It's not about race

It's about ... about... oh, never mind.

Poll: GOP Voters In Deep South Think Obama Is Muslim, Unsure On Interracial Marriage

Tolle, lege.

Romney victory celebration

This evening, GOP primary election day, in South Carolina.

gee ... I guess religion really is important down here.

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Truer words...

... written in a funny article about how all the big shot conservative pundits had no use for Rick Santorum. Until, of course, he nearly beat Mitt Romney in Iowa. But one of them actually saw it coming:

The American Spectator’s Quin Hillyer, for one, was into Santorum before being into Santorum was cool. In early November, when Santorum was still pulling single digits in national polls, Hillyer wrote that Santorum could be “the sharpest, most accomplished, most campaign-savvy “It’s a good thing for Rick Santorum that conventional wisdom, especially in politics, is usually preternaturally stupid,”, and most full-spectrum conservative in a quarter-century of presidential contests . . . working harder than anybody, making at least as much intellectual sense as anybody, never blowing a debate, and never failing to stand on principle.”

Even earlier in July 2010 the same guy wrote these words that should be remembered every time you listen to a political pundit:

“It’s a good thing for Rick Santorum that conventional wisdom, especially in politics, is usually preternaturally stupid.”

So there.

coming soon: the empire strikes back ... and Santorum tanks. Or not.

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Shocking News about Canada!!!

It is now part of the US. At least according to the man who would be president:

Rick Perry in Iowa: "Every barrel of oil that comes out of those sands in Canada is a barrel of oil that we don't have to buy from a foreign source."

But I believe this is yet another Republican statement that is "not intended as a true statement." So the one Canadian who reads this blog (if he is still out there) can relax.

... but about Mexico.

With support like this ...

... Romney picks up a key endorsement:

"That’s one of the things that I like about him — because he’s been consistent since he changed his mind,” - Christine O’Donnell, on her endorsement of Mitt Romney.

Oh, the hell with it. Go ahead and vote Ron Paul.

But .... but ... it's not about race!!

At least, so they keep saying.

And in the real world a Tea Party web site has this:

Patriot Freedom Alliance, a tea party group in Hutchinson, Kansas, made a statement on its website recently, depicting Obama as a skunk. “It is half black, half white, and almost everything it does, stinks,” the site reads, according to a screen grab posted by The Hutchinson News.

To the Patriot Freedom Alliance, this is simply political satire and no worse than what Palin was subjected to.

well, then that certainly makes it ok.

A Republican speaks

Well, self-defined Republican. He, like a few others, have been read out of the Republican Party as surely as Buckley got rid of the Birchers (premature Tea Partiers).

Of course, I am talking about David Frum. Here is a squib from his latest.

America desperately needs a responsible and compassionate alternative to the Obama administration’s path of bigger government at higher cost. And yet: This past summer, the GOP nearly forced America to the verge of default just to score a point in a budget debate. In the throes of the worst economic crisis since the Depression, Republican politicians demand massive budget cuts and shrug off the concerns of the unemployed. In the face of evidence of dwindling upward mobility and long-stagnating middle-class wages, my party’s economic ideas sometimes seem to have shrunk to just one: more tax cuts for the very highest earners. When I entered Republican politics, during an earlier period of malaise, in the late seventies and early eighties, the movement got most of the big questions—crime, inflation, the Cold War—right. This time, the party is getting the big questions disastrously wrong.

You should read the rest of it, but I warn you: the photo in bright red tones that will open on your screen is not fit for children or small animals.

well, he should know.

Truth or Consequences, political edition

The Washington Post fact checks Republican candidates.

Of course, one Republican pol is on record as admitting that one of his statements was "not intended as a factual statement." Maybe they meant the same.

And for what it's worth, to be a politician is to be dishonest. It's a Darwinian process.

By that measure Romney turns out to be the most-nearly- getting warm- might-one-day- be -honest of the candidates. The Post gives him a Pinocchio almost reflexively for "some shading of the facts."

but there are no consequences anymore. Welcome to the post-modern world where what you want to believe is exactly the same as what you have to believe.

But I exaggerate, I believe.

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Rubio: of course, I could have been wrong

Carmen tells me it has happened before. But I don't remember it.

Sort of like Marc Rubio not remembering, or maybe never knowing, when his parents left Cuba. But, as Carmen, and many others have helpfully pointed out, every Cuban knows the day he left Cuba. And as I can personally report, having heard it a number of times, if two Cuban-Americans meet, one of the first things they ask is "When did you leave?" No explanation needed.

I've never heard any one say in response, "uh, I don't remember" or "gee, my folks never really said."

So maybe I was too easy on the guy. Now even Andrew Sullivan is thinking the same.

I was just trying to hide my true commie, hippie, Leftie, fascist nature. I won't do it again.

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The Newt

I know some smart people.

Smart people are friends of mine.

You sir, are no smart person.

So why do so many "smart" commentators think this over fried clown is the idea man of the Republican party.

oh. you mean in comparison.

Bonkers over (White) America

I think that Pat Buchanan is working to become a caricature of himself. And after his Hitler-friendly last book had taken it about as far as it would go. I admit it. I was wrong.

Read a few snippets from his latest volume in which, among other thing, he laments the fall from power of the great white race which in his mind is synonymous with 'Americans."

For those few of you in our family, he is lamenting the appearance of, among others, our beloved sister-in-law, our niece and nephew, my little friend Miggs, our cousin in Colorado's family and ... well, just keep filling in the blanks.

Remember the good old days when this paleo-clown was considered too extreme and distasteful for the Republican party? Oh c'mon. It was not that long ago.

although I admit, I've often thought certain family characteristics spelled the doom of Western Civilization as we have known it.

More on Rubio

Over at the Frum Forum the crowd is having a minor meltdown over a Frum post chastising some on the Right for defending Rubio's 'exaggeration.' Some are seeking to claim that Rubio's parents are real exiles because they somehow 'sensed' that things were going to go bad - at a time when Fidel was still hanging around cheap cafeteria's in Mexico City writing his latest manifestos (please see small print).

So far, my favorite comment is this from Watusie:

But what the WaPo has revealed is that he is not the son of exiles; he is an anchor baby for economic migrants.

Which as far as I can tell is literally true.

But of course there are Hispanics, and then there are Hispanics. Get to land as a Cuban and you are welcomed with open arms. Get to land as a Mexican - and you are forever an illegal who should be sent back with your children. A curious dichotomy.

NOTE: I ate at one of the cafeteria's famous as a Castro hangout. He used to pen his famous 'manifestos' there. By an odd coincidence Carmen's godmother and her husband were couriers for Castro. The godmother had the typescript of one of el maximo lider's manifestos with corrections in his own hand. Small world.

About Marc Rubio

I don't like the guy, wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances that I can realistically imagine, and, as Carmen tells me, "All Cubans know the date they left Cuba."

But Andrew Sullivan provides some perspective as he often does on his slip-up about being a refugee from Castro.

No, he wasn't. And he played artfully around the truth for political ooomph in south Somewhere. But he had said publicly on a number of occasions that his family came out of Cuba before the "Revolution."

In other words, not quite the lying bastard I would like to make him out to be. It may be a lot of huffing and puffing about little.

Oh well. It's only a matter of time. And he was both silly and dishonest in his reaction to the death of Qadaffi in not mentioning the role of American forces and the prez.

The Republican Candidate Speaks

Andrew Sullivan's quote for the day:

"Muammer Qaddafi, the dictator of Libya, declared that 'we'd be content and happy if Obama can stay president forever.' Such lavish praise...tells you much of what [Obama's] approach to foreign policy is and the audience to which he is playing," - Mitt Romney, in his book No Apology.

Probably explains why some Republicans couldn't bring themselves to mention the US, either our troops or our prez, when commenting on the dictator's sudden exit from office.

Marc Rubio, from that state down there, was particularly silly.

about whom more in a moment.

He could have been president

...but, alas.

I especially like the 'ranch.'

It's not about race

The new South Carolina voter ID laws.

Tea Party Jobs Plan

Let there be none.

Proposed oath for small businesses from Tea Party Nation:

I, an American small business owner, part of the class that produces the vast majority of real, wealth producing jobs in this country, hereby resolve that I will not hire a single person until this war against business and my country is stopped.

I hereby declare that my job creation potential is now ceased.

"I'm on strike!"

It's about nothing sane. And when you find a small business owner who intends not to hire to make a political statement, as opposed to making a living, please get in touch.

they've been drinking the John Galt tea nonsense again.

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Irony does not get better then this

Actual headline from TPM:

Tennessee Guns-In-Bars Law Sponsor Arrested For DUI...With A Gun

at least he really really believed in his legislation.

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Without comment

Republican Truthiness

Also known as counting chickens before they hatch. Michelle Bachman's crack press team released a press release (well, what else do they do?) 30 minutes before her big speech saying she spoke before a standing room only crowd. Attached is a picture of the crowd as Bachman started her pitch.

but if you look carefully, most of those folks ARE standing!

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