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President 2012 GOP Election Watch: The February Republican Schedule
Here is the February GOP Presidential calendar:
- Nevada caucuses – February 4
- Maine caucuses – February 4-11
- Minnesota caucuses – February 7
- Missouri primary – February 7
- Colorado caucuses – February 7
- Arizona primary – February 28
- Michigan primary – February 29
Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul will be very challenged to win any of these contests and derail the Big Mo of Mitt Romney.
But, stranger things have happened in this race.
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Two Convicted in Norway of Terror Plot Against Jyllands-Posten Newspaper Which Published the Muhammad Cartoons
Courtroom sketch by artist Marco Vaglieri shows Mikael Davud in an Oslo court Monday Jan. 30 2012. Davud was sentenced to seven years in prison for planning to bomb the Danish newspaper Jyllandsposten that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad, the first convictions under Norway’s anti-terror laws. The Oslo district court sentenced alleged ringleader Davud, to seven years in prison and co-defendant Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak to three and a half years.(AP Photo / Marco Vaglieri, Scanpix)
The court handed down its decision yesterday.Two men were found guilty Monday of involvement in an al-Qaida plot to attack a Danish newspaper that caricatured the Prophet Muhammad, the first convictions under Norway’s anti-terror laws.
A third defendant was acquitted of terror charges but convicted of helping the others acquire explosives.
Investigators say the plot was linked to the same al-Qaida planners behind thwarted attacks against the New York subway system and a shopping mall in Manchester, England, in 2009.
The Oslo district court sentenced alleged ringleader Mikael Davud, to seven years in prison and co-defendant Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak to three and a half years.
Judge Oddmund Svarteberg said the court found that Davud, a Chinese Muslim, “planned the attack together with al-Qaida.” Bujak was deeply involved in the preparations, but it couldn’t be proved that he was aware of Davud’s contacts with al-Qaida, the judge said.
The third defendant, David Jakobsen, who assisted police in the investigation, was convicted on an explosives charge and sentenced to four months in prison — time he’s already served in pretrial detention.
Defense lawyers for the three told the court they would study the verdict before deciding whether to appeal.
Here is the photo of the other terrorist:
Shawan Sadek Saeed Bujak appears in the Oslo courthouse, Oslo, Norway Monday Jan. 30, 2012
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President 2012 Poll Watch: Republicans Increasingly Unhappy With GOP Presidential Field
According to the latest Pew Research Center.Republicans evaluating the field of potential GOP presidential nominees are increasingly negative about the current slate of candidates, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center.
Fifty-two percent of Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters said the GOP field was “fair or poor,” an eight percentage-point increase since the question was asked in early January.
Likewise, the number of Republicans who had positive feelings about the candidates dropped. Forty-six percent rated the current field of four candidates “excellent or good,” a drop from the 51% who had that response in January. The GOP field has undergone substantial change since then, with former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropping out of the contest.
Monday’s poll from Pew, which was conducted in partnership with the Washington Post, is the first time since this election cycle the negative response from voters outweighed the positive. Pew began asking the question in May 2011.
I know I am not very pleased with any of the remaining members of the field.
To be honest, I don’t see Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich able to beat President Obama at this point. Neither of them are consistent conservatives, who can articulate a contrasting theme to the left-leaning Democratic President.
Either the GOP should induce a new candidate or two into the mix or be prepared for another four years of President Obama.
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President 2012: How Do Gingrich and Romney Look Against Obama in the Electoral College?
The 2012 Republican presidential primary battle shifts to Florida, where Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are locked in a tight battle. And, already, Republicans are starting to have visions of a Newt candidacy — and they don’t like what they see. That includes an electoral map that could look quite different — and much worse for them — than the one Romney or another Republican might compete on.Larry Sabato over at the University of Virginia Center for Politics has this excellent analysis. Long and short of it is: Newt Gingrich is more of a gamble to beat President Obama, should he win the Republican nomination.
To be clear, President Obama is vulnerable. His approval rating – 46% approve, 48.6% disapprove, according to the RealClearPolitics approval average — is middling. And against Mitt Romney, Obama’s vulnerability shows: in Pollster.com’s average of national polling, Obama leads Romney just 46.5% to 45.3%. But against Gingrich, the average tells a very different story — Obama, at 49.9%, leads Gingrich (39.1%) by more than 10 points.
Granted, there are outliers: Gallup on Tuesday had both Romney and Gingrich running evenly with Obama, both down 50% to 48%. But the bulk of the polling data indicates that Romney, at least at this point, is the stronger candidate against Obama.
Why does Romney fare better? Well, the best candidate against Obama remains “generic Republican” — that make-believe person who leads Obama by a single slim point, according to RealClearPolitics. Let’s be honest here: Romney’s the closest thing out there to a generic Republican available. He is not going to steal the presidency away from the incumbent if Obama’s having a good year and the economy is solid. Rather, if the country is ready to make a change, then Romney would be a credible alternative. The national polling numbers bear that out; they also show that Gingrich, at least right now, is not seen as a similarly acceptable alternative.
In other words, in the key battleground states of Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire, Iowa and Florida, Gingrich looks like a risk to LOSE these states.
Here is my Electoral College Map from some months ago:
This map is from the interactive site, 270towin.com
Sobato and his staff make the argument that Gingrich will perform worse (at least he is polling worse now) than Romney in the states, the GOP needs to win to beat Obama.
This may very well be true, and the GOP Establishment have their own maps and are looking at the Senate and House race polls across the nation.
Romney is SAFE and Gingrich MAY underperform Obama.
But, what does the GOP base want in a candidate? A generic Republican, Romney nominee or a firebrand, big idea guy, like Gingrich.
Guess we will find out next tuesday in Florida.
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President 2012: John McCain’s 2008 Opposition File on Mitt Romney Hits the Internet
The Bain Consulting portion is very damning of Mitt Romney.
BAIN CAPITAL AND DREXEL BURNHAMRomney Used Drexel Burnham Junk Bonds To Finance 1988 Leveraged Buyout, Right Around The Time SEC Officials Were Taking Formal Action Against The Company
Bain Capital Financed Mid-1988 Deal With Junk Bonds Issued By Drexel Burnham And Notorious Financier Michael Milken.
“Sometimes, when Bain Capital was looking to make a deal, the bulk of the money came not from its investors but from other sources, such as junk bonds. In 1988, for instance, Bain Capital decided to buy two Texas department store chains, Bealls and Palais Royale, in a deal valued at $300 million. To fund the purchase, Bain sought out Drexel Burnham corporate financiers, based in Boston, who were working under junk bond impresario Michael Milken. Romney and the Bain Capital partner who oversaw the deal, Joshua Bekenstein, said they never dealt with Milken.”
(Mitchell Zuckoff and Ben Bradlee Jr., “Romney’s Business Record Gives LargerPicture,” The Boston Globe , 8/8/94)
Two Months After Hiring Drexel, The SEC Filed Extensive Complaint Alleging Insider Trading And MarketManipulation – Romney Defended The Decision To Keep Using Drexel In Transaction.“On Sept. 7, 1988 -roughly two months after Bain Capital hired Drexel to issue junk bonds – the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a 184-page complaint against Drexel, Milken and others alleging insider trading schemes,manipulation of stock prices and other violations of federal securities laws. Bain Capital was put in the position of trying to close a deal with junk bonds from a company being sued by the SEC. Romney and Bekenstein defended their decision to hire Drexel before the SEC suit – at a time when rumors of the investigation were rife on Wall Street – as well as after the suit was filed.”
(Mitchell Zuckoff and Ben Bradlee Jr., “Romney’s Business Record Gives LargerPicture,” The Boston Globe, 8/8/94)And, here I thought McCain endorsed Romney – a funny game politics.
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Poll Watch: Conservatives Continue to Be the Largest Ideological Block of Americans
According to the latest Gallup Poll.Political ideology in the U.S. held steady in 2011, with 40% of Americans continuing to describe their views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal. This marks the third straight year that conservatives have outnumbered moderates, after more than a decade in which moderates mainly tied or outnumbered conservatives.
The percentage of Americans calling themselves “moderate” has gradually diminished in the U.S. since it was 43% in 1992. That is the year Gallup started routinely measuring ideology with the current question. It fell to 39% in 2002 and has been 35% since 2010. At the same time, the country became more politically polarized, with the percentages of Americans calling themselves either “conservative” or “liberal” each increasing.
Gallup measures political ideology by asking Americans to say whether their political views are very conservative, conservative, moderate, liberal, or very liberal. Relatively few Americans identify with either extreme on this scale, although 2 in 10 Republicans self-identify as very conservative — double the proportion of Democrats calling themselves very liberal.
Remember after the 2008 Presidential election of President Obama when the left said the Right was finished and that the GOP was a regional party. But, as the 2010 elections proved, it is really the Democrat Party that is a two state party.
And, so it continues……
Guess the result of a Far Left ideological President and Congress is blowback, eh? -
House GOP Blinks and Accepts Senate Passed Two Month Extension of Payroll Tax Cut
Of course, the House GOP blinked because it was the ONLY rationale course of action.House Speaker John Boehner says he has reached agreement with the Senate to renew the payroll tax cut before it expires Dec. 31.
The Ohio Republican said in a statement Thursday that he expects to pass a new bill by Christmas that would renew the tax break for two months while congressional negotiators work out a longer-term measure that would also extend jobless benefits for millions of Americans and prevent doctors from absorbing a big cut in Medicare payments.
The GOP House has suffered only a “flesh wound” as one of my Facebook friends has said.
But, the entire flap was handled very badly and the GOP House Caucus should be looking at some better leadership.
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The GOP’s Payroll Tax Fiasco – Yeah Boehner and Cantor Blew It
Flanked by House GOP members, Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner speaks during a media availability on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. President Barack Obama Tuesday warned Republican “brinksmanship” could hurt the fragile US economy, doubling down in a pre-Christmas power duel over taxes which has deep political implications
The House GOP leadership have created a fiasco out of a win-win compromise on the payroll tax cut extension – and they did it right before Christmas.Bravo, GOP establishment morons in Washington.
Even the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page is giving you an #EPICFAIL.
GOP Senate leader Mitch McConnell famously said a year ago that his main task in the 112th Congress was to make sure that President Obama would not be re-elected. Given how he and House Speaker John Boehner have handled the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they might end up re-electing the President before the 2012 campaign even begins in earnest.
The GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass. This is no easy double play.
Republicans have also achieved the small miracle of letting Mr. Obama position himself as an election-year tax cutter, although he’s spent most of his Presidency promoting tax increases and he would hit the economy with one of the largest tax increases ever in 2013. This should be impossible.
The House GOP should reconsider their position, pass the two month extension and go home for Christmas.
What a CLUSTER……
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Day By Day November 17, 2011 – On Speaker
A GOP message?Chris, there has been NO powerful narrative coming out of the Republican debates except that the GOP is full of a bunch of blathering fools who are prone to gaffes. Unfortunately, the Republican brand has been hurt by the lack of quality candidates in the Presidential election cycle.
Can we just speed ahead to 2016, please…..
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Day By Day November 16, 2011 – Torture
Day By Day by Chris MuirThere is a definite disconnect between the television media and American voters. The REAL torture are the faux GOP debates.Plus, the televised GOP debates are nothing but “gotcha” stage shows without any real issue discussion. It is time for the Republican Party to set parameters for substantive and definitely fewer debates/discussions among its candidates.
The medium should not be allowed to drive the narrative. Waterboarding indeed….
