The ship shuddered as another compartment filled with the icy water of the north Atlantic, Jack grabbed Rose’s hand and they ran down the corridor, turning the corner they saw the rats running – escaping the sinking ship.
Sounds like the ending of Titanic? Or maybe it’s the entire top echelon of Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign resigning en masse! That’s what happened today, the Newt’s most trusted minions fled quicker than Orcs taking flight from Mordor.
“I am committed to running the substantive, solutions-oriented campaign I set out to run earlier this spring,” the Gingrich said in a posting to his Facebook page shortly after the 16 aides resigned. “The campaign begins anew Sunday in Los Angeles.”
Yeah, and the Black Knight only suffered a flesh wound.
Rick Tyler, Gingrich’s spokesman, campaign manager Rob Johnson and senior strategists all quit, along with aides in the early primary and caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. The fleeing aides broke the news to Newt during a meeting at his headquarters in Washington, citing differences over the direction of the campaign.
“We had a different vision for victory,” Tyler told The Associated Press. “And since we couldn’t resolve that difference, I didn’t feel I could be useful in serving him.”
Scott Rials, a longtime aide who joined the departure, said, “I think the world of him, but at the end of the day we just could not see a clear path to win, and there was a question of commitment.”
Wow, so basically his top aides, the people closest to Newt, have determined he isn’t serious about the campaign, and that he lacks commitment? Yeah, he’s done. Of course, he never had much of a chance of winning the nomination much less the White House. Let’s face it, Newt’s as tainted as German tomatoes. In a recent FOX PAC poll he was 19 points behind the President. He’s done. He never started. He’s been a has-been ever since he resigned from Congress.
So, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, one of a number of Republican/Tea Party candidates for the presidency, is vowing he’s “in it to win.”
Santorum, who announced his candidacy earlier this week on Good Morning America is currently polling – as are many of the GOTP hopefuls – in double digits behind President Obama supposedly enjoys strong support amongst social conservatives because of his stands on opposing abortion, recently blaming the nation’s so-called Social Security woes on the amount of abortions performed annually, claiming we have too few people paying into the program because of the number of abortions in America.
As has been said before here; anyone who claims they have the ability to overturn Roe v. Wade is one of three things: a liar, delusional, or both.
Following the recent killing of Usama Bin Laden, and subsequent claims which arose anew by conservative bloviators that it was the the torture of prisoners which led to Bin Laden’s location; Santorum claimed Senator John McCain – who spent 5 1/2 years in the Hanoi Hilton, and who vehemently opposes the use of “enhanced interrogation” – “doesn’t know how effective waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques can be”.
Yeah, he actually said that; this little man from Pennsylvania, who dreams of being the President, actually said John McCain didn’t understand how effective torture can be.
Of course amongst the exceeding far-right of the GOTP who cares if the man sounds like an idiot? After all he opposes abortion, gay marriage, embryonic stem cell research, fully embraces the Paul Ryan plan for the destruction of Medi-caid and Medi-care and believes the richest 2% deserve even more tax cuts.
When the dust settles, Santorum will become just one more guy who thought he had what it takes to become his party’s nominee, and who thought the American people would support him. Sorry Ricky, but most Americans do not support abolishing abortion, are not homophobic, support stem cell research, do not support the torture of prisoners, do not support the destruction of Medi-caid and Medi-care and definitely do not think the richest 2% are taxed too much. While all of that might play well in Palinville, it does not resonate with the rest of us – who contrary to FOX News and the conservative talking heads on the radio – do make up the majority of voters in America.
On Monday, Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner, in a by now all too familiar scene for modern day politicians, came clean on his “sexting” scandal by saying he had made “terrible mistakes” and had lied about it.
Little more than a week of parading around talk shows and radio programs declaring his innocence, claiming he was hacked, blaah, blaah, blaah, came crashing down on his head, as he admitted he had sent a lewd photo of himself to a young coed in Seattle.
According to the Associated Press (AP), he has admitted sending photos and that he had engaged in on-line chats – even intimate phone calls – with “at least” six women over the last three years. He said his behavior was “destructive,” especially since he continued the practice of communicating with women and sending them risky – even nude – photos, even after he was married.
Excuse me Congressman? How old are you? Are you still in high school? Were you pledging the Delta Tau Chi Fraternity House?
Weiner says he was taking full responsibility for his actions, and at least had enough manhood to announce “I have not been honest with myself, my family and supporters, and the media.”
Really? Ya think? Normally I only ask this question to Republicans, but in your case an exception will be made; Just how stupid do you think we are?
Weiner went on to say he had no intention of resigning his seat representing Brooklyn and Queens; and said he had notified Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic House leader, Monday afternoon.
Yeah, OK, a full ten minutes before his press conference. Thanks for the lead time smuck.
Pelosi quickly called for a federal investigation to determine if Weiner had violated any House ethics rules or used national resources.
Good for you Congresswoman. Throw the book at him, and tell him to pack it in, and to go home.
Weiner has shown he is not worthy and incapable of performing the duties of his office. He’s sleazy; he’s too immature to be making big time decisions and most of all he’s a liar.
Congressman, we have serious problems in our country today, requiring serious people, and it’s time for you to go home. And take you camera with you.
According to the Associated Press, “a federal grand jury indicted two-time presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday over $925,000 spent to keep his mistress and their baby in hiding during the peak of his 2008 campaign for the White House.
“The case of USA v. Johnny Reid Edwards contains six counts, including conspiracy, four counts of illegal campaign contributions and one count of false statements.
“The indictment said the payments were a scheme to protect Edwards’ White House ambitions. ‘A centerpiece of Edwards’ candidacy was his public image as a devoted family man,’ the indictment said.
‘Edwards knew that public revelation of the affair and the pregnancy would destroy his candidacy by, among other things, undermining Edwards’ presentation of himself as a family man and by forcing his campaign to divert personnel and resources away from other campaign activities to respond to criticism and media scrutiny regarding the affair and pregnancy,’ the indictment added.
The indictment and an arrest warrant were filed in Greensboro, N.C., which is in the district where his campaign was headquartered.
Edwards is a pile of refuse and deserves to go to prison for a very long time. He’s the quintessential example of sleazy politician and has hurt his family, and all those whoever believed him or supported him. Why do men like Edwards, Ensign, Clinton, Newt and others do this sort of sordid thing? Who cares? It demonstrates a clear weakness that should make anyone thinking of supporting them that they cannot be trusted. It begs the questions:
“If you lied about this, what else have you lied about”?
“If you misused your office, or your campaign to cover this up, what else have you covered up”?
Sorry, but if you can’t honor your wedding vows, how can you be trusted to keep the oath you swear as President, as Senator or even as Dogcatcher?
America doesn’t need weak men – or women – in positions of public trust; we need individuals of honor and integrity. If you’ve had an affair you’ve proven you have neither, and need not apply.
The Ice Queen – Sarah Palin – is insisting history is on her side when claiming Paul Revere’s famous ride was intended to warn both British soldiers and his fellow colonists.
When asked by FOX PAC News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace, “You realize that you messed up about Paul Revere, don’t you?” Palin bristled and replied, “I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere”.
“Part of his ride was to warn the British that were already there. That, hey, you’re not going to succeed. You’re not going to take American arms. You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual, private militia that we have,” she added. “He did warn the British.”
According to the Associated Press, Palin was asked Thursday in Boston about the Revolutionary War hero during a stop on her politically funded family vacation, aka her “East Coast bus tour”.
“He who warned the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms by ringing those bells, and makin’ sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.”
Yeah, well, that’s not quite how it happened, Your Majesty, and this is clearly one of two things; one, it’s typical modern day conservative revisionist history; or two, it’s one more piece of obvious evidence demonstrating how completely unqualified the Ice Queen is to ever be allowed anywhere near the White House.
How can anyone think, or believe, that Paul Revere’s ride was in any way designed to warn the British? The only British along Revere’s route were British Dragoons sent to block movement along the roadways, and to screen the infantry’s movement to Lexington and then to Concord.
Revere’s mission was to ride to Lexington in order to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that the British were coming – in force – to arrest them both, and to seize the militia weapons. There was no intent to tell the British anything.
What’s truly sad is there are literally millions of FOX PAC devotees who are nodding their heads agreeing with Palin.
And so it begins. Those seeking the GOTP presidential nod have begun officially bowing before the alter of the far-right conservative Bible thumping, fire breathing “Christians” of the party hoping that they will receive the groups seal of approval.
The Washington D.C. two-day conference of the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s proved to be just too much of a temptation for the GOTP hopefuls who decided they needed to “render unto” the theocratic right what is there’s playing it as though it was also what is God’s. Never mind the fact at least three of the candidates don’t stand a prayer – or a snow ball’s chance – of ever gaining the group’s “blessing”. Those three of course would be Romney and Huntsman – both Mormon – and Cain, who besides the fact his name will offend some of the group, bears “the mark” of that name and will be snubbed because of it by large numbers of these so-called “religious” folks. Yes, they won’t nominate him because he’s Black.
Ever since their favorite son, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee decided not to run – not wanting to be this election cycle’s Bob Dole – the far-right religious crowd has been looking for someone new to embrace, and all they had to do was hold a convention and off the GOTP candidates run to pander, and to promise, and to sell themselves.
As the selling of political souls began, the candidates set the nation’s most fearful moral concerns as federal debt and health care policies, while still playing up to the sizably overinflated egos of the religious conservatives.
According to the Associated Press, one of the two dreaded Mormon candidates, former Utah Governor – and Obama Administration appointed Ambassador to China – Jon Huntsman bypassed a large scrum of journalists but did give an interview to the Christian-oriented CBN network.
During his address to the “faithful” – after citing numerous anti-abortion laws he signed as governor of Utah – Huntsman declared, “I do not believe the Republican Party should focus solely on our economic life to the neglect of our human life”.
Strangely, neither Huntsman nor Romney mentioned their own religious faith while addressing this very religiously “inclusive” audience.
Others jockeying for the pharisaic endorsement included former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, Representative Michele Bachmann, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who strangely declined an invitation to the conference; now why would Newt turn down an invitation? Maybe the whole being caught in the act of adultery thing is just too much for the sensitivities of these modern day “Christians”?
Pawlenty, a Catholic-turned-Protestant evangelical (basically someone who this group would therefore count as having been “saved”) opened and closed his remarks with biblical quotes. During his sermon, he declared his four top “commonsense principles” – if elected – would be for the nation are to turn toward God, protect the unborn, support traditional marriage and keep Americans secure. Translation being he would oppose anything produced in Hollywood, and would never support the building of any Muslim houses of worship anywhere close to the “hallowed” Ground Zero; he would take away a woman’s right to abortion; he would make sure only “his type” of people could get married, and he would declare crusades against the evil spread of Islam throughout the world, to include bombing Iran, maintaining the war on terror in both Iraq and Afghanistan and wholeheartedly support the torturing of prisoners.
The crazy woman from Minnesota, Michelle Bachmann, told of her home-schooling of her five children and how she had served as foster mother to 23 other children. She told the crowd – of a few hundred – that “marriage is under siege” in America, and then – as the self appointed priestess-in-chief of the GOTP – she ended with a prayer asking a blessing for President Barack Obama, the same Barack Obama she had just finished sharply criticizing moments earlier.
Romney – aka Flopsy Mopsy – who as a Republican Senate candidate and one-term governor in Massachusetts, supported legalized abortion, gay rights and gun control, but who has since “seen the light” and reversed his stands on those positions. His change of heart is not an easy sell when he so fervently defended each during an October 1994 debate against Senator Edward Kennedy
Flopsy spoke of “our belief in the sanctity of human life,” and said marriage should apply to “one man and one woman.” He said the nation’s high unemployment rate was President Obama’s fault and said job losses can push marriages to the breaking point, calling it – unemployment – “a moral crisis.”
It’s interesting that during his tenure as Governor of Massachusetts his state ranked 47 of 50 for job creation, and that he never spoke of this “moral crisis” while his buddies Bush and Cheney were throwing the economy to the wolves of Wall Street.
And last, but not least, the always entertaining Ron Paul of Texas mixed quotes from the Bible’s first book of Samuel with his familiar libertarian proposals, such as returning to the gold standard, appealing to the two things the crowd held most sacred; quoting scripture and personal acquisition of lucre.
But while the economy is a concern for almost everyone else in the country some religious conservatives are not happy with the heavy emphasis on economic matters these days, and the congregation sat stone faced when Boss Barbour spoke of how the sheep must blindly follow whichever shepherd won the nomination despite the absolute certainty they will disagree with that person on some issues – unless of course they pushed for and got someone like Palin or Bachmann.
Boos Barbour declared, “Purity is the enemy of victory.”
Yeah, I’m fairly certain that line isn’t going to become a bumper sticker throughout the Bible belt anytime soon.
I really hate to say it, but perhaps the “smart” candidates were the ones who didn’t go running to the church in the wildwood, and who didn’t promise things they know full well they can’t deliver on. Anyone who promises to overturn Roe v. Wade (i.e., “protecting the rights of the unborn”) is one of three things; a liar, a lunatic, or both. It is established federal law and no President is ever going to be able to overturn it. They are lying every time they speak as though they can.
How truly sad that anyone seeking his party’s nomination for the office of the President of the United States must go hat in hand to any religious group asking its blessing. It is even sadder they pander to the group which screams about Islamic Sharia Law being enforced in America – when it isn’t – while having absolutely no regrets of shoving its brand of “Christianity” down everyone else’s throats.
Perhaps Newt and Palin – gulp – were the smart ones.
So, Mr. Flopsy Mopsy has finally entered the race. Mitt Romney made it official today, declaring his candidacy from the great state of New Hampshire, “I’m Mitt Romney and I believe in America. And I’m running for president of the United States.”
Which America is that Mitt? Is it Paul Ryan’s vision for America? Is it Glenn Beck’s vision of America? Is it the America where you said it would be OK to wire tap Islamic houses of worship? Or is it the America where you signed a health care bill virtually identical to the one President Obama signed, and later flipped over on your back for the favor of the far-right portion of the party who will never support your nomination any way?
Flopsy began his race by challenging President Obama while trying very hard to paint himself as the candidate in the multi-colored coat. He tried to show he was what everyone in the new GOTP wants, a man who can appeal to conservatives, social conservatives, evangelicals and yea verily even to the libertarians.
“It breaks my heart to see what is happening to this great country,” Romney said. “No, Mr. President, you had your chance.”
And exactly why does it break your heart Mitt? Does it break your heart because there’s someone in the White House who isn’t in bed with big business like you are being a former business man?
It’s going to be a long way to the nomination Mitt and you have an equally long record of flip flopping. In fact you’ve flipped more often than a stack of hot cakes at the IHOP. How ill you sell your former support of abortion and gay rights as well as Romney-care? And of course there’s the whole far-right Christian conservative loathing the idea of nominating a Mormon.
Yeah, you’re right in the running for the nomination alright; you’re all set up for the thrashing of your lifetime. You won’t need to worry about what President Obama will do to you because your own are going to eat you alive.
From the, “does this helicopter make me look like a fat head?” department; it seems New Jersey Republican Tea Party (GOTP) Governor Chris Christie, the “shining knight” of GOTP budget cutting and fiscal responsibility is using the state’s helo for private jaunts, including using it to attend his son’s high school baseball game. And people are noticing.
Democratic state Assemblyman Paul Moriarty said in a recent the Associated Press (AP) interview, “Governor Christie obviously doesn’t include himself in his hollow call for shared sacrifice,”
Now if that’s not an understatement I don’t know what is. But then again, Christie is your typical GOTP type. He slashes his state’s budget, drastically cutting public services, and then rides around in the state’s helicopter for personal business. He’s the quintessential new conservative leader. Give to the rich – including yourself – and screw the poor, elderly and middle class. His days of being able to pass himself off as being fiscally responsible are finished, as may be any aspirations of not only running for the White House but possibly of being re-elected. In today’s world you can’t say one thing and do another. When you prance around wielding a cost cutting knife insisting public employee unions share in the state’s fiscal austerity, and then you fly off to personal events, well, you’re 15 minutes are just about used up. What makes it more interesting is as a federal prosecutor, he cracked down on elected officials who misused public funds. Should there be a special prosecutor appointed to see what the Governor’s up to?
And in this time of fiscal trials, after being caught red-handed abusing state monies will the governor reimburse the state of New Jersey? Of course not! The governor’s spokesman, Kevin Roberts, has declared that the governor has no intention of paying anything back, and that he will not reimburse the state for Tuesday’s chopper ride. “The use of air travel has been limited and appropriate,” he is quoted as saying in The Star-Ledgerof Newark.
How exactly is flying to your son’s baseball game “appropriate” Mr. Roberts? Were you “beaned” by fly balls repeatedly as a child?
According to AP reports it’s just a trifling little sum, “state helicopters cost $2,500 an hour to operate. Col. Rick Fuentes, superintendent of New Jersey’s state police, said in a statement there was ‘no additional cost to taxpayers or the State Police budget’ for the ride to Montvale in Bergen County.”
So, you were heading to the game Colonel and offered to give the governor a ride? How exactly is there no “additional cost to taxpayers or the State Police budget”? Is everyone in New Jersey’s finest as morose as you?
Ah, but wait for it, if you thought the helicopter ride was outrageous, it appears once at the game Christie and his wife, Mary Pat, along with an aide, were picked up in a car, driven by a state trooper, and chauffeured to the bleachers — a distance reportedly about 100 yards — and then only watched the game for a few innings?
Are you kidding me? You fly to the game in a state helo (a personal flight) and then you are driven the whopping distance of 100 yards to the bleachers, and you don’t even stay for the whole game!? How much did it “not” cost the people of New Jersey to have a State Trooper standing by to drive the governor to the stands!? That Trooper couldn’t have had better things to do!? Like, oh I don’t know!? Catching crooks maybe!?
So, just out of curiosity Colonel, how many times has the governor used the state’s rotary wing asset since being elected?
Fuentes said Christie has used state helicopters 35 times since taking office, but did not detail which trips were personal and which were for state business.
Didn’t detail which trips were personal and which were for state business!? Excuse me!? Did you hit your head – numerous times – when you were a child!?
Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, told the AP that the governor’s judgment is being questioned.
“He has been asking everyone else in the state to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and share in the sacrifice of all these budget cuts to education and so forth,” Murray told Bloomberg News. “There were so many pieces to this that should have screamed out, ‘Don’t do it!’ It makes the governor seem that he’s tone deaf.”
Seem like he’s tone deaf!? No, it makes him look like the hypocrite he is. He’s a liar and a hypocrite; and everyone around him – to include Col Fuentes and Mr. Roberts – need to resign for covering up for him. There needs to be a special prosecutor appointed and the New Jersey State Legislature needs to look into impeaching this moron. How dare you cut and slash education funds and then fly around Peter floggin Pan! You’re a disgrace and you need to understand it’s time for you to shut your pie hole on anything to do with ethics or fiscal responsibility. Now, just go away.
In spite of what Paul Ryan claims, his GOTP budget plan would leave up to 44 million additional low-income people uninsured as the Federal Government would be forced to cut states’ Medicaid funding by about one-third over the next 10 years.
You read that correctly, 44 million additional – as in 44 million new, or 44 million more. That’s the ugly face – or one of the ugly faces – of today’s GOTP. Ryan is willing to throw the poor, the needy, even grandma under the bus while continuing to insist we must continue to not only give tax breaks to the wealthiest among us, but give them even bigger tax breaks.
Both the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Urban Institute claim, Medicaid’s role as the nation’s safety net health care program would be “significantly compromised” under the GOP budget, “with no obvious alternative to take its place.”
But Ryan and his GOTP colleagues don’t care. Reality is they have absolutely nothing to take its place. Why? Because they simply don’t care. The GOTP has had its designs on killing Medicaid since its inception, and cutting it has nothing to do with saving money, and everything to do with undermining it with the eventual hope of toppling it entirely.
The budget passed by House Republicans last month – on a strict party-line vote – called for sweeping health care changes, potentially even more significant than President Barack Obama’s insurance overhaul. And it’s biggest dream baby for the GOTP? The part where it would convert Medicare into a voucher-like system for future retirees. But Medicaid would also be transformed.
The GOTP – with Ryan leading – want first, to kill medicare; second, to give you a voucher (money); and third, have you go give that voucher to some insurance company. Sounds sort of OK, but what’s the catch? How many seniors do you know who don’t have some kind of pre-existing medical condition that would keep them from obtaining health insurance? Grandma would be thrown under the bus if Ryan and the GOTP have its way. Medicare destroyed = Grandma with no health coverage. It’s very simple mathematics.
If this bill had passed, and if the Senate had been controlled by the GOTP, and if the Congress could have over-ridden the President’s veto, then the federal-state partnership (Medicaid) which now covers more than 60 million low-income families and seniors, including most nursing home residents, as well as disabled people of any age would have been converted from an open-ended program in which the federal government pays about 60 percent of the cost of services, into a block grant that would give each state a fixed sum of money. Not a continuous influx of money mind you, but a block grant to take care existing costs, but no more. Future seniors? Under the GOTP/Ryan plan you’re out of luck, aka under the bus.
Ryan’s wonderful little budget would also have done away with the right to Medicaid benefits under federal law, and it would have repealed a coverage expansion to low-income adults included in Obama’s health care law.
As the current law stands, it’s estimated Medicaid will be covering 76 million people in 2021, the end of the ten-year estimating window used in federal budgeting. Of those, some 17 million would gain coverage under President Obama’s expansion.
The study also estimated that 36 million to 44 million people would lose coverage from the combined impact of the block grant and the GOTP’s repealing of the new health care law. Researchers said they gave a range to account for different approaches states might take to reduce their Medicaid rolls. Under the worst case scenario, Medicaid enrollment would plunge by nearly 60 percent from current projected levels.
And of course because the GOTP caters only to the richest among us the hospitals, community health centers and other health care providers serving low-income people would be disproportionately affected. In 2021 hospitals would face Medicaid funding cuts of $84 billion.
Did you get that number? $84 billion would be taken away from hose who need health care the most, the poor and the elderly.
Is this the America conservatives cry out for? Is this the America they call for taking us back to? Is this the America they want to leave to their posterity? One can only think yes it is. This is what and where the current GOTP wants us to go to. They assume no one in their families will ever be poor, or will ever be born with a disability, or will ever be elderly. It’s “fixing” a problem for today only, leaving it to be “fixed” again at a later date so they can garner political flowers today.
The Liberty Tree 