What does a Republican believe?

The Republican primary has raised a very interesting question: “What does the Republican Party stand for?”

Besides smaller deficits and smaller government, who are these people and what do they want? Let’s start with who they are not. They are not Olympia Snowe, the moderate Senator from Maine, who basically resigned because her own Republic Party continually will not meet President Obama and the Democrats half way on anything – even reducing deficits. She felt this so strongly that she will leave the Senate by choosing not to run for re-election, potentially giving Senate control over to the Democrats next year.

Are they Rick Santorum, who ‘believes’ his brand of conservative, fundamentalist-style Catholicism should help determine public policy, for instance by saying that the First Amendment to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, does not really separate Church and State, but only prevents the government from picking a state religion for all Americans. Santorum says John Kennedy’s speech extolling the virtues of the Constitution’s separating church and state made him throw-up. Santorum also famously said that women should not have cost free contraceptive services included as a benefit in their health care plan for any reason - health or birth prevention – if their employer finds it morally objectionable. Every Republican Senator voted for this position that Santorum espoused, except Olympia Snowe, who instead announced that she will quit the Senate.

Then who are these Republicans? Maybe the Republican Party is Newt Gingrich, who made millions of dollars lobbying for the continuing strength of the government agency who Republicans say was the main culprit in the mortgage mess. Although Gingrich repeatedly says he was paid as a historian, not as a lobbyist designing strategy to keep Freddy Mac well-funded, before it was bailed-out by taxpayers to prevent a depression (caused by a lack of government regulation).

Or is the Republican Party Rick Perry, whose lack of intelligence seemed to startle everyone – making one wonder how he could actually be Governor of Texas, let alone President of the United States. Perry, well-funded by corporate interests, just seemed kind of like an empty vessel, like a ventriloquist’s dummy in a vaudeville show. Then he made the terrible tactical error of telling Republican voters that illegal immigrant children who came at a young age deserve to continue their education in college if their parents can afford to pay their child’s in-state tuition fees.

Are the Republicans Michelle Bachman, the Tea Party candidate who fires as many senior staff workers as the she takes-in foster children, who rallies against government while she works for government and whose husband’s psychological practice relies on government reimbursement while reportedly trying to “counsel” people out of their homosexuality. Or Herman Cain, whose 9/9/9 was not an economic theory not worthy of serious consideration and which would have lowered Mitt Romney’s taxes from 14 to 9% and whose sexual abuse of women was repeatedly denied by Cain until the accusers multiplied, some of whom were paid money for their damages.

Is the Republican Party Ron Paul, whose ideas to go back to the gold standard and eliminate the federal reserve are as kooky as him saying it’s too early to count himself out as the Republican nominee.

Or is the Republican Party Rush Limbaugh, the defacto leader of the Conservative movement “on the street”, who said that a woman who fought for her friend to have access to contraceptives at Georgetown Law School, a Catholic-affiliated school, for health reasons that were separate and apart from sexual activity, was a slut and should have sex in front of us on video to thank us for giving her free contraceptives.

Are the Republicans Sarah Palin Inc., who re-appeared to say she would be available in a brokered convention, causing even fellow Republicans to sigh.

And then there was the flirtation with Donald Trump. Does any serious person really need to comment upon “The Donald’s” integrity or judgment?

Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, John Huntsman, John Thune the Senator from South Dakota, Tim Pawlenty, and Haley Barbour are all intelligent Republican Presidential candidates who could have represented the Republican Party without being an embarrassment to it.

So we now know in the end we will likely be left with Mitt Romney – the phony. He’s not even wooden like Al Gore, he’s plastic. He’s so out of touch he seems to have been created in a laboratory – a modern day Mittenstein. You wonder if he’s ever done anything in his whole life that wasn’t calculated, that was just deeply felt by him – in his heart, not told to him by his brain, or his faith, but deeply felt in his own individual heart and soul - the heart and soul we Americans use to decide things, even to vote, even when were voting for any of the candidates the Republicans have put forward for President.

Whether we’re acting smart or stupid, constructive or destructive, self-advancing or self-defeating, we Americans are heartfelt people – full of spirit. No one seems to find any connection to Mitt Romney in their heart and no one seems to feel any spirit from him.

This is Randy Feldman on WCRN’s Midday Report.