I don’t care if you call it a win or a tie. In Iowa on Tuesday, Mitt Romney had a performance that looks ugly on the stat sheet , but which accomplished quite a bit when you consider it in its broader context.
The two most important things that Mr. Romney accomplished are as follows:
First, Mr. Romney eliminated Rick Perry from the nomination contest. Of course, Mr. Romney got a lot of help from Mr. Perry himself. Maybe we should use the passive voice — Mr. Perry was eliminated from the nomination contest. The conclusion is the same: the man who once looked like Mr. Romney’s most formidable rival has suspended his campaign.
The result was not unexpected based on late-stage polling — in fact, the polling average nailed Mr. Perry’s share of the vote almost to the decimal point.
But it was not long ago that Mr. Perry looked like he might finish in a solid third place, at a bare minimum, in Iowa; a poll conducted as recently as Dec. 12 actually had Mr. Perry ahead of Mr. Romney. And there was some chance that Mr. Perry might have done quite a bit better than third place. I’m not convinced that there was anything that happened to Rick Santorum that couldn’t have happened to Mr. Perry, if only Mr. Perry had received the right injection of momentum — say, an endorsement from the Family Leader, a conservative group — at the right time. — via Winning Ugly, but Winning – NYTimes.com
I think is pretty mcu spot on, read the rest, it is very interesting. A little wonkish, but very interesting.
First Lady Michelle Obama is to make a guest appearance on an upcoming episode of the popular Nickelodeon show iCarly.
In the episode, which airs on January 16, the First Lady helps the show’s title character Carly get in touch with her father, an Air Force colonel who can’t make it home for his birthday.
Obama surprises the girl and her friends, which leads to her being called “Your Excellency” by Carly’s friend Sam Puckett.
After being corrected by a friend that you don’t call the First Lady that, Michelle Obama jumps in and says “No, no, I kind of like it.”
As if right on cue, the right-wing blogosphere is condemning this; do some of these people drive? It is humor folks, something that many of us actually could use right now. 🙄
I just have to wonder aloud, would they be that shrieking in their criticism of Michelle Obama if she were a white woman? It is to wonder.
Also too, with this blog, I am going to stick strictly to Politics. I am not going to meander into Religion or Religious arguments like I did on my previous blog; Because for one, it tends to start fights with unbelievers and two, it tends to make me look like a jerk. My point is this, I know what I believe, but I am not interested in fighting about it or debating it. At some point, I might create a Blog solely dedicated to Christianity; but on this blog, it’s about politics and politics only.
For what it is worth I do plan on following that little rule; however, when so-called “Christians” insert themselves into politics, I, as a FundamentalistBaptist, will have to speak out.
Having said all of the above, I can tell you with the uttermost confidence that God did not speak to Pat Roberson.
Here is the very misguided man attempting to act as someone who has a personal line with the almighty: (H/T Mediaite)
Quote:
I spent the better part of a week in prayer and just saying, ‘God show me something,’ some things I’ll share with you. I think he showed me the next me the next president but I’m not supposed to talk about that so I’ll leave you in the dark—probably just as well—I think I’ll know who it will be. I’m going to read just as I wrote down as if I’m hearing from the Lord these words.
Your country will be torn apart by internal stress, a house divided cannot stand. Your president holds a radical view of the direction of your country which is at odds with the majority, expect chaos and paralysis. Your president holds a view that is at odds with the majority, it’s a radical view of the future of this country, so that’s why we’re having this division. This is a spiritual battle which can only be won by overwhelming prayer. The future of the world is at stake because if America falls, there’s no longer a strong champion of freedom and a champion of the oppressed of the world. There must be an urgent call to prayer. The Lord said, a time of maximum stress and peril, greater than at any time since the CBN ministry began. This country will begin disintegrating.
I started thinking, when did we start this place? We started CBN in 1960, you think of all the things that went on, you had the assassination of the president, assassination of Martin Luther King, you’ve got a war in Vietnam, you’ve got all these things, He is saying you will have worse stress than before. So I’m saying, God, let me give you some suggestions and you tell me if any of them is right, pick one. I said, is it an EMP blast? No that isn’t it. Is it a cosmic or solar or radiation blast? No. Is it Mayan galaxy alignment? No. Is it Iranian or North Korean nuclear threat? No. Is it an earthquake or a volcano? No. Is it a massive power failure? No. What is it? It’s an economic collapse. And God said, This is not my judgment, they are bringing it upon themselves.
Pat Robertson is a Pentecostal Christian, he is under the typical delusion that the “signs and wonders” as written about in the Book of Acts chapter 2 are somehow for today. In that false belief system, these people actually believe that God is still speaking to people today. This is patently false; everything that God had to say to mankind is located in the Bible. period, end of story.
Anyone that tries to tell anyone any different is trying to deceive people, which is what this con man is an old professional at being— a con man.
Bush leaves office, Republicans learn their lessons from it and what happens? Republicans get poo poo’ed for it. 🙄
PERRY, Iowa — A funny thing happened recently in the presidential campaign in Iowa: The last Republican president’s name actually surfaced. “We’ve had, in the past, a couple of presidents from Texas that said they weren’t interested in wars … like George W. Bush,” a voter said to Ron Paul, the Texas congressman who has been sharply critical of U.S. military entanglements overseas. “My question is: How can we trust another Texan?”
It was an odd, almost discordant moment in a GOP contest where Bush, a two-term president who left office just three years ago, has gone all but unmentioned. While the candidates routinely lionize Ronald Reagan and blame President Barack Obama for the nation’s economic woes, none has been eager to embrace the Bush legacy of gaping budget deficits, two wars and record low approval ratings — or blame him for the country’s troubles either.
“Republicans talk a lot about losing their way during the last decade, and when they do they’re talking about the Bush years,” said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont-McKenna College. “For Republicans, the Bush administration has become the ‘yadda yadda yadda’ period of American history.”
Bush has been out of office now, for what? Four years and the Washington Post so desperately wants pin the Nation’s ills on him. Never mind the fact that the current President’s policies have utterly failed and have made the Nation’s ill’s worse than they were when Bush left office — Oh, no! we must blame the evil Republican for the problems! Good grief. 🙄 No wonder the liberal media in this Country is failing left and right.
I have read some moronic things in my day; but this one takes the cake — and folks, that is not partisanship speaking, it common sense; something that is seriously lacking on the left anymore. Which is why I left them in 2007. Taylor Marsh is right, these people are just moronic fools anymore, who are playing people like a fiddle. The sick part is, most of them are too stupid to even notice.
Seriously??!?! Blame Bush —- at this point? Come on. 🙄
…and Gingrich does not disappoint with this shot across Romney’s bow: (Via CBS News)
Video:
Of course, the bad part was that Gingrich sort of stuck his own foot in his mouth, when he called Romney a liar and then turned right around and said he would support him if he were the GOP nominee. D’oh! 🙄
Lord Edward Morrissey, who knows this stuff better than anyone, I think, saith the following:
Hey, not to rain on Gingrich’s parade, but how is that different than any other PAC or super-PAC? I’m pretty sure that Gingrich-supporting PACs aren’t run by disinterested strangers, nor are those for Rick Perry or any of the other candidates in the race. That’s a problem in the structure of the campaign finance regulations that impose artificial divisions on contributions. If those were removed, the same money would flow into these races, but the candidates themselves would be responsible for its use instead of hiding behind PACs and super-PACs — and that includes Newt Gingrich.
As I’ve written earlier, there is nothing wrong with so-called “negative” campaigning. Candidates should draw contrasts between their positions and those of their opponents, and their records as well. As long as that is being done honestly, there is nothing wrong or dishonorable about it; in fact, that’s why we have primaries. Gingrich chose to eschew that strategy and now wants to claim some kind of victimization because the rest of the field chose not to follow in his footsteps. On top of that, Gingrich has descended to name-calling, which looks more like a dog-in-the-manger ploy than a way to gather support in the few short hours before Iowa voters trudge to precincts tonight. A confident candidate wouldn’t have sunk to the level of this conversation the morning of a caucus.
Indeed.
Also too, I say this as a kid, who grew up in the inner city of Detroit; there is nothing funnier than watch to rich, white old guys fighting it out like school kids. I find it quite amusing. 😉 😛
Again, as it is has been written many times over in the right-wing political blogosphere and also said by others on Fox News; Gingrich is a thinker, a Conservative intellectual, if you will — but he is also a bomb thrower, who is not apt to thinking on his feet. This video above proves that. In other words, it is okay to be a bomb thrower, you just have to be able to run from the bomb, in the right direction! 😯 😛 😉 😀
Last night as I sat and watched the video of Alan Colmes attacking Rick Santorum something came to my mind and I thought I would write about it. Folks, I believe that we should prepare ourselves for this sort of a thing. The reason I say this is that the Democratic Party establishment knows that they are in a very bad way. After all, their President has failed in every manner imaginable; his attempts to save the economy failed, his attempts to create more jobs failed, even his idiotic attempts to kick start green energy failed. Therefore, seeing that their President is more vulnerable than Joe Louis on a bad night, the Democratic Party is going to go straight for the jugular and pull every dirty pool trick in the book.
Now, because I am not a hyper-partisan and because I do tend to like to deal in the truth, I will say this: Republicans and Conservatives should not be shocked when this happens. Now why would I say this? Because it just so happens that “Right” media in this Country did some of the very same things to President Obama when he was being elected. What am I referring? Well, there is Birther nonsense, the accusation that President Obama is gay, that he is a Muslim or even more libel — a terrorist, that he is a communist —- all of that stuff.
The problem is that the things that I mentioned above are usually done under the banner of “all is fair in love and war.” The problem is that Conservatives and Republican do not mind doing to Democrats, because in their minds, the lies and half-truths are being done because of a love for the Country and because they want their candidate in the White House. The problem is that when these sort of nasty attacks happen to Conservatives at the behest of the Democratic Party; the first thing that Conservatives do is hoist the red flag and cry, “Foul!”
The reason why I say this is that politics as AllahPundit so very well put it is a blood sport with much bloodlust involved. Again, the attack on Santorum was an extreme example of Democratic Party bloodlust, which surprisingly now has had some blowback effect, which is a good thing. However, my fellow Conservatives, do not think that this is the end of it. More of this sort of stuff is coming, so be prepared for it. This is, after all just the primary season. Wait till the general election comes, that is going to be mess.
Put simply, my point is this; “those who fling poo, should not be shocked or surprised when it is flung back at them.”
Taylor Marsh is one of the liberal progressive bloggers that I used to read, when I was still rooting for that team. So, needless to say, this was quite a shock to read coming from her.
As a recovering partisan these days and after watching Pres. Obama’s compromising conservatism, I no longer feel the urgency to support a political party who has threatened dire consequences if I don’t vote for them. Beyond foreign policy, economic, and civil rights issues mentioned above, Pres. Obama has also chosen to short-change women again and again on our freedoms, starting in the health care bill, then by executive order that empowered conservatives of both parties, and finally by making the decision on Plan B that would have come from Mitt Romney, too.
Pres. Obama has helped Democrats deliver a climate that this party has threatened since the ’70s would happen if I didn’t vote for them…
For over 30 years, modern feminists like myself have been hearing that we must support Democrats, because if we don’t our freedoms will be on the line yet again. After supporting Democrats since my one vote for Ronald Reagan in 1980, what has finally happened through Pres. Obama is exactly what I was told this political party would guard against. So now, as the 2012 elections approach, Barack Obama and the Democratic Party are once again relying on the theory that because Republicans are worse women like me can be suckered into falling in line one more time.
(…..)
The two political parties have been under siege for some time, because Americans just don’t trust Republicans or Democrats anymore. Barack Obama was the last chance for political parties, specifically the Democratic brand, with George W. Bush having already given rise to rebellion inside the GOP, which is seen best through Ron Paul and the Tea Party. Meanwhile, Congress long ago ceded their importance as an equal branch of government, preferring loyalty oaths to their political party, as well as the boss in the Executive branch, which has become a marketing tool for itself, an American kingship of sorts, with no difference between Republican or Democratic presidents. Once in the White House, the presidents club rules.
So, having finally made it to the recovering partisan shore, though I’m not completely cured, I must say that Pres. Obama’s first term went a long way to liberating me permanently.
In 2012, this liberal’s vote is up for grabs.
Oof. That’s harsh. I suggest you go read the whole entire thing too, because not only does Marsh slam Obama; she basically says that Pelosi, the Democratic Party and liberalism as a concept are a joke anymore. This is something that I basically figured out not long before my blog “the populist” was hacked. Which is why I basically switched sides; I’m not a far right winger, but I am sure not a leftist, not what passes for a democrat today.
Make no mistake, Taylor Marsh is not a Republican, not by a longshot. However, she is someone who is not happy with her party. It is a start.
This is about the most sickening thing I have ever read:
Some 800 Occupy Wall Street protesters began the new year by trying to retake Zuccotti Park last night, starting a massive clash with police in which one officer was stabbed in the hand with a pair of scissors.
A suspect was arrested in the 11:30 p.m. incident, according to a law enforcement source.
Hundreds in the crowd of occupiers then surrounded the ambulance as it tried to leave with the wounded officer, the source said.
The officer, who was not identified, was taken to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition.
Shortly before midnight OWS protesters took to Twitter to proclaim their assault on Zuccotti — from which they were booted by cops in November.
“Barricades being torn down at liberty [Zuccotti] park,” they wrote. “Happy new years!!”
They later tweeted: “Big crowd at liberty square. We have taken back the park.”
I think that this entire #OWS movement needs to rethink their idea of peaceful protest. I am an independent voter and find this sort of nonsense to be idiotic at best. I mean, I have been unemployed since 2005 and I do not support these people at all. Luckily, I took some Christmas money and am trying to get a small business off the ground. I basically feel about it like this, if I cannot find a job; I’ll try working for myself. Which is more than what these people are doing, that movement is not about protesting “fat cats” it is about protesting capitalism, which is in effect a socialist uprising.
Jim Hoft over at Gateway Pundit calls them the “Obama endorsed” protesters and rightfully so, Obama did say that he understood where they were coming from:
I just wonder, does he support cops being stabbed too?
Some items are not restricted to 2011 but all are since President Obama took office in January 2009. So without further ado:
10) – Golf Outings
President Obama played 32 rounds of gold in 2011, besting his previous record highs of 2010 and 2009. Not a big deal by itself and certainly he is as entitled to some relaxation just like the rest of us, but maybe he should consider just a little less time on the greens and a little more focused on real problems.
9) – Air Force One
President Obama has flown more miles on Air Force One than any previous president, at an average of $181,757 per hour. In 2010 alone, Obama used Air Force One 172 times. That’s a lot of mileage.
8 ) – Fast and Furious
Attorney General Eric Holder and the DOJ through the BATF put 2,000 guns in the hands of Mexican drug cartel members which have been used in more than 180 violent crimes including the murder of a US Government agent. There are still 1,400 unrecovered weapons floating around Mexico.
7) – Food Stamps
In January 2009 when Obama took office there we approximately 32,000,000 people collecting food stamps. As of August 2011 that number had swelled to approximately 46,000,000 people for an increase of 43.8% in less than 3 years. This is just one indicator of the failure of the liberal economic agenda.
6) – Regulatory Burden
Since January 2009 government regulations have added $38 billion in new costs. Total regulatory costs are now estimated at $1.75 trillion per year. In the same time period the enforcement workforce is up 13%, and enforcement budgets are up 16%.
5) – Personal Income
When Obama took office personal income was $12.1 trillion in January 2009, and has risen to $13.0 trillion as of November 2011. That’s a whopping 7.4% increase (not adjusted for inflation), if only the other economic numbers were held to such a low increase we’d actually be okay. Alas, they’re not.
4) – Unemployment
The U3 rate was 7.7% in January 2009, rose to 10.0% by year end 2009 and is now 8.6%, that’s an 11.7% increase, while the U6 was 10.4% in January 2009, rose to 17.3% by year end 2009 and is now 15.6%, for a 50.0% increase. Remember that stimulus plan that was going to cut unemployment by 1.5-2.0%. Oops.
3) – Deficit Spending
The liberal attitude toward spending has run completely unbridled under President Obama with an FY2009 deficit of $1.4 trillion, an FY2010 deficit of $1.3 trillion, an estimated deficit for FY2011 of $1.3 trillion and an estimated deficit for FY2012 of $1.1 trillion. As an added bonus, that 2012 estimate is already being acknowledged as considerably lower than the real numbers will be eventually.
2) – National Debt
When Obama took office the US Debt was $9.9 trillion and today, thanks to the deficit spending noted in #3, it is above $15.5 trillion and will hit $16.4 trillion by the end of September 2012. Liberal economists assured us that incurring new debt was essential to a recovery – but we have no recovery, only a 56.6% increase in the total debt. If only this was the same percentage increase as personal income we might be okay but it’s not and now we’re screwed.
1) – The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Nothing needs to be said except Obamacare is nothing but a foundation on which to build a disaster of epic proportions and has already had large parts declared unconstitutional by the Courts.
So there you have it, our abbreviated list of things you can thank President Obama and the liberal intelligentsia for as we head into a new year. If only we could hope for better in 2012, but it’s just not in the cards. Unless fiscal sanity is restored, the welfare state is reduced and the size of government is trimmed we, regrettably, have little to look forward to in 2012.
Best President since JFK? Lincoln? FDR? According to whom? More like since or worse than, maybe Carter!
For what it is worth; and I really should not have to even mention this — But, because I know how black Liberals minds work — This has zero to do with skin color. I do not dislike Obama because he is black. In fact, I am very glad that America elected a black President. However, I dislike the man’s polices and it is proven fact that President Barack Obama has been a abysmal failure, not just to the business community, but to the general public as a whole and to the Country. The very people he played like a fiddle to get elected, are the same very one’s who are STILL suffering, even after his election.
So, this statement is, in fact, one of his worst; so much in fact, that the program that he gave this interview for, did not even broadcast it. But rather, put it on their website. Because they knew how horrible it sounded. It is pretty bad, when the very liberal media that went into the tank for this man, has to hide idiotic things he has said, all to protect him and his moronic image that everyone by now knows, is nothing more than a silly lie.
Happy New Year Mr. President — Keep the stupidity coming — I need the content.
I have read some stupid stuff that this joker has written before, including his idiot smearing of me in the past, by some of his sock puppets at that joke of a site of his; but this right here takes the cake.
No Surprise, Iowa Social Conservatives Are About To Shoot Us All in the Foot Again
Posted by Erick Erickson
Wednesday, December 28th at 4:02PM EST
I’m hearing several campaigns and external pollsters have a surge for Rick Santorum. With the National Review folks fawning over him again, it probably means a surge is real and any surge by Rick Santorum is another factor ensuring Mitt Romney wins the nomination. (To be fair, this doesn’t look like real momentum)
Santorum has no money or organization outside of Iowa and cannot win the nomination, but Iowans love a guy who sucks up to them and makes sure they know he loves the babies.
As a pro-lifer myself, I have to throw up a bit in my mouth that Iowa conservatives are seriously considering Rick Santorum, which will only help Mitt Romney, a guy who even after his supposedly heartfelt conversion to life put some seriously pro-abortion judges on the Massachusetts bench hiding behind the “Well it was Massachusetts for Pete’s sake” defense.
Let’s remember Rick Santorum could not even win re-election in his home state of Pennsylvania.
Rick Santorum also supported Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey in the U.S. Senate back in 2004.
But most damning to me is Rick Santorum’s actual record in the Senate and House of Representatives. I keep hearing him say he was such a paragon of fiscal conservative virtue, when he was anything but that. He was as go along to get along as all the other Republicans who led to our downfall.
Okay, let me explain something to this simple-minded idiotic buffoon. There are three legs of Conservatism — as explained and used very well by President Ronald Reagan. Those legs are social conservatives, foreign policy conservatives and economic conservatives. The late President Reagan built an alliance of these three groups of conservatives that changed the political landscape of the Nation.
The point I am trying to make here is this; try winning the Nomination of the Republican Party, much less the election for President of the United States without any one of these legs of the stool. If the evangelical base does not like a Republican candidate, he can forget about being elected, that is why John McCain lost. Not because of Sarah Palin, in fact she boosted his support! It was because most rib-rocked Conservatives saw John McCain is a petty phony and too much of a moderate. Furthermore, the evangelical Christian base was not impressed with McCain second trophy wife and little slut dressing daughter.
That is why McCain lost and Obama won, because the Republicans stayed home and did not vote, because the candidate did not appeal to the base. That base is made up; again, of social conservatives, foreign policy conservatives and economic conservatives; if you try to win an election or even a primary without one of these groups, you are spinning your wheels. This is why Ron Paul and others are trying to win their votes.
This, again, proves to me, that Mr. Erickson should not be taken seriously, at all.
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