Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Pick Your Poison - Blogging by Numbers

Excuses, excuses, but once again, I must apologize for the lack of content lately. This place has been emptier than a Jon Huntsman rally at a Red Lobster restaurant. If anyone is wondering what the meaning of the Chinese expression he used during the Saint Anslesm College debate was, it roughly translates as "I won less than 1% of the Ames straw poll, but the media is succeeding in making me relevent." Actually, he couldn't even muster less than half a percentage point. He's actually taken out an ad that ends with a befuddled old Wilford Brimley-ish guy who grumbles "Why haven't we heard of this guy?" Solid statagy Jon -  but we'll get back to that.

Truth is, I have recently embarked on a whiplash inducing career change, and am currently practicing as an addictions and human services couselor. I am also working on securing the necessary certifications that will allow me to open a private practice as a grief and loss counselor. I am also incredibly lazy, and my fingers hurt from trying to play a C chord on the sweet acoustic guitar my wife bought me for Christmas.  Let the blogging by numbers begin!

1  -  It seems that as conservatives, every GOP primary since 1992 has been about trying to make the best of a bad situation. Doth we protest too much? Perhaps, but if the 2010 mid-term election taught us anything, it's that we can demand more and get it, even against an orchastrated campaign by the leftist establishment to derail us at every turn using their yes-men in the media. The usual suspects are already starting to line up behind Mitt Romney, who, as Jonah Goldberg said, "looks like the picture that comes with the frame."

Romney is running a textbook campaign: Don't bet the house on one State, build your base, raise buckets of money, stay on message, and disect your opponents with surgical skill. He is becoming more at ease during the debates, and breezed through the St. Anslesm debate because the rest of the pack, oddly enough, passed up the golden oppportunity to unload their guns on him when he was the most vulnerable.

Romney is weak on social issues, and "Romneycare" was the model for Obamacare, whose individual mandate was recently declared unconstitutional by the 11th circuit.

Many in the conservative press, most notably the former Governor's cheerleaders at the otherwise sensible National Review, have been quick to wag their fingers at those of us who think Romney is far too slick. I would counter that he goes beyond slick to downright greasy at times, refusing to take definitive stands on any issue, and evades difficult questions by falling back on his new soundbite about how this election is a fight for the "Soul of America." 

Governor Romney may not be the "Massachusetts liberal", as his detractors have painted him, but he is certainly not the all-American conservative we deserve.

2 - If you ever refuse a friend request on Facebook, never make the mistake of sending a message giving a reason as to why you are doing so. Trust me on this. It prompts people to act like jilted 14 year old girls who cyber stalk classmates who don't like Justin Bieber. Über creepy.

3 -  A couple of months ago,  former Republican Utah Governor and Obama admistration lacky Jon Huntsman tried to boost his staggering 0.4% poll numbers before the GOP primaries by spitting on the very same social conservatives he's now trying to court by tweeting "To be clear. I believe in evolution... Call me crazy."  Of course, this triggered a frenzy of media attention, as liberals dusted off the old canard that the conservative lobby of the GOP is waging a war on science! This is utter nonsense, and Huntsman and the liberal media know it. It was Christian conservative Dr. Francis Collins who discovered the new cancer treatment which maps out the human genome and selectively targets damaged DNA.

Huntsman is a tree-hugging RINO, who has lobbied to give valid ID's to illegal immigrants, and supports  granting China non-reciprocal trade favours that would further promote the decay of the American economy while propping up a communist dictatorship.

The media is continuing to clamour on about the supposed Huntsman surge. I guess in the MSM, polling almost 25 points behind the front runner in one single state is surging.

4 - Ron Paul, trying to deflect attention from his racist past, made the disingenuous argument that African Americans receive the death penalty at a disproportionately higher rate than whites. The Justice Department's own stats show that in federal cases "The Attorney General approved seeking the death penalty for 38 percent of White defendants, 25 percent of Black defendants, and 20 percent of Hispanic defendants.” Ron Paul has referred to African Americans as animals, and once encouraged radical libertarians to arm themselves for an upcoming race war. I'm sure Dr. Paul is awaiting the KKK's endorsement...or does he already have it?

5 -  No one in this race is a "Washington outsider." No one. That just grinds my gears.

6 - The editorial board of The Straight Hype is officially supporting Newt Gingrich for the GOP nomination, with a hopes of an eventual Gringrich/Santorum ticket, based on Gingrich's 30+ years of service, his knowledge of not only the national stage, but also his intricate understanding of the problems facing individual states, right down to matters of obscure New Hampshire infrastructure and veteran's healthcare. Much has been made about the former Speaker's "baggage." He has addressed his personal failings, and, more importantly, his political  fumbles, and the wisdom obtained from those miscalculations.  Newt Gingrich would demolish President Obama in a debate and would extinguish the media created myth of superficial "electability."  God Speed Speaker Gingrich.

7 - Have a great week! Enjoy!!

Cordially

Joe