Taking the Constitution on Offense

-By Chad Kent

Last week, Misfit Politics posted a video tribute to honor the passing of Andrew Breitbart. In it, Brandon Morse said that, for the first time ever conservatism is going on the offense… and he couldn’t be more right. Over the last few years we’ve learned a few things and gotten organized. All you have to do now is talk to a few conservatives or libertarians and you can feel the energy coming from them.

The problem is, as conservatives we are often put in the position of defending the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the ideas of our Founding Fathers. Any time you are defending your position you aren’t gaining ground.

If you want to learn how to take conservative ideas on offense, let Calvin Coolidge give you an example of how to destroy progressive ideas:
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Taking the Constitution on Offense”


William J. Kelly Hosts Visit By Fox News’ Dick Morris

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Saturday, March 10, William J. Kelly hosted a visit by Dick Morris, famed Clinton triangulation man and now Fox News contributor. Kelly is running for 42nd Ward GOP Committeeman with an eye toward also running to head the Chicago GOP.

Morris came out as a strong supporter of Kelly calling him a “cactus” that can thrive in the arid political environment of Chicago — arid for conservatives, anyway.

“Anyone can thrive in an environment with good water and nice climate. But Kelly can thrive in Chicago and bring the fight to the Democrats. That’s what we need,” Morris said, “someone that is a bulldog and is an expert at using the new media to get the point across.”

Morris talked a lot about how getting rid of Obama is a must to save this country and detailed how Obama’s policies made a bad economy into a world debt crisis.
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William J. Kelly Hosts Visit By Fox News’ Dick Morris”


This Ship Needs a Captain not just a Businessman

-By Rev Michael Bresciani

In this day of the history challenged it may not be safe to assume that everyone knows that it was Captain John Paul Jones who in the fall of 1779 said the famous words, “I have not yet begun to fight.” Even fewer may know that his ship the Bonhomme Richard had its upper decks nearly blown off and with what may have looked like a tattered raft the fight continued. Two hands assuming that both captain and first officer had been slain went about to lower the ship’s pendant from the mainmast, but were interrupted by Jones who flew toward them with pistols in hand.

The captain threw his unloaded pistols at the mates missing one and striking the other on the head leaving him unconscious. The master of the powerful British warship Serapis called out to Jones and asked if he was about to quarter. (Give up and surrender) Jones’ famous reply has been the example of every great naval officer since, but it doesn’t stop there. The best fighting men, statesmen and ordinary Americans, ever since, have been heard to say the same.
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This Ship Needs a Captain not just a Businessman”


A New Theme Song for Rick Santorum

This is a surprisingly good song. Whether you think Rick is “our man” or not, this is a jaunty, well written tune with a great pop sound to it. The girls have great, smooth voices and the music itself is well played.

It’s called Game On – Song for Rick Santorum – Super Tuesday Surprise by a family band named First Love.

Listen and enjoy…


GOP Voter Enthusiasm Higher, Democrat Collapse from 2008 High

-By Warner Todd Huston

Gallup has a poll that informs us that voter enthusiasm is higher for Republicans today than it is for Democrats. This is not a big surprise considering that it is the GOP that is the party currently on the outside looking in at the Oval Office. It is pretty common to see the party on the outs a bit more enthusiastic than the party in. But the Democrat’s numbers show that the bottom fell out for them since 2007.

What Gallup found was that by 53% to 43%, Republicans held the edge in voter enthusiasm.

Republicans, including independents who lean Republican, are slightly more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to say they are “more enthusiastic than usual about voting” this year. Republicans have consistently led Democrats in voting enthusiasm since last fall, but to varying degrees.

Gallup also found that Republicans were less enthusiastic about their primary race this time last presidential election, too. In February of 2008 Republicans stood only at 44% in enthusiasm compared to the 53% they stand at now.
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GOP Voter Enthusiasm Higher, Democrat Collapse from 2008 High”


False Fronts: Obama Still Pretending Fluke is an Innocent Kid

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you want to see how the left skews the narrative using untrue claims and false imagery to sell a message, you don’t need any other example than President Obama’s recent press conference where he continued to perpetrate the myth that Sandra Flake is somehow an innocent coed, a kid barely out of high school, when she is actually a long-time liberal activist in her 30s.

At the press conference the President was asked about Rush Limbaugh and his apology. Not only did Obama drag his own daughters into the debate, but he said he told activist Fluke that “her parents should be proud of her.” This line feeds into the myth that Sandra Fluke is but a young coed. However, Fluke is 30 years old. People stop assuring folks that their parents should be proud of them once they begin approaching middle age, certainly! If Mz. Fluke’s parents still aren’t proud of her as a 30-year-old, I doubt the president can help matters much.

But the thing here is, the left wants to promulgate the false image that Fluke is a young woman, innocent as the driven snow. She just isn’t. She’s a conniving activist, not a wide-eyed coed.
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False Fronts: Obama Still Pretending Fluke is an Innocent Kid”


Santorum Is Absolutely Correct On At Least One Point

-By Frank Salvato

Earlier this week, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum hit the nail directly on the head when he addressed the disingenuousness of the mainstream media when it comes to the Republican field of candidates vying for the party’s nomination and the entirety of the so-called “debate” process. This may not be earth-shattering news to those who eat, sleep and breathe Conservative politics (or politics in general) but it is newsworthy when a politico actually stands up and presents a challenge to rank-and-file voters to do something about it.

During a campaign stop in Maricopa County, Arizona, in preparation for the upcoming Arizona Primary Election, Sen. Santorum said:

“Will you be the generation that sat on the sidelines and watched as candidate after candidate comes up and the national media takes their axe out to try to destroy them in every way possible as they’ve done with every single Republican candidate, and as they will between now and the election?…Will you sit on the sidelines and say, ‘Boy that’s not fair,’ or will you stand up and fight back for freedom?”

Bravo, Mr. Santorum. Bravo.

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Santorum Is Absolutely Correct On At Least One Point”


VIDEO: J.D. Miniear, Indiana 7th Congressional District

-By Warner Todd Huston

Next in my Challengers Series of videos taken at this year’s CPAC is a few minutes with J.D. Miniear, a Republican who is vying for the GOP nomination for Indiana’s 7th Congressional District centered around the state’s biggest city — and capital — Indianapolis.

The current occupant of that seat is the odious Andre Carson, who, you may recall, has been mired in many controversies over the outrageously racist things he’s said over the years. The latest was his outrageous claim that all Tea Partiers wanted to hang blacks from trees.

As far as I am concerned, ANY Republican that takes Carson’s seat from him is a good candidate!

Still, Miniear faces a whole slew of GOP candidates. No less than seven candidates fill out the 7th CD’s primary field. Seems like an uphill climb for Mr. Miniear, for sure.
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VIDEO: J.D. Miniear, Indiana 7th Congressional District”


When Conservatives Wax Liberal: Is Sex a Qualification?

-By Selwyn Duke

Is it a conservative position that only women are qualified to comment on abortion? A writer named Leann Horrocks certainly seems to think so.

In an American Thinker piece titled, “Contraception, the New Useful Passion,” Horrocks does make some good points about how the left could turn the birth-control issue to its advantage and expand contraception to include even abortion. Yet she also makes this claim:

“As a woman, I am qualified to state the following very clearly: there is no issue less suited to public discussion than abortion. Like it or not, it is a personal decision.”

Actually, the above proves that, her chromosome configuration notwithstanding, Horrocks is thoroughly unqualified to comment on abortion. And, as someone who has pondered the matter deeply and sought Truth, I am qualified to state the following very clearly: like it or not, abortion is a decision to murder another person. Like it or not, it is for this reason a grave evil, a serious moral issue. And, like it or not, since it is an action that directly harms another, no issue is more suited to public discussion than abortion.
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When Conservatives Wax Liberal: Is Sex a Qualification?”


Competition or Cartel Control? An Entrepreneur’s Fight for Fairness

-By Warner Todd Huston

How government uses its powers to regulate and license to act as a cartel for established businesses and to exclude new businesses

Artist, veteran, and entrepreneur Julie Crowe wishes to provide a female-friendly vehicle-for-hire service for students in the Bloomington-Normal community, but her attempts are thwarted by city officials who insist students have no need for her services. With the help of the Liberty Justice Center, Ms. Crowe fights back.

In Bloomington, Illinois we have just such a case. Julie Crowe had an idea for a business, one that seemed to be in demand in that college town. Crowe had the idea that she would start a driver-for-hire business, one where she would be sure to take passengers not to a single drop off and pick up spot but right to their door if they wanted.
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Competition or Cartel Control? An Entrepreneur’s Fight for Fairness”


VIDEO: David Clark For Utah’s 2nd Congressional District

-By Warner Todd Huston

David Clark, running for Utah’s 2nd Congressional District, is my next interview in my Challenger Series of videos taken at the 2012 CPAC event.

Clark recently resigned from as Speaker of Utah’s House of Representatives, a role he filled since 2008, because the campaign finance laws in Utah make it nearly impossible to raise campaign cash while acting as a sitting elected official.

Clark comes from a banking background and this close relationship to finances drives him to make an attempt to become a Congressman to right the wrongs of Washington’s over spending.

Clark seems a very capable spokesman for Utah. See if you agree.

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VIDEO: David Clark For Utah’s 2nd Congressional District”


When Did Honesty Become Optional?

-By Frank Salvato

Throughout time politicians and their handlers have been prone to omitting unpleasant facts or manipulating them so as to mold issues to their advantage. This is the concept behind “spin”; a form of propagandizing that crafts an “alternative” interpretation of an issue, organization, person, event or campaign in order to sway the public’s opinion “for” or “against” said issue, organization, person, event or campaign. In fact, the “art of spin” has created an entirely separate category of political animal; the “spin doctor,” many of whom are regularly featured on the many mainstream media news outlets disguised as “political strategists.” But somewhere along the line, the art of employing wit, reason, personality and persuasive rhetoric in order to achieve a political ends gave way to the blatant lie, and never before has it been as evident as it is today.

This political malady is not exclusive to one side of the aisle or the other. Neither is it exclusive to the elected class. In fact, some of the most egregious abusers of truth and honesty come in the form of agendized media operatives. It is an across-the-board problem that comes with the intellectual infections that are the “inside-the-beltway mentality” and the special interest mentality, both of which are shared by the elected class, the media who cover them and the special interest groups who try to sway them both.

In the Republican Primary Elections we have seen a good example of spin, and viciously so. In one of the most negative political cycles in recent times, we have witnessed each of the nominees unleash barrage after barrage of negative attacks ads against whomever they deem the threat of the day. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum, although not as blatant about their approval of such tactics, are just as guilty of partaking in the art of spin; in stretching the truth to achieve an ideological goal, as Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney. It can be argued that Mr. Romney is the biggest abuser, but I am sure that Romney supporters will spin that to their advantage.

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When Did Honesty Become Optional?”


VIDEO: Dan Bongino for U.S. Senate, Maryland

-By Warner Todd Huston

More in my Challenger Series of videos taken at this year’s CPAC. Today we have Dan Bongino who is running for the U.S. Senate for Maryland.

Bongino is a former Secret Service agent with two graduate degrees and a firm grounding in conservative ideals. When we spoke he seemed an eloquent spokesman for conservative principle.

Apparently the ignorati of the left have something to fear in Bongino as last November when he and his campaign staff were attending the Maryland GOP convention he found that his car and the cars of his staffers were vandalized with their tires flattened.

Bongino is most activated by the spiraling debt that Democrats have dragged this country into, but he also deftly addressed some of my foreign policy questions.

Dan Bongino is another solid new comer for the GOP.
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VIDEO: Dan Bongino for U.S. Senate, Maryland”


VIDEO: Brian K. Hill for U.S. Senate From Connecticut

-By Warner Todd Huston

The next in my Challenger Series of videos shot with new candidates I met at CPAC 2012 is Brian K. Hill a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Connecticut.

I found Mr. Hill to be a serious-minded candidate, sure in his positions, comfortable in his skin, hard-charging, and quick with a sure-footed answer to my questions. A former leader in both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy, he is a commanding presence.

Hill as no mere ground pounder, either (not that there is any shame in being a ground pounder). While in service, Hill, a JAG officer, was a resident expert on federal contract law, international law, and administrative law. This means he has familiarity with the nitty-gritty of how government procurement and relations works. And that is something we sorely need in a representative, especially if we expect that rep. to help untangle the mess that the system has become.

Hill is facing two primary opponents. Linda McMahon the wrestling industry magnate who ran and lost in 2010, and the less than conservative former U.S. Representative Chris Shays.

Hill seems to be an attractive candidate. See if you agree.

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VIDEO: Brian K. Hill for U.S. Senate From Connecticut”


Stupid Internet Meme of the Week: Santorum’s ‘Rough’ Handshake With Ron Paul Outrage

-By Warner Todd Huston

Buzzfeed was the first to indulge it’s inner gossip — well, maybe its outer gossip since that is all that site is; gossip. Anyway, the stupid story of the day is based on the hearty handshake that Rick Santorum gave Ron Paul after Wednesday’s debates. Paul’s fans took offense at the handshake for some idiotic reason and now it is the “thing” to talk about it.

First, let’s go to the video, shall we?

As Buzzers has it:
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Stupid Internet Meme of the Week: Santorum’s ‘Rough’ Handshake With Ron Paul Outrage”


Republican Candidate deFaria Wilts Under Political Spotlight, Attacks Media

-By Javier Manjarres

Congressional candidate Ozzie deFaria is beginning to melt under the political spotlight, as he once again is displaying a lack of judgment and temperament that is necessary to sustain the rigors of a congressional campaign. The Shark Tank recently questioned deFaria’s campaign advertisements as well as certain aspects of his background, a scrutiny which all congressional candidates should expect. But deFaria’s knee-jerk reaction to our story is unfortunately revealing- rather than deal directly with our documented and legitimate criticisms, he chose to malign your humble correspondent and the Shark Tank. This response shows that deFaria is not only thin skinned, he wound up embarrassing the Republican Party and his campaign.

Our report cited the following facts:

  • deFaria’s posting of DNC Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz wearing a dog collar
  • deFaria stating that Wasserman Schultz needed to be “sent back to the pound.”
  • deFaria untruthfully stating the reason why Congresswoman Allen West tore into Wasserman Schultz in an email last year
  • deFaria’s admittance that he used a phony ‘Tea Party’ organization to promote his campaign
  • a list of public record court cases in which deFaria is named as a Defendant or a respondent

deFaria took issue with our criticism that asserts that his own words and deeds are questionable and will diminish his campaign- did he not take the time to think that his line of attack against Wasserman Schultz not only isn’t very original, but that it could be potentially used against him if he were the Republican nominee? (Shark Tank- original deFaria story here)

deFaria is actively promoting this ‘Doggie Debbie’ website and told the attendees of the recent SRLC convention in Charleston that ‘DWS’ “needed to be sent back to the pound.”continuing with the “Debbie is a Doggie” motif. We simply questioned if deFaria’s repeated caricature of Debbie as a dog with an aggressive looking dog collar is really a smart way to criticize her and broadly appeal to the masses of people in her congressional district.

deFaria’s feeble response to our criticism was made in an obscure Broward website that has a history of running cover for the embattled Broward Republican Executive Committee (BREC), and the site that has done all but endorsed deFaria. It’s also the same website that Redstate’s Erick Erickson smacked down last year for its lack of journalistic integrity and hack reportage.
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Republican Candidate deFaria Wilts Under Political Spotlight, Attacks Media”


VIDEO: Jackie Walorski for Indiana’s Second District

-By Warner Todd Huston

The next in my Challengers Series of video interviews with candidates for Congress takes us to Indiana’s Second Congressional District. Jackie Walorski is running represent the northwestern corner of the Hoosier State — sometimes called the Michiana region.

The Second is currently held by Democrat Joe Donnelly who is not running for reelection. Donnelly is instead looking to take Richard Lugar’s Senate seat (Lugar himself faces a primary challenge by Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock).

Walorski seems a serious candidate, ready for business and well informed about the issues. She has served in the State House of Representatives for the 21st District since 2005.

Rep. Walorski just barely lost a bid to defeat Donnelly in 2010, Donnelly beating her by a mere one percent. But before that race, Walorski has quite a record of defeating candidates. Her three terms in the State House were each won handily.

So, it’s Walorski for the Indiana Second.
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VIDEO: Jackie Walorski for Indiana’s Second District”


CPAC VIDEO: E.J Otero for Florida!

-By Warner Todd Huston

Next in my Challenger Series of videos made of up and coming GOP candidates for Congress is a Mr. E. J. Otero who is running for Florida’s 11th Congressional District.

Otero is a retired Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. Born in Puerto Rico, Otero’s father was a broadcaster and was a host of Voice of America-Radio Marti. E.J. has a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Troy and also attended the U.S. Air War College.

The Colonel was at U.S. Central Command working intelligence during Enduring Freedom in 2001 as well as Iraqi Freedom afterward. He also led negotiations with Special Operations partner countries such as Colombia, Poland, France, Jordan and the UK.

Otero’s already been likened to Allen West for his true-blue patriotism and outspoken nature.

http://ejoteroforcongress.com/
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CPAC VIDEO: E.J Otero for Florida!”


Another Reason Why Going Negative Is a Bad Thing

-By Frank Salvato

Unless you are an inside-the-beltway campaign consultant or you have been living an oblivious life, you most likely stand with the rest of the American electorate in being increasingly disgusted with the negative tone that the Republican candidates for President have employed over the last few months. The opportunity for the GOP candidates to coalesce behind a common goal – the “de-transformation of the United States of America” – is slowly passing. The opportunity for them to embrace a teachable moment so as to explain, in layman’s terms, why the country has suffered under the current administration’s policies, and why their proposed platforms bring relief to individuals and business owners across the political ideological divide, is slowly fading into the history books as “what could have been.” It doesn’t have to be this way, but, then, the proprietary minions of the inside-the-beltway GOP establishment don’t much care for the notions of we “fly-over” types. They know all about campaign strategy. Just ask them.

If avoiding the alienation of the electorate’s goodwill wasn’t enough of a reason not to go so personally and caustically negative, there is the notion that in doing so a great amount of damage would be done to each of the candidates, so much so – and for no other reason than to win the nomination at all cost – that the Obama campaign would be handed a full arsenal of negative talking-point ammunition for the General Election campaign. Armed with this free opposition research, already tested for its maximum destructive potency, and close to a $1 billion campaign war chest, David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett, David Plouffe and Roberts Gibbs could get a mentally challenged three-toed tree sloth elected over the Republican challenger.

And while there is merit to the argument that the negative attack campaigning is “honing” the eventual candidate’s ability to confront the Obama campaign’s inevitable onslaught of attack ads and smear tactics, the fact of the matter is this: Axelrod, Jarrett, Plouffe, Gibbs and President Obama himself are infinitely more acclimated and proficient in the ways of Saul Alinsky than anyone on the Right side of the aisle, short of David Horowitz. The idea that any Republican candidate can compete in the arena of Alinsky negative political campaigning is a reality only in the realm of the absurd. Only a megalomaniac of a Republican campaign strategist would even entertain such a ridiculous notion.

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Another Reason Why Going Negative Is a Bad Thing”


A Moment with Rep. Allen West at CPAC 2012

-By Warner Todd Huston

The conservative bloggers at CPAC were happy to receive a visit from Representative Allen West (Florida, 22nd District) this year. The second he walked into the room he was mobbed by the bloggers and their ubiquitous handi-cams.

West talked vice presidential possibilities, South America, his status as the most outspoken congressman on the Hill, military meals, Marco Rubio, and more.

An amusing side note, close to the beginning of this video some TV folks from Sky News ran into our blogger room and tried to monopolize the Congressman for their TV camera. One of the bloggers, Jeff Dunetz of Yid With Lid, chased them out saying “You’re not credentialed for this room!” Love it. Jeff is a bulldog.

In any case, Col. West was a very nice fellow, for sure. Humble and straight-forward.
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A Moment with Rep. Allen West at CPAC 2012″


VIDEO: Utah’s Mia Love at CPAC

-By Warner Todd Huston

The first in my “Challengers” series of interviews I conducted with up-and-coming candidates running across the country. Here I interview candidate for Utah’s 4th Congressional District, Mia Love.

One of the things she likes to say is that “according to the left, I am not supposed to exist.” That because she is a strong, conservative, black woman.

Mia Love is surprising voters in Utah. As Mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah she seemed to come from out of no where as far as many voters in Utah were concerned. But she is fast gaining a reputation as a very capable and attractive candidate.

During one of the CPAC panels, Love noted that she is prepared for a fight. “I know that I am going to be a target for the left. I have something to say to them: Game On,” she said.

In fact, she’s already being attacked by the extremists at the Democrat website, Daily Kos. Sadly, the attack on Love is not one based on substance but is a racial attack. At the Democrat site, Daily Kos is attacking Love as, “one of only two African-Americans living in Utah not currently playing for the Jazz.”

Aren’t leftists supposed to hate racism? Not when it concerns destroying anyone that disagrees with them, they aren’t.

Mia Love is sure to become a GOP rock star. All you Utahans, vote for Love!

Please do go to Mia’s website and donate some money, won’t you? http://www.love4utah.com/.
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VIDEO: Utah’s Mia Love at CPAC”


Sarah Palin’s Main CPAC Speech Points: Did She Sell Out?

-By Warner Todd Huston

I am just now back home from CPAC and I thought I’d wrap up my CPAC reports with the main points from Sarah Palin’s CPAC speech. I will have video of a dozen or so GOP candidates for Senate and the House over the ensuing days as well as a short video interview with Daniel Hannan, the Member of European Parliament that made himself beloved to Americans for his impassioned speeches in favor of freedom and liberty.

Those videos will come later, but now, on to Sarah’s speech. As expected, Sarah Palin was met with the most adulatory applause of any CPAC speaker. When she came out onto the stage the house went wild. She had the longest sustained standing ovation of the entire event. Obviously, Sarah Palin is still a rock star to these conservatives.

I live tweeted her speech and following this introduction I’ll repost those live tweets here so that you can see her main points as she delivered them and as I tweeted them. But first my over all impressions.

Palin spent a lot of time smacking President Obama over the head with his smashing failures over the last three years. She made no effort to be coy about it but attacked him head on. As in all her speeches — and I’ve been in the audience for a few of them, myself — she made many allusions to the founders, citing them often. And she ended up with an urgent plea to those watching to fall in behind who ever becomes the GOP nominee “for the sake of our country.” This ending might have surprised, maybe even dismayed her more ideological fans because perhaps she just proved to be just another party woman instead of the ideologically pure representative they’d hoped for.
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Sarah Palin’s Main CPAC Speech Points: Did She Sell Out?”


Texas AG Sues Feds Over Voter ID Law

-By Warner Todd Huston

On January 23, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott asked a federal court to clear the way for his state’s voter ID law while he awaits to hear what will happen with his demands that the Department of Justice drop its objections to the Texas law.

Abbott filed an expedited complaint for declaratory judgment (see complaint HERE) based on the fact that several other states have also enacted voter ID laws not to mention that the U.S. Supreme Court has already upheld such laws.
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Texas AG Sues Feds Over Voter ID Law”


The Impassioned Message of Rick Santorum, Bella and the Unborn

-By Rev Michael Bresciani

This may be the most difficult time the nation has ever been through as we approach this critical election year. It is hard to say too much about Mitt Romney when it is well known that regardless of what he is, or is not, he is not Barack Obama. That alone counts for much, but not until he is the last man standing.

Many voters seem to see more when they see Santorum for a second and third time and listen to what he has to say. Sen. Santorum not only could surprise us and leap forward in the race for the nomination, but after taking a second look at this candidate anyone with a reasonable helping of understanding would see that he represents almost everything most conservative Americans want to see in our future as a nation.

Without adding to the redundant comparisons that already are everywhere in the public about Rick Santorum’s views and his record, but rather we could all take another look especially in the light of recent developments regarding the health of his beautiful daughter, Bella.

Bella has suffered with, Trisomy 18; a very rare disease which very few children survive. She recently contracted pneumonia in both lungs. The family was on watch for several days, but Bella pulled through in what her dad called a ‘miraculous recovery.’ The severe crisis was abated for the moment and following the good news, former Pennsylvania Sen. Santorum went back out on the campaign trail with renewed vigor and obvious relief.
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The Impassioned Message of Rick Santorum, Bella and the Unborn”


CPAC Straw Poll: It’s Mitt!

-By Warner Todd Huston

3,408 CPAC attendees participated in this year’s straw poll, the poll’s second highest number of participants, and they picked Mitt Romney as their man.

With a pool of voters that said at 63% that slashing big government was a main concern for 2012, a 97% disapproval rating for President Obama, and even a 28% disapproval rate the job Republicans in Congress are doing, voters picked Romney over Santorum by only 7 percentage points.

  • Romney 38%
  • Santorum 31%
  • Newt 15%
  • Paul 12%

Paul dominated the CPAC polling over the last two years, but this year he placed a distant fourth place. Paul did not attend CPAC this year and his followers were absent as well. Unless a few of them were out protesting with the Occupiers, of course.

The CPAC poll has no official standing Party-wise, to be sure, but as ACU Chairman Al Cardenas notes it is a good barometer of a nice large slice of the conservative movement.

This result does show the surging Santorum candidacy, though. It is clear that Rick Santorum has at last gotten his chance to be the non-Romney candidate. I think if CPAC were to have been held three or four months ago, Rick would not have achieved this close finish with Romney here at this conservative gathering.

I must say, I had imagined that Mitt might lose to Santorum considering his surging poll numbers out and about in the rest of the country outside CPAC, but I also must say that Mitt’s speech was competent and free of any unforced errors, if you will.

So, there you have it. Mitt barely edges out Rick Santorum as king of CPAC.
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CPAC Straw Poll: It’s Mitt!”


CPAC Speeches: Contrasting Santorum, Gingrich, Romney

-By Warner Todd Huston

CPAC 2012 featured appearances by the three top GOP contenders who came to ask for the support of the conservatives gathered there. First came former Penn. Senator Rick Santorum, then Governor Mitt Romney, and finally former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, all came to sell their ideas and candidacy.

Rick Santorum

Santorum came out to the most applause of the three, for sure. As he and his family mounted the stage the crowd was obviously eager to hear what the candidate had to say.

“Conservatism did not fail this country,” began the meat of the former Pennsylvania Senator’s remarks, “conservatives failed conservatism.”

Santorum said that in the past we, “listened to the voices that said we had to abandon our principles and our values to get things done, to win.” But no more compromise, he said. “The lesson we’ve learned is that we will no longer abandon and apologize for the policies and principles that made this country great for a hollow victory in November.”

Santorum went on to say that Obamacare was a “game changer” and with it, as the British found with their system, we will never be free again. “It’s about government control of our lives and it’s gotta stop,” he asserted to great applause.
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CPAC Speeches: Contrasting Santorum, Gingrich, Romney”


The Looney Tunes Version of the GOP Campaigns

-By Alan Caruba

I have begun to think of the Republican campaign as a series of Looney Tunes cartoons being replayed again and again. There are filled with a combination of laughs and the fantastical, self-defeating violence of Wily Coyote trying to catch the Roadrunner

As the primary season moves along, I sometimes think that far too many Republicans have temporarily lost their minds. Three years of Barack Obama will do that to you.

My response to the campaign thus far may have something to do with the fact that, like Reagan and others, I was once a Democrat and, to borrow a phrase from Paul, First Corinthians, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

These days, a lot of Republicans sound like a kid who sent Santa a list of toys he wanted and, even though he got most of them, he feels compelled to write and ask why he didn’t get all of them.
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The Looney Tunes Version of the GOP Campaigns”


Ohio: Self-Proclaimed ‘Tea Party’ Candidate Doesn’t Know Who Andrew Breitbart Is?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Is it possible these days to be a new, active conservative running for Congress for the first time and not know who Andrew Breitbart is? Me, I’d reckon that an in the know, new candidate that claims to be conservative and a spokesman for Tea Partiers could not possibly be so isolated that he is unaware of conservative media-crusader Andrew Breitbart. But there is a candidate in Ohio who displayed right on his own campaign website just such a display of ignorance on Breitbartania, Breitbartism, or Breitbartness… whatever you want to call it, it just appears that this guy is stone-cold out of touch with the current conservative movement not to know thing one about Andrew Breitbart.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am sure there are plenty of 90-year-old, Brahmin conservatives who get flummoxed at “the Facebookings.” I am sure there still exist out-of-touch, elder statesmen of the movement that just haven’t caught up with those newfangled Internet tubes that our friend Al Gore created. I am sure that there are more than a handful of aged establishment types shaking their fist at the Fox News and those darn websheets positive that they’ll never catch on, just as they were sure rock-n-roll was a passing fad. But can you be an up and comer in the conservative movement and be wholly unaware of one of the newest icons of conservatives everywhere?

I am here at CPAC this week and just ran into Joe “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher who was telling me about his run for Congress in the 9th Congressional District. Joe made me aware of a hilarious little example of the abject cluelessness of his opponent. So let me introduce to you one Mr. Steve Kruas. Professional auctioneer actually licensed with the Ohio State Ag Department with well over 300 “successful” auctions under his belt. I guess you don’t need the Internets, talk radio and TV news shows to sell used farm equipment.
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Ohio: Self-Proclaimed ‘Tea Party’ Candidate Doesn’t Know Who Andrew Breitbart Is?”


Occupy Wall Street Comes to CPAC, Unions in Command

-By Warner Todd Huston


The police had the Occupiers well in hand. Notice they had their ever-present tents, too!

A sizable group of Occupy Wall Street protesters assembled Friday late morning to protest CPAC. Naturally this group was buoyed by big labor because, as we all know, the OWSers aren’t really any sort of grassroots anything but are a wholly manufactured, left-wing, anti-American concern funded and organized by hard core left-wingers.

I decided not to bother engaging with them as I’ve done in the past because I’ve learned that dialog is not what they are interested in. They have their rote and often infantile talking points, slogans, and chants and that is usually all they have to offer.
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Occupy Wall Street Comes to CPAC, Unions in Command”