Election 2008: Not Your Father's Cuddly Californian Republican

Today on my way to Union Square to do some grocery shopping, I saw a huge police prescence on 6th Avenue ostensibly to catch someone--seemingly out of view--who was dangling from one of the skyscrapers, since these things never end interestingly (at least in my view), I continued on with my merry stroll.

I mention this because Duncan Hunter reminds me of that unseen person dangling from a building causing all this fuss without actually making any impact save for splattering his guts on the ground.

Californian Republicans are a strange lot. The state has yielded Nixon (who I actually quite like, believe it or not, because he did make life better for everyone else...Watergate was his own cockiness getting him back), as well as (debatably) Reagan and Schwartznegger. Since Nixon is the only one of this lot who was a Californian native, one would assume that a native Californian Republican would be in the Nixon mold.

Nope.

Meet Duncan Hunter, product of Riverside, California.

Mr. Hunter believes (abridged, because brevity is not this man's strong point) :

• Life begins at the moment of conception and therefore all fertilised eggs, zygotes, or whatever they are called are considered "unborn children." (Quite honestly, how anyone would willingly procreate with Mr. Hunter is beyond my level of comprehension, but I suspect that wasn't the case anyway. Irrespective, he is graphically obsessed with conception.)
• CLONING is a serious problem and must be nipped in the bud NOW.
• The Federal Government shouldn't give money to any organisation which would had out condoms to kids...because if they have them, they might just *GASP* have safe sex!?
• Government should cut back on spending on everything save for defense. (I'll let this slide, because he's saving his own bum.)
• Religious icons on government memorials do NOT violate the separation of church and state because the founding fathers were all Christian. (Ummm...no.)
• Gays make poor parents, ergo they shouldn't be allowed to marry. (Mr. & Mrs. Manson were just darling parents, I bet.)
• If you have a gun in your house, then you should feel secure. (Despite the fact that most people get injured by their own gun.)
• Hate crime legislation creates an inequality and should be striken because all crime is equal (?)
• NEA = Pornographers

And finally after all this long-windedness, Mr. Hunter says " [his] basic philosophy is to teach and train and inspire rather than simply give government 'hand outs.'"

I know, Dick, and I'm turning along with you.