Nonsensible Shoes

Gingrich - rude

2012-01-31T21:37:00.005-05:00

To be fair, I mentioned Romney was rude earlier. CNN, only happy to ignore that, was eager enough to point out that Newt Gingrich was rude not to congratulate Romney as the winner in his speech after Florida saw Romney win.

Fair enough, but Romney was rude first. More importantly, I was on Twitter at the time and I was stunned by the number of tweets I saw that said they were surprised that Newt was making a lot of good points in his post-Florida speech.

He's been making those points all along. Voters aren't paying close enough attention. In that vein, stuff I thought was highly redundant seemed to get a lot of positive reaction, on Twitter at least. So Gingrich was probably smart to use the speech in the 9 p.m. time slot as a platform to talk about his platform.

Romney - rude

2012-01-31T20:33:00.002-05:00

So I'm watching CNN and out comes Anne Romney and the boys. The victory speech did not wait for the concession speeches from Paul, Gingrich and Santorum.

Rude. Slick campaign maneuver perhaps, but in poor taste. Just saying.

Could not have said it better myself. But...

2012-01-31T20:30:00.003-05:00

Via Robert Stacy McCain, the great "What If":

Just ask yourselves, Perrybots, what might have been possible if some other candidate — any other candidate, perhaps one who could remember how to count to three – had an extra $20 million to spend here in Florida. But no, you spent months telling the rest of us that Rick Perry was The Only Conservative Who Could Beat Romney, an argument you didn’t hesitate to repeat as late as December, long after it was apparent that he wasn’t ready for prime time. And you still refuse to admit that you were misled, and helped mislead others, into jumping aboard that hopeless Bandwagon to Loserville. And who warned you, huh?

“What I fear will happen is that Perry will spend several months sucking up media oxygen and burning through GOP donor cash, only to collapse early next year. This will have the effect of suffocating other conservative candidates, and thereby lead to … Romney 2012.”

Mitt Romney is Obama-lite. And in turn Perry, and now Santorum are enabling Romney 2012.

But...this is not over. Florida is one state of many. Romney winning Georgia or Texas, much bigger prizes is harder to see. The press want's to coronate Romney now, both the liberal Mainstream Media, and the establishment Republicans. Only 6% of the delegates have been allocated after Florida is done. This is not over.

Gingrich may not be a perfect candidate, but he is clearly more conservative than Mitt Romney by far, despite the occasional brain cramps. He is a better debater and he can connect with voters in a way Romney has failed to do.

Romney spends to win Florida

2012-01-31T19:56:00.000-05:00

This won't work against Obama. Via Hot Air;

Update: Romney and his PAC spent $15 million on ads in Florida. Total number of positive ads he ran in the state: One. It ran 15 times. And it wasn’t even in English.

His spending advantage against Obama will be a proportional disadvantage in the general election.

Gingrich turtling in Florida?

2012-01-31T19:04:00.002-05:00

Mitt Romney has thrown a lot of money into Florida. A lot. Did Newt Gingrich know he couldn't outspend Romney and turtle in Florida. Was he sandbagging in the debates?

It's a possibility. It would be a good strategic play in that Newt cannot outspend Mitt in Florida and he has to spend more intelligently. Tactically however, what might be the fallout be optically for Gingrich when he followed a battering win with a battering loss?

It remains to be seen.

Let's face it, Romney is going to win Florida

2012-01-31T19:00:00.002-05:00

It's been a crazy busy day for me but I want to get on record before the polls close. I think Romney is going to win Florida by 10 points.

Florida - are you listening?

2012-01-30T15:17:00.000-05:00

Romney is a bad choice right now. Got it? Bad.

Romney - who IS this guy???

2012-01-30T12:04:00.000-05:00

If this is the establishment candidate for the GOP, they are the party of progressive liberalism. You might as well cast a vote for Obama as this guy.

Why are you voting for Romney?

2012-01-30T09:54:00.000-05:00

How does this make any sense to you? Check out this video for Ron Paul, that gets it right on Flip Romney. Please watch the whole thing.

Mitt Romney Called His Own Views Progressive

2012-01-30T07:36:00.000-05:00

Mitt Romney, 2002 sounds a bit like Obama 2008.

Weekend Link Around (2 of 2)

2012-01-29T11:04:00.003-05:00

Zoomed in perspectives.

More goodness in your weekend reading. Continued from here. Please read these items from some terrific bloggers.

Economy:

Club For Growth discusses Warren Buffet's faulty logic on wanting to be taxed more. It's seeming more and more to me that it's about creating two classes of citizen using the tax code - capital gains tax payers and everyone else. If you make $50 million in capital gains and $50,000 in regular income, who cares how how much tax you pay on the $50,000? By taxing the latter at 95% you could prevent people from ever making it into the capital gains tax club.

A Conservative Teacher runs the numbers on Bush's job creation versus Obama's job destruction. It's exactly what you think, but it's good to see it in black and white.

Fredd says wake up and smell the oil. The obvious, re-stated very well.

Miscellaneous:

Scottcarp Dream ruminates on government censorship.

Diogenes' Middle Finger talks about an Oscar nod for Obama.

Left Coast Resistance has another spot on rant from Zo.

All American Blogger has a number of great links of his own, along with some Johnny Horton.

Right Klik talks about Hugo Chavez' daughter and her fist full of American cash. Such irony.

Angry White Dude talks about some Christian beheadings of Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Meanwhile Bonsai from the Right compares Tea Party versus Occupy Wall Street statistically.

Weekend Link Around (1 of 2)

2012-01-29T10:40:00.001-05:00

Reading glasses required.

I've been busy with family this weekend, but I've had a few opportunities to do some reading and below are some great reads from this weekend. Part II will follow shortly.

On the GOP primary race:

Legal Insurrection writes about how Tea Party Congressman Allen West is being redistricted out of existence by - the Romney campaign? This GOP primary race may turn out to be about establishment liberal Republicans versus grassroots conservatives.

Gateway Pundit has the video of Sarah Palin talking about how Newt Gingrich would clobber Obama in a debate.

Just a Conservative Girl muses about whether the Herman Cain endorsement will help Newt or not.

National Security:

The ideas of foreign policy have been distilled into security versus military adventurism. There doesn't seem to be in many corners the idea that a mix of approaches is necessary for foreign policy. Either America is an expansionist Empire, or a nation of patsies. It's really not that simple. There are however truths in both sides of those arguments.

The Republican Mother is concerned that America is acting like Britain during it's empirical period and is doomed to the same fate.

State of the country:

Conservative Perspective talks about the state of America's disunion and quotes from very inspirational words about the differing views of what Americans believe.

Western Hero talks about the Fear Driven Economy.

We The People has a parable on how the stimulus doesn't work.

Liberty At Stake talks about the dumbness of crowds and the herd mentality.

Verum Serum reminds us that Newt was cleared of those ethics charges. Are you listening New York Times?

Western Experience notes military experts' divide on military cuts.

On God:

Gorges Grouse doesn't believe in atheists. How's that for turning it on it's head?

TeresAmerica has the Muslim news roundup.

Miscellaneous:

Remember the 'peaceful' Occupy movement? Right Wing News notices a large number of arrests that don't really equate to peaceful.

Eccentric Conservative has a humorous editorial cartoon on media bias.

Saturday Learning Series - Game Theory 4

2012-01-28T09:03:00.000-05:00

This is a continuation of the Yale lecture series on Game Theory, an economic proposition that has a myriad of other applications to it as well. In this lecture, Ben Polak has discusses the idea of best response.

More on the global warming hoax

2012-01-28T08:35:00.002-05:00

Contrary to Al Gore's panic, and in line with the BBC dosumentary The Great Global Warming Swindle (which is increasingly hard to find online), more opinion is surfacing that the science behind global warming is seriously flawed.

Via the Wall Street Journal;

Debate Winner: Not Gingrich

2012-01-27T00:01:00.001-05:00

The person who looked best in the final Florida debate was Rick Santorum. That means Mitt Romney, who did well won. Newt Gingrich who did okay, lost. Gingrich needed a really solid performance and he only had decent performance. In the dying days of the Florida campaign, with polls suddenly turning against him, Gingrich needed a win and he didn't get it. He may have lost the state as a result of that debate.

Rick Santorum is competing now for the same space in the electorate as Newt Gingrich. He won the debate but he won't win Florida. Florida is a momentum state. If Santorum doesn't get out (or Gingrich), there is still one too many not Romney candidates in the race. The remaining not Romney vote will be split and it will effectively ensure that Romney racks up delegates very quickly. It will ensure Romney wins the GOP race. With Nevada coming up shortly after Florida time is quickly running out.

Who is holding the anti-Gingrich spending hammer?

2012-01-27T00:01:00.000-05:00

Earlier I posted a piece about how independent spending was directed heavily against Newt Gingrich. Who is doing it? Primarily one Super PAC. In it I noted that $15.9 million was spent against Newt Gingrich. Digging deeper in Open Secrets, it's interesting to note that $15.7 million of that spending has come from just ONE PAC.

That PAC, Restore Our Future, was responsible for 98.99% of the anti-Gingrich spending. They've spent more than any other PAC.

Candidate	Party	Office	Total	For	Against
Gingrich, Newt	R	President	$15,746,870	$0	$15,746,870
Romney, Mitt	R	President	$759,227	$759,227	$0
Santorum, Rick	R	President	$396,653	$0	$396,653

The PAC, according to Wikipedia, is one founded by former Romney aides;

Restore Our Future was founded by Romney aides in 2010.[2] Charles Spies, the group's treasurer and former general counsel for Romney's 2008 campaign for the Republican Presidential nomination, described Restore Our Future as "an independent effort focused on getting Romney elected president."[1] The group reported raising over $12 million in the first half of 2011, in the form of large donations from approximately 90 wealthy individuals and corporations.[3] Spies declined to discuss specific contributors to the PAC.[4]

Thanks to the Citizens United decision, there's nothing illegal about that, as long as the Super PAC does not co-ordinate or communicate with the candidate. Assuming they are not doing so, they clearly have violated Reagan's 11th Commandment. They are not alone by any means, but they are far and away the worst offender, and they are in the Mitt Romney camp, along with the Newt-Bashing Bob Dole and John McCain.

Anti-Gingrich Spending Hammer

2012-01-26T21:56:00.003-05:00

ouch.

Via Open Secrets (see snapshot below is from today), below is a summary of the independent expenditures (primarily from 527 PACs). Out of $22.4 million spent on negative ads to date, 70.7% has been spent against Newt Gingrich. Out of the money spent pro-Newt or anti-Newt, 83.9% have been run against Newt. Out if all the money spent both pro and anti any candidate (i.e. all campaign spending by independent sources), 55.6% of all money spent, has been anti-Gingrich.

With all of that negativity aimed in his direction, not only is it amazing Newt Gingrich hasn't blown a gasket yet (indicating that he probably won't during the remainder of the election cycle), but it's truly astounding that he is in this race at all at this point.

That has to bode well for the long term of his candidacy if indeed he can win Florida even come close, the money should come.

Candidates Opposed/Supported

Candidate	Entire Cycle Total	Last Week Total	Last 24 Hours Total	Supported	Opposed
Gingrich, Newt (R)	$18,955,343	$7,069,723	$0	$3,049,023	$15,906,320
Romney, Mitt (R)	$6,311,434	$1,507,013	$0	$1,689,400	$4,622,034
Obama, Barack (D)	$2,086,413	$10,490	$0	$637,468	$1,428,699
Santorum, Rick (R)	$2,498,560	$0	$0	$2,099,559	$399,001
Paul, Ron (R)	$3,694,206	$173,918	$350	$3,561,216	$132,990
Perry, Rick (R)	$3,964,824	$0	$0	$3,964,824	$0
Huntsman, Jon (R)	$2,453,454	$0	$0	$2,453,454	$0
Cain, Herman (R)	$501,718	$0	$0	$501,718	$0
Total	$40,465,952	$8,761,144	$350	$17,956,662	$22,489,044

Romney's back on top in Florida

2012-01-26T21:24:00.002-05:00

It has nothing to do with the amazing amount of Newt-bashing coming from the establishment. Bob Dole's trashing of Gingrich is convincing no one - Elizabeth Dole is probably already onside with him. Add Dole's comments to the McCain endorsement and it amounts to a kiss of death. McCain and Dole both lost really big to Democrats. Why would someone want to have both of them onside? Nevertheless Mitt Romney is back on top apparently. It's not that Romney has been on the attack effectively or is suddenly the darling of Florida voters. The reason he is in first place again in Florida is his massive spending advantage and his ad buys in key markets.

That said, there IS something to be said for being organized and well-backed. Prior, proper planning leads to better outcomes, no? Organization is a good trait in an executive. I question whether it is a better quality than vision. Mitt Romney does not have a vision for America. He has a vision for Mitt Romney. It translates into flip-flopping simply because his vision is to get elected president. But let's grant that he would be organized. That doesn't provide great leadership. Ronald Reagan was the great communicator and he communicated a specific vision. Newt Gingrich has a lot of great visions - probably many of which will never come to fruition. But having a vision you can surround yourself with organization to get it done. Having a great organization and surrounding yourself with the vision of others is not leadership. It's stewardship and frankly lackluster.

Why Romney is back on top in Florida is money. The more interesting takeaway from the Florida polls, is the amazing volatility. It's not just that the lead has changed back and forth, it has changed by very large numbers. It speaks to an electorate that clearly is not locked in to specific candidates to a large extent. There are likely more changes to come.

McCain trashing Romney

2012-01-25T19:46:00.001-05:00

A mere four years ago, the McCain primary campaign put this ad out about Mitt Romney - the same candidate McCain is now inexplicably endorsing. A pair of flip-floppers if ever there were ones. Seriously, do not put this guy up against Obama.

Just a reminder.

State of the Union: Obama IV

2012-01-25T19:41:00.001-05:00

Last night I was on Twitter, live-tweeting translations of the president's speech. I'm not all that excited about re-hashing what was a truly mediocre speech and essentially a re-run of SOTU III...or SOTU II. Recycled speech.

So instead, enjoy this:

Rally Round the Romney?

2012-01-24T20:25:00.001-05:00

Establishment GOP: "No! We mean someone else!"

A while ago I stopped reading National Review online because of their porous defense of Mitt Romney and associated attack on Newt Gingrich. What became of National Review? Conservatism is about being conservative and not about electability. Nor is conservatism about protecting the candidate who best represents the establishment interests best. National Review has proposed the premise that Romney is the best choice for Republicans. That notion did not hold. What does that mean?

Panic.

The Crist Romney Connection

2012-01-24T08:43:00.000-05:00

If you are a voter in Florida's upcoming GOP primary, you probably remember Governor Charlie Crist veering left and facing Marco Rubio as an Independent in the 2010 midterm election for Senator. Rubio won, and Crist came off as really, really badly. So what bolder, more shrewd campaign move for Romney than to use Crist's campaign staff?

Stroke...of...brilliance.

Arab Spring Hangover

2012-01-23T10:19:00.000-05:00

Found on Drudge Report, the following three news stories showing a common thread. The Arab Spring isn't exactly what the president has been promising. Forget Afghanistan, Syria and the problems in Iran, just check out the news items below, and see for yourself, things are falling apart fast.

That's not good news for those who held out the Utopian hope that the Arab Spring would usher in a Western, secular, liberal set of cultures in the Middle East. It turns out, not so much. Who would have thought?

Gingrich speaks a little too Inside Politics sometimes

2012-01-23T08:56:00.000-05:00

Newt Gingrich mentioned in his victory speech that the president has been driven by Saul Alinsky radicalism. If you've followed politics over the last few years, you know who that is. I know who that is - I even wrote about countering Alinsky over two years ago. The problem is, there's a lot of people who have no clue who that is, as CNN was forced to explain in a sugar-coated piece their political ticker blog;

In framing his attacks on President Barack Obama for a possible November showdown, Newt Gingrich repeatedly brings up the name of an influential radical organizer from the first half of the 20th century.

"Saul Alinsky radicalism is at the heart of Obama," Gingrich said Sunday in an interview with CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley...

And earlier, at a New Year's Eve campaign event in Iowa, Gingrich declared that Obama "really is sort of a classic Saul Alinsky radical whose basic ideas are the opposite of what we need to create jobs."...

Alinsky's most famous book, "Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals," describes a confrontational method for curing economic inequality - something most conservatives would shun.

SSOTU: Supposed State of the Union

2012-01-22T11:31:00.003-05:00

Oxymoronic SOTU

A quick preview of the president's State of the Union.would be remiss if it did not include the notion that the president is going to take the opportunity to use the opportunity as a campaign speech. Indeed, many see it as the president's kick-off of his 2012 re-election effort (aside from the myriad of fundraisers that have been going on for months). The president's speech in that spirit will do three things. It will argue that the country is hurting and it will require more of his efforts to fight income inequality. Secondly, in an oxymoron destined to go mostly unchecked, it will call for more spending and lower deficits. Finally he will work in there somewhere, a narrative that he hopes will hold is that the country is spinning its wheels because of a Do Nothing Congress.

What is that going to look like?