Newt Gingrich

Barack Obama - Cable - CNN - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Newt Gingrich - President - Progressives - TV - Warner Todd Huston

CNN’s New ‘Crossfire’ To Star Newt Gingrich & Stephanie Cutter?

April 26, 2013 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Early in April, CNN reported that it was thinking of resurrecting Crossfire, the left-right political debate show it canceled in 2005. Now, as the network tries to regain its faded status as a cable leader, the network is reportedly wooing Democrat strategist Stephanie Cutter and longtime conservative bon vivant Newt Gingrich to helm a re-launch of the show.

Crossfire debuted on CNN in 1982 and was originally hosted by Tom Braden and Pat Buchanan the duo who first invented the premise as a talk radio show. As the years passed a series of hosts came and went until the series ended in failing ratings amid criticism of its often times shrill rhetoric.

Sources now tell Politico that Cutter and Gingrich are both in negotiations to host the re-launch. Neither personality returned calls to confirm their status.

Gingrich, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and past candidate for the 2012 GOP nomination for President, is well known. Stephanie Cutter, however, is notorious for her work as Obama’s former deputy campaign manager.
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CNN’s New ‘Crossfire’ To Star Newt Gingrich & Stephanie Cutter?”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Chris Christie - Communism - Congress - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Heritage Foundation - Herman Cain - House of Representatives - Illinois - Illinois Policy Institute - Islam - Islamofascism - Jihad - Jobs - Joe Walsh - Koran - Liberals - Michele Bachmann - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - Peter Roskam - President - Randy Hultgren - Redistricting - Religion - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Ron Paul - Senate - Socialism - Taxes - Terrorism - The Heartland Institute - The Heritage Foundation - United Republican Fund - Warner Todd Huston

CPAC Chicago, Part 2: Richard Mourdock, Chris Christie, Herman Cain

June 10, 2012 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In part two of my coverage of CPACs first Midwestern conference event, we will see some of the high spots of the floor speeches of Indiana Senate Candidate Richard Mourdock, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie – always a crowd favorite – and the redoubtable Herman Cain. Cain also visited the media room and I have video of that below the fold.

Indiana Senate Candidate Richard Mourdock

Richard Mourdock is the current Indiana State treasurer but he also just defeated long-time incumbent Senator Richard Lugar for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate from Indiana. He’ll face the Democrat come November. Mourdock has been widely touted as the insurgent Tea Party candidate that beat Lugar, the old line, establishment man.

“No one expected a lowly state treasurer could take out a 36-year Senator! But we DID,” Mourdock said triumphantly.

Mourdock also noted that Senator Chuck Schumer of New York has called him the “Hoosier headache.” Mourdock was rather proud of that appellation.
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CPAC Chicago, Part 2: Richard Mourdock, Chris Christie, Herman Cain”

Barack Obama - Bobby Jindal - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Chris Christie - Christianity - Communism - Congress - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Health - Herman Cain - House of Representatives - Illinois - Islam - Islamofascism - Jihad - Jobs - Joe Walsh - Koran - Liberals - Marco Rubio - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - Obamacare - Peter Roskam - Politicians - President - Randy Hultgren - Redistricting - Regulation - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Rights - Senate - Socialism - Taxes - Terrorism - Unions - Warner Todd Huston - Wisconsin

CPAC Chicago, Wisconsin Praised, Obama Razed — Part One: Rick Santorum, Ron Johnson

June 10, 2012 by 6 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, Friday evening, June 8, 2012, we marked the end of the first CPAC event held in Chicago and what a great event it was. The triumph in Wisconsin was on everyone’s mind but so was Obama’s dismal record. Not just dismal, but according to several speakers, even dangerous. The economy and the election of Romney were focal points but so was foreign policy this day. One theme, though, was constant: Obama has to go.

Because of other things going on and the several press availability sessions, I didn’t catch every speaker in the main hall, but I did hear the speeches of (in this order) former Senator Rick Santorum, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, Indiana Senate Candidate Richard Mourdock, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Illinois Representative Peter Roskam, Minnesota Representative Michelle Bachmann, and Illinois Representatives Joe Walsh and Randy Hultgren. I also heard and recorded the press availability sessions of Herman Caine, Peter Roskam, and Michelle Bachmann and I caught most of Kansas Representative Tim Huelskamp’s.

Other notables whose speeches I missed were Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner, and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback.

The event was a great success with well over 2,000 participants, all seats filled for the most part during the speeches and some great groups like the United Republican Fund, the Illinois Policy Institute, the Heartland Institute, Champion News, and others hosting and participating.

I’ll say a few words about the speakers I did see in the order I saw them and I’ll do this in a few installments so that this won’t be one long, overly taxing post. Now, as each of these speakers appeared before us I live Tweeted their comments, so the following quotes are pulled from my Twitter feed.

But before I do that, each speaker was quite enthusiastic over the win of Governor Scott Walker who defeated an effort by the far left and their union overlords to recall him in Wisconsin. Each speaker praised Walker and crowed about the left’s loss in there. I won’t regurgitate the Wisconsin hunk of each speaker as they were pretty much all the same; exuberant. The essential point was that we are all cheeseheads now.

Rick Santorum


Rick Santorum on the main stage

Former Pennsylvania Senator and recent GOP Presidential candidate Rick Santorum gave one of his well-crafted, typically workman-like speeches. One of Santorum’s early points was that America is at a “tipping point” and we’d better be there to tip it in the right direction.
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CPAC Chicago, Wisconsin Praised, Obama Razed — Part One: Rick Santorum, Ron Johnson”

Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Government - Michael Bresciani‏ - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - Republicans - Rick Santorum

The GOP Nomination and the Other Side of the Frying Pan

April 17, 2012 by

-By Rev Michael Bresciani

Twisting old and revered adages is a risky business in a world that has become historically challenged and patently perverse. The risk is that many may think that the perverse version is actually an old standard with deep or hidden meanings meant for the initiated.

It could just be stupid, as in; you can lead a horse to water – but you can’t make him gather moss. Or it could be that the perverse version holds a whole new meaning for an increasingly perverse generation. Eclecticism and perversion have co-mingled and now are part of that blurred, shady area between the common wisdom of the day and true wisdom’s truths to live by.

Trends in society need to be read, qualified and if anyone is still awake, some need to be discarded as quickly as possible. The problem with that idea is simply that we are a generation that accepts perversion as entertainment, distraction and perhaps even attractiveness. It is the reason we sponsor vast teams of producers who scour the nations to find talent in our young (song and dance talent) while we are not looking anywhere, to see if they’ve got character.
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The GOP Nomination and the Other Side of the Frying Pan”

Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Mitt Romney - MSNBC - Newt Gingrich - Race - Rick Santorum - Warner Todd Huston

MSNBC’s Karen Finney Unleashes Her Inner Race Baiter

March 26, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

I suppose we should thank MSNBC contributor and Democrat Strategist Karen Finney for her illogical, uninformed, hate-filled, lie-laden rant on MSNBC on March 23. As prosaic and free of any intelligent content it is, her attack on Rush Limbaugh and any other Republican that popped into her pretty little head at the time served as a perfect example of the intellectual dishonesty and hate that fills every left-winger to the brim.

Finney was sitting in as a guest host on the Martin Bashir Show when she decided to try and prove to viewers that she was a deep thinker. Instead of cogent thought, however, her rant disgorged almost every lefty stereotype imaginable not to mention a few outright lies, a passel full of distortions, and those sort of base assumptions not backed up by a scintilla of common sense so common on the left.

Finney begins her tale of lefty tropes by invoking an incident she claims happened to her as a child. Her father, she said, was once pulled over by a state trooper in Virginia (sometime in the 1980s?) and her recollection is that he was pulled over only because he was a black man driving a nice car.

From there Finney brought the Travvon Martin case into the conversation and proclaimed that, “Left unchecked or unchallenged our biases, bigotry and stereotypes take over our better judgment.” This, of course, is simple, meaningless, trope dressed up as philosophical contemplation. The fact is her use of language is empty here. Biases and stereotypes, for instance, are not automatically bad. In fact, sometimes they can save our lives.
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MSNBC’s Karen Finney Unleashes Her Inner Race Baiter”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Economy/Finances - Elections - Fox Business Network - GOP - Illinois - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - Republicans - Rick Santorum - TV - Warner Todd Huston

Fox Business Network Covering Illinois Primary Tonight at 7PM

March 20, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you’re looking for some expert commentary on the Illinois primaries, Fox Business Network will be providing up-to-the-minute coverage tonight anchored by the inimitable Neil Cavuto. The coverage will kick off at 7PM and will feature Jeff Flock here on the ground in Chicago.

FBN’s Neil Cavuto has been covering the primaries quite extensively. Cavuto has even chided his rival cablers for practically ignoring the primaries, saying that he has been surprised at how “competitors drop the ball” on their coverage. He feels viewers deserve more.

I see rival networks giving a perfunctory, ‘So and so won this primary,’ and then they’re back to a Teflon commercial, or they’re running a seven-year-old special, and I think I owe my viewers more. I think that they deserve more. People are into this. And we as a financial network owe it to (our viewers to) be into this ourselves.

For his part, reporter Jeff Flock provided some of his analysis on the GOP filed from which Illinois will choose this primary election day.

“If you are a deficit hawk there is not much difference between the three front runners. Romney, Santorum and Gingrich all push lower taxes, spending cuts and changes to the Social Security and Medicare programs,” Flock said. “All would, by most economist’s measures, add trillions to the deficit over the next decade. Only Ron Paul’s plan would cut the deficit over time.”

Flock says that Romney will appeal quite a lot to the business class.
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Fox Business Network Covering Illinois Primary Tonight at 7PM”

Barack Obama - Elections - GOP - Government - Illinois - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Warner Todd Huston

Ill. Non-Romneys Your Choice on Tues is Rick AND Newt–That’s Right, You’ll Vote for BOTH of Them!

March 19, 2012 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you are an Illinois voter that considers himself an ABR (anybody but Romney) you have a bit of a dilemma. Rick Santorum has been surging across the country as the final non-Romney but he has a major problem in Illinois. He can win the popular vote and still not get all the delegates he’d like. In fact, because of the way the system works in Illinois, he can’t get the delegates.

So, what do non-Romney voters in Illinois do? If you want to stop Romney from winning (or at least running away with it easily) the only answer is to vote for both Newt and Rick. Oddly enough it can be done even without the famous Chicago corruption aiding you.

How can this be done? Read on, dear readers.

For those unaware, in Illinois we don’t just have a say in the beauty contest that is the popular vote. We also directly elect our delegates to the GOP convention. When you go to the voting booth you’ll vote for Rick, Newt, or Romney, of course, but you also have to continue down the ballot and vote for their delegates. Just voting for the top of the ticket won’t suffice to send your candidate to the big game, you must vote for his delegates too.
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Ill. Non-Romneys Your Choice on Tues is Rick AND Newt–That’s Right, You’ll Vote for BOTH of Them!”

Abraham Lincoln - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Chicago - Communism - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Government - Liberals - Mitt Romney - Nanny State - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Socialism - Warner Todd Huston

News Flash: Noted Marx-Inspired President Hopes Opponents Learn From Lincoln?

March 18, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Does President Obama have gall, or what? Obama, a man famed for being born to a Marxist from Kenya, trained by communist Frank Marshal Davis, and bathed in the destructive tactics of radical, anti-American leftist Saul Alinsky says the he hopes that Abraham Lincoln will “rub off” on the GOP candidates for president who were visiting Illinois.

All three of the major GOP candidates visited Illinois during this past week to flog their candidacies in the Land of Lincoln whose voters will go to their primary polls this coming Tuesday. Feeling left out, Obama also winged his way into the Windy City — on the taxpayer’s dime, of course — to attend a high-dollar fundraiser for his now six-year-old election campaign for the White House.

While there he uttered these amazing words:

I’m thinking maybe some Lincoln will rub off on them while they’re here.

Well, it never worked on him and he was here for over 20 years. There is just too much Marx/Davis/Alinsky in Obama for Lincoln to “rub off” on him, I guess.
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News Flash: Noted Marx-Inspired President Hopes Opponents Learn From Lincoln?”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Biofuels - Business - Capitalism - Elections - Energy - GOP - Jobs - Liberals - Natural Gas - Newt Gingrich - Oil - President - Republicans - Solar - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO — Newt Responds to President: Let Obama Be the Saudi Oil and Algae Guy, I’ll be the American Jobs Guy

March 15, 2012 by 4 Comments

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Newt Responds to President: Let Obama Be the Saudi Oil and Algae Guy, I’ll be the American Jobs Guy
-By Warner Todd Huston

Republican Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich appeared at Otto Engineering in Carpentersville, Illinois this afternoon and had a few choice words for Barack Obama. Newt told the president than he can be the fantasy algae guy and he, Newt, will be the science candidate.


Newt Slams the President as a member of the “Flat Earth, Sierra Club Society.”

Earlier today Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Maryland, President Obama claimed that anyone attacking his absurd reliance on wind power and algae to solve our massive energy problems are members of the “Flat Earth Society.”

Obama even went so far as to attack “one of my predecessors,” Rutherford B. Hayes who Obama quotes as saying that telephones are great but “who would want to use them”? “This is why he isn’t on Mount Rushmore,” Obama quipped. But Hayes was hardly a Luddite in the White House. For instance, on May 10th 1877 Hayes was the first president to install a telephone in the White House, so who knows what Obama is rambling about?

For his part, Newt is ridiculing Obama’s failures on energy.
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EXCLUSIVE VIDEO — Newt Responds to President: Let Obama Be the Saudi Oil and Algae Guy, I’ll be the American Jobs Guy”

Elections - Ethics - Frank Salvato - GOP - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Rick Santorum

Another Reason Why Going Negative Is a Bad Thing

February 20, 2012 by

-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”

Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Government - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Ron Paul - Warner Todd Huston

CPAC Straw Poll: It’s Mitt!

February 11, 2012 by

-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!”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Conservatives - Crony Capitalism - Elections - GOP - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Taxes - Uncategorized - Warner Todd Huston

CPAC Speeches: Contrasting Santorum, Gingrich, Romney

February 11, 2012 by

-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”

Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Government - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Ron Paul - Warner Todd Huston

Can’t We All Just Get Along? Is All This Primary Fighting Good?

January 31, 2012 by 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The campaign for the GOP nomination is really getting hot in Florida. The hard campaigning has caused a lot of bemoaning over the attacks going on between Mitt Romney, his ads and the ads sponsored by his super PAC, and Newt Gingrich’s own attacks. Everyone is concerned that this mudslinging and in fighting may be hurting the GOP. But is it?

Well, relax, everyone. There is nothing unusual going on here. What we are witnessing is really nothing different than we’ve ever seen in this country. In fact, some may recall the viciousness between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in 2007. But memories fade all too quickly and too many jump to this momentary feeling that things are worse now, that today’s political climate pales in comparison to vague, past golden ages that never existed.

All this fighting is a good thing. From it we get to see issues debated in immediate and passionate ways that mere, dispassionate debate will not show us. Sure it’s raucous, loud, maybe a bit unseemly, even. But compared to what our nation’s enemies want to do to us, this is weak brew and if we have candidates that can’t stand up to a few TV ads, then how badly will the wilt in the face of real challenge when in office?
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Can’t We All Just Get Along? Is All This Primary Fighting Good?”

Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Government - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Ron Paul - Warner Todd Huston

So What About that Pre-Florida Republican Debate?

January 27, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Instead of rehashing the whole January 26 Republican debate, I think it would be easier for me to post here all my Tweets from my live tweet of the debate. Some were fun, some serious and at the end I pass my judgment of how well the participants did. Below you’ll see my tweets, some with comments in parenthesis to put the tweet in context.

  • Aaaand here we go…

Opening Statements

  • I hear that Mitt Romney’s Super PAC said that Newt attacked the National Anthem in Reagan’s era!
  • (Rick says his mother lives in Florida) Uh oh, Rick’s Mommy is a carpetbagging snowbird. Now I cannot vote for him!
  • I’m Ron Paul… now GET OFFA MY LAWN YOU KIDS.
  • CNN’s first question:”Mr. Santorum, if you were a tree, what sort of tree would you be you racist creep?” OK, jess joking

Immigration Questions

  • (On the immigration ad about Romney) Didn’t Newt have that ad axed? Now he’s supporting it? Odd.
  • (Mitt’s Solution)It’s a little late to just “follow the law,” Mitt. We’ve already made a mess of that.
  • Mitt: “Our problem isn’t 11 million grandmothers.” Applause. That was a good one, Mitt!
  • (Questions back and forth between Newt and Mitt for quite some time) I think Santorum and Paul are now in the green room having a snack. Its the Mitt Newtny show!
  • (CNN goes to the Hispanic conference for a question) CNN gives Hispanics their own debate watching room? El separata but equalo?
  • Paul: “Cuba should be our buddies!” To heck with worrying over gulags and political prisoners. So last century, right Ronnie?
  • Does Ron Paul realize that supporting Castro in Miami is probably a bad political move?

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So What About that Pre-Florida Republican Debate?”

Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Government - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Rick Perry - Rick Santorum - Ron Paul - Warner Todd Huston

The Most Superficial Political Analysis Ever: The Candidates Ranked by Their T-Shirt Designs

January 11, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

For months, now, we have all been involved up to our ears in policy debates, discussions of the candidate’s records, and general mud slinging in this Republican primary season. There’s more to come, too. So, let’s take time out to be completely shallow, shall we?

Let’s judge the six remaining candidates by the most substantive measure we can muster: their t-shirt designs.

That’s enough yackity yak… on with the contest.

The Winner And Runner Up

Newt Gingrich wins the shirt wars, for sure. His campaign t-shirt has to rank as the best of the remaining six candidate’s designs. It sits just right on the shirt, it holds together well as a logo, and it is quickly recognizable from a distance. My only qualm is that the color red is a bit darker than I’d have picked. But none of this should be a surprise, right? Who knows branding and salesmanship better than Newt Gingrich?

Mitt Romney comes in second in this t-shirt contest. His has a fairly good logo, but the design is unbalanced by the line, “Believe in America.” It is it is just too long and makes the logo look less important than it should be. Worse the design is wrecked by the stupid website on the front. The website should be on the back, not the front.

The Boring

Ron Paul just fails in t-shirt design. Befitting his aged status as the cranky old uncle of the GOP, Ron Paul’s shirt stands as a boring one. Not much style to it, for sure. All the little type on the shirt doesn’t help, either. No one wants to get that close to a Paul supporter to read all that.

The Rick Perry shirt is a big miss and is the most boring one of the bunch. It looks like he just took the design off his political yard sign circa 1998 and slapped it on a t-shirt. It’s like his team didn’t put any thought at all into this thing. Ugh. At least it is fully visible at a distance, though, unlike Paul’s.

The Total Fail

Jon Huntsman has had the hardest time trying to convince everyone that he is a real Republican and his t-shirt design sure as heck isn’t helping him. Look at that thing! First of all who can tell that those white stripes are supposed to represent the letter “H”? But even worse, this looks like the bad design of a European soccer team shirt, not that of an American political candidate! Finally, it is not easily recognizable from a distance at all. It just looks like a bunch of white bars. This thing is horrible.

So, there you have it. If we were going to elect based on a t-short design, the Newtster is the winnah!

(Note: Santorum does not have a store on his campaign website. I can only assume that he is still having his campaign sweatervests produced.)
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The Most Superficial Political Analysis Ever: The Candidates Ranked by Their T-Shirt Designs”

Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Herman Cain - Michele Bachmann - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Rick Perry - Rick Santorum - Ron Paul - Warner Todd Huston

Santorum/Romney/Paul: So What Did Iowa Prove?

January 4, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The 2012 Iowa Caucuses are now over and in a nail biting ending the two highest vote getters were separated by only eight votes. So, what did this caucus prove? It proved that organization matters, personal contact matters, and finally big money spent on TV might not matter as much.

The biggest news was that Rick Santorum came from the back of the pack — his numbers had been so bad that he almost got excluded from some of the many debates — almost taking first place in Iowa. He was, in fact, leading for most of the night until that final count showed him in second place losing only by eight votes. This was fantastic showing was due to one thing: Santorum’s hard work at retail politics.

Santorum spent much of his campaign treasury and much time in Iowa. He visited all 99 counties in the state and was for weeks on Iowa radio and TV morning noon and night. He pressed a lot of flesh and kissed a lot of babies. Santorum invested his campaign and himself in Iowa in a last ditch effort to keep his campaign alive. If he hadn’t it is likely that today he would be announcing the end of his campaign for the White House.
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Santorum/Romney/Paul: So What Did Iowa Prove?”

Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Government - Iowa - Michele Bachmann - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Rick Perry - Rick Santorum - Ron Paul - Warner Todd Huston

How Ron Paul Might Win Iowa and STILL Get No Hawkeye Delegates

December 31, 2011 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

My friend Michael Bates has raised some interesting — if technical — points. He notes that Ron Paul could very will win Iowa but still come away with few or even no Iowa delegates. After looking over Bates’ points, I think he has it right. But one thing he said is really trenchant when he noted that journalists don’t bother to read the party rules of correlate past history to see if Paul’s win in Iowa would really mean anything at all.

But first, we should note that the winner of the Iowa Republican caucus rarely becomes president. Many others have noted that the Iowa caucuses don’t pick winners. In fact, over the last six GOP presidential contests, only one Iowa winner became president (George W. Bush). Two others won the caucuses in Iowa but did not win the White House (Bob Dole and Gerald Ford).

That aside, Bates makes some important points in the delegates process. He finds that Ron Paul might win a plurality in Iowa and still come away with no delegates. The most important point he makes is to remind us all that the Iowa Caucus is not a primary election. It is only a straw poll and what happens there is not binding. This is a point that the media almost never make.

As the popularity polls are telling us, Ron Paul is neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney with Santorum have a last minute surge. But this shows that Paul will not be running away with it all, here. This also means that his support will be spread all over the state in numbers that will not commandingly control too many districts. This leaves the door open for the other candidates to band together to prevent Paul delegates from getting any traction and just might result on Paul have few or even no delegates at the state convention.

As Bates has it:
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How Ron Paul Might Win Iowa and STILL Get No Hawkeye Delegates”

Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Herman Cain - Michele Bachmann - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Rick Perry - Rick Santorum - Ron Paul - Tim Pawlenty - Warner Todd Huston

Yes Virginia The Internet Does NOT Replace Old Fashioned Politics

December 24, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

When Howard Dean became a surprise front runner in the Democrat primary of 2004 doing so on the basis of a strong Internet-based campaign effort, tongues began to wag that the Internet might replace old fashioned retail politics. This time ’round Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich served to get people to question the old way of organizing a campaign.

But this week we’ve seen in Virginia why these airy claims of the Internet’s new dominance is a bit chimerical. We see that old fashioned, boots on the ground politics is still the best method to election.

By all methods of measure, Texas Governor Rick Perry is still a strong candidate in the 2012 GOP Primary race. He sometimes comes in second, third or fourth in polls, but is still considered a top contender for the nomination. Yet as the time came to file his petition signatures in Virginia, it turned out his campaign could not collect enough to get his name on the ballot. So, a reputed front running candidate for the nomination, Rick Perry, will not even appear on the Virginia primary ballot.
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Yes Virginia The Internet Does NOT Replace Old Fashioned Politics”

Campaign Finance - Elections - Judges - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - RightPundits.com - Supreme Court - Warner Todd Huston

Political BS: But… But… That Super PAC Doesn’t Speak For Me!

December 22, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Since the Citizens United decision emanated from the U.S. Supreme Court politics has seen the growth of the Super PAC. This would be the political action group that is ostensibly unconnected from any particular candidate’s campaign but will push their candidacy anyway. We’ve also seen the growth of the political BS of candidates claiming that they neither have any influence over these PACs nor that they represent what the candidates stand for.

Political Action Committees come in two varieties, those connected to a candidate or party or those not connected. Often PACS are 501(c)(4) groups that fundraise for issues as opposed to particular candidates. But with the rise of the Super PAC we find groups formed specifically to push a particular candidate. The Super PAC is classified as an “independent-expenditure only committee” and can raise cash from corporations, unions, and other large, deep-pocketed groups as well as individuals but are supposed to lie outside the control of the candidates themselves…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

Anti-Semitism - GOP - Israel - Michael Bresciani‏ - Newt Gingrich - Palestinians - Republicans

Palestinians: Did Gingrich Get it Right?

December 20, 2011 by

-By Rev Michael Bresciani

Both the mainstream media and Mitt Romney have been painting a picture of Newt Gingrich as a loose cannon largely because he has been articulating that the Palestinians were not ever a nation or a people prior to 1947. Is he right?

In fact, in spite of the common wisdom of the day, this is the rap everywhere, from Ivy League classrooms to the mainstream media. Are Palestinians getting shunned, oppressed and just treated badly by Israel?

It is no secret that Palestinians lob deadly rockets into Israel almost daily. They indiscriminately target homes, schools, hospitals and public places without warning. Less than a month ago a rocket did land at a kindergarten, but most western media, said little about that attack.

It is also well known (to anyone taking the time to find out) that after a suspected terrorist hideout or center of operations is discovered by Israel, they spend three days dropping leaflets to announce that they are going to strike that center. The IDF may be the most compassionate army on earth, but that is never mentioned by left leaning news outlets anywhere in the world.
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Palestinians: Did Gingrich Get it Right?”

Conservatives - Elections - Frank Salvato - GOP - Government - Michele Bachmann - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Rick Perry - Rick Santorum - Ron Paul

Eating Our Own & Providing Strategy

December 19, 2011 by

-By Frank Salvato

One cannot turn on the television or radio without some talking head or so-called political analyst pontificating about how Newt Gingrich is grandiose, how Mitt Romney isn’t really a Conservative – and how they both have flipped on several issues – or how Ron Paul’s foreign policy is isolationist. Glenn Beck, to many people’s extreme disappointment, even went so far as to call Speaker Gingrich a Progressive (I guess ratings are down as GBTV). It makes for good news show content, to be sure. In certain respects there is truth to the critiques. But this hyper-critiquing and self-immolation also does two things that Conservatives and Republicans fall prey to each and every time the General Election cycle comes calling: It deflects from addressing the differences between the GOP field and the opposition; and it provides the opposition with talking points, opponent research and the luxury of hiatus.

Make no mistake, the primaries are where each party – when not in incumbency – needs to critique and evaluate their prospective candidates. A hard-fought primary, when devoid of “it’s my turn” establishment national party politics, usually results in the fielding of the best candidate, and a candidate who is sufficiently prepped to engage in the “main event.” But there is a difference between an intellectual meeting of the minds, where policy differences and a juxtaposition of experiences are proposed, examined and debated, and the childish, nonsensical “braggateering” (to coin a word); of trading insignificant insults; of executing a campaign of personality-based mudslinging.

As we approach the actual start of the primary cycle – yes, we haven’t begun the cycle just yet – this act of political stupidity is coming into play, yet again, among the front runners for the 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination.

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Eating Our Own & Providing Strategy”

Elections - GOP - Government - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Warner Todd Huston

Newt’s New Iowa Political Director Off Campaign For Calling Mormonism A Cult

December 13, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Controversial comments about Mormonism being a “cult” have resulted in Newt Gingrich’s new Iowa political director being dumped form the campaign. Craig Bergman made the comments at a Wednesday media focus group and only hours later it was announced that he was off the campaign.

At the Iowa meeting of several Iowa media outlets, Bergman said that he thought that, “A lot of the evangelicals believe God would give us four more years of Obama just for the opportunity to expose the cult of Mormon,” He went on to say, “There’s a thousand pastors ready to do that.”

Gingrich, of course, has made it a point that he intends his campaign to be a positive one and has said that personal attacks on his opponents will not be allowed. If this quick elimination of Bergman is any indication, Gingrich is serious with this proscription against negative campaigning.

Only hours after Bergman uttered his claim that Mormonism is a cult Team Newt’s campaign spokesman, R.C. Hammond, released the following email:
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Newt’s New Iowa Political Director Off Campaign For Calling Mormonism A Cult”

Congress - Elections - GOP - Government - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Warner Todd Huston

VIDEO, Romney’s New Hampshire Ad: I am a Steady Leader

December 8, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Mitt Romney’s new ad being aired in New Hampshire is a not so subtle slap at Newt Gingrich for Newt’s several marriages.

I have to say, when I think of Mitt Romney, “steadiness” is not the first word that comes to mind. Oh, sure he may be a faithful husband, but he’s hardly been a steady leader in politics. With his million flip flops he’s been on every side of every issue. That isn’t very “steady” if you ask me.
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VIDEO, Romney’s New Hampshire Ad: I am a Steady Leader”

Barack Obama - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Government - Judges - Labor Law - Liberals - Michele Bachmann - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Regulation - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Ron Paul - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Romney, Newt, Bachtorum, Ron Puntsman: Who Cares?

December 7, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Like nearly every conservative in America today I am unimpressed by the current crop of GOP nominees for president and feel they all have major flaws — especially the two frontrunners Newt and Romney, both of whom have major deficits as far as staunch conservatives are concerned. But at this point I’ve come to realize that I don’t think I care which one of them is nominated. In fact, I think the White House is not where we should be focusing our intensity in 2012.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not saying we shouldn’t vote for whichever GOP nominee wins the game show plaudits. We should absolutely pick one of them and then we all, conservatives and Republicans alike, should vote for him (or her).

So, what am I saying? I am saying that the White House is less important than people are saying it is. Instead, we need a two-point focus for 2012 that doesn’t include the White House. We don’t need 999 points. Just two. 1). Gaining control of Congress and 2). turning Obama out. The identity and purity of our presidential nominee is the last thing we should be worried about at this point. It is a bit late for that anyway.

Let me assure you that I don’t have a favorite in this GOP race. And I have three real dislikes: Romney, Huntsman, and Ron Paul. This article is no stealth shilling for any particular candidate. I really do have big problems with all of them. But, again, I don’t think it matters which of them we pick if we focus on the two points I note above.

First of all, any of the GOP candidates (yes even the cranky uncle of the GOP, Ron Paul) would be better than Obama. But that goes without saying because I am a conservative that votes Republican. No surprise there, really.

But there are reasons besides blind partisanship that any of the GOP nominees is better than Obama. In fact, it can really be boiled down to but one issue that makes getting rid of Obama imperative: the courts. He has been thoroughly destructive to this country with his judicial picks.
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Romney, Newt, Bachtorum, Ron Puntsman: Who Cares?”

Barack Obama - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Eric Holder - Ethics - Mexico - Michele Bachmann - Newt Gingrich - Republicans - Rick Perry - RightPundits.com - War On Drugs - Warner Todd Huston

Three More GOP Hopefuls Calling for Holder’s Resignation Over Fast and Furious

November 25, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week I noted that not too many of the candidates for the GOP nomination for President had said much about Obama’s murderous Operation Fast and Furious. But since then we’ve gotten two more than Just Bachmann to call for Holder’s resignation.

As I mentioned a few days ago, Michelle Bachmann became the first GOP hopeful to call for Holder’s resignation over the disastrous gunrunning program that armed Mexican narco-terrorists, arms used to kill over 200 Mexican citizens…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Immigration/Immigrants - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - RightPundits.com - Warner Todd Huston

Mitt Romney on Amnesty: Once a Liar…

November 23, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last night’s debate gave us all a perfect example of why Mitt Romney is the single worst candidate the Republican Party could put up for consideration. The incident arose when Newt Gingrich brought up his point that we simply cannot deport millions of illegals back to Mexico. Romney leapt to demagogy on the issue and pretended he was against amnesty. Well, at least he’s against it this year.

Romney puffed himself up and slammed Newt for offering amnesty to those that broke our laws to get here. “Look, amnesty is a magnet,” Romney retorted to Newt’s discussion of the immigration problem. The former liberal Massachusetts Governor then stood firm that amnesty is a bad idea.

So, last night Mitt was against giving illegals the right to citizenship, he said they shouldn’t be allowed to “jump to the head of the line” just because they were already here in contravention to our immigration laws. But that was last night. Once again we see a past Mitt Romney singing a different tune…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

Barack Obama - Elections - GOP - Government - Journalism - Media - Media Bias - Michele Bachmann - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Warner Todd Huston

ENOUGH of GOP ‘Debates’ Where Mediots Show Us How Tough They Are

November 14, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the upcoming Republican primary I am not voting for Brian Williams, Brett Baier, Scott Pelly, Wolf Blitzer or any other member of the Old Media. I am trying to figure out which Republican nominee for president I might want to support. So why has every so-called debate featured mediots trying to prove to their mediots pals how tough they can be on Republican candidates instead of the Republican candidates actually debating each other?

Lately every one has been harkening back to those Lincoln-Douglass-styled debates of yesteryear and there is a reason that the famous debates between GOP Senate candidate Abe Lincoln and incumbent Democrat Stephen Douglass held over 150 years ago come so easily to mind. It’s because we aren’t getting that these days!

What we are getting instead are media personalities trying to make reputations for themselves instead of debates that tell us what the GOP candidates know, if they can articulate it, and if they can defend same.

I wish the candidates would stop going to these worthless excuses for debates forthwith. We need real debates and that means substance. The candidates should stop worrying that they might look “afraid” to debate and demand some format changes for any future outings before they show up again.
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ENOUGH of GOP ‘Debates’ Where Mediots Show Us How Tough They Are”

Budget - Business - Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Government - Health - House of Representatives - Newt Gingrich - Obamacare - President - Selwyn Duke - Taxes

Will Newt Gingrich Win the Republican Nomination?

November 7, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Selwyn Duke

If slow and steady really does win the race, Newt Gingrich could well end up being the Republican nominee for president.

Thus far, this campaign season has been defined by flash-in-the-pan fortunes. Michele Bachmann was first out of the blocks and won the Iowa straw poll, but this seemed much like a house of straw when Texas governor Rick Perry entered the fray and became her Big Bad Wolf. But then he blew his own house down with a series of disastrous debate performances, allowing the Cain Train to pull into the station. This brings us to where we are now, with Herman Cain holding on to a slim lead over Mitt Romney – with a lot of voters still undecided. And should the bold businessman’s stock crash, where will a plurality of his support go?

The answer may surprise you. If polling is any indication, it’s not Tea Party caucus chairman Michele Bachmann or staunch states-rights standard bearer Rick Perry.

It’s Newt Gingrich.
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Will Newt Gingrich Win the Republican Nomination?”

Elections - GOP - Government - Herman Cain - Michael Bresciani‏ - Michele Bachmann - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Ron Paul

More Than Winning – Can the GOP Candidates Mend the Divide?

October 20, 2011 by

-By Rev Michael Bresciani

No one has done more to divide the nation in its entire history than the incumbent, Barack Obama. The one who said America should drop all its divides including Democrat and Republican has pitted whole blocs of us against each other.

The Tea Party now seems to be running as the exact opposite of the Flea Party. (Occupy) The states with crippled economies are pitted against unions. The Border States have to defend against the dangerous influx of illegal immigrants, drugs and violence then must also defend themselves from the DOJ, DOJ Hotlines (Alabama) and a President who would take them to court rather than do his own part according to the law, to defend them.

The tax payers must continue to cough up their share even as they see the Fed spread it around to failed stimulus bills, bankrupt bailed out businesses and overseas help for corn-ball things like the rebuilding of sagging Islamic Mosques. (Started during Bush adm.) The taxed are beginning to see that ‘united we stand’ must be modified to, ‘united we stand against it.’
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More Than Winning – Can the GOP Candidates Mend the Divide?”