Tag Archives: 2012 GOP Debates
Arizona GOTP Debate …
Short version: Gilbert from Gilbert was the highlight – which is saying something; Santorum got in some good licks against Romney; Romney exaggerated his record (again); Paul is still Paul; and who told Newt to wear a purple tie?
There was a great deal of gloom, doom and fear mongering – even for a Republican Tea Party (GOTP) debate – with lots of lying and exaggerating from most sides.
Romney indeed not only continued to exaggerate his record – especially on “saving” the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, it’s a sporting event Mitt, not the world’s economy – and outright lied about the contraception issue from 2005, when he did indeed force all hospitals to provide emergency contraception (Romney says no hospitals are exempt from pill law – The Boston Globe), and when he continued to claim the same lies he first spouted at the Citadel about how the President’s gutted the Navy and all the military (Romney lied to Cadets at The Citadel?); that’s just two examples.
Romney also now claims that his new and revised tax plan will give everyone a 20% tax cut, flip-flopping once again in mid-campaign, and appearing to be in conflict with himself since he said just a day ago, “If you just cut — if all you’re thinking about is just cutting spending — why as you cut spending you’ll slow down the economy, so you have to at the same time create pro-growth tax policies.” Clearly Mittens wants to have his cake and eat it too.
Ron Paul continued to play his part of Court Jester/Crazy Uncle well, claiming he was still in the hunt, when in truth he’s never been even remotely close to winning the nomination – although he’s closer this year than ever before, but that’s like saying you’re warmer now because you moved from Pluto to Uranus.
Gingrich was doing his best Benny Hill impersonation, and is done. A purple tie, really? It made him look ridiculous, and as he thumped across the stage with a foolish smile he looked as though he was playing charades and doing the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man; his star rose in South Carolina and plummeted in Florida. He’s way past done, and it’s almost sad to watch him continue on thinking he has a chance.
Santorum continuously went on the attack against Romney but came across as just being petulant and not presidential; he failed to deliver any real substantial blows against Mittens and thus failed to capitalize on his momentum. He was mostly Mr. Gloom talking as though 9-11 had just happened and how if things don’t change there’ll be “human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!” The whole fear and frenzy thing is wearing very thin, and I think most Americans want to hear someone talk about brighter days and the future and stop harping on the evils of the world and how the Visigoths are at the gates.
The hall was visibly packed with Romney fans, either by design or coincidentally, and they cheered loudly for him, and booed at times when others challenged him – of course Mesa has a very large LDS population and that no doubt helped, the fans were on his side and that has to help give his sagging campaign a boost.
One of the most telling moment came when the candidates were asked to describe themselves in one word and one word only; Paul said consistent”, Santorum said “courage”, Romney said “resolute” and Newt said “cheerful”. What’s telling is that not one of the GOTP candidates said “conservative”; it was a big fat opening for Santorum’s to land a massive body blow and he chose “courage”? He lost a golden moment opportunity.
What I take away from this hopefully last GOTP debate is that all they could focus on was hate, gloom and despair; there was too much talking laced with fear and too little talking coupled with hope and optimism. The fear factor worked well in 2004, it’s overplayed now, it’s deceitful and it’s going to come back and slap them in their collective political faces.
If this is truly the last of these GOTP debates, all I can say is, “Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we’re free at last!”
Latest 2012 Presidential Polls – (pre-Arizona GOTP Debate) 22 Feb 12 Edition
Tonight the four horsemen meet again in the last debate before Super Tuesday; how will they behave? Will they all gang up on the President in one big Republican Tea Party (GOTP) group hug, or will they go after each other finally realizing they have to win the nomination first and then go after the President?
Maine’s primary still has yet to be decided (completely) with the GOTP infighting over what votes should or shouldn’t be counted – like leaving out whole counties which might not have voted for Mittens.
Tonight’s debate is designed to prime the pump of GOTP voters heading into the Arizona and Michigan primaries next week, and indicators are those races are completely up for grabs.
In Arizona’s Winner Take All Primary with 29 delegates – 28 Feb 12; the new CNN/Time poll of likely voters conducted 17 – 20 Feb 12: Romney 36; Santorum 32; Gingrich 18 and Paul 6 with 8% undecided. Those undecided voters could push Santorum to a win, or add to a Romney blow out, tonight’s debate performances will tell.
Michigan’s Hybrid Primary with 30 Delegates – 28 Feb 12; a new Rasmussen Reports poll of likely voters conducted 20 Feb 12: Santorum 38; Romney 34; Paul 10 and Gingrich 9 with 9% undecided. This shouldn’t even be close for Romney, but it’s a clear indicator of how much he’s disliked amongst his own party.
Washington’s Non-Binding Caucus with 43 delegates – 3 Mar 12; a new PPP (D) poll of likely voters conducted 16 – 19 Feb 12: Santorum 38; Romney 27; Paul 15 and Gingrich 12 with 8% undecided.
Super Tuesday (6 Mar 12)
Alaska’s Proportional Caucus with 27 delegates; no polling info …
Georgia Proportional Primary with 76 delegates; Insider Advantage poll of likely voters conducted 20 Feb 12: Gingrich 26; Romney 24; Santorum 23 and Paul 12 with 15% undecided. This clearly demonstrates Newt’s time has come and gone.
Idaho’s Non-Binding Caucus with 32 delegates; no polling info …
Massachusetts Proportional Primary with 41 delegates; Suffolk/7News poll of likely voters conducted 11 – 15 Feb 12: Romney 64; Santorum 16; Paul 7 and Gingrich 6 and with 7% undecided.
North Dakota’s Non-Binding Caucus with 28 delegates; no polling info …
Ohio Proportional Primary with 66 delegates; Rasmussen Reports poll of likely voters conducted 15 Feb 12: Santorum 42; Romney 24; Gingrich 13 and Paul 10 with 11% undecided.
Oklahoma Proportional Primary with 43 delegates; Sooner Poll of registered voters conducted 8 – 16 Feb 12: Santorum 39; Romney 23; Gingrich 18 and Paul 8 with 12% undecided.
Tennessee’s Proportional Primary with 58 delegates; no polling info …
Nothing new with Vermont’s Hybrid Primary with 17 delegates; PPP (D) poll of registered voters conducted 28 – 31 Jul 11: Romney 26; Paul 7 and Gingrich 6 with 61% undecided
Virginia Hybrid Primary (where only Romney and Paul are on the ballot) with 49 delegates; a new CNU/Times-Dispatch poll of likely voters conducted 4 – 13 Feb 12: Romney 53 and Paul 23 with 24% undecided.
Wyoming’s Non-Binding Caucus of 29 delegates; no polling info …
The regular season records for the gallant candidates: Santorum 4; Romney 3; Gingrich 1 and Paul 0 with Maine still unbelievably yet to be determined.
The GOTP Delegate Count to date is: Romney 90; Santorum 44; Gingrich 32 and Paul 13.
The current GOTP Popular Vote Count is:
Romney 1,121,685
Gingrich 838,825
Santorum 431,926
Paul 307,975
Nationally the GOTP Nomination according to the latest Gallup Tracking poll of registered voters conducted 17 – 21 Feb 12: Santorum 35; Romney 27; Gingrich 15 and Paul 10 with 13% undecided.
So, how does each of the Four Horseman of the GOPocalypse stack up against the President? The latest Rasmussen Reports poll of likely voters conducted 19 – 21 Feb 12; if the general election were held today:
President Obama 47/Romney 41
President Obama 46/Santorum 43
Latest Quinnipiac poll of registered voters conducted 14 – 20 Feb 12;
President Obama 50/Gingrich 39
If the GOTP clown car had finally stopped spinning, and the general election was held today, Rick Santorum would be the GOTP nominee, and he’d lose to President Obama in the general election.
But wait a minute, what’s the electoral map look like if the election were held today?
NO RELIGIOUS TEST!
Dear right-wing uber-conservative Christian fanatics,
Article VI of the United States Constitution reads, “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
“NO RELIGIOUS TEST SHALL EVER BE REQUIRED”! That means there’s supposed to be a separation from religious extremists like yourselves and the Presidency.
But, just in case Article VI isn’t clear enough, how about Article 2, Section 1?
“Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:–‘I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.'”
NOTE, there is no phrase, “So help me God” on the end of the oath of office; so stop pushing for there to be some twisted form of your uber-conservative Evangelical Christianity as the litmus test of who should or should not be elected President! You have two choices here, you either support the Constitution as the revered Founding Fathers wrote it, or you don’t; clearly there was to be a separation.
Furthermore, in spite of Michele “Krazy” Bachmann’s insistence that Washington uttered the phrase “So help me God” following his swearing in, the earliest known source indicating Washington added “So help me God” to his acceptance, not to the oath, is attributed to Washington Irving, who was six at the time of the inauguration, and first appears 65 years after the event; the only contemporary account that repeats the oath in full, a report from the French consul, Comte de Moustier, states only the constitutional oath, without reference to Washington’s adding “So Help Me God” to his acceptance. But if – and it’s a big IF – George Washington added the words that doesn’t make it somehow Constitutional by executive fiat.
While we’re running down this rabbit hole, did you know President Theodore Roosevelt didn’t use a Bible when taking the oath in 1901? Or that John Quincy Adams swore on a book of law? And that Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in on a Roman Catholic missal on Air Force One?
And furthermore, we’ve not had a single Evangelical Christian serve as President, and if Bachmann, Perry, Santorum and Cain are examples of what that would mean, then thank God for that, and it’ll probably be a long time before we do.
Cain would ‘overturn the Supreme Court’?
Republican Tea Party (GOTP) presidential has been Herman “Pizza Man” Cain declared Saturday he’d “overturn” the Supreme Court if they legalized same sex marriage.
During a debate at the First Federated Church in Des Moines, Iowa, National Organization for Marriage (NOM) president Brian Brown asked the Republican candidates what they’d do if the Supreme Court ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) — a law banning federal marriage equality — was unconstitutional.
“If the Perry case or a DOMA case gets to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court were to overturn DOMA or to find a — quote — unquote — constitutional — a U.S. Constitutional right to same sex marriage, if you were president, what would you do?” Brown asked.
“I would lead the charge to overturn the Supreme Court if they overturned DOMA,” Cain insisted. “Whether that was new legislation coming out of the Congress like Rep. [Michele] Bachmann said. The United States Congress is supposed to pass laws so if they did overturn DOMA, that charge, I would lead to reverse that.”
Once more the Pizza Man demonstrates his inability to grasp how things work within the confines of our Constitutional Republic; the President has no authority to “overturn” the Supreme Court. He can appoint new Justices to fill vacancies, but that’s as far as it goes. The President can’t “fire” the Supreme Court. Cain was posturing for the uber-conservative Evangelicals, and his statement simply showed his ignorance, not his competence.
America needs to be more like China?
Republican Tea Party (GOTP) presidential hanger-on Michele “Krazy” Bachmann is saying America’s Great Society should be more like the Great Wall of China.
“The ‘Great Society’ has not worked and it’s put us into the modern welfare state,” she said. “If you look at China, they don’t have food stamps. If you look at China, they’re in a very different situation. They save for their own retirement security…They don’t have the modern welfare state and China’s growing. And so what I would do is look at the programs that LBJ gave us with the Great Society and they’d be gone.”
I’m not really sure how to address this; here we have an unabashed uber-conservative who’s been screaming for the past three years about America’s so-called Socialist President, and yet she’s saying we – the United States – needs to be like China.
One can only assume Krazy knows China is a communist country, and that she should understand that the Chinese people don’t necessarily “retire” like those of us in the West, they work their entire lives to support the state; if they can’t work there are programs – even in good old China – that help to take care of them.
What’s abundantly clear is Bachmann’s continued ignorance of anything – I can’t think of a single issue she hasn’t botched when addressing it; she’s clearly not qualified to be president, and it’s astonishing she continues to be re-elected to the Congress – which speaks volumes about her constituents.
Waterboarding is torture
Republican Tea Party (GOTP) presidential candidates, with the notable exceptions of Jon Huntsman and Ron Paul announced during Saturday night’s GOP debate that they’d reinstitute waterboarding if elected president, arguing it’s an “enhanced interrogation technique” and therefore doesn’t violate the Geneva Convention’s ban against acts of torture.
President Barack Obama chastised the candidates for that stance, noting the damage waterboarding has done for America’s reputation and its standing in the world.
“It’s contrary to America’s traditions,” he said. “It’s contrary to our ideals. That’s not who we are. That’s not how we operate. We don’t need it in order to prosecute the war on terrorism. And we did the right thing by ending that practice.”
But the President isn’t alone in his condemnation of the GOTP wannabes, the man the President beat in 2008, and the Senator best known for criticizing the practice, spoke out against the practice on Monday morning as well.
“Very disappointed by statements at SC GOP debate supporting waterboarding,” Sen. John McCain tweeted. “Waterboarding is torture.”
There is no one serving in the United States Senate better qualified to debunk conservative ignorance on this subject, and since the President has already outlawed the practice, the only way it will return is if one of the current GOTP troglodytes somehow wins the White House; thankfully, at present that’s not looking too promising.
Waterboarding is torture
USA Today is reporting that President Obama is challenging the views of his Republican Tea Party (GOTP) opponents on Iran and support of waterboarding as an interrogation technique.
Asked about Mittens Romney’s criticism he isn’t stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, the President told reporters anyone who claims this is an easy issue “is either politicking or doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”
I’d personally say with respects to this crop of candidates, it’s both Mr. President, they’re all politicking and they definitely don’t have a clue on foreign policy, but less much of anything else.
“You take a look at what we’ve been able to accomplish in mobilizing the world community against Iran over the last three years and it shows steady, determined, firm progress in isolating the Iranian regime, and sending a clear message that the world believes it would be dangerous for them to have a nuclear weapon,” the President said.
The President also reportedly said, of Iran: “Not only the world, but the Iranian regime understands very clearly how determined we are to prevent not only a nuclear Iran but also a nuclear arms race in the region, and a violation of nonproliferation norms that would have implications around the world, including in the Asia Pacific region where we have similar problems with North Korea.”
During another recent so-called GOTP “debate”, Mittens described Iran as the President’s “greatest failure” in foreign policy, and, “if we re-elect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon.”
Of course he has no facts to back up his statement, he’s just throwing it out there; Mittens might as well have said, “If we re-elect Barack Obama, we’ll discover the moon is made of green cheese.”
During the same “debate”, Herman “Pizza Man” Cain and Michele “Krazy” Bachmann said they’d bring back waterboarding as an interrogation technique on terrorism suspects; Cain said, “I don’t see that as torture,” while Bachmann called the technique “very effective” in learning about terrorism plans.
“They’re wrong,” the President responded. “Waterboarding is torture.”
“It’s contrary to America’s traditions,” he added. “It’s contrary to our ideals. That’s not who we are. That’s not how we operate. We don’t need it in order to prosecute the war on terrorism. And we did the right thing by ending that practice.”
“If we want to lead around the world, part of our leadership is setting a good example. And anybody who has actually read about and understands the practice of waterboarding would say that that is torture. And that’s not something we do, period.”
Arab Spring has gotten out of hand?
Republican Tea Party (GOTP) incredible shrinking presidential candidate Herman “Pizza Man” Cain said during the most recent “debate” that President Barack Obama’s reaction to the Arab Spring, has allowed the movement to go in the wrong direction.
“You have to look at Libya, Egypt, Yemen and all of the revolutions that are going on and how the administration has mishandled them,” he said. “As a result, this has gotten totally out of hand.”
You can hear his brain captain screaming, “How dare these people decide their own destiny, don’t they know that the right way is to have America invade your country and force feed democracy to them?!”
Pizza Man claims the revolution in Egypt, where citizens ousted long-time President Hosni Mubarak, could strain relations between the United States and Egypt, and he warned against the increased power of opposition group the Muslim Brotherhood, which formed a political party earlier this year.
“Our relationship with Egypt may not survive,” he said. “It turned out that the opposition was more of the Muslim Brotherhood, which could end up with a majority of control of this new government.”
Here’s the FOX PAC conservative line, look out for the Muslim Brotherhood to take control in the vacuum in Egypt!
So, Cain would have supported a policy of pouring billions of dollars into a regime notorious for torturing and murdering its own people?
Cain also criticized the president for his support for protests in Yemen, where the Yemeni government has responded with violence to peaceful protests.
“This president has already said that the president of Yemen should go,” Cain said. “He is our friend. He has been helping us fight Al Qaeda. This president has been on the wrong side in nearly every situation in the Arab world.”
Now we know that Herman Cain subscribes to the uber-conservative Machiavellian theory that the “enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Earth to Herman, America can’t proclaim itself as the “bright shining city on the hill” while simultaneously supporting corrupt and murderous governments just because sometimes they’re our friend.
The old cold war policy of throwing billions of dollars at nations in bribes is out dated and has never served us well; problem with buying friendship is eventually some new kid comes along who pays more. Of course when your answer has always been to pay people off what more can we expect from the Pizza Man?
The Liberty Tree 