“Besides the ignorant things he said, however, Gingrich suggested that the G.O.P. symbol might be an elephant riding on a magic carpet which (if you look closer) proves to be a paycheck; while the Democrat’s symbol would be a Donkey living in a food stamp book teepee. Gingrich also said that it was wrong for Republicans to talk about cutting Medicare since it left them open to being demagogued for the next decade and Medicare had only increased 14% under Obama while the federal side of Medicaid had risen 54% and food stamp costs had risen 60% under Obama, then he cited a food stamp increase from 33 million to 47 million Americans now on food stamp rolls an amazing 39.4% jump” in just two years.
Trump, Huckabee Drop-outs and Ex-Speaker’s
Implosion Puts Romney in Catbird Seat
For 2012 G.O.P. Presidential Nomination
In a dramatic turn of events, the last three days marked climactic upheaval in the ranks of the Republican presidential candidates to replace Barack Obama in the Oval Office starting January, 2013.
ITEM: Mike Huckabee cited “spiritual reasons” for deciding NOT to contest the 2012 primary waters in an announcement made at the end of his Huckabee show on FOXNews channel Saturday. With no effort at all, Huckabee was #2 in the polls among all candidates. This is a huge game-changer among Republican and many other conservative voters.
ITEM: Pressured by his television network, NBC, Donald Trump announced today that he would NOT be running for president either. Trump said “Business is my greatest passion and I’m not ready to leave the private sector.” He also cited all the money that his hit show “Celebrity Apprentice” had been making for charity as a reason NOT to run. Most pundits do NOT believe the Trump announcement changes much in the battle for 2012. Most conservatives believed “The Donald” was moderate or even liberal; and had very little to offer conservative voters. Especially after his recent foul-mouthed tirade, he’d lost a lot of his standing as a potential “statesman.”
ITEM: Only short days after announcing his decision to be a candidate for 2012 -- saying the election was the most important in America since Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860 -- Newt Gingrich seemingly committed political suicide and greatly muddied the waters of the debate on Capitol Hill over raising the national debt ceiling and the Ryan Budget. Gingrich (imitating Joe Biden??) offered not one but two terrific gaffes:
1) He appeared to say that Obamacare was not so bad and that he personally supported something like it.
2) He criticized Paul Ryan’s budget. The Ryan budget which passed in the House with 238 Republican votes, Gingrich said was “radical.” He continued, “I don’t support social-engineering from the right anymore than I support social-engineering from the left.
Unless Gingrich’s ploy will be to run as a Democrat and contest Obama in the primaries, his candidacy can no longer be regarded as valid.
At this early stage these three key recent developments seem to put Mitt Romney in the driver’s seat. He’ll presumably emerge with somewhere between 30-35% of the G.O.P. vote in upcoming polls. He could have a lead of 2 ½ to 1 over his next closest rival presumably Gingrich (who had 15-16% in recent polls but hurt himself recently. Rajjpuut believes that Mitch Daniels, Indiana Governor; Michelle Bachmann, Minnesota Representative; and businessman Herman Cain would benefit even more than Romney will from the three news items mentioned above. The big winner, however, might just be the TEA Party. Let’s look a bit closer at Romney and Gingrich and the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party . . . .
Discussing Romney, DickMorris.com put it this way, “Romney was having a terrible week. His speech on health care was terrible. With Massachusetts up in arms over Romney-care and Republicans dead set against the individual and employer mandate, his failure to repudiate his program would have cost him dearly. But now he is sitting on top of the world.” Much truth there but perhaps a bit too rosy a picture painted for Romney . . . .
Morris later made a personal appearance on the Hannity show on FOXNews and opined that Gingrich had not actually hurt himself, but rather that people just got the out of context version from the mainstream media. NOT HARDLY, Richard! However, in Gingrich’s favor these things must be said.
Besides the ignorant things he mentioned, Gingrich suggested that the G.O.P. symbol might be an elephant riding on a magic carpet which (if you look closer) proves to be a paycheck; while the Democrat’s symbol would be a Donkey living in a food stamp book teepee. Gingrich also said that it was wrong for Republicans to talk about cutting Medicare since it left them open to being demagogued for the next decade and Medicare had only increased 14% under Obama while the federal side of Medicaid had risen 54% and food stamp costs had risen 60% under Obama. Then he cited a food stamp increase from 33 million to 47 million Americans now on food stamp rolls an amazing 39.4% jump in 28 months.
Michelle Bachmann, Morris told Hannity, would benefit because she might get a lot of the social-conservatives favoring Huckabee. Since Bachmann is a TEA Party favorite and the emphasis of the TEAs is on fiscal- and Constitutional-conservativism, that does not compute . . . . Rick Santorum and possibly Sarah Palin would be more likely to gain in Rajjpuut’s not-so-humble opinion, with Bachmann and Herman Cain getting some lift as well.
Morris said that “for Daniels, the withdrawal of Trump opens the way for him to become the main establishment business community rival to Romney. And Huckabee's withdrawal opens the door for conservatives to support him as well.” Morris thought that both Daniels and Bachmann needed to enter the race very soon. Pawlenty, already in the tussle, was another one who Morris said would benefit greatly . . . but he left no doubt that in his view Romney might right now be the presumptive nominee. Rajjpuut believes there’s a huge long way to New Hampshire not to mention the Oval Office and he doubts that Romney will get 30% of the Republican vote in Iowa or 25% in South Carolina. Besides, who knows . . . Chris Christy might just wind up running.
Mitt Romney is the unquestioned early leader, that’s obvious. But, the millstone of the Romneycare program in Massachusetts hangs heavy upon him. His biggest worry has to be the TEA Party. Romney has already pleaded with some TEA Party leaders for the TEAs NOT to run a third party candidate in 2012; some TEA Party folk recently took the opportunity after Romney’s weak Romneycare speech to call him “a walking hypocrite.” Surely 1) Michelle Bachmann, 2) Herman Cain, 3) Mitch Daniels and 4) Tim Pawlenty (after the three shake-ups this weekend) have to be considered far more compatible with the TEAs than Mitt Romney who is at best a moderate Republican and may because of his failure to repudiate Romneycare be looked upon by some as progressive (like Obama). We’ve a long hot summer ahead of us . . . if one of these four separates himself or herself from the pack, Romney may be in jeopardy . . . then there’s the specter of a locked convention choosing Chris Christy as everyone’s favorite dark horse . . . we do live in exciting times.
Ya’all live long, strong and ornery,
Rajjpuut
