Adieu, Adieu to You and You and Who?

The Republican debate yesterday appeared to be yet another display of how pathetic the party has become and how far to the right they have moved. Top of the list for, as he himself claimed, "putting his foot in it," was Rick Perry, who couldn't remember the third agency he planned to end when he became president. Here is the actual quote:

“It is three agencies of government when I get there that are gone,” he said, beginning to lay out one of the staples of his stump speech. “Commerce, Education, and the — what’s the third one there? Let’s see,” Perry said.“Commerce and, let’s see,” he continued. “I can’t. The third one, I can’t. Sorry. Oops.” (Washington Post).

After the debate, he acknowledged his blunder but added, “Yeah, it was embarrassing. Of course it was. But here’s what’s more important: People understand that our principles, our conservative principles, are what matter, not a litany of agencies that I think we need to get rid of.” Actually, doesn't it matter just a little? Getting rid of the commerce committee, of course, is an attempt to eliminate a huge power the federal government has over state policy and interstate trade. The education department stands as a key agency in the attempt of America to stay competitive in the global economy -- which apparently isn't that important to "core conservative principles." And the third is so unimportant Perry can't seem to remember it -- maybe it's homeland security of the EPA? The error might very well be the final nail in the coffin of a campaign that seemed ambitious from the start. 

Another leading candidate suffering through a turn of fortunes soon after rising to the top of the polls is, of course, Herman Cain. More and more allegations seem to emerge every day that he harassed another women. But Cain has the perfect rhetorical strategy to allay our concerns, "For every one person that comes forward with a false accusation, there are probably thousands who will say that none of that sort of activity ever came from Herman Cain" (Talking Point Memo). This sort of tautology would be laughable if it wasn't so endemic to conservative discourse today. The argument is essentially the same as a murderer saying, for every person I killed there are millions of others I haven't (okay, not exactly, but pretty damn close). Would we reward a fallen priest for the boys he didn't bugger or a husband for only abusing one of his seven wives? It is certainly plausible that Cain is innocent of the charges, but arguments like these do little to alleviate our concerns. Onward and downward for the GOP!