A new survey for a liberal website shows GOPers overwhelmingly believe ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R) is more qualified to serve in the WH than Pres. Obama.
More than half, 53%, say Palin is more qualified than Obama, while 14% say she is not. Meanwhile, 63% of self-identified GOPers say Obama is a socialist.
The poll, conducted by Research 2000 for the liberal DailyKos website among 2,003 self-ID'd GOPers between Jan. 20-31, is clearly intended to embarrass the party. It surveys GOPers on questions about Obama's birthplace (36% do not believe he was born in the US, while 42% think he was) and whether ACORN stole the '08 elections (21% think they did, 24% say otherwise).
39% of GOPers, a plurality, think Pres. Obama should be impeached, while 32% say he should not be. And 31% of GOPers say Obama is a racist. In most questions, Southerners choose the anti-Obama side in higher proportions than those from other regions in the country.
Palin leads the pack among possible WH contenders, according to the Kos poll, though not by much. She scored 16% of the vote if a GOP primary were held today, leading ex-MA Gov. Mitt Romney (11%), ex-VP Dick Cheney (10%), ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (7%) and ex-AR Gov. Mike Huckabee (7%).
MN Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) scored 3%, while Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Sen. John Thune (R-SD) both won 2% of the vote. 42% say they remain undecided.
The poll had a margin of error of +/- 2%.
I have accepted the extreme and vociferous right as absurdist-politik. There is no realm within which to constructively co-exist.
It's worth pointing out that this isn't an altogether new dynamic phenomenon in American politics, but at present, the political wing of the Republican Party is adrift. This just may be the GOP's opportunistic smoke-screen of populist rabble-rousing implementing the low-brow cult of personality at their disposal at the moment with Ms.Palin. The sad and sick part of the equation is our nation's ship is also adrift, with much threatening our economic stability, and the Right is posturing as resolute future-workers while the dollars, from a trickle to an ever corrading stream, continue to migrate upward and away from the broad majority of Americans.
China has already achieved status as the premier manufacturer of solar and wind energy hardware while we continue to "make history". And what does the GOP have to say about that? Not much, save for maybe "drill, baby, drill", but I'd bet that they're privately investing heavily in the meantime before China calls in the balance of our national debt. All the while, drilling away, hollowing out the American middle-class from the inside.
~JC