Mitt won the Maine caucuses, Mitt won the Maine caucuses! 39-36 over Ron Paul, with about 5000 people voting! Not for Mitt, in total.
He also won the CPAC straw poll. Just like Michele Bachmann won the straw poll in Iowa. And Herman Cain in Florida. And just like Mitt did in 2008 at CPAC, when he lost the nomination.
Santorum is done, the surge didn’t last. Somewhere a tear is falling on a sweater vest.
Of course not, at least not in a rational world. But we don’t need no stinkin’ rational when we got momentumitis.
And what’s better, we have minimalistic momentumitis, in which relatively tiny numbers of voters are determining who has the Big Mo:
In Colorado, Minnesota and especially Nevada, turnout plunged from four years ago — in fact, fewer people in each state voted than the 68,000 who attended last week’s Super Bowl.
In more inspiring news, Sarah Palin gave the keynote speech at CPAC. It speaks for itself.
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In the year of Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin – a third rise by Newt would seem about right.
Anyone else notice how much more approving the CPAC attendees were of the GOP critters than those polled nationally?
That tells you all you need to know about this poll.
Remember it’s also in DC. Lot’s of Establishment oriented Republicans in MD\VA. Very few strong conservatives on the eastern seabord North of Richmond.
Where do you get your “facts?” There are plenty of REAL CONSERVATIVES in Virginia. We just elected one of the most conservative governors and attorneys general in the US.
I lived there for 15 years. I meant in that very specific region around DC. Alexandria\Arlington\Rockville.
There are LOTS of TEA Party groups in Northern Virginia. I’ve been here for decades and there are lots of others like me in the region.
With all due respect, the Republican Party in Virginia looks like it is completely in the tank for Romney. And the elected officials look like they may be, too. No one can fix this? Two people made it onto the primary ballot? please.
No, it looks like the idiots running for the GOP nomination don’t care enough to get on the ballot in Virginia. Every major candidate made it on the primary ballot in 2008 and 2000. Yet this year, several barely tried. And this is Virginia’s fault? No, these incompetent morons have their head in a very dark place and didn’t care enough to get on the ballot.
Tea Partiers in N.VA must vote for Ron Paul.
Newter Mitt.
What about the reported rule change that occurred in November?
I’m not clear if that rule change was known to all the campaigns.
Paul and Romney signatures reportedly were not scrutinized like the other candidates. Yes the others submitted fewer, but shouldn’t all candidates be held to the same level of scrutiny?
If this is true, isn’t it possible that Paul and Romney would also not have qualified had their signatures been scrutinized with the same intensity Gingrich, Perry, and so on were?
At least to an outsider it sounds like a double standard.
No not really there were about 10,000 of us at CPAC, but only about 3,000 bother to participate in the straw poll which included online voting.
I was there because I wanted to hear Sarah, but I could not be bothered voting.
I saw when they gave the results then did not even include Sarah Palin as a choice for VP. Rubio came in first from there list. But, West was most volunteer. When his name was mention most people cheered.
It seemed attendance was up, but straw poll participation was down, even though you could vote until 1 pm on Saturday.
I’ve never understood the visceral hate for Sarah Palin.
Her book, “Going Rogue” should be read by little girls across this nation. It is SO inspiring.
I love that woman, and anyone who thinks she’s going away is a moron.
Especially that creep John Ziegler. Read his piece about CPAC.
What a bitter loser. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-ziegler/cpac-2012_b_1261528.html
Taminator,
Ziegler was jilted after his film “How Obama was elected and Palin was targeted” and the fact that he wasn’t invited to be part of Palin’s inner circle. Translation: he would be off the gravy train. Palin was probably getting bad vibes off this guy and parted ways. He’s been pissed ever since.
Just go to his hate site and read the progression.
He is sick, and sad.
And obviously thought that the Palins owed him.
Sad.
I used to follow his work.
no thanks, will not visit the huff poop cesspool website.
The fact that Zeigler writes (at the Huff Po) that he was Palin’s unofficial representative at CPAC is a prime example of him trying to hitch a ride on her coattails. That type of thinking is probably why he got pushed farther out of her “circle.” – he hit the creepy stalker level.
Romney ahead by 194 votes
I love minimalism … as a design approach.
As they say in design, “Form follows function.”
In much of the GOP primary conservative blogging, it seems function follows form.
Somewhere a tear is falling on a sweater vest.
Saturday nights seem to bring out the persifleur in you, Professor. 🙂
And I even stole the concept, https://legalinsurrection.com/2011/08/wisconsin-recall-tweet-of-the-night/
I knew exactly who Sarah was talking about when she said “We need a passionate, true conservative. It’s too late in the game to fake it, spin it or learn it.” It was the “severely conservative” candidate who won the CPAC straw poll.
HI Susan in Texas – clarification, please…?
Humor?
Sarcasm?
Or… what would be your rationale?
Um, Romney.
Most clever dig of the evening.
Oh. oh. oh. got it. thanks, Tamminator. Thanks, Susan in Texas.
Sarah meant the extreeeeeeme candidate is only trying to master the camouflage of conservatism. Got it. Agree with it.
Newt totalmente certo!
CERTO: 1. yes 2. adjective: certain, sure, assured, secure, absolute, positive, unmistakable … thanks for the word “certo,” and a shout out to you, NewtCerto!
Here are a some the notes I took from Sarah’s CPAC speech. Not comprehensive at all.
[Sarah Palin begins] We know that this election will be hard fought. Our nominee must be ready, strong passionate, fortitude, a fighter for american ideals. our candidate must be someone who can instinctively turn right to constitutional ideals. IT’S TOO LATE TO TEACH IT OR SPIN IT. EITHER IT’S THERE OR IT ISN’T.
remember, a candidate’s true intentions can be found from their view of government itself.
Mine comes from our founding documents. our charter of liberty. Solely for the good of the people.
That’s who I’m looking for. Who we’re looking for.
He who instinctively, inherently believes that, that’s who we’re looking for in our nominee.
and the experts say, wrap it up. end it now. But in America competition elevates us. competition elevates our game. Let’s make sure the competition brings out the best in our Party.
The far Left and their media allies can’t run on their records. so they will distort our records and our reputations. They’ll even attack our families. Let’s not do their work for them. Opponents will stop at nothing, even after the race in 2008 was over.
Together, we must stand, with common sense,with a servant’s heart, for the good of our Party and more importantly, stand united. Whoever the nominee is.
Whoever our nominee is, we must get him over the finish line, so we can start tackling the defense of this Republic.
And then, next year, we will have a true conservative in the oval office. And may he be here next year. Who will return to CPAC. And we will have a Commandeer in Chief worthy of our troops.
Out troops, who defend our liberty. In their honor, let us not squander this.
Standards of right and wrong do exist and they must be lived up to . We are the heirs …
of those who fought, who toiled so that we may have a better life. We will lead. The door is open. A vision of government that works for us, not against us. Liberty and empowerment.
We will fight for it. The Door is open.[end Sarah Palin]
*+*++*++*+++*++++*++*+++*+++*+++*+++*+++*+++*+++*++*+
QUESTION:
WHY CANT WE HAVE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY? THEY’RE NOT DOING ANYTHING WITH IT.
HA!
We do have the Republican party Hope Change, it’s called TEA.
These elites can blah blah blah all day, but it is the activists like us behind the scene that get these people elected.
If they turn on us, then good luck in the next election.
I don’t like Norquist, because he is a muslim apologist, but he knows what it takes to make CHANGE. We should all need to realize that if we win the House and Senate then all we need it a President with a workable hand to SIGN the bills.
That’s how it works, folks.
Reality meet idiology.
…we have minimalistic momentumitis, in which relatively tiny numbers of voters are determining who has the Big Mo.
That’s a description of an unstable system, and of flawed incentives: an easy, maybe the easiest, way to get ahead in the system is to destabilize it.
“Santorum is done. The surge didn’t last”, Professor?
Why no mention that Gingrich took a miserable third at CPAC and came in dead last in Maine?
Keep fooling yourself that turn out, not votes, determines the winner in a primary. One could say that Newt can’t turn them out for him.
Now, let the hate from your followers begin.
Appreciate the poetry, even if you do not appreciate the opinion.
Santorum is done,
The surge didn’t last
Somewhere a tear is falling,
On a sweater vest.
Wow, you Newt supporters are really bitter and irrational. I wasn’t anything like this when my guy Perry sank in the polls and eventually dropped out.
And if Santorum is “done,” then what does that make Newt at this point? Y’all are losing your grip on reality. No objectivity, no credibility, and now no integrity, either.
Astroman….I’m getting the feeling that you lack what is known to most of us here as a ‘sense of humor’….by the way, I know this is a personal question but I can’t help wondering if you are related to retire05 😉
Bastiat, can you be?
No, even he liked poetry!
When people like you start insulting and name calling. then you’ve lost any credibility to make a good point. If that is what you have to do to make a point, then you don’t really have one worth listening to. Where were all of you when Gingrich was going through the sausage grinder? What about Gov. Palin? I didn’t see any of your blogger names around the web defending her.
So save your self righteous, holier than thou, sanctimonious BS about Santorum.
Note the Alinsky tactics: “hate” “bitter” “irrational”
Is anyone here bitter or irrational or hateful?
Please – just because we KNOW Romney is a liberal, a liar and a lawyer/MBA who used his expertise to drain pension funds of corporations while Bain paid itself and its investors gargantuan profits, and was willing to vaccillate and abandon every social, fiscal and moral conservative principle for a vote or a dollar, does not make us irrational.
We have cold hard facts, evidence and logic to cause us to reject the man.
We have seen enough pretty faces with ugly hearts on our courts, pulpits and high offices to beware and look deep into their records and seek truth behind the spin.
There are plenty of dam–d good rational reasons not to vote for Romney.
There are also good rational reasons not to vote for Paul. It’s not foreign or fiscal policy, but his proposed civil policy – legalizing drugs and human-trafficking that sane, logical, rational people object to. We have beheadings like Mexico City in our country already. These “irrational, hateful, bitter” evil, inhumane beasts (Islamic Hezbollah-run drug and sex-trafficking cartels) have infiltrated our borders. We do not need them running free on every city street in the US. We need to fight the war on drugs with equal, unequivocal, unrelenting resolve and ruthlessness until they wimper and die or repent.
These last four contests are amazingly meaningless. In total, less than 800,000 people have participated in the process. Only 5,600 people took part in the process in Maine. That means only around 2,200 people voted for Mitt in Maine. How is this a meaningful democratic process? There are 1.310 million people in Maine. What did the other 1.305 million of them do this weekend?
Maine was not a primary, it was a caucus and some of them were cancelled because of bad weather.
Maine will go Obama anyway. So no win there in the general. 2008 results: McCain – 296,195 Obama – 421,484
Where did I say Maine wasn’t a caucus? The fact is 5,600 people participated in the event. Fewer than 2,200 supported Romney. This process is totally screwed up…
It doesn’t matter what turn out was. It matters how many votes the candidates took from the turn out, period. The guy with the most votes, wins.
And if you think Maine is screwed up, how do you explain your own state? Talk about screwed up. The Virginia GOP just disenfrancised millions of voters.
Once again, you miss the point entirely…
I don’t mind the Virginia thing, they can do what they want with their state. However, they really need to think about how this makes the Virginia GOP look to their voters. Their requirements are waaay too stringent and the fact that they have NO write in option sucks too.
It is going to be a record low turnout AGAIN in another state. Man the GOP is STUPID.
The Ron Paul people are complaining about Mitt’s collusion with the state officials to close the caucuses due to the weather to benefit him.
But yes, Maine will probably go to the more liberal of the candidates in the general anyway. Though they might have a challenge if Romney is the nominee, he is an awful lot like Obama.
Color me not surprised that Ron Paul now has a new conspiracy theory. It’s his stock in trade.
Maybe Romney is in league with the Bilderberg Group or Council on Foreign Relations or aliens or whatever. Lol. Lets ask Dennis Kucinich!
Maine was the most worthless contest of them all. At least Missouri was a primary that showed the strength of the ABR vote in the Midwest.
Maine also has been going on all week which makes it EVEN WORSE that it has as low of voter turnout as it does. Percentage wise, Romney also is down a lot from his percentage win in 2008. Why is he the electable one?
Pathetic Romney, just pathetic.
I am Anybody But Romney.
I like Gingrich and I like Santorum. I will vote for either before I vote for that snake Romney. Romney is tearing apart the party for a vanity run at being president. He has no internal values of his own and will try to adapt himself to get to the position he seeks. I do not trust him to do anything he says.
Romney is the second coming of John Kerry and will be made out EXACTLY like John Kerry was in 2004 by the Republicans as a flip flopping unreliable person who does not share the values of other Americans. The democrats will be running with their buddies in the press against Romney’s Mormonism, wealth (which he seems to be more ashamed of than anything), his foreign investments/tax holdings (nevermind the blind trust, it won’t be mentioned), and how similar his health plan is to Obama’s. He will be a disaster.
I also hate the fact that he runs MUCH harder against the people who are on the SAME SIDE. He was behind the vicious and cheap attacks against Perry and Gingrich no matter how much he protests that he has no control over the ads. We are going to see the same against Santorum if he continues his momentum.
While throwing mud and lying about the other candidates, he will say in the same breath nice things about Obama and his economy. The media will make sure that it is Obama’s credit if the economy turns around, and Romney does not do anyone favors if he is spewing out crap like the economy is getting better. He will bend over and take everything the left throws at him, JUST. LIKE. MCCAIN.
Count me out if Romney is the nominee.
Then let me congratulate you ahead of time for voting for Obama.
If you think allowing a total take down of the constitution by a totalitarian is okay with you, then by all means, stay home.
You just contributed to the end of this country by being a stubborn ass.
I am a Newtie, but I will not sit home no matter WHO the candidate is.
COUNTRY FIRST.
Now go school yourself and watch Grover Norquist’s speech at CPAC. http://www.mediaite.com/tv/grover-norquist-at-cpac-the-left-is-made-up-of-competing-parasites/
I don’t even like the guy, but he lays out the facts.
If that doesn’t wake you up, then you are hopeless.
Heck, I live in Washington State, we have even LESS chance of going for the GOP candidate than Oregon. The democratic voter registration advantage in 2010 was around 8% higher than the republicans. In 2008 it was nearly 17% higher.
Obama won the state with nearly SIXTY percent of the vote in 2008. If anyone thinks that this state will be competitive in 2012 with all the presidential voters coming out of the holes every four years, you have got another thing coming.
In addition, our all mail voting system is rife with corruption and fraud, especially in illustrious King County. It will take a voter rebellion of massive proportions to even equal the democrat advantage in this state. The 2010 elections were a dud here even with a moderate like Dino Rossi running. I am tired of moderates, democrats will vote democrat regardless of what the republicans will do.
And I will be voting for whoever is beating Romney in our caucuses on March 3rd.
I will not be supporting “severely conservative” Romney for president, ever. He, like Mccain, will do so much damage to the party that we will be looking at a devastating electoral blowout in the next election. He cannot say that health care takeover in Massachusetts is wrong and still defends it to this day. The health care issue is huge for me, as I am working in health care. I do not want someone who agrees today with Obama on health care issues running the country.
I do not want a repeat of 2008. I voted for Mccain, someone who enjoys poking conservatives in the eye on the big issues just to make a statement to his “friends” in D.C. and New York. Screw them all. I will not do it again.
I will be fighting like heck for the down-ticket republicans, in hopes to fight the next president’s liberal impulses if it is a Romney/Obama presidency and the democrats here at home.
Well, stay home, then, and watch your country go to shit under an administration that has Communists and Socialists who are actually in the White House right now.
Don’t believe me?
Then go to trevorloudon.com and get schooled.
The actions by this White House have just gotten started.
You want more of this totalitarian regime?
Then you deserve it if you stay home.
I can’t emphasize this enough: This is about saving our COUNTRY.
If you don’t see that, then you are blind.
Again, Washington State will not vote for a republican president short of a huge scandal or massive voter contempt for Obama suddenly appearing here.
Short of that, Romney will not win anyways. He is already showing a ten point gap to Obama in the polls. We need to focus on the downticket republicans (if its Romney) because this contest can’t be won with Romney and they need our money more than he does.
His advantage with money is NOTHING to what the democrats are going to and have raised. We need to win on our positions and values. Romney has his values based on what is currently polling well. He has no central core of beliefs and I have NO faith that he won’t appoint judges like senior Bush did. Yeah that David Souter sure worked out didn’t it?
Again, if Romney is president I have no faith that anything will be changed.
@heimdall:
Then you are a dumbass.
There is no attorney general right now. Obama will get in another leftist Supreme Court Judge. They are already talking about a gun ban(even after Fast and Furious).
And you think that is a better alternative to a Republican, even if the Republican is Romney?
I want everyone to fight for their candidate until the end, but if Obama is re-elected, you can kiss this country goodbye.
And I don’t give a shit how many down thumbs I get. It’s the truth.
So when we vote for Romney, what exactly is going to be better? How is it better than Obama? There is NOTHING in Romney’s history that makes me think that it will be any different than what is currently occupying the White House. The current House of Representatives under John Boehner was openly conspiring with the DEMOCRATS this last August to pass the debt ceiling hike when conservative members were balking at the prospect. The same leadership in the house and senate we have now is the SAME LEADERSHIP we had in FREAKING 2006 and 2008!! How are these cretins going to do anything with their track record? With Romney at the helm, it will be business as usual.
Do you think that Romney is going to keep taxes at our current levels or find ways to increase them like he did in Massachusetts through fees?
Do you think he is going to care about gun rights when he proudly supported and signed a permanent assault weapons ban in Massachusetts?
Do you think he will be for or against Cap and Trade legislation when he signed legislation authoring it in Massachusetts?
Do you think that he will even actually bring about a repeal Obamacare after becoming president, with his history within the last year supporting the individual mandate as being legal and conservative and signing the father of it in Massachusetts?
He is not repudiating his former record as a Massachusetts governor. He is not honest on how he and the democratic legislature was using our federal tax dollars to prop up their healthcare plan, how they were mandating abortion and birth control coverage, how they were fining people who refused to get insurance.
He appointed liberal judges in Massachusetts and again bragged about using diversity in his calculations. He repudiated Ronald Reagan in the 1990’s while running for senate. He has run a negative and nasty campaign against Gingrich, Perry, and now Santorum while offering scant reasons for himself. Since he can’t run on his Massachusetts record, he obsesses on his time at the Olympics as a businessman, while shunning his work at Bain. He talks about his marital/family life as evidence of his conservative values.
Being a businessperson or having a great family environment is not a case that needs to be made for becoming president. President Obama has a great relationship with his daughters, is he a good president? I know plenty of liberals who have businesses and have a great family life. My boss is a outright communist and has been married for 38 years with three children. Not a good candidate for president.
Our debt is now EQUAL to the entire gross national product of the United States. We need to radically change how things are done in Washington or we are done REGARDLESS of who is in charge, be it republican or democrat. We should not be pigeonholed into supporting a candidate just because they are a republican. I would rather the country burn under democrats than the republican party be blamed for the delayed collapse. You want to hand the country over to the democrats? Have Romney be president. With someone else, like Gingrich, Santorum, and yes even crazy uncle Paul, we may have a chance in changing the course of the ship before it all falls apart. With Romney, based on his history, he will be like he was in Massachusetts and not the caricature he is fronting on everyone today.
No. Thank. You.
Hey Tammy, you and I have been friends for a long time. Trust me do some research. Norquist is no friend of yours and this friend will not vote for Romney.
Norquist’s speech was odd at cpac when he was saying we just need the president to sign what the legislature has come up with already… That was strange…
JRD, I know who I want to be President.
I know Romney is a bad choice.
But do you really think that he is equal to a communist?
THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES FOR OUR COUNTRY.
My God, can’t you Republicans see this?
If conservatives keep saying that they’ll vote for whoever the Republican nominee is, including that Romney, then they have abdicated their bargaining power. There would be no incentive for the establishment or the media to take heed, or not cavalierly push Romney for their own personal benefit. They need to know that the ball is in THEIR court. I won’t vote for him.
THIS.
While I understand the idea that if enough people refuse to vote for Romney in the general, it hands the election to Obama, this is February, not November, and words are not votes. The horrors of an Obama win are obvious to us all, but a Romney win is no picnic either. A Romney win will mean big government moving forward in 3rd gear instead of 4th. A Romney win means pruning and tweaking ObaRomneycare instead of repealing it (no matter what he says – he also says he’s a conservative). A Romney win means the effective end of the Tea Party movement as a political force, which in turn will cause a deterioration in the prevalence of downticket conservatives at all levels. The Tea Party ideas will remain, but a Romney win will prove you may ignore them and still win.
Janitor is exactly right. The last thing conservatives want to do is signal the GOP establishment nine months in advance that we will accept Romney if we have to. This is the same as saying, “go ahead with your blind allegiance to Romney, because I can’t do anything to stop you, and will support you come November, because I’ll have to.”
My position is this, and it is not mere words for effect during primary season. I mean it literally and will not change: I will not vote for Romney in November no matter what. Period. Not a chance.
Have to wonder if Ron Paul legitimately beat Romney in Maine caucus. The GOP chair began by stressing that this was strictly a beauty contest, not binding, blah blah … that some caucuses had chosen not to report results and the state GOP would not be reporting those caucuses. It seemed so odd.
So how much did Romney pay for these votes? How many drones did he bus in? How much swag was promised?
As for Palin, there was nothing in her speech I didn’t hear last year, and hear better. At least then I still held the illusion she was an actual fighter willing to get her hands dirty in the fray and not just save herself for empty tough talk at meaningless marque moments. We get it, Sarah, you’re a plucky Mama Grizzly who can take quotable shots at Obama from a podium. And why the incessant coyness? You need MORE time to figure out who Romney, Gingrich and Santorum are as people and politicians? You need MORE time to recognize Romney as a gutless faux-conservative four-flusher hiding behind SuperPacs as he carpet bombs actual conservatives but who can’t say sh*t to the Left even if he had a mouth full of it?
What a depressing spectacle of blowhards and lightweights. No one there except Breitbart and Gingrich has a clue how to fight the Left, and the former is a self-proclaimed harlequin and the latter has been targeted with greater and more precise firepower from the Right than has EVER been aimed at a Leftist.
Obama may lose this in the end but we sure won’t win it.
Oh, just STOP it with the Palin attacks. I’m sick of it.
The woman helped the Republican party win back the house just 2 years ago and you are whining about it?
I don’t know her reasons for not running for President, but it may have to do with the fact that the REPUBLICAN PARTY WHORED HER OUT and then said, “We’ll never back you for President, dearie, but thanks for helping”.
Jeez, kind of sounds like the way that Newt was treated.
No wonder she supports him(I’m speculating).
She can’t do anything right. I’ve never seen a woman degraded so much by the press and her own party—the party she SAVED.
I got a call an hour ago from a friend of mine at CPAC,(Trevor Loudon)and was told that the RINOS are running scared.
So stop this whining.
Buck up for the fight, because we need everyone to win this one.
EVERY. ONE.
Rant off.
If you weren’t a girl, I’d marry you!
It wasn’t an attack. It was an expression of frustration at the needless futility and failure unfolding before us. Look away if you like, but this is the trajectory we’re on.
I say this as a former Leftist. I know who and what these people are. I stack up my knowledge against what I see on the Right and regrettably the results are not in doubt. Our leaders don’t “get it.” CPAC only confirms it. What miracle would spare us now? You tell me.
This party simply hasn’t had — and is seemingly not interested in having — the come-to-Jesus moment with itself over the audacious rise and aggressions of the Left. Why, I can’t say. How could a party which confronted communism shrink so pitifully from the challenge of these punks or fool itself so utterly as to their intentions to begin with? The tea party people are wonderful, passionate and dedicated. But that’s different than knowing how to fight the Left. The GOP establishment is definitively hopeless – they neither understand nor wish to understand the Left. They would go down and drag the country with them before they accepted the truth, because in fact acceptance and the response it entailed would require that they become other than what they are.
I am making a biased judgment that Palin’s talents are misplaced as a sideline cheerleader, and freely admit to a sense of bitter loss on behalf of our nation at her withdrawal. Her reasons are her own and who am I to question the personal concerns that stayed her hand? But another briskly bumptious speech loaded with cute quips recycled from a dozen earlier speeches does nothing for me. Actually it does do SOMETHING – it irritates and frustrates me.
If the stakes are so high and the servant’s heart so big and the need for sacrifice so great – show it. Show me. Run or back somebody else.
But this is where we’re at. If anybody thinks Romney or Santorum or Paul or some RINO mutt they might drag out from the eaves at a “brokered convention” has a prayer against the Left, that’s your prerogative. I’m telling you as a former Leftist, they don’t. As for Gingrich, I know only this – he realizes what and who he’s fighting and has demonstrated a notable skill and success in fighting it. Gingrich gives us more chance than anybody. Palin might have given us the most of all, but she’s not in the fight and that’s that.
your whining is reminiscent of a liberal. You don’t sound like a former one to me. Palin was there to unite people. What you are doing is trying to depress people like it’s hopeless. Who does that? Yep, Saul Alinsky. Yeah, we all know who he is TOO.
Hear! Hear!! Oh, well said, well said, well said, raven.
EXACTLy the same as it looks to me.
The Republican Establishment has been surgically altered in brain and guts and more.
WHO ARE THESE IDIOTS?????
What happened at NRO? What’s wrong with Boehner? Drudge? Drudge?? Drudge?
I have studies the methods of the Left. Newt gets it.
I love sarah Palin but I have to agree that her speech was ultimately a form of cheerleading. I think she is smart and has plans to help the country. But.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
I ask again:
WHY CANT WE HAVE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY? THEY AREN’T USING IT.
raven, I love your post. you are exactly correct. Thank you.
Cripes, if the woman does nothing else she’s done enough to help this country and ungrateful people as yourself. WHAHHHHHH…she didn’t do what you wanted her to. That was a rip roarin’ barn burner of a speech. You obviously MISSED THE POINT. To make sure conservatives band together to beat Obama. Right now it’s split but I guess you hadn’t noticed that. Palin was downplaying Romney-guess you missed that too.
If Palin wanted to be useful she could endorse Gingrich or Santorum and start fighting — really fighting, putting it on the line — rather than showing up at the last hour of some self-congratulatory extravaganza to toss out snappy rehashed putdowns then take a tour around the room.
This isn’t a generic election. Nothing is what it was and it never will be again. The Left has taken us to the edge of destruction. You want to be a leader, my leader? Act like it.
“Barn burner”? I’m glad you thought so. I was bored. I want more and better. I knew who Obama was, what his intentions were, and where we’d be right now — I knew this five years ago. Even before this. Do I have some special gift or experience? I don’t think so. Any real conservative who wants the approbation of a leader should have known this, and certainly know it now. It’s called paying attention to the world around you according to your conservative American ethos. A oncologst knows cancer; it’s his profession. A conservative should know the Left. It’s more than his profession or business — it’s about the fate of his liberty and his country.
We have a Marxist president poisoning the bloodstream of our republic. If Palin wanted to give a real barn burner, she could have given a speech that truly called out the Left, dissected who they are, their diseased roots, their long history of degradation and ruin, and their utterly predictable intentions and outcomes right now for America and pinned them all on Obama. She could have talked about her own experiences dealing with their aggregated media and cultural terrorism. And she could have talked about how to beat them.
But all I heard were scattershot cracks and stale quips about “sinking ships” and “we better hope for change”, etc.
This is why we’re losing.
Still, I’m glad you were inspired. I was given the old quips and college cheers in 2008. “Fight, fight, fight!” “We need to unite.” It’s not going to cut it. Not without a more deeply internalized understanding of the Left and how to fight them — smartly, ruthlessly, relentlessly. Even if we win the presidency, without this understanding it’s for naught. Incredibly, I don’t see it except, with frustrating unevenness, in Gingrich.
Sounds to me like you somehow expect Palin to do what an actual candidate should do – openly fight the Left.
katiejane — maybe that’s what an actual American needs to do?
raven has made an excellent point.
Discretion may be the better part of valor. That’s what I kept thinking. The situation is fluid. NEwt needs to gain more traction. That has to be done by us, the people, and his campaign. If it’s stirred up by frothy talk a from Sarah Palin, it might be just as easily blown away from some other whim down the line.
The support needs to be rock solid. That’s why I love comments like raven’s. It’s like the Polish people, when the Pope came to visit them No one needed to tell the Poles that the Soviets were dangerous and oppressive. Sarah Palin didn’t need to go and cheerlead them into fighting for their freedoms.
No one can cheer lead the American People into fighting for our freedoms. Either we get it or we don’t.
A foolish people will end up in a tyranny. I say, not on my watch.
the big question is whether the American People will catch on to the powerhouse of plans NEwt has designed through which we can TURN THIS AROUND and restore lawfulness and prosperity to our country.
The Shire has nothing on us. This is exactly what Tolkien was writing about. Metaphorically speaking, wouldn’t there be some truth to say that the Ring Wraiths run Washington” It looks like they run the Republican Establishment.
We may avoid violence, and if we do, we are uncommonly protected by Providence. Because we have acted the fool for so long that we are in genuine jeopardy.
to find out exactly the plans:
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/newt-gingrich-full-speech-cpac-2012-15558504
If you want to rescue our country, I think it is virtually impossible to watch this speech too much. Memorize it is you can. Our future, and children’s future and beyond may depend on whether we get this.
Then why don’t you send her an email asking her to do just that?
One of the things that annoy me about Republicans on sites like this is that they whine, but they don’t DO anything.
Make calls on behalf of Newt.
Go to his website.
DO something.
Is it fair to assume the people who comment here are otherwise “doing nothing”? Perhaps each of has a different way of “doing things” — as writers, artists, political volunteers, activists, or just as citizens exercising the tools of persuasion with other people in the shopping line.
Holding out against all hope that someone, in her stead, will carry the mantle-and charge into the abyss.
Thinking she knows that’s not likely-
Thinking, I might see that which seems unlikely-Sarah Palin become my President…
…before my time has come.
Hoping.
I can only conclude that the majority of CPAC attendees, like Romney, cannot even define the word “conservative.” Just pick somebody, anybody — to make “hope and change” into “change and hope for the best.” Either the tentacles of the establishment run wide and deep or too few of real conservative political junkies and informed TEA Partiers were in attendance.
Momentum is a fickle beast and obviously there are more “nose-ringed” cons out there than I would ever believe to be possible. Last time I checked, CPAC was not loitering at Hollywood and Vine.
Wait! What is this? Indeed, there is good cause for the Romney win — money. The NY Times reports:
These are excerpts from PolitiJim’s Rants:
http://tinyurl.com/7jg96md
“Gingrich has demonstrated the opposite of selfishness and a “craving for admiration” as he consistently has resisted every opportunity the media baited him with to go after his fellow contenders. He consistently has understated his own accomplishments while others exaggerate theirs.
I mean, who the hell does Newt Gingrich think he is, thinking that he can orchestrate a take over of political power for conservatives when the country is mesmerized by a slick talking, slick looking liberal?
…(Oh yeah. I forgot. He actually did that once).
And why does he think only HE can get rid of a Democrat corruption, stop spending and actually start paying down the debt?
(Oh yea. I forgot he did that too.)
Grandiose thinkers like Bill Gates don’t even think they have to finish college to approach a highly technical industry like computers – much less do business with International Business Machines. I think I’ve told you that I know an investor who met a kid who couldn’t even conduct himself in a professional manner and tried to get an investment for his computer company WITHOUT EVEN WEARING A SUIT! Who the hell do these people think they are!!
The truth is that the people who make things happen are rarely those who feel content to sit back and criticize the risks taken by others. These people are usually unaware their repulsion comes from the realization that the success of the dreamer and dare’r is an indictment of their own limited ability or courage.
Kind of like Bob Dole criticizing Newt Gingrich for his “wild ideas a minute” when Bob Dole’s ideas were to just be cautious and keep the option of raising taxes open. Is it any wonder Bob Dole got killed by Clinton?
It seems that a few months after Ronald Reagan’s election – when Newt himself had just been elected to his SECOND term – Gingrich asked Weyrich to get conservative leaders together for a “planning session.” Can anyone say “narcissist”? I mean the guy has only been in Congress TWO YEARS and he’s already calling major conservatives like Weyrich to get listen to him??? Man, the nerve.
So Weyrich convenes the meeting in his hometown of Racine, WI and Gingrich immediately comes out with, “Now we need to really plan what we are going to do” Weyrich is a bit stunned but Newt continues, “Because in 12 years we will take over the House of Representatives and we need to be prepared for that moment.”
In relating the story, Weyrich admits he accommodated Gingrich because he thought he was smart, but honestly his first thought was pretty sarcastic. Weyrich recalled thinking, “Sure we’ll take over the House in 12 years, right after the fall of the Soviet Union!”
Not only does that prove Gingrich was a narcissist but also proves Bob Dole, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney were right in saying, “Gingrich was unable to do what he said.” It took 14 years, not 12. So there!
Put this in perspective: A single term Congressman has the audacity to expect that somehow he (from Georgia no less) can have input on doing something the GOP had not done for 40 years – and then only had power for 2 years. And the conservative leaders like GOPAC founder/Delaware Governor Pete DuPont and Weyrich thought it was an impossible goal. At that time BOTH Congressional houses were firmly in the hands of the Democrats as was the liberal press. When Contract With America happened, Gingrich had been planning it for 14 years.
What becomes fascinating in this video is that Gingrich then lays out what he plans to do as Speaker. You quickly realize that the “Clinton economic success” wasn’t Clinton’s AT ALL!
Before taking office he lays out:
They will win the battle of ideas amidst a liberal press.
He plans a balanced budget by 2002.
He plans to start paying down the debt by 2004.
The Democrats yelled ALL the same things about Gingrich then that they (and RINO’s) do now.
And BEFORE even starting his Speakership, the GOP was more popular than it had been since 1920 at 70%.
BEFORE taking office, they were already closing down Congressional committees and offices with plans to put the buildings on the market.
Just as he had opposed Reagan’s desire to raise taxes (as well as Bush 41 and Clinton’s) – he refused to let a tax bill reach the floor for a vote.
He even cited Toffler. That the “information age” had come as Toffler’s book had predicted and we had to get voting bills online so the people could read them when their Congressmen could. (What a wacky far out new age idea, huh?)
The crazy thing is Gingrich BEAT his own goals of balancing the budget and paying down the debt. I couldn’t understand in Weyrich’s PBS interview why he said Gingrich was bored. I now understand why. Like Palin, he had accomplished more in a few years, than entire Congresses had done in decades. He was ready to get the American people behind a BIGGER goal of change and need to make sure they were educated to understand the next step. It was the Bob Dole and John Boehner’s that resisted when the Democrats tried to undercut his own (free) course that would start that process.”
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/CongressionalReform51
NewtCerto, that post just gave me more juice to fight for my man, Newt.
But I can’t say this enough to everyone here: We MUST win the Presidency this year no matter WHO the candidate is.
If we don’t, we will all be slaves.
It’s that serious.
I’ll campaign, call and fight for my guy Newt, because I know what he has accomplished in a short time, but it the media wins, and you pathetic naysayer whiners refuse to vote for the Republican nominee, then we are all fucked.
That is the truth.
Deal with it.
Hi Tamminator,
I FEEL YOUR PAIN. REALLY. ANGUISH, ANGUISH, weep and wail. I am so serious.
I see what you are saying. The problem is 1. Romney will lose to Obama, IMO. I know many say Obama can’t win, but I think Romney walks in the path of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory laid forth by the likes of Dole and McCain, and I think he is fully capable of finding a way to lose. There are just not enough people who will vote for him. He’s suppressing turnout everywhere he goes. It’s like the plague or something.
2. if Romney were to win the presidency in the general election, he would confuse the country because he destroys the idea that there is a difference between Left and conservative. Romney really is Obama-lite. There is some merit to the idea that the crash and burn should be clearly labeled BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE DEMOCRATS.
I know that it still might be better to have Romney. Newt agrees with you. As you know, I’m sure.
But you see, arguing FOR Romney when NEWt is right in front of us and perfectly able to win the nomination divides our energy.
I hear what you are saying. I’m listening. I know Obama is planning untold destruction. I know that a second term would be an unthinkable destruction. Unthinkable. I agree. I am awake to the dangers you are talking about. Big time.
But Romney also has terrible dangers associate with him in the White House. because he really is obama-lite. i mean, look how he runs his campaign. look who runs his campaign. the make James Carville look like he’s been spawning clones. So cynical. Just like Obama. So mean. Just like Axelrod and Emmanel. look who’s bought Romney. Goldman Sachs. it’s business as usual and plus it’s destroying people’s ability to distinguish between Republicans and Democrats, because as you say with the Grover Norquist link, they are all parasites, the Establishment and the Left.
So I ask you to take into consideration that there are huge reasons to refuse to vote for Romney. Just as you are pointing our huge reasons to vote for ABO.
At this moment, I would say, let’s put ALL our attention on getting Newt the nomination. Because I truly believe, if Newt gets the nomination, NEwt will win.
And then, thank heavens, we won’t have to worry about Romney for a while, maybe ever again.
For God’s sake, I’m not arguing for Romney, I’m arguing for ANYONE BUT OBAMA.
Keep fighting for your nominee, and Dammit, call out sites like Drudge that ignored Newts speech but no one else.
NewtCerto —
I remember when the twin towers were hit. and we were all grieving.
And the guys who said, “Let’s roll.” And who they were and what they were like.
And I remember that the news media, for once, had to cover events involving read Americans, not the freak show we so often w=see in the media. Real wonderful, average. smart, thoughtful, hardworking, insightful, loving their families, true to their spouses.
And then I found the internet And I found Glenn Reynolds, and loved InstaPundit. And John Hinderaker, and I loved Power Line. And so many others. Smart. not “famous” not on “tv.” Just average extraordinary fabulous smart and funny and insightful, intelligent — you get the picture.
And then came this primary. And I researched NEwt Gingrich’s plans for how WE THE PEOPLE can restore America. I researched it all, to within an inch of its life. And I found it was good. I said, let the knowledge of these plans be heard throughout the land.
And then it turned out Glenn Reynolds was sneering at NEwt. (Is he still? I can’t bear to look.)
So I sent him some emails with, guess what??!! some links to Newt’s speeches. And I said, dear Glenn Reynolds, please look at these. But I don’t know if he did.
And then John Hinderaker was leaning toward Romney and I sent him, guess what??!! links to speeches, but I don’t think he has watched them and he also sneered and then endorsed, I had to stop reading Power Line.
And then it came to pass that I found Legal Insurrection and the Professor and I was happy and relieved to have found others who see what I see.
And I tell you all this, NewtCerto, to say THANK YOU for the links. I cannot wait to watch this material. And thank you for quoting Politi Jim, who I think does really an excellent job of research and analysis.
But above all, thank you for what you wrote: your attitude, determination, certitude, which shines through your words. Belief. Imagination. Willingness to let something new come into being. Willingness to stand by that new future when others are still ignorant, or mocking it. Certo. It’s what this future is made of. Thank you. Really.
And thanks to the Professor, who is the first mover here, and without whom none of this would be possible.
Just so you know-
From the comments on the ‘Best Conservative blog EVAH!
I can absolutely admire those qualities. And, believe me, it is not easy to turn against someone who I have admired so much. But not wilting under attack, while admirable, is not offset by using one’s immense power and influence to divide. I hope she will pull back from this dangerous road that she is on, but I fear that she has become too enamored of her own image.
Priscilla on February 11, 2012 at 10:51 PM
Yeah. It’s a dangerous road, all right. She’s endangering America, her family, and her very own life by speaking out as she has been./
gryphon202 on February 11, 2012 at 10:53 PM
That place has stupid endless arguments that go nowhere. If it a Palin subject it can go on to over1,000 replies.
i have in the past relaxed on the couch with a biscuit or 2 & a glass of wine or 2 & read them for fun.
But those days are gone.
I don’t mind fights / dislikes etc but I prefer them short & sharp as at LI. In real life you just would not engage people with whom you just argue.
I did like Igor over there & wish he would come here. He was very funny.
Igor who? And if you don’t like the arguments then go somewhere else.
I stopped reading Hot Air. The commenters were hostile, lewd, and anti-Palin for the most part.
Ed has gotten pretty high on himself, IMHO – like Erick Erickson at RedState. Allah is funny at times, yet too “clever” and snarky for me. They have too many guest-extra bloggers who are RINOish, too, unfortunately. Some good bloggers they “promote” from the Green Room blog elsewhere (e.g. Dan Riehl, Karl, R.S. McCain)- so why go there?
Their website is usually one day behind most, as well.
The CNN contract oozing malaise, perhaps? Who knows. Just not worth reading anymore.
I’ve learned to accept the anti-Palin bent at HA. It used to annoy me because IMO HA set up the attacks on her because Palin threads brought traffic. I finally learned to ignore the real blithering haters. Since she’s not running the PDS crowd has been joined by the broken-hearted former supporters who whine because “she let them down”. And after this many months even the haters have trouble pushing the “she’s so stupid” line. Now the whine is that “she’s sold out.”
Ok. Out of a State population of 1,318,000, only 5,000 people could be bothered to show up for a Presidential Caucus? Even if only 1/3rd are Republican Registered, that means that only 1.13% of the Registered voters turned out.
I suppose it’s not that much different from the 2008 Caucus, and Romney SHOULD be heavily favored to win given his showing from the 2008 Caucus, but really?
Actually, the big story here SHOULD be that Ron Paul DOUBLED his share of the people voting for him, and Romney LOST ground.
–In 2008, Paul took 18% of the vote, and Romney took 51%.
–In 2012, Paul took 36% of the vote, and Romney took 39%.
Sorry. Should read : only 1.13% of the TOTAL POPULATION turned out.
Nevermind, I was right the first time. That’s what I get for commenting late at night on little sleep……
wake up every morning this week between 2 and 7 deg f.
be damned if this mainer going to deal with that for a stupid caucus.
Heimdall, I am with you 100%. The man is dirty. The way he is trying to destroy the other candidates is shameful and I won’t vote for him. I’ll either turn Paulbot (since a 3rd party run is likely to come from him) or I’ll write in DeMint. Right now, I’m in the Newt camp 100% but if we end up with Romney as the nominee, I’ll just go ahead and write in the one I wish had run. The heck with the establishment GOP. I have never been a party line person and I sure don’t intend to be now.
I understand tam’s arguments made earlier, but we need to make sure it doesn’t come to that. I really hope Newt pulls it out in the next couple of weeks, and with this primary season anything is possible, but I can vote for Santorum if needs be. Romney is a fake, snake oil salesman.
Santorum does not have the breadth of vision or skill in management to pull us out of the debacle.
The Establishment would eat Santorum as a snack. They are professional at co-opting administrations and newly-elected official. for goodness sake!
Santorum doesn’t have the armor, the plan, the phalanxes that are needed to overcome the enmeshed power structure of the banks and the government,
It would make the vilification of G.B. Bush look like a picnic. Bush is probably 100 times the manager and politician Santorum is. And the MSM and the Left (but I repeat myself) ruined his reputation and in some ways, his presidency. And then we got Obama.
Santorum would be a disaster, IMO.
Tam, Hope, Raven – Sadly, I am up at 1:50 a.m. because of all of what you guys stated above. Have been going thru all those arguments, and like others have said, if we aren’t doing what we can now to get Newt on top we need to start. I did ph. calls thru the SC primary. Need to start doing it again. My vote means s–t in IL. We vote too late to really be heard. Between doing stuff on blogs, which all 3 of you appear to do quite well, do exactly what Newt’s doing – hone your skills on whatever points you think need to be heard and get out there!!! (Although you do it here already). If your already doing it great. I’m not into doing links and don’t have the time when 2 1/2 yr. old is up. Newt does have volunteers for media/blogs. Also, he needs money people. Anything is a help. Better yet, go to Adelson’s hotel website & leave comment to him to help out the guy who’s the proven Pro-Israeli candidate – Adelson is waiting for the people to back Gingrich, why wait til you vote. Every time Newt surges this guy comes out of the woodwork. Little pressure from supporters couldn’t hurt.
I’m on it.
Thanks.
Damn it all, DO something.
“We MUST win the Presidency this year no matter WHO the candidate is. ”
That’s not going to happen with Romney.
The center right is thinking that nothing will change so why take the blame for it if the economy crashes and then lose again in 2016 after wasting 4 years.
The center left is thinking that nothing will change so why make a change at all.
It’s the GOP’s job this time around to offer up an alternative. That’s the bottom line.
Barn burner speech from Gov. Palin! It sounds like she is trying to get Romney to stop the negative, dishonest BS for the sake of unifying conservatives. But since he’s not a conservative, I doubt he will do it. And the vetting continues.
I really don’t understand this result from CPAC. Either the GOP establishment stuffed the ballot box or a good number of conservatives don’t think Santorum or Newt can beat Barack Obama. That’s the only way to slice this. Conservative purity is not part of the equation.
We’re shooting ourselves in the foot and really can’t blame anybody but our selves.