Days of Change

Day 1212 – The Two-Man Race

In this four man race that was really a three man race, Newt Gingrich may have had his final surge of the campaign season. He still has a chance on Super Tuesday, but his claim to the not Romney mantle is now weaker than that of Rick Santorum.

Santorum and Romney aren’t actually that far apart on issues. Both are pro-life, but Romney came to that belief later in his career. Both are spenders. Santorum is not afraid of funding a pork project. Romney signed off on a massive government health care system. Romney has been tied to the mantle of the RINO Republican where Santorum has been labeled a true conservative, if not quite a Tea Partier.

I think this ends up being the final run in a week or so. Romney will blow past his competitors in the delegate count and he will have to think about a running mate. Newt has made it clear that his temperament is not right for the job. However, Santorum fits the bill nicely. He has some experience, he represents a different region of the northeast and he’s a Republican counterpart to the blue collar image of Joe Biden. I think the GOP could win with this combination.

Day 1211 – Not Much Chaos

The Obama Party has been trying to use “open” primaries to make Romney weak by voting for Rick Santorum. Romney won both Arizona and Michigan. Try again, Obots.

Day 1210 – All the Marbles

Once again, Republican primary voters are faced with what is supposedly the contest to end all 2012 presidential contests. The irony is that tomorrow is in more flux than ever. Romney will likely take Arizona, but Michigan is looking like a toss-up between Mitt and Rick Santorum.  So, does Rick get the momentum if he wins Michigan?

Not exactly, because Newt Gingrich is poised to do well on Super Tuesday. We have likely winner Mitt Romney, deadender Ron Paul, and two 1990s era conservatives. Right now, I’m just going to sit back and enjoy the ride because any of them can beat Obama.

Day 1209 – An Embarrassment of Riches?

If Obama is as beatable as he seems to be, why haven’t the big players in the Republican Party joined in the race for the GOP nomination? The presumption is that there should be an embarrassment of riches with big names like Chris Christie and Jeb Bush. Maybe Sarah Palin should be in it as well. There are a number of reasons why it’s a good idea to stay away from the contest as well, however.

It’s Mitt’s world. Mitt Romney has a huge amount of infrastructure and support he has accumulated since his failed 2008 campaign. Early Romney supporters who had a chance of running for president saw that there was an uphill climb against the Romney organization. Plus, he likes to scorch earth under his opponents.

There’s a new kind of candidate. Herman Cain, Michelle Bachmann and Newt Gingrich wouldn’t normally have much of a chance. Even Rick Santorum and Sarah Palin aren’t traditional establishment choices. Safe choices like Tim Pawlenty found himself overwhelmed early. Mitt Romney did well against a sea of not Romneys. When the field narrowed, only Ron Paul was keeping away lopsided victories by Romney opponents. The latest theory is that Romney  is tacitly supporting Ron Paul in exchange for better treatment and a bribe to be named later. If Rick Santorum loses to Romney soon, it’s down to one nominee.

The Tea Party is in the House. This is the real stumbling block to a 2012 Mitt Romney coronation. The Tea Party is against Obamacare, opposes increased debt spending and isn’t concerned about the Republicans losing an election if their candidate doesn’t measure up. This may have kept more establishment (and moderate) Republicans out of the race. I wonder if the Republicans don’t have a Plan B. If the lose the election to Obama, do they blame the Tea Party? They blamed Senate losses on then, even though it was almost mathematically impossible to win all the seats needed.

Even thought he is loathsome, Romney does have the ability to win this election. I just hope others like Sarah palin work on getting a Republican majority in the Senate and keeping one in the House. Chances are, we might need it.

Day 1208 – Burning Down the Mosque

Two months before September 11, 2001, the animated series South park aired the episode “Super Best Friends.” It featured a group of religious icons, including Joseph Smith, Moses and Mohammed. This episode stood as is for another five years before threats of retaliation for “depicting Mohammed” forced the episode from availability online.

I’m not sure how they figured it out, but the worst of the Muslim community saw the way Bush and the rest of the would was trying to look sympathetic to Muslims around the world while killing the terrorist sympathizers in Afghanistan. Americans coddle their children, and so Muslims decided to act like children, being “offended” at every turn as if their ability to dish out cultural insensitivity far exceeded their ability to accept cultural insensitivity.

Here’s a case in point. The Taliban destroyed two giant Buddhist statues in Afghanistan over 2,000 years old despite international protest. They felt no one had authority over them. However, when the series “24” portrays Muslims as terrorists, (which the unbelievable majority are) Muslim groups go to every legal and television channel they can find. This asymmetrical process has recently been referred to as lawfare, the use of Western law as a weapon to protect Islam.

When a child throws a temper tantrum and you give in to stop it, in only teaches the child new ways in which to gain the upper hand. The more that the West gives in and apologizes for imagined slights, like burning a few worthless Korans that were already desecrated by the prisoners writing secret messages in them, the more violent the protests will become. We need to desensitize the mobs instead. I would suggest burning some holy books on the White House lawn, but I’m sure something more subtle could also work.

Day 1207 – You Think $4 is Bad?

New York and California will see gas at $4 a gallon by the start of March this year. Iran is still on course to develop nuclear weapon material and the winter to summer fuel change is still weeks away. Gas prices of $5 per gallon is pretty much a given. If speculation ramps up enough, it will go to $6 or more by Memorial Day.

President Obama is essentially doubling down on the kind of graft-powered solar technology that has become the most wasted part of a wasteful $1 trillion Stimulus plan. It’s a fairly common tactic. If you did something wrong, pretend you didn’t by doing the wrong thing even worse. If you had an affair, lie about it. If you gave money to campaign donors for failed green energy scams, propose giving more as if it’ not a scam.

The only “innovators” of solar technology who have seen any profit are the Chinese manufacturers who usually end up making the green energy devices subsidized by tax money. The only reason for anyone to use an alternative fuel source is to get a tax break. Obama is now making the asinine claim that if we keep his incompetent ass in office, we won’t have to worry about gas prices in the coming summers because of breakthrough technology.

That’s bull. It would take 10-20 years for any green technology to make a dent in fuel consumption. Even the most green-forward countries only employ a few percent of their total energy grid in wind and solar. The most effective green technology is nuclear power and it’s not considered renewable. Then there are the naysayers who claim drilling anywhere will yield no oil for a decade. Well, if we drilled in ANWR after September 11, 2001, we wouldn’t eve need a Keystone pipeline. Then again, we probably won’t get that either.

One theory I’ve heard is that while rampant mortgage speculation was the underlying cause of the current recession, high oil prices in the summer of 2008 were the spark that set off the downfall. You may be able to run your car from unicorn farts, but it still takes crude oil to make asphalt and many other road and home construction products. Am I hoping for bad news like Obama has claimed? No, I have eyes and a brain and I vote.

Day 1206 – Sit and Deliver

The Republicans had their last chance to damage each other for the last time before Super Tuesday at last night’s debate. They literally performed their own SNL skit by summing themselves up in one word for one question. Personally, I would have used the words presidential or executive.

Hving hem sit around and attack each other always seemed kind of strange to me. I think I would have waited or one of Romney’s diatribe’s full of lies about my record and rebut by asking a question. “Okay, governor, but why should anyone vote for you?”

Day 1205 – Jesus Freaks Out On the Street

Lately, I’ve wondered if some people just have a problem with religion or if they don’t like to think there’s a power higher than them. My experience is that the people with the biggest grudges against organized religion are the ones most familiar with it. This seemed to start with an attempt by President Obama to force religious organizations to pay for what we euphemistically refer to as family planning services. Some feminists will accept no compromises. Religions are just Mens’ clubs to them. When it gets to contraception, however, the backlash is more considerable. People love having sex without having kids.

These are the pieces that seemed to fall into place to bring Rick Santorum to front-runner status. He’s the one candidate left who believes in something, even if it’s not standard Republican fare. Ron Paul literally believes in nothing. Newt believes in something different every week. Mitt believes in whatever will get him elected.

Ultimately, it comes down to two facts. First, Rick Santorum has not tried to make contraception illegal and people with strong convictions don’t usually lose elections. The last time a candidate lost for being painted as a crazy warmonger was Barry Goldwater in 1964, and he was attacked by crazy warmonger LBJ. To paraphrase Goldwater, extremism is no vice.

Day 1204 – Still Not a Fan

One problem with this year’s primary fight is the argument over which Republican is more conservative. Rick Santorum is the family values guy. Ron Paul is the budget cutter and Newt Gingrich is the political attack dog. Romney ends up being something of a combination of all three. He’s held the line on spending and taxes and has a fairly conservative record in Massachusetts. That made him the conservative candidate four years ago.

More than that, however, is the strained relationship liberalism has had with the Democratic Party for decades. Among Obama, Clinton, Carter and Johnson, there is very little crossover. Johnson was a tough liberal. He bullied Congress to bankrupt us in the future with Medicaid. Carter was a pretty consistent liberal who gave lip service to moral values. He was also a terrible president. Clinton threaded the needle somewhat. He made lemonade out of lemons when he was outflanked by the Republican Congress. And we all know about Obama’s Easter eggs of hidden socialism.

I saw a clip from 1993 where Brit Hume asked Bill Clinton about his reasoning behind the appointment of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court. Clinton gave one of his typical media bashing answers about how he doesn’t expect media to understand him. Even if the media were sympathetic to him, Clinton was out for the media since the tabloid stories in 1992. It made him like LBJ, nasty, partisan and generally effective.

I would also like to know the idea behind Ginsburg. Her tenure has been marked by leftism and disdain for the US Constitution and praise for other forms of law. I’m sure liberals love her. Ironically, many of them love Obama and don’t like Clinton. I’m not a fan of either.

Day 1203 – ABO

The funniest statistic I read about is when President Obama’s approval rating increases to 50%. This is the absolute minimum for an incumbent to gain reelection and it represents a whopping 25% decline in three years. Plus, this is the middle of Republican self-abuse season. What will presidential approval be line when the GOP has a united front?

I think there’s a good 50% of anybody but Obama out there. Some people aren’t going to like Romney or Santorum or Newt or whomever else, but they really can’t stand Obama. I might have to shut my eyes and just wait for the convention.