January 2012

Newt's Re-Resurgence And Why It Won't Last

There's no way the establishment will go for it, even if the people can't get enough.

Newt Gingrich stands smiling and waving next to his mistress…er…third wife at a victory party after South Carolina. He’s got good reason to smile, he just blew the nominee-impending Mitt Romney out of the water with a 12 point victory margin. His momentum hasn’t stalled either, with national polls seeing his popularity continue to rise and Romney increasingly forced to address negative ads and media attacks by the former Speaker, rather than focusing on Obama’s “failed policies”, like he wants to. Of course, the question many of us on the left are asking is, “Gingrich? Really?!”

In the most recent polls, Florida Republican voters are actually favoring Gingrich slightly over Romney. Of course, pollsters are constantly revising and updating their findings as each ad, public appearance, and media statement seeks to sway the razor-thin margin. So far, however, Gingrich seems to have been able to galvanize the conservative base in South Carolina by being willing to tell some “hard truths”, and being completely unrepentant for his past. With hard-line conservatives, that kind of self-righteous indignation seems to play very well. At one recent GOP debate (there have been nineteen to date), Newt was asked about whether he had asked his previous wife for an “open marriage”, while he was supposedly having an affair with present wife, Callista. Gingrich slammed the commentator and the media for opening a presidential debate with a “question like that”, and the audience roared their support.

Conservative Media Reels At Newt

Now that Newt has won one, the conservative media and republican pendants are reeling.  Newt has ritualistically attacked the media, so it is no wonder that the media attacks back.  However, the segment of media that is attacking back comes from the right.  Newt Gingrich better hope voters don’t read the Drudge Report or the National Review or the American Spectator or Ann Coulter. If they do, Gingrich comes off looking like a dangerous, anti-Reagan, disingenuous fraud.

Being Pregnant is More Dangerous Than Getting an Abortion

Now tell us something less obvious, amirite?

Given the plethora of statistics we’ve been provided about how dangerous it is to have a baby—even in the United States, where you might think that it would be safe by now—it’s no surprise that an official study has been released saying that abortion is safer than childbirth. As a woman who nearly died and lost her own child during my pregnancy, I can vouch for how scary this is, and how seriously it needs to be taken.

Now all of the people who claim they are against abortion not because they hate women and want to keep them barefoot and in the kitchen but because they are supposedly concerned for their health since abortion is like, so dangerous, can stfu.

Oops is Out - Perry is the Past

"It is good that he finally saw the light and is moving on."

Texas Governor Rick Perry has finally figured it all out and and decided to drop out of the contest for the Republican nomination for President. But the interesting thing is that he even made it this far!  Ever since Perry announced his candidacy back in August 2011, his poor debate skills made us laugh, his awkward campaign ads (especially this one) made us cringe, and some of his ultra-conservative Christian beliefs, combined with how often he expressed them, scared us witless.  And so, in memoriam, here are some of the most memorable “oops!” moments of Perry’s campaign:

The Bain Question: Does Romney's Private Equity Cred Actually Prepare Him For The Presidency?

That all depends on whether or not we want our country run like a private equity firm. Some might argue that it already is.

Mitt Romney took a series of punches last week as Republicans rallied around his role with Bain Capital, a private equity firm that Republican opponents characterized asn example of the kind of corporate greed and malfeasance that ruined the American economy. Newt Gingrich called it, “Rich people figuring out clever legal ways to loot a company,” and Perry said simply, “vultures”. Over the course of the weekend, however, many of these claims have been back-walked, a result of heavy criticism from the Republican establishment that Gingrich, Perry and the like were attacking the very foundations of free market capitalism.

Of course, saying that a man using his corporate power to fleece subsidiaries is “free market capitalism” explains a lot about why our economy is in the shape it is. That aside, Romney’s actual history at Bain is hazy at best, something that private equity firms are famous for by nature. Although Romney held up his time there as evidence that he’s a job creator, it’s unclear whether those 100,000 jobs that he touts himself with creating weren’t offset by, as his critics say, the fact that he closed down plants and shipped thousands of jobs overseas. Is he a credible candidate as a free market capitalist or is he really just a free market cannibal?

The Great Divide

How the Republicans Are Tearing Up Their Presidential Chances.

Who isn’t gunning for Mitt Romney? The evangelical wing of the Republican party doesn’t like the fact that he’s Mormon.  The conservatives don’t like that he was a leading capitalist. The libertarian wing doesn’t like – well they don’t like anything about Mitt Romney.  Who likes Mitt?

Rick Santorum: "Weird, Morbid, Creepy"

...he does not belong in the White House

At its best, elected officials would share the viewpoints, beliefs, and practices of the voters.  As this does not happen nearly as often as most voters would like, the second-best scenario would be for elected officials to keep their own personal viewpoints, beliefs, and practices separate from what they do in office.  Unfortunately, this sometimes does not happen, either.  This is why it can be important to know exactly what a candidate does believe and practice.

Romney Faces Toughest Challenge Yet: Tea Party Homeland

Mitt Romney may have scraped by with evangelicals in iowa and republicans moderates in New Hampshire, but faces a tough battle in South Carolina.

Mitt Romney has now taken both Iowa (narrowly) and New Hampshire (decidedly) in the first two early voting states of the primary season. He’s got his “one-two punch” he was hoping for in the primary season and is hoping that his momentum will start people talking about him as the eventual nominee with some inevitability. His issue is the ideological chasm that exists within the Republican Party, a kind of archipelago forming three major platforms; the evangelicals, the coastal moderates, and the Libertarian-leaning Tea Party. He scraped together the evangelicals in Iowa, charmed the moderates in New Hampshire, and is now headed to the Tea Party heartland in South Carolina, which is going to be a tougher sell than either of the previous two.

The Fear of Clowns - Maybe They aren't so Cute after all

Sometimes they should be feared, I finally get it.

I thought to day I would give my take on  coulrophobia, the fear of clowns. I have had many circus visits interrupted by people suffering from the fear of clowns. Honestly I’ve never fully understood such a fear, as to me they’re cute and funny. Now though I don’t fear them, I can honestly say that I get it.

Tyrant or Leader?

Recess Appointments Cause Uproar

Now that Congress is (more or less) recessed, maybe President Obama can finally get something done.  In fact, he already is.  President Obama’s recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is just the start of business Obama is planning to get done.  However, Senate and House Republicans have denounced Obama’s recess appointment of Cordray as an act of tyranny or worse.  They are arguing the move was unconstitutional because the Senate meets every three or four days over the holiday period and therefore is not on a recess.

Lessons From The Iowa Caucus

Spoiler Alert: Romney's going to be the nominee.

As predicted, the Iowa Caucus proved nothing. It gave no clarity or closure to a race that has been dogged by sideshow distractions (Mr. Trump), epic burnouts (Mr. Cain), and a backfield that just now seems to be getting the message. Romney has been the perpetual front-runner, excepting little flare-ups by Perry, Cain, and Gingrich. However, the Caucus results show no clear leader in voter approval, and is likely to continue to be fluid through the other 49 primaries. So Romney won, technically, by a mere eight votes over Santorum, who until last week barely existed on the Republican primary radar.

Following the Caucuses

it continues to be close

From Des Moines, Iowa:  Tuesday night's caucuses were like a great basketball game, but with much higher stakes.  Following the pattern of the pre-caucus cycle, the turnovers continued throughout the evening hours.  As last Saturday's poll showed 41% of registered voters were still undecided, it should not have been a surprise that the night ended without one solid winner.  One percent of the precincts had not yet clocked in with their results.