The Strangest Adventures-80 Page Giant!

At the recent 2013 CPAC, a casually attired Sarah Palin gave a speech that was as much or more Redneck Comedy Tour than political speech. Of course, in my opinion Sarah Palin will never run for office again, (too much work and she’s much too thin skinned) so perhaps this new stand up routine is a good new direction for her. At one point she drank a Big Gulp, made a joke about NYC Michael Bloomberg and his attempted large soda ban, holding her hefty beverage aloft, like the torch of Lady Liberty. Hey, sure, why not, Sarah. 

I don’t have much to say about Canadian born Latino from Texas Ted Cruz yet; he seems a bit delusional and, ahem, unpolished. Ted Cruz is  under 50 and is being proclaimed by some pundits as the future of the Republican Party. Sarah Palin claims he won entirely because of her support. Not sure if that’s good or bad, bad I suspect. Of course, it’s even more likely that his connections with several tea parties and Freedom Works and the out of state money they brought to his campaign were greater factors in his win for office in 2012.

Rand Paul is the son of Ron Paul, a favorite candidate for many that have read this blog. Rand is another devotee of Ayn Rand, but he seems less affable and not as wise as his father, however all indications are he will be running for president in 2016. He won the straw poll at the recent 2013 CPAC, but the winner of that poll has only won as president twice since the 1980’s. Ooops.

The fourth story illustrates a longstanding belief of the Republican Party that higher taxes destroy the economy and only low taxes build the economy. Only in reality, there’s not so much confirming data there. Sometimes the economy does well during a time of high taxes and sometimes doesn’t, the same for times of low taxes. The economy, it seems, it a lot more complex than a few black and white answers.

I always loved the old DC Comics 80 Page Giants of my childhood because the 80 Page Giant had more content per issue; They were released annually, this is my attempt to create one on my own. 

Our Story So Far

OK, here’s where the Presidential Campaign of 2012 stands now. First off, last month, unelectable Pizza Magnate Herman Cain “suspended” his campaign, in a fog of sexual misconduct allegations. The final straw was when Ginger White accused him of having a 13-year affair. So ends that sideshow. Newt Gingrich jumped into Cain’s spot as flavor of the month, but he quickly became distasteful to voters.  

By the time of the Iowa Caucus on January 3^rd, 2012 Newt had lost his luster, coming in fourth. Unsurprisingly, Mitt Romney won with 30,015 votes, however the big surprise of the day was

Rick Santorum with 30,007 votes, only 8 less than Romney! It turns out Rick, who had only a small amount of money compared to the other candidates, had replaced money with hard work. He visited all 99 counties in Iowa, speaking to potential voters and it paid off. It's impressive enough that I almost regret how I have depicted him on this blog. Almost. Of course, he can’t use that approach in every state; there just isn’t enough time for that.

In third place, Ron Paul with 26,219 votes, more than double what he got here in 2008. This was as good as a victory to his cultish fans and much better than anyone expected. Between the three of them, this equals 70 percent (if you could combine them into one Super-Candidate it could in theory beat Obama) but bear in mind that this is 70 percent of 5.4% of the total voters in Iowa. Yes, this was a “record turnout” and it only drew that small a percentage of the registered voters!

Michele Bachmann also set a record; she had the largest drop in popularity in Iowa history from winning the straw poll to losing the caucuses. She won the straw poll in August with 28.6 percent of the vote but on January 3^rd, she only received 5 percent of the votes, which put her in 6^th place! She has quit her campaign; here at The Strangest Adventures, we’ll miss her. Meanwhile 4^th place Newt Gingrich, 5^th place Rick Perry, and 6^th place Jon Huntsman continue on. Next stop, New Hampshire!

The Strangest Adventures T-Shirts!

If you are still reading at this point, perhaps you enjoy this type of humor enough to want a The Strangest Adventures T-Shirt. I’ve tried to include the main candidates in the 2012 Presidential election in this homage to the Justice League/Justice Society/All-Star Squadron team-up of the 1980’s, Crisis on Earth Prime. This is my first “official” foray into T-Shirt design, aside from home printed and applied iron-ons for myself and others, an early noble design experiment. I would appreciate any feedback, positive or negative, that anyone could provide. And note, I have provided inexpensively priced shirts for the tight of budget as well as premium style shirts. Wear this shirt to tell others you think the candidates are as much of a freak show as I see them to be, well at least in my fevered imagination! Your support would be appreciated; this would supplement my meager earnings from freelance work.

http://www.cafepress.com/TheStrangestAdventures  

2012 Candidates-Ron Paul

Ron Paul  R-TX is an actual Medical Doctor, he’s known as Doctor No. He claims he will "never vote for legislation unless the proposed measure is expressly authorized by the US Constitution” so Paul often casts the solitary "no" vote against proposed legislation.

Dr. Paul once wrote “The notion of a rigid separation between church and state has no basis in either the text of the Constitution or the writings of our Founding Fathers. On the contrary, our Founders' political views were strongly informed by their religious beliefs.”

How interesting and contradictory, then, that he is also a devotee of Ayn Rand; her philosophy of Objectivism had atheism as a defining core value. Contrary to popular belief he did not name his son Rand, who is a US Senator, in her honor. Many consider him, with his belief in smaller government, to be a prototype for the Tea Party. Others deem him to be outlandish, and far from the political mainstream; perhaps both views are correct. This is his third attempt at the presidency and he is not expected to do well this time either.