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Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

Tag Archives | Mitt Romney

DeMint Advisers Deny Romney Endorsement Rumors

By on 17 October 2011

David Drucker’s report in Roll Call is meeting some very serious push back. From “Burns & Haberman,” over at Politico, this one from Alexander Burns:

“That story is a fabrication made up of anonymous sources that obviously have no clue what Senator DeMint is thinking,” spokesman Wesley Denton said. “He has said over and over again that he is not leaning toward any candidate yet and may end up not endorsing in the presidential race.”

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Matt Hoskins, who runs DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund, said DeMint is “looking to see who wins over the grassroots, and so far Governor Romney has not done that.”

“These operatives don’t know what they’re talking about. Senator DeMint is not leaning toward anyone at this point,” Hoskins said of the story this morning.

In another part of the Romney world, the Daily Beast is reporting an “exclusive,” saying they have emails proving an evangelical supporter of Rick Perry’s is sending out targeted anti Mormon Romney messages.

The Daily Beast has obtained a series of emails that show an influential evangelical activist with close ties to the Perry campaign stressing the political importance of “juxtaposing traditional Christianity to the false God of Mormonism,” and calling for a “clarion call to Evangelical pastors and pews” that will be “the key to the primary” for Perry.

The religious right loves to play the who-is-more-godly-than-me card. Unfortunately, all they usually do is prove they’re unworthy of the faith and the God they profess to worship.

The good news for Mitt Romney is that he’s obviously finally being accepted as the frontrunner, however fragile and precarious his position. Because all the political gun barrels are now clearly aimed at him.

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Mitt Romney’s Problem with Women

By on 17 October 2011

My personal experience interacting with Mormons has been an education. As I’ve written before, my husband was a Mormon, but left the church, also having his name taken off the roles, something that’s considered quite controversial and isn’t easy.

I noticed in the Dartmouth debate recently, Mr. Romney flaring up a bit when questioned, then pressed, by Bloomberg’s Julianna Goldman. It was clear to me Mitt didn’t like Ms. Goldman being hard and direct, doing her job as a journalist.

This New York Times article recounts a couple of instances that say a lot about Mr. Romney and his patriarchal moorings. This doesn’t surprise me in the least, but it’s chilling, nevertheless.

Some Mormons, like Mr. Clark, found Mr. Romney thoughtful and compassionate; one mother recalled his kindness to her dying son. Others, including a group of Mormon feminists demanding a greater role for women, found him condescending, doctrinaire or just plain bossy. He clashed with a married mother of four who sought to terminate a pregnancy; the incident made news years later, when Mr. Romney ran for United States Senate as a supporter of abortion rights — a position he has since abandoned.

“Mitt is the type who liked to be called Bishop Romney or President Romney,” said Judy Dushku, a professor of government at Suffolk University in Boston and a Mormon feminist leader. “He is very conscious of his place in the hierarchy, but not yours.”

[...] Mormons oppose abortion, except in extreme cases like rape, incest or where the life of the woman is in danger — and require that church elders be consulted. In 1990, Exponent II, a Mormon feminist magazine that Ms. Dushku, the Suffolk University professor, helped found, published an article by a married mother of four who recounted her own experience after doctors advised her to terminate her pregnancy when she was being treated for a potentially dangerous blood clot.

Her bishop got wind of the situation, she wrote, and showed up unannounced at the hospital, warning her sternly not to go forward. The article did not identify Mr. Romney as the bishop, but Ms. Dushku later did.

Now the woman has come forward, identifying herself in Mr. Scott’s book as Carrel Hilton Sheldon. (Through Ms. Dushku, she declined to be interviewed.) “Mitt has many, many winning qualities,” she is quoted as saying, “but at the time he was blind to me as a human being.”

For the misogynistic religious right, people like Mr. Romney who believe freedom is just for men, what matters in the situation described above is not the woman. Being “blind” to the personal human suffering and what the woman is going through doesn’t register with Romney. The woman isn’t a human being, she’s secondary and her pregnancy takes priority over her own life.

That Romney, as bishop or in any other role, has no right “warning” a woman about what she should or shouldn’t do at this most personal of times never even occurs to Mr. Romney.

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Cain Up, Newt Passes Perry, Obama Assumes It’s Romney

By on 13 October 2011

“Cain is the leader … That’s the story,” said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff. – NBC/WSJ poll: Cain now leads GOP pack

The other news is Newt Gingrich has passed Perry to take third, according to PPP.

Obama/Biden 2012 is having none of it. They’re bird-dogging Mitt Romney.

For Obama campaign, it’s game on against Romney

They were also motivated, top Democrats told POLITICO, by anger at the GOP field for not hitting Romney sufficiently hard on his well-documented position shifts on abortion rights, civil unions and health care reform.

“The other Republicans have sucked so bad we didn’t have any choice” but begin to target Romney months before the Iowa caucuses, said a top Obama ally, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Indeed, Wednesday marked the unofficial kick-off of the 2012 general election for Team Obama, with senior strategist David Axelrod labeling Romney a hypocrite, an ideological shape-shifter, lapsed pro-choice moderate, political cyborg and the man “carrying [Herbert] Hoover’s tattered banner.”

“The other Republicans have sucked so bad…” If that doesn’t say it all.

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Rush Limbaugh: Romney is ‘Not a Conservative’

By on 12 October 2011

“The Republican base doesn’t want Romney. The Republican base doesn’t want Romney.” – Rush Limbaugh’s opening chant on his radio show today

…and so it begins.

The Republican establishment thinks they’ve won. But if Mitt Romney’s the nominee, will the Tea Party stay around?

Conventional wisdom among non-conservatives and anti Tea Party people is that Republicans and the right will fall in line and back Mitt Romney.

Comments on my FB page have been very interesting today.

Reader GA6thDem said the same thing in the comments, with part of what he said below:

To me the Tea Party was really just the personality based mirror image of the “Obama Movement” … I also think that the majority of tea partiers will swallow hard and vote for Romney. The question in the end is will it be enough?

Today, Rush Limbaugh blew that notion out of the water, as several callers, as they did yesterday, continue to plead with Limbaugh to take Romney on. There was a lone voice pleading with Rush to remember Reagan’s 11th commandment, don’t speak ill of another Republican, and give Mitt Romney a chance.

Limbaugh also took out after Rick Perry today, who [update] couldn’t even get the date of the American Revolution correct, saying he was “too passive” and “needed to dominate, but he didn’t. Then he went further, saying Perry made himself disappear like “an a list magician in Las Vegas,” all of which I tweeted at the time.

As I’ve said before, the prospect of Obama vs. Romney is not particularly an exciting contest. Both candidates could entice challenges, with Rush Limbaugh revealing real unease in the Republican base.

What it also portends, if Romney is the nominee, is a tough Tea Party or evangelical type as vice presidential nominee.

However, any thought that the Republican base is going to blindly sign on to a Mitt Romney nomination discounts the power the Tea Party has built and portends a resurgence of a movement that has lately been slowly losing power and its clout.

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Waiting Out the Tea Party

By on 12 October 2011

A terrific piece from Matt Bai proves the intransigence of our two party system.

If that’s the case, then it now seems like only a matter of time before the Republican empire, overwhelmed by insurrection for much of the last two years, strikes back at last. “I think it’s waning now,” Scott Reed, a veteran strategist and lobbyist, told me when we talked about the Tea Party’s influence last month. Efforts to gin up primaries next year against two sitting senators — Utah’s Orrin Hatch and Indiana’s Dick Lugar — have been slow to gain momentum, Reed said, and it’s notable that more than half of the 50-plus members of the Tea Party caucus in the House ultimately fell in line and voted with Speaker John Boehner on his debt-ceiling compromise. Party leaders have managed to bleed some of the anti-establishment intensity out of the movement, Reed said, by slyly embracing Tea Party sympathizers in Congress, rather than treating them as “those people.”

Did he mean to say that the party was slowly co-opting the Tea Partiers?

“Trying to,” Reed said. “And that’s the secret to politics: trying to control a segment of people without those people recognizing that you’re trying to control them.”

This whole fight on the right is what’s given us the deplorable state of ineffectiveness in Congress today. Principles are critically important. Seeing leaders and political party heads fight hard for what they want is the stuff of battles worthy of supporting. But when stalemate comes, the American people require that elected officials swallow their partisan pride and do the work they were sent to do.

Majorities happen for a reason: people vote one party in over another.

What happened when Obama came in is that he had a majority in Congress, but acted like he didn’t. Not only did he not take the power he was given and drive to the wall for change, he compromised and created something worse than he had to, starting with health care reform.

The Tea Party pack who won in 2010 had no intention of going down that road. However, their extremism has caused paralysis and made our situation worse. It would have been an economic calamity if the Tea Party had successfully caused a U.S. default and their pushing for just that result is what’s got their power dwindling today.

From Bai:

There was a lesson in all this for the Tea Partiers, Weber said — one he had been trying to impart to them whenever he got the chance. “I think I know what they want to accomplish, and I agree with most of it,” he said. “But if they want to accomplish it, they need to ‘rise to the level of politics.’ I mean, you can’t just stand there and take a stand and say, ‘I’m not going to compromise on my position.’ Because you won’t achieve anything.”

Achievements matter in government. Pres. Obama’s got that down. It’s just his achievements in his first term don’t represent the majority with which he began, with his capitulation during times of Democratic strength proving to the Republicans he can be rolled, leading to even worse outcomes once the Tea Party came in.

But since the Tea Party doesn’t understand, respect or appreciate the point of governing, it’s allowed the Republican establishment to wait them out. Now the Tea Party pack has nowhere to go, as their power wanes in Washington, unless they pitch a fit and start their own stand alone entity, outside the two party duopoly. If Mitt Romney’s the nominee, this next spring they may do just that.

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Team Obama Goes Nuclear on Economic Pitch

By on 12 October 2011

“Their strategy is to suffocate the economy for the sake of what they think will be a political victory. They think that the more folks see Washington taking no action to create jobs, the better their chances in the next election. So they’re doing everything in their power to make sure nothing gets done.” [emphasis added] – Jim Messina, Obama/Biden 2012 (via Steve Benen)

I’ve never understood why the notion of calling out Republicans for purposefully nuking the economy to take Barack Obama down was akin to screaming political profanity. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s now famous line about making Obama a one-term president was the foreshadowing, but it came after Rush saying he hoped Pres. Obama would “fail.”

However, let’s not pretend Pres. Obama didn’t lay this out for the Republicans a long time ago through adopting conservative economic talking points in the first place. But also because he never made the progressive Democratic case as an alternative.

Joan McCarter writes what many Democrats and progressives have been thinking for ages: This is the White House many of us having been waiting for…

It’s important to add that the obvious impetus for Obama reelect “embracing” the economic “sabotage” idea is that Pres. Obama’s reelection reality is dicey, something the White House never envisioned would happen. It’s about political preservation, not an epiphany.

As an aside, it’s ironic to me that Sen. Max Baucus voted for Obama’s jobs bill, while Tester did not; but it was Baucus who made such a mess of the health care bill, selling out Obama’s chances for health care reform for some insurance mess.

The Administration’s economic… hmmm… what to call it? It’s not a vision. It certainly wasn’t a plan. It’s actually ad hoc policies, one after another, in the hopes that something would stick and also work. But nothing did.

Perhaps if Pres. Obama and his economic wizards would have been bolder, following people like Krugman and Robert Reich, things would be different. But they didn’t so things aren’t.

So, Mr. Messina’s missive comes off to me as nothing but desperation. Pres. Obama’s bipartisan Gumby gamble has gotten him into this mess and it’s too late to get out. Pres. Obama twisting himself into a political pretzel to posture reasonableness, instead of playing hard ball with the Republicans has made Obama reelect push the panic button and for good reason.

Let’s say Obama reelect continues to make the case that Republicans are sabotaging the economy in order to beat him next November. An obvious question is how did Pres. Obama get into the position to allow them to do that?

The Administration econ weenies have set the stage perfectly for Mitt Romney. That is, if slick Mitt can just make it through the primaries.

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Charlie Gets a Debate

By on 11 October 2011

Republicans are back, but they’re sitting. Maybe it will help these Republicans curb their sanctimonious blathering.

Anyone watching?

Mitt Romney got testy, then got caught in economic truth of “you don’t want to bail out anybody,” but…

Then Newt Gingrich stepped in and filibustered.

One classic moment was when Rick Santorum said “I want to go to war with China…”, referencing the economy, of course.

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BREAKING… Chris Christie Reportedly to Endorse Romney Today

By on 11 October 2011

**UPDATED**

“…in the end it was an easy decision for me.” – Gov. Chris Christie

Rush Limbaugh just reported this on his show a few minutes ago.

Fox News Radio tweeted it and Carl Cameron of Fox News confirms it will happen in New Hampshire later today.

UPDATE: Mitt Romney so far has said “New Jersey” 3 times & “hero” at least twice. He did refrain from squealing like a little girl.

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DNC Nails Mitt Romney

By on 11 October 2011

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Debate Day: Cain Closes on Romney in Gallup

By on 11 October 2011

For tonight’s debate, Herman Cain will be splitting center stage with Mitt Romney, as Rick Perry moves one spot back from where he began.

What’s really remarkable in this latest Gallup poll is that undecideds match Romney’s number, 20%.

Republicans’ support for Herman Cain has surged to 18%, their support for Rick Perry has sagged to 15%, and their support for Mitt Romney remains relatively stable at 20%. However, Romney’s support is matched by the 20% of Republicans who are unsure which candidate they will back for the Republican nomination in 2012.

Mr. Cain has also moved into second place in New Hampshire, according to the latest polling, but Romney is still leading by a very large margin.

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Are You Ready for Rick Perry 2.0?

By on 10 October 2011

Tying Obamacare to Mitt Romney may work in the primaries. However, Perry’s still got his immigration problem with right wing primary voters, though it might could Obama trouble in the west in the general election, Perry can undo the damage he’s done to his candidacy.

But clearly, with another debate coming up, Perry’s been retooling fast.

The first part of the plan? Get more sleep:

And as he prepares for two more debates in the next nine days, along with his first major policy address, his advisers have devised another way to help: requiring Mr. Perry to get more sleep.

Obviously, Romney won’t let Perry get back into the race without a fight.

Romney camp labels Perry a ‘desperate candidate’

“Rick Perry is a desperate candidate who will say and do anything to prop up his sinking campaign,” Gail Gitcho, Romney’s communications director, said in a statement. “In trying to deflect attention from his liberal in-state tuition policy for illegal immigrants, he has restored to repeated dishonesty, distortions and fabrications about Mitt Romney.”

If this hilarity wasn’t enough, Joe the Plumber has reportedly file papers to run for Congress.

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Sunday Morning Early Bird News Round-Up

By on 09 October 2011

Good morning and welcome to Sunday.

On this day in history, October 9, 1967, Che Guevara was executed while attempting to incite revolution in Bolivia.

Some stories in the news that caught my eye:

~From Tahrir Square in Egypt to Occupy Wall Street in Washington Square Park- an Egyptian activist addressed the crowd yesterday.

~Senator Scott Brown continues to flail around doing damage control after his stupid remarks about Elizabeth Warren.

~Now we have 5 more reasons to hate Bank of America.

~Mitt Romney needs to brush up on foreign policy. Speaking of which, here are some of his foreign policy advisers.

~The California governor has signed the Dream Act into law.

~For the second year in a row the Obama administration has waived penalties under the Child Soldiers Protection Act as applied to certain countries that continue to use child soldiers.

~The NYT has information about a secret memo describing the administration’s legal justification for targeting American citizens such as Anwar al-Walaki for assassination abroad. Their rationales are so overly-broad that it raises questions as to whether there are any real legal limits on presidential authority when it comes to the war on terror. It would also seem that any administration is completely insulated from any judicial or congressional review of it’s policies or actions in this regard. Got democracy?

~Iraq’s leaders have decided to throw their support behind the oppressive, brutal, increasingly isolated Assad regime in Syria. Well, that’s sort of embarrassing for the U.S., isn’t it?

~A computer virus has infected the computer networks of Air Force pilots who remotely operate the Predator and Reaper drones in combat areas.

~Apparently at the conservative Values Voter Summit this weekend, hate is on the top on their list of values.

~Mitt Romney’s faith is under fire at the above-mentioned “values” summit.

~Ron Paul continues to win the ultra-conservative straw polls, which means absolutely nothing whatsoever in terms of the 2012 election.

~Republican House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon is going to hold up the Defense Authorization bill because of language about detainee trials and the fact that he’s outraged that military chaplains can perform same sex marriages.

~Wisconsin union-busing Governor Scott Walker wants you to know his state is broke dammit! They have no money, which is what makes the story about the government spending $60,000 on iPads so strange.

~Will winning the Nobel Prize help Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf win re-election?

~Our sycophantic corporate media in action.

~The New Republic continues to provide Islamophobe Marty Peretz a platform to remind us all that yes, he in fact still doesn’t trust Arabs.

~Former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy offers his take on Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu over at Foreign Policy.

~Joshua Walker has a less hysterical and more pragmatic take on Turkey’s muscular foreign policy and status as key player in all things involving the Middle East.

The End.

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Friday Night Odds and Ends

By on 07 October 2011

“The protests that are trying to destroy the jobs of working people in this city aren’t productive,” Bloomberg said in his weekly radio appearance with John Gambling. Taking a swipe at “some of the labor unions participating,” Bloomberg added that “their salaries come from – are paid by – some of the people they’re trying to vilify.” – Mayor Bloomberg: Occupy Wall Street ‘Trying To Destroy the Jobs of Working People’

Why Occupy Wall Street? Watch the video above. I’d like to see Scott Brown do what Elizabeth Warren does in the video above, from DC Douglas.

Tech President reports from Wall Street and why some people just aren’t getting what’s going on.

In other news, Mitt Romney gave a foreign policy speech. Spencer Ackerman’s plea? Give me something to work with here, Mitt.

…and speaking of Mitt Romney, one of Perry’s backers calls Mormonism a “cult.”

Laura Rozen writes on McChrystal and what he has to say as we commemorate 10 years in Afghanistan: Ten years on, U.S. goals in Afghanistan only “fifty percent” met.

An “Ides of March” review from the New York Times. Another review mentions Jay Carson, someone I’ve met and spoken with on many occasions, but also adds color to the melding of reality and movie making:

As for the Morris handlers — Stephen Myers, played by Ryan Gosling; and Paul Zara, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman — it is impossible not to find traces of political strategist Jay Carson in their characters. A former campaign press secretary and adviser, Carson is CEO of the C40 Clinton Climate Initiative, which combines programs started by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and former President Bill Clinton.

While on the campaign trail with Howard Dean and others, Carson was joined by Beau Willimon, a staff associate. Willimon later wrote a play on which The Ides of March is based, with substantial changes by Clooney; Willimon; and the other writer, Grant Heslov.

“Beau, George and Grant really get it,” Carson said recently. (more at the link)

And in case you missed it, essays on Bill Clinton’s presidency are now online in celebration of when he announced, 20 years ago last week. This video offers a flashback, too.

Jared Bernstein on the jobs report: “Shaky Stability.”

AP reports prostate cancer screenings for men are out.

Herman Cain catapults 20 points ahead of Mitt Romney in a new Zogby poll.

Happy Friday night!

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For the GOP, ‘This is the end of ‘Waiting for Superman.’

By on 05 October 2011

With New Jersey Gov. Christopher Christie out of the Republican presidential race, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney jumps to a 22 percent lead, followed by business man Herman Cain with 17 percent and Texas Gov. Rick Perry with 14 percent – a 10-point drop in five weeks, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. – With Christie Out, Romney Is Back On Top Of Gop Pack

The “waiting for Superman” quote comes from Romney adviser Ron Kaufman.

It’s a long way until November 2012, with Obama reelect likely very happy about that right now.

While the topline numbers are troubling enough, dig deeper into them and the news gets no better for Obama. Forty-three percent of independents — a group the president spent the better part of the last year courting — strongly disapprove of the job he is doing. Forty-seven percent of people 65 years of age and older — reliable voters in any election — strongly disapprove of how he is doing his job. – Opposition to Obama grows — strongly

The latest Washington Post-ABC News poll reveals what anyone following politics closely already knows. Barack Obama is beatable in 2012.

The question is whether Republicans and the Tea Party faction fawning over the latest political flavor of the moment, Herman Cain, will allow the GOP to nominate a strong enough general election candidate to take on the President.

As for Rick Perry, the WP-ABC poll shows he’s lost half of his support in one month. But the news today is good for Perry, because the Tea Party passion for Gov. Sonogram is coming in via cash, $17 million, to be exact.

The fact that Perry’s camp leaked word to Drudge first is also notable. Ben pointed out yesterday that Drudge’s site has consistently portrayed Perry as an “inept, flagging candidate,” while going easy on Romney. That’s not the takeaway from this morning’s Drudge Report banner: “PERRY POWERHOUSE: PULLS IN $17 MILLION.” – Perry raises $17 million

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney remains the frontrunner, less fragile than he was a few weeks ago.

Romney leads with 25 percent, which is identical to his support from a month ago. Perry and Cain are tied for second with 16 percent, numbers representing a 13-point drop for Perry and a 12-point rise for Cain since early September. – Washington Post-ABC News Poll

Pres. Obama’s problem has always been his leadership style, which is diametrically opposed to what makes most voters support a politician. Obama’s play as president was to always look reasonable and accommodating, while pushing bipartisanship, hoping to make Republicans look like the bad guy. What this leadership style has done instead is simply make Mr. Obama look weak.

Voters want a president who has the courage of his convictions. It’s how George W. Bush was able to wrestle two terms in office. The problem with Obama is no one knows what he stands for and now he’s got a record in office, so he can’t simply offer up speeches and promises.

The case Republicans will make against him, especially if Romney is the nominee, is that Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing, especially on the economy.

When things get bad and people see no options among their current choices, when alternative leadership is offered sometimes people simply say, What have I got to lose?

With Obama’s jobs bill somewhere between limbo and the grave, it emphasizes just how late the Administration turned to focus on jobs, which has been on the collective American mind for a very long time.

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Ray Tomblin Beats Back ‘Obamacare’ Ad Onslaught

By on 05 October 2011

The negative “Obamacare” ad ran all the way into Alexandria, Va., so I got to see them when I got back into town. Classic overkill, as you see here, it helped to make the race “a near draw,” but wasn’t enough in the end.

Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin wins West Virginia special election

Maloney fought back from what was once a 30-point race to narrow the contest to a near draw, with the help of nearly $3.5 million in television ads from the Republican Governors Association. The onslaught of commercials — including the final salvo linking Tomblin to “Obamacare” — clearly did damage to Tomblin’s image, but did not prove to be the death blow that some Democrats had feared. Overall, Republicans outspent Democrats 2-to-1 on the race, including candidates and committees.

The 30-second spot charging Tomblin with complicity in the implementation of “Obamacare” rotated heavily in the Mountain State this weekend, including during prime slots in the pricey Washington D.C. market, which covers just a few thousand voters in the state’s eastern panhandle.

According to several reports, the thing that many feel made the difference was former governor and now Sen. Joe Manchin appearing next to Tomblin in ads. More from Politico:

Tomblin also benefited by campaigning on the record of Manchin, the most popular politician in the state. The two appeared together in Tomblin’s closing ad, and one relieved Democrat called it a “smart spot” that might have made the difference in the race.

“Joe Manchin’s role in Tomblin overcoming Maloney’s northern strategy was vital,” said Drew Nettles, a West Virginia native and political consultant with ties to the energy industry.

That’s just how red West Virginia has become. You need a conservative to pull the Democratic candidate over the finish line.

You can bet tying candidates to “Obamacare” and Barack Obama will be one part of the GOP boilerplate for 2012. However, since the smart bet is that Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee (though Tea Partiers could still screw this up), though Rick Perry will rise one more time since Christie is out, I’d wager that drilling down the message that Obama can’t manage the economy will be far more powerful against him than “Obamacare.”

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Conservatives Just Can’t Decide if ‘Niggerhead’ is Racist

By on 04 October 2011

As you no doubt know by now, it began with a Washington Post piece this past Sunday. I’ve been incredibly busy, plus I’ve been traveling since late last week, but as I caught up with what’s happened the last few days I found this latest development incredible.

Conservatives blaming the Washington Post don’t seem to have read the entire piece, which is very detailed, contains eyewitness accounts, plus history of the now infamous Perry “Niggerhead” rock. Instead, they went on full tilt damage control for fear the entire Republican Party would be swallowed whole by Rick Perry’s latest problem.

Herman Cain called the slur on a rock “insensitive,” only to have conservatives jump all over him for uttering the obvious. But what’s really rather stunning is Mr. Cain’s immediate cave to the clamoring wingnuts who are accusing him of playing the race card.

Romney seems to understand there’s a problem here.

“I’ve followed it from afar,” Romney said. “I think it’s offensive. I think most people think it’s offensive.” – Romney says the name of Rick Perry’s hunting camp is ‘offensive’

It is offensive.

However, Matt Lewis disagrees, citing damage control from the Perry camp:

In a prepared release, Perry Campaign Communications Director Ray Sullivan responded to Cain’s attack, saying: “Mr. Cain is wrong about the Perry family’s quick action to eliminate the word on the rock, but is right the word written by others long ago is insensitive and offensive. That is why the Perrys took quick action to cover and obscure it.”

Now conservatives are circling the wagons, because they’re afraid that Perry’s “Niggerhead” camp name could end up hurting the Republican Party in 2012. What ever would give them that idea?

First we had Nixon’s southern strategy, now it’s Perry’s “niggerhead” controversy. There seems to be a pattern here.

TM Note: “N-head” has been replaced by the full Perry camp epithet.

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Jeb Bush Agrees with Rick Perry on Immigration

By on 28 September 2011



It’s not getting any traction, but it’s a moment that reveals the gulf between GOP primary voters and the Republican establishment. It’s also a battle of extremism vs. solutions.

GOP immigration debate shows rift between party establishment and conservative grassroots.

With Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry under attack for supporting tuition breaks for children of illegal immigrants, former Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday offered some solidarity by calling a similar proposal in Florida “fair policy.”

In 2001, Perry signed the first state law in the country that allowed the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates. Former Florida state Rep. Juan Zapata said the Texas law was “the model” for legislation that he repeatedly—but unsuccessfully—pushed in his state. Two of his key allies then are now among the GOP’s most sought-after stars: Bush, the subject of perpetual draft movements to run for president, and his fellow Floridian, Sen. Marco Rubio, a sure bet for the GOP’s vice presidential shortlist in 2012.

“I think that is a fair policy,” Bush said in an e-mail to National Journal on Tuesday, adding that the students who benefit from the tuition breaks find themselves in the United States through “no fault of their own.”

Mitt Romney is having none of this (see video above, which Romney is promoting on Twitter), because he’s already vulnerable on so many other issues he can’t afford it. He’s being practical for the primaries.

As for Rick Perry, his debate performances have been so atrocious I’m doubtful he can come back. The immigration issue is also so hot among the far right who vote in the primaries that they may not allow him to.

It will make things very interesting if (when) Marco Rubio is being considered for the Republican vice presidential spot.

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‘In the News’ Dairy Spotlight

By on 27 September 2011

The primary spotlight this week lights up Cujo359 for his terrific diary, Elizabeth Warren On “Class Warfare”, even as he admits he doesn’t know “whether Elizabeth Warren is for real or not.”
 His assessment on the good government does when it’s working at its best for people is right on.

Anyone who thinks of himself as a “self-made” person needs to understand this – few if any of them would have been successful had there not been an orderly and progressive society in which they could live. Anyone who thinks otherwise is earnestly advised to go set up shop in Iraq or Afghanistan, and see how they do there. Not having a functioning government will kill a society faster than just about anything short of a nationwide natural disaster.

The answer isn’t to make government so small that its richest members can make it do what they want, as the Grover Norquists of the world seem to believe. Nor is it to make sure that one side always wins the game, as far too many progressives believe. It’s to make sure that the government functions properly, and removing from it anyone who fails to remember why he’s there.

Spincitysd takes on Joe McGinniss, whose book on Sarah Palin has hit with a loud thud. A couple of weeks ago on Bill Maher’s show, Keith Olbermann could barely bring himself to say it, but he was on Palin’s side. A snippet from spincitysd:

If Sara is a Momma Grizzly, Joe McGinniss has to be one of the more expert bear baiters out there; he is playing her like a $5.00 banjo.

Mrs. Palin has now threatened she “may” sue. ABC News has the letter from Palin’s attorney, which reads in part:

Enclosed is an e-mail by your author Joe McGinniss. In this e-mail, Mr. McGinniss admits that your own lawyers instructed him that “nothing I can cite other than my own reporting rises above the level of tawdry gossip. The proof is always just around the corner, but that is a corner nobody has been able to turn.” Mr. McGinniss also notes in the e-mail that he “ran out of time” to properly source his book. [...]

It is malicious for your company to publish a book wherein it, and the author, admit that they were fully aware the statements in the book were false, intended to be false, and were intended to harm. …

Ramsgate offers a Republican primary reality check in “Perry Still Beating Romney.” Even as badly as Mr. Perry is doing in the debates, the right-wing primary base still won’t go for Mitt.

It’s easy to post a diary “In the News.” I hope more people chime in, including in the comments. Thanks to everyone who stops by and reads the diaries.

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Today’s Obligatory Piece on Chris Christie

By on 27 September 2011

They are rich. They are unattached. They are looking for a little excitement. – Wealthy, Influential, Leaning Republican and Pushing a Christie Bid for President

That’s the opener to the story. It’s a beauty, isn’t it?

Rich. Unattached. Ready to rumble Republicans who don’t want Romney.

I’m not rich, though as a liberal I feel politically homeless these days and I’d like to see a combative, competitive and conclusive 2012 decision. Watching Obama toy with Rick Perry is not the contest America deserves. So, all I can say is run, Chris, run.

Leading social conservatives feel differently (see video).

Did anyone see “Morning Joe” today? It was quite interesting how Scarborough outlined the down sides for Christie, which included that he’s not been in office long, but also that if he turns this opportunity down he won’t get another. Somebody on set also mentioned that Christie might not even win reelection for New Jersey governor, but he has a real shot at the GOP nomination.

Further fueling this nonsense is Gov. Christie, on invitation through Nancy Reagan, speaking on American exceptionalism at the Reagan Presidential Library this evening.

After Perry’s disastrous introduction, though if the wacky right-wing has anything to say about it he’s not dead just yet. Gov. Christie might be a little nervous that this national presidential spotlight isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and isn’t as easy as it appears.

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Romney Trounces Perry in Michigan

By on 25 September 2011

It came in Michigan, with Romney beating Perry by 34 percentage points in the latest straw poll.

Romney trounces Perry in Michigan straw poll; Rubio the pick for VP

In a rout, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney trounced Rick Perry and the rest of the GOP field to win the National Journal Hotline/National Association of Home Builders Straw Poll of GOP activists attending a weekend conference in Michigan.

Romney received 51 percent of the 681 votes cast, a whopping 34-percentage point victory over second-place Perry, who garnered 17 percent. It was the second straight defeat for Perry in a straw poll, after he finished second in another contest Saturday in Florida.

Marco Rubio as a vice presidential candidate remains a formidable concept.

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