Lesbian Exploits Her Child For Shock Value with Michele Bachmann

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Kempite
Bookmark and Share   Today America got another glimpse at how the left loves to exploit children.

In this most recent case, a lesbian who apparently stalks Michele Bachmann, decided to force a little boy to approach Congresswoman Bachmann and say to her;

“My Mommy is Gay and she doesn’t need fixing”.

But it was not assimple as all that.

As you can see in the video [see video below this post],  the child was coached and coaxed in to doing it.  After all, how many prepubescent adolescents do you know of whoare  passionate about their role in political activism?

In the video seen below, you see a very nervous child whois  so timid and uninspired by his Mother’s cause, that he has a very hard time repeating his Mother’s scripted message.

As the child is nudged toward the Congresswoman, a smiling Bachmann bends down to hear his statement but his words just can’t be heard.

When Bachmann tells the child that she couldn’t hear him ands explains that her ears may have been too far away, she leans in and very attentively asks the little boy to say whatever he was trying to tell her, again.  This time the lesbian mother nudges the kid again and says, it’s O.K., you can say it.

At that point, in still a barely audible tone, with Michele Bachmann’s ears practically pressed against the boys face,  she makes out his statement.

A little shocked by the child’s homosexual message, Bachmann pulls back and sweetly waves her hand and gently says “Goodbye”.

As the video goes viral, I am not quite sure what the incident was meant to do.

I do know that it shows me another example of the lack of judgement and decency that the most radical leftists in our nation have.  In this case, we have a lesbian who does not have the balls to deliver her own message to Michele Bachmann’s face, so instead, she exploits her nervous son and forces him to do her dirty work.  The episode raises a question that goes far beyond normal political discourse.  It raises the question, of how far is the left willing to go in the exploitation of children?

Political differences will always exist and different ways to make ones political case will always involve a measure of creativity that tries to get their point across in powerful ways.  As adults, we have the cognitive ability to process the intricacies of political discourse.  Adults are at least suppose to be able to rationally digest the facts and decisions for themselves that are base on logic and the experiences of life.

But children are different.  They are still developing their minds and are just beginning to experience life.  As such, their impressionable minds are easily molded and while parents have the right to shape the minds of their own children, we hope they at least instill in them the basics of good behavior, personal responsibility, and respectful conduct.   While a parent can certainly instill their own values in the own children, it is hoped that they are also responsible enough to help their kids develop a talent for independent thought.  But rational independent thinking can not be expected from children who are still in their single digits.

Yet liberals seem to love taking advantage of children.  They love to take a page from Marx and others communists who believe in the early doctrinarian of children in order to eliminate the possibility for any fair competition of ideas when it comes to ideology.

This exploitation of children became alarmingly apparent when in 2008, liberals embarked upon what, at the time I called, “The Messiah Mode and Barack Obama’s Political Madrasas“.

Back then, public school teachers were promoting the candidacy of Barack Obama with children who were held essentially held hostage to their teacher’s methods in their classrooms.

A college level teacher forced students to complete an assignment that ripped apart Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention. A contrary approach that would have supported her speech by a student, who agreed with what she said, was unacceptable and did not fulfill the requirements of the assignment.

Shortly after that, low grade elementary school children were gathered together for days of rehearsal as they prepared for a choir performance that sang the virtues of Barack Obama.  And in Missouri, another teacher was reprimanded for gathering students together for pro-Obama, military-like, drills that shout out adoring chants for Barack. As you can see in the video, it is an eerie display of Nazi like military celebrations for Hitler.

I had hoped to present the videos of these instances as I did back in 2008. but for some reason, they have been scrubbed from the internet.

Most recently I was struck by the organizational meetings of Occupy Oakland protesters who actually set up a section for volunteers who wanted to organize public school children for their protests.

It was just another example of just how indecent the left is willing to be and what lengths they are willing to go to in order to try to advance their agenda.  In this case, I can only hope that the poor little boy in the video who is forced to be used as a weapon for use in his Mother’s political arsenal, does not grow up to be a confused, social misfit because of the public humiliation that his parents put him through.  Meanwhile, those who really care about children, might want to do their best to spare their own kids the embarrassment of being more of a political pawn than a beloved son or daughter growing up with parents who put their children’s interests before their political agendas.

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Filed under: Michele Bachmann | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Debunking Newt Mythology

Posted on December 5, 2011 by ikefriday

Ok, hold on a minute.  Let’s talk about Newt.

The left has gone all in on Newt.  After three years of seeing that the Democrats have an empty hand with Obama, they have put all their chips on the table and dared us to run Newt.  And as usual, we are folding.  Same thing happened in 2008 when the left and the media scoffed at Mitt Romney and said that the only candidate who could ever beat their guy was John McCain.  Believe it or not, we listened.  For the smarter party, Republicans sure can be stupid.

Now the left is saying it will be a cake walk if we run Gingrich and the only serious candidate who can beat their guy is Romney, or maybe Huntsman, although they seem to have figured out that one is a hard sell.  So why are we listening again?  Ann Coulter came out slamming Newt and endorsing Romney.  George Will has attacked Newt Gingrich.  And what for?

Newt got $1.8 million from Freddie Mac.  Not really, it was actually Newt’s company.  But he did it by lobbying.  Well, again, no.  Newt did not lobby for Freddie Mac, but his company did provide consulting services to Freddie Mac.  Now, I am a businessman and a lot of what I do involves consulting.  Does that mean I can never run for President in case one of my clients does something bad someday despite my advice?  Maybe.

Let’s take it out of the business realm.  Pretend you own a garage and you fix cars.  If George Soros drives up and asks you to change the oil, will you turn him away?  Are you a liberal if you change his oil?  What about Bernie Madoff before he was caught?  Are you part of his illegal pyramid scheme because you changed his tires?

It would be one thing if Newt counseled Freddie Mac on how lose billions of dollars, get bailed out, and pay everyone huge bonuses.  But if you are looking for that smoking gun, you are looking at the wrong person.  Try Franklin Raines, Jamie Gaerlick, etc.  Enough with the guilt by association.  Newt did consulting for large businesses, and they paid his company rates that large, multi-billion dollar businesses pay for high level consulting.

Ok, but Newt sat on a couch with Nancy Pelosi.  Yes, he did.  He also had debates with Cuomo, Kerry and Sharpton.  Newt Gingrich is not going to implement cap and trade to prevent global warming.  That’s about as crazy as saying Mitt Romney is going to support partial birth abortion.  Seriously, you have my word that neither of those will happen.  Newt wasn’t endorsing Nancy Pelosi any more than Al Sharpton was endorsing Pat Robertson.  If Sarah Palin stood next to Michelle Obama and did a PSA saying its good for kids to have a healthy diet, would you suddenly think that Palin supports federal government takeover of school lunches? Newt has fought vigorously against cap and trade.

Well, what about Newt supporting a healthcare mandate?  When Hillary was pushing Hillarycare, which would take responsibility away from people, Newt signed on with the Heritage Foundation’s alternative that included an individual mandate. After researching it, Newt backed off that position.  He never implemented it for an entire state, or for anyone actually.  Newt is not going to implement a healthcare mandate on the entire country.  Guess what, neither is Romney.

In fact, let’s talk Romney for a minute.  Mitt Romney is pro-life.  He opposes gay marriage.  He makes Huntsman look like Hillary.  He supports tax cuts for the middle class and not raising taxes on employers and producers.  As much as Romney has been painted as the liberal in this bunch, he was the most conservative viable candidate in 2008 after Fred Thompson dropped out.  He may not be a card carrying TEA Party member, but he has said himself that he supports the TEA Party and shares all of their goals.  By the way, I never got a card either.  I really don’t think they issue them, even if Bachmann has one.

Why did Romney lose in 2008?  It all came down to two reasons.  Number one, Romney was not moderate enough to get the “independents”.  He was too conservative.  Only John McCain could beat the Democrat in 2008 by reaching across the aisle and not being so extreme.  Reason number two, the infamous time-table for withdrawal charge.  Romney said that when the time came to draw down the troops from Iraq, he supported a time-table for an orderly withdrawal.  His opponents turned that into Democrat style cut and run.  No matter how many times he tried to explain that was not what he believed, that became the mantra.

What about Rick Perry?  Why aren’t we going around saying that Rick Perry is going to implement cap and trade because years ago he was a Democrat working on the campaign of the future Nobel prize winner and global warming snake oil salesman, Al Gore?

The only person we have to actually worry about doing half the crazy stuff he’s been accused of thinking is Ron Paul!

So let’s not let people choose our candidate for us.  Research what you hear about candidates.  Just because George Will thinks you are too dumb to vote doesn’t make it so.  Each of the candidates left have some great ideas, and each one will do a far better job at running this country than the current President.  Did Cain have some foreign policy gaffes?  Shoot, the last three years have been an Obama foreign policy gaffe.

Part of this election cycle that Romney has skipped sofar has been the knife in the back from the right and the dare to run that candidate from the left.  Considering how well Newt is handling this complete onslaught from the right and left, wouldn’t you rather have him going up against Obama than the candidate that no one is vetting?  McCain got plenty of vetting after Romney dropped out in 2008.

This is not an endorsement of Newt.  I will make an endorsement of a candidate after the Jacksonville, Florida debate in January.  But this is a serious question to our party.  Why do we have to self destruct again?

Filed under: Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Polls, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, TEA Party | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Trunkline 2012: Sunday Election News Review-12//4/11

Posted on December 4, 2011 by ikefriday

Bookmark and Share ****Cain gone, Newt Ahead in Iowa, Coming in second: Ron Paul?? *****

With Cain gone, the field is looking more and more like Gingrich/Romney.  Meanwhile, liberal pundits and even some conservatives seem to be praying that Newt’s rise will be as long lived as Bachmann’s, Perry’s and Cain’s.  Is it really Santorum’s turn?  How about Ron Paul’s?

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Filed under: About the Candidates, Donald Trump, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Trunkline 2012 | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Bachmann and Santorum’s Iowa Monkey Wrench

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Kempite
Bookmark and Share  While all the talk of late is about Herman Cain’s drop in the polls and exit from the campaign, and Newt Gingrich’s rise in the polls, it can be hard to stay focussed on the bigger picture.  In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, that bigger picture has absolutely nothing to do with national polls.  While the collective national delegate count wins one the presidential nomination, the road to the nomination involves fifty individual elections in fifty different states and they all do not think alike.   That is why if there are any polls to factor in to any nomination prediction, they are only the individual state polls

And in places like Iowa, the home of the first voting to take place in the presidential nomination process, Hawkeye voters like to confound the pollsters.  They like pulling off results that surprise the media elite and make those who spend weeks telling them who they are going to vote for, wear egg on their faces.

That was the case in 2008 when Iowa Republicans chose underdog Mike Huckabee as the winner of their caucus.

This time around, there are two candidates whom pundits need to watch out for in Iowa.  They are Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum and the need to watch them is only made more dramatic by Herman Cain’s exit from the race.

Back in the Summer, Bachmann surprised many by pulling off a victory in the state’s Ames Straw Poll.  For a two week period following that win, she experienced a slight bump in the polls, but as is the case with several candidates, her numbers soon fell back down to the single digits.

Then the polls showed Romney doing surprisingly well in Iowa. Not long after that, Herman Cain leaped ahead, and now Newt Gingrich has surged to the front. 

Through it all though, Republican voters in Iowa have been ignoring the polls.  Instead, they are dealing with the candidates.  They are taking the robo-calls, listening to the radio ads, watching the television commercials, reading the news and the campaign literature, attending the various candidate town hall meetings, and shaking the candidate’s hands in local strip malls.  They are also quietly coming to their own conclusions…….., conclusions which they do not always honestly admit to strangers on the other end of the phone.

Meanwhile, the real game in Iowa right now is the ground game. 

Caucus victories are all contingent on organization.  A well organized campaign that coordinates its supporters and gets them to the individual caucuses with well understood instructions, will win.   

Given these facts, despite what popular thinking may be at the moment, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum are the two candidates who are best positioned to confound the pundits and ensure an intense stretch of primary contests to follow in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida.

With her Ames Straw Poll win, Bachmann already proved that she has the capacity  to organize her supporters.  And since then,  she has remained focussed on Iowa, and essentially put all her eggs in the state’s basket.   Since the straw poll, Bachmann has already identified a number of Iowa supporters that exceeds the the number of votes that Mike Huckabee won the state with in 2008.  That’s significant.

Then there is Rick Santorum, one of the most underfunded candidates in the field.

Santorum has now campaigned in every corner of the state.  He has held events in all of Iowa’s 99 counties and is aggressively waging the type of one-on-one, retail politics that can connect with voters, not just through the issues, but on a personal level.  That was part of  Huckabee’s success.  Afterall, in 2008, Huckabee was outspent by Mitt Romneyby a margin of 20 to 1 and despite  spending over $10 million in in Iowa, Mitt lost to Huckabee by 9 percentage points.

Also worth considering is the fact that Santorum has been largely written off by the media.  The  lack of  attention afforded Santorum the opportunity  to remain a stealthy, scandal free candidate.   And since they are not perceived as threats, both he and Bachmann have not been the victims of critical ads attacking their records and impugning their character.  On top of that, in states like Iowa, where minds are made up by the  number of times a candidate has shaken your hand and looked you in the eye, the lack of any limelight may be an advantage.

In light of these observations, no one should be surprised if Michele Bachmann and/or Rick Santorum throw a monkey wrench in to the plans of any perceived frontrunner.

Right now, several popular scenarios seem to be surfacing regarding Iowa’s effect on the nomination contest.  In one, after all the angst over Romney and all the talk about a search for a suitable anti-Romney candidate,  Mitt ends up surprising  everyone and actually wins Iowa.  In that scenario, every other candidate in the race loses momentum or the chance for creating any significant  momentum for at least the next week or possibly two.  Then Romney wins New Hampshire and goes into South Carolina as a strong frontrunner who coalesces just enough support to win the Magnolia State and then moves on to a more significant win in Florida, where Mitt wraps up the nomination.

In the other popular scenario, Newt Gingrich wins Iowa, forces Romney to work hard to win in New Hampshire, and South Carolina breaks the tie and essentially propels the winner there to a win in Florida and ultimately the nomination.

What no one is really considering is a win in Iowa by Santorum or Bachmann.

If  either one of them wins Iowa, expect a battle royal for South Carolina and a primary contest that does not end quickly.

 Such a drawn out contest is not good for Mitt Romney.  An early consolidation of the nomination behooves Romney because once the race goes past Florida, the calendar does not necessarily favor him in any decisive way until until April.

After Florida comes Nevada with 23 delegates and while Romney is the likely victor there, if Mitt had not yet racked up a significant portion of delegates and hit his stride, it will not be enough to force his closest rivals out of the race.  The same goes for February 7th, 117 delegates are up in the sates of Colorado (36), Minnesota (40), and Missouri (53).

If there is no clear favorite before then, you can expect mixed results, that favor Romney in Colorado, Bachmann in Minnesota, and Newt Gingrich in Missouri. 

This type of back and forth could continue to play itself out until March 6th, when Georgia,  Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, give Mitt’s rivals as many as 418 delegates, and Alaska, Massachusetts, and North Dakota give Romney 96 delegates.

After that, it is conceivable that there could be no clear winner until at least April 24th when  a Mid-Atlantic Super Tuesday event  puts 231 delegates up for grabs in Connecticut – (28 ),  Delaware (17),  New York  (95 ), Pennsylvania, (72), and Rhode Island (19).  Baring any unforseen events….lol), Romney would be favored to win most if not all those delegates and essentially secure his path to the nomination.  But by that time Mitt could be so battered, and beaten, that he becomes damaged goods for the G.O.P.

All this could be the result of a Bachmann or Santorum win in Iowa.  And in many ways, they need not even win Iowa to change the course of events.   A decent showing by both Bachmann and Santorum could be enough to actually deny the ultimate alternative to Romney, enough votes to beat Romney with.  That would help Mitt wrap things up early.

In the final analysis, Iowa may not pick the next President but with Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum in the game, Iowa may make this one of the most hotly contested and longest lasting competitive races for the Republican presidential nomination since 1976 when Ronald Reagan challenged President Gerald for the nomination.  That was the last Republican convention in which it was not known who the nominee would be from the start of the convention.

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Filed under: Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Bachmann’s Gamble

Posted on December 3, 2011 by ikefriday

Michele Bachmann believes she is the best candidate for the job.  She should, she’s running.  However, unlike the two front runners, Bachmann has chosen not to differentiate herself based on ideas, but instead to attack the front runners as being more liberal as she is.  Her most recent target is Newt Gingrich, but she can also be traced to the fall of Rick Perry.

The two front runners, and Herman Cain, have done a very good job of not attacking other candidates.  The “attacks” between Romney and Gingrich over the last week have amounted to points scored on differentiation in back ground and complementary assessments of each others abilities with subtle hints as to who is better because of it.

So why does Bachmann think that attacking the other GOP candidates is a winning proposition?  Simply put, she does not believe Barack Obama can win.  In Bachmann’s mind, the GOP candidate could be Tom DeLay and Obama would still lose.  Technically, she should be right.

The administration got the best news it’s had in three years this past week.  Enough people dropped out of the job hunt to join Occupy Wall Street that unemployment (which only measures who is looking for a job) fell to 8.6%.  Now, Obama’s justice department has released a new round of incriminating documents on a Friday night to avoid the media cycle and Obama is skipping town for an extended Christmas/New Years vacation that us working schlubs could only dream of.

But Bachmann’s faith in Republicans’ will to vote for the lesser of two evils is unfounded.  Just look at how quickly Republican supporters are backing off of Cain after the most recent affair allegation.  Sure some of it is fears over electability, some of it is dislike for his 999 plan and foreign policy, but a good portion of it is different standards.  It’s the kinds of standards that make Republicans resign for tapping their toes in the men’s room while Democrats can shove a cigar in their young intern’s….well anyway.

Bachmann’s gamble is that since Obama is going to lose anyway, Republicans need to take this glorious opportunity to choose the best candidate for the job (Michele Bachmann) and not settle for a RINO (Mitt Romney), a crony capitalist (Rick Perry), or a flip flopping environmentalist (Newt Gingrich).  Instead, we should choose the TEA Party image of perfect conservatism, the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan mixed with Sarah Palin: Michele Bachmann.

Bachmann seems to think her negativity will make her be the first candidate to be a front runner, lose it all and end up in 5%ville, and then rise from the ashes a second time.  She needs to be careful that it won’t accomplish that for Obama instead.

Filed under: Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Strategy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Is Bachmann’s Immigration Stance Electable?

Posted on November 26, 2011 by ikefriday

One of the keys to winning the Social Conservative vote is electability.  Many voters out there aren’t asking which candidate has the best ideas.  They are asking which candidate can beat Barack Obama.  On the Social Conservative side, they are asking which candidate can beat Mitt Romney first.

Bachmann has chosen not only to level questionable attacks against Newt Gingrich for his immigration policy, but she has also taken the hardline stance that as President 11.2 million illegal aliens should be deported no matter how long they have been here, their other legal history, or their family and community ties.  With the intensity that Bachmann has attacked Gingrich, I would be comfortable assuming that this would be a national priority for her.

Mitt Romney tried to come down hard on Gingrich in the debate, but admitted himself that there must be exceptions to the rule for mass deportations.  Bachmann, who has played the role of attack dog against more than one candidate, was far more rigid in her approach.  But can a zero tolerance, deport them all approach to Illegal Immigration win in 2012?

Amnesty was a big loser for Republicans in the past.  McCain’s involvement in a potential bill to grant a path to citizenship for illegal aliens nearly ended his career.  But far too often this complex issue is reduced to a soundbite, or single word (such as “amnesty”).  What would happen in a debate between Michele Bachmann and Barack Obama where Bachmann was asked if she would make deporting 11.2 million illegal aliens a national priority and how she planned on doing that?

This issue is a loser all around for Conservatives.  Not because they are wrong, but because like so many other issues there is no easy solution, but they are willing to try.

So far, Mitt Romney has dodged a huge bullet.  No one seems to have noticed his exception caveat to his immigration hardline.  Bachmann has managed to stay on the attack, but it won’t take the media forever for someone to ask her how she plans on deporting 11.2 million illegal immigrants.  For now though, Gingrich is taking the heat just as he predicted in the debate.  As far as what Conservatives actually want, many want Michele Bachmann’s hardline and may stay home if they see weakness in a candidate on this issue.  Others will see Bachmann’s stance as making her unelectable and will avoid her because of it.  Either way, the best thing for the GOP right now is for this issue to run its course in the media cycle and go away soon.  With Bachmann’s perceived chance at spoiling another rival’s campaign, don’t count on it.

Filed under: Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Strategy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

The GOP Debate Gauntlet – Deciding The Nominee Or Face Time For Media Hounds?

Posted on November 26, 2011 by jsmashmouth

Bookmark and ShareAs GOP primary voters wind down to the last couple of months before the selection process of a nominee begins there has certainly been no shortage of opportunity for the top polling candidates to get their message out.

Is it me or is there a GOP presidential debate every week?

For political junkies it is a fantastic schedule. The candidates squaring off on our tv’s, the trip up’s and slip up’s, the scolding of the media, the embellishing of records and the bickering about who has the biggest…….plan. All kidding aside there have been a few bright moments and some instances where policy has been articulated well to allow the voters to hear and decide who the best candidate would be to put the country back on the right track.

But does the grueling debate schedule also serve another purpose?

Lets be honest here, there are candidates whose funding, message and 15 minutes have dried up during the process but yet they remain there, on the stage, for nothing more than a little self promotion and face time. To steal a quote from ESPN’s weekly blooper segment: “C’Mon Man!”.

Michele Bachmann came out like a lion and is leaving like a lamb. Winning the Iowa straw poll gave her some hope but realistically the big dogs had yet to get on the porch in Iowa at the time. Although she has had some good moments in the debates her chances are slim to none. 28 foster children is admirable but repeating it time after time to people who want to know what you are going to do to help the job market won’t help a withering campaign bank account. Sorry congresswoman but after Iowa it may be time to sit down and pen that book you seem to be promoting. Get off the stage

Rick Santorum has spent a ton of time and money in Iowa. He has spent enough time in Iowa that he may have to file his state tax return in the Hawkeye state. Despite his near residency he is still polling at or near the bottom in the state that kicks off the election cycle. That alone should be enough to tell the former Pennsylvania Senator that it may be time to hang it up. In a socially conservative state, the socially conservative candidate has not been able to gain traction. Not a good sign. He has performed well in the debates don’t get me wrong but if he can’t get off the ground in Iowa he isn’t getting off the ground at all. Especially after all of the effort he has put into it. If he is staying in for VP consideration or to gain viewers for a new Fox News show is unclear but staying in to win is not an option at this point. Your best in Iowa was not good enough. Get off the stage.

Jon Huntsman has also not made any major gaffes in the debate cycle but has yet to make a name for himself in a muddled field. China this, China that. Pointing to his foreign policy experience should be an asset to Huntsman but instead has made him seem like a 1 trick pony. Throw that in with his time in the Obama administration and although it may be unfair, he comes off to the everyday voter as Obama’s China guy and using the words Obama and China in the same sentence doesn’t bode well with GOP voters at the moment. Noting your experience with China every time you get a chance to speak however may land you a spot in the next GOP administration but other than that there is no reason for Huntsman to remain in. Get off the stage.

Ron Paul has been polling well. That is to say better than he has in past presidential primaries. However even his supporters, of which I am one, realize his chances of winning a GOP nomination are almost non-existent. His values are more Libertarian than Republican, everyone knows it and he is unapologetic for it. Some of the ideas he was ostracized for in past primaries have become GOP rallying calls but it still doesn’t hide the fact that he simply is not what GOP voters are looking for. He is still raising enough money and polling well enough to stay in the race but is he going to stay in to win or to gain a national stage for his Libertarian philosophy? I think everyone with an ounce of sense knows it is the latter. He would do much better as a 3rd party candidate and would in the end probably help the GOP nominee by siphoning some of Obama’s more fiscally responsible but socially liberal supporters from the President. It pains me to say it but Dr. Paul – Get off the (GOP) stage.

Rick Perry is a car wreck on the side of the highway. It is very difficult to watch but you can’t help yourself from wanting to take a peek. Gaffe after gaffe has made him the poster boy for SNL skits. Couple that with a very poor decision to pick a fight with Mitt Romney in which he got his rear end handed to him and you have a flash in the pan campaign that started like it was shot out of a cannon and then exploded before it made impact with anything. debates are not Perry’s strong suit. Unfortunately for him there are a bunch of them. Another Fox News gig in the wings? He does have great hair. Governor, Get off the stage.

Hopefully these candidates will see the light after Iowa and bow out gracefully. They have nothing but a prayer of winning the GOP nomination and if they truly wan to show fiscal responsibility will quit wasting their donors money trying to do so. There will probably be a couple that remain in until the coffers run empty simply for self promotion and grandeur, but that’s what we get for scheduling this many debates.

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Filed under: About the Candidates, Debates, Herman Cain, Iowa, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Polls, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, State & National Polls, Strategy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Foreign Policy Reveals Different Strengths

Posted on November 23, 2011 by ikefriday

Whether or not you think the GOP has a strong field, one thing is for sure.  Any of these candidates would be better than Obama when it comes to foreign policy.  That came across clearly from more moderate voices like Jon Huntsman in addition to the two front runners.  Overall it was a great performance by all the candidates.  The contrast between the GOP field, including Ron Paul, and Barack Obama was clear.  So, here are the winners and losers:

Mitt Romney won the debate because of his smooth ability to introduce ambiguity on some issues to give all Conservatives a cushion of comfort.  See Newt’s performance below.  Mitt also took on Ron Paul and I think Mitt won that debate.  It seems pretty clear that Al Qaida terrorists and Timothy McVeigh do not represent the same sort of threat.  In fact, I would argue that lumping McVeigh, a disgruntled anti-American government citizen attacking the system, in with the 9/11 hijackers, foreign terrorists attacking and targeting United States civilians, is a very dangerous way of looking at foreign and domestic terrorism.  I sure hope we would treat a foreign terrorist crossing our border illegally differently than a citizen radical trying to build a bomb in their basement because the IRS just sent them another tax notice.

Jon Huntsman demonstrated his firm control of foreign policy issues.  I think he overcame some fears when he affirmed our strong relationship with Israel.  Huntsman also expressed sentiments on Afghanistan that have been felt by many Conservatives who were mislabeled as “neo-cons” over the last decade.  Many Conservatives supported both wars, but do not support something for nothing nation building in nations that don’t respect us and don’t appreciate the sacrifices we have made.  Huntsman turned again and again to the economy and the failures of Obama and Congress to solve the problem.  Huntsman’s point on how we leave North Korea alone because they have a nuke, but invaded Libya after they gave up their nuclear ambitions is a great diagnosis of the inconsistency in America’s position towards nuclear ambitious countries.

Newt had a great, issue free performance.  Here is the problem.  Newt comes across hawkish, and he is far too honest.  In the end, Mitt agreed with him on long-time illegal immigrants, but Mitt said it in such a way that will be taken better by anti-illegal alien Conservatives.  Newt also hurt himself by endorsing and calling for an expansion of the Patriot act.  This could help guarantee that Ron Paulites stay home and let Obama get re-elected in 2012.  What Newt should have said was that he supported the Patriot Act, but recommends examining it for things that could be eliminated or added.  I think Newt is too straight forward on a subject that honestly Americans would prefer some ambiguity on.  Same with covert operations.  His answer regarding opening our oil resources is not new, but continues to be a very strong point for him.

Ron Paul continued to solidify his base and add some fringe Conservatives who are weary enough of the wars to want to radically change America’s relationship with the world.  For these people, Paul’s angry old man persona, scoffing and reacting to opponents’ answers, and idea that if we leave terrorists alone, they will realize the error of their ways and leave us alone, will not affect his support.  Still, Paul would make a better foreign policy President than Obama.  At least his disengagement would be total, not mixed with war hawkishness like Obama’s.

Rick Perry’s substance earned him a higher spot after this debate.  I still think his idea of zero based budgeting for foreign aid resonates with Americans.  His refusal to dabble in hypotheticals about illegals who have been here more than a quarter century is going to help him as people weed out Romney and Gingrich’s immigration comments and discover the softness there.

Herman Cain did well not to hurt himself in this debate.  He has come across as unknowledgeable on foreign policy.  In this debate he showed he has a recognizable set of foreign policy principles, although he kept things pretty vague.  He didn’t hurt himself and that is a victory for him on foreign policy.

Rick Santorum comes across as a neo-con.   This debate didn’t really change that, and only a change in that perception would cause his status to change as a result of this debate.  No mistakes, but also no movement for him after this debate.  He continues to maintain that we should be paying Pakistan for friendship.

Michele Bachmann is either a career politician or has issues with comprehension.  On multiple occasions she seemed to not be able to grasp her opponent’s position.  A glaring example was when she interpreted Newt’s soft approach to long-time established illegals as some sort of call for general amnesty to 11 million illegal aliens.  She played the same role in Rick Perry’s demise, but now it seems more like a desperate cry for relevance.  Rising and falling as the Social Conservative choice at this point will require superiority on the issues, not loud misunderstanding of opponents, even though that usually produces success with the general electorate.

No matter who the nominee is, what is clear from last night is that we cannot afford four more years of Obama’s foreign policy.

Filed under: Debates, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Thanksgiving Family Forum Review

Posted on November 19, 2011 by ikefriday

The GOP candidates faced something Saturday night that they haven’t seen in a long time, a friendly moderator.  In a round table discussion without buzzers, all but one of today’s contenders shared personal stories, tears, and their faith.  It was a very personalizing debate where Americans got to see these candidates discuss the issues facing family values voters.  So here is the official review:

Newt Gingrich opened up and shared a real personal side of himself with the audience.  He personalized the healthcare debate in a way that would make pro-Obamacare liberals rethink centralized health planning.  He also was the most genuine in sharing his failures with the crowd.  His failure and the resolution of turning his life around through God’s help is exactly what resonates with this crowd. He presented solutions on judicial activism without betraying a sort of militant anti-homosexuality that will be a turnoff to some states rights conservatives who shy away from a marriage amendment, but in a way that should satisfy pro-amendment conservatives who see the courts stampeding over states rights on marriage.

Rick Santorum had a chance to connect with audiences and take enough time to overcome some of the perception of irrelevance that comes with mainstream media consumer based debates.  This will help him especially in Iowa where social conservatives are searching to an anti-Romney with a clean record.  Santorum helped his changes in Iowa, although even if he wins in Iowa he will probably not take any other states.

Herman Cain played to his strength: being real.  Although there are questions about Cain’s foreign policy know how and tax plan, one thing that has made him endearing to Republicans is his realness and his ability to connect on that personal level.  He may have harmed himself though when as a failure he pointed out that he spent too much time working to the top of the corporate ladder and not enough time with his family.  That is a regret that will not resonate with most Americans, and for those who it does it will not be seen as a good thing.

Michele Bachmann did well, but was once again forgettable.  Her answer on schools was good by itself, but was a shadow of answers given by other candidates.  She must find a way to distinguish herself if she hopes to be relevant again.  Perry tried to make himself relevant, but his tax plan was trumped by Gingrich’s flat tax.  Santorum has not been able to make himself relevant again.  Bachmann’s best shot recently at making herself relevant has been apparent support for a $10 surtax on all Americans to make sure everyone is paying something in.  That is not a defining plan that will rocket her back to relevance.

Ron Paul was able to be personal and share his faith, which is important for him among social conservatives.  However, it may also be damaging among libertarian voters.  Paul showed support for DOMA, which will hurt him with libertarians.  His advocacy for moving issues like gay marriage to the church and family are admirable, but naive like his foreign policy.  Paul does not seem to understand the militancy of some liberal homosexual groups.  Paul also hurt himself with his greatest failure, suffering sports injuries that kept him from playing football in highschool.  Honestly, if someone told me that in a job interview I would probably only continue the interview out of politeness.

Rick Perry had a typical bumbling debate performance.  At one point he said “We’ve all heard that saying…” and I was afraid he might forget what it was.  When he talked about his greatest failure, I think he was saying he impregnated his wife (possibly not his wife at the time?) and had to drop out of veterinarian school.  Overall, unimpressive.

The biggest loser was Mitt Romney.  Mitt will not win this election with just the establishment and fiscal conservatives.  This was a must attend debate if he hopes to win over any social conservatives of family values voters.  Then again, if Mitt could not stand toe to toe with these candidates on family values, perhaps it is best that he didn’t show up.

Other no shows, Gary Johnson, Fred Kargar, Buddy Roemer, and Jon Huntsman.  Let’s be honest, who cares.

Filed under: Debates, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Rush Hits Newt Again

Posted on November 18, 2011 by ikefriday

Six months ago, I wrote an article about Newt Gingrich’s attempt to clarify his views on healthcare.  Newt had gotten himself in trouble when it came out that in 1993 Newt agreed with the Heritage Foundation on an insurance mandate.  At the time, Newt said that he felt there should be a law that made it so that people would need to either buy health insurance, or post a bond when they receive medical care as a guarantee that they will in fact pay for that care.

At the time, I warned Newt that this would cause problems.  Of course, we didn’t have as large a readership back then, so I’m sure he didn’t get my warning.  Shortly before that, Newt was secretly my number one pick to eventually win it all.

With great influence comes great responsibility

Sure enough, right about that time Newt called in to Rush Limbaugh’s show and tried to explain exactly what I said in the first paragraph here.  Rush didn’t buy it, and the godfather of Social Conservatism cast doubt on his blessing of Newt’s candidacy.  Listen to the interview here.  The result was that a couple weeks later I was writing about the rubble of Newt 2012.  In that article, I said that it would take a miracle to revive Newt, that miracle being upward movement in the polls.  Hallelujah, we now know the political gods did not forsake us after 2008.

Today, Rush once again expressed his reservations about Newt.  In what he framed as analysis of Newt’s rise to the top, Rush once again mentioned Newt’s baggage including his support of a mandate in 1993.  While doing his best not to appear against Newt, Rush laid out everything Conservatives should be careful about with Newt.  To be fair though, he did the same for Mitt Romney at the same time.

In the end, Rush chalked up Newt’s rise to the top as two things.  Newt doesn’t defend his mistakes (like Romney does with Romneycare), and he does go after the media for their bias.

It’s a little bit more than that.  Newt has a proven fiscal conservative track record.  He balanced the budget for four years in a row.  The Federal budget, not just one of the 50 states.  That doesn’t even seem in the realm of reality these days.  It would be like saying he walked on water in the context of today’s deficit.  But speaking of walking on water, Newt has the social conservative credentials as well.

In a speech in Jacksonville, Florida yesterday (that yours truly had the privilege of attending), Newt said that under his education reforms, teachers who could not adequately explain what it meant to be endowed by your Creator with certain inalienable rights would be asked to resign.  This was in response to a question from the audience regarding a neighboring county where the government was putting pressure on a pastor there to stop school flagpole prayer meetings.  Newt said that he would seek to end funding for Planned Parenthood and use that money to help promote adoption.  He is pro-school choice.  He has well rounded conservative credentials and unlike Romney, conservatives trust Newt when he says things like supporting a mandate and sharing a couch with Pelosi were stupid.

Frank Luntz on Sean Hannity’s show this afternoon said that everyone was shocked about Newt’s resurgence.  It wasn’t a surprise for me.  I predicted that as the Cain-Gingrich debate received acknowledgment and replay, Newt would rise.  On November 3rd, I said that people were taking a fresh look at Newt Gingrich.  But even better than that, on October 13th, I laid out the path to victory for Newt Gingrich going through South Carolina and Florida.  In a blog titled “Yes He Can”, I analyzed how Cain was preparing to fall on his 9-9-9 plan and how Newt would take early states Iowa and South Carolina, leading to a showdown in Florida between Newt/Mitt.  So no, it wasn’t a shock.  If you’ve been reading this blog, it wasn’t a shock to you either.

In that same article, I said that Newt’s dirty laundry has been airing out for a long time.  It doesn’t smell as “fresh” as Cain’s or Perry’s.  The same is true for Mitt, although Newt knows when to admit to a mistake.  Therefore, in this up and down race where nothing is certain and things change every minute, I am sticking to what I said over a month ago.  Newt/Mitt, for the championship, the second to last GOP debate in Florida in Jacksonville.  Newt will be carrying South Carolina and maybe Iowa to the table, Mitt will have New Hampshire under his belt.  Then the two smartest, most articulate, and strongest leaders will have one last significant chance to make their case.

Rush, Coulter, and any other big-time rightwing players who still think Bachmann, Cain, or Santorum could come back and win, keep dreaming.  It’s more likely that Tebow would win the Superbowl.

PS, I have absolutely nothing against Tebow.  In fact, after Thursday’s game against Rex Ryan and the Jets, Tebow is my second favorite quarterback.

Filed under: Florida, Herman Cain, Iowa, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, New Hampshire, Newt Gingrich, Paul Ryan, Polls, President Obama, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, State & National Polls, Strategy, TEA Party | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Ann Coulter Rips Newt, Endorses Romney

Posted on November 17, 2011 by ikefriday

In case you wanted to see the laundry list of reasons to stay home in 2012 if Newt gets the nomination, an influential member of the media provided them in a weekly newsletter last night.  No, I am not talking about George Soros.  Believe it or not, Ann Coulter’s signature is on the blade firmly implanted in Newt’s back.  Newt has been anticipating mainstream media attacks since his turn at the top began, and so far he has been handling them beautifully.  Unfortunately, he wasn’t looking over his shoulder.

Coulter, normally a reliable Reaganite, dredged up every non-rightwing conservative thing Newt has done throughout his career, and added her own arrows in the unfair Freddie Mac attack on Newt for consulting work he did over the last decade before the financial collapse.

Coulter stated that “…everyone knows the nominee is going to be Romney.”  While highlighting Newt’s couch moment with Pelosi, Coulter ignored Romney’s liberal past transgressions aside from Romneycare, whose relevance she equated to Romney being a Mormon.  Romney is a great candidate, but to hear it from Coulter, you would think he is the only viable candidate Republicans can find.

Ann, let me take a moment to address  you as one blogger to another.  First of all, if you’ve been reading my blog then you would know that Romney very well may not be the nominee.  Second, if you have been reading the polls, then you know that Romney is not the only person on planet earth that can beat Barack Obama.  Third, if you’ve been reading Obama’s record, then shame on you for even accepting the premise that he is any more electable than even Gary Johnson.  And fourth, if you had been listening to Newt Gingrich, you would know that such unfair attacks like the one you leveled against him in your newsletter will not help to defeat Obama in 2012.

The reason for the rise and fall of Socially Conservative candidates in this race is that the non-establishment wing of the Republican Party wants a Socially Conservative candidate who can beat Barack Obama.  They thought they had it with Bachmann, but it became clear she could not beat Obama.  They thought they had it with Perry, but he turned out to be an embarrassment.  They thought they had it with Cain, but his ideas on taxes and his mishandling of media attacks are threatening his chances.  They have never thought they had that with Romney.  Romney has been the man for the establishment, and he has done very well.  But he is certainly not cleaner than Newt when it comes to his record.

I have a great deal of respect for Ann Coulter.  Most of the time I agree with her.  Today, my advice to Ann Coulter is come back to our side.  If someone is going to attack Newt, let it be the enemy, not those who should be his friends.  And let the American people decide whether they want Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich to take on the worst President in our nation’s history.  If you need some ideas of things to write about, shoot me an email at whitehouse2012blog@gmail.com and I’ll be happy to talk about Solyndra, Jon Corzine, Fast and Furious, Occupy Wall Street’s assassination attempt, Obama thinking Hawaii is in Asia, UNICEF’s US funded war on foreign adoption, the debt super committee, or a whole host of other topics your readers would rather read about than a hit piece on Newt Gingrich.

Filed under: Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Polls, Strategy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Team Bachmann Takes on the Boys and Asks Who the “Consistent Conservative” Is

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Kempite
Bookmark and Share  In a field of candidates dominated by men, Michele Bachmann uses a web ad to try to force them to fight her on the field of conservatism (see the ad below this post) .

Her ad uses clips that hint at and in some cases even prove the liberal positions that her male counterparts have either taken in the past or try to deny that they presently maintain.  There are clips of Romney declaring how he will always defend a womans right to choose and Herman Cain contradicting his own anti-abortion positions. Other clips contain the antithetically conservative positions of Ron Paul regarding national defense and Rick Perry’s plight to defend in-state tuition for illegal immigrants.  One clip even has Newt Gingrich  seated on a park bench with liberal icon Nancy Pelosi as the two declare “together we can do this”. 

The ad wander offs the point by including clips of people like Cain, and making asses of themselves with blunders such as Cain’s being unaware of China’s nuclear capability and Perry forgetting what federal department he would do away with.  Those two clips have to do with competence, but they highlight another aspect  about consistency that Bachamnn  tries to bring out in her ad which is entitled “No Surprises”

Bachmann is trying to argue that with a candidate who is consistent in their conservatism, there are no surprises.  This is based on the premiss that if one is uniformly conservative, their will be no surprising revelations about unchasterich conduct or astonishing issue positions.

 Whether or not the commercial spot proves that Michele Bachmann is the most consistent conservative in the race is debatable, but she certainly demonstrates that the others have at times wandered off the hardline right reservation.   And if truth be told, Michele Bachmann is indeed the candidate running for President who has in fact been the most consistently conservative one. 

And in truth, there is no denying that Bachmann is indeed the one candidate running who has the most truly conservative record in the race.  According to Heritage Action, Bachmann is the highest ranking 2012 GOP presidential contender with a score of 91 percent and she has maintained a near perfect record with the American Conservative Union ever since she came to congress 4 years ago.

Of course since coming to Congress, Bachmann has not been any of the type of leadership positions that have made it more necessary to compromise her position, but neither have people like Ron Paul, and he has a rating g that is far lower than Bachmann.

The problem is, will that be enough to bring Bachmann back in to the upper echelon of the Republican presidential field?  At the moment it doesn’t look that way, but if Bachmann can somehow target her message to enough of the conservative base in the early states and then organize an effective and comprehensive G.O.T.V. effort, she could stay alive in the race longer than currently expected.   Republicans are not exactly looking for anything but a consistent conservative.  They’re not searching for a compassionate conservative, or a cautious conservative.  They are not looking for a cordial or complex conservative either.  All the Republican base wants is consistently constitutional conservative. 

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Filed under: Michele Bachmann | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

As Predicted

Posted on November 14, 2011 by ikefriday

Newt is finally getting to taste the view at the top.  In the latest Public Policy Polling poll, Newt has climbed to the top, edging out Cain and Romney.  In fact, in this poll Newt was the only candidate with noticeable upward mobility.  Both Cain and Romney saw declines, while Perry slipped far closer to 5% oblivion with fellow candidates Bachmann, Paul, Santorum, Huntsman and Johnson.

Newt's turn as king of the hill

Newt’s ascension is no surprise to this staffer after Cain’s sexual harassment troubles refused to go away, his 9-9-9 plan came under scrutiny, and he gave a foreign policy debate performance where he may as well have said on a clear day he can see advisers who know something about foreign policy from his front doorstep.  Ok, low blow.  But you have to admit his debate performance was not up to Newt/Mitt standards.

Mitt Romney continues to occupy his base of supporters, but this poll may indicate that many who supported him as the only viable candidate are also giving Newt a second look.  This is especially true considering things like the latest Whitehouse12.com poll that shows high negatives for Cain and Romney, but relatively low negatives for Gingrich.

What Newt Gingrich needs to do now is avoid saying anything stupid.  The top spot in the GOP race is precarious.  And Newt is not spotless.  At times he means well, but is misunderstood.  While he has chalked up his couch time with Pelosi and his weak campaign start as stupid mistakes, such an excuse will not carry him through January.  Gingrich needs South Carolina and Florida to go his way before he can start feeling at all comfortable, and that is a ways away still.

Filed under: Gary Johnson, Herman Cain, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Polls, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, State & National Polls | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

And that’s time

Posted on November 12, 2011 by ikefriday

In a short hour and a half, made up of minute responses and thirty second followups, the GOP candidates once again took the stage to answer questions from semi-respectful moderators.  In a debate most looked forward to by Ron Paul fans, Paul received very little time. We have seen pretty much all there is to be seen about candidate style, and many of these questions were repeats.  So here are the winners and losers:

The Good

Mitt Romney won this debate.  His answers were calming, yet clear and determined.  He portrayed the very stature Americans are looking for in a Commander in Chief, and he highlighted American Exceptionalism.  This area is a strong suit for Mitt, and one that does not involve any sort of past flip flops or policy changes.  His answers should give him a bump among social conservatives who are inspired by terms like American Exceptionalism.

Newt at one point had to school the moderators on war versus criminal law.  In some ways this debate seemed frustrating for Newt, but that is an aspect of him his followers often like to see.  Newt brings the fight to the moderators and to the left and usually wins.  Many of his answers were right on, but others were somewhat vague.  One thing that Newt will lose points for is how loosely he called for covert operations in countries like Iran and Syria.  This is something Newt has brought up as a policy in debates and speeches in the past, but is something better left unsaid.

Jon Huntsman did well in the debate.  The question on a tradewar with China is a favorite of most media moderators because it gives them a chance to toss Huntsman an easy softball.    Foreign policy hits many of Huntsman’s strong points without touching many of the issues that conservatives hate him for.  It won’t matter though, Huntsman is done.

The Bad

Santorum did pretty well.  He has the unfortunate bad luck of being a candidate on the back end of two long wars and sharing a policy that sounds eerily like Bush’s.  On the other hand, Santorum seemed to be saying that we need to keep funding Pakistan and being their friend because they have a Nuke.  True or not, Santorum is not going to win American hearts saying implying that we must borrow from China to pay off Pakistan to be our friend.

I have a feeling that media moderators purposefully cut Paul’s debate time short on debates like this to get his supporters riled up.  Get ready, we are going to hear about that for the next week or so.  Paul didn’t do bad for most of the debate, but some of his stances are really not correct.  The idea that the United States must capture a citizen who has declared war on the United States and bring them in to face civilian court, or that non-uniformed terrorists have any sort of rights under US law is wrong and violates precedent.  Gingrich and Perry were absolutely right on those counts.  Paul’s supporters were being their typical selves in the debate as well, to the point where the mods had to admonish them to be respectful.  They are another liability of Paul’s with the overall GOP.

Herman Cain reminded me a lot of Rick Perry in recent debates.  Without 9-9-9 to fall back on, Cain was slow in responses, vague, and seemed as though he would happily defer to a future self, surrounded by knowledgeable generals and advisers.  That’s great, but that is not leadership.  In that respect, Huntsman showed up Cain, and even Gingrich, when he said if a nuke was loose in Pakistan he would secure it.  Cain really did not give a performance that screamed “I am a leader”.  Instead, each response sounded like “How can I answer this without ruining my campaign”.

The Ugly

Michele Bachmann continues to be unimpressive and unmemorable.  She scored some points rebutting Ron Paul, but seemed to spend most of the night trying to get the moderators to let her respond to other candidates.  She also seemed to get less time.  However, I will give her a great deal of credit for her answers on ways to trim military spending without hurting the military.

Rick Perry still doesn’t debate well.  And once again he found himself as the butt of several jokes, made both by the moderators, himself, and Senator Graham.  Perry’s idea of zero based budgeting for foreign aide is a great idea, but the only reason it’s his is because he got to say it first.  Gingrich and Romeny both articulated it better when Perry was done.

But allow me a Newt Gingrich moment to say this.  The real loser was Barack Obama.  The candidates made it clear, once again, that every single one of them would run foreign policy better than Obama.  Several drove home the point that Obama had a range of good choices and bad choices and made all the bad ones and none of the good ones.  The only ambivalent candidate who actually seemed to end up on Obama’s side for some things was Ron Paul.  This is one of the aspects of Newt Gingrich’s leadership because he has focused these debates on defeating Barack Obama, and when Newt sets the tone the other candidates usually follow.

Filed under: Debates, Herman Cain, Jim DeMint, Jon Huntsman, Lindsey Graham, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

White House 2012′s Morning Memo: Friday’s Election News Briefing for 11/11/11

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Kempite
Bookmark and Share  This morning’s White House 2012 Morning Memo briefs you on  Rick Perry’s top ten list from his appearance on Letterman, Herman Cain’s defamation representation, opinions on whether he just beginning to take a hit on all the accusations, a New Hampshire presidential candidate forum, Romney’s plans for Iowa, Occupy protesters crashing a Bachmann event, and a few other tidbits that are sure to heat up your coffee and wake this day in politics up.

Happy 11/11/11

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Filed under: Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, New Hampshire, Newt Gingrich, President Obama, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, TEA Party, Trunkline 2012 | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

CNBC versus the GOP

Posted on November 10, 2011 by ikefriday

Last night the GOP candidates went into hostile Michigan to face a hostile set of moderators who were booed into sticking to economic issues by the crowd after an unfair detour against Herman Cain.  In all, the night turned into somewhat of a circus.  Hopefully, the GOP will shun CNBC in the future, as this was the worst and most unprofessional case of moderation we have seen.    But aside from that, let’s get to the winners and losers.  First up…

It floored me when they tried to ask if companies should be making a profit or growing jobs.  Excuse me, but how the heck do you create jobs if you aren’t making a profit?? Gingrich’s response was beautiful. Watching the moderator rolling her eyes when Gingrich said a 30 second answer on healthcare was ridiculous was fun to watch.  But my favorite answer of Gingrich’s was on education, where he offered a real life example of a real life solution that addresses the issue of education that is getting exponentially expensive with much cheaper results.  As someone who works full-time, is a full-time grad student and has been in college for a decade following various business and religious pursuits, I connected with Gingrich’s answer and could not agree more.  This morning Neil Boortz in a morning phonecall to WOKV implied that Republicans needed to worry about who could beat Obama, not who would be the best President speaking of Newt Gingrich.  Bull.  Gingrich keeps winning debates because he is the smartest man on that stage.  And he made a joke out of those bombastic, rude moderators.

Rick Santorum did well.  This doesn’t mean anything, he still can’t win.  But he did highlight his leadership on things like medical savings accounts and gave viewers no reason to mark him down.  He has struggled in debates, but performed well last night.  Ron Paul also did a good job.  He avoided saying anything outlandish and produced a solid, constitutionalist approach.  Bachmann did well, but was once again forgettable.  Huntsman also did pretty well, though his attempt at “answer this in 30 seconds?” humor sounded like a lame, screwed up retelling of a good joke.

Mitt Romney needs to understand his precarious position.  He is stuck at 30%.  The rest of the GOP voters are looking for not-Mitt-Romney as their candidate.  His smoothness, economic savvy, and gaffe free debate performances have gotten him this far (along with a great deal of establishment money).  He needs to figure out how to get himself the rest of the way.  He has to find a way to make Social Conservatives trust him. Mitt, if you are listening, make a major statement in favor of state personhood amendments.  Consider that step one to breaking into the 40s in the polls.

Herman Cain also has hit a roadblock, but it is a policy roadblock.  I think many viewers were left with the feeling that if nuclear missiles were airborne from China heading for the US, President Cain would be on the phone with the Chinese President telling him how his bold plan, the 9-9-9 plan, could solve their problems by growing China’s economy.  9-9-9 is to Herman Cain what Windex was to Tula’s family in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  This one dimensionalism will leave him open to a Gingrich rise.  On the other hand, Cain did very well defending himself against accusations which are more and more looking like racist smears from the Axelrod/Democrat machine.

Rick, Rick, Rick.  By the way, if you want to see the sexism of the left, just watch how long Perry’s crash and burn stays in the media cycle and blogosphere compared to a Palin or Bachmann gaffe.  Talk about not being ready for primetime.  I think Perry likes to start talking and get rolling, and that’s why he sometimes forgets what he was talking about mid-sentence.  No excuses.  You are running for President of the United States.  Running before you secure the ball is how you lose games.  Running your mouth before you have your answer and grasp on the issues is what makes Presidents say stupid things.  E.g. Barack Obama talking about police officers who arrested his professor friend.

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Trunkline 2012: Monday Mentions from The Republican Presidential Race – 11/07/11

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Kempite

Bookmark and Share  On today’s campaign trail, Gloria Allred stages a press conference to attack Herman Cain with the first woman to publicly accuse him of sexual harassment, Romney visits Iowa, Senator Jim DeMint discusses his endorsement in the Republican race for President, Star Parker supports Rick Santrorum, Huntsman waits to become the next flavort of the week, and. Michele Bachmann tries to label her opponents as socialists.  That and more is here for you in today’s Trunkline 2012.

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Filed under: Herman Cain, Iowa, Jim DeMint, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, New Hampshire, Polls, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Trunkline 2012 | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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