Tea Party flavors Republican debate in Tampa
Maybe it was the Tea Party Express influence or maybe it was just being in Tampa where Republicans hold their presidential nominating convention next year.
But the atmosphere at Monday’s Republican debate had the festive feel of a major sporting event and the stars of the game were the eight candidates vying for the party’s 2012 presidential nomination.
The pregame show began with a video introduction of “tonight’s players”…
- Michele Bachmann: The Firebrand
- Mitt Romney: The Early Front-Runner
- Rick Perry: The Newcomer
- Jon M. Huntsman Jr.: The Diplomat
- Ron Paul: The Libertarian
- Herman Cain: The Businessman
- Newt Gingrich: The Big Thinker
- Rick Santorum: The Fighter
The audience was packed with Tea Party conservatives cheering them on and the action began on stage after singer Diana Nagy sang the national anthem.
Here are a few observations tweeted about the scene:
Perry vs. rivals in Republican debate
There were eight candidates in the first big Republican debate of the 2012 campaign season.
Two of them dominated the stage from the start in a contest over who has created more jobs.
And the winner is….. Mitt Romney, according to his campaign.
“Mitt Romney won tonight’s debate because he demonstrated that he is the only candidate in the race who can return the country to economic prosperity. Career politicians got us into the mess and it will take someone with experience in the real economy to get us out,” the campaign’s communication director Gail Gitcho said in a statement released after Wednesday’s debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.
While the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign claimed victory, Rick Perry was the man in the spotlight.
All eyes were on the Texas governor as he made his debut on the national stage — and when it was over Perry said in a post-debate statement he was pleased to have been able to introduce his “conservative philosophy and pro-jobs record to the American people.”
Perry’s campaign said it was a “strong performance.” The new front-runner in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Perry came out swinging, writes Reuters’ Steve Holland.
What the article calls “over confidence” is in fact simple arrogance. Perry has proven time after time that he will not be deterred from pursuing his personal goals by the needs of Texas or Texans. He lies, he takes bribes, and he games the system. He repeatedly says one thing and does another.
A case in point is the tough new immigration bill he signed. It imposes sanctions against employers for hiring illegal aliens. Specifically exempted from that bill are, gardeners, grounds keepers, nannies, and domestic servants. As CNN notes:
It is a tough immigration bill with a soft side that protects those who hire unauthorized immigrants “for the purpose of obtaining labor or other work to be performed exclusively or primarily at a single-family residence.”
Another case in point, Rick and his buddy Phil Gramm tried to convince the Teacher Retirement System to allow UBS bank to buy “dead peasant” life insurance on retirees. The plan was for UBS to purchase the policies, then bundle them up into securities and sell them to investors (sound familiar?). The state was to receive a commission on the sales. Fortunately, TRS didn’t allow this to happen.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/25 /rick-perry-texas-life-insurance-scheme _n_935666.html
Then there is the Gardasil debacle. After accepting a reported $6000.00 “campaign contribution” (aka bribe) from Merck, Perry issued an executive order that required every Texas girl entering the sixth grade to receive Gardasil as a condition of attending school. Fortunately, this outraged conservative Texans and the legislature met to undue the executive order. Perry claimed he did it because he “hates cancer”. Of course the “campaign contribution” had nothing to do with his decision.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/noelle-cig arroa-perese/our-new-tv-ad-against-gov_b _653306.html
However, there’s more to the story,
http://www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/55466 51.html
What I’ve given here is just the tip of the Perry corruption iceberg. Read up on the “Trans-Texas Corridor” and Perry’s raping of the public schools.
If after doing your due diligence as a citizen and voter you can still support Rick Perry for POTUS, then we are surely doomed.
Obama focus on policy, not polls – White House
The White House is downplaying several new polls showing President Obama’s job approval ratings plunging to new lows along with rising public concern over high unemployment and the sluggish economy.
“The president is focused on the measures he can take… to address the urgent need to grow our economy and create jobs; to deal with the fact that economic growth is not fast enough and that job creation is not substantial enough,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said at Tuesday’s press briefing when asked how concerned Obama is about the poll numbers.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows Obama’s overall job approval rating at a low of 44 percent, down 3 percentage points since July. More than half of Americans now disapprove of Obama’s job performance and one in three say they’re worse off financially since he’s been in the White House, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll. And a poll by Politico and George Washington University shows 72 percent of voters believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Asked what Obama would say to people who feel worse off now than before he took office, Carney said the president would tell them: “He fully understands the anxiety that is out there among the American people about the economy, the frustration at the pace of growth, the frustration at the pace of job creation. And that’s why he feels it is so urgent to take action now and not to simply say, oh, well, we shouldn’t do anything and then let it all be decided next year after an election.
Obama will deliver proposals for putting people back to work in a speech to Congress Thursday night.
In advance of the speech, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell signaled Obama’s ideas could get a cool reception from congressional Republicans. McConnell said he expects Obama will offer “more of the same failed approach that’s only made things worse over the past few years.”
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney unveiled his economic plan on Tuesday. Click here to read about it .
2012 candidates woo voters on Labor Day
Labor Day is no day off for President Barack Obama and the Republicans who want his job. The holiday to pay tribute to American workers traditionally marks the start of the general election campaign. And although 15 months remain before the 2012 election, you’ll find the 2012 White House hopefuls on the road Monday hoping to score points with voters.
Democrat Obama travels to Detroit on Labor Day to talk about how to create jobs and strengthen the economy, the White House said. With U.S. unemployment steady at 9.1 percent, Reuters’ Jeff Mason writes Obama’s on the spot to boost hiring and economic growth as he campaigns for a second term in the White House.
Obama also spoke in Detroit on Labor Day 2008 as his general election race heated up against Republican presidential rival Senator John McCain.
McCain’s vice presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, is not a declared candidate, but the whole world is waiting to find out whether she’ll join the the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
The former Alaska governor is the headliner at a Tea Party Express rally in Manchester, New Hampshire on Monday. Will she use her Labor Day speech to end the suspense over her intentions? Palin has indicated she’ll make a decision sometime this month. ABC News analyst Rick Klein poses the question: when Palin’s decision finally comes will she still be relevant?
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney was greeted by a small group of Tea Party protesters at a pre-Labor day rally Sunday in Concord, New Hampshire. There was a bit of an intraparty battle over whether Romney should be invited to speak at all. Some Tea party activists who do not want him to win the Republican presidential nomination have launched an “anyone-but-Romney campaign,” The Washington Post reports. That includes the protest in New Hampshire, home of the first-in-the-nation-primary election.
Republican front-runner Rick Perry, favored by many Tea Party supporters, is concentrating his Labor Day efforts in South Carolina, another early and important primary state. The Texas governor has a town hall meeting in the morning before joining fellow Republican contenders at Senator Jim DeMint’s Palmetto Freedom Forum.
Well, “Sensibility,” if you look at the decline of the middle class in America, it parallels the decline of unions. If you think that’s success, it is you who is on the wrong side of history.
Tea party boosts Perry to top of GOP polls
Texas Governor Rick Perry has vaulted into the lead among Republicans vying for the nomination to oppose President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election bid, according to several new polls. And he may have the Tea Party to thank for it.
A CNN/ORC International poll released Monday showed Perry strongly favored by Republicans and independent voters who lean Republican. Among the declared candidates, Perry has 32 percent support, followed by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney at 18 percent, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann at 12 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 7 percent, Texas Congressman Ron Paul at 6 percent and the rest of the field in the low single digits.
This could reflect shifting allegiances among Tea Party supporters, according to Gallup, which released its own poll last week also showing that Perry had replaced Romney as the early front-runner.
Gallup said Perry leads by 21 percentage points over Romney and Bachmann, his closest contenders, although Perry and Romney are essentially tied among survey respondents who do not support the Tea Party.
“Perry has immediately become the preferred Republican nomination candidate of Tea Party movement supporters and, by extension, those who view government spending and power as the most important issue. He also demonstrates strong appeal to moral values voters, and is competitive with Romney among Republicans rating business and the economy as the most important issue,” Gallup said.
In July, 29 percent of Tea Partiers said Romney was their top choice, and 23 percent picked Bachmann.
Chris Cillizza, who writes The Washington Post’s “The Fix” blog, said the Gallup data suggest that the Tea Party has considerable power within the Republican party.
nieldevi (post above) obviously has no idea who Perry really is other than what FOX has told him. Perry is just another NEOCON/Globalist shill. Go Look at his real history.
The only candidate that tells the truth is Ron Paul – But the media wont tell you that.
Follow the Money – Who Owns and Controls the Media – Wake Up People.
Romney targeted over plans for growth — of his house
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who has criticized President Barack Obama for taking a nine-day vacation at a time of high unemployment, filed for permits to almost quadruple the size of his oceanfront home in La Jolla, California.
The former Massachusetts governor and his wife bought the house three years ago for $12 million. They want to knock down the one-story, 3,009-square-foot home overlooking the Pacific Ocean and replace it with an 11,062-square foot place in its stead, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.
Romney says he needs a bigger place to have room for his five sons, their wives and his 16 grandchildren. The Union Tribune said the plans would keep the house’s existing pool and spa.
Romney has fought a reputation as being somewhat out of touch, an impression that will not be enhanced by undertaking a massive renovation while campaigning for president. The super-rich candidate raised eyebrows earlier this month when he told a heckler in Iowa that “Corporations are people, my friend,” and a remark in June to unemployed workers in Florida that he was “also unemployed” fell flat and was jeered by the Democrats.
Critics have seized on the project to scoff at Romney. Jess Durfee, chairman of the San Diego County Democratic Party, used the house project to joke about Romney’s residency. “Let’s hope he hires a contractor that provides union-equivalent wages and helps to stimulate the local economy,” Durfee told the Union Tribune. “He also could register to vote here and help out the Republicans, whose numbers are dwindling.”
The magazine Vanity Fair published a tongue-in-cheek list of things that could fit into Romney’s new house, including “the world’s largest whale,” “the top-of-the-line luxury spa at the Trump International Hotel & Tower Las Vegas” and “the Memphis-area Enterprise-Rent-A-Car facility.”
Romney, at least, is likely to know how many houses he owns – three. He has a townhouse in the Boston area and a lakefront home in New Hampshire in addition to the La Jolla property. John McCain, who defeated Romney in the 2008 Republican nomination race, famously told a reporter that he was not sure how many homes he had. The Arizona senator owned as many as eight, according to news reports, which helped Obama’s Democrats paint the Republican as being out of touch with typical Americans and living an outrageously rich lifestyle.
Republicans warm up in Iowa debate
Things got a little heated between Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty during the Republican debate in Ames, Iowa.
Early on in the two-hour debate, the former Minnesota governor tried to knock the Minnesota congresswoman down a peg, saying her record of accomplishment and results “is nonexistent.”
Bachmann took aim at his record as governor, blasting his support for a cap and trade environmental plan and individual mandates in healthcare. “That sounds more like Barack Obama if you ask me,” she said.
Pawlenty came back with: “She led the effort against ObamaCare, we got ObamaCare. She led the effort against TARP, we got TARP. She said she’s got a titanium spine. It’s not her spine we’re worried about, it’s her record of results.”
At one point during an exchange between the two Minnesota rivals former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who spent a lot of time campaigning in Iowa ahead of the debate, jokingly demanded some attention.
“I told you when I traveled around Iowa, you would see me in your city, in your hometown, but you probably wouldn’t see much of me on television. So it’s totally true tonight,” Santorum said when he finally got a chance to be heard.
Five other Republicans chasing the party’s 2012 presidential nomination were on stage Thursday night hoping to show they’re up to the challenge of battling Democrat Barack Obama in the general election.
@CCCHUCK3 — Can you name one issue — ONE — on which Ron Paul has done a Romney-flip? In the past thirty years? I’ll give you a hint: there’s only one. He used to favor the death penalty, but after learning that the rate of false convictions is about 90% (based on a study analyzing DNA evidence for long-convicted murderers) he now opposes it. This is called “integrity.” It’s rare in politicians, but to be treasured.
Mitt Romney launches 2012 presidential campaign
It was supposed to be Mitt Romney’s day in New Hampshire, but the presidential hopeful ended up sharing the spotlight with a potential rival.
Sarah Palin’s “One Nation” family bus tour just happened to roll into the Granite State on Thursday — the same day as Romney’s big announcement. The former Alaska governor says the timing of her arrival was just a coincidence.
Romney formally tossed his hat into the ring to compete for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination under clear blues skies at a New Hampshire farm. The main event was an informal cook-out where the candidate served up chili and charges that “Barack Obama has failed America.” The former Massachusetts governor blamed the Democratic president for high unemployment, home foreclosures and other economic woes, highlighting Obama’s main weakness.
The early frontrunner in a Republican field seen as weak, Romney has some vulnerabilities including his own version of health care reform.
Shortly before Romney launched his second bid for the White House, Palin weighed in saying he’d be a great candidate and then she brought up his health care problem.
“In my opinion, any mandate coming from government is not a good thing, so obviously … there will be more the explanation coming from former governor, Romney, on his support for government mandates,” Palin said during a stop in Boston, on the way to New Hampshire.
As governor, Romney signed a measure that expanded health coverage in Massachusetts through a system of subsidies and mandates – a model for the Obama health care overhaul despised by many Republican voters. Romney has defended the state law while attacking the federal version.
Washington Extra – T-Paw power
Right off the starting line, Republican Tim Pawlenty is fashioning himself as the Chevy of presidential candidates. “We will not be the money champion in the race to start with. My friend, Mitt Romney, will be the front-runner in that regard,” he told NBC’s Today show. His nomination bid, he added, “may not be the BMW or the Mercedes campaign.”
Sounds like T-Paw is calling Mitt a Mercedes. But what Pawlenty isn’t saying is that he is running the Cadillac of campaigns in Iowa. The former Minnesota governor has put more troops on the ground in that early voting state than any of the other candidates combined, according to the Iowa Republican website.
A political scientist in his native Minnesota called it a big and costly operation, “a Napoleonic army sort of thing.” With potent paychecks, Pawlenty has drawn in some of Iowa’s best campaign talent.
Yes, he may be putting all his eggs in one basket in Iowa, but he probably needs to. Romney is likely to do well in the other main early voting state New Hampshire, next door to his Massachusetts. And that means Pawlenty needs Iowa to stay in the race. If there was ever a time for T-Paw to spend lavishly, this is probably it.
Here are our top stories from Washington…
Republicans — still looking for a 2012 savior?
So Pawlenty went from being a Buick to a Chevy in front of the crowd of a dozen onlookers. He was against the GM bail out so one would think that he was a Corolla or a VW bug.
The Republicans may be looking for a savior but Arnold the Inseminator is not available as he is busy in a divorce settlement and couldn’t take the time to arrange for the birthers to forge a birth certificate for him saying that he was born in Kansas.
Who’s afraid of Mitt and T-Paw…
It turns out that Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are the scariest pair of presidential prospects in the GOP field today, judging from a new Democratic ad and remarks by some Democratic Party hierophants.
Priorities USA Action, a political group founded by two former aides to President Barack Obama, targets Romney as a flip-flopper in a South Carolina TV ad that wields Republican Paul Ryan’s Medicare reforms like a political cudgel.
The 30-second black-and-white spot begins with Newt Gingrich’s “Meet the Press” remarks opposing what he called radical right-wing social engineering on Medicare. The ad then recounts Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s defense of Ryan before turning finally to Romney: “Mitt Romney says he’s ‘on the same page’ as Paul Ryan … but with Mitt Romney, you have to wonder: which page is he on today?”
The New York Times says the ad will run this weekend while Romney visits South Carolina.
Pundits view the ad as evidence that Democrats have locked on Romney as the GOP frontrunner, at least for now.
Ed Rendell, a leading Democrat who served as Pennsylvania governor and DNC chairman, put it this way on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”: “What really is instructive here is that this group’s trying to knock out Mitt Romney in the primaries. We don’t want to face Mitt Romney. A Romney-Pawlenty ticket is the most credible general election ticket.”
A monster twosome, perhaps. But that doesn’t mean top Republicans aren’t still baying at the doorsteps of Mitch Daniels and Chris Christie in hopes that one or both will take the plunge.
Glad to see serious (though flawed) GOPers running. The more Palin, Trump and Newt just muddy the waters.
I’m not sure which depresses me more. Is it the fact that this group is representing the republican party or the people who are hooting and hollering in the audience. Ron Paul was trying to make an argument that our past in the middle east contributed to the raise of terrorism terrorism. To anyone that knows our history there, it is a true statement. It was met with boos. Of course none of the folks that the right courts now would know anything about history. These gatherings remind me of a audience at a rock concert where the lead singer shouts ‘Glad to be in my Favorite town of TEABAG’ and the crowd roars.