipulated data to fabricate global warming and that his renting a $1 million-a-year house on state money is perfectly acceptable while the Texas governor's mansion was being rebuilt.  

There is one other mess that is plaguing Perry right now.  He owns a hunting camp which is named after a racial slur.  He may not recover from that mess, so maybe the GOP has someone in the wings, a fresh new candidate who will re-energize the party.

Finally, Mitt Romney was the governor of Massachusetts until 2007, from which point he has been a permanent presidential nominee and a staple of loser-hood.  

My problem is not that Mitt Romney says silly things like Bachmann, nor is a hyper-conservative like Perry.  Mitt Romney, for lack of a better word, is a phony.  

He has changed his stance on political issues more often than Glenn Beck cries.  

In 2002, he was pro-choice, calling abortion a personal choice, just like his Massachusetts constituency.  Then in 2008, when he was running for president, on a Republican ballot, he was and, suddenly, had always been pro-life.  

Despite being a favorite amongst conservatives, he recently said he supported demand side economics, which is the exact same economic platform that President Obama runs under.  

In 1994, when he was running in Massachusetts (a state that supports gay marriage), he was an avid supporter of gay rights.  Just this past month, he signed a pledge vowing to protect the traditional marriage between a man and a woman.  

So, I am sorry, but I have no idea where this man stands and he is forcing me to believe that he sides with whoever his constituents are.  At least I know who Perry and Bachmann are.

Right now, these are the best the Republican Party has to offer.  There is a candidate who cannot seem to choose the right words ever, there is a man who is so very conservative that some Republicans fear his economic policy, and there is a candidate that might be a closet democrat.  

I want the Republican Party to have a contender.  I want the 2012 election to be a battle royale.  I want someone that is worth voting for to come out of the GOP.  Change, yes we can!

I want to vote for the candidate, not the party, but if these are the best the Republican Party can come up with, I am voting Obama again.