This is what they call a January Surprise - Via Christian Science Monitor
If the Republican Primary has been wacky, then today was downright Charlie Sheen-esque. First, with polls showing Newt Gingrich closing the gap on Mitt Romney off the momentum from his performance in a debate earlier this week and could be in the lead. Rick Perry drops out and endorses Gingrich all before lunch time. Then, clips from ABC’s interview with Marianne Gingrich, Newt’s second wife, using the phrase “open marriage” in an interview to discuss their divorce. On top of that, Rick Santorum won Iowa!!
While all this is happening, Mitt Romney has taken a whooping on his taxes, his record with Bain, and his thinking that his six figure speaking fees weren’t a lot of money. That sets the stage for the debate! To South Carolina!
8:01 – I’m done with this whole “First In The South” nomenclature. Give me a break. What next, “First in the Mountain Standard Time” for Nevada?
8:02 – The Fight for the South screengrab is going to be priceless! Very Confederate States of America CNN! Classy!
8:03 – Unconfirmed rumors out of Charleston suggest that Newt hopes his podium tolerates him spending time with other podiums.
8:07 – After both Santorum and Romney talk up their families, there is noticably no mention of Newt’s family when the candidates were introducing themselves. Shocking!!
8:09 – So this is how Newt Gingrich turns the open marriage issue into a boon for him. By going after the media and the nature of personal politics which just so happens to be the blood sport he helped create.
8:12 – This has the feel of a pep rally more than a debate where we are going to learn about important issues. Beat Central this weekend!
Gingrich carried on an illicit affair with this podium for three years - Via Ampli.com
8:13 – Rick Santorum sounds like he is a guy who wants you to think he killed a man in Reno just to see him die, when he actually just spilled some milk once.
8:15 – I’d like to know what Mitt Romney is actually thinking during Ron Paul’s sound finance economy.
8:18 – Wow, Mitt Romney slams President Obama for crony capitalism. He really is going to make this race about capitalism with his Richy Rich tone-deafness?
8:22 – Santorum has gotten better in his debate performances in the simple sense of him being far less whiney at these debates. And his discussion of the economy included a very sharp, smart attack on Romney.
8:24 – Just had a crazy though: what if Newt Gingrich weathers this storm, Santorum gets his own momentum and Romney floats downward and we have a tight three-way race on Saturday where Romney could finish third?
8:28 – Hey Mitt Romney, do you understand how the DOD works? Why have the states dole it out? Lets give it to 50 different states to run? Really? Shouldn’t the military be the one to help veterans?
8:30 – Really? At a South Carolina debate, CNN’s first audience questioner is from Tennessee? Poor form.
8:34 – Remember when Barack Obama got shit as a candidate for not having a flag pin on his suit jacket? Now the only candidate on the stage with a flag pin is Santorum. Romney and Paul have none and Gingrich has what looks like Lean Sigma Six.
8:36 – Santorum is giving a pretty solid electability argument against both Romney and Gingrich on health care. Somebody ate their Wheaties this morning.
8:39 – Romney can’t get out of his own way on Medicaid. If it take him this long to deliver his punch against Santorum, he will get schooled by Obama
8:41 – Took 41 minutes for Gingrich to mention a website!
8:41 – Lots of blood on the floor after the whole health care wrestling match. Ron Paul got to stay out of it and now come in as the doctor in the room, literally!
8:44 – Ron Paul goes from an anti-intervention poster child to Greece bogeyman in a few seconds!
First image result when you type in Portly Ninja - Via Sun Sentinel
8:45 – Gingrich releases his tax returns during the debate! Like a ninja! A very portly ninja!
8:50 – Santorum keeps hitting on electability – now with Gingrich for his call to get him out of the race. Santorum: Steady and Solid – Is he running for office or selling a truck?
8:51 – Newt Gingrich’s logic – Want to change DC? Send someone who has been there since 1974!
8:53 – Wow! Santorum is taking it to Gingrich, but now I think he is getting too far into the weeds for people outside the room who are eating it up who had to wait till the end of his attack to find out – sort of – it was about the Congressional checking scandal in the 90s.
8:55 – Hey CNN, where is Ron Paul?
8:56 – Romney and I are on the same wavelength about Gingrich and DC? Yoinks. Mitt Romney knows the street. Is that like Backstreet?
856 – Somebody in the crowd really liked the idea of a birthing suite
8:57 – Mitt Romney couldn’t remember the question – kind of like Rick Perry but they all just get going.
9:00 – Mitt Romney stumbles over the tax return question. At one point, he tries to turn it on Obama. When did the GOP start hating presidential rounds of golf.
9:02 – Romney says he won’t release last year’s taxes because it might help the Democrats. Really?
9:04 – Well played CNN with the comment from Romney’s father. First boo’s of the night go to Romney’s response about releasing them on his own schedule.
9:06 – Santorum’s manufacturing tax to zero is intriguing but I wonder how much he and his campaign factor in the salaries of those employees compared to what it costs in the US and what it costs in Asia. That being said, this issue sounds like it is playing well in South Carolina.
9:10 – Ron Paul’s lengthy answer is like an Intro to Econ 101 Lecture.
9:11 Kudos to the crowd for booing SOPA!
9:15 – Stop the presses: I agree with the Republican candidates on SOPA! Job well done to the internet grassroots and corporations that protested SOPA.
9:21 – Mitt Romney makes his one funny joke of the year about getting 25 more votes in Iowa.
9:23 – Watch out Rick, this isn’t the Final Four. Also you don’t want to the guy who is happy to be there.
9:25 – No one trusts the government but Newt Gingrich wants to have them expand along the border. When it comes to the penalizing employees on the issue of immigration, Gingrich sounds reasonable.
9:30 – If nothing else, Santorum continues to draw a strong distinction between himself and Gingrich and Romney.
I've got a Foo Fighters joke about the economy guys! - Via Mother Jones
9:33 – I’d never ever vote for Ron Paul but he does bring a certain intellectual honesty and fresh air to the debate. I do miss Huntsman’s corny dad jokes though.
9:36 – Yea, John King botched that question hard about Romney’s pro-choice dabblings. Well, Gingrich sure doesn’t buy into subtlety with the use of the phrase of “Pro-Abortion.”
9:37 – Romney seemed very tense about being attacked personally. That could come back and get him in the fall if he ends up winning the nomination.
9:39 – Did he say he doesn’t have a litmus test on judges?
9:40 – I’m betting that pro-life whisper bit killed at debate prep at Team Santorum. Or the candidate loved it and the communications team hated it.
9:43 – Rough night for John King! Crowd got Ron Paul his chance to answer. Wait, the 60s created pornography? Or is that when Ron Paul discovered pornography?
9:45 – While Ron Paul’s pro-life answer is weak, he does knock Santorum down a notch or two with his quip about being overly sensitive.
9:50 – John King keeps talking about the state’s history – elephant in the room is Fort Sumter.
9:52 – And then Ron Paul starts by talking liberty and private property rights. Woof. Most of the folks most pumped about Ron Paul are either really young or not don’t look like your typical GOP folk. Interesting.
9:53 – Newt Gingrich thinks Obama was more dangerous than Richard Nixon? A man who broke this country’s laws? Newt wants people to think he is the smartest guy in the room.
Lets see if Santorum starts donning Under Armour and a headset - Via TV Fanatic
9:55 – Romney’s a mad lib comment of Republican catch phrases. Free Enterpirse/ City on a shining hill/capitalism.
9:56 – Anybody six months ago think CNN would end the last debate before South Carolina votes with Rick Santorum? And he keeps hitting at the electability. Santorum sounded like he was channeling some Friday Night Lights.
Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are the clear winners at tonight’s debate. The surge that Gingrich has experienced over the last few days will probably be stymied by the Marianne Gingrich news but it probably won’t stop bring him down. The question is where does the surge that one would expect Santorum to get from winning Iowa and performing very well tonight come from? Do the undecided split more towards Santorum? Does he get Perry’s supporters? Can Santorum peel off some of the people who are the newest folks on the Gingrich and Romney campaigns? In a little over 12 hours, the field of play in SC and in the GOP’s presidential primary has radically transformed. There is 35 hours till the polls happen. Buckle up.
Keggy the Keg unfortunately did not meet the polling requirements to be invited to tonight's debate - Via Wikipedia
Big night here at the Ferris Compound. Papa Ferris has promised to make a cameo during the debate. That significantly increases the possibility of Glass-Steagal being touted and Ben Bernanke being booed.
Before we get started, this looks like it has potential to be the most college-esque debate of the bunch so far. Darthmouth, Charlie Rose and the whole sitting around the table motif makes it sound like more of a symposium than a debate. Continue reading →
I got mentioned where? By whom? - Via Giantpanther.com
Important life lesson today. Don’t count on the B train to get you anywhere on-time. The MTA is responsible for me missing the first twenty minutes of tonight’s CNN/Tea Party debate. But I come bearing two gifts to make up for it.
8:03 – Apropos of nothing but my love of Party Down and my enjoyment of Martin Starr in anything he does: Madeon’s Pop Culture.
8:15 – Looks like CNN’s video is going to be atrocious. Was pretty close to looking for the Tea Party Express website. Sure that would have messed up Google’s ad algorithm for me.
8:16 – Ron Paul is asked if Social Security is a ponzi scheme. Doesn’t answer but says it is broke. Wrong – check this out. Even though he doesn’t say he wants to kill it, his plan would do just that.
8:18 – Did Jon Huntsman just make a Kurt Cobain joke? When talking about social security no less. Is he giving an extemp speech? He also makes a non sequitur about Paul Ryan’s plan – oh wait, it is a Tea Party Express debate and he is throwing out the red meat where he thinks he should.
8:19 – Newt Gingrich just made a joke about Obama and the audience wooted like an Arsenio Hall crowd. I’ll take individuals who were unexplainably popular in the 90′s, Alex.
Arsenio Hall was the pre-debate entertainment. Roo Roo Roo! - Via Celebsanfans.com
8:21 – Does Rick Santorum think name checking James Carville at the Republican debate going to score him some points? Follows it up with Bill Clinton. All he is missing is saying he and Howard Dean do vocal warm-ups. He realizes this is a Tea Party Express debate, right?
8:23 – Newt Gingrich says waste is the problem. That is a lame answer as explained here. Newt Gingrich is pushing Strong America Now. I would love to sit down with those folks and have a conversation about shared sacrifice and how the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the only ones in American history that weren’t paid for by raising taxes. Speaking of which, Gingrich talks about how bad the federal government is at wasting money – he is right, look at the Bush years in Iraq and Afghanistan.
8:26 – Wolf Blitzer asks Rick Perry, if he was president, would he vote to repeal Medicare’s expansion under President Bush? Please re-read Blitzer’s question.
8:27 – Rick Perry seems like a lot more comfortable in the one answer I’ve seen. In fairness, a Tea Party debate is more home turf for him, even compared to the Reagan Library.
8:27 – At least Romney is intellectually honest enough to say waste won’t cover the budge shortfalls. Romney stated his support for a balanced budget amendment, Perry seemed to perk up like a dog hearing a silent whistle. Nothing comes of it.
8:29 – Ron Paul really wants to cut. Education and Energy departments among others. Sounds like a guy yelling at a hippie, “Get a haircut and cut those damn foo-foo departments while your at it!”
8:30 – Ownership society. Personal responsibility from Bachmann. That must have been a long 14 minutes without a question directed at her. It just sounds so uninformed and trite. No specifics or even data to back up her claims.
8:33 – Sandra wants to know about the economy. Me too
8:34 – Huntsman goes for pathos and then gets wonky on the economics. Heroin reference – somebody OD on Nirvana before the debate? Nevermind.
8:35 – Rick Perry says there were zero jobs created by the stimulus package passed by Congress in 2009 – that is a lie. Answers a question about Obama’s proposed tax cuts, by saying they’ll be covered by raises in taxes. And the Bush tax cuts will be paid for by….
8:37 – Michelle Bachmann says we should draw a line in the sand on economics. That is funny, I figured she had her head in the sand. She makes a jab about China and debt. Will Huntsman throw back since he was ambassador? [Editor's note: Nope, might not have heard it since he was too busy listening to The Radical Dad's latest dope EP.]
The Original Negative Campaigner: Lizzie Borden - Via Wikipedia
8:39 – Herman Cain wants to get government out of the way. Yea that worked well in the Bush administration’s handling of the financial sector.
8:40 – I like the payphone/smart phone line by Romney. Its a 10-word answer but it is original. He kind of wastes it with an attack on Obama instead of a description of what he stands for.
8:41 – Wow! Mitt Romney is Lizzie Borden with a butter knife when he attacks Rick Perry
8:42 – Someone, maybe Gingrich, mentions tort reform as a cure all to the health care problem this country’s facing. Similar to government waste in that it is something that should be dealt with, it is not the one and only balm.
8:43 – Nothing like having a constituent on the stage with you. Ron Paul gets the best jab against Perry. Paul is on fire tonight when talking about foreign policy tonight.
8:44 – Perry says they’re coming to Texas – five years in a row. It is a land of freedom. It is a wonder he doesn’t break out into a Neil Diamond bit. He is right, they’re coming to America (Texas) – from Mexico.
8:44 – JOBS! JOBS! JOBS! I made a snarky comment about Wolf Blitzer in my mind and the video player kicks me out. Point, CNN.
8:45 – Gingrich talks about taking messages to the people. That is why he did so well with that government shut down plan in ’95.
8:47 – Herman Cain is pro-worker! Because is from workers! And he’ll be “working” on the problems too!
8:48 – In a long, policy heavy question, Huntsman takes too long to get at his jab at Perry and Romney. Had the same problem in the last debate too.
I.......am......your.....debate......moderator
8:49 – On the way out to commercials, it sounds like Wolf Blitzer was impersonating Christopher Walken.
8:52 – Rick Santorum thinks the Fed’s efforts on employment leave Americans distrustful of it? I’d venture most Americans don’t realize the Fed deals with employment
8:53 – The crowd agrees that Bernanke should be tried for treason. Congrats Reagan Library crowd, you are off the hook.
8:54 – Blitzer should have asked Perry if he would have the DOJ investigate Ben Bernanke.
8:56 – It is easy to snipe at folks and this is why Mitt Romney still sounds like an adult in the room. Because he keeps the room serious every now and again when he decides not to use every answer as an opportunity to attack the president.
8:57 – Huntsman drew the bad hand there. Gets the $1 for $1 question. Can’t give a specific. Kudos to Blitzer to give this to a real candidate. Like the corporate subsidy reduction. Huntsman must really hate Perry/Romney as he shoots dagger eyes (and maybe an awkward turtle) at them as he finishes his answer.
8:59 – I like to make fun of Wolf Blitzer. But he has been asking some serious questions tonight. Newt Gingrich throws random middle east countries out there on the map to talk something – energy?
9:00 – Blitzer has brought his A-game. Pushes on the tax pledge. Gingrich gives two different answer in the same response.
9:01 – Fair Tax question – National sales tax. Crowd shouts no. This isn’t The Price Is Right. $1
9:02 – Question about executive orders. At least Paul will throw blame on both parties. Audience is opposed to executive orders…where were they during this in the Bush years with all of his signing statements.
9:04 – Perry admits that the HPV vaccine process was a mistake. Sticks to his argument about children’s health. Not as strong an answer as he had in the last debate.
9:06 – Debate video froze. Come on CNN!
9:07 – Clean coal commercial stupid!
So there I was telling Volker how Keynesian economics could be applied to the BRIC countries when don't you know it, it was nap time - Via tangential.tumblr.com
9:07 – Come back to Bachmann going after Rick Perry on corporate ties in the HPV issue. Advantage Bachmann.
9:08 – Rick Santorum finishes off Perry on the HPV issue cold. How about that, two mid-tier candidates successfully wound the front-runner. Perry knows it too. Go back and watch the tape and follow his eyes.
9:10 – To all the candidates who talk about Obama care being the problem. They all seem to ignore the problem that was health care before then.
9:12 – Clean coal commercial again. I’m getting more of this than the debate. CNN you stink!
9:12 – Mitt Romney is not running for governor so he won’t talk about his time as governor when it comes to health care.
9:13 – Perry goes after Romney for being the progenitor of Obama’s health care policy. You know what was the progenitor of that plan – an idea crafted by the Heritage Foundation.
9:14- Romney is now happy to stand up for what he did for health care in MA. Umm, I thought he wasn’t running for governor?
9:16 – Crowd wants hypothetical man to die. Maybe he works for the Fed.
9:17 – 2012 is it! Bachmann is on fire. Where was this candidate in the last debate? It feels like she is too late with this.Oh no, running back stage during commercial break? Will she be back?
9:21 – Jesus, they are asking this crew how to disarm Iran? That’s like asking a baby to explain string theory.
9:22 – Build a’border. Tired of a Build A’Bear? Take your kids there for their birthday celebrations!
9:25 – Perry is intellectually honest on the border fence. His attack on the Federal Government is more an attack on the Bush Administration. here is why -….Obama has been deporting more illegal immigrants than President Bush did.
9:27 – Would like Santorum to explain his melting pot/salad bowl – No endless salad bread sticks in a Santorum administration? I’m more of a fondue man myself.
9:28 – It is a shame that Perry is flailing on the question about tuition assistance for illegal immigrants in Texas. A better answer could have helped him distinguish himself from the pack a little bit. Maybe not in this audience, but definitely in the electorate. Instead, he shanks it, gains nothing, and leaves himself open for attack.
9:29 – Michele Bachmann is Mitt Romney’s best friend in this debate. Her and Santorum are chomping at Perry.
9:29 – Would have been strong for Perry to tie his education answer to job growth in the state.
Rick Santorum's Olive Garden - When you're here you may be family, but don't count on citizenship. - Via blogs.babble.com
9:30 – Whaaa? Did Huntsman try to make an ironic joke about treason? Is he running for president on FourSquare
9:32 – Mitt Romney says Republicans are the party of the law. Unless you want to repeal it. Or it is international law that we’ve signed on to but are planning on ignoring. Or human rights violations.
9:33 – Somebody needs to tell Huntsman he doesn’t need to attack Romney. That is what the also-rans are for. Huntsman gets way too wonky, way too late. He has been all over the place tonight.
9:34 – Cain is going to fill a government commission on reducing regulation by those who are “abused” by regulations. I’d get more worked up if there was a chance in hell he’d be president.
9:37 – Its great to see how smug Newt Gingrich is in his wrongness when Ron Paul schools him on international relations.
9:38 – In his answer about 9/11 mentality, Santorum talks about “Newt” again. All night, the two of them have been praising each other, complimenting their work. A bromance is in bloom here.
9:40 – Huntsman pivots question on protecting women in Afghanistan to nation building at home. Why doesn’t he talk about soft power. Ok, he does, but way too subtly to make a difference.
9:43 – What Would They Add to the White House. Seriously. Total bromance between Santorum and Gingrich as they talk amongst themselves going into the commercial break.
9:47 – Ron Paul would bring a bushel of common sense, Austrian Economic school of thought, and moxie. Only one of these were not uttered by Paul
9:47 – Perry’s change to the White House is bringing his lovely wife. Classy answer.
9:48 – Romney cites Winston Churchill quotation about how Americans do the right thing only after we’ve done everything else. Romney uses this quip to justify bringing a bust of Churchill back to the White House. Sure, they are being asked interior design – sort of – but even then Romney can’t be his own man? He is doing something Obama didn’t.
9:48 – Michele Bachmann is bringing three items: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Technically, that is only two. Somewhere Nicolas Cage heard this and found the plot line for the next National Treasure film: Take this – it is a ticket to Herbert Hoover’s inaugural ball. You’ll need it, it doubles a kite!
9:49 – Herman Cain will bring his sense of humor. Not his singing?
9:50 – Huntsman will bring his motorcycle and moto-cross bike.
What a weird debate. Huntsman fails to capitalize on the momentum he seemed to have going for him after last week. Instead, he turns in a middling performance and says a few inane things that will overshadow his strong answers. Rick Perry on the other hand knew he was going to be attacked, but looked like he wasn’t expecting it to be as vicious as Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum were. Perry tripped over HPV and illegal immigrants in what can only be described as unforced errors. Bachmann managed to regain some of her previous debate luster but how that will translate onto the campaign trails remains to be seen. And with Mitt Romney, another debate where he doesn’t hurt himself or wound his campaign. Maybe the comparisons of Perry to Howard Dean are apt, but to all those out there, these debates are fun to chronicle but come next summer, they will have played a small role in determining the GOP’s nominee.
The first presidential debate I remember watching is the one where then-President George Bush looked at his watch in the midst of an answer by Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. The first debate where I felt the pangs of a staffer was when Bob Dole used his intro to tell viewers the score of the Padres-Cardinal playoff game. With no horse in the 2012 Republican presidential primary, I decided to keep a diary/live blog of this evening’s debate at the Ronald Reagan Library. So, lots of love for the Gipper!
7:52pm – Looks like the sound crew is crossing the background of the pre-debate Politico show. With so many debates in this month, it gets me wondering, are these guys staying on the road. Are they campaign roadies? Do you think they have their own dynamic? Like Romney’s guys is on a blue tooth 24/7, Cain’s guy hates pizza, and Gingrich’s roadie – ha, just kidding, its Newt.
7:54 – The sound was way off the video. Like poorly dubbed movie bad. I’m sure this will lead to at least one or two moments where Mitt Romney will be possessed by the voice of Rick Perry during the debate.
Take That Millard Fillmore Presidential Book Annex - Via thegraduates.org
7:56 – No matter what your thoughts are on Reagan as a president, kudos to the Reagan library for getting Air Force one in their facility. Talk about presidential. Maybe the debate should be held in the plane?
8:01 – After seeing some junior production staff on camera and a green screen with no sound in the minutes leading up to to the debate, switch over to MSNBC. Way better. Politico may win the morning, but they have lost this evening.
8:02 – Rick Perry reminds me of Governor Ritchie from West Wing. Will I be validated? Will he answer a question by saying, “[Insert issue here], boy, I don’t know”? Perry seems kind of jittery in his first answer. Big stage, first time in the fire. No mess-up though and he managed to stay on message though.
8:05 – Romney says if he was a career politician, he wouldn’t be running for president. Is it because he finally checked out his winning percentage when it comes to campaigns? Nope, it would be due to the fact that he wouldn’t have lived in the real economy. Ron Paul would like that fake economy, I hear there is a gold standard.
8:07 – Man, Brian Williams really wants Romney v. Perry to be the title fight. Perry lands the jab but still real shakey on the first zinger. He sure did land that Dukakis jab. Congrats to all those who had Dukakis in your Drinking Game’s “Pick-A-Liberal-Stereotype From the 80′s” pool.
8:10 – Hey guys! Rick Santorum has a plan. He really likes it and wants some Democrats to like it too! It just a bunch of tax cuts. Man, what a plan tease.
8:11 – Herman Cain’s tax code plan sounds like a pizza deal. 9-9-9. Or those long distance code commercials before we all had cell phones.
8:12 – Huntsman had me until he said Ronald Reagan flew Air Force One. Got me back with his solid argument on China and ability to drive home the answer. Let’s see what happens when he get something not in his wheelhouse. Not like any of these other candidates was an ambassador to China or anything.
8:14 – Rick Santorum can’t stop nodding during Michele Bachmann’s answer on Obamacare. God, I hope Brian Williams gives Santorum’s note to her during Study Hall. Bachmann crazy embraces the argument that every job lost or not created is because of ObamaCare. Take that for what it is worth.
Welcome to the Jungle Ron Paul, we got fun and games and some really gross stuff - Via Capital Century
8:16 – Wouldn’t Ron Paul would be the most popular curmudgeonly economics professor at the University of Chicago? He seems a lot like the libertarian version of this economic professor I had in college, minus the smelling of whiskey part. More importantly, Brian Williams asks Rep. Paul about regulating the drug industry after he gets nowhere on car safety and air traffic controllers. The gist of Paul’s answer is that the lobbyists run amok and foul up the system so what point is there in the government trying. And that market will determine who is safe and not. Seems very defeatest and intellectually dishonest. Lax ethics and lobbying laws create the situation and folks like Paul throw up their hands and say, “See, I told you, the government shouldn’t be involved.”
8:19 – How bout that? Newt Gingrich had us all there for a second, sounding like a real candidate until he gets after Obama for being all about class warfare. I’m sure that message is going over well in Hawaii!
8:20 – Rick Perry voluntarily said individual mandates do not work in this country? Could this be an unforced error at some point? Somebody is going to attach that to other mandates, right?
8:21 – Romney just said 100% of people are covered by Obamacare. Somebody better tell my employer they don’t need to provide my coverage.
8:22 – Perry is asked why his state was dead last in health coverage. His response was to give block grants to the state to allow for innovation on the state level. No one is calling these types of answers out. Other states, dealing with the same restrictions as Texas, did better than the Lone Star State. Why should a state that ranks dead last be trusted with the job of innovating when they are the last of the pack. Perry’s nerves haven’t gone away. Or is this just how he sounds when he is debating?
8:25 – Huntsman’s response to health care could have been stronger. Waited too long to go after Romney. If you’ve got a zinger, got it make sure it comes first or you are under time when you are going to throw it on the table.
8:26 – Bachmann will not only bring gas down to $2 a gallon, she is going to elect 13 more Republican senators. Would love for Bachmann to explain how ObamaCare is socialized medicine since you know, there is no government option!
Newt's efforts to divorce climate change were ultimately unsuccessful - Via FreeRepublic
8:27 – Gingrich goes after the moderator for highlighting real disagreement between Romney and Perry. Wow! Gingrich made the moderators not only the enemy but a wing of Obama for America. Is this the same guy who shared a counch with Nancy Pelosi for an ad about climate change?
8:28 – Herman Cain also against individual mandate – No one cares.
8:31 – Rick Santorum seems deeply passionate about the issue of poverty and welfare and human dignity. Talks about how poverty was its lowest in 2001. Wonder who took over that year. Better chance of Mark Foley getting mentioned approvingly in this debate I guess.
8:32 – Rick Perry just referred to Santorum as the other fellow or something similar. Perry platitudes on the economy question. God, he is either having an off night or this is his typical performance. Either way, if he makes it into the general election, those debates are going to epic. They should be scheduled on Friday or Saturday nights so folks don’t have to call in sick due to drinking games gone awry.
8:34 – Twitter questions. The plebians speak! 140 characters for you!
8:34 – The Marcellus Shale according to Romney could be done by Obama. Actually, NY is in control of that. Man, Romney is doing a lot of things in Day 1. Wonder if he realizes there is a lot of pro forma stuff to go through. Like W-2 and getting a work buddy.
8:35 – Bachmann claims gas was $1.79 when Obama came into office. I’m sure there was no context like it being winter or anything else to off-set that cherry picked piece of information.
Phone break!! I missed 12 minutes of the debate. Oh well, I’d rather talk to my girlfriend. This is just a civic duty for all five of my readers – all of whom probably watched the debate on a TV!
The Pride of Kenosha, Wisconsin!
8:49 - I come back and Rick Perry is saying that social security is a ponzi scheme. Wow! Would have been impressed if he called it a Fonzi Scheme! Has this post jumped the shark yet?
8:50 – Mitt Romney is the candidate who will save Social Security. Will Perry force Romney to be the adult front-runner in the room. If Perry and Romney keep mixing it up on this issue, that looks like it will happen by default, but what a boring figurative fight that would be. Heads-up, when they ask about COLA, they ain’t talking about Pepsi or Coke.
8:51 – Rick Perry on social security sounds like the guy who heard some stuff on the radio or in USA Today and believes all of it validates what he believes.
8:52 – Herman Cain wants to save Social Security by embracing the Chilean model which allows young folks to keep their money out of the system. In America, we call that killing social security by defunding it.
8:54 – Bachmann comes out against government mandating parents to inoculate children. Look, maybe there is some gray area in the way Texas went about the HPV debate and that will allow other candidates to score points off of Perry, but coming out against all inoculations is dangerous. The reckless claims of Jenny McCarthy and her ilk have led to a re-emergence of polio. Is Bachmann saying we should run the risk of having kids be exposed to TB, measles, mumps, rubella, and polio? Get real.
8:56 – Always err on the side of saving lives. Probably Perry’s best line so far tonight.
8:58 – Romney handles the Perry/HPV question nicely compared to the other candidates. The problem with Romney in these debates is that he always seems so uncomfortable even when what he is saying sounds good. Is it because he has had so many different positions on these issues? Or is there something else?
8:59 – Ron Paul just seems like an old grandpa at Thanksgiving when it comes to airport security. “They gettin’ sexual at the airport!” Not really a quote. Paul says the airlines should provide security. This is a legitimate question, but who was providing it before TSA and DHS? Was it the market place? My experience with the free market and security guards leaves me to believe that most places go for the cheapest option out there. Not to say TSA is doing a great job, but lets be honest on all fronts here.
9:03 – Ron Paul seems uber shocked that Herman Cain agrees with him.
9:04 – Huntsman comes out against the fortress security mentality that developed post-9/11. Finally! This is a true wedge issue. Something that will appeal to Ds, Rs, and independents. And then he pivots to unemployment ably. Solid answer.
9:06 – Newt Gingrich likes Barack Obama’s position on charter schools. Charter schools are part of class warfare. Newt Gingrich is a class warrior (during school hours only!) See how I did that?!
9:08 – Perry wants a two part system when it comes to immigration. Security and then talking about those who are here and fixing the immigration system. Right, because these debates operate in a two part system. Well, sort of, I guess, but seems like an easy way to get around saying something impolitic.
9:09 – Romney wants a fence. Even though he goes on to say fences won’t work. Right on employers who hire illegal immigrants are a magnet. Wrong on penalizing the children of parents who committed the crime of crossing the border illegally, especially to children who were born here and are citizens by birth. No amnesty from Romney!
9:11 – The thing about Newt Gingrich is that when he talks about the past, he sounds logical. When he talks about threats to America or Obama he is a loon. Reminds me of the Batman villain, Two-Face.
9:13 – Santorum asked about the 11 million who are here. Says he’ll talk about it later. Um, you are running for president. You should answer that now.
9:14 – Bachmann’s answers get loopier and loopier. When asked about the border, she says failing to erect a fence means we are surrendering our sovereignty to narco-terrorists in Mexico. First off, she is terror mongering. Second, these folks are drug kings, not narco-terrorists. They are business man who look at the bottom line. Our War on Drugs helps them. Only Ron Paul, Gary Johnson, and maybe Jon Huntsman are willing to admit that.
9:17 – Come on Huntsman! First you bring up Zombie Reagan, referring to him as if Reagan was at the debate, and then talk about fixing the legal immigration system and pointing out the boom in Vancouver, British Columbia. Talk about walking a tight rope.
9:18 – Ron Paul’s wheelhouse – Border and Real ID cards and this fence business. He saw the hanging curve coming down the pipe and swung too hard. Ends up closing on the fence will also keep enterpreneurs and the rich in. Right, because they are all fleeing to Ciudad Juarez right now. Not one of these candidates said anything about how putting the federal government on the border is an expansion of the federal government. Man, the US is just like Hotel California.
9:22 – Campaigns asked NBC/Politico for no lightning round. Instead just get some thunder.
Mitt Romney Supports Any Tea Party With Earl Grey - Via Country Living
9:23 – Mitt Romney is for the Tea Party if it is for what he stands for. Romney’s most honest answer.
9:25 – After candidates are asked if they would change their previous answer on tax cuts/revenue enhancements in a budget deal, Bachmman claims Reagan would join them. Really? On taxes? Safe to say she is no longer a serious challenger. Not even a Huckabee level threat anymore to be honest, unless Perry folds like a cheap suit.
9:26 – Man, I may disagree with Huntsman but I like his messaging.
9:27 – Huntsman talks about nation building at home. He sounds like Bernie Sanders. Mentions that Afghanistan is an asymmetrical counter-terror effort. He wants to get the nation’s core fixed. Talk about a brainy answer. If Huntsman can find a way to get into the general election, Obama has to be worried about that match-up.
9:28 – Romney just pales in comparison to Huntsman. I know everybody thought it was going to be Perry that Romney needs to worry about, but I think it will be Huntsman. Romney is not going to compete for Perry’s votes. Huntsman could take from Romney. He doesn’t just look like the adult in the room, Huntsman sounds like the adult in the room.
9:29 – Rick Perry approves Obama’s efforts with Osama Bin Ladin. And then says Keynesian economics is dead. Did Seal Team 6 kill that too? Seriously, though, Perry just seems hesitant and unsure throughout this entire debate. It gets to the point where you start to wonder if there is any room for growth here or is this all that there is. Don’t forget, he dodged debates in the general election in 2010.
9:30 – Perry says Americans don’t want to see adventurisms in military. He won’t say what an example of that is. It is an either or deal, right? Afghanistan or Iraq? Sounds a lot like to Iraq to me.
9:31 – Bachmann’s sense of geography and International Relations makes Ollie North look like a Rhodes Scholar. First, she says Obama has weakened the military. Her argument: there are calls for military budget cuts. So, Republicans say efficiency can come to other parts of the government by budget cuts through trimming the fat. When it comes to DOD, that is a non-starter. Give me a break. It gets even better when she says Obama has weakened Israel against a potentially nuclear Iran because of the president’s call for Israel to go back to the 1967 borders. Besides her willful misrepresentation of Obama’s Israel policy, the two have little to nothing in relation. Bachmann is a mighty wind filled with meaninglessness
9:34 – I mentioned to a friend earlier this evening that I think our political parties are dure for a realignment, mostly from the center, center-right and right. One of the main areas will be on foreign policy. The right diverges greatly. You have the isolationist view point represented by Bachmann and then the theology infused neo-con perspective brought to you by Santorum. Both slam the president but from very very different perspectives.
9:36 – Huntsman gets asked about his comments calling some folks in the Republican party cranks and crazies. He parries it pretty well.
9:37 – Perry seems so wholly unprepared. Compared to Huntsman, he seems to be winging it 100 percent.
9:38 – Would be interested in why Perry’s state lowed those toxin levels and how they did it.
9:39 – Bachmann just claimed Obama is following a political agenda, not a scientific agenda on environmental issues. All after she mentions he rejected increased EPA standards. She can’t even get her attack lines straight. Call Marcus!
9:40 – Gingrich and Bachmann have brought up the money infused into the economy by unleashing completely the energy industry. No mention of where these studies are from or how much the increases in production would hurt our health, cost us in medical bills and other consequence costs.
9:42 – Romney implies that people should support our war effort by taxes. I would like to know if that means he is opposed to the Bush Tax Cuts.
9:43 – Everybody loves bashing Bernanke, but it seems like folks forget he was a Bush appointee
9:44 – In a question to Rick Perry, 234 folks have been executed in Texas during your governorship, says Brian Williams. The crowd applauds. Sad.
9:44 – Rick Perry thinks all executed prisoners were guilty. The most damning example of his wrongness is here.
9:46 – Herman Cain says his tax plan would level the playing field for all businesses. I guess part of the 9-9-9 deal is if you don’t get your tax break in 30 minutes, you get…..?
9:48 – Ron Paul is opposed to the mandates. At least the Republicans are opposed to mandates and Man Dates too.
9:49 – The market takes care of people. Take a look at 2007, Mister Paul.
So the only super serious candidates with a shot of winning are Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Jon Huntsman. Romney continues to look like central casting’s presidential stereotype, but the only time he sounds enthusiastic is when he is trying to reign in the discussion from going off the rails and with Huntsman around, he gets less opportunities to do that. Perry, for all his bluster, looked and sounded like the guy who crammed before the test and wasn’t entirely comfortable. Previous first debates from him have been equally lackluster. In the past, his follow up debates have been better, but there is one difference between now and then. He isn’t the incumbent anymore. Huntsman went after the status quo without rabidly going after Obama. He sounded mature, he bantered with Romney and Perry while holding off some sort of sinus infection. The last time someone in Utah handled a sinus infection this well in a clutch situation, they were pushing off of Byron Russell before making the winning shot.
In 2004, Dean's days of screaming for free were numbered. Gotta pay the big bucks these days. Via MediaBistro
It was easily past midnight. After a week of long hours in the New Hampshire winter cold, little sleep, and eventual disappointment, we should have all collapsed from a combination of exhaustion and the figurative gut punch delivered to our candidate and us by the Democratic voters who turned out for the New Hampshire primary.
Instead, we found ourselves standing around an empty parking lot in Concord, New Hampshire not wanting to lose the sense of camraderie we had shared through the travails of being a volunteer on a well-financed presidential campaign in the dead of a New England winter. As we began to part, we promised not only to stay in touch, but meet again soon. One of us boasted, maybe it was me, I no longer remember, that we’d all see each other on January 20 the following year for the swearing-in of our candidate. I remember little about the fellow college student from Missouri, or the native from New Hampshire, or anything about the third person who made up our early morning survivor’s rally.
The man who brought us together that night and for the six days leading up to the primary had been Howard Dean.
Unlike most other volunteers on Dean’s presidential campaign in 2003 and 2004, I knew of the man for more than a decade. He had served as governor of Vermont for more than 10 years – eight of those when I was growing up in the state. In 2002, he began crossing the the Connecticut River to New Hampshire to speak to small crowds about the need for health care reform. That was to become the centerpiece of his campaign in the Democratic primary.
Then the lead-up to the Iraq War happened. With many Democrats in Congress falling in line with President Bush on the war, Dean came out against the war. In February 2003, he ordained himself the representative of the “Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.” His campaign took off as he spoke out against the war in Iraq.
Eventually, the campaign faltered. Dean’s loss in Iowa was compounded by his now infamous Dean Scream. With all his hopes now set in NH, he lost there and dropped out in February. In the years following his run, he maintained his reputation for being an outspoken voice for the Left. As DNC Chairman, he helped bring Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.
When Dean Stood For Something - Via Time
When you are paid staff on a campaign, it is your professional reputation on the line. As a volunteer, especially on a presidential race, you put your pride and sense of self as a citizen on the line. You step into the political arena and try to do what you can to persuade fellow citizens that your candidate is best. And if you lose, but have fought righteously, you’ll be numb and sad and shaken. The morning after the loss, I rode Amtrak from Boston to New York in a daze because I not only thought we had a chance (note the first person plural – there is an ownership factor on campaigns), I thought Dean was the best person for the job in 2004 and that the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire had done a great disservice in depriving the rest of the country from having him as a choice.
That ownership and pride can stick around long after the campaign is over and other election cycles have come and gone. Earlier this week, a friend of mine sent me an article from Salon that opened my eyes to a simple fact: 2004 was a very long time ago. And it led me to a conclusion: I’m Done with Howard Dean.
According to Salon, Dean has been trading on his reputation as a darling of the Left as a DC lobbyist. While I was partially aware of Dean’s biopharmeceutical dealings during the health care debate, Salon’s article, “The Seduction of Howard Dean,” is the damning portrait of a man who once promised to be a different type of political figure.
During the 2009 debate over health care, Dean came out in support of biotech firms that wanted to bar biopharmeceutical generic drugs for 12 years. This would have made these drugs far more expensive for consumers. The consulting firm Dean works for, but is not registered as a lobbyist, just happens to represent the very biotech firms Dean supported in an op-ed he wrote for The Hill.
Dean’s non-lobbyist lobbying isn’t limited to fields he is well versed in, such as health care since he is a doctor. As a “strategic advisor” who does spend time talking to members of Congress, Dean has also become an outspoken and paid supporter of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian militant group. Since 1997, the MEK has been on the State Department’s Terrorist list and is considered by many to be a cult and carried out the Saddam Hussein ordered massacre of the Kurds in 1991. Reading some of his comments about the MEK, and you’d think he was the court sycophant.
Playing "The Price is Dean." Howard suggests you go higher! - Via Zimbio.com
The Washington Times asked Dean about his relationship with the MEK and he acknowledged that he had been asked to speak with them, but he knew nothing about the group. So he did his research on-line. Now he receives $20,000 a pop for ten minute speeches. Maybe Dean hasn’t heard of Wikipedia, because the MEK page is a pretty well sourced run-down of the MEK’s super shadiness and litany of human rights violations.
I’m not naive to the fact that people get paid to front groups they know little about or put their name on causes they don’t necessarily believe. It is just a fact of life in that moral swampland we call the Beltway. I think the charge against Dean that stings most for me is that he isn’t registered as a lobbyist. When Dean ran for president, he ran as, Salon put it, a plainspoken doctor. Dean for America seemed strikingly close to the West Wing’s Bartlett For America. Dean ran on issues, but he brought people to his campaign on this promise of being something different, something better than what we’d been getting from politicians of both parties. Now he ducks rules and transparency by not registering as lobbyist.
Less than a decade later, Dean is not just no better than those politicians. He is worse. As one of the many supporters, contributors, and believers in Dean for America, the reality is far bleaker. It is now, Dean for Dean. And for that reason, I’m done with Dean.
It seems like yesterday to me. Rep. Michele Bachmann was just another telegenic member of the minority party in Congress who had a tendency to say some pretty wacky things. Need a reminder of her catalogue o’crazy? Check this video from her appearance on MSNBC with Hardball’s Chris Matthews in the fall of that year.
So the Congresswoman was pretty certain that then-Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle held Anti-American views based on his associations with Reverend Jeremiah Wright and comments Mrs. Obama had made.
Now it is 2011 and Rep. Michele Bachmann is among the top candidates for the Republican presidential nomination next year. With Bachmann in a dead heat with Mitt Romney in Iowa, reporters have turned their focus on the Minnesotan member of Congress. Some stories have been pretty silly – like the migraine issue. How about these though:
Bachmann was a member of a Lutheran church that believes the Pope is the Antichrist. Before running for President, her and her husband asked to be and were granted a release from their membership at the church.
And what about her husband? He just happens to run a clinic that believes you can pray the gay away through, as ABC reports, “prayer and self-reflection.” Not suprisingly, this is a discredited field of treatment which often does harm to the patients. And, to boot, Dr. Bachmann is a doctor of philosophy.
See how my hypocrisy is projected to grow as we get closer to the primaries? - Via The Guardian
Why does this all matter, you ask? Why is Bachmann a hypocrite? Just three years after taking to the airwaves and condemning Obama for comments made by his pastor and wife, Bachmann is taking heat for positions held by her church and her husband’s professional practice.
Today, she responded. Saying, “I am running for the presidency of the United States. My husband is not for the presidency. Neither are my children, neither is our business, neither is our foster children. I am more than happy to stand for questions about running for the presidency of the United States.”
Sorry Rep. Bachmann. You can’t have it both ways. As a surrogate for John McCain’s campaign, you went after Obama and his wife on a trumped up charge of Anti-Americanism. Now, when the credibility of your husband’s work is being questioned and the dogma of your church is being explored, you want to be shielded from these lines of questioning. There is a saying for this type of thing – what goes around, comes around. Get used to it.
