Why Paranoia is Stupid

Guess Who's Going to CPAC?!

That's right, it's ME! I received my confirmation email from ACU today, and am now an official, credentialed blogger for CPAC 2012. I'll be frantically posting at any possible moment during the event, and hopefully getting a few good interviews in. Remember, CPAC is February 9-11.

SANTORUM: Suck on That, Nancy Pelosi

Weird? Rick Santorum is weird because of his stance on life? Oh no. Santorum isn't weird. The weird ones are those, like Nancy Pelosi, who not only advocate but celebrate the wholesale slaughter of little Bellas and call it "women's health." I dare you to watch this and not tear up. Regardless of how you feel about Santorum as a presidential candidate, this is a man and a family you should be supporting.

h/t Pundette

2012: Is Romney Back at the Helm?

Although Newt may have crushed Romney in South Carolina, it's appearing less and less likely he will do the same in Florida. In fact, it's appearing less and less likely he will do the same anywhere. According to RCP, these are the latest numbers out of the Sunshine State:

There are precious few states in February that are currently polling for Gingrich, and a loss in Florida will do nothing to help the Man Who Sits on Children For Fun presidential candidate. His lead in Florida coming out of the South Carolina win was miserably short, and two mediocre at best debate performances since then may be showing some cracks in the Gingrich Inevitability Wall. Attempts to nail the "mainstream media," a move that garnered Gingrich attention and acclaim in earlier debates, fell flat as they just seemed rehearsed, rehashed, and frankly, yawn-inducing. It's as if the audience was saying "Yes, we've heard this all before, now what do you have that's new?"

This is by no means a sure sign of the Gingrish demise, but I think it's a step in that direction. Newt's attacks on Reagan, among other things recently surfacing about the flash-in-the-pan frontrunner, make conservatives uneasy, even if an impressive list of ring-kissers have lined up to plant the lipstick on Gingrich's oversized...

Gingrich had a nice little uptick, and it was funny to see him claim frontrunner status, but it's not going to last, and we're going to be right back to Romney's "inevitability."

With Paul being Paul, the real question is if voters will turn to Santorum as a last minute savior. But things need to shake out with money and especially with his daughter, who is in the hospital at the moment, for him to capitalize on Gingrich's weaknesses. UPDATE: Santorum's daughter is "improving." She had pneumonia in both lungs, but is now off a ventilator. He wasn't able to seize onto his Iowa win, sadly, but maybe he can engineer some momentum off of those.

PELOSI: Thanks for Reminding Me Why I Hate You

Well hallelujah! Nancy Pelosi has swooped in to remind us that, yes, the federal government will indeed be forcing healthcare providers to violate their consciences. Deposed Princess Nancy took time out of her busy schedule this week to cackle over celebrate the anniversary of the right to murder helpless infants women's reproductive rights. From an email she sends out to those dumb enough to subscribe to her (like me):

This past week we observed the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. As I have for nearly 25 years in Congress, I will continue to work on behalf of reproductive freedoms and a comprehensive approach to reproductive health care, which will reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, at home and around the world. Unfortunately, this Congress has been marked by the relentless efforts of House Republicans to undermine the right to choose. Time after time, they have voted in favor of legislation that reduces a woman’s access to legal reproductive health services,chipping away at freedoms that were hard-won for American women. We must continue to protect the right to choose; ensuring that every woman has the right to decide what is best for herself and her family.

A provision in the historic Affordable Care Act requires most health insurance plans to cover preventive services for women without charging a co-pay, co-insurance or a deductible. This past week the Obama Administration announced its final policy for implementing this provision in August which includes contraceptive services. I strongly support this action to expand access to fundamental, basic health care and will continue to fight to protect the benefits of health care reform for the American people.

Yet another reason Obamacare's gotta go, and Pelosi too.

PRAY!

Rick Santorum has cancelled all campaign events in Florida for today after his three year old daughter, Bella, has been admitted to the hospital. Bella was born with trisomy 18, a genetic disorder, and wasn't expectedd to live past her first birthday. The campaign said she was seriously ill.

POTUS: Obama Don't Play Nice

 

Drudge has the story of Obama meeting Jan Brewer, who his Justice Department has been going after for some time now:

He stepped off Air Force One at 3:28 pm and was greeted by Gov. Jan Brewer. She handed him a handwritten letter in an envelope and they spoke intensely for a few minutes. At one point, she pointed her finger at him.

Afterwards, your pooler spoke with the governor.

"He was a little disturbed about my book, Scorpions for Breakfast. I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president. The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read the excerpt. So."

Asked what aspect of the book disturbed him, Brewer said: "That he didn't feel that I had treated him cordially. I said I was sorry he felt that way but I didn't get my sentence finished. Anyway, we're glad he's here. I'll regroup."

 What kind of self-absorbed loser makes that the first thing he brings up when visiting a state as the President? I didn't know it was possible to have skin that thin. Gosh, you'd think he would have refused to shake hands, or maybe pout and never get off the plane until the meanie governor took back her meanie words.

The White House's account varies, but not much.

The governor handed the President a letter and said she was inviting him to meet with her. The President said he'd be glad to meet with her again, but did note that after their last meeting, a cordial discussion in the Oval Office, the governor inaccurately described the meeting in her book. The President looks forward to continuing taking steps to help Arizona's economy grow.

 This isn't the first time Obama has acted like a petty junior high girl when interacting with someone who has called him out publicly in his or her writings. Bobby Jindal talks about first meeting Obama when the President visited Louisiana after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

I was expecting words of concern about the oil spill, worry about the pending ecological disaster, and words of confidence about how the federal government was here to help. Or perhaps he was going to vent about BP’s slow response. But no, the president was upset about something else. And he wanted to talk about, well, food stamps. Actually, he wanted to talk about a letter that my administration had sent to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack a day earlier.

The letter was rudimentary, bureaucratic, and ordinary. .  .  . We were simply asking the federal government to authorize food stamps for those who were now unemployed because of the oil spill. Governors regularly make these sorts of requests to the federal government when facing disaster.

But somehow, for some reason, President Obama had personalized this. And he was upset.

There was not a word about the oil spill. He was concerned about looking bad because of the letter. “Careful,” he said to me, “this is going to get bad for everyone.”

The President is supposed to be above all of that. Bush certainly was, for the most part. As head of a free country, the President has to understand he's going to be criticized, but as head of the country he must be able to get along with other leaders no matter what they say about him.

Apparently Obama's ego won't let him.

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CLINTON: What's Her Game?

Hillary Clinton announced she will not be staying on as Secretary of State if Obama wins reelection. Clinton told State Department staffers she wanted to step off the "high wire of American politics."

"I have made it clear that I will certainly stay on until the president nominates someone and that transition can occur" if Obama wins re-election, she told a town hall meeting. "But I think after 20 years, and it will be 20 years, of being on the high wire of American politics and all of the challenges that come with that, it would be probably a good idea to just find out how tired I am."

What is Sneaky Hillary up to? She told Wolf Blitzer in March of last year she wasn't interested in running for president, and she was quite frank about it.

Q- If the president is reelected, do you want to serve a second term as secretary of state?

No

Q- Would you like to serve as secretary of defense?

No

Q- Would you like to be vice president of the United States?

No

Q- Would you like to be president of the United States?

No

Q- Why not?

Because I have the best job I could ever have. This is a moment in history where it is almost hard to catch your breath. There are both the tragedies and disasters that we have seen from Haiti to Japan and there are the extraordinary opportunities and challenges that we see right here in Egypt and in the rest of the region. So I want to be part of helping to represent the United States at this critical moment in time, to do everything I can in support of the president and our government and the people of our country to stand for our values and our ideals, to stand up for our security, which has to remain first and foremost in my mind and to advance America's interests. And there isn't anything that I can imagine doing after this that would be as demanding, as challenging or rewarding.

Q- President of the United States?

You know, I had a wonderful experience running and I am very proud of the support I had and very grateful for the opportunity, but I'm going to be, you know, moving on.

Q- I asked my viewers and followers on Twitter to send questions and a lot of them said, "Ask her if she'll run in 2016 for the presidency." A lot of folks would like to you to do that.

Well that's very kind, but I am doing what I want to do right now and I have no intention or any idea even of running again. I'm going to do the best I can at this job for the next two years.

I'm not sure whether to believe her or not. Part of me thinks she really is done with American politics for now and will turn to grooming her daughter to become the next Clinton star. But the suspicious side of me remains skeptical that Clinton would actually walk away from the presidency by choice. After all, she left the option open in her latest speech, albeit jokingly.

But, she appeared to leave the door open for a possible eventual return, adding to laughter from the crowd that "everyone always says that when they leave these jobs."

For what it's worth, I think she's done, but I won't be too shocked if she decides to come back in 2016, especially if Obama fails to win reelection. She can claim she was prepping to jump a doomed ship, but doing the honorable thing and making sure the country transitioned smoothly from one Secretary of State to another.

But with the Clintons, you never know.

POTUS: Shameless Campaigning

As you can see below, I started livebloging the debate before I got absolutely disgusted with the whole thing. I don't think I've ever seen such a shameless display of condescending campaigning and blathering.

SOTFU Liveblog

9:21 Thus far Obama has admitted to singlehandedly winning the War on Terror and saving the auto industry. What next?

9:16 American Dream blah blah blah

9:09 STOP CLAPPING!

9:08 He's late, but here we go.

2012: Newt--The Comeback

I know this post is late, but, oh well. March For Life stories later today.

This was the guy we were all mocking back when he went on a cruise rather than campaign. And now he takes South Carolina with 40 percent of the vote? Geez.

The only way this makes any sense is that possibly, just possibly, Newt crawled out from his cave between two rocks, sat in the hot sun, started doing pushups, and finally got his blood warmed up. He was a great debater, but he was absolutely atrocious on the ground.

No more.

But that doesn't mean I like him any better. The news coming out about his former marriage, while, granted, coming from a bitter ex, don't make me trust him any more than I already didn't. And as my girlfriend says, he looks like the kind of man who would sit on children and squash them for fun. Heck, he looks like the kind of man who would squash children if he sat on them.

Santorum got lucky this time. He escaped the clutches of irrelevance, but just barely. If he had finished behind Paul, I would have written him off as absolutely done.

So now we have three primaries, and no clear winner. Romney's frontrunner status is all but gone.

Brokered convention? It makes me giddy to think about it...

NEWSFLASH: Santorum Won Iowa but Party Is Not Too Sure

On the heels of this embarassing release that could harm the evangelical candidate's career:

The news comes that Santorum may have actually won Iowa by 34 votes The final counts? Rick Santorum: 29,839. Mitt Romney: 29,805. But the Des Moines Register says it's trickier than declaring a clear winner.

GOP officials discovered inaccuracies in 131 precincts, although not all the changes affected the two leaders. Changes in one precinct alone shifted the vote by 50 — a margin greater than the certified tally.

 The result:

“When I called Governor (Terry) Branstad to update him (Tuesday) night before I went to bed, I told him I could not tell him who was going to come out on top of the certified results,” GOP Chairman Matt Strawn told the Register Wednesday morning.

“Despite what had been in the media, it really was, even the night before the deadline, it really was too close to call,” he said.

 Officially, Iowa is calling the result a "split decision," which does more to harm Romney's sheen of inevitability than anything else. This could be a big boost for Santorum if he uses it right.

2012: So Long, Sucker

For those of you insane enough to be reading Modicum of Insanity back when it was LFAYA, you know I was rather estatic when Perry entered the race.

Then he actually started campaigning. It was a trainwreck. An atrocious disaster rivaled only by the Herman Cain implosion.

And how he's gone. And guess who he's endorsing?

"I have come to the conclusion that there is no viable path forward for me in the 2012 campaign," Perry said at a press conference in North Charleston, South Carolina. "I know when it's time to make a strategic retreat."

Perry said the 2012 campaign has "never been about the candidates" but about defeating President Obama and replacing him "with a conservative leader who will bring about real change." He called Gingrich "a conservative visionary who can transform our country."

NEWT?! Really? I expected more from the governor of the Lone Star State than shameless pandering and positioning.

FOOTBALL: Tom Coughlin Amuses Me

Mostly because this:

Reminds me of this:



If you don't get it, you're too young. If you do get it, congratulations--you've just been dated!

Toddler Cussing? I Think We Have a Bigger Problem

ABC is under fire for an episode of their popular show Modern Family airing this week. The episode features a toddler "appearing to utter" a bleeped-out swear word, as part of a storyline about parents dealing with their child learning their first swear word. Apparently, the kid used the word "fudge" during filming, but it doesn't make a difference to some people.

"Our main goal is to stop this from happening," said McKay Hatch, an 18-year-old college student who founded the No Cussing Club in 2007. "If we don't, at least ABC knows that people all over the world don't want to have a 2-year-old saying the 'F-bomb' on TV."

The Yahoo! article elaborates.

In the episode titled "Little Bo Bleep" airing 9 p.m. EST Wednesday, 2-year-old Lily shocks parents Mitchell and Cameron (Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet) with her first expletive.

The dads, who are preparing Lily to serve as flower girl in a wedding, now have an added parenting challenge.

 Uh, guys, I think we have a larger problem here. In a show conditioning millions of viewers to become comfortable with a gay couple, I think an innocuous episode about a child learning her first swear word (which is a situation every parent has to deal with) is the least of our worries.

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Four Down...

Huntsman is gone.

Responding to a general feeling among grassroots conservatives that the infighting will eventually help the Democrats get Obama re-elected in November, Huntsman said: "At its core, the Republican party is a party of ideas. But the current toxic form of our political discourse does not help our cause. Today I call on each campaign to cease attacking each other."

 Well hurray. One more absolute tool drops out. Huntsman was a good guy, but in dropping out and throwing his pathetic mediocre modest support to Romney, he lost most of my respect. Let's hope his support doesn't go to Lord Slick Hair.

You Disgust Me

Yes. I know. Tim Tebow lost. It's a shame, but it was to be expected. Last week was magic, and it rarely strikes twice.

Nevertheless, I think Tebow has proven himself to be a good quarterback--though still young--and Denver would do well to hang onto him.

But something has arisen in this past week that is disturbing: Christians who root for the demise of Tim Tebow.

They have many reasons: They say the hype around him amounts to some form of idolatry, they say he's not as good of a quarterback as people claim he is, they say fans of Tim Tebow are a good argument for atheism.

And they rejoice gleefully when the Broncos fall to the Patriots. Loudly. With shouts of "I told you so"'s and whatnot on their lips, they dance about the internets rejoicing that finally, that sanctimonious jerk is gone.

You know what? You disgust me. All of you.

Once upon a time, Christians supported each other. A godly leader was respected, championed, and rooted for by other believers because they knew not only was he a good role model for themselves and their children, he was a witness of the saving grace of Jesus Christ to a lost and broken world.

Yes, Tim Tebow passed for 316 yards, for an average of 31.6 yards per pass. But he didn't do it on purpose. And it wasn't Christians who first pointed out the bizarre stats--it was the secular media, who did full-on stories about it. Suddenly, John 3:16 was the number one search on both Google and Yahoo!

And rather than use this perfect opportunity to witness, Christians went on a mission to argue that God does not care about the outcome of football games, and anyone who insists otherwise is not only a bearer of faulty theology, he's a total moron.

If you think about it, it was the perfect opportunity to spark conversations with a family member, a neighbor, a friend, or even a complete stranger at a coffee shop, about the Gospel and what John 3:16 means. Sports has a way of uniting us, and even people who didn't watch the game found out about the clean-cut young man who bows on one knee in prayer in a season of over-the-top, showboat touchdown dances and victory celebration.

Have we really become that cynical, that we think an excellent role model and opportunity for witnessing can't really the man he appears he is through the way he lives his life? That we would rather argue stupid theology that doesn't save a single soul rather than share the gospel with a needy world? That when Focus on the Family runs an ad sharing the message of John 3:16, we roll our eyes and scoff?

Who cares whether or not God can or cannot (or does or does not) influence the outcome of a football game? What one iota of difference does that make in saving souls? You can argue Problem of Evil crap and write haughty, sarcastic drivel all you want, but what you are doing is rubbish.

There was a group of people like this once. They were called Pharisees. And before you jump all over me for "comparing Tebow to Christ," they persecuted the early Christians as well. They stoned Stephen because they were afraid they wouldn't look superior.
Those of you busy scoffing at a faithful young man of God--who is also your brother in Christ--should really take a moment and realize what you're doing. Yes, you can laugh at the pathetic performance of the Broncos, as I did, in a "Gosh this is hurting" laugh, but mocking Tebow, or even mocking those who support Tebow? Come on, the Church is supposed to be better than that.

Maybe We Think You're Weird

Stacy McCain has for a while now been pointing out how the liberal media is attempting to paint conservative candidates as "weird." This is just the latest example.

Check out RCP for the video on this one.

MSNBC's Alex Wagner is caught muttering "Jesus" under her breath as a clip of Rick Santorum talking about classes in America plays.

"There's a term I know that people use all the time called 'middle class.' As if there are classes in America," Santorum said.

"Oh, Jesus," Wagner said as the candidate was talking.

"Populism finds its way into the Republican race. Rhetoric and -- [laughs] I totally just read that wrong," Wagner said after the clip of Santorum was finished playing.

New Podcast!

Check out my latest thoughts on current events.

From the "I'm Entitled and I Know It" File...

Meet Cait Reilly.



She's a 22 year old Brit with a degree in geology. She graduated from Birmingham University in July, and has been "looking for work" in the form of volunteering at a museum in the hopes it would get her a job in the field.

Oh, and while she's working for free for a museum, she's claiming unemployment--a £53.45-a-week Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA).

And now she's biting the hand the feeds her.

Yes, the poor, oppressed Reilly is suing the government. See, the evil government made her work! Reilly lost her "job" at the museum because, in order to keep her JSA, she was "made" to work in the equivilent of a dollar store for free for two weeks. From the Daily Mail:

Lawyers for the graduate are seeking a judicial review into Department for Work and Pensions rules that compel unemployed people to take unpaid work.

They say the scheme, part of the Coalition’s Work Programme to break the cycle of benefit dependency, amounts to ‘forced labour’ and is against the Human Rights Act.

The only thing more laughable about this story is the way the Daily Mail covered it.

But Miss Reilly said: ‘I was actually doing something that was helping me work towards a job and was taken away from that to do something of no value to me. It was very frustrating.’

The graduate was sucked into the scheme after attending a retail jobs ‘open day’ in the autumn at the suggestion of her Jobcentre Plus adviser, who said it would lead to a period of training and a job interview.

Miss Reilly and other candidates were sent to an employment skills training workshop for a week, aimed at improving attributes such as communication skills, followed by the five-hour-a-day stint at Poundland near Miss Reilly’s home in King’s Heath, Birmingham, in November.

She and five other claimants spent their time on the placement sweeping up and stacking and cleaning shelves, before they had to attend a final week of training under the ‘sector-based work academy’ scheme (SBWA). The promised job interview never materialised.

The SBWA scheme is supposed to offer the young unemployed a direct route off benefits and into work.

Oh the agony! The poor girl was forced to work. And lest you think Miss Reilly lost her volunteer position at the museum, the article tells us further on:

She has now returned to her voluntary role at the city’s Pen Room Museum of writing and pen trade memorabilia, still looking for paid employment.

 So to summarize kids, Reilly is suing the government because they gave her free job training and $81.91 a week since July (that's around $2000 to date) in exhange for a week of work at Poundland.

Now, I might be crazy, but I thought working at Poundland was the way people usually started out. Young people wait tables, flip burgers, work retail, etc, while working their contacts and building experience before they get a job in their desired field. Since when did it become a right to get a job in 12th century english poetry straight out of college?

Youth unemployment is a huge problem in the UK. At least Employment minister Chris Grayling has a good head on his shoulders.

Latest figures show there are now more than one million young people not in employment, education or training – so-called Neets. Employment minister Chris Grayling said: ‘We think it’s really important to provide young people with the opportunity to get into workplaces and show what they can do.

‘It’s a nonsense to suggest we should just be leaving them on benefits without making a real effort to find work. Retail offers really good career opportunities for many young people.’

Poundland said it had a ‘positive experience’ of the work placement programme which was ‘designed to provide on-the-job training for those looking to retail as a career opportunity’.

The future of our civilization terrifies me.

Resistance is Futile

In the wake of Ron Paul's "historic" second-place finish in New Hampshire (has anyone told him yet he doesn't actually get any delegates if he doesn't place first?), the Paul campaign issued this press release.

The race is becoming more clearly a two-man race between establishment candidate Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, the candidate of authentic change. That means there is only one true conservative choice.

Ron Paul has won more votes in Iowa and New Hampshire than any candidate but Mitt Romney.

“Ron Paul and Mitt Romney have been shown in national polls to be the only two candidates who can defeat Barack Obama.

And Ron Paul and Mitt Romney are the only two candidates who can run a full, national campaign, competing in state after state over the coming weeks and months. Ron Paul’s fundraising numbers — over $13 million this quarter — also prove he will be able to compete with Mitt Romney. No other candidate can do all of these things.

Ron Paul is clearly the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney as the campaign goes forward.

We urge Ron Paul’s opponents who have been unsuccessfully trying to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney to unite by getting out of the race and uniting behind Paul’s candidacy.

Thanks, John

 

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton told Politico he was pulling for Team Romney.

“I think Gov. Romney is the person who can best lead the party, best articulate our conservative principles and is most likely to beat Barack Obama,” Bolton told Greta Van Susteren on Fox News.

Poor Newt. And after he promised to make Bolton his Secretary of State if elected. They are--or were, until tonight--close personal friends, too. I guess when it came down to it, Bolton decided to go with a possible winner over Captain Has-Been.

This is also a good time to point out an interesting fact about politics: once someone is declared a "winner," people set out to make him one. Mitt Romney I'm sure is not John Bolton's dream choice, but he, I'm sure, has bought into the idea that Mitt is a "winner," so Bolton went with him. It's anothe facet of the "inevitibility" complex that conservatives are plagued with.

FD HIDDEN DIV

FD HIDDEN DIV

Malkin: McCain and Romney in the GOP Frenemies Club

Since McCain endorsed Romney (did we really expect him to do otherwise?) the two of them have been working somewhat closely together. The sight, according to conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, is quite nauseating.

When they’re together, they look like they’re holding each other (and the rest of us) hostage. Their toxic chemistry makes seething, ex-newlyweds Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries look like Fred and Ginger. In New Hampshire last week after Romney’s Iowa caucus squeaker, an overly giddy McCain mocked his endorsee for his “landslide victory.” Awkward.

 She's right, but the sight is to be expected. Two RINOs palling around is nothing to be surprised about, but the two haven't always gotten along. While candidates may have lined up to bash Romney for his tenure at Bain Capital this go 'round, it was McCain last time.

McCain set the stage for the suicidal anti-capitalist rhetoric now polluting the GOP primary. Four years ago this month during a GOP primary debate held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, it was McCain up on stage denigrating Romney’s private-sector experience. Asked whether he thought Romney’s record as CEO made him qualified to lead, McCain snarked: “I know how to lead. I led the largest squadron in the United States Navy. And I did it out of patriotism, not for profit.”

In fact, the fight between McCain and Romney got rather ugly, so while it's not surprising McCain is now trying to get behind someone who both holds his values and stands a decent chance of winning for a change, it's a more than a little unsettling.

Symbiosis

If you haven't noticed by now, I'm an Amazon affiliate. That means when you access Amazon through my links on my website, I get a percentage of any of your orders you make. Thus, in an effort to increase our symbiotic relationship between reader and writer, I have now included both the Symbiosis sidebar--a widget where you can search Amazon's amazing catalog without even leaving MOI--and the Deal of the Century!  widget--where you can see the deals Amazon is offering for the day.

So basically, you help me out simply by shopping the way you normally would, and I help you out by showing you deals and my personal recommendations. Capiche?

D-Day Draws Ever Nearer

Romney has officially grabbed New Hampshire, putting two states firmly in his grasp and "cementing him as frontrunner," according to a FOX news article.

In New Hampshire, Ron Paul finished in second and Jon Huntsman finished in third. Rick Perry finished in sixth place. Any remaining drama in the state was shaping up to be a race for fourth, between Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. Both candidates were pulling in 10 percent of the vote.

With 81 percent of precincts reporting, Romney was leading with 38 percent of the vote. Paul has 23 percent and Huntsman has 17 percent.

Romney's victory was apparent almost from the moment polls closed on Tuesday, and the frontrunning candidate addressed a jubilant and rowdy crowd in Manchester. The audience frequently broke out into cheers and chants of "Mitt! Mitt! Mitt!" as the candidate vowed to take the fight into South Carolina, whose contest is Saturday, Jan. 21.

This bodes nothing but ill. It's only a matter of time before the Romney train gains enough speed that he becomes unstoppable. Unless Republican candidates start stepping aside and forming a coalition around the one candidate they think has a chance of beating both Romney and Obama, there's little chance of catching the man with the slick hairdo.

Interestingly enough, the Santorum Iowa bump hardly showed itself in New Hampshire. In addition, Huntsman, who basically moved into the state, wasn't able to walk away the victory he was betting on. It will be interesting to watch the fallout from this one, and see if anone drops.

Sadly, I sense a coalition won't be happening anytime soon.

Couldn't Agree More, Mr. Santorum

Santorum encapsulated everything I feel about Ron Paul in this quote from the Facebook debate this morning.

"The problem with Congressman Paul is that all the things Republicans like about him he can't accomplish, and all the things they don't want him to do, he can do day one."

Welcome to the Jungle, Kids

Well, it was only a matter of time. The Hipstercons have formed up, and can be found here. Well, actually, they can't. They prefer hiding under "pseudononymous" identities of politicians and thinkers they can only dream of being equal to rather than standing by their opinions, which is about as courageous as a little boy playing ding-dong ditch in a halloween costume.

From their innaugural essay, "The Hipster Conservative: An Introduction":

Hipsters are obsessed with authenticity; hipsters express themselves through ironic detachment; hipsters prize aesthetics over ethics. We can learn from all three of these attributes, and a conservatism that in some ways emulates each of them will be a better conservatism.

 Well hallelujah. Let's all just line up and happily--or wait, happily isn't allowed because we're supposed to be ironically detached--jump onboard the hipster train.

Or not.

See, last I checked, the people obsessed with authenticity are liberals, while conservatives are supposed to be the guards protecting tradition and millinea-old value. And I thought ethics were a good thing.

But read the essay. Because, surprise surprise, none of these words really mean what you think they mean.

And it all winds up with this glowing example of biblical charity and humility.

In that spirit of honesty, here are a few words about our aesthetic disposition as hipster conservatives. We are arrogant. We are pretentious. We are cynical. We believe, perhaps as a matter of faith or intuition, that there are things in this world which are worth being arrogant about, which are worth pretending to, and the absence of which is just cause for cynicism. Maybe we think we’re better than you; maybe we are better than you; maybe you can be better than you, too. We stand athwart history yelling “stop,” not just because history is moving in the wrong direction (it is), but mostly because, honestly, we really enjoy yelling “stop.”

I was just planning on ignoring them (hoping they would go away because, after all, blogging is just way too mainstream) until they posted a "You asked for it" comment on my 9/11 haters article earlier. So bring it, hipsters. We'll probably agree on a lot of things. We'll probably disagree on even more things. I look forward to sharpening my skills on you. Welcome to the jungle.

Race and the Administration

Victor Davis Hanson wrote an excellent article for PJMedia that is worth your read. The main thrust of the article is (and this is something me and The Unofficial Blog Buddy have been saying for a while) as long as Obama stays out of the spotlight, he shouldn't have any trouble, because Republicans will just tear each other apart.

While the Republicans were tearing each other up in Iowa, to the delight of the liberal media, Barack Obama said not much at all from Hawaii. He did not have to, given that no Republican was offering a simple anti-Obama plan to drill for gas and oil as never before, repeal Obamacare, balance the budget, reform the tax code, and redo Social Security and Medicare. Instead his would-be opponents argued over who voted for what fifteen years ago.

The whole primary scenario reminds me of the scene from The Hobbit where Gandalf sparks a fight between the trolls rather than face them dead on. The trolls fight until the sun comes up and they turn into stone, and Gandalf walks off with nary a scratch.

Hanson thinks the Obama administration will continue to use race accusations as a rallying cray, just as he always has.

Obama in the past lambasted the police and alleged serial racial stereotyping; he called for Latinos to punish shared enemies, and he made a video appealing to voters on the basis of race. Holder called the nation cowards, and referred to blacks as “my people” (imagine John Ashcroft using that tribal term). Justice Sotomayor saw herself as a “wise Latina.” Van Jones had a long history of racist diatribes — though not in league with the president’s own minister. I could go on, but you get the picture: race-based invective from the Obama administration is a cry of the heart in unguarded moments that reflects centuries of oppression; tough talk against the Obama administration is a code for ongoing racist hatred. The formula I guess is supposed to be a winning one: stir up race by false calls of racism and then blast others as racists for noting the new surreal emphasis on race.

The Obama administration has become the textbook case of the "new" race relations. America has gone from a civil rights paradigm, where blacks fought for equality, to a postmodern paradigm. Rather than desiring a colorblind society where men are not judged by their race, Obama and his ilk see a marxist society where everyone belongs in a people group, and that group is either the oppressor or the oppressed.

It's a dangerous mindset, and it's yet another reason why Obama is such a hazard to the United States. 

It's a Trap!

In a move that slipped past most people, even most conservatives, President Barack Obama appointed Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). But he didn't go through the Senate. Instead, Obama used a "recess-appointment" to push Cordray through to his position, despite the fact the Senate is in fact still in session!

How does that work, well, if the Senate is in recess, the president has the power Under Article II, section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution to fill vacancies that occur during that recess. But in the past, presidents have only used this method if the Senate has been in recess for 10-25 days and is likely to remain in recess for even longer.

This method of appointment is supposed to be only for urgent matters that cannot wait until the Senate reconvenes.

But that's not what Obama did. He took advantage of a situation where the Senate has only been meeting every few days rather than go into recess. The Heritage Foundation writes:

The Constitution, in Article I, section 5, plainly states that neither house of Congress can recess for more than three days without the consent of the other house. The House of Representatives did not consent to a Senate recess of more than three days at the end of last year, and so the Senate—consistent with the requirements of the Constitution—is having pro forma sessions every few days. In short, Congress is still in session, and no one in Congress is saying (or can reasonably say) otherwise. It does not matter a wit that most Members of Congress are not in town voting on legislation, because ending a session of Congress requires the passage of a formal resolution, which never occurred.

William Jacobson at LegalInsurrection points out that the Dodd-Frank legislation that created this position specifically requires Senate conformation for anyone to take the post.

Understandibly, Senate Republicans are fuming, and you should be too.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the president "arrogantly circumvented the American people" in his effort to recess-appoint a key nominee and argued the move "fundamentally endangers" Congress's ability to check the "excesses of the executive branch."

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) called the effort an "extraordinary and entirely unprecedented power grab ... [that] would have a devastating effect on the checks and balances that are enshrined in our constitution."

 He also hinted that a legal challenge to the move could be in the works, adding he expects "the courts will find the appointment to be illegitimate."

 Jacobson isn't sure Senate Republicans aren't playing into Obama's hands.

So are the appointments really the issue? In part, yes, but they are just the excuse. Obama’s campaign theme is to run against Congress. What better way to run against Congress than to create a confrontation with Congress?

Republicans in Congress have no choice but to retaliate against this power grab, and that is just what Obama wants. He wants a crisis he can take advantage of, perhaps over the FICA holiday which runs out in February (how smart were the Tea Party congressman for opposing a short term extension?).

This is a dangerous game to be playing. Obama's move is horrendously unconstitutional, and if Republicans do nothing, it sends a dangerous message. But on the other hand, challenging him could result in giving him exactly what he wants: a position where he looks like he is doing the right thing, and Republicans are just out to get him.

Tread carefully.

Innaugural Podcast: Iowa Caucuses!

 Give it a listen, let me know what you think!