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…
-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”
Coverage will begin as soon as the debate starts…
-By Warner Todd Huston
I think I am an inch away from endorsing Rick Santorum if he keeps this up. I am sure my endorsement will put him over the top, but that aside Santorum has really been standing as the only actual conservative left in the race at this point. His latest triumph occurred in Minnesota where he raked Romney over the coals for Romneycare — something that not enough people are doing.
Santorum’s charge is simple. How can a guy that still to this day defends Romneycare be the one to take the fight over Obamacare to the President? I’ve been saying for three years that Romney is simply unable to be the candidate to refute Obamacare and I am thrilled to see Santorum saying the same.
At his appearance in Rochester, Santorum said, “Gov. Romney is absolutely incapable of making the case against Obamacare successfully.”
“The problem is, we have a candidate who is running and seen by the media as the prohibitive favorite, who is the worst possible person in the field to put up on this most fundamental issue in this campaign, and that is Gov. Romney,” Santorum said. “The plan he put together in Massachusetts is in fact ‘ObamaCare’ on the state level.”
Santorum’s exactly right, too. How can we believe a word Romney says on repealing Obamacre when he still to this day is a huge supporter of Romneycare and its individual mandate? Especially since early in his campaigning for the presidency Romney said that Romneycare was a model for the nation. Especially since one of his chief advisors says that they really aren’t going to repeal Obamacare despite what Romney says on the stump.
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Rick Santorum’s Romneycare Smack Down”
Talking the Nevada primary, CNN’s John King accidentally called Mitt Romney “Governor Mormon.” If it meaningful? Is it telling? No. But it’s funny.
Courtesy of Mediaite.
-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.
Opening Statements
Immigration Questions
So What About that Pre-Florida Republican Debate?”
-By Warner Todd Huston
I have to say, I am getting a bit sick and tired of this nonsensical lament about how rotten it is that those running for president are “rich” people. Stop it right now, America. The fact is that we’ve never really had a poor man as president so talking about it as if it is news that rich people often seek the presidency is stupid. Not only that, but today it is impossible for a poor or even middle class man to run for president anyway, so get this populist silliness out of your minds right this instant.
The latest in this onslaught of populist foolishness is the New York Times (unsurprisingly) with an article full of serious tones on how hard it is going to be for two Harvard educated, Richie-Riches like Obama and Romney to win over those “blue collar Americans.”
“Both are Harvard-educated millionaires,” The Times begins sonorously. “Both have been criticized as elitist and technocratic. Both have struggled to handle the populist anger coursing through politics.”
Of course, much of that anger is fostered by the Old Media constantly harping on that “anger” by writing daily stories indulging themes of class warfare as if it is some sort of legitimate political discussion in this, a capitalist-based society.
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Come On, People! Poor Men Do Not Become President”
-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
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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
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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”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Apparently, Mitt Romney and his surrogates want you to know that you should not vote your conscience or your principles this primary election. You should vote for Mitt Romney, instead. That is the message from Romney surrogate State Senator Gary Lambert in New Hampshire, anyway.
“This is not about picking your favorite, it’s not about picking someone you like. It’s not about picking someone even with your own beliefs and principles. This is about picking a person that can beat Barack Obama, period,” Lambert said at the Nashua New Hampshire Republican City Committee meeting on Friday.
We shouldn’t be voting for candidates with whom we agree on the issues? We shouldn’t be picking our “favorite”? What about principle? What about important policy issues? Aw, fergit it all. Never mind Romney’s long liberal political record. Never mind his near daily flip flops on the issues. Never mind his disdain for Reagan and the Tea Party movement. Never mind his claim that he’ really a “progressive” politician. Just vote Mitt, you dolts!
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Dear Voters, Vote For Romney, You Idiots. Love, the Establishment GOP”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Did Mitt Romney accidentally get 20 extra votes because of a typo made in Appanoose County?
Ed True, a 28-year-old caucus goer in the town of Moulton, Iowa, says that he was at the caucus and on his notes Romney only got two votes in his precinct. Yet when he checked reported totals later it showed that Romney got 22 votes! He thinks it was a typo. Someone accidentally entered “22” when they meant to type only one “2.”
The Iowa GOP says that Mr. True is not a party official and it will stand by its numbers as the full, final counting is underway. The certified count won’t be official for a week or two.
Still, it really won’t matter a whole lot. Whether Santorum lost by eight votes or won by ten or twelve is not really that relevant. The result is so close that it is nearly the same in delegate counts and what not.
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Hmmmm, Typo Hypothesis Claims Santorum Actually Won in Iowa?”
This was a great extemporaneous speech and deserves to be seen by more people…
-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?”
-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”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Romney did it again. On Fox News he linked Romneycare to conservative principles, an outrageous act in the eyes of any conservative. But hold the boat, people, because Romney didn’t exactly say that Romneycare itself is a conservative policy. And therein lies the weasel words that Romney has used to describe the Massachusetts healthcare plan he was so proud to pass when he was the Governor of the state.
To the video…
Transcript:
I’m happy to stand by the things I believe. I’m not going to change my positions by virtue of being in a presidential campaign. What we did was right for the people of Massachusetts. The plan is still favored there by 3:1 and it is fundamentally a conservative principle because the people take personal responsibility rather than turning to the government for free care.
Now, let’s look at what Romney said here. He didn’t exactly say that Romneycare itself is “fundamentally conservative.” He said the concept that people should take responsibility for their own healthcare is a fundamentally conservative idea.
Such as it is, he’s right. That IS a fundamentally conservative idea.
But as Romney has repeatedly done since he signed that disastrous, socialist, far from conservative piece of legislation, he has weasel worded his description of that law. As he’s done before, in this clip he illicitly linked conservative principles to Romneycare by focusing at a micro level on the single idea that we should take care of our own healthcare and linking that real conservative principle to his actions as if conservative principles are the guiding forces behind Romneycare. The problem with Romney’s characterization of the issue is that his legislation is fundamentally not conservative. It is big government, socialist, authoritarian nonsense. It’s not conservative at all. Romney tries to us that one tiny conservative idea buried under miles of socialist ideas as misdirection for the ills that Romneycare forces on the people of the Bay State.
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Mitt Romney: My Mass. Healthcare Plan Is ‘Fundamentally Conservative’”
-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”
-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”
-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”
-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?”
Don’t have to add much here…
OK, well there is one thing to say: too bad this great ad had to come from the Huntsman campaign!
Friend to the blog John Biver sends along an interesting press release about a new book about Mitt Romney’s “stealth promotion” of Gay “rights” and gay marriage when he was Governor of Massachusetts.
+++++
Just released: Amy Contrada’s blockbuster book on Mitt Romney’s stealth promotion of the homosexual agenda in Massachusetts.
MassResistance pro-family activist Amy Contrada has just released her definitive study of Mitt Romney’s role in implementing ‘gay marriage,’ promoting GLBT ‘rights,’ and supporting the sexual-radical agenda in the Massachusetts schools while Governor.
Titled, “Mitt Romney’s Deception: His Stealth Promotion of ‘Gay Rights’ and ‘Gay Marriage’ in Massachusetts,” it is a fascinating and thorough record of the sexual-radical activism that took place during that time, whether for same-sex ‘marriage’ or school programs promoting GLBT ‘rights.’ It contains a lot of information never published before.
The book is a rare combination of political history and analysis, enlivened by uncompromising commentary from a front-line activist. Contrada documents how Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney actively supported the homosexual and transgender agenda on same-sex ‘marriage,’ sexual-radical indoctrination in the schools, and societal transformation – while posing as a defender of the Constitution and traditional family values.
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Mitt Romney Stealth Promotion of Gay ‘Rights’ And Gay Marriage in Mass.”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Romneycare was “the right thing,” proclaimed Mitt “the flip flopper” Romney on a recent Fox News interview with Neil Cavuto. Wouldn’t you know it, the only thing conservatives want him to flip flop on he refuses to do so.
I guess we can’t expect Romney to own up that Romneycare is a disaster for Massachusetts and that it was a major mistake, one that makes him look exactly live Obama any time soon. He’s steadfastly refused to say that Romneycare was a mistake in the past and today he’s doubled down on that insistence…
Read the rest at RightPundits.com.
-By Warner Todd Huston
I usually live Tweet many events like this at my Twitter account: http://twitter.com/#!/warnerthuston. The Fox GOP debate is no exception.
As to the debate, who won and who lost?
I’d say Tim Pawlenty ended his run last night. His bickering with Michele Bachmann rattled him and made him look a bit silly. Tim lost but so did Rick Santorum who kept attacking Ron Paul for some crazy reason. Rick seemed like the queen of rage last night, not Bachmann.
As to Bachmann, she did not damage herself in the room, but a few of the things she said about Pawlenty’s past positions were a bit of a misrepresentation. Still, she could think on her feet and seemed in command of herself whereas Pawlenty was getting mad.
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My Live Tweets of the August Fox GOP Debate”
-By Warner Todd Huston
A new poll of 500 likely Iowa voters shows that Obama has fallen to new lows in his approval rating not just among Republicans but even among the all important independents. While 52% of voters in the poll disapprove of the job Obama is doing it is even worse with independents. They disapprove of Obama at 61% to 32%.
This is a bad blow to the man that go into the White House on the strength of his hold upon the independent voters. If Obama can’t hold the independents that sent him sailing into office then his road to reelection might be harder than he thought.
This poll shows Obama in a worse light than a recent Gallup poll that found that Obama’s disapproval rating stood at 49% to 43%.
The Wall Street Journal reports the results of the survey commissioned by the American Action Network, a conservative advocacy group, and carried out by The Tarrance Group, a Republican polling firm.
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Wow: Independent Iowa Voters Disapprove of Obama 61% to 32%”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Tim Pawlenty has a new ad out that hits Obama where it hurts the most: his utterly failed fiscal policies.
Tag Line: “Tim Pawlenty: Executive Experience Matters”
I would support Pawlenty over Obama, for sure. TPaw is right that Obama’s lack of experience makes him the worst of all candidates for the presidency.
It isn’t just Obama’s lack of executive experience, though. Obama has no experience at anything. He had an invisible stint at Harvard. He was a non-entity at the University of Chicago. He never published a thing of note in the legal or business world. He made no dent in the world of “community organizing.” He was a do nothing state senator and a do nothing federal senator. All he’s ever been is “Obama.”
This ad shows him for the feckless, bromide laden, no-account that he is.
-By Warner Todd Huston
“Big News,” folks. Ron Paul has decided to retire from his 18-term House seat to “focus” on his next futile run for the GOP nomination for the presidency.
This morning, on his Facebook page, Rep. Paul made the following announcement:
Big news! I have decided not to seek re-election for my House seat in 2012 and will focus all of my energy winning the Presidency. My hometown newspaper The Facts will be running the exclusive story very shortly.
Paul has decided that his run for the White House needs to take precedent… or he just really wants to retire. He is 75-years-old, after all. He likely realizes that he will come no closer to winning the nomination than he ever has before. I mean, can he be so stupid as to imagine he really has a shot?
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Count Down Begins Until We Are Rid of Ron Paul”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Well the CNN debate of some of the GOP candidates for president is now in the history books and I thought I’d give my impression of those vying there.
Before I do that, I have to comment on John King’s constant guttural vocal tick. It sounded like he had Tourette Syndrome with the grunts and other noises. He was an utter failure as a moderator. His annoying grunts HAVE to go. It was also clear that his goal was not to hear what the candidates wanted to say, but that he wanted them to attack each other. He was constantly trying to pit them against each other. Fortunately, they did not take the bait for the most part. This was a civil debate, for sure. But if anyone failed tonight it was John King.
The debate format was rotten, too. This 30-second limit on answers for complex issues is absurd. I am glad that about halfway through the thing the time limit went by the wayside.
Now Let’s take the candidates as they appeared on the stage.
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Thoughts on the CNN Republican Debate”
He’s for cap and trade… well, until he was against it. He’s for Obamacare… well until he wants to run against it. He’s against insurance companies… well, maybe not these days. He’s called himself a “non-traditional” Republican because Democrats support him… yet now he wants to be Mr. Conservative to run for president?
It’s Jon Huntsman: RINO King…
For those not following that closely, Jon Huntsman is Obama’s recently resigned Ambassador to China. He was also the 16th Governor of Utah. A Mormon, Hunstsman is also a Republican and, though he has not officially announced, is interested in running for the GOP nomination for president.
-By Warner Todd Huston
Ron Paul’s acolytes like to claim that “Doctor” Paul is the only candidate that is serious on fiscal matters, the only candidate that is fiscally conservative, the only one that talks the talk and walks the walk. Too bad this is all BS… and here is yet another example of this fact.
T. Boone Pickens is back again. After he tried to make a big splash out of his ideas on windmill power (epic fail, that one), the Pick man is back at the public trough urging Congress to create a number of taxpayer-funded subsidies for companies that buy and manufacture vehicles that run on natural gas.
The Pickster has roped a whole gaggle of Republicans into his next boondoggle and guess who has signed onto the bill? Yep, Mr. fiscal responsibility hisself “Doctor” Ron Paul.
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Another Example of How Ron Paul is Hypocritical on Supposed Fiscal Responsibility”
-By Warner Todd Huston
In a story by Jay Root for the Associated Press, the news wire service tries to tar the entire Tea Party movement with guilt by association claiming that it was somehow fathered or “grandfathered” by Texas Representative Ron Paul, the cranky uncle of the GOP. The fact is Ron Paul had nothing at all to do with the Tea Party movement. The claim that he did is a calumny, one that the AP hopes will discredit the Tea Party movement.
In the Story, the AP claims that Ron Paul is “both a spiritual father and actual father in the tea party movement.” It mentions that his son, Rand, is a “tea party darling” (that one is true, at least) and claims that since Paul had a 2007 event he called a “‘Tea Party Fundraiser’ aboard a shrimp boat near Galveston,” that must make him the father of the Tea Party movement.
Then AP finds some Paulbot to claim that, to him, “Ron Paul is the tea party.” Well, that settles it, huh? Because a Paulienut says it’s so, why it must be. At least that is what the AP wants its readers to believe.
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AP Tars Tea Party Movement as ‘Grandfathered’ By Ron Paul”