Category: Rand Paul

What in the hell was Newt Gingrich thinking?

I honestly hate having to write this blog piece, because frankly, I despise this sort of idiotic tripe in politics itself.  Newt Gingrich today was able to do something that not many people can do.  Newt managed to pull off one of the stupidest, brain-dead, tone-deaf moves that any politician could ever do, one that reeked of utter desperation.  Not to mention the fact that he lost my total support.  On top that; he lost the damned primary in Florida!

What was it that Newt Gingrich did that invoked such fury from yours truly?  Newt Gingrich played one of the worst, bottom of the barrel political tactic cards, that only a few mortal brave souls have played and have come out unscathed.  Newt Gingrich waded onto territory that either brave souls or idiot fools—depending on your view of matters, have waded and lived to tell about it politically.

Newt Gingrich played —- The Jew Card.

Newt Gingrich accused Mitt Romney of denying Holocaust survivors in nursing homes to be denied kosher meals.  Here is the problem with it; not a damned word of it was even remotely true.  In fact, a well-known Jewish Conservative has written a very good article defending Mitt Romney from these idiot charges.  Now I should let it be known, I am not a Romney fan.  If Mitt Romney is nominated for candidate for President by the GOP, I will vote libertarian.  I did say that I would hold my nose and vote for Newt Gingrich in the primary and in the general election.  Well, needless to say, that is not the case any longer.  I just will not vote for a man who stoops to that low of tactics.

Therefore, I am making it official here on my blog; I will not be voting for the Republican Party in 2012 in the primary or in the general election.  I am sorry, but dishonest politics is just immoral and what Gingrich did tonight shows me that Newt Gingrich is just another dishonest beltway-type that would stop at nothing to obtain power.  Whoever is the winner of the selection process at the Libertarian Party; I will put my support behind, and that person will get my vote.

I realize that my vote will most likely put a dent the GOP’s chances of defeating President Barack Obama.  Believe me when I tell you this, nothing bothers me more than knowing that fact.  However, I just cannot and will not support a man who stoops to such beltway tactics such as this.

Admittedly, I have nothing put disdain for Mitt Romney, however, none of that disdain has anything to do with his religious affiliation.  My disdain has to do with the fact that man is a habitual liar, the fact that he is a serial flip-flopper; my disdain is because the man claims to be a person from Michigan, when in fact that he has not lived here for years.  My disdain of the man is related to the fact that he claims to be a rib-rocked Conservative, when in fact, Mitt Romney is nothing more than an indecisive moderate!

Furthermore, the reason for my decision is this; the race of the GOP’s nomination for President of the United States is not supposed to be a religious test.  If that is the case in the Republican Party, then why in the name of the Almighty God of Heaven did Newt Gingrich use the Jews as a proxy to attack Mitt Romney’s Mormonism?  I know the answer —-desperation.  I do not wish to support a man, who instructs his advisors to play “Dirty Pool.”  It shows of the man’s character and I find it lacking greatly.  I will not call Newt Gingrich an Anti-Semite, as I do not know his heart or him personally.  However, I found this attack to most untactful, idiotic and highly unbecoming of someone who is supposed to be a Reagan Conservative.

Therefore let it be known; I officially disown those running for President of the United States of America in the Republican Party.  Sorry, but this freak show just got rather hard to bear any longer.  Also too, please know that I am under no illusions about the Libertarian Party’s chances in the 2012 election.  However, my vote will be of a protest of the beltway establishment’s tactics in the Republican Party.   The Tea Party movement’s message was supposed to be, during its founding that said, during its railing against the Republican Party and the United States Government; “No more business as usual in the beltway!”  The Republican Party was quite obviously either not listening or somehow that message was lost.

Having said all of the above, this bloggers vote will be going on Election Day 2012 to the political party that actually believes what it stands for —- The Libertarian Party.  I might not agree with everything that some libertarians believe in; but at this point, I see no other party that I actually wish to waste my vote on.

Others: ABCNEWS, Washington Post, CNN, The Other McCain, Daily Kos, msnbc.com, Gothamist, GOP 12, The Spectacle Blog, Saint Petersblog, The Right Scoop, The Raw Story, American Spectator, Reuters and Politics, Roger L. Simon, Ballot Box, National Review, ABCNEWS, Hot Air, The Spectacle Blog, Israel Matzav, JOSHUAPUNDIT, News Desk, Cold Fury, Truthdig, The Atlantic Online, Politics, The PJ Tatler, Washington Monthly, Tablet Magazine, GOP 12, The Daily Dish, Washington Post, The Raw Story, The Politico, msnbc.com, ThinkProgress, CNN, The Huffington Post and PolitickerNY

Update: Oh and by the way; Mitch Berg, Shut the hell up….and start writing blog postings under your real flipping name. Damned Cowards, you and AllahPundit both. Al-Qeada is nearly defeated, it’s time to cut the chicken routine and be out with the who you both really are.  😡

Video: Friday Evening Thoughts

Just a video of my thoughts.

Please note: In this video, I mistakenly refer to the Washington Times; I meant Washington Post. Oops. 😳

References:

Quinnipiac University: Romney Pulls Ahead In See-Saw Florida Gop Primary, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Men Shift From Gingrich To Romney — Memeorandum thread

Washington Post: Ron Paul signed off on racist newsletters in the 1990s, associates say

Ta-Nehisi Coates / The Atlantic Online: No One Left to Lie To

Jeffrey Lord / American Spectator: Elliott Abrams Caught Misleading on Newt

Roundups: Washington Wire, Outside the Beltway, NationalJournal.com, The Caucus, M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD’S …, Sunshine State News, Washington Post, Firedoglake, Don Surber, Florida Times Union, The Strata-Sphere, The Moderate Voice, The Other McCain, American Spectator, Presidential Power, Hot Air, Mail Online, Reuters, GOP 12 and Post on Politics, The Atlantic Online, The Hill, Little Green Footballs, The Political Carnival, US Politics, Hit & Run, Boing Boing, Gawker, Daily Kos, Hot Air, YID With LID, Outside the Beltway, The Daily Dish, The PJ Tatler, GOP 12, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Political Mojo and Shakesville, National Review, Riehl World View, Guardian, Big Journalism, The Atlantic Online, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Eunomia, RedState, Power Line, The Reality-Based Community, The Daily Caller, JOSHUAPUNDIT and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS

The Wrong

Hmmmmmm… Police State? 😯

John Cole over at Balloon Juice asks “How can stuff like this happen?”

Good question….

The Video:

The Story via MSNBC:

A New Mexico man who said he was forced to pull his own tooth while in solitary confinement because he was denied access to a dentist has been awarded $22 million due to inhumane treatment by New Mexico’s Dona Ana County Jail.

Stephen Slevin was arrested in August of 2005 for driving while intoxicated, then thrown in jail for two years. He was in solitary at Dona Ana County Jail for his entire sentence and basically forgotten about and never given a trial, he told NBC station KOB.com Tuesday night.

“[Jail guards were] walking by me every day, watching me deteriorate,” Slevin said. “Day after day after day, they did nothing, nothing at all, to get me any help.”

Slevin’s medical problems extended beyond his dental issues, he said. His toenails started curling around his foot because they were so long, he told KOB.com. And his countless requests to see a doctor for depression medication were ignored, he said.

He said his lawsuit “has never been about the money. I’ve always wanted this to make a statement.”

The $22 million settlement, awarded by a federal jury Tuesday, is one of the largest prisoner civil rights settlements in U.S. history, according to KOB.com.

A very good question, how does that happen? Of course, the Ron Paul people think he is only answer to such things. Something I find to be very humorous; seeing Paul is all about “States Rights.”

 

Rand Paul: “‘I was barked at: “Do not leave the cubicle!” by the TSA

…and of course, the statist White House sides with the TSA! Hope and Change?!?! Right. 🙄

Just a follow up to a story I wrote on earlier…

Over to you Daily Caller:

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul told The Daily Caller that being “detained” by the Transportation Security Administration at the Nashville airport Monday was a major ordeal that underscores flaws in TSA’s procedures that affect tens of millions of passengers every year.

“It was a big headache,” Paul said in a phone interview. “I missed my speech here. I was supposed to speak to the Right to Life March, probably the biggest audience I’ll get to speak to, and I missed it.”

The White House, through spokesman Jay Carney, defended the TSA’s actions during Monday’s press briefing by arguing that Paul wasn’t technically “detained.”

“Let’s be clear,” Carney said. “The passenger was not detained. He was escorted out of the area by local law-enforcement.”

But Sen. Paul told TheDC that he certainly felt like he was detained. “If you’re told you can’t leave, does that count as detention?” Paul asked.

“I tried to leave the cubicle to speak to one of the TSA people and I was barked at: ‘Do not leave the cubicle!’ So, that, to me sounds like I’m being asked not to leave the cubicle. It sounds a little bit like I’m being detained.”

The incident started after the scanner Paul walked through sounded its alarm. Current TSA rules would require Paul to undergo a mandatory pat-down before proceeding to his plane. But Paul told TheDC that the TSA agents caved in after a two-hour battle and allowed him to go through the scanner again without additional physical screening.

“For an hour and a half, they said ‘absolutely, I would have to [accept a pat-down],’” Paul said. “And, because I used my cell phone, they told me I would have to do a full body pat down because you’re not allowed to use your cell phone when you’re being detained.”

“It’s like, well, I can’t call my attorney? I can’t call my office to tell them I’m going to miss a speech to 200,000 people?”

“In the end, after two hours of this quarreling,” Sen. Paul explained, “they did let me walk through the screener [machine] and it didn’t go off. So what the TSA is not telling you is the screeners are being used as random devices as well. The [mechanical] screeners will go off randomly, and the [agent] screeners don’t know that it’s a random call but it has nothing to do with what you’ve done.”

Of course, the Statist in chief’s staff is defend the entire thing; over to you The Hill:

The White House is standing by the Transportation Security Administration in its standoff with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and his father, Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

The elder Paul called the TSA a “police state” Monday after Rand Paul was reportedly detained by TSA after he refused to take a pat-down from TSA officials at the Nashville International Airport.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that he didn’t have any reaction to Paul’s “police state” comments.

But Carney sided with the TSA saying, “I think it is absolutely essential that we take necessary actions to ensure that air travel is safe.”

Ron Paul, who is one of four remaining Republican candidates for president, disagreed Monday afternoon. Paul said after he confirmed the incident involving Rand Paul on his Twitter page that it showed why the TSA should be eliminated.

“The police state in this country is growing out of control,” the elder Paul said in a statement released by his presidential campaign.

“One of the ultimate embodiments of this is the TSA that gropes and grabs our children, our seniors, and our loved ones and neighbors with disabilities,” he continued. “The TSA does all of this while doing nothing to keep us safe. That is why my ‘Plan to Restore America,’ in additional to cutting $1 trillion dollars in federal spending in one year, eliminates the TSA.”

TSA has defended its treatment of Rand Paul, saying that its employees in Nashville followed its normal procedure with the senator, who has often sharply criticized the agency’s pat-downs before he refused one Monday morning.

So, there you have it, an out of control organization that is now detaining White Anglo-Saxon Protestants and not the Arab terrorists it was designed to capture. How quaint. 🙄  I have to wonder aloud, if Rand Paul were Jewish or black, would they have done all of this?  It is to wonder.

I am also getting tips from readers that were in the area of the time of the incident and they are reporting that Senator Rand Paul grew very angry and used vulgarities at the TSA staff and made some very nasty racist comments at the TSA staff, who just happened to be black. Nice going Senator Paul; make yourself look like a bigger idiot than you already are. 🙄  Of course, I cannot independently verify the reports, so take them for what they are worth.

Update: Now a huge memeorandum thread.

Update #2: Smitty, who I consider to be a friend; makes some good points.

Breaking News — Senator Rand Paul detained by TSA

Rand Paul has been detained by the TSA for refusing a pat-down, after a x-ray showed an anomaly”

The Daily Caller has the story:

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s press secretary Moira Bagley tweeted on Monday that Transportation Security Administration officials were detaining her boss in Nashville, Tenn.

“Just got a call from @senrandpaul,” Bagley tweeted at about 10 a.m. on Monday. “He’s currently being detained by TSA in Nashville.”

Texas Congressman and current Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul – Sen. Rand Paul’s father – placed a post on Facebook about the news as well. “My son Rand is currently being detained by the TSA at the Nashville Airport,” Ron Paul posted. “I’ll share more details as the situation unfolds.”

Ron Paul adds, via Twitter, that the TSA detained his son “for refusing full body pat-down after anomaly in body scanner.”

Sen. Rand Paul’s Facebook page has a post about the incident too. “Senator Paul is being detained at the Nashville Airport by the TSA,” Sen. Rand Paul’s Facebook post reads. “We will update you as the situation develops.”

Sen. Rand Paul’s chief of staff Doug Stafford told The Daily Caller the Senator “was detained by the TSA after their scanner had an ‘anomaly’ on the first scan.”

via  The Daily Caller.

To my libertarian and Ron Paul fans, please, do not freak out over this; the TSA were simply doing their jobs, I believe Rand Paul was released, but they would not let him fly on the plane he did try to board.

My friend, Ed Morrissey, who I do trust, weighs in:

No one thinks a Senator should get different treatment than anyone else, but that proves that the security theater we experience at airports isn’t designed with flight security as its primary goal.  Besides, let’s not forget that TSA is already working on programs for clearing frequent travelers on an expedited basis who they know through prior investigation won’t pose a security risk on commercial flights.   Who in their right mind thinks that Senator Rand Paul represented any kind of real security risk on board an aircraft?  Anyone? Anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller?

Now, it might look like it was intentional, but I very much highly doubt that was even remotely intentional at all.  I simply believe that the TSA wanted to do their jobs and Rand Paul refused to let them, and for this, he was detained and released and not allowed to fly. Let us not forget why the TSA put these regulations in place, on Christmas Day in 2009, an idiot kid from Nigeria blow himself up on a plane from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan; which by the way is my hometown and the airport that this almost happened at, is less than 10 miles from my HOUSE!

Anyhow, again, this might look bad, but I seriously doubt it is anything but Senator Rand Paul grandstanding against something that he feels is against his rights as a citizen. I personally disagree with that; I believe that safety of those flying here in America and abroad, should come first. Then again, I have never flown, nor will I ever. Too many planes crashing for this old man. 😯

Related:

Others: Hot Air, The Gateway Pundit, Big Government, Outside the Beltway, Mediaite, Michelle Malkin, The Raw Story, Gothamist, LewRockwell.com Blog, Campaign 2012, National Review

Update: Now a huge Memeorandum thread.

Update #2: Smitty, who I consider to be a friend; makes some good points.