Wake up America

Embedded: GOP Senators' Letter Of Intent To Challenge Obama's Recess Appts In Court

2012-02-03T13:36:00.006-07:00

By Susan Duclos

The Hill reports that 39 GOP Senators have announced their intention to file a joint amicus brief in a court challenge Barack Obama's recent "recess" appointments while the Senate was still in pro-forma session.

Embed below of letter and signers.

Senate Gop Letter

Video Flashback: Trump rips Romney as "a fund guy" who got "rid of jobs"

2012-02-03T13:03:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney yesterday but Trump was not always a fan of Romney as the video below shows:

Description:

"Well, Mitt Romney is a basically small-business guy, if you really think about it," Trump said in an interview aired on CNN's "State of the Union." "He was a hedge fund. He was a fund guy. He walked away with some money from a very good company that he didn't create. He worked there. He didn't create it."

Trump went on to say this about Romney's business experience: "He'd buy companies, he'd close companies, he'd get rid of jobs, OK?

I built a big company."

Video via ModerateMitt on YouTube, below:

Although Romney thanked Trump gracefully, the ABC News The Note shows why he might not appreciate this endorsement in the long run.

Why would Romney want Trump’s nod when it could be more likely to turn voters off than turn them on to Romney? A Fox News poll last month found that Americans were nearly three times as likely to say they’d be less apt rather than more apt to vote for a candidate Trump endorsed, 27 percent to 10 percent. Two-thirds said it would make no difference.

Ouch.

Report: Simon Cowell Offers Beyonce $100 Million For X-Factor

2012-02-03T12:23:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

A small break from politics with reports that Simon Cowell is offering Beyonce an annual salary of $100 million to become a full-time judge on X-Factor.

According to USMagazine this would be the highest Television salary ever.

Back in October a video was uploaded to YouTube where Cowell described Beyonce as "ambitious, talented, competitive." Cowell added "She defines this new breed of (unintelligible) of super popstar, and they're all girls at the moment. It's like a new super species who literally want to rule the world. When she came out with that song, there is no irony, she wants to rule the world. (laughter)"

In that same interview LA Reid described her as "The most talented performer alive."

Video below:

News came out on January 31, 2012 that Cowell had ousted both Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger from the second season of X-Factor although from the same report Cowell indicated that he expected to collaborate with Ms. Abdul on a new project.

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Gallup Poll Shows America Moving To The Right

2012-02-03T12:11:00.002-07:00

By Susan Duclos

As Barack Obama has moved America's policies to the left, the country's response has been to move to the right.

Via Gallup:

Democrats have lost their solid political party affiliation advantage in 18 states since 2008, while Republicans have gained a solid advantage in 6 states. A total of 17 states were either solidly Republican or leaning Republican in their residents' party affiliation in 2011, up from 10 in 2010 and 5 in 2008. Meanwhile, 19 states including the District of Columbia showed a solid or leaning Democratic orientation, down from 23 in 2010 and 36 in 2008. The remaining 15 states were relatively balanced politically, with neither party having a clear advantage.

Click image to enlarge

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Video- Gingrich Ad: 'I'm George Soros And I Approve This Candidate ' [Obamney]

2012-02-03T10:22:00.004-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Video below, transcript below that.

TRANSCRIPT with links to original sources.

Narrator: In an interview with The Washington Post on November 11, 2003, Soros said that removing President George W. Bush from office was the "central focus of my life" and "a matter of life and death". He said he would sacrifice his entire fortune to defeat President Bush, "if someone guaranteed it.”

This ultra-liberal financial supporter of groups like moveon.org donated almost $24 million dollars to defeat Georgia Bush.

So what does Mr. Soros think of Mitt Romney for President?:

George Soros: “If it’s between Romney and Obama, there isn’t all that much difference…” (video)

Narrator: Is he correct?

MONTAGE:

“Wall Street Executives turn back on Obama, start donating to Romney.”(The Hill)

NEIL CAVUTO: “Dozens of Wall Street executives who once banked Obama are now banking Mitt Romney.” (video)

ON TIM GEITHNER

OBAMA: “Tim Geithner is as sharp and as skilled a public servant as we have...”(video)

ROMNEY: “He is a person of accomplishment and skill. I think is a very bright individual...”(video)

ON ABORTION

OBAMA STATEMENT: As we mark the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we must remember that this Supreme Court decision not only protects a woman’s health and reproductive freedom, but also affirms a broader principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose and this fundamental constitutional right. (WhiteHouse.gov)

ROMNEY: “I will preserve and protect a woman’s right to choose and have devoted and dedicated to honor my word in that regard. I will not change any provision of Mass Pro-choice laws.”(video)

ON GUNS

OBAMA: “Just because you have an individual right to bear arms does not mean that the state or local government can’t constrain the exercise of that right…”(video)

ROMNEY: “We do have tough guns laws in Mass. I support them. I won’t chip away them. I believe they help protect us and provide for our safety.”(video)

ON HEALTHCARE

OBAMA: “You’ve got a Governor who’s running for president right now who instituted the exact same thing in Massachusetts.”

ROMNEY: If you don’t want to buy insurance, you have to help pay for the costs…no more free riders…

OBAMA: “You can’t be a free rider on everybody else…”

OBAMA: “In fact I agree with Mitt Romney who recently said he is proud of what he accomplished on healthcare… he’s right." (video)

George Soros: “If it’s between Romney and Obama, there isn’t all that much difference…” (video)

Narrator: We can’t afford two George Soros approved candidates this fall.

We need a candidate who will fight for hardworking taxpayers.

We need a candidate who left wing billionaires like George Soros fear, because they will fundamentally change Washington.

We need Newt Gingrich.

Transcript provided by the Gingrich campaign via email.

Unemployment Drops To 8.3% As 1.2 Million People Leave Workforce

2012-02-03T09:42:00.008-07:00

By Susan Duclos

[Update] According to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U6, real time unemployment which is the total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, is still over 15 percent.

A drop in unemployment to 8.3 percent should be good news except when the reason for it is that 1.2 million people simply dropped out of the workforce and are therefore not counted into the totals.

Click image to enlarge

As James Glassman, senior economist at JP Morgan Chase & Co. in New York, said in an interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene, back in December 2011, "You’d like to see the unemployment rate coming down when people are coming into the job market, not disappearing."

[Update] Gallup explained back in December why "Growing Unemployment Optimism May Be Premature':

In contrast, Gallup's data suggest little improvement in the jobs situation. December unemployment is up slightly on an unadjusted basis. In fact, the government is likely to report essentially no change in the unemployment rate when it issues its report on December unemployment in the first week of 2012. Of course, this assumes that the labor force doesn't continue to shrink at so rapid a pace that it drives down the unemployment rate, as it did last month.

Gallup's most recent weekly job creation numbers also suggest little improvement in the jobs situation. As a result, it may be wise to exercise caution in interpreting the drop in the government's most recent jobless claims numbers.

Further, one reason unemployment is often seen as a lagging indicator has to do with the way people enter and leave the workforce. Even if the recent seeming improvement in the job market is more real than Gallup's data imply, signs of a better job market are likely to bring new job seekers into the workforce.....

The United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, Economic News Release, Employment Situation Summary is HERE.

Once again, as is usual in our unemployment pieces we list areas still at or above the official national average for unemployment are:

Arizona- 8.7%
California- 11.1%
D.C.- 10.4%
Florida- 9.9%
Georgia- 9.7%
Idaho- 8.4%
Illinois- 9.8%
Indiana- 9.0%
Kentucky- 9.1%
Michigan- 9.3%
Mississippi- 10.4%
Nevada- 12.6%
New Jersey- 9.0%
North Carolina- 9.9%
Oregon- 8.9%
Rhode Island- 10.8%
South Carolina- 9.5%
Tennessee- 8.7%
Washington- 8.5%

Data obtained from Bureau of Labor Statistics on the Local Area Unemployment Statistics page. (Right side)

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Komen Donations Up 100% As The Angry Left Attack Over Planned Parenthood Grant Cuts

2012-02-03T08:36:00.010-07:00

By Susan Duclos

[Update] Some liberals are claiming victory over Komen's revised wording of their plans after being attacked by liberals for two solid days, but other liberals see the revised wording for what it is, not a reversal. The new "announcement does not mean that Planned Parenthood is guaranteed future grants," proclaims Greg Sargent.

As some were quick to point out, the statement put out by Komen doesn’t really clarify whether Planned Parenthood will actually continue to get money from the group. The original rationale for barring Planned Parenthood was that it was under investigation (a witch-hunt probe undertaken by GOP Rep Cliff Stearns). Komen said today that the group would “amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.”

Does that mean Planned Parenthood will get Komen grants in the future?

I asked Komen board member John Raffaelli to respond to those who are now saying that the announcement doesn’t necessarily constitute a reversal until Planned Parenthood actually sees more funding. He insisted it would be unfair to expect the group to commit to future grants.

“It would be highly unfair to ask us to commit to any organization that doesn’t go through a grant process that shows that the money we raise is used to carry out our mission,” Raffaelli told me. “We’re a humaniatrian organization. We have a mission. Tell me you can help carry out our mission and we will sit down at the table.”

[End Update]

Yesterday I wrote about the bruhaha from the angry liberal left against Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, the nation’s largest breast cancer advocacy organization, who as the New York Times reported cut off "most of its financial support to the nation’s largest abortion provider," Planned Parenthood.

Today we see that donations from the group have risen 100 percent in the last two days since liberals went on the rampage against the Komen Foundation.

According to Washington Post's WonkBlog, CEO Nancy Brinker explained why most of Planned Parenthood's funding was cut.

Brinker says it has to do with the fact that they do not provide mammograms to women, but only provide mammogram referrals. “It was nothing they were doing wrong,” she explained. “We have decided not to fund, whereever possible, pass-through grants. We were giving them money, they were sending women out for mammograms. What we would like to have are clinics where we can directly fund mammograms.”

Life News provides more detail:

She added, later in the day on Twitter:, saying the money “will be invested in programs to serve low-income, uninsured and underinsured women.”

“Our Board approved new grants standards to improve direct services to women,” she said. “New grants standards strive for grants that provide direct services and outcomes. We have to put metrics, outcomes and measures to our grants so we can translate the science we’ve funded over 30 yrs. We will continue to provide services to vulnerable populations with care, treatment and screening.”

William Teach asks over at Pirate's Cove, "What kind of world are we living in where the Susan G. Komen Foundation has to do damage control for pulling funding from an organization that is under federal investigation for potentially using taxpayer money for abortions, financial abuses, and ignoring state and local reporting requirements, often regarding minors? "

Indeed.

Out of the 19 Planned Parenthood affiliates Komen previously funded, they will still continue funding three in Northern Colorado, Southern California and Waco, Tex., because “they are the only provider” of breast health services in the areas they serve.

Liberal's latest hissy fit is over donations made to Komen by Discount Gun Sales which, in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, donate a portion of their sales to the Seattle Branch of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

More on what Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is about:

Since its inception in 1982, Komen has invested nearly $2 billion for breast cancer research, education, advocacy, health services and social support programs in the U.S., and through partnerships in more than 50 countries. Today, Komen has more than 100,000 volunteers working in a network of 124 affiliates worldwide. As of March 2011, Komen is listed on Charity Navigator with the site's highest rating of four stars. According to the Harris Interactive 2010 EquiTrend annual brand equity poll, Komen is one of the most trusted nonprofit organizations in America.

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Romney And Republican 'Establishment' Responsible For Destroying GOP Enthusiasm Gap

2012-02-02T12:16:00.009-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Back in December USA TODAY/Gallup Swing States Poll showed a 61 to 47 percent enthusiasm gaps favoring Republicans over Democrats.

By the New Hampshire primary, after the Republican establishment attempted to push for the "Romney is inevitable meme," actual Republican turnout for the primaries had dropped 16 percent from the 2008 figures.

When you eliminate independents and Democrats from the 2008 equation, actual registered Republicans made up 61 percent of the roughly 239,000 votes cast in the GOP primary, putting the turnout among Republicans at around 145,790. But last night, actual Republicans only comprised 49 percent of the electorate, according to exits. Even if we round up the final 2012 turnout number to 250,000, which would be slightly higher than current projections, that would only leave actual Republican turnout at 122,500, which would represent a 16 percent drop.

Then Newt Gingrich ran right over Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary, winning with a 12 percent lead and the Republican establishment started pushing harder and harder against Newt Gingrich and for Mitt Romney.

Pew Research on January 30, 2012, released a report that shows in less than a month, from early January to the end of January, GOP voters rating the field fair or poor rose by 8 percentage points to 52 percent from 44 percent.

Those giving a positive excellent or good ratings to the GOP field dropped from 51 percent to 46 percent.

Then came Florida where Mitt Romney beat Newt Gingrich by 14 percent, but crunching the numbers showed a 14 percent drop from the 2008 figures despite an increase of 25,000 registered Republicans in Florida from four years ago, according to Reuters.

Furthermore:

"They are voting with their feet and simply not showing up," said Christopher Mann, a political science professor at the University of Miami.

Romney won 46 percent of the vote to closest rival Newt Gingrich's 32 percent in Tuesday's primary election.

But Florida Republicans were hardly swept off their feet by the former Massachusetts governor. In exit polls, four in 10 said they were not enthusiastic about their choice of candidates, according to exit polls.

Then we see that all the negative ads seem to be turning voters off as well.

As Southwest Florida heads to the polls, Many say they're frustrated with the barrage of attack ads.

They are direct and at times even back handed.

Romney spent $15 million on radio and TV spots in Florida. Gingrich over $3 million. Voters claim it's distracting them from what's important, hearing the candidates pitch for creating jobs and rejuvenating the economy.

So, lets take a look at where, when and who started with the negative ads.

Iowa, first caucus state, via New York Times:

A pro-Romney “super PAC” that has spent $2.85 million laying waste to Mr. Gingrich in Iowa plans close to $1 million worth of critical ads in Florida and South Carolina — the state Mr. Gingrich identifies as his “firewall,” where he still has a lead.

The concern surfaced in a recent conference call of South Carolina campaign leaders. “It’s something we’re concerned about,” said James Epley, the chairman for Beaufort County. “It’s made us more focused because we’ll have a real fight on our hands.”

The anti-Gingrich attack in Iowa is inescapable: 45 percent of political ads on television during December have been attacks on Mr. Gingrich, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group.

Many are the work of Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Mr. Romney, whose latest ad, “Whoops,” shows Mr. Gingrich admitting he erred in past positions he took on health care and global warming. Earlier attacks by the group hammered him for a consulting deal with Freddie Mac and accused him of “too much baggage.”

Jason Geary, the Gingrich campaign chairman in Woodbury County, said, “I’m on the phone trying to gain support” daily for Mr. Gingrich. He said people were telling him they wanted the candidate to fight fire with fire. “They wish for it,” he added.

The closest Mr. Gingrich has come to responding in kind on the airwaves has been an ad in which he referred to opponents in the mildest of terms, without naming anyone. “Others seem to be more focused on attacks rather than moving the country forward,” he said.

A super PAC that supports Mr. Gingrich, Winning Our Future, has an ad that takes a shot at Mr. Romney as the choice of the “liberal Republican establishment,” but it does not name him and mostly praises Mr. Gingrich as “a principled conservative.”

The group, run by former Gingrich aides, seems constrained by his vow to tell supporters not to contribute to any group that runs attack ads on his behalf.

That same article opines on how senior aides and grass-roots Gingrich supporters insisted that Gingrich had to fight fire with fire.

By the time the candidates hit South Carolina when Gingrich had started to punch back, Gingrich was still outspent by Romney and pro-Romney SuperPACS by 2 to 1, the majority of which were negative ads, but, Romney was trying to rewrite history by stating "I needed to make sure that instead of being outgunned in terms of attacks, that I responded aggressively — and hopefully that will have served me well here", then he added "You know, in South Carolina we were vastly outspent with negative ads attacking me and we stood back and spoke about President Obama and suffered the consequence of that."

But the truth is that Romney outspent Gingrich about 2-1 in South Carolina, and over 4-1 in here the Sunshine State. Romney has also deployed an army of surrogates to bombard Gingrich with negative soundbites and statements. And Gingrich unilaterally withheld from running negative ads in Iowa, and saw his poll numbers collapse in the state amid millions of dollars in attacks from a pro-Romney Super PAC.

One paragraph from LA Times shows a contrast that pro-Romney forces cannot spin.

Last month, Republican strategists pointed to small increases in turnout for the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary and the big jump in South Carolina as evidence that their voters were getting fired up about the campaign to come. Now, the big drop in Florida turnout has caused some to suggest that Romney has failed to excite voters.

Emphasis mine

(Note- The increase in Iowa was due to the participation of Independents and Democrats in the GOP caucus)

What was the difference between South Carolina and Florida? That is right, Gingrich won South Carolina and Romney won Florida.

Romney's over abundance of negativity and the Republican establishments interference because they want to choose who will be the Republican nominee instead of allowing voters to decide for themselves, has destroyed whatever enthusiasm Republicans had for the 2012 elections.

"I spent much of my academic career telling reporters, 'Relax, this is not the most negative campaign ever," said Ken Goldstein, president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, in an interview with CNN. "Well, this IS the most negative campaign ever." (Source)

The Bottom Line

Republican turnout was down in the states which Romney won and Republican turnout was up in the state Gingrich won.

Romney does not excite conservatives. While many will coalesce behind him if he wins enough delegates to become the Republican nominee, there is another segment that think he is no better than Obama and will not bother voting at all, handing Obama a win for reelection.

*Golf Clap* to the Republican establishment and Mitt Romney for turning what should have been an easy win into a possible defeat.

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Komen Won't Bow To Political Pressure Over Elimination Of Grants To Planned Parenthood

2012-02-02T11:09:00.004-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Background via NYT:

When the nation’s largest breast cancer advocacy organization considered in October cutting off most of its financial support to the nation’s largest abortion provider, the breast cancer group was hoping for a quiet end to an increasingly controversial partnership.

Instead, the organization, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, is now engulfed in a controversy that threatens to undermine one of the most successful advocacy campaigns. The foundation’s decision to eliminate most of its grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening caused a cascade of criticism from prominent women’s groups, politicians and public health advocates and a similarly strong outpouring of support from conservative women and religious groups that oppose abortion.

Now, leaders of both the Komen foundation and Planned Parenthood are accusing each other of bad faith and actions that undermine women. And two organizations dedicated to detecting and curing breast cancer have found themselves on opposite sides of the nation’s divisive debate over abortion.

Then Nancy Brinker, the charity’s founder and chief executive officer posted a video on YouTube, explaining the decision. (Video and description below)

Susan G. Komen has spent 30 years providing real help to low-income, uninsured and underinsured women, and recent changes to Komen's granting policies only reinforce our commitment. Recent reports about those policies aren't getting it right. See the real story from SGK Founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker in this "Straight Talk" video.

More from The Politico:

“We will never bow down to political pressure,” Brinker said. “The scurrilous accusations being hurled at this organization are profoundly hurtful to so many of us who put our heart, soul and lives into this organization. But more importantly, they are a dangerous distraction from the work that still remains to be done in ridding the world of breast cancer.”

JWF did a little bit of browsing through Planned Parenthood's website:

A quick visit to their website shows quick links to topics such as Abortion, Birth Control, Morning After Pill and Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The only mention in regards to breast cancer is their front page screed about Komen pulling their funding. So I decided to do a deep dive. Surely there is something there since they are screaming so loudly about how many mammograms they do. Under the general health tab I found this.

General health care services vary by location. They may include

anemia testing
cholesterol screening
diabetes screening
physical exams, including for employment and sports
flu vaccines
help with quitting smoking
high blood pressure screening
tetanus vaccines
thyroid screening

Finally, under the Women’s Health tab, I found a reference to breast cancer along with this information.

Planned Parenthood doctors and nurses teach patients about breast care, connect patients to resources to help them get vital biopsies, ultrasounds, and mammograms, and follow up to make sure patients are cared for with the attention they need and deserve.

Reading that I would come to the conclusion that Planned Parenthood doesn’t actually do the screenings but rather refer you to someone who will. In other words, breast cancer screenings were never high on their list of things to do.

This knee jerk reaction on the part of liberals over Planned Parenthood after a while becomes like the little boy who cried wolf.

Worth noting, then simply moving right along.....

[Update] Those darn mischievous pro-abortion activists hacked into the Komen for the Cure website to change headline the slogan "Help us run over poor women on our way to the bank."

Isn't hacking a crime? Why yes, it is.

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Donald Trump Tweets About 'Major Announcement' : UPDATE- Endorses Romney

2012-02-02T08:24:00.010-07:00

By Susan Duclos

[Update] Trump just endorsed Romney. (Headline changed to reflect the final outcome)

[Update] ABC News The Note:

Why would Romney want Trump’s nod when it could be more likely to turn voters off than turn them on to Romney? A Fox News poll last month found that Americans were nearly three times as likely to say they’d be less apt rather than more apt to vote for a candidate Trump endorsed, 27 percent to 10 percent. Two-thirds said it would make no difference.

Last night then against this morning Donald Trump, via his Twitter pages, said he would be arriving in Nevada at 11:30pm and had a major announcement regarding the presidential race and all media were welcome.

I will be making a major announcement tomorrow (Thursday, February 2) at 12:30 pm at Trump International Hotel & Tower, Las Vegas, Nevada. I will be arriving this evening at approximately 11:30 pm. The announcement will pertain to the Presidential race. All media welcome.

He reiterated that this morning.

According to KLAS-TV8 News Now, The Politico and The Hill, sources are saying that Trump's major announcement will be his endorsement for a GOP candidate and that candidate will be Newt Gingrich.

CNN on the other hand comes out with a breaking news announcement claiming that Trump is endorsing Romney according to their sources.

Donald Trump will endorse Mitt Romney for president, sources with knowledge of the endorsement tell CNN.

The Hill piece provides a little more background on Trump and Gingrich, from their meeting back in December as well as Gingrich publicly defending Gingrich over criticisms from other GOP candidates.

"This is a country that elected a peanut farmer to the presidency. This is a country that elected an actor who made two movies with a chimpanzee to the presidency," Gingrich said. "Donald Trump is a great showman; he's also a great businessman. I think one of the differences between my party and the other party is we actually go to people who know how to create jobs. We need to be open to new ways of doing things."

Nevada's GOP caucuses will be held on Saturday, February 14, 2012. Polling in Nevada shows Mitt Romney with a 20 point lead just two days before caucus goers cast their votes.

Stay tuned, will update with which candidate Trump endorses after he makes his announcement at 12:30pm this afternoon.

Newt Gingrich And Florida Residents Challenging Florida's Winner-Take-All Rule

2012-02-01T17:55:00.005-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Keep in mind when reading the post below that Gingrich won 34 out of 67 counties in Florida with Romney winning 33 counties.

Newt Gingrich to challenge the winner-take-all rule Florida adopted this year on the grounds that it is against the RNC's own rules which state that no state can be a winner-take-all state prior to April 1, 2012.

Fox News has learned exclusively that on Thursday, a Florida Gingrich campaign official will begin the process of trying to have the RNC rules enforced so that the Sunshine State delegates are distributed based on the percentage of the vote each candidate got.

RNC Chairman Reince Priebus warned Florida Republican Party Chairman Lenny Curry of the violation in a December letter quoting the rule, "...'winner-take-all' states cannot hold a primary or caucus before April 1, 2012."

RNC Memo HERE

Gingrich won 34 out of 67 counties in Florida and Mitt Romney won 33 counties. A proportional allocation of delegates which all states conducting primaries before April are supposed to use, would give Romney less delegates to add to his totals.

AllahPundit over at Hot Air, crunches the numbers:

Newt’s goal here, of course, is to signal to his supporters that he’s in the race for the long haul by scrapping for every available delegate. If Florida used the simplest possible proportional rules instead of “winner take all,” Romney would win 23 delegates from his 46 percent last night and Newt would win 16 — reducing a 50-delegate margin to just seven in one fell swoop. Problem is, the RNC’s already punished Florida once for moving its primary up by taking half its delegates away; if they forced them to go proportional on top of that, it would be an additional sanction. So, to compromise, they could in theory restore all of Florida’s delegates and then award those proportionally. That would mean, obviously, 46 for Mitt and 32 for Newt for a margin of 14. Team Mitt will battle to preserve the current “winner take all” scenario, but as we get closer to the convention, Florida pols will inevitably start demanding that all of the state’s delegates be seated notwithstanding its violation of RNC rules. (The same thing happened in the 2008 Democratic primary between Obama and Hillary, you may remember. Eventually the full Florida delegation was reinstated when the results of the primary became immaterial to Obama’s overall victory.) It’d be hard for the RNC under any circumstances to ignore claims that it’s disenfranchising swing-state Floridians by penalizing the state, but the convention this year is in … Tampa. Good luck telling half the Florida delegation to go home when they already are home. Which means if Mitt and Newt end up battling to the bitter end, the proportional scenario may be the compromise solution.

This is not the first discussion on this issue as Tampa Bay Tribune explained on January 26, 2012, and by ABC News on the 28th.

That's not guaranteed, however. All it takes is a registered Florida Republican to file a protest with the RNC, and the party's contest committee would have to consider the issue when it meets in August just before the convention.
"August is going to be a very tense month for those of us on the committee on contests. We could be the group that everybody loves or everybody hates," said Fredi Simpson, an RNC member from Washington state who sits on that committee and also helped write the rules.
Like other RNC members, Simpson thinks the rules clearly bar Florida from being winner-take-all. At an RNC meeting in August, members of the Presidential Nominating and Selection Committee passed a resolution calling for the RNC to enforce its rules for proportional delegates on states like Florida that set primaries earlier than April.
"Florida ought to be proportional, and it is up to the RNC legal office to figure out how they do that. That was absolutely the intention when we wrote that rule," said Pete Ricketts, an RNC member from Nebraska who served on the RNC committee appointed in 2008 to draw up delegate selection rules for 2012.

From the Gingrich memo:

Any registered Republican voter within the State of Florida is authorized to challenge the RNC's application (or lack of application) of Revised Rile 15(b)(2)with the RNC's Contest Committee and ultimately on the floor of the Republican Convention. Such a challenge would call upon the RNC to apply this rule as to the allocation of delegates for each and every state that conducts its binding primary or caucus prior to April 1, 2012. It is my understanding that such challenges have already been filed with the RNC with respect to the State of Florida.

It is important to note that RNC Rules supersede any state party rules or state statutes with respect to Republican Party delegate allocation. The rules as to the allocation and recording of delegates at the convention are completely and solely within the authority of the RNC.

The battle for Florida may be over but the battle for the Florida delegates may have just begun.

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Video- Mitt Romney: 'I'm Not Concerned About The Very Poor'

2012-02-01T10:12:00.005-07:00

By Susan Duclos

In context Romney says on CNN, "I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. “If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine. I’m concerned about the very heart of the America, the 90 percent, 95 percent of Americans who right now are struggling.”

Video below:

Safety nets, entitlements, welfare, food stamps, medicaid... that is Obama's answer, it should never be a GOP presidential candidate's answer.

More:

Host Soledad O’Brien pointed out that the very poor are probably struggling too.

“The challenge right now — we will hear from the Democrat party the plight of the poor,” Romney responded, after repeating that he would fix any holes in the safety net. “And there’s no question it’s not good being poor and we have a safety net to help those that are very poor . . . My focus is on middle income Americans ... we have a very ample safety net and we can talk about whether it needs to be strengthened or whether there are holes in it. but we have food stamps, we have Medicaid, we have housing vouchers, we have programs to help the poor.”

The goal should be getting everyone to the point where they don't need a "safety net", where they are working, earning enough to support their families.

If the GOP establishment gets their way, conservatives will have yet another Food Stamp presidential candidate by the name of Mitt Romney.

Jobs for everyone, especially the very poor should be the focus.

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Videos- Florida Primary 2012, Victory and Concession Speeches

2012-02-01T09:27:00.002-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Newt Gingrich concession speech:

Ron Paul Concession speech:

Rick Santorum concession speech:

Mitt Romney victory speech:

(Note- Email subscribers, click link to page to see video, some emails will not show the video.)

Romney Takes Florida: Breakdown, Gingrich Wins 34 Counties, Romney 33 Counties

2012-02-01T08:46:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Last night Mitt Romney won the Florida primary by 14 percent, 46/ 32 with Rick Santorum taking 13 percent and Ron Paul 7. The breakdown shows that Gingrich took all but three counties in the panhandle and Romney took all but five counties throughout the rest of the state. From CBS News' county by county page, we see Gingrich took 34 counties and Romney 33 counties.

The Panhandle counties are smaller, less people, tighter communities, which is how Romney can win less counties but still take the state.

According to Tampa Bay Times, if the final delegate totals are close enough and the 50 delegates that Romney won in Florida become all that makes or breaks this GOP race, because Florida changed it's proportional allocation rules to make it a winner-take-all state, "All it takes is a registered Florida Republican to file a protest with the RNC, and the party's contest committee would have to consider the issue when it meets in August just before the convention."

Screen Shot from NYT

4 down, 46 to go..... Next stop is Nevada with their caucuses being held Saturday, February 4, 2012.

Full GOP primary/caucus schedule HERE.

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Live Blogging/Discussion: Exit Polls And Results For GOP Florida Primary 1/31/12

2012-01-31T10:40:00.004-07:00

By Susan Duclos

(Starting the morning of 1/31/12, this post will be bumped to the top for the full day)Updates throughout the day will be added to the bottom of the post.

[Update- RACE CALLED] Romney, Gingrich, Santorum and Paul, respectively. More on the exact totals tomorrow.

Once again we will be joining with Right Pundits, with live blogging and discussion as we watch entrance and exit polls and keep track of the results of the Tuesday, January 31, 2012 GOP Florida primaries. The polls in Florida open at 7am ET and close at 7pm EST.

Join us!

2012 Florida Primary Results and Exit Polls

Eligibility: Only registered Republicans may participate in the Florida primary. Florida has 99 delegates but the Republican party has previous announced only half will count, as was the case in South Carolina, due to the states moving up their primary schedule and holding them before February 2012.

[Update- 1/31/12] Heading into the morning of the Florida primary, between submitted absentee ballots and early voting, over 600,000 votes have already been cast and Mitt Romney holds the lead over Newt Gingrich by 51% to 33%, according to CNN.

[Update- 1/31/12] While polling, except outliers, has Romney ahead of Gingrich, the Florida Tea Party Patriots conducted a straw poll which put Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum way ahead of Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.

Question: If the election were held today, who would you vote for?

Newt Gingrich 35%

Rick Santorum 31%

Mitt Romney 18%

Ron Paul 11%

Undecided/None of the Above 5%

(Results are rounded to nearest percentage point.)

When asked about enthusiasm, both Gingrich and Santorum received 35% saying they would be extremely enthusiastic about a Gingrich or Santorum nomination. Romney came in at 21% and Paul at 11%. (H/T DC)

[Update- 1/31/12] Via ABC News, Jonathan Karl asked Newt Gingrich how much longer he thought the battle for the Republican nomination would go on and Gingrich said six to eight more months "unless Romney drops out earlier."

More:

When I asked what he says to those who say the race will effectively be over if he loses big in Florida, Gingrich said, “You mean those who said I was dead in June? Those who said I was dead in December? They are about as accurate as they were the last two times they were wrong.”

[Update- 1/13/12] Analysis from Campaign Media Analysis Group shows that the Florida primary has seen "the most negative campaign ever," with 92% of the ads airing in Florida over the past week listed as negative.

Newt Gingrich's campaign ran 1,012 spots, 95% were negative. Mitt Romney's campaign ran 3,276 ads and 99% were negative.

[Update- 1/31/12] CBS News reports on early exit poll data show 2/3 said the debates mattered and 37 percent said Mitt Romney said Mitt Romney ran the most unfair campaign with 34 percent pointing to Newt Gingrich.

27 percent said they decided on which candidate to vote for in the last few days and 42 percent said they decided before that.

Half the early voters backed Romeny. The economy was cited by 62 percent as the most important issue. Federal budget deficit was cited by 24 percent.

57 percent were happy with the candidates on the ballot and 39 percent were not.

NEXT state the candidates will be heading to will be February 4, 2012, the Nevada caucuses.

Full GOP primary/caucus schedule HERE.

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Catholic Churches And Bishop of Marquette Punch Back At Obama's War On Religion

2012-01-31T10:38:00.006-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Just another reason why Barack Obama must be defeated in 2012.

Below is an example of a letter that Catholics across the country were read in Church, written by the Bishop of Marquette, via Business Insider:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Church in the United States directly, and that strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. The federal government, which claims to be "of, by, and for the people," has just been dealt a heavy blow to almost a quarter of those people -- the Catholic population -- and to the millions more who are served by the Catholic faithful.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees' health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception. Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those "services" in the health policies they write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies.
In so ruling, the Obama Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation's first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Obama Administration's sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.
We cannot--we will not--comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America's cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.
And therefore, I would ask of you two things. First, as a community of faith we must commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that wisdom and justice may prevail, and religious liberty may be restored. Without God, we can do nothing; with God, nothing is impossible. Second, I would also recommend visiting www.usccb.org/conscience, to learn more about this severe assault on religious liberty, and how to contact Congress in support of legislation that would reverse the Obama Administration's decision.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
+Alexander K. Sample
Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample
Bishop of Marquette

Professor Bainbridge gets right to the heart of the issue:

The Catholic Church believes--as an article of faith--that both the Church as an institution and its members as individuals have a religious duty to tend to everyone, not just fellow Catholics. Indeed, the whole point of the Parable of the Good Samaritan is that there is a moral obligation to help those in need without regard to who they are. In response to this teaching, Catholics have run social services like hospitals since the earliest days of the Church's history:

Another characteristic of Christian charity was the obligation and practice of hospitality (Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9; 3 John). The bishop in particular must be "given to hospitality" (1 Timothy 3:2). The Christian, therefore, in going from place to place, was welcomed in the houses of the brethren; but like hospitality was extended to the pagan visitoras well. Clement of Rome praises the Corinthians for their hospitality (Ep. ad. Cor., c. i) and Dionysius of Corinth for the same reason gives credit to the Romans (Eusebius, Church History IV.23). The bishop's house above all others was open to the traveller who not only found food and shelter there but was provided in case of need with the means to continue his journey. In some cases the bishop was also a physician so that medical attention was provided for those of his guests who needed it (Harnack, "Medicinisches aus d. ältestenKirchengesch." in "Texte u. Untersuchungen" VIII, Leipzig, 1892). The sick were also cared for in the valetudinaria of the wealthier Christians who in the spirit of charity extended hospitality to those who could not be accommodated in the bishop's house. There was thus from the earliest times a well organized system of providing for the various forms of suffering; but it was necessarily limited and dependent on private endeavour so long as the Christians were under the ban of a hostile State. Until persecution ceased, an institution of a public character such as our modern hospital was out of the question. it is certain that after the conversion of Constantine, the Christians profited by their larger liberty to provide for the sick by means of hospitals. But various motives and causes have been assigned to explain the development from private care of the sick to the institutional work of the hospital (Uhlhorn, I, 317 sq.). It was not, at any rate, due to a slackening of charity as has been asserted (Moreau-Christophe, "Du problème de la misère", II, 236; III, 527), but rather to the rapid increase in the number of Christians and to the spread of poverty under new economic conditions. To meet these demands, a different kind of organization was required, and this, in conformity with the prevalent tendency to give all work for the common weal an institutional character, led to the organization and founding of hospitals.

To force Catholics to differentiate between "a hospital or a school or an adoption agency" and "a church" is thus to deny us the right to practice our religion as we see fit.

Liberals complain they want religion out of politics but politicians like Barack Obama and his administration continue this war on religion and it is time the Church fought back.

LifeNews reports that at least three Catholic bishops have refused to comply with the Obama administration's mandate and 86 bishops who have spoken out against the Obama/HHS mandate publicly.

More on that:

.......According to Thomas Peters of CatholicVote.org here are some of the bishops have are opposed to the mandate and have urged their parishoners to contact Congress and the Obama administration to oppose it.
1. Roger Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles, CA (Emeritus)
2. Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York City, NY
3. Bishop Joe Vasquez of Austin, TX
4. Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis, MO
5. Bishop Thomas Omsted of Phoenix, AZ
6. Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit, MI
7. Archbishop John Nienstedt of Saint Paul & Minneapolis, MN
8. Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay, WI
9. Bishop Paul Etienne of Cheyenne, WY
10. Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, CT

Also, an expected lawsuit against the mandate could find itself moving all the way up to the Supreme Court which, as the Los Angeles Times notes, “recently affirmed — in a 9-0 ruling — that the 1st Amendment gives special leeway to religious employers.”

This is a direct, full frontal assault on religion and I repeat... Barack Obama must be defeated in November 2012.

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Nevada Caucus Alert For Newt Supporters

2012-01-31T10:03:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

While Florida primary voters are going to the polls today and will over 600,000 early votes and absentee votes already submitted, the Gingrich campaign is keeping in mind that the Nevada caucuses are this coming Saturday, February 4, 2012 and have sent out a Caucus Action Alert.

(Join us for live blogging/discussion on exit polls and results from the Florida primary with all day updates, HERE.)

They are offering a link for anyone interested in attending the caucus in support of Newt Gingrich at http://www.newt.org/nevada-caucus and additional information:

•Arrive half an hour before the Caucus begins.

•Bring Photo ID with you to register.

•If in Clark County, you may pre-register here: https://2012nvgopcaucus.com and take your pre-registration form with you to the Caucus. (You will still need photo ID at the Caucus site)

•Mingle and talk with people beforehand and talk about your support for Newt and ask them to vote for him.

•Identify the Caucus Site Manager and introduce yourself as a designated speaker on Newt Gingrich’s behalf.

•Use the speech provided at the caucus

•Anyone who would like to is allowed to monitor the vote count. Please do so to make sure that all votes are correctly counted and reported.

More HERE.

Full GOP primary/caucus schedule HERE.

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Gingrich Takes The Tea Party Patriots Florida Straw Poll

2012-01-31T09:22:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Following a tele-conference call with 6,000 nearly Tea Party activists participating, 600 of them also participated in the Florida Tea Party Patriots straw poll.

Question: If the election were held today, who would you vote for?

Newt Gingrich 35%

Rick Santorum 31%

Mitt Romney 18%

Ron Paul 11%

Undecided/None of the Above 5%

(Results are rounded to nearest percentage point.)

When asked about enthusiasm, both Gingrich and Santorum received 35% saying they would be extremely enthusiastic about a Gingrich or Santorum nomination. Romney came in at 21% and Paul at 11%. (H/T DC)

Note- This and other Florida primary day news is also being added to the live blogging/discussion of the Florida primary exit polls and results, as updates.

With Romney having outspent Gingrich and the other candidates by over 5 to 1 in Florida, mostly on negative television ads, and over 600,000 early votes and absentee votes submitted where Romney holds a large lead, this straw poll is simply another factor added in to the Florida primary day news.

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Video- Winning Our Future | Blood Money - Mitt Romney's 1990's Medicare Scandal

2012-01-30T16:01:00.004-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Pro-Gingrich SuperPAC, Winning Our Future, has launched MittsBloodMoney.com, showing the 7:42 minute mini-documentary called Blood Money.

Under "The Document's heading, the site explains:

Debating in Tampa, Florida in late-January, while falsely characterizing Newt Gingrich’s income from his government consulting work, Mitt Romney denied that Bain did “any work with the government like Medicaid and Medicare”. Now we learn that Bain, under Romney’s “supervision”, purchased and ran the Damon Corporation, who pled guilty to Federal conspiracy charges as a result of tens of millions of dollars in systemic Medicare fraud committed under Romney’s and Bain’s control. Damon was fined over $119-million which was, at the time, the largest criminal healthcare fine in Massachusetts history and Mr. Romney’s participation was characterized in 1996 by Corporate Crime Reporter thusly: “As manager and board member of Damon Corp, Mitt Romney sits at the center of one of the top 15 corporate crimes of the 1990’s.” Watch the substantiated mini-documentary, BLOOD MONEY: MITT ROMNEY’S MEDICARE SCANDAL, to learn the truth about Mitt Romney.

Video below:

PolitiFact takes the statement of the BloodMoney video above "While Romney was a director of the Damon Corporation, the company was defrauding Medicare of millions," and rates it "mostly true".

The ad claims that, "While Romney was a director of the Damon Corporation, the company was defrauding Medicare of millions." That's true, but Romney was never implicated personally with the fraudulent activity at the company, and it was one of many companies with which Bain was involved. It’s also difficult to assess whether Romney knew about the fraud or should have known, and what he did to stop it. So the statement is correct but leaves out context. We rate this statement Mostly True.

Wapo Fact Checker takes a look at the mini film and concludes:

The Damon case is certainly a valid subject for scrutiny of Romney’s business record. He was on the company’s board at the time criminal fraud was taking place, and his statements about his knowledge of the federal investigation have been inconsistent. But the film goes too far in suggesting that Romney was responsible for running the company — or that he sold it to avoid a federal probe.

Fact Check gives it two Pinocchios after that conclusion.

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The Billionaires Behind The Pro-Gingrich/Pro-Romney SuperPACS

2012-01-30T11:53:00.004-07:00

By Susan Duclos

This post highlights two billionaires, one the largest donor to the pro-Romney, "Restore Our Future" SuperPAC and the other the largest donor to the pro-Gingrich "Winning Our Future" SuperPAC.

As of August 2011 the largest individual contributor Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney SuperPAC, was New York resident, 55 year old John Paulson who according to his Forbes profile is a self made billionaire who made his fortune from hedge funds.

Via Paulson's Forbes profile:

Call it the Paulson paradox. While his flagship fund has tanked 30% so far this year, as bets on Bank of America, Citigroup and China's Sino Forest went south, his personal fortune is up 25%, year over year. Reason? The gold-denominated versions of his firm's funds, where he is said to have most of his personal stash, have gained steadily. Last year his take-home pay was $4.9 billion, a record for the hedge fund industry. He is donating $15 million to a new maternity hospital in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where his father was born. Paulson became a billionaire in 2007 shorting subprime securities and earning a $3.5 billion payout. He got his start at Odyssey Partners, a private equity and hedge fund and later became managing director of M&A at Bear Stearns. He founded Paulson & Co in 1994.

Forbes lists three key connections to Paulson, George Soros, James Simons and Steve Cohen. Listed under companies is JP Morgan Chase & Co. , Citi and AIG Group.

In July of 2011, The Politico reported that Paulson became "famous for enriching himself by betting on the collapse of the housing industry." According to Wall Street Journal, Paulson personally made between $3 and $4 billion, “the largest one-year payday in Wall Street history.”
More on the Paulson, Soros connection in the WSJ link above.

The largest individual contributors to Winning Our Future, the pro-Gingrich SuperPAC, was Las Vegas, NV. resident, 78 year old Sheldon Adelson who according to his Forbes profile is a self made billionaire who made his fortune from casinos. His wife Miriam also donated $5 million to the Winning Our Future SuperPAC.

Via Adelson's Forbes profile:

Casino king Sheldon Adelson continues to enjoy a hot hand. His fortune is up $7 billion since last year, as his strong position in the casino-crazy Asian markets has pushed stock of Las Vegas Sands up roughly 50% to a recent $48. (Shares once traded as low as $1.50 in 2009.) Nearly 90% of its operating profit comes from Asia; the thriving Marina Bay Sands casino opened in Singapore last year. Through his majority-owned subsidiary Sands China, Adelson has 3 resorts in Macau. His goal is to push company shares back over $100, near their 2007 peak. Not that he'll spend the money on himself: "The richer I get, the more money goes to cancer research." The cabdriver's son created the computer industry's marquee event, Comdex, in the mid-1980s. He sold it to Japan's Softbank for $862 million 1995 and later built the $1.5 billion Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the 1.2-million-square-foot Sands Convention Center in 1997 in Las Vegas. He opened the $1.9 billion Palazzo resort in 2008.

Forbes lists three key connections to Paulson, Kunio Busujima & Family, Phillip Ruffin and James Packer. Listed under companies is Las Vegas Sands , MGM Mirage and Wynn Resorts.

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Video- Newt 2012 Releases New Website: TalesofMitt.com

2012-01-30T11:06:00.005-07:00

By Susan Duclos

The Newt Gingrich campaign has launched a new website named the "Tales of Mitt", tracking Romney's falsehoods. The site covers the "Recent tales of Mitt," highlighting what they call five occasions during the CNN debate on January 26 where "Mitt Romney spun five mighty yarns to hide his record as a Massachusetts Moderate."

Those five are listed as "Voting Democrat", "Blind Trust", "Haven't Seen The Ad (Which I Approved)", "Half of Uninsured Got Insurance On Own", and "Romneycare Only Affects Uninsured".

The top video listed on the site at the moment is titled "Which Mitt is it? " (Shown below)

Via email announcement of the launch of Tales of Mitt"

As a public service to voters unable to follow and understand Mitt Romney’s changing positions and stories on just about every issue and element of his past, Newt 2012 launched a new website www.TalesofMitt.com.

The website will update as the primary campaign continues to document all of Mitt Romney’s flip flops and new stories trying to explain his liberal record.

“Trying to keep the site updated as rapidly as Governor Romney changes his positions and obscures about his past will be a daunting undertaking,” said Gingrich Spokesperson RC Hammond. “But we pledge to keep up with the deluge of material the Governor is sure to provide.”

TalesofMitt.com features text and video documenting Mitt Romney’s flip flops, prevarications and attempts to hide his history as a liberal Massachusetts Republican. The three videos up now include the previously released “What Kind of Man” and two new releases, “Which Mitt Is It?” and “Mitt’s Blind Trust Bluff.”

“On issues ranging from the facts about Romneycare to voting for Democrats, we can find Mitt Romney talking out of both sides of his mouth, with the only constant being his own political interest at a given moment in time,” said Hammond.

“Of course, the issue really isn’t the correct understanding of blind trusts, despite Romney’s convenient interpretations. It’s whether voters can trust Mitt Romney. And as we’ve seen in 1994, 2002, 2008, and 2012, Mitt Romney will say anything and change any position just to get elected,” Hammond continued.

With the Romney campaign and pro-Romney groups outspending the Gingrich campaign and pro-Gingrich groups by 4-to-1, the Gingrich campaign is utilizing social media, and counting on grassroots support to take him all the way to the GOP convention.

Others discussing the Tales of Mitt website are NRO, PJMedia and Newsmax.

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Gingrich Campaign Internal Memo: 'this race is just getting started'

2012-01-30T10:39:00.005-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Matt K. Lewis at The Daily Caller provides a little context, via a Gingrich campaign internal memo, to Gingrich's prediction of a "straight-out contest for the next 4 or 5 months."

The memo reiterates that the GOP race is "just getting started."

Additionally, the memo stresses that the proportional nature of the upcoming contests “essentially guarantees that no candidate will secure the nomination anytime soon and the map quickly becomes more favorable for Gingrich.”

More than 20 percent of the available delegates (467) will be awarded on Super Tuesday, and the memo notes that, one of the Super Tuesday states is Georgia, with 76 delegates at stake. To put that in perspective, “even if Romney wins Florida on Tuesday, he will only have 83 total delegates; Newt’s home state could effectively cancel out his entire delegate count to date.”

The memo also describes Tennessee (58) and Oklahoma (43) as “favorable” Super Tuesday states, and notes that just one week after Super Tuesday (March 13), 90 delegates will be in play in Alabama and Mississippi. And if the point that a Florida loss is survivable wasn’t already hammered home, the memo notes, “these 90 [delegates] alone are more than the 83 Romney will have in hand on Wednesday morning if he wins Florida.”

While the campaign memo downplays the importance of Florida, it hasn't stopped Gingrich from a last minute push and narrowing the Romney lead to single digits from double digits just a day before primary day. Neither has the fact that Romney and pro-Romney forces have outspent the Gingrich campaign and pro-Gingrich forces by over quadruple the amount.

Through Friday, the Romney campaign and the super PAC Restore Our Future had spent a combined $15,340,000, the source said. Gingrich’s campaign and the super PAC Winning Our Future spent a comparatively paltry $3,390,000.

Side Note- Spoke to my father who lives in Miami, Florida, this morning and he tells me the campaigns ads in Florida are inundating the airwaves.

Quote "Florida votes tomorrow, maybe then they will all go away!"

Poor Dad, he hates politics.

The Florida GOP Primary Pendulum Starts Swinging Back Towards Gingrich

2012-01-30T09:13:00.005-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Polling in Florida over the last two weeks has been like a pendulum swinging back and forth between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney and today, one of the first pollsters to originally see Romney surging to take the lead, Insider Advantage, is now seeing Gingrich surging yet again.

Lets go back a couple weeks and work our way forward.

Florida Polls:

January 17, 2012: Sunshine State News/VSS had Mitt Romney up in Florida by 26 percentage points. Public Policy Polling had Romney up by 15 percentage points.

January 18, 2012, CNN/Time had Romney up in Florida by 24 points.

After Gingrich's South Carolina win, where just days before Romney was up in the polls by a double digit lead, Gingrich came back from behind and beat Romney by 12 percentage points.

January 23, 2012: Both Insider Advantage and Rasmussen showed Newt Gingrich in the lead in Florida by 8 and 9 percentage points, respectively.

January 24, 2012: Public Policy Polling had Gingrich up by 5 points.

January 26, 2012: Insider Advantage along with Rasmussen and Monmouth/Survey USA, all were the first to list Romney ahead in the polls again by 8, 8 and 7 points respectively.

January 29, 2012: Romney's lead expanded to double digits, with Survey USA, NBC News/Marist, Miami Herald/Mason-Dixon and Rasmussen, showing Romney up by double digits ranging from 11 points to 16 points ahead of Gingrich.

We reach January 30, 2012, the day before the Florida primaries and Insider Advantage shows a late swing of that pendulum heading back in Gingrich's direction with Romney ahead only by 5 now.

Romney 36 percent
Gingrich 31 percent
Santorum 12 percent
Paul 12 percent
Other/Undecided 9 percent

Matt Towery, chief pollster of InsiderAdvantage told Newsmax, "The race will be tighter than expected."

Towery noted that his poll showed a surge for Romney on Wednesday, with him leading Gingrich by 8 points. The InsiderAdvantage poll was among the first to show Romney's resurgence after his dismal showing in the S. Carolina primary.

The InsiderAdvantage poll was also the first to show Gingrich's rise in S. Carolina and accurately forecast his win there.

"The trend is favoring Gingrich," Towery said, noting that while Romney's lead was still outside the margin of error of 3.8 percent, "It's not by much."

Towery said Gingrich is doing "substantially better" with men than Romney, 38 to 28, but the former House Speaker still faces a "gender gap," as women are still favoring Romney.

"Men are moving in droves to Gingrich and away from Romney," Towery said.

As for Florida's important Latino vote, InsiderAdvantage has Gingrich beating Romney by a large margin, leading 42 percent to 29 percent.

Is this surge for Gingrich to little, too late?

South Carolina taught us that a candidate can be ahead by double digits the week of the primary as Romney was and still end up losing by double digits as Romney lost to Gingrich.

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Newt Reiterates, He Is In It 'All The Way To The Convention': As It Should Be

2012-01-29T13:05:00.010-07:00

By Susan Duclos

In a previous post I published a video of Sarah Palin explaining how only 3 out of 50 states have weighed in on the GOP candidates via primaries and caucuses and how the process strengthens the eventual nominee, no matter who that candidates ends up being.

As of right now, Rick Santorum has won one state's caucuses (Iowa), Mitt Romney has won one primary state (New Hampshire) and Newt Gingrich has won one primary state (South Carolina).

Florida's primary is on Tuesday, January 30, 2012.

For those reading the mainstream media and think Florida is it.... remember that there is a Total Delegates 2286 and 1144 Delegates are needed for a GOP candidate to win the Republican nomination for President. (Numbers from NYT and CBS News)

Right now the count is:

Gingrich- 23
Romney- 19
Rick Santorum- 13
Ron Paul- 3
Jon Huntsman- 2 (Huntsman is no longer in the running)

Florida would have had 99 delegates but they are being penalized and half the delegates were taken away for conducting their primary before February 2012 which means 50 delegates will be awarded. (Correction made to number of delegates)

Note- South Carolina was also penalized and only half the delegates were awarded.

Taking all that into account, Palin is right in saying the process is just at it's beginning stages.

Which is why it makes perfect sense for Newt Gingrich, via Washington wire, predicting a "straight-out contest for next 4 or 5 months," stating that it is his intent to stay in the Republican presidential primary “all the way to the convention.

“This is a campaign about the future of America and the future of the Republican party. Do you want an insider who’s part of the city which has been accepting huge amounts of taxpayer money to prop up giant institutions or do you want somebody who’s prepared to challenge our system head on and insist on very dramatic change in Washington? I think that’s worth a serious debate and I think that debate will go all the way to the convention.”

He continued: “We have no evidence yet that Romney anywhere is coming close to getting the majority and I think when you take all of the non-Romney votes, it’s very likely that the convention will be a non-Romney majority and maybe a very substantial one. My job is to convert that into a pro-Gingrich majority.”

The full 2012 primary/caucus schedule can be found HERE.

(Correction made to this post)

Michael Reagan Will Be Appearing At January 30, 2012 Events With Newt Gingrich: Gingrich, Romney Event Details

2012-01-29T12:02:00.005-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Michael Reagan will joining Newt Gingrich for a number of events to be held in Florida, in Jacksonville, Pensacola, Tampa, Fort Meyers and Orlando on Monday, January 30, 2012, just one day before Florida's primary day.

Event details below:

Jacksonville Grassroots Rally
7:30 am EST-9:30am EST
Location: Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront
225 East Coastline Drive
Jacksonville, FL 32202
*Press Bus Stop

Pensacola Grassroots Rally
10:00am ET/9:00 am CT-12:00 pm ET/11:00 am CT
Location: Pensacola Aviation Center
4145 Jerry L Maygarden Road
Pensacola, FL 32504

Tampa Grassroots Rally
1:00pm EST-3:00pm EST
Location: Tampa Jet Center
4751 Jim Walter Boulevard
Tampa, FL 33607
*Media Avail
*Press Bus Stop

Ft. Meyers Grassroots Rally
3:00pm EST-5:00pm EST
Location: Page Field
4700 Terminal Drive
Fort Meyers, FL 33907

Orlando Crossing the Finish Line Rally
6:00pm EST -8:00pm EST
Location: Renaissance Airport Hotel
5445 Forbes Place
Orlando, FL 32812
*Press Bus Stop

*Overnight in Orlando, FL

Michael Reagan has endorsed Gingrich for the GOP nominee for President in 2012.

"I am endorsing Newt Gingrich for President and here's why:

Newt understands that we must reject and fundamentally change the course that Barack Obama has set for America.

Newt is our only chance in 2012 to contrast a Reagan conservative with Obama's European' styled socialism.

Newt exemplifies the conservative principles my father championed.

Strong national defense, lower taxes and smaller government.

In the 90’s Newt's leadership brought us the Contract with America which changed Washington.

I’m confident Newt can do it again.

We cannot afford a candidate backed by the same Washington insiders who repeatedly tried to undermine my father and the Reagan revolution.

It's time to choose.

Do we go forward with bold ideas or continue with failed policies?

So I ask my fellow Republicans and conservatives to join me in supporting Newt Gingrich for president."

Two days until primary day and the battle continues to heat up in Florida.

No doubt Florida will be relieved to see the media, the candidates, the campaigns and the pollsters move to Nevada, which is the next state in the primary/caucus schedule.

For Mitt Romney supporters, event details below: (via Romney's website)

When: January 30, 2012 - 8:00am - 9:30am
Host: Team Florida
Where: Ring Power Lift Trucks 8040 Philips Highway, Jacksonville, FL 32217

When: January 30, 2012 - 2:30pm - 3:30pm
Host: Team Florida
Where: Pioneer Park 420 Main Street, Dunedin, FL 34698

(Post updated with Romney's January 30, 2012 event details)

Video- Sarah Palin On The Politics Of Personal Destruction

2012-01-29T11:00:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Video below is from January 28, 2012, where she discusses what she has seen happening in Florida, who drew first blood with negative attack ads and the politics of personal destruction.

Palin also points out that only three states have gone through the primary or caucus process, leaving 47 states left to weigh in.

The whole video above is well worth watching.

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300 Occupiers Arrested In Oakland California

2012-01-29T10:50:00.004-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Occupiers are tired of being ignored has beens so decided to get rowdy, burning flags, destroying equipment, vandalizing and generally breaking as many laws as they could to get arrested and drum up some attention.

Via Wapo:

Dozens of police maintained a late-night guard around City Hall following daylong protests that resulted in 300 arrests. Occupy Oakland demonstrators broke into the historic building and burned a U.S. flag, as officers earlier fired tear gas to disperse people throwing rocks and tearing down fencing at a convention center.

[...SNIP...]

Quan said that at one point, many protesters forced their way into City Hall, where they burned flags, broke an electrical box and damaged several art structures, including a recycled art exhibit created by children.

She blamed the destruction on a small “very radical, violent” splinter group within Occupy Oakland.

“This is not a situation where we had a 1,000 peaceful people and a few violent people. If you look at what’s happening today in terms of destructing property, throwing at and charging the police, it’s almost like they are begging for attention and hoping that the police will make an error.”

Since Barack Obama incited the original Occupy movement and Democratic politicians embraced, encouraged and supported them and San Fran Nan Pelosi herself "blessed" them... I say give them all the attention they want to remind voters of the divisive class open warfare Barack Obama has pushed for in this country.

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Rick Santorum Cancels Campaign Events As Daughter Is Admitted To Hospital

2012-01-29T10:07:00.004-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Republican Presidential hopeful, Rick Santorum, has cancelled his Sunday events to be at his three year old daughter, Bella Santorum's bedside after she was admitted to the hospital yesterday.

Via Philly.com:

Santorum campaign spokesman Hogan Gidley said Saturday night that the former Pennsylvania senator and his wife, Karen, were with Bella at CHOP. Gidley said Santorum planned to return to campaigning as soon as possible in Florida, where the Republican primary is Tuesday.

Bella Santorum has Trisomy 18, a genetic condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 18th chromosome. Bella was not expected to survive until her first birthday and concerns over her health have canceled previous Santorum campaign events.

Keep baby Bella and the whole Santorum family in your thoughts and prayers.

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Herman Cain and Latino Leaders Endorse Newt Gingrich

2012-01-29T08:41:00.006-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Another local Florida poll comes out, this one countering the Dixie Strategies/First Coast News poll that had Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in a dead heat in Florida, the Miami Herald/El Nuevo Herald/Tampa Bay Times poll has Mitt Romney ahead of Gingrich by 11 percentage points.

Other polls show the swinging pendulum of polling results is definitely favoring Romney in Florida, while nationwide Gingrich is maintaining his lead over Romney according to NBCNews/Wall Street Journal and Gallup.

Normally, with this type of lead in Florida just days from primary day, one would assume Romney had Florida locked down, but as South Carolina showed the country, it only takes a couple of days for the whole race to turn on in the opposite direction. On the Tuesday before the South Carolina Primary, Romney was up in the polls by 15 points and by the weekend Gingrich was ahead and was declared the winner within minutes of the polls closing.

A reminder of what was written here yesterday:

Pollsters be damned, the only pattern seen over the last two weeks has been a pendulum swinging back and forth and depending on which candidate's side that pendulum is favoring on the day of the primaries, that will be the candidate that takes Florida.

What this tells us is that each state is going to count.

With Santorum having won the Iowa Caucuses, Romney having taken the New Hampshire primary and Gingrich beating Romney by 12 points in the South Carolina primary, every state, every delegate is going to be hard fought.

Just days before January 31, 2012, Primary day, it seems like everyone is throwing themselves into the fray that has become Florida.

The Tampa Tribune endorsed Gingrich in this mornings edition.

Herman Cain jumped into the mix yesterday to "officially and enthusiastically" endorse Newt Gingrich.

Sarah Palin took to her Facebook page to call the Republican establishment "cannibals" for their attacks against Newt Gingrich.

Rudy Giuliani praised Newt Gingrich and criticized Mitt Romney as a flip-flopper.

Actor John Voight, joined Mitt Romney at a rally held at the Fish House in Pensacola, Florida and gave his endorsement.

Chair National Republican Hispanic Alliance Florida, Nancy C. Acevedo joined in with other Hispanic leaders across the country to send an open letter to Mitt Romney on why they cannot support him but are supporting Newt.

Rosario Marin and a group of other Latino leaders endorsed the former House Speaker’s bid for the GOP nomination.

Former Fort Lauderdale mayor and U.S. Congressman E. Clay Shaw and his wife, Emille, endorsed Mitt Romney two days ago.

The TEA Party of Florida, the only political tea party registered with the state Division of Elections, has endorsed Newt Gingrich as has The Florida Tea Party Coalition With Newt, just days after an ABC News report showed that Florida Tea Party supporters find Gingrich's "beating the pavement" more appealing than Romney's paid ads.

The battle for Florida continues............

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Video Flashbacks: John McCain 2008 Attack Ads Against Mitt Romney

2012-01-28T13:29:00.005-07:00

By Susan Duclos

With John McCain's recent endorsement of Mitt Romney, it is worth a minute to remember why John McCain thought back in 2008 that Mitt Romney would not be good for America as president.

First the John McCain ad titled "A Tale Of Two Mitts"

Second video below titled "Health Care Alert."

As I said in response to Mike Huckabee complaining about his 2008 attack ads against Romney being used in the 2012 campaign season, "politicians should remember before they publish ads that those ads or portions of them can and will be used in the future."

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Video- Mike Huckabee’s Original Attack Ad Against Romney In 2008

2012-01-28T12:55:00.007-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Mike Huckabee is complaining that the Newt Gingrich campaign used part of an ad that Huckabee himself used against Mitt Romney in 2008.

Fact is the Mike Huckabee attack ad against Mitt Romney is part of the public record, was shown in 2008 despite Huckabee's claim that publishing the ad was a "mistake" it ran in Iowa at least 10 times on four different stations in Davenport and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

I call: FAIR use.

[ UPDATE] Huckabee claims the ad was "taken out of context" and were also " deceptive" because he was not referring to Romney. (Source)

Watch it, he specifically names Romney!!

Original 2008 Huckabee attack ad shown below:

Beginning text of Huckabee attack ad:

"I'm Mike Huckabee and I approved this message because Iowans have a right to know the truth about Mitt Romney's dishonest attacks on me and even an American hero John McCain..."

"Then the narrator before Huckabee himself continues with "If a man's dishonest to obtain a job, he'll be dishonest on the job. Iowans deserve better"

[End Update]

Nowhere in the Gingrich ad does it claim that Huckabee is endorsing him and politicians should remember before they publish ads that those ads or portions of them can and will be used in the future.

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Videos- 1999 CNN Report On Newt Gingrich's Exoneration By The IRS Over Ethics Charges

2012-01-28T12:05:00.006-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Video below via Townhall, who writes "Of the 84 ethics charges filed (exclusively by Democrats) against Newt Gingrich, 83 were subsequently dropped due to a complete lack of merit or foundation in fact. The remaining charge is the subject of the below video. It too proved to be utterly baseless.

It's always good to keep the record straight."

This puts a bright light on Mitt Romney's latest television ad called "History Lesson," using a 1997 clip of NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw from Jan. 21, 1997, where Brokaw said "Good evening. Newt Gingrich, who came to power, after all, preaching a higher standard in American politics, a man who brought down another Speaker on ethics accusations, tonight he has on his own record the judgment of his peers, Democrat and Republican alike," to inherently and deliberately mislead Florida voters.

Ad below:

NBC has requested that Mitt Romney stop airing the ad using NBC News materials.

The NBC legal department has written a letter to the campaign asking for the removal of all NBC News material from their campaign ads. Similar requests have gone out to other campaigns that NBC says have inappropriately used clips from “Nightly News,” “Meet the Press,” “Today” and MSNBC material.

Is it any wonder that Newt Gingrich's new ad specifically says Mitt Romney is willing to "mislead, distort, and deceive just to win an election."

Ad below:

This type of dishonesty may be one reason that Mitt Romney's negativity rating has surged 20 points with Independents since November.

Seems ironic that Mitt Romney is going after Newt Gingrich using ethics charges that he was exonerated from by using questionable ethics of his own.

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Florida Tea Party Leaders Jump Into The Fray, Endorses Newt Gingrich

2012-01-28T11:27:00.007-07:00

By Susan Duclos

TEA Party of Florida, the only political tea party registered with the state Division of Elections, has endorsed Newt Gingrich as has The Florida Tea Party Coalition With Newt, just days after an ABC News report showed that Florida Tea Party supporters find Gingrich's "beating the pavement" more appealing than Romney's paid ads.

Unlike Romney, thousands of Floridians have flocked to Gingrich’s events, hoping to shake hands with the presidential candidate and voice their concerns. That kind of enthusiasm, experts say, could well overcome Romney’s considerable financial advantage.

“Newt is everywhere here,” Ingram, a Tampa resident, said. “Where is Romney? He’s on television with the paid stuff. But the enthusiasm that’s being shown by the folks at the Gingrich rally, that translates into real votes. Anybody who shows up at a rally, they are darn well going to vote for them on Election Day.”

Tea Party darling Sarah Palin, while not endorsing Newt Gingrich, has stepped in to the battle for Florida as well by tearing into the Republican establishment that has thrown all but the kitchen sink at Gingrich in an attempt to influence Florida primary voters after Gingrich easily beat Romney in South Carolina and rose in the nation polls.

National pollsters show Romney ahead of Gingrich in Florida, yet local pollsters have the race at a dead heat between the two candidates with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul in third and fourth place, respectively.

Florida Primary day, Tuesday, January 31, 2012, promises to be very interesting.

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Local Polling Has Gingrich, Romney In Dead Heat. ... A Secret About Floridians

2012-01-28T08:54:00.008-07:00

By Susan Duclos

"And with another day we get another fresh round of polling showing one of two things: either the good citizens of Florida are prone to fits of multiple personality disorder or the pollsters are just having some fun with us."--- Jazz Shaw, Hot Air

It has been one week since Newt Gingrich came from being double digits in polling behind Mitt Romney and handily won the South Carolina primary with a 12 percentage point lead.

Then the candidates all went to Florida. Poor Florida has been subject to media hell, polling hell and campaign ad hell. Polling in Florida, has swung from one direction to another on the turn of a dime.

For example, heading to Florida from South Carolina, Mitt Romney was way ahead in the polls. Just days later, Newt Gingrich was in the lead, then the polls swung back to Romney and yesterday the local pollster Dixie Strategies/First Coast News released their findings, and has the GOP presidential race in Florida at a dead heat between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul coming in third and fourth, respectively.

When asked, "If the Republican Presidential Primary were held today, for whom would you vote?," 35.46 percent of the 2,567 likely voters polled selected former House speaker Gingrich, and 35.08 percent selected Romney.

The same question showed former senator Rick Santorum in a distant third place with 9.38 percent, followed by Ron Paul's 7.42 percent.

The full Dixie Strategies/First Coast News opinion survey can be found HERE.

Let's take a look at what is happening in Florida, via campaign ads: (Source ABC News)

Pro-Romney forces are using the vast majority of the $13.9 million they’ve spent to buy up television airtime on broadcast stations in the Miami, Tampa and Orlando areas – population centers that will be critical to the former Massachusetts governor’s hopes of winning the state.

Gingrich is following a similar pattern, and Winning Our Future is also spending more than $1 million on radio ads. Cumulatively his campaign and the super PAC supporting him has purchased roughly $3.8 million of television and radio time.

Winning Our Future pledged $6 million would be spent in Florida leading up to Primary day Tuesday, January 31, 2012.

With quadruple the amount of money spent to date, on primarily negative ads in Florida against Gingrich, one would think that Romney's lead would be steady, not the back and forth we have seen and Romney's ads started in Florida before the candidates even left South Carolina.

Yet the candidates, according the local polling, are statistically tied.

That is because something else has been in play. With Gingrich ahead nationally, according to Gallup, by eight points and Gallup stating "with no sign in Gallup Daily tracking from Jan. 22-26 that Gingrich is giving back any of his recent gains," the Republican establishment and the conservative media elite, who thought the "Romney is inevitable" meme was a foregone conclusion, decided to jump in and attempt to influence voters by throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Gingrich.

"What we saw with this ridiculous opposition dump on Newt was nothing short of Stalin-esque rewriting of history. It was Alinsky tactics at their worst."---- Sarah Palin, via Facebook

Having been born in Florida and living in Miami for the majority of 30 plus years before leaving the state, let me tell you a secret about Floridians.

Floridians like a good fight, they don't even mind if candidates roll around in the mud battling it out, but they don't like to be pushed, shoved or have anything rammed down their throat.

You can nudge them to attempt to alter their trajectory, but you push them, they are as likely to push you back as they are to bitch-slap you into the next county.

Pollsters be damned, the only pattern seen over the last two weeks has been a pendulum swinging back and forth and depending on which candidate's side that pendulum is favoring on the day of the primaries, that will be the candidate that takes Florida.

If Mitt Romney wins Florida, it will not be because of the Republican establishment or the conservative side of the elite media's interference, it will be despite it.

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Sarah Palin: Cannibals in GOP Establishment Employ Tactics of the Left

2012-01-27T17:41:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

"What we saw with this ridiculous opposition dump on Newt was nothing short of Stalin-esque rewriting of history. It was Alinsky tactics at their worst."--- Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin, via her Facebook page, takes a strip out of the Republican establishment's hide.

We have witnessed something very disturbing this week. The Republican establishment which fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today has adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent.

Read the entire thing, well worth the couple minutes it will take.

The Republican establishment is doing everything in their power to force their choice of Mitt Romney down our, the voters, throats. Palin notices it and points to the tactics they are using against Newt Gingrich to do it.

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27% Of State of the Union Viewers Tuned Out On Obama In First Five Minutes

2012-01-27T14:36:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Kantar Media, who monitors the media for global clients, analyzed the data from eight networks showing Barack Obama give the SOTU address and found that 27 percent of those watching tuned out in the first five minutes.

Via TVNewser:

Kantar used second-by-second audience data gleaned from set-top boxes connected to TV sets from 9pm – 10:30pm. It found:

In the first five minutes, 27% of the audience tuned away.

The networks that benefited the most from the initial tune-away were TBS, USA, and ESPN

CBS and FOX showed sharp losses in viewers at the top of the program, while ABC and NBC showed noticeable gains.

Tune-away was gradual as the speech progressed. No individual topics drove significant audience loss.

After the speech, Fox News Channel quickly gained viewers, becoming the second-most watched network after NBC. This gain presumably was in anticipation of the Republican response (seen in the second graph after the jump).

State of the Union Audience Analysis 2012

As can be seen in the 2nd graph in the embed above, by the end of the hour-and-a-half time frame Kantar analyzed, when Obama had finished and Mitch Daniels was making his 11 minute rebuttal, there were nearly as many on fox and tuning into Fox to see Daniels as those that ended up watching until the end of the SOTU from Obama.

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Pro-Romney Ads Outspending Pro-Gingrich Ads In Florida By Quadruple

2012-01-27T14:15:00.004-07:00

By Susan Duclos

A report from ABC News shows that negative advertising whether we like it or not, works.

Romney ads and pro-Romney SuperPAC ads are outspending Gingrich and pro-Gingrich SuperPAC ads by quadruple the dollar amount.

So far, Romney has bought $5.6 million worth of airtime and the pro-Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future, has shelled out a whopping $8.2 million, according to a Republican media buyer who is tracking ad spending in the state.

Compare that to $837,000 spent by the Gingrich campaign and the nearly $3 million of airtime bought by Winning Our Future, a super PAC supporting the former House speaker, and it’s easy to understand one reason why Gingrich has slipped in the most recent polls in the Sunshine State.

Pro-Romney forces are using the vast majority of the $13.9 million they’ve spent to buy up television airtime on broadcast stations in the Miami, Tampa and Orlando areas – population centers that will be critical to the former Massachusetts governor’s hopes of winning the state.

Gingrich is following a similar pattern, and Winning Our Future is also spending more than $1 million on radio ads. Cumulatively his campaign and the super PAC supporting him has purchased roughly $3.8 million of television and radio time.

Florida polling has shown, in the last week alone, Romney ahead of Gingrich, then Gingrich ahead of Romney and now back to Romney ahead.

According to the ABC News report, the pro-Gingrich SuperPAC Winning Our Future is pledging to buy up $6 million in airtime before next Tuesday's primaries. With seesawing of polls within the last week, it is possible that the Winning Our Future SuperPAC is waiting for weekend to have the biggest impact closer to Florida primary day.

Today the Gingrich campaign has released a new ad, called "What Kind of Man?, video shown and discussed HERE. While ABC News did reference this new ad, it is unclear if the ad is included in the totals they quoted.

Video- Newt 2012 Releases New Florida TV Ad: "What Kind of Man?"

2012-01-27T13:00:00.005-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Via email we knew it was coming, but waited until the actual ad was released before reporting on it. The ad is called "What Kind of Man?", and it references the misleading ads, distortion and lies that were covered here at Wake up America last night and this morning in detail, here, here, and here. (Links in order from most recent to oldest.)

Video below:

Using the text I received from the Gingrich campaign because it provides the source links of the criticisms made in the ad itself.

Governor Huckabee: "If a man's dishonest to get a job, he'll be dishonest on the job." (Source)

Narrator: What kind of man would mislead, distort, and deceive just to win an election?

This man would. Mitt Romney. Romney said he has always voted Republican when he had the opportunity.

But in the 1992 Massachusetts Primary, Romney had the chance to vote for George H.W. Bush or Pat Buchanan, but he voted for a liberal Democrat instead. (Source)

Romney said his investments in Fannie and Freddie were in a blind trust.

But as reported in the National Journal, Romney earned tens of thousands of dollars from investments NOT in a blind trust. (Source)

Romney denied seeing a false ad his campaign used to attack Newt Gingrich. But Romney's own campaign paid for the ad...and Romney's own voice is on the ad approving the content. (Source)

If we can't trust what Mitt Romney says about his own record, how can we trust him on anything?

Florida has seen a massive seesawing of support that favored Romney heavily, then swung to heavily favoring Gingrich, then back again toward Romney, all in less than a week, showing that four days before the Florida primaries next Tuesday, it is not out of the realm of possibility to see another two or three swings before next Tuesday's primaries.

Hispanics make up over 13 percent of Florida's registered voters and both campaigns have released open letters aimed at the opposing candidate by Hispanic leaders over recent days.

Romney released an open letter to Gingrich from Hispanic leaders criticizing an ad the Gingrich campaign had running in Florida, calling Romney anti-immigrant, urging Gingrich to take the ad down, which he then had removed from the airwaves.

Gingrich released an open letter to Romney from Hispanic leaders explaining why they could not support Romney and listing the reasons they have decided to support Gingrich.

(Both letters in full with signers, found at an earlier WuA post, HERE.)

The Florida primaries are to be held on Tuesday, January 31, 2012.

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America Before President Obama Took Office and Now: One Chart Tells The Story

2012-01-27T12:36:00.004-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Sometimes a clear side by side visual says more than a million written words ever could. Such a visual has been made available from Representative Dave Camp (R-MI), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, who publishes a comparison chart which shows the numbers before Obama and after Obama. These are things Barack Obama "conveniently omitted from his SOTU speech."

America Before President Obama Took Office and Now

	Before	Now	Change
Number of Unemployed¹	12.0 Million	13.1 Million	+9%
Long-Term Unemployed²	2.7 Million	5.6 Million	+107%
Unemployment Rate³	7.8%	8.5%	+9%
“High Unemployment” States⁴	22	43	+95%
Misery Index⁵	7.83	11.46	+46%
Price of Gas⁶	$1.85	$3.39	+83%
“Typical” Monthly Family Food Cost⁷	$974	$1,013	+4%
Median Value of Single-Family Home⁸	$196,600	$169,100	-14%
Rate of Mortgage Delinquencies⁹	6.62%	10.23%	+55%
U.S. National Debt¹⁰	$10.6 Trillion	$15.2 Trillion	+43%

¹Number of unemployed in January 2009 and December 2011. http://www.bls.gov/data/#unemployment.
² “Long-term unemployed” means for over 26 weeks; data for January 2009 and December 2011. http://www.bls.gov/data/#unemployment.
³ Unemployment rates in January 2009 and December 2011. http://www.bls.gov/data/#unemployment.
⁴ “High unemployment” means having a 3-month average unemployment rate of 6% or higher. From the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “Extended Benefits Trigger Notice” for January 18, 2009 and January 22, 2012. http://www.ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/trigger/2009/trig_011809.html and http://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/euc_trigger/2012/euc_012212.html.
⁵ The “Misery Index” equals unemployment plus inflation. For January 2009 and December 2012. http://www.miseryindex.us/indexbymonth.asp.
⁶ Average retail price per gallon, January 2009 week 3 and January 2012 week 4. http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=EMM_EPMR_PTE_NUS_DPG&f=W.
⁷ U.S. Department of Agriculture, values represent monthly “moderate” cost per family of four for January 2009 and November 2011. http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/USDAFoodCost-Home.htm.
⁸ U.S. median sales price of existing single-family homes for metropolitan areas for 2008 and 2011 Q3. http://www.realtor.org/research/research/metroprice.
⁹ Residential mortgage delinquencies (real estate loans) for 2008 Q4 and 2011 Q3. http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/chargeoff/default.htm.
¹⁰ Values for January 21, 2009 and January 23, 2012. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np.

H/T Joel B. Pollak, via BG.

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Romney Lies In FL. Debate About Not Voting For A Dem If Rep Was On Ballot

2012-01-27T11:26:00.007-07:00

By Susan Duclos

It is campaign season, voters are used to, and in fact expect, to a certain degree, for candidates to exaggerate, to make campaign speeches specific to the state they are in, to personalize their theme to connect to the voters of that state.

What voters do not expect is outright lies.

Last night, Newt Gingrich said to Mitt Romney (via CNN transcript) "In '92 he was donating to the Democrats for Congress and voted for Paul Tsongas in the Democratic primary."

In response, Mitt Romney said "Just a -- just a short clarification. I -- I've never voted for a Democrat when there was a Republican on the ballot. And -- and in my state of Massachusetts, you could register as an independent and go vote in which -- either primary happens to be very interesting. And any chance I got to vote against Bill Clinton or Ted Kennedy, I took. And so I -- I'm...

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: ...I have voted -- I have always voted for a Republican any time there was a Republican on the ballot. With regards to the Speaker's involvement in the Reagan years, he can speak for himself. The Reagan Diaries and the other histories that were written at that time can lay that out as well. I -- I -- I think, I think what he said speaks for itself and I'm proud of the things I was able to accomplish."

There were two primaries that year, a Democratic one and a Republican one and Romney did, and admitted, to voting in the Democratic primary for Paul Tsongas in 1992.

His reasoning for doing so changed over the years.

Two years later, when he announced he would seek the Republican Senate nomination to challenge Ted Kennedy, Romney told the Boston Globe about his vote for Tsongas.

"Romney confirmed he voted for former U.S. Sen. Paul Tsongas in the state's 1992 Democratic presidential primary, saying he did so both because Tsongas was from Massachusetts and because he favored his ideas over those of Bill Clinton," the Globe reported on Feb. 4, 1994. "He added he had been sure the GOP would renominate George Bush, for whom he voted in the fall election."

By 2007, in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Romney admitted it again but gave another explanation for his vote. (Via ABC News)

"In Massachusetts, if you register as an independent, you can vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary," said Romney, who until he made an unsuccessful run for Senate in 1994 had spent his adult life as a registered independent. "When there was no real contest in the Republican primary, I’d vote in the Democrat primary, vote for the person who I thought would be the weakest opponent for the Republican."

In last night's debate when Romney said "I've never voted for a Democrat when there was a Republican on the ballot," he lied.

There was a Republican on the ballot, the Republican primary ballot, which Romney consciously chose not to vote in.

This type of behavior is what I spoke about earlier. Blaming others, claiming he isn't "aware" of what his own campaign is doing and outright lies.

Mitt Romney is still reminding me of Barack Obama.

If I wanted another Barack Obama in the White House, I would go ahead and register as a Democrat and vote for him.

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Competing Hispanic Leaders Open Letters To Newt Gingrich/Mitt Romney

2012-01-27T10:35:00.006-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 are the Florida Republican primaries and all the candidates want the Hispanic vote. Florida has approximately 1.5 million Hispanic voters, representing 13.1% of all registered voters in the state.

That is a large bloc of voters.

Within the last three days we have seen two separate instances where Hispanic leaders have written an open letter to a Republican candidate.

The first was to Newt Gingrich, asking that he take down a campaign ad in which he calls Mitt Romney anti-immigrant.

Gingrich had the ad taken down.

Text of letter to Gingrich below:

Dear Speaker Gingrich,

Recently, you began airing a Spanish-language radio advertisement in Miami where you attack Governor Romney for being “anti-immigrant.”

This advertisement is untrue, offensive and unbecoming a candidate for the Republican nomination for President.

We are writing to you today to pull down this offensive radio ad.

Immigration is an important issue not just for Hispanic Republicans, but for our country.

President Obama and his liberal allies have worked hard to caricature all Republicans as being “anti-immigrant.” Your radio ad borrows from those talking points, hurts the progress that Republicans have made with Hispanics, and undermines our party’s efforts to win Hispanics over on economic and limited government arguments.

For a Republican candidate for President to reinforce President Obama’s attacks on Republicans is counterproductive, and damaging to the national dialogue on immigration issues. It will also help President Obama get reelected.

Governor Romney has worked aggressively to campaign among all Americans, including Hispanics. His message of economic opportunity and limited government are the same principles that have been espoused by conservatives and rallied Hispanics to our party since Ronald Reagan. Governor Romney understands that America should remain a land of opportunity for anyone willing to come here, work hard, and play by the rules.

While we may have differences of opinion with regard to some of Governor Romney’s policies on immigration, we nonetheless stand firmly behind him because we know he is the most qualified conservative candidate to defeat President Obama and to lift up all Americans, including Hispanics.

Like your attacks on the free market, attacking Mitt Romney as “anti-immigrant” only serves President Obama and his liberal allies.

Mr. Speaker, our party deserves better.

Sincerely,

Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
Senator Mel Martinez
Raquel A. Rodriguez
Zoraida Fonalledas
Jorge Arrizurieta
R. Alexander Acosta
Remedios Diaz Oliver
Rudy Fernandez
Jeanette Prenger
Jerry Natividad
Sal Gomez
Allen Gutierrez
Hector Barreto
Jose Fuentes
Bertica Cabrera Morris
Rafael Elias-Linero

This morning, via email, I see Hispanic leaders have written another letter, this one to Mitt Romney. This letter is not a request to remove ads it is an open letter informing Romney why they cannot support him and listing the reasons they are supporting Newt Gingrich.

(Difference in font because text is copied and pasted directly from email)

Text of letter to Romney below:

Dear Governor Romney:

We are a group of Latino Republicans invested in the growth of the economy and the support of Hispanic communities. Some of us have supported Newt Gingrich from the beginning of his campaign, and others of us have supported you. Our purpose here is to advise you that those of us who have stood by you are now withdrawing our backing in favor of Newt Gingrich. We’ve come to our decision based on our belief that your support of the Hispanic community is not a clear representation of what we need.

For example, in Iowa you stated that you would immediately veto the Dream Act. Mr. Gingrich proposes to push an essential part of the Dream Act which offers citizenship to those young men and women who serve in military. Last Tuesday in Florida, you openly agreed with Newt on a partial acceptance of the Dream Act, reversing your original stance on the matter.

It appears you find it “dishonest” to consider yourself Mexican-American, even though your father was born in Mexico. Under that same pretense, would those of us born in the United States, but have parental ancestry from Mexico, Venezuela, Columbia, Cuba, and other Latin American countries, be dishonest in claiming ourselves as Americans?

It is clear to us that you have not provided a real solution on behalf of the 12+ million immigrants who live in the shadows of the American communities. You fail to dignify the economic refugees who reside, work, pay taxes, and are otherwise productive citizens in this country. In stark contrast, Mr. Gingrich has a true history of supporting our community. He says we he means, and means what he says.

As examples:

As Speaker, he pushed through the Cuban LIBERTAD Act, which codified the embargo on Cuba, authorized aid to dissidents, and set the framework for principled engagement to support a genuine transition to democracy
Newt Gingrich pushed humane immigration laws, including the NACARA act (authored by former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart) to ensure that we kept our pledge to those who fled the Sandinistas in the 1970’s.
Newt Gingrich is the only candidate that has offered a humane approach to our immigration problem. He understands how inhumane and unrealistic it is to deport 12 million undocumented immigrants. He proposes to secure the border, deport criminals, and recognize the remainder through temporary work permits, and through establishing legal status for those with American sponsorship and deep ties to their communities.
Newt Gingrich proposes to push an essential part of the Dream Act which offers citizenship to those young men and women who serve in the military.
Newt Gingrich supports a referendum for the people of Puerto Rico to decide between independence, statehood and continued commonwealth status. Newt Gingrich has for years shown active support by reaching out to us, our organizations and our community to better understand the real concerns of American Hispanics. His interest in us did not begin last Tuesday in a Florida debate.

Mr. Gingrich has showed active support for the Hispanic community by reaching out to us, our organizations, and our communities to better understand the real concerns of American Hispanics. This is a quality that we respect, value, and appreciate.

Mr. Romney, without an open dialogue with us you are unable to understand issues important to the Latino community. Due to this absence, we are unable to support you.

Sincerely,

Rosario Marin - Former US Treasurer, California

Mario Rodriguez - Hispanic 100 Chair, California

Massey Villarreal - Former National Chair of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly, Texas

Vinicio Madrigal, MD - Former Chair Louisiana Republican Hispanic Assembly, Louisiana

Theresa Speake - Former National Secretary of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly, Virginia

Al Zapanta - President & CEO. U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce, Texas

Lionel Sosa – President of Bromley Communications, Texas

Miguel Orozco – Immigration lawyer, California; Outstanding Americans by Choice Recipient; Actor & Producer

Elizabeth Orozco – Business Executive

Eduardo Verástegui – Pro-life activist, actor, singer. California

Joe Galvan - Former regional director HUD, Former chair RNHA. Illinois

Teresa Hernandez – Restaurateur

Saul Delgado – President of Caboraca

Fortino Rivera – CEO

Bertha Rivera – Business Executive

Nancy C. Acevedo – Chair National Republican Hispanic Alliance Florida

Robbie G. Munoz – Hispanic 100 Youth Chair, California

Julio Gudino – President, Gudino Financial & Insurance Services, Inc.

KV Kumar – Nat’l Vice Chairman, Asian American & Pacific Islanders Nat’l Republican Assembly

NBC News-Wall Street Journal" Gingrich Leads Romney By 9 Points

2012-01-27T10:08:00.002-07:00

By Susan Duclos

MSNBC released their national polling results and found that Newt Gingrich is leading Mitt Romney nationwide among registered Republican primary voters likely to vote in the primaries across the country.

Gingrich leads Romney 37 percent to 28 percent nationally among registered Republicans likely to vote in the primaries; Rick Santorum is in third with 18 percent, and Ron Paul is fourth with 12 percent.

The breathless headline over at MSNBC also includes that Gingrich trails Obama in head-to-head match ups, but I have maintained steadily and multiple times here at Wake up America that head-to-head match ups with Barack Obama have no predictive value until one GOP candidate is chosen.

Barack Obama is one man and the leaning right Independents and conservative voters have multiple choices before them until one candidate is chosen to be the Republican nominee for presidency.

Until one candidate is chosen as the nominee, conservatives do not have the opportunity to coalesce behind that candidate, so until the primaries are over and the delegates are counted at the convention, head-to-heads against Obama make great headlines, but mean absolutely nothing in my mind.

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Mitt Romney Reminds Me Of Obama: Always Blaming Someone Else

2012-01-27T09:21:00.006-07:00

By Susan Duclos

There is a recurring theme to the Obama presidency besides redistribution of wealth and attempting to turn America into a socialist country and that his constant blaming of others for his failures.

His advisers advised him badly. He didn't know the economy was as bad as it truly was. Shovel ready wasn't as shovel ready as he was led to believe. The Republicans obstruct him (even through the first two years of his presidency he had a Democratically controlled House and Senate). Congress blocks him.

Nothing is ever Obama's fault.

Watching last night's CNN Debate for the Republican presidential candidates, I noticed that Mitt Romney does the very same thing. Somehow Romney is never to blame for what his campaign does or with his money.

When asked about an ad from his own campaign where at the end he says "I'm Mitt Romney and I approved this message," he told Wolf Blitzer "“I doubt that’s my ad, but we’ll take a look and find out."

Blitzer checked, during the debate, it was a Romney campaign ad, paid for by Romney.

After spending the last week criticizing Newt Gingrich for his consulting earnings from Freddie Mac, when he was questioned about his Freddie Mac and Frannie Mae investments, he said "First of all, my investments are not made by me. My investments for the last ten years have been in a blind trust, managed by a trustee. Secondly, the investments that they made, we learned about this, as we made our financial disclosure, had been in mutual funds and bonds. I don't own stock in either. There are bonds that the investor has held through mutual funds."

It is never his fault, it is always someone else. He never takes responsibility for his own actions, his investments, his ads.

Not only that, but as was explained and shown, with video last night, of Romney in 1994, he once claimed "The blind trust is an age-old ruse. You give a blind trust rules. You can say to a blind trust, don't invest in properties which would be in conflict of interest or where the seller might think they're going to get an advantage from me."

Making matters worse, National Journal, fact checked his claim and found that not all his investment earnings from Freddie Mac and Frannie Mae came from "blind trusts"...

Yet, according to Romney's financial disclosure forms, not all of his mutual funds were part of a blind trust. The Boston Globe reported in September that Romney owned between $250,001 and $500,000 in a mutual fund called the Government Obligation Fund that invests in debt notes of various government entities, including mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and he made between $15,001 and $50,000 in interest from those investments.
Since those assets were considered a charitable trust rather than a blind trust, Romney could have reviewed them himself.

Romney denies knowing the ads his campaign slaps his very name on, either being a lie or a case of not even knowing what is going on in his campaign, in his name. Romney flip-flops on his previous assertion about blind trusts as well as lies about his investment earnings being from Freddie Mac and Frannie Mae.

Aren't we tired yet of a President that blames his own mistakes on other people, his own lack of knowledge in what is going on in his own backyard, so to speak, on someone else, or outright lying when faced with his own failures instead of taking personal responsibility for them?

Does the Republican establishment truly want another Barack Obama in the White House?

Transcripts of the Florida debate, via CNN:
• Part I: 20:00-20:30, CNN FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
• Part II: 20:30-21:00, CNN FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
• Part III: 21:00-21:30, CNN FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

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CNN Florida Republican Debate: Romney Flip-Flops on Blind Trusts (1994 Video)

2012-01-26T20:19:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

National Journal fact checked Mitt Romney's claim that his investments (Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae) were made by a blind trust, managed by a trustee and finds Romney's position now.................

Romney answered the charge this way: “First of all, my investments are not made by me. My investments for the last ten years have been in a blind trust, managed by a trustee. Secondly, the investments that they made, we learned about this, as we made our financial disclosure, had been in mutual funds and bonds. I don't own stock in either. There are bonds that the investor has held through mutual funds.”

..........To be contrary to Romney's position on "blind trusts" in 1994:

Romney himself was a blistering critic of blind trusts when he was running for the Senate against Ted Kennedy in 1994.

“The blind trust is an age-old ruse. You give a blind trust rules. You can say to a blind trust, don't invest in properties which would be in conflict of interest or where the seller might think they're going to get an advantage from me.” Romney told the Boston Globe in 1994. "'A United States senator has an obligation to tell its blind trust what it cannot and can invest in,' Romney told the Associated Press later.

The Goldman Sachs investments referenced specifically by Gingrich were analyzed by the liberal Think Progress blog, which found that both Mitt and Ann Romney owned millions in a Goldman Sachs investment fund that invested heavily in mortgage-backed obligations. The current owners of those mortgage debts have launched foreclosure proceedings against Floridians.

Video below:

Transcripts via CNN:
• Part I: 20:00-20:30, CNN FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
• Part II: 20:30-21:00, CNN FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
• Part III: 21:00-21:30, CNN FLORIDA REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

Video- Winning Our Future SuperPAC New Anti-Romney Ad: 'Blood Money'

2012-01-26T15:38:00.004-07:00

By Susan Duclos

The Miami Herald reports that the pro-Gingrich SuperPAC, Winning our Future, is spending $6 million to advertise in Florida this week with anti-Romney ads.

The latest ad is called "Blood Money" and hits Romney on ObamaCare, Cayman Islands tax shelters and even Medicare fraud.

According to their description this is just a preview and full video will be coming soon.

Video below:

The Florida primaries will be held on Tuesday, January 31, 2012.

A GOP Republican debate is scheduled for tonight on CNN at 8pm ET.

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Romney Failed to Disclose Swiss Bank Account Income, Gingrich To Amend Disclosure Too

2012-01-26T15:08:00.005-07:00

By Susan Duclos

[Update] The LA Times provides a little more information than the original ABC News story posted on:

A review by the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau found that at least 23 funds and partnerships listed in the couple’s 2010 tax returns did not show up or were not listed in the same fashion on Romney’s most recent financial disclosure, including 11 based in low-tax foreign countries such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.

The campaign has stressed that Romney has paid all required U.S. taxes on his foreign funds.

Many of the funds are affiliated with Bain Capital, the Boston-based private equity firm Romney ran for 15 years. Several others are apparently unrelated offshore entities with mysterious names such as Babson 2006-1, which is based in the Cayman Islands, and Barracuda Investments, which has an address in Dublin, Ireland, but appears to be solely owned by Golden Gate Capital, a private equity firm based in San Francisco.

Original post below

No wonder Mitt Romney hemmed, hawed, refused and delayed releasing tax returns, ABC News reports that the Mitt Romney campaign is amending financial disclosure reports filed in 2007 (before he ran and failed to obtain the GOP nomination against John McCain, and 2011 (submitted to run for 2012 presidential hopeful), to include those Swiss bank accounts that were missing from both previously submitted forms.

The discovery that the Romneys had $3 million in an account with the Swiss bank UBS came only after the Republican presidential candidate released his tax returns for 2010 on Tuesday. The campaign had maintained that it was not necessary to disclose the Swiss account because Romney's money manager, Brad Malt, had shuttered it in early 2010.

Several Republican election lawyers told ABC News Thursday that the account still needed to be disclosed because a Romney trust earned about $1,700 in income on the account during 2010. The campaign's decision to amend the forms was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Even though Newt Gingrich willingly offered up his tax returns before the other candidates, he too forgot to add income and is amending his forms as well.

Gingrich's returns showed he received $252,500 in wages from Gingrich Holdings Inc. in 2010, but those wages do not appear anywhere on his presidential disclosure report.

"An internal account review found the need to amend the reporting," said a Gingrich campaign official. "It was done immediately."

More at Political Wire.

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Another Obama Backed Company Files for Bankruptcy

2012-01-26T14:14:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

The Solyndra scandal wasn't the exception it was part of a pattern that is emerging of Obama backed companies that, combined, received billions in grants or loan guarantees, going bankrupt because they were bad investments to begin with.

Other companies in this pattern include, but are not limited to;

SunPower, BrightSource, Tonopah and Solar Energy.

Today, news is out that Ener1, an Indiana-based energy-storage company, whose subsidiary received a $118.5 million stimulus grant from the Energy Department, has filed for bankruptcy.

The Irony

The Energy Department in 2009 approved a $118.5 million stimulus grant for EnerDel, a subsidiary of the company that develops lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles. The company has so far spent $55 million of the federal funding.

Ironic because this comes just days after Barack Obama touted "our partnership with the private sector has already positioned America to be the world’s leading manufacturer of high-tech batteries," in his State of the Union Address.

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Newt Gingrich Campaign's Unique Usage Of Social Media: Newt 2012 Influencers

2012-01-26T12:14:00.007-07:00

By Susan Duclos

The Newt Gingrich campaign has been very active in using social media in their campaigning efforts and via Twitter, they posted a link to another unique type of campaign effort they named the "Newt 2012 Influencer."

There is a choice given of whether the announcements automatically get posted to the social networks your choose to include or whether you wish to approve those announcements before being posted to your choices of social media networks.

Once a user signs up, the page offers statistics on how many links the user has shared, how many clicks per link and how many total clicks.

Easy steps, via Newt.org.

Sign up to be an Influencer by clicking on the sign-up widget below. This takes just a few seconds. Specify which social networks you’re interested in sharing our information on.
Once we publish new and interesting articles and stories that match your preferences you’ll get an email about the latest news and we will ask if you would like to share it on the social networks you selected.
After you agree, with your approval, the content gets automatically shared to your networks right from your email. You never even have to log in! Your friends will see that you’ve shared this contact with them and have a chance to learn more about Newt.

Just another example of how social media like Twitter, Facebook and others are becoming an effective campaign tool for candidates.

[Update] The email sent after signup:

Dear Susan Duclos,

Thank you for signing up to be an Influencer for Newt 2012. We really appreciate your support! As a registered Influencer you are able to help us share new and interesting content on your various social networks. The way that this works is very simple:

1. You will receive an email notification whenever new content is posted that Newt 2012 would like your help sharing. This email will provide you with information about the content and provide you with an opportunity to view it on the website, so that you can decide if it is something you would like to share with your network.

2. Depending on your preferences, you will click a link in the email to either approve the content to be shared (if you have chosen to approve everything), or to opt-out of having the content shared (if you have chosen to auto-post everything).

3. That's it! If at any time you wish to stop sharing content altogether you simply have to log back into SocialToaster and update your preferences. You can do this by returning to the Newt 2012 website and logging back in.

Sincerely,
Newt 2012

If at any time you wish to stop sharing content altogether or change your preferences, simply log back into SocialToaster at http://www.newt.org/influencer.

You are receiving this email because you signed up to participate as an Influencer for Newt 2012 on their website. This service is provided to you through SocialToaster.com. If you do not wish to participate in this service you may click here to cancel your participation: http://my.socialtoaster.com/st/opt-out/MjI2MjA

Kaiser Health: Public 'Twice As Likely' To Be Unfavorable Of Individual Manadate As Likely To Favor It

2012-01-26T11:30:00.004-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Via Kaiser Health Tracking Poll -- January 2012:

As for the public's own views of the mandate, the January poll shows that the requirement that everyone obtain health insurance or pay a fine continues to be unpopular. This month's poll finds the public more than twice as likely to have an unfavorable rather than favorable view of the provision (67% to 30%), very much in line with findings of previous Kaiser polls. Reflecting this dislike for a mandate, 54 percent of Americans say the Court should rule the individual mandate unconstitutional, while just 17 percent say they think it should be found constitutional. Roughly mirroring public views on the mandate, 55 percent of the public say they expect the Justices to find the mandate unconstitutional and 29 percent expect the Justices to find it constitutional.

Findings (.pdf)

Chartpack (.pdf)

Toplines (.pdf)

Nancy Pelosi famously stated "We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it."

Well, almost two years ago, Democrats, who controlled both the House of Representatives and the Senate, shoved it through and "passed the bill' without Republican support and against the majority of Americans who opposed it. Barack Obama signed it into law.

The public has seen "what is in it" and according to RCP averages, the plurality of Americans are still opposed to Obamacare as a whole, by a 11.6 percent margin.

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Professor Jacobson's 'Drudge vs History' - Does Establishment Choose or Do Voters?

2012-01-26T10:27:00.008-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Professor William A. Jacobson has a must read piece up titled "Drudge vs History, where he shows the panic of the Republican establishment, who until recently thought they had the "Romeny is inevitable" meme locked and loaded and is now in full fledged panic mode after Newt Gingrich blew that meme to hell and back by rising in the polls and taking the South Carolina primaries by a hefty 12 percent margin.

He clearly shows how Ann Coulter, Tom DeLay, Elliot Abrams and Matt Drudge are on a crusade to stop Gingrich's rise so the candidate of their choice, Romney, can gather back some momentum.

Read the whole thing, but portion below, the history, is well worth noting and passing around:

Against the anti-Newt crusade stands a wealth of counter-viewpoints of people who were in a position to know and who share very different recollections of Newt and Reagan, via Josh Painter in the comments:

Reagan Nat’l Security Advisor Bud McFarlane: http://bit.ly/zd9eAF

Reagan Economist Art Laffer: http://bit.ly/xEDETi

Reagan WH political director Jeffrey Lord: http://bit.ly/zw2ZMb

Reagan Policy Analyst Peter Ferrara http://bit.ly/zq1QxI

Reagan media consultant Richard Quinn: http://on.msnbc.com/y2sPM2

Reagan’s Speechwriting Dir. Bently Elliott: http://thedc.com/xOkDvA

Reagan’s older son Michael Reagan: http://bit.ly/yYVy7L

Reagan’s beloved wife Nancy: http://bit.ly/zrWvAw

I’ll add to that Peter Robinson, former Reagan speechwriter, who wrote the historic Berlin Wall address in which President Reagan urged Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!”:

Republican voters can be influenced if the party establishment declares all out war against a candidate as they are doing against Gingrich, but voters should also be allowed and encouraged to see both sides of the issue, all the information available and not be forced toward one candidate or another by those with the loudest voices.

As a quick point to put things into perspective, the loudest voices of the Democratic party are the hard core, extremists, the far left liberals, yet according to Gallup, among Democrats, 29 percent consider themselves liberal and only 10 percent say they are "very" liberal".

51 percent of Republicans consider themselves to be conservative and only 20 percent identify as "very" conservative.

Just as the 10 percent of Democrats should not determine what the Democratic agenda is just because they scream the loudest, the same goes for the conservatives.

The 20 percent, like Coulter, just because they screech with the loudest voice, should not be allowed to determine what candidate is better for the majority of Republicans.

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Obama, Jan Brewer Bruhaha- 'Thin-Skinned' Obama Didn't Like What Brewer Wrote About Him

2012-01-26T09:36:00.007-07:00

By Susan Duclos

"He was a little disturbed about my book."--- Jan Brewer

Barack Obama came to Arizona, but of course not to see our border problem, as Brewer continues to offer invitations to him to do.. no, he is in campaign mode, but Brewer never one to miss an opportunity to show the country that Obama doesn't care about the border problem, went to offer him an invitation to join her by handing Obama an envelope with a handwritten invite to return to Arizona to meet her for lunch and to join her for a visit to the border.

Evidently the thin skinned Obama was perturbed about her characterization of Obama in previous meetings about border control along the Arizona border with Mexico.

CBS News reports:

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer came to greet President Obama upon his arrival outside Phoenix Wednesday. What she got was a critique. Of her book.

The two leaders could be seen engaged in an intense conversation at the base of Air Force One's steps. Both could be seen smiling, but speaking at the same time.

Asked moments later what the conversation was about, Brewer, a Republican, said, "He was a little disturbed about my book."

"We could have been talking about a million different things," Brewer told reporters. "Bottom line is that he generally wants to talk about amnesty and I want to talk about securing our border."

Brewer recently published a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," something of a memoir of her years growing up, and defends her signing of Arizona's controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which Obama opposes.

The photo (top left) was the rage on local news and national news last night and the talk of the internet today, and Brewer describes the moment:

"I will say that a picture is what it is," Brewer added. "I must say, I was not hostile. I was trying to be very, very gracious. I respect the office of the president, and I would never be disrespectful in that manner."

However, O'Donnell says Brewer took a different tack during an appearance on Fox News' "On the Record" with Greta van Susteren, saying she couldn't understand why Obama was surprised by her book, and calling him "very thin-skinned."

Obama was objecting to Brewer's description of a meeting he and Brewer had at the White House, where she described Obama as lecturing her. In an interview in November Brewer described two tense meetings. The first took place before his commencement address at Arizona State University. "He did blow me off at ASU," she said in the television interview in November.

She also described meeting the president at the White House in 2010 to talk about immigration. "I felt a little bit like I was being lectured to, and I was a little kid in a classroom, if you will, and he was this wise professor and I was this little kid, and this little kid knows what the problem is and I felt minimized to say the least."

Local conservatives are supportive of Brewer, as the audio linked to by Hot Air shows. (Not embedding it here because there is no "play" option it just starts playing with the loading of the page.)

While all this is entertaining, it brings up a very serious question.

If Barack Obama cannot handle a few comments in a book that Brewer wrote, exactly how is he going to handle the scrutiny his record is going to be under when a Republican presidential candidate is chosen and Obama's record to date is constantly under attack during the campaign leading up to the November 2012 election?

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Grassfire Nation Tea Party Polling Overwhelmingly Favors Newt Gingrich

2012-01-26T08:28:00.005-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Via email link to Liberty News, we see that polling conducted from January 23-25, 2012 puts Newt Gingrich at the top of their favorite list with nearly a two-to-one lead over their second choice, Rick Santorum.

The survey was taken by 29,000 members and hit on a number of questions related to the 2012 GOP primary election. Of the 29,000, 75.7% of respondents said they closely identify with the ideals of the movement, and 17.2% said they are actively a part of the tea party movement.
The margin of error is at 0.56% with 95% confidence for the Grassfire Nation audience. First let’s take a look at the national results. We’ll follow up with some points about the numbers.

Question #1: If the caucus or primary were held in your state today, which of the following Republican presidential candidates would you support?

Newt Gingrich – 48.2%
Rick Santorum – 24.6%
Mitt Romney – 14.8%
Ron Paul – 12.4%

Read the rest.

This is confirmed by a new Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday which revealed that evangelicals and Tea Party supporters favor Newt Gingrich in Florida, putting the former House Speaker within two points of Mitt Romney.

A press release describing the poll states Gingrich "leads among white evangelical Christians 43 - 30 percent and among those who consider themselves to be tea party supporters 43 - 28 percent." Each segment makes up roughly a third of primary voters, according to Quinnipiac pollsters, "although there is substantial overlap among those two groups."

This comes six days after a report showing that 100 Tea Party leaders, from 25 different states, stepped up to support Gingrich.

Two recent Florida polls have come out today showing that after overcoming Romney's lead in Florida and taking the lead himself, Gingrich has lost that edge and Romney has once again taken the polling lead.

The fluctuations in Florida polls over the last week alone, show a race that is unpredictable and could go to either candidate by Tuesday, January 31, 2012, which is primary day in Florida.

The RCP average for nationwide polling, as of this moment, has Gingrich up by one percent, showing a very close race. That average changes with every new national polling data that is added.

Click to enlarge- RCP Screen shot taken on 1/26/12

As South Carolina clearly evidenced with Romney leading Gingrich by double digits on a Tuesday and Gingrich overcoming that lead and winning the South Carolina primaries by 12 percentage points by that same Saturday, polling is a snapshot and dependent on the mood of the moment which can turn on a dime and many not making up their minds who to vote for until primary day.

An example is provided by the FiveThirtyEight forecast yesterday where they gave Newt Gingrich a 60 percent chance of taking Florida on Tuesday the 31st, with the caveat pointing to the fact that even that lead was diminished from just two days before.

Further mucking up of the GOP primary process in Florida is that not only are campaigns running negative ads against each other along with SuperPACS that are pro-one candidate or another, but also now liberal groups have jumped into the ad war against Romney, including the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the nation’s largest public employee union and Service Employees International Union and Priorities USA Action, a pro-Obama super PAC, have also jointly launched a Spanish-language radio campaign in Florida accusing Romney of having “two faces” on immigration issues.

Tonight's debate sponsored by CNN, CNN en Español, The Hispanic Leadership Network and The Republican Party of Florida, at 8pm ET on CNN, just became of prime importance for the vote of the ten percent still undecided and the third of voters saying they could still change their minds.

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Florida Polls Swinging Toward Romney Again

2012-01-26T07:54:00.004-07:00

By Susan Duclos

As pollsters, media, candidates and negatives ads flood Florida, polls have see-sawed back and forth, first for Romney, then Gingrich and two polls now show a swing back in Romney's favor.

Rasmussen and Insider Advantage are both giving Romney an eight point lead over Gingrich in the Sunshine state. CNN has Romney leading by two percentage points in Florida.

Gallup's Election 2012 Tracker hasn't updated with yesterday's numbers as of yet, but as of the latest update, Gingrich was still ahead nationally. (The numbers change as the last day polled is added in)

Florida hosts another Republican debate tonight at 8pm ET on CNN

Location: University of North Florida in Jacksonville, FL

Sponsor: CNN, CNN en Español, The Hispanic Leadership Network and The Republican Party of Florida

Participants: Romney, Gingrich, Santorum, Paul

(Headline fixed)

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Google Updates Privacy Policies And Terms Of Service

2012-01-25T14:26:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Video below via the Official Google blog where they explain their updated privacy policies and new terms of service.

From Google:

In just over a month we will make some changes to our privacy policies and Google Terms of Service. This stuff matters, so we wanted to explain what’s changing, why and what these changes mean for users.

First, our privacy policies. Despite trimming our policies in 2010, we still have more than 70 (yes, you read right … 70) privacy documents covering all of our different products. This approach is somewhat complicated. It’s also at odds with our efforts to integrate our different products more closely so that we can create a beautifully simple, intuitive user experience across Google.

So we’re rolling out a new main privacy policy that covers the majority of our products and explains what information we collect, and how we use it, in a much more readable way. While we’ve had to keep a handful of separate privacy notices for legal and other reasons, we’re consolidating more than 60 into our main Privacy Policy.

Regulators globally have been calling for shorter, simpler privacy policies—and having one policy covering many different products is now fairly standard across the web.

These changes will take effect on March 1, and we’re starting to notify users today, including via email and a notice on our homepage.

What does this mean in practice? The main change is for users with Google Accounts. Our new Privacy Policy makes clear that, if you’re signed in, we may combine information you've provided from one service with information from other services. In short, we’ll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience.

Our recently launched personal search feature is a good example of the cool things Google can do when we combine information across products. Our search box now gives you great answers not just from the web, but your personal stuff too. So if I search for restaurants in Munich, I might see Google+ posts or photos that people have shared with me, or that are in my albums. Today we can also do things like make it easy for you to read a memo from Google Docs right in your Gmail, or add someone from your Gmail contacts to a meeting in Google Calendar.

But there’s so much more that Google can do to help you by sharing more of your information with … well, you. We can make search better—figuring out what you really mean when you type in Apple, Jaguar or Pink. We can provide more relevant ads too. For example, it’s January, but maybe you’re not a gym person, so fitness ads aren’t that useful to you. We can provide reminders that you’re going to be late for a meeting based on your location, your calendar and an understanding of what the traffic is like that day. Or ensure that our spelling suggestions, even for your friends’ names, are accurate because you’ve typed them before. People still have to do way too much heavy lifting, and we want to do a better job of helping them out.

Second, the Google Terms of Service—terms you agree to when you use our products. As with our privacy policies, we’ve rewritten them so they’re easier to read. We’ve also cut down the total number, so many of our products are now covered by our new main Google Terms of Service. Visit the Google Terms of Service page to find the revised terms.

Finally, what we’re not changing. We remain committed to data liberation, so if you want to take your information elsewhere you can. We don’t sell your personal information, nor do we share it externally without your permission except in very limited circumstances like a valid court order. We try hard to be transparent about the information we collect, and to give you meaningful choices about how it is used—for example our Ads Preferences Manager enables you to edit the interest categories we advertise against or turn off certain Google ads altogether. And we continue to design privacy controls, like Google+’s circles, into our products from the ground up.

We believe this new, simpler policy will make it easier for people to understand our privacy practices as well as enable Google to improve the services we offer. Whether you’re a new Google user or an old hand, please do take the time to read our new privacy policy and terms, learn more about the changes we’re making and understand the controls we offer.

Needless to say, there is some reaction across the web over this news.

Gingrich Attracting 'Enormous' Crowds In Florida; Romney, Meh, Not So Much

2012-01-25T14:04:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

LA Times reports that Newt Gingrich drew a crowd of approximately 3,000 in Naples Florida on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, then drew another crowd of 5,000 on his final stop of the day.

According to the same article, Romney's crowds were "significantly smaller throngs."

While Romney spoke Wednesday morning at a metal distribution facility in Orlando, 300 unused chairs remained stacked off to the side. That was more than the number of people he attracted, no more than 250 in all.

On the same day that just two of Gingrich's appearance drew a combined total of 8,000 people, Romney drew about "150 people to a closed speech in Tampa and addressed about 300 people outside a foreclosed house in southwest Florida later in the day."

Read the entire article.

Is it any wonder that Mitt Romney is on Full Tilt?

Romney needs a political miracle between now and next Tuesday's primaries if he hopes to take Florida.

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Death Row Inmate Tells About His 'Life Of Leisure' In Prison

2012-01-25T13:29:00.005-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Some things are just wrong, on many levels and having a death row inmate, who confessed and was convicted of murdering a 17 year old kid, taunt the public and the family of the victim by detailing his life of leisure in prison, classifies.

Via ABC:

Danny Robbie Hembree Jr. was found guilty of murdering 17-year-old Heather Catterton in 2009 and was sentenced to death on Nov. 18, 2011.
Hembree, 50, is on death row at Central Prison in Raleigh, N.C., but he's not looking for any pity in the letter he sent to The Gaston Gazette.
"Is the public aware that I am a gentleman of leisure, watching color TV in the A.C., reading, taking naps at will, eating three well balanced hot meals a day," Hembree asked in the letter. "I'm housed in a building that connects to the new 55 million dollar hospital with round the clock free medical care 24/7."
He also asks if the public knows that the chances of his "lawful murder" taking place in the next 20 years, if ever, are "very slim."

Hembree has also been accused of killing two other women. One was 30-year-old Randi Dean Saldana, whose burnt remains were found near Blacksburg, S.C. in 2009. The other was 30-year-old Deborah Ratchford, whose body was found in 1992.
He admitted to taking drugs and having sex with Catterton and Saldana on the days they died, but told jurors he did not kill them or dispose of their bodies, according to ABC News' Raleigh-Durham affiliate WTVD. He is scheduled to go on trial for Saldana's killing in March.
Hembree confessed to killing the three women during recorded police interviews, but later said the confessions were an attempt to cover up a string of armed robberies, according to the Gaston Gazette.
In the letter, Hembree also mocks the judicial system.
"I laugh at you self righteous clowns and I spit in the face of your so called justice system. The state of North Carolina has sentenced me to death but it's not real," he wrote.
North Carolina State Representative Paul Stam told WTVD that the letter is a travesty of justice. He said that it is more likely that Hembree will die of natural causes than of the death penalty.
"His punishment does not fit his crime at all," Stam said.

Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell admitted to receiving distraught calls from Catterton's father "I got a call from the father of the 17-year-old that he murdered, in tears. He said that this is tearing the family to shreds. This is ripping the wound open," Locke told ABCNews.com. "[The father] said, 'He murdered our daughter, got the death penalty and now he's just sitting in jail laughing at us.'"

Outrageous.

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Poker Analogy: Mitt Romney Goes Full 'Tilt' With Criticism Of Gingrich Attacking Media And Moderators

2012-01-25T12:06:00.003-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Someone should tell Mitt Romney to slowly back away from the cookie jar because his latest criticism of Newt Gingrich is tantamount to a poker player going on full "tilt."

Poker Term: Tilt

A player goes on tilt when his or her emotions take over. A player on tilt no longer plays rationally and instead plays like a maniac. Often, the player just suffered a bad beat and is very upset. A player on tilt often loses a lot of money, so going on tilt needs to be avoided. However, even the best players can go on tilt at times.

The Hill headline "Romney blasts Gingrich over attacks on debate moderators, news media"

Mitt Romney attacked his GOP presidential rival Newt Gingrich over what has to date been one of Gingrich’s most effective debate methods — going after the moderators and the media for questions he deems inappropriate.

“It’s very easy to talk down a moderator,” Romney said Wednesday on Fox News. “The moderator asks a question and then has to sit by and take whatever you send to them. And Speaker Gingrich has been wonderful at attacking the moderators and attacking the media.”

It is understandable that Mitt Romney would be upset, emotional over losing his polling lead over Newt Gingrich in the next primary state, Florida, as well as losing his 20 plus point national lead, with Gingrich now leading in the polls with both Florida and the nationwide, but has Romney lost his mind??????

Two-thirds of the South Carolina primary voters, who gave Newt Gingrich a 12 percentage point win on primary day in South Carolina, said it the debate performances mattered for their voting preference.

Newt Gingrich received a standing ovation in his criticism of the debate moderator, Juan Williams, in one debate and two standing ovations for his outrage and criticism of CNN's John King and the liberal media in the second debate.

In case Romney has forgotten, the majority of the public see media bias (60%) and by three-to-one they see that bias as being liberal, 47 to 13 percent.

Note to Mitt Romney- That goes double for conservatives Mitt, which means appearing to defend the media and moderators from Gingrich, puts you on the opposite end of the spectrum, hell the political universe, as conservative voters. You know, those people that you want to vote for you!!!!

Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit calls Romney "tone deaf" and Charlotte Hays at NRO has a "word of advice" for Romney's advisers.

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BHO SOTU 2012: Deja vu, all over again

2012-01-25T11:56:00.001-07:00

*cross posted from Assoluta Tranquillita*

It is well known that I avoid any BHO speechifying, and judging by his latest State of the Union, seems I didn't miss much.

Take a look:

Familiar Rhetoric, Failed Record
rnc on Jan 24, 2012

http://www.GOP.com -- If you thought the 2012 State of the Union was very similar to President Obama's past State of the Union speeches, you were right...

(H/T Sylvia)

Videos- Pelosi: 'Something I know', Gingrich: 'Spit it out', Pelosi's Office: 'No New Dirt'

2012-01-25T11:02:00.005-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Nancy Pelosi, trying to appear still relevant, speaking to CNN's John King: (Video below text)

Pelosi: "He's not going to be President of the United States. That's not going to happen. Let me just make my prediction and stand by it, it isn't going to happen."

King: "Why are you so sure?"

Pelosi: "There is something I know. The Republicans, if they choose to nominate him that's their prerogative. I don't even think that's going to happen."

Video:

Newt Gingrich on NBC's "Today" show: (Video after text from The Hill)

"She lives in a San Francisco environment of very strange fantasies and very strange understandings of reality," Gingrich said Wednesday as he laughed off the notion that the House minority leader could derail his bid for the GOP presidential nomination.
"I have no idea what's in Nancy Pelosi's head," Gingrich said on NBC's "Today" show. "If she knows something, I have a simple challenge: Spit it out."

Video:

Mitt Romney who has been overcome in Florida and national polling by a Gingrich surge, really really wants to know!!!!

ROMNEY: I wish I knew what that was [laughter]. I'd tell people what it is right now.

Video:

The last part of the latest Pelosi saga is entertainment for Gingrich, disappointment for Romney and embarrassment for Pelosi.

The Hill's Ballot Box headline "Pelosi's office says she has no new dirt on Newt Gingrich."

Popcorn anyone?

[Update] For history buffs, Byron York asks and answers and provides historic data in his piece "What really happened in the Gingrich ethics case?"

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It Takes AP 3 Pages To Fact Check Obama's SOTU Lies

2012-01-25T08:49:00.006-07:00

By Susan Duclos

[Update] CNN conducted an instant focus group on Obama's State of the Union, (January 24, 2012), 24 second video below.

"If you thought the 2012 State of the Union was very similar to President Obama’s past State of the Union speeches, you were right…"-- RNC (Video below) H/T BuzzFeed

The AP, via Seattlepi.com, takes a look at Obama's rhetoric Tuesday night during his State of the Union address and how it fits with the facts and political circumstances and it takes them three pages to fact check what Obama said and compare it to reality and finds Obama's version of the state our country to be lacking, containing half truths or misinformation.

The Washington Post Fact Checker examines 11 claims by Obama that were misleading or lacking context.

The transcript for the SOTU can be found HERE.

Below is the video of Mitch Daniels who gave the republican rebuttal of Obama's State of the Union address. (12:19 minute video)

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The Leopard Will Change His Spots

2012-01-24T23:14:00.000-07:00

Book of Obama Chapter 13

And the Holy One, anointed by Holy Chief of Justice, John of Roberts, returned to the Dome of the Capital, dressed in the Holy suit and tie and addressed the assembled chapter of the Congress, the Holy Justices of the land, the members of the anointed Cabinet and guests from near and far, the Anointed One, Wearer of the Mantle of Power, spoke:

I ended the war in Iraq, I killed the evil bin Laden, and personally I welcomed all the soldiers home from Iraq. I am the Holy One, the President and I can do everything. I have brought peace to the world, the world respects us better now than at any time, I will end the war in Afghanistan too. For I am the Messiah of the World.

I want all of you, My ~~slaves~~ oops My people to remember what I did for you after World War 2. My Grandfather who fought with Patton (and liberated Auschwitz) and My Grandmother who built the entire US Navy by herself, got to go to college for nothing. They built the US to its greatness all by themselves.

But now I see that you have done everything to destroy Me. You have overspent, you have destroyed My credit (and yours), you have bought homes that you could not afford. But I am here. I will pay your mortgages. I will refinance your mortgages. I will make it all better. I am your Savior.

I will prevent jobs from going overseas. I will investigate businesses who outsource their jobs to China. (That is until Warren Buffet tells Me to stop.) There will be no more bailouts for banks, for Wall Street, for anyone, except for Unions. I saved the auto industry. No one helped Me. And they are stronger now than before. (Sorry about the Volt thing.) I will make other nations have an equal playing field with Me. I am the equalizer.

I will tax the rich higher. And I will tax everyone else higher too. I will change the tax code. I am Omnipotent. I can and will do all.

I salute America's teachers. I stand by your unions. I will throw more money to you so you can indoctrinate the children. I want a law saying that a child must stay in school until either he or she graduates or turns 18. That way I can have them indoctrinated to be our slaves. I will find a way to destroy the home schools, the private schools (But not the ones My daughters attend.), and the religious schools. Everyone will learn the same, think the same, live the same. Everyone will get free college under Me. (Except to the "good" schools.)

I will give citizenship to every immigrant to the United States. It matters not to Me if they are legally here or not. And I demand that this be done before the November elections (I need the votes.).

I will create jobs in energy. I will have the oil fields opened up. (Until the environmentalists either go to court or demand that I stop.) I demand that we develop alternate energy (The people who created Solyndra have given Me more money. I need to give them more government funds.) Under Me the United States has imported less oil than in the last 16 years. (Not really but if you tell a lie long and loud enough the sheeple will believe it.)

I will clear away all the Red Tape, all the government regulations that hold business down. But only until I am re-elected. Then not only will it all return but I will impose stricter restrictions upon the land.

Under My leadership the Muslim world has undergone transformations. I was the cause of the Arab Spring, the Arab renewal, the Muslim revival. This is all good in My eye. I will remove Assad from Syria, nukes from Iran and Jews from Palestine. I will defeat the evil Netanyahu and replace him with the moderate Abbas. There will be peace through out the land, for under Me all will drink the Kool-Aid and sing the Kumbaya. Under Me all men, all women will live in peace. There will be peace, the peace of Islam and the joy of the jizya. This I will demand of the world.

Upon listening to this the people turned to each other and wondered why the Anointed One didn't do any of these things when He first came into office. They saw what He had done and shook their heads. In a loud voice they shouted:

NOT THIS TIME!

Video- RNC Releases Preemptive TV Ad Before Obama's SOTU: Titled 'State of Our Union'

2012-01-24T13:51:00.006-07:00

By Susan Duclos

The RNC has just released a television ad called "State Of Our Union" with clips of the harsh economic realities of today, preemptively attacking Barack Obama for his failed policies.

Video below:

Description from GOP's YouTube page:

http://www.GOP.com -- The Republican National Committee released a new television ad "State of Our Union" to coincide with President Obama's State of the Union address. The ad displays the nation's economic struggles -- 13 million unemployed and 49 million in poverty -- that are a direct result of Barack Obama's failed leadership.

Above was the 31 second TV ad, below is the 45 second extended cut.

[Update] Guy Benson over at Townhall also has an excellent read, headline is "Pre-butting Obama's 'State of the Union' Campaign Speech."

My Take On The Electability Argument... My Dog, Shamus, Is More Electable Than Barack Obama

2012-01-24T12:19:00.007-07:00

By Susan Duclos

I click a lot of links throughout the day. I read through the Twitter comments of those I follow and click even more links. Over the past few days I have been watching a running debate, for lack of a better word, on the electability of Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, from @aceofSpadesHQ,@justkarl @ctiberius, just among a few.

Let's talk about Obama's re-electability.

Unemployment has been well over 8.5 percent for the majority of Obama's term. Obama gave us Obamacare! Obama has reigned over the highest deficits over any president. Obamacare! More people have been put on food stamps since he has taken residence in the White House than ever before. Obamacare! America's credit rating has been downgraded. Obamacare! He pushed, passed and implemented a nearly trillion dollar stimulus plan that failed. Obamacare! The debt was $10.626 trillion on the day Obama took office, it is now over $15 trillion just three years later. Have I mentioned... yes, OBAMACARE!

And that is just off my head for a quickie.

Dudes.... It has been interesting, but to me, with Barack Obama's record over the last three years, my freaking dog, Shamus, a little cairn terrier, (seen at the top of this post) is more electable than Barack Obama in 2012.

While everyone has their preferred candidate, Newt or Mitt is more electable than Barack Obama.

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Gallup Five Day Tracker Now Has Gingrich Over Romney By 4%

2012-01-24T11:19:00.006-07:00

By Susan Duclos

Gallup keeps a rolling tracker which includes the data from five days at a time and yesterday's report stated "Newt Gingrich has all but erased Mitt Romney's 23-percentage-point lead of a week ago among Republican voters nationally, and the two candidates are now essentially tied, at 29% for Romney and 28% for Gingrich. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum have significantly lower levels of support, at 13% and 11%, respectively."

Today though, as can be seen by the graphic at the top, Gingrich has overtaken Romney's lead and is now four percentage points ahead nationwide.

Florida, which holds it's primaries on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 and which hosted last night's debate and will host one more on Thursday the 26th, is showing the same type of turnaround in polling numbers that Gallup is finding nationally.

Polls taken after Newt Gingrich's South Carolina primary win, from Insider Advantage, Rasmussen and Public Policy Polling (D), all show the same type of resurgence on the part of Gingrich. The RCP averages have Gingrich leading Romney with a 7.4 percentage point margin.

Insider Advantage on 1/22/12 shows an 8 point lead for Gingrich over Romney.
Rasmussen on 1/22/12 shows a 9 point lead for Gingrich over Romney.
PPP on 1/22-23/12 shows a 5 point lead for Gingrich over Romney.

With that said, as South Carolina clearly proved, debate performances, campaigning, superPAC ads as well as candidate ads and interviews can turn numbers around on a dime.

Going into the South Carolina primary week, polling had Mitt Romney leading Newt Gingrich by a 14 and 14 percent margin and by Saturday, January 21, 2012, primary night, Gingrich easily won South Carolina by a 12 percent margin.

Recent developments in the GOP campaign to win the Republican nomination for president are; Mitt Romney released his 2010 tax returns. Newt Gingrich authorized the released of his Freddie Mac contract. (I have it embedded HERE) News reported Mitt Romney has substantial investments with Freddie Mac and Frannie Mae. Former 2008 presidential candidate and Senator, Fred Thompson endorsed Newt Gingrich. Pro-Gingrich SuperPAC received $5 million from Dr. Miriam Adelson who is the wife of Sheldon Adelson who earlier this month donated $5 million. Ron Paul won't be in Florida on primary night he will be off campaigning in Nevada and Colorado. Rick Santorum tells Fox News this morning that Romney's attacks against Gingrich on Freddie Mac are "over the top."

Nice amount of linkage in the above paragraph... enjoy the reading.

Oh, and Barack Obama will be giving another "campaign speech" tonight. It is an annual speech a president gives called State of the Union address, but this time Obama will have a captive audience to hear him continue with his perpetual campaigning for reelection since almost all prime time channels will be tuned in.

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