2012 Election | 2012 Presidential Election

Secret Service Scandal and Obama

Stan — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:17:13 +0000

All of the sudden, things are not looking so great for Barack Obama. In the past few weeks, various scandals have come to light in the press, including an incident in Columbia involving the Secret Service and some more dangerous snapshots coming out of Afghanistan. In the former, the Secret Service partied a little too hard, with the incident apparently involving Colombian prostitutes. With the later, American solder’s posed for photos in front of the mangled corpse of suicide bombers.

Here are some of the details.

Afghan Photo Incident

The American mission in Afghanistan has been anything but smooth in 2012. The breakdown of military discipline is becoming more and more obvious. In January, Afghan corpses were urinated on by U.S. Marines, and there was a video to prove it. February brought about an “accidental” Koran burning at a military installations which resulted in riots. A U.S. soldier, Robert Bales, allegedly massacred 17 Afghan civilians in March. Now, April brings about the revelation that U.S. soldier have been posing with the body parts of suicide bombers.

The photos were reportedly taken by U.S. paratroopers back in 2010, but were just revealed this past month when published by the L.A. Times. While the Pentagon attempted to suppress the photos out of fear of a backlash, the Times refused, creating yet another scandal during American military presence in the Middle East. Seventeen photos total were leaked, each showing a soldier posing with body parts of the deceased from an insurgent bombing. Military action is already underway to punish those responsible for the photos, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai has condemned the actions, calling for a quicker transition of security control over to the Afghan people.

Barack Obama and the Pentagon have already issued a public apology and launched probes into the origin of the photos, promising that those responsible will be held to military justice.

The Secret Service in Columbia

For the government organization in charge of protecting the lives of political leaders (both foreign and domestic), they really dropped the ball. While preparing for Barack Obama’s visit to Columbia for the Summit of the Americas, the Secret Service partied a little bit too much. Twelve agents in all were sent home from Cartagena, Columbia, after their night of partying involved bringing prostitutes back to their hotel. So far, 6 have lost their positions at the Secret Service, and 12 military personnel are being investigated.

Even if prostitution is legal in the country they are stationed in, hiring prostitutes is still illegal for military personnel, and it can be punished by a year in military prison and a dishonorable discharge. All involved have had their security clearance revoked.

Republicans have jumped at the fact Obama is in charge while these scandals play out, and have clearly blamed the leadership of this country for these acts. These events will likely come back to haunt him when the actual election rolls around.

Mitt Romney’s Running Mate

Stan — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:14:12 +0000

With Rick Santorum suspending his bid for the Republican nomination, that only leaves Mitt Romney in contention for the nomination. While Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul remain in the race, each would need to literally win every delegate between now and the convention to get the needed 1144 delegates required to win the nomination. As it stands, Romney currently has 684 delegates, while Gingrich and Paul have 136 and 60 respectively.

It’s no wonder why everyone has started looking towards who Mitt’s gonna pick to be his second in command.

Now, this is all providing he will be staying in the race. Romney doesn’t always do himself favors in the eyes of the public. Let’s just take a look at his latest negative story about his late Irish Setter Seamus. Apparently, Romney used to put his dog in a kennel and tie him to the roof of the car when going on family vacations. Many have decried the act as cruel and unusual, and the incident, which took place in 1983, continues to haunt Mitt. You can read more about it here.

Selecting a Running Mate

Romney has already selected long-time aid Beth Myers to start getting the all important list together. While it is still very early to be selecting a running mate, essentially having a lock on the nominations gives you more time to plan. She has worked with Romney in the past, helping him prep for televised debates during his gubernatorial run in 2002. Even with a seasoned staffer getting the ball rolling, selecting the perfect running mate will be one of the biggest deciding factors in the 2012 election.

Many pundits are already throwing out names for who will be selected, but the actual name will come down to the final hour, if Romney is smart. Right now, Mitt needs to shore up the entire Republican voting block, which means finding a candidate who is far more conservative than he is. It is also important to find a running mate who will not steal the spotlight. Having a running mate with some charisma is important, but they should have less the Romney himself. Tapping into the Tea Party vote is also important, as this is a solid voter block that Mitt cannot afford to lose. If he winds up picking a Palin, his campaign will suffer, greatly.

Even though speculation at this point in the election cycle is pointless, here are a few educated guess anyway.

Rick Santorum – Mitt’s former competition could be the best choice for a running mate. The two clearly illustrated the strong divide in the Republican party, and putting both of their voter blocks together would create a very strong chance at winning the election. However, Rick might be one of the potentials who would easily outshine Romney. Also, Santorum doesn’t have a high opinion of Romney as the nominee, which is illustrated here.

Chris Christie – He’s already endorsed Mitt, and he says he’s not in contention. I’ll believe it completely when a running mate is named. The current Governor of New Jersey could be a salvation for Mitt’s campaign.

Rand Paul – The Junior Senator from Kentucky has made a pretty big splash in politics in a very short amount of time. While he would outshine Romney at points, his Tea Party politics would bring in the voter block Romney truly needs.

Newt Gingrich upset win in South Carolina!

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:51:10 +0000

Newt Gingrich wins South Carolina

Newt Gingrich upsets the front runner Mitt Romney in South Carolina by fighting back thru a super PAC supporting him with millions of dollars of negative campaign ads against Mitt Romney and his “Private Equity” background. You can officially say the “Race is On”! After Newt repeatedly said he would not turn the campaign negative, he certainly didn’t shy away from the support he received from PAC’s and other supporters that continued to pound Romney for his claims made on job creation, capital formation, and overall business activities. South Carolina voters just ignored the numerous marriages of Newt Gingrich, and he began to aggressively defend his personal life, public life, and his private business dealings, including his consulting agreements with numerous publicly owned agencies. Newt hopes to take his momentum into Florida and beyond by raising additional money to support a long term campaign. Many Republicans believe that a Newt Gingrich win is essentially handing over the election to President Obama, so although the Newt camp is excited about the win, the hallways of Washington are filled with talks of defeat in November. Only time will tell!

Romney wins easily in New Hampshire

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:06:30 +0000

Mitt Romney is on his way to securing the Republican nomination for President with his win in New Hampshire GOP Primary. He has endured an enormous amount of criticism for his ownership in Bain Capital, a large private equity company, and the ridiculous attacks for destroying jobs, and become the first in a long history of candidates to win both Iowa and New Hampshire primaries. Mitt won a victory in a decisive fashion defeating his closes rival by more than 15 percent. Finishing a distant second was Ron Paul, followed by Jon Huntsman.

Mitt Romney 97,532 39.3%
Ron Paul 56,848 22.9%
Jon Huntsman 41,945 16.9%
Newt Gingrich 23,411 9.4%
Rick Santorum 23,362 9.4%

Even though his New Hampshire win is impressive, there are some troublesome signs for his campaign, with a significant amount of Republicans that aren’t Romney fans. Most of the Republican base wants lower taxes and reduced federal spending, or fiscally conservative, and Romney isn’t the best candidate to live up to those beliefs. Ron Paul on the other hand is a candidate that believes strongly in lower taxes, reduced federal spending, and smaller government, and has a strong base of supports, but is it enough to win the Republican nomination. It will be key in the coming weeks if the party has hopes of beating Barack Obama to unite the party, but that probably isn’t going to be decided for several more months.

Who will win New Hampshire?

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:38:06 +0000

Romney taking a real beating for his Bain Capital operations, which may be extremely unfair! Will Ron Paul be able to overtake Romney with the attacks? We’ll know later today. The interesting thing in New Hampshire is not all voters are pure Republicans, there will be many Independents that will also be voting today along side the Republicans, which also could benefit Ron Paul and other candidates. New Hampshire voters love to vote, in fact the Democrats also have an election today, and even though Barak Obama is the only candidate on the ballot, it’s expected that 50% of the registered Democrats will show up and vote for President Obama.

If Romney is able to pull off a win in New Hampshire, it may be the beginning of the end for the rest of the field. We’ll keep you posted.

AP reports Santorum Wins in IOWA?

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:39:18 +0000

In the U.S. Presidential Primary, the AP reported that Rick Santorum received 29,944 or 24.5% of the vote, edging out Mitt Romney by a mere 18 votes, Romney receiving 29,926 or an equal 24.5% of the vote. The report claims that 100% of the precincts reporting. This contradicts the GOP Chairman Matt Strawn reporting of the official vote count at 30,015 for Romney and 30,007 for Santorum, each candidate receiving a total of 25% of the vote. Who’s Right? According to the AP report, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Michele Bachmann round out the field getting 21.5% down to 5% for Bachmann.

Romney Wins Iowa, by 8 Votes

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:29:54 +0000

Mitt Romney edges out Santorum to win Iowa Caucuses by only 8 votes, with more than 122,000 total votes cast! The final official vote count was 30,015 for Romney and 30,007 for Santorum, each contestant getting about twenty five percent of the total votes. Is this a victory for Romney or a disappointment that Santorum came from nowhere weeks ago to nearly edge out Romney? Romney clearly is the winner coming from a significant deficit to nearly overtake Santorum, can he continue to compete going forward, can he raise the necessary capital to run his campaign, can he get his organization put together to compete in the larger states, like Florida, the Carolina’s, etc? Also, where does Ron Paul go from here, ending a disappointing performance to finish in third place with a respectable twenty two percent of the vote. Rounding out the field was Newt Gingrich in fourth, Perry in fifth, who claimed he was heading to Texas to reassess his campaign, and Michele Bachmann finishing in last place among the Iowa competitors. Bachmann didn’t drop out in her speech to supporters Tuesday night, and tried to remain upbeat.

“Game On”, said Santorum as he addressed his supporters early Wednesday and said, “let’s take the fight into New Hampshire”, where currently Romney is still leading in the polls. Santorum came from a single digit position in the Iowa polls just one short week ago! He came from behind by visiting all 99 counties in the state and held many hundred campaign events in the state during that time, many pundits and analysts, claimed that Santorum was the winner considering his late burst.

2012 Gridlock or Progress

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:01:29 +0000

Gridlock or Progress?

2012 is going to be an interesting year of complete Gridlock, or possibly a year of massive progress, based upon geo-political factors and the voice of the American People. Americans are fed up with the lack of progress in the Republican and Democratic parties failing to agree on health care, housing subsidies, the deficit, and the debt. The only way to move the country forward is giving control to one party or the other, and it’s looking like the Republican’s, barring a complete turnaround of the economy in the coming months, will get that opportunity, albeit a slim majority in the Senate won’t provide enough control to prevent the Democrats from blocking much of the legislative agenda of the Republicans. Gridlock is not going to help, as the Country has kicked the can down the road about as far as it will go without a major overhaul to entitlement reform, spending, and a budget that puts the Country back on the road to prosperity. Another four years of Gridlock could grow the National Debt by 30-40%, putting us dangerously close to problems we are seeing in Europe, and Asia. The Federal Reserve can only keep rates at historically low rates for a limited period of time, before the effect simply doesn’t add value to the economy. The current yield curve, with 30 year Treasury Bond Yields at 2.83%, and 10 year Treasury Bond Yields at 1.83%, represent the lowest yield on US Government bonds in history, and if they remain at this level for an extended period of time, we could be setting the economy up for a significant increase in inflation (prices) in the coming years. The government is more involved today in nearly every aspect of the economy, artificially maintaining markets, including housing, keeping mortgage rates and funding home mortgages thru FNMA and Freddie Mac, managing health care thru Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the new Obama Healthcare Plan, and the auto market with bailouts and funding for two of the three major US Automobile manufacturers. Whatever happened to the “free market” that this great nation built into the largest economy in the world?

Obama Still Leads the Polls

admin — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:59:51 +0000

Barack Obama Still Leads the Polls

Despite the economy still sputtering, the debt still growing, and the world economies, especially the euro zone, weakening, Barack Husein Obama, still leads the polls with a 42.8% rating to retain the White House. Since becoming president on Jan 20, 2009, President Obama has tried it all, stimulus across the board, a massive auto industry bailout, the largest health care overhaul in history, and a growth in the printing of US Dollars that’s historic, nothing has proven to add enough real jobs to move unemployment below the 9.0% level, which historically has meant trouble for incumbent Presidents. The US has lost it’s coveted AAA credit rating, but thanks to a Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, opening up the printing presses, financing costs for the US have continued to fall. The US continues to be the currency and “safe haven” investment for the world, but what happens when the tide turns and foreigners begin to bring their capital back home, when their interest rates rise enough, compared to the US Treasury Yield Curve, that it’s just too attractive to continue to fund the US debt and deficits? The day of reckoning is fast approaching, and the 2012 election will determine the direction for Americans for decades to come.

Newt Surges in the Polls past Romney

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:48:45 +0000

Iowa Republican Debate Picture

According to the most recent WSJ/NBC poll, Newt has surged to number one for the Republican Presidential Nomination with a 40% rating compared to only 23% for Romney, it’s quickly becoming a one man race and Newt’s to lose the nomination. All other candidates couldn’t get over the 10% support in the poll, so its definitely a two man race. Newt performed very well in the most recent Iowa Debate, in the face of attacks from all the candidates, including Romney. Newt has pledged publicly that he refuses to attack his fellow candidates, in a clear attempt to rise above the “dirty” campaign tactics, hopefully setting himself of as the candidate that can compete with Obama in the only campaign that means anything. If the Republicans continue to attack each other, it will be significantly more difficult for them to defeat the Democrats for the White House, and just as important the Senate in the 2012 Election. If the economy continues it’s sluggish performance and job creation remains timid, Americans are likely to blame the President and vote for a change. Obama has had three years and his plans and strategy has clearly not been the right formula to deal with jobs, the economy, and the deficit. With massive spending programs, deficit spending, and a historic rise in our national debt during a time of peace, the Democratic President has been unable to create a meaningful increase in jobs, while destroying financial wealth with the decline in the value of the US Dollar over the past couple of years. Provided the Republican’s don’t beat down the latest front runner, Newt Gingrich, with negative campaign ads attacking his personal morals, multiple marriages, and questionable flip flopping on some key issues, they are well positioned to retake the White House.

Newt’s recent surge in the Polls, has been surprising given his past history and attacks from the more conservative candidates. Michele Bachmann’s attack during the debate calling the race the “Newt-Romney” race, and saying that she’s the only true conservative republican in the race, which was echoed by Ron Paul, Rick Perry, and the other candidates. Many swing voters are still on the fence wondering if Newt is capable of beating Obama in a head to head race. They clearly believe Newt is capable of matching wits and debating head to head with the President, but will the personal attacks be too much for Newt to overcome? The next three weeks before the first votes are cast in Iowa will continue to be interesting as we have seen surges from Perry, Cain, Romney, and Bachmann that have all fizzled for one reason or another.