Where's My Passport?

I'm not quite sure what to make of the current GOP field of presidential candidates.

First of all, not to be Captain Obvious, but this is a ridiculous number of people running. And one of them has already dropped out (although I did like the new glasses, Rick Perry).

We watched the second debate last week, and here's how confounding this current class of Republican office-seekers are: I found myself thinking, and I'm not kidding here, all of the following at one point or another:

"Wow, that was a great point that Rand Paul made!"
"Lindsey Graham is coming across as more than reasonable."
"Well done, Chris Christie. Well done."
"Fiorina has a very commanding presence."
"Nicely done, Jeb!"
"I think I agree with Pataki on that one."

I was more than a little worried about myself.

In my own defense, I also thought these as well:

"Does Ted Cruz seem kinda creepy?"
"Shut up, Jindal. Just shut up."
"Shut up, Trump. Seriously just shut up."
"I mean it, does Cruz seem creepy to you guys?"
"You're a complete idiot, Huckabee."
"And you're done, Walker."
"Seriously, why is Ted Cruz so creepy?"

It's early. I understand that. While I will NEVER, EVER, IN A MILLION BAJILLION YEARS understand how Donald Trump (a) got to the top of the polls and (b) remained there for more than a nano-second, I don't think he will stay there. So I guess he's not scaring me so much as he is frustrating me. And to be perfectly honest, most of these guys (and the one gal) frustrate me at some level, so nothing new there.

Several of them, however, scare the living crap out of me for a variety of reasons. For your amusement, here is a list of the candidates who terrify me along with the accompanying reason(s) they do so:

1. Ted Cruz looks like Joe McCarthy to me, just for starters. So much so that I googled the two names together to see if I could put two pictures side-by-side for a comparison, and I didn't even have to do the work. Apparently I am not the only one who thinks they bear more than a passing resemblance. Google it. Also, his voice. I know that has no impact on his policy, but it wigs me out. Lastly (okay, probably not actually lastly, but for now lastly) every, single, solitary position he holds. The man is willing to shut down the government, go to war, retract citizenships, etc... I want him nowhere near the Oval Office. I could not disagree with someone more than I disagree with Ted Cruz. Except for maybe...

2. Mike Huckabee. Everything. Just everything.

3. Carly Fiorina, though obviously extremely intelligent and very well-spoken, is willing to say anything for her political gain. Her rant against the "videos" of Planned Parenthood was such a blatant lie, and so very easily refuted, and yet she was willing to say it to a national audience with the hopes that they would simply believe it. At the risk of women's healthcare.

4. I changed my mind. Donald Trump does, in fact, scare me. Donald Trump said he'd proudly put Sarah Palin in a cabinet position. That right there terrifies me beyond belief. He is also a man who professes that he will apologize when he is wrong, but so far according to him he has never been wrong. EVER! The whole "Obama is a Muslim born outside of the US" birther ridiculousness he propagates comes to mind, but when asked about that he maintains that he "has his own ideas" about the birth certificate. Guess what? You can have lots of ideas about lots of things, but when confronted with facts that disprove your ideas, your ideas get relegated to fallacies, and you need to move on with the facts in place. Another case in point would be Trump's denial of climate change. Take note climate change deniers: when you say "Let's leave the science to the scientists", you should realize that the scientists have actually all weighed in on this, and they have concluded, using actual scientific methods and actual, real data, that our climate is changing. Not in a good way. Get on board. Make a move and start to solve the problem. You look like idiots.

5. Bobby Jindal... I cannot for the life of me figure out how he has gotten this far. Nothing he says makes any sense to me--not his views, not his rationale for his views, nothing. If I were a citizen of Louisiana I would be very afraid. He's up there with Huckabee.

I feel like I could add fun little details to this list for days on end and still not be done, but I will wrap it up for now and finish by saying that never in my years as a proud voter has a group of people made me feel the need to update my passport and look seriously into Canadian citizenship. Hopefully there's no wall preventing my escape.