Mitt Goes On Record: "I Don't Care About the Poor"

Neither do I Mitt. The poor can kiss my everloving ass, for all time. I'm not referring to the World's poor. More often than not they have been born into horrible circumstances with little or no opportunity to ever escape. But the American poor? They are bums, plain and simple.

Since Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" programs of 1965 we Americans have spent nearly 16 trillion dollars on "the poor". We currently spend 800 billion per year in transfer payments to "the poor". What do we have to show for it? Niente, nada, zilch! Poverty has not been abated one little bit, as a matter of fact it has increased.

The thing about the very poor is this, they are always changing. Most of the poor five years ago are not the same poor today, except for the "core" poor; and they are the problem. For them being poor is a lifestyle, a vocation, a calling. They will happily live in squalor, eating orange jelly slices watching Jerry Springer on their Wal-Mart widescreens till the end of time... if we let them. They are disproportionately obese, diabetic and addicted. They have more children than the rest of us which are almost always illegitimate (a word fallen out of favor but appropriate nonetheless) which perpetuates dependency.

Don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to a safety net. Unforeseen events can and do happen and I don't want people starving in the streets. But this cradle to grave welfare behemoth we have created is bad for the taxpayer and bad for the recipient. In America we spend incredible amounts of money in an attempt to provide equal opportunity for all. It's not a perfect system but everybody has a chance at prosperity, more or less. You don't have to be the most talented or the smartest or the hardest working. But if you try, if you make the effort, you will be ok. You may not get rich, but then again you just might. But welfare bums don't try in part because the system discourages them from trying. The politicians and bureaucrats who benefit from their poverty are the real villains here.

So, I share Mitt's sentiment, I don't care about the poor either. They can go to hell.

Florida Goes to Romney

Mitt Romney scored a convincing victory in the most populous, most diverse, most nationally important (electorally) state yet contested in the Republican Primary.  A double-digit win, the victory gives Romney all 50 of Florida's delegates due to its "winner take all" format.  A couple of key take-aways:

1.  This was a resounding victory, broad-based and convincing--yet not without concerns.  Gingrich did well in that part of Florida that looks most like "the South" (Florabama), and Romney needs to pick up his game in the South if he is to shake Gingrich and Santorum.

2.  The next month is a relatively quiet one in the race--with contests (both primaries and caucuses) in  Nevada, Maine, Colorado, Missouri, Minnesota, Arizona, Michigan, and Washington---all of which precede "Super Tuesday" on 6 March.  Ron Paul is likely to do well in the caucus states, and his support will hurt Gingrich more than Romney.  I expect Romney to win most--if not all--of the contests between now and Super Tuesday.  Missouri's primary concerns me most right now--though it will not award any delegates (I know--dumb. There is a caucus a month later to do that).  Gingrich isn't on the ballot there (whoops), and Santorum could make a serious stand. 

3.  Super Tuesday isn't going to be as Super as Gingrich's folks probably hope.  The states contested then are AL, GA, ID, MA, ND, OH, OK, TN, VT and VA.  Gingrich will win GA, and maybe AL--but that's it.  This is the day the matter could get settled, and if Romney does well in Alabama, it will be settled.

4.  Romney's victory speech last night made the same point about the primary battles that I've been making all along--whoever wins the nomination will be a better candidate for having gone through the process.  Even the most ardent Mitt-hater MUST acknowledge that he and his organization responded effectively to Newt's surge in SC. 

5.  Stand by today for the sorry postmortems from the Gingrich campaign about how Romney "carpet bombed" him with negative ads leveraging his massive financial war chest.  Guess what?  Romney did the same thing in SC and got his ass kicked.  That wasn't what made the difference in Florida--Gingrich's sorry performance in the debates and Romney's improvements as a candidate were the difference. 

I hear from my more piqued Conservative friends the tired refrain that if Romney is the candidate, they'll just stay home in November. This the silly talk of children.  Rather than vote for the candidate that BETTER represents their interests, they'll stay home and contribute to the candidate they desperately want out of office out of spite.   They point to losses by Dole, Bush (the Elder), and Ford as evidence that when the Party nominates "the establishment" candidate, we lose, while hanging their entire argument on the victories of the era's most transcendent politician--Ronald Reagan--as evidence of their case.  Putting aside for the moment the fact that two of those "establishment candidates" happened to be a sitting Presidents, they conveniently forget the landslide loss the Party suffered in 1964 when it nominated the conservative icon Barry Goldwater.  They also conveniently forget that George Bush the Younger was HARDLY the most conservative candidate in the field in 2000, and by 2004 had to a large extent disappointed many conservatives with his performance in office. 

We have an opportunity here folks, to knock Barack Obama out of office.  It's time to stop the silly talk and let our process work until we have a candidate who best represents the electoral interests of the largest part of our party.  There is serious work to do, and wishing for a conservative messiah to come along isn't going to get that work done. 

Sarah Palin is a Weenie

It seems that Sarah Palin has joined Sean Hannity in their breathless denunciation of the "tone" of the current Republican battle to face Barack Obama.  This is getting ridiculous.  Every time I turn on Hannity, he's whining about the race, that Republicans shouldn't be attacking each other, that they are violating the "11th Commandment" of St. Ron of Eureka.  This is utter nonsense.  The job of primaries is to differentiate oneself from one's opponents, and that is something that both of the major GOP contestants are doing, just fine. 

Listen, I didn't enjoy watching Romney be treated like a pinata about Bain and his taxes--and the fact that the "tone" of the criticisms were reminiscent of liberal garbage was noteworthy--but the mere fact that he was forced to respond to these charges has made him a better candidate.  Let's face it folks, Newt Gingrich has been a divisive figure, even within the Republican Party.  To suggest otherwise is simply revisionist history.  Yes--he led Republicans out of a forty-year desert, and it was one of the most amazing political lifts in US history.  But he was also forced out of the Speakership because of his temperament and his ability to lead.  These things are fair game, as are his activities in selling his estimable Washington influence after leaving office.  If Newt is going to be our nominee--than he HAS to answer for these things.

The continuing reference to Reagan and the "11th Commandment" is just downright silly.  Ronald Reagan could issue the 11th Commandment because he was, well.....Ronald Reagan.  None of these guys are he, and we ought to stop waiting for Him to return like a bunch of "end of the worlders". 

It's time to hunker down, to recognize that THIS race, with THESE men, will settle our candidate question.  Let them do what needs to be done, and we'll have a stronger candidate at the end. 

What Happens If?

Ok, I'm no defense expert but I can read a map. If Egypt renounces the Camp David Accords and Syria is taken over by Islamo-NAZIs (as opposed to the secular killer régime they currently enjoy) and Iran acquires the big one...and America is led by a man who's middle name is Hussein, well, what would you say the over/under would be for Israel?

How Are Those Google Ad Proceeds Coming, CW?

Googleftism

I remember when he did this with Twitter several months ago and Iowahawk had a fun-filled afternoon of tweeting POTUS. Nevertheless, smart move by the Obama campaign to have his name pop up on every Google search in the US.

The You Tube site says neither POTUS nor his staff will know which questions (in the form of You Tube videos) will be selected for him to answer. It also says the winning You Tubers will be invited to sit in with the President as he answers the questions. I'm guessing, since they are viewable in rank order for all the world to see and since the Secret Service already knows who is coming over today, that the White House staff will once again be exercising their model integrity by not peeking before tonight. I can't wait to watch the absolute surprise on Barak's (he said I can call him that) face as each new video is unveiled. Darn, I'll be on the road then. Oh well, maybe Sally or Hammer can catch it for me instead.