Tag: News

Gingrich cancels campaign event due to low attendance

This might not mean a thing and then again, it might.  Thinking

From Mercury News:

CHARLESTON, S.C.—Newt Gingrich has cancelled a campaign appearance in South Carolina because of poor attendance.

The Republican presidential candidate was scheduled to speak to the Southern Republican Leadership on Friday. But a campaign spokesman told reporters that he would no longer be appearing due to poor attendance.

There were just a few dozen people in the audience at the College of Charleston’s arena, where the event was taking place. The conference has suffered from low attendance all week but Gingrich rival Rick Santorum went ahead and addressed the group on Thursday.

Interesting….very interesting. I wonder if it related these items here? It is to wonder. Thinking

Fed official in AZ to plead fifth on “furious”

This ought to be really interesting, as this plays out.

Via Fox News:

The chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona is refusing to testify before Congress regarding Operation Fast and Furious, the federal gun-running scandal that sent U.S. weapons to Mexico.

Patrick J. Cunningham informed the House Oversight Committee late Thursday through his attorney that he will use the Fifth Amendment protection.

The real interesting part of this story, is right here:

The letter from Cunningham’s Washington DC attorney stunned congressional staff. Last week, Cunningham, the second highest ranking U.S. Attorney in Arizona, was scheduled to appear before Issa‘s committee voluntarily. Then, he declined and Issa issued a subpoena.

Cunningham is represented by Tobin Romero of Williams and Connolly who is a specialist in white collar crime. In the letter, he suggests witnesses from the Department of Justice in Washington, who have spoken in support of Attorney General Eric Holder, are wrong or lying.

“Department of Justice officials have reported to the Committee that my client relayed inaccurate information to the Department upon which it relied in preparing its initial response to Congress. If, as you claim, Department officials have blamed my client, they have blamed him unfairly,” the letter to Issa says.

Romero claims Cunningham did nothing wrong and acted in good faith, but the Department of Justice in Washington is making him the fall guy, claiming he failed to accurately provide the Oversight Committee with information on the execution of Fast and Furious.

“To avoid needless preparation by the Committee and its staff for a deposition next week, I am writing to advise you that my client is going to assert his constitutional privilege not to be compelled to be a witness against himself.” Romero told Issa.

Hmmmmmmmmm….. Thinking Obviously, this guy is trying to cover his own backside; and it could be that Holder and his cohorts are looking for a fall guy, and this guy is not interested in being that fall guy.

As I wrote last night; this is not what Obama’s supporters voted for in 2008. I am hoping that they do see what they were sold, and what they ultimately ended up with, this, was not what Obama campaigned for, that is for sure; this continuing story is proof of that. However, as long as the media and the Democratic Party professional liars continue to spin and cover; this is what you will get — corruption.  It is the Chicago way. Big Grin

Update: Ed Morrissey, of whom I tipped off to this story, but didn’t get credit 🙄 — has some very interesting analysis on this story too and adds:

One point is pretty clear, though.  Officials at the DoJ involved in this operation are fearing criminal prosecution, which means that this scandal just went prime time.

Indeed.

Update #2 Others: Power Line, Big Government, Wake up America, PJ Media, The Volokh Conspiracy and The Lonely Conservative

Video: Best Media Take-down Ever

This is very good!

The Video: (Via Mediaite and Buzzfeed — H/T to AllahPundit)

For the record, this isn’t too bad either; quoting AllahPundit:

Let’s face it: The real winner of this debate is Mitt Romney for saying he’s lived in “the real streets of America.” Wait, what?

Quote the week there! 😀 😆

But seriously,  Despite what all written was earlier; I think Newt handled himself very well here. He did not allow the liberal media to destroy him. I’m not a fan of the guy, but he did well here.

These guys agree:

BREAKING: Rick Perry to drop out and endorse Gingrich

Which I consider to be very funny, considering which I just wrote about here and here.

Via Politico: (With a very big H/T to Ed Morrissey, whom I like alot, when I am not criticizing what he writes! 😉 )

Rick Perry is expected to drop out later this morning at an 11 a.m. press conference, two sources confirmed to POLITICO. He’s also expected to endorse Newt Gingrich, the sources confirmed.

Sources told POLITICO that Gingrich and Perry had a secret meeting to discuss a possible endorsement. 

Gingrich had been assiduously lobbying Perry officials in recent days, POLITICO has learned. The former House speaker has repeatedly texted Perry manager Joe Allbaugh.

It gives the surging Gingrich a huge boost heading into the final debate tonight, and the South Carolina primary on Saturday, in which he’s already closing in on Mitt Romney.

I guess things in the Perry camp are chaotic:

Perry, however, did not make the decision about exiting the race until the morning. But the discord within the Perry campaign was evident even as the candidate prepared to drop out.

Top officials in Texas said they were unaware of his intentions and as late as this morning said they genuinely didn’t know whether he was still running.

Gingrich refused to comment on news Thursday morning as he exited his campaign bus at a town hall in Bluffton, S.C.

This really is not much of a surprise; Perry just was not a good debater; he had the brain freeze at the first debate and that just ended it for him. Nobody wanted to take him seriously. This earlier report says more:

With two days to go, Perry polls among South Carolina Republicans at about  6 percent — the same number of people who said they had no opinion about whom they’d choose. His campaign has been damaged by defections – notably  top donor  Barry Wynn, who left Perry for Mitt Romney – and an inability to gain ground with the public, despite spending millions of dollars.

Behind the scenes, many fundraisers and supporters who once waxed ecstatic over Perry as the GOP’s white knight when he entered the race  now say they’re deflated and upset that he didn’t appear ready for the task.

“It’s over. It’s long over. Sometimes things are finished before they’re over. It’s embarrassing to come out of the gate and get shot down, but it happens,” said a Perry fundraiser who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “You’d think a guy who had 11 years in office … that he’d prepare, he’d read the paper and get prepared.”

Sad end to what could have been a good campaign. 🙁 I wish Governor Perry the best. 😀

Newt Gingrich’s wife dishes to ABC

This ought to be really interesting….

Via Drudge:

Marianne Gingrich has said she could end her ex-husband’s career with a single interview.

Earlier this week, she sat before ABCNEWS cameras, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

She spoke to ABCNEWS reporter Brian Ross for two hours, and her explosive revelations are set to rock the trail.

But now a “civil war” has erupted inside of the network, an insider claims, on exactly when the confession will air!

ABCNEWS suits determined it would be “unethical” to run the Marianne Gingrich interview so close to the South Carolina Primary, a curious decision, one insider argued, since the network has aggressively been reporting on other candidates.

A decision was tentatively made to air the interview next Monday, after all votes have been counted.

Gingrich canceled a press conference on Wednesday to deal with the matter.

“He believes that what he says in public and how he lives don’t have to be connected,” Marianne Gingrich, Newt’s wife of 18 years, explained to ESQUIRE last year.

Here’s hoping she dishes, But AllahPundit says this is a nothing burger; Well, Howard Kurtz does anyhow:

A knowledgeable insider says that Newt Gingrich’s second wife does not say anything in the taped interview with ABC News that she hasn’t said in previous print interviews. But to repeat her account of how their marriage failed—because the then-House speaker was having an affair—in a form that can be endlessly replayed on television could prove a serious distraction for the presidential candidate two days before the South Carolina primary.

As you can well imagine, the Democrats and the Not-Romney crowd are licking their chops on this one.

Here’s the round up via Memeorandum: The Politico, Esquire, American Spectator, Scared Monkeys, Hot Air, The Other McCain, Wonkette, Outside the Beltway, The Hill, No More Mister Nice Blog, Poynter, Politics, Weasel Zippers, National Review, Gawker, Taylor Marsh, Mitt Romney Central, Campaign 2012, Big Journalism, Talking Points Memo, M.JOSEPH SHEPPARD’S …, Pat Dollard, JOSHUAPUNDIT, New York Magazine, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Gateway Pundit, The Moderate Voice, Alan Colmes’ Liberaland, TVNewser, Balloon Juice, Boston Herald, Wake up America, The Daily Caller, Ricochet Conversations Feed and The Stranger …, more at Mediagazer »

Social cons feuding over Republican pick

Sounds about right for a bunch of Christians, someone picks a candidate and the rest disagree. Hmm, I wonder if they are Baptists? 😉

Via the Washington Times:

In an evolving power struggle, religious conservatives are feuding about whether a weekend meeting in Texas yielded a consensus that former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is the best bet to stop Mitt Romney’s drive for the Republican presidential nomination.

A leading evangelical and former aide to President George H.W. Bush said he agreed with suspicions voiced by others at the meeting of evangelical and conservative Catholic activists that organizers “manipulated” the gathering and may even have stuffed the ballot to produce an endorsement of Mr. Santorum over former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Mr. Santorum, who nearly upset Mr. Romney in the Iowa caucuses, won the first ballot ahead of Mr. Gingrich in Saturday’s Texas meeting but the margin was too slim for organizers to claim a consensus. It was not until the third ballot, taken after many people had left to catch flights back home, that Mr. Santorum won more than 70 percent of those still in attendance and claimed the endorsement.

and this via Newt’s Campaign Website:

Atlanta, GA – Gingrich Faith Leaders Coalition National Co-Chair Don Wildmon released this statement today:

Perhaps you have heard a rumor that I have changed my support from Newt Gingrich for President to another candidate. I want you to know that is not true. To suggest that I have switched my support is inaccurate.

Without question, this election is the most important in the history of our nation.  Our culture has become saturated with corruption and immorality. I firmly believe the future not only of our nation but all of Western Civilization is at stake. Voters in South Carolina will help decide if we can return our nation to its Judeo-Christian roots, or continue to slide down the slippery slope?

In the past, Christian conservatives have split their votes among three or four candidates.  This has allowed the moderate-liberal wing of the Republican Party to capture the nomination.  It appears we might do the same thing again.

He goes to laud praise on and support Newt, of course. I personally believe that this demonstrates just how unified Christians can be. Further more, I believe this is all really for naught; the social conservative ship sailed long ago. What really puzzles me is how Social Conservatives could honestly support Newt. The man has been married three times, how do social conservative square that with their beliefs that marriage is honored by God and that divorce is simply not a good thing? I guess that shows just how compromised the Evangelical Christian world has become.  I will say this, Reagan was married twice and they still elected him. So, this is nothing really new.

But still, Newt?!?! My goodness. 🙄 I can see Santorum, he has kids, been married for a long time.  But Newt? It makes no sense at all.

Obama to Left: You are not going to like this budget

This is not too shocking:

Via The Hill:

Top White House officials are warning liberal and labor leaders to brace themselves for President Obama’s budget proposal.

Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, sought in meetings last week to lift the left’s gloom about Washington’s crackdown on spending by promising that the president this year will focus on job creation rather than deficit cutting.

Obama staffers sought to present their budget plan as a glass half full. According to sources familiar with the briefings, they promised that the president will focus on jobs and the economy, instead of deficit-cutting, which dominated last year’s debate on Capitol Hill.

Obama has signaled in recent weeks that he plans to run a populist reelection campaign. He will need to keep liberal activist and labor groups — important parts of the Democratic base — energized for his strategy to work.

In his first three years, Obama had a free hand to suggest spending levels for government programs in his annual budget blueprint. But that is not the case this year because the administration is constrained by the budget deal reached in August to raise the debt limit.

He must stick to the $1.047 trillion spending cap he agreed to with GOP leaders, which means he will call for less discretionary spending than he did last year.

I agree with William Teach, it will never, in a million year pass a Democrat-controlled Congress. I can also tell you this, if President Obama tries to push this through, he support base on the left will dry up and dry up badly. Which for those of us, who want that idiot out of the White House; is a very good thing.

Either way, it should be very interesting to watch. Popcorn anyone? 😉

Video: New Santorum SC Ad, “Easy Answer”

This comes via Time:

youtube placeholder image

Personally, I think the ad reeks of desperation. What do you think?

Others: The Other McCain, Hot Air and USA Today

(H/T Memeorandum)

 

 

My friend needs help

A good friend of mine Zilla is need of help, she’s in a much worse state than I.

She is about to lose her electricity, and it’s snowing up where she’s from. So, head on over and hit her tip jar

Also too, pray for her and her family.

Update: I see that InstaPundit has linked to her, which is a very good thing. Just a note, I e-mailed Insty last nite too.