Yahoo Blocking Results for "Mitt Romney"?

So I was checking out "trending now" on Yahoo (looking for some link bait for this post), but alas, the top three searches were for mere politicians.  Seeing Romney as #3 on the list, I wanted to see what stories were trending for him, and I got...nothing, just a "loading results" bar. That never seemed to load any results.

Funny, the same thing didn't happen when I clicked on #1, Barack Obama.  Or #2, Deval Patrick.  Or even #4, a "green" story linked to the Pope.  But every time I clicked on Mitt Romney...

I couldn't believe what I (wasn't) seeing.  So I grabbed my iPhone.

Check it out.  I mean...seriously?

The New York Times Confuses "Competitiveness" With "Arrogance"

Gotta love the open of this NYT piece:

As Election Day approaches, President Obama is sharing a few important things about himself. He has mentioned more than once in recent weeks that he cooks “a really mean chili.” He has impressive musical pitch, he told an Iowa audience. He is “a surprisingly good pool player,” he informed an interviewer — not to mention (though he does) a doodler of unusual skill.

All in all, he joked at a recent New York fund-raiser with several famous basketball players in attendance, “it is very rare that I come to an event where I’m like the fifth or sixth most interesting person.”


When we run into him at an "event", you and I have a word for guy like this: an asshole.  And I have to believe even some hardcore liberals would be wincing after reading these first few sentences.  But never fear, the New York Times is here, to tell you that this behavior isn't only OK, it's proof of his superiority:

Four years ago, Barack Obama seemed as if he might be a deliberate professor of a leader, maybe with a touch of Hawaiian mellowness. He has also turned out to be a voraciously competitive perfectionist. Aides and friends say so in interviews, but Mr. Obama’s own words of praise and derision say it best: he is a perpetually aspiring overachiever, often grading himself and others with report-card terms like “outstanding” or “remedial course” (as in: Republicans need one).


Ah, if anyone needs the remedial course, it's author Jodi Kantor, and perhaps the editors who lets this inadvertently anti-Obama screed slip through censors (to be a felony offense after the re-coronation of The One, I'm told).

To be fair, the Times does dutifully place the race card here:

When Mr. Obama was derided as an insufferable overachiever in an early political race, some of his friends were infuriated; to them, he was revising negative preconceptions of what a black man could achieve.

But then seems to apply it, when the "G" word is uttered:

For someone dealing with the world’s weightiest matters, Mr. Obama spends surprising energy perfecting even less consequential pursuits. He has played golf 104 times since becoming president, according to Mark Knoller of CBS News, who monitors his outings, and he asks superior players for tips that have helped lower his scores.

Not sure if he can run on that accomplishment, Jodi...but then again, maybe she is trying to subtly spread the "practice makes perfect" case for Obama's re-election:

His idea of birthday relaxation is competing in an Olympic-style athletic tournament with friends, keeping close score. The 2009 version ended with a bowling event. Guess who won, despite his history of embarrassingly low scores? The president, it turned out, had been practicing in the White House alley.

Body language can't move that ball out of the gutter, Mr. President....assuming you want to...

But it seems even at the Times, reality is seeping in through the fortifications:

...he [Obama] may not always be as good at everything as he thinks, including politics. While Mr. Obama has given himself high grades for his tenure in the White House — including a “solid B-plus” for his first year — many voters don’t agree...

Those were not the only times Mr. Obama may have overestimated himself: he has also had a habit of warning new hires that he would be able to do their jobs better than they could.

“I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters,” Mr. Obama told Patrick Gaspard, his political director, at the start of the 2008 campaign, according to The New Yorker. “I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m going to think I’m a better political director than my political director.”

Though he never ran a large organization before becoming president, he initially dismissed internal concerns about management and ended up with a factionalized White House and a fuzzier decision-making process than many top aides wanted...


So, according to the Times, we have a man who prefers perfecting trivial pursuits (golf, bowling) to tackling the tougher jobs at hand - which happens to be what he was hired to do. All while pounding his chest about how he's the greatest ever, at everything.  Insecure much, Mr. President?

Seems to me as if  an unstable Obama, realizing he cannot be a good president, not to mention a great one, is now devoting himself to different ways to prove to himself he's still #1 (golf, bowling).  He can't let go of the presidency, of course - it is the only buttress of his claim to greatness, even if he is just an empty chair - so will fight tooth and nail to keep a job even he knows, in the recesses of his soul, that he is simply not up to.  Once again, when it comes to Barack Obama's ego, there is no sacrifice to great. 

The Times calls this man competitive, a perfectionist, and an overachiever.

Were he a Republican, they'd be labeling him a dangerous, disconnected, ego-maniacal psychotic...

In Which A Pollster Mocks The Mainstream Media....

First, a quick reference to a post in Commentary today, in which a reporter inserts his own biases into a "news" story about Mitt Romney's trip to Israel:

...the crux of the problem for Wilson is identified in the headline: he calls Romney’s comments about Palestinian culture “puzzling.” Because he does not quote anyone in the story calling those comments “puzzling,” it’s clear from the context that Wilson is the puzzled one.

A tried and true media trick:  When a representative of a news outlet doesn't agree with a certain position, he will couch his partisanship in phrases such as "people are saying", or "but many people seem to believe the exact opposite".  In those cases, the "people" being referenced are merely the reporter himself and his cronies in the lunchroom, and have no connection to real-world, real-life folks whatsoever.

But getting back to the tale in the title of our post...a "puzzled" reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer,  unable to fathom how "people" can see Chris Christie as a "bully" yet still give him massive approval ratings, reaches out to a pollster to explain the discrepancy.

And to his credit, Matt Katz tells it as it is:

Mainstream media likewise recoil at the personality - although not necessarily the policies - of Chris Christie. Inquirer opinion writers have often pointed out his proclivity to pounce on opponents, while a Courier-Post editorial this month said the governor "represents our state just as poorly as the buffoons on the trashy reality TV shows filmed in the Garden State."

Opined Tom Moran, veteran Star-Ledger columnist: "He is not, by any stretch, a nice guy."

The people of the state don't necessarily disagree....And yet: This supposedly abhorrent creature remains uber-popular. His approval ratings in the state have exceeded 50 percent for a year, with 60 percent of independents approving of the job he's doing. He is already in second place in polls for the Republican Iowa presidential caucuses . . . in 2016.

How is that possible? How can voters approve of a guy they also seem to think is kind of, you know, as Christie would say, a jerk?

"Part of the issue is, voters of New Jersey are probably a little more savvy than reporters," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.

Ouch.

"Even if New Jerseyans don't agree with everything that he's done, there's at least a sense that he's trying to shake things up, and that's what he gets credit for," Murray said. "And his outbursts are just part and parcel of that."

It's also a Jersey thing, veteran politicos say.....

"There's a Jersey swagger - not just him, but all New Jerseyans," said Tom Wilson, the state Republican Party's former director. "We kind of have this, 'Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah? Well, $%&*&!' And I think there's a certain Jersey-guy attitude about the governor that people really connect with."

Wilson said some adjectives used to describe politicians - slick, packaged - don't apply.

"He is genuine, he is earnest, he is wear-it-on-your-sleeve, he gets angry, he gets emotional . . . They like the fact that he's a real guy."


Seems like Matt Katz has realized, finally, that "the people" in his newsroom and in his profession have very little in common with the larger majority of real people who live and work in the state of New Jersey.

Our intrepid Inquirer reporter isn't totally off the hook, however - he repeats every slam on Christie he can dig up, and opens the story quoting the nastiness of  "the state's leading liberal blog" as if it is some type of authority on the governor (which also reveals a bit much about his own opinions get formed).

Still...it's a start.  Mr. Katz now has a clue.  Which puts him up on about 95% of his profession....


(Hat tip: MoreMonmouthMusings )

4th of July: Patriotic Madness, With Stars-and-Bars Bikini Girls!

...as hot as a freshly-fired musket against a Redcoat's ear, as hot as peak-heat summer barbecue, as hot as a beautful girl proudly wearing her love of country...

It's the Fourth of July, baby - show me how much you love your country.  And whisper some patriotic sweet nothings into my ear while you're at it...

“The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage.” ~Thucydides

Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.”—Ronald Reagan

 "I prefer liberty with danger to peace with slavery."-Author Unknown

"Hail! Independence, hail! Heaven's next best gift, To that of life and an immortal soul!"
- James Thomson

 "I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" ~ Patrick Henry

"Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Abraham Lincoln

My favorite thing about the United States?  Lots of Americans, one America.  ~Val Saintsbury

 

The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind- Thomas Paine

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” ~Declaration of Independence

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.~Thomas Jefferson

Those who won our independence by revolution were not cowards. They did not fear political change. They did not exalt order at the cost of Liberty.- Justice Louis D. Brandeis

"There, I guess King George will be able to read that."
-- John Hancock, after signing the Declaration of Independence

“Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom” – Albert Einstein

Ours is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea.  ~John Gunther

If you take advantage of everything America has to offer, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.  ~Geraldine Ferraro

The winds that blow through the wide sky in these mounts, the winds that sweep from Canada to Mexico, from the Pacific to the Atlantic - have always blown on free men.  ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

My God!  How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!  ~Thomas Jefferson

And, in a rare bit of honesty from Yahoo (OK, 2011 link, but still...):

...it's worth remembering that signing one's name to the Declaration of Independence was no small thing. Those who signed the document were sure to be hanged for treason should they be caught.


Many of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence suffered terribly for their bravery:

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. T homas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution.These were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged:"For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor"

Today, we enjoy the taste of liberty. Tomorrow, we resume the fight for freedom once again. No better way to honor the sacrifices of our Founding Fathers, who suffered so that we, their spiritual inheritors, could live a life infused with liberty...


And liberty looks good.  Real good...

Obama on ObamaCare: "I Won...So Suck it!"

And takes a victory lap in his usual classless manner...via SCOTUS blog:

"Today the Supreme Court also upheld the principle People who can afford health insurance should take the responsibility to buy health insurance"

...or else the government will now force you to buy it. At gunpoint. Suck it, bitches!


"The highest court in the land has now spoken. We will continue to implement this law."

 ...Whew! Praise Allah, I almost read off my "the Supreme Court is a radical, discredited branch of the Tea Party" crib notes!. So...bend over and take it, bitches!


"Today I am as confidence as ever, that when we look back 5 years from now, or 10 years from now, or 20 years from now, we will be better off because we had the courage to pass this law and keep moving forward."

..and by "we", I mean "me". I AM THE ONE!  So suck it, bithces!


And on a related note, it is reported that "Roberts was red-eyed and unhappy as he read” the Obamacare decision from the bench.  So must have been many of the observers, for the Chief Justice added:

"...it is not our job to save the people from the consequences of their political choices."


William Kristol: 

Put not your trust in judges​—​nor in other berobed or bejeweled personages. To the degree you trust anyone: Trust the people.

True, that. So here we all are...


UPDATE:   Provided courtesy of Patrick Gaspard, executive director of the DNC:

Also DNC staffer Greg Greene tweeted — and then appears to have deleted — this: “Overheard in the office: “TAKE THAT MOTHER******S!!”"

RFK Jr: Another Kennedy, Another Female Corpse, Another Excuse

RFK Jr, speaking at the funeral yesterday for his estranged wife, exonerated himself for her suicide:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shamelessly told a crowd of mourners at tragic wife Mary Richardson Kennedy’s funeral yesterday that her suicide was not his fault.

“I know I did everything I could to help her,” Kennedy said in his eulogy at St. Patrick Church in Bedford, where attendees included Chevy Chase, Larry David, Glenn Close and Susan Sarandon.

Mary, 52, hanged herself Wednesday in the barn of her Westchester mansion. Kennedy spent most of his eulogy lavishing praise on his wife — although he noted that she harbored a grudge against him.

“She was a SoHo girl . . . She blamed me for taking her away from her profession [to raise a family],” he said, referring to her former career as an architectural designer in Manhattan.


Sound familiar?  Reminds me of a different Kennedy who deflected blame for a damsel's death:

In his 532-page book, True Compass, the late Ted Kennedy admitted to "inexcusable" behaviour after the Chappaquiddick car crash, saying that he was dazed, scared and panicked following the 1969 accident in which he drove off a bridge and left his passenger to drown.

He said he made "terrible decisions" in leaving the scene with Mary Jo Kopechne still in the car although he continued to be vague – as he was at the time – over why it took him 10 hours to report the accident on an island off Massachusetts.


Which leads us to WIlliam Kennedy Smith, who - after a night of pounding drinks with Uncle Teddy - decided to have some good old-fashioned Kennedy fun, even if the participants were unwilling:

The incident began on the evening of Good Friday, March 29, 1991, when Smith, then 30 years old, was in a bar in Palm Beach, Florida, with his uncle, Senator Ted Kennedy, and his cousin Patrick Kennedy.


Smith met a 29-year-old woman, Patricia Bowman and another young woman at the bar. The four then went to a nearby house owned by the Kennedy family. Smith and 29-year-old Bowman walked along the beach. 

Bowman alleged that Smith raped her; Smith testified that the sex was consensual. Although three women were willing to testify that Smith had sexually assaulted them in incidents in the 1980s not reported to the police, their testimony was excluded. Smith was acquitted of all charges.


Teddy gets away with murder, William with rape...and RFK Jr.?  Accused of nothing, he gets defensive - at his wife's funeral, no less.  Not a criminal, just a cad, and likely a poor excuse for a husband.

Lesson for the ladies:  Frolic with a Kennedy, and you wind up dishonored and/or dead.  And blamed for it at your funeral...

Will Obama Lose Wisconsin and North Carolina in 2012? Oh, You Betcha!

Some bad, bad omens last night for President Barack Obama in what was essentially a meaningless Republican primary in Wisconsin.

The night was supposed to be all about the Democrats, and their battle to take on Governor Scott Walker in the June recall election (cost to state taxpayers to usurp democracy: $16M+).  But a funny thing happened:

...there was a surprise on the Republican side, a big one. Scott Walker faced only a fringe candidate in the Republican primary, one who posed no threat to him. Indeed, Walker won with 97 percent of the vote.

But Walker’s vote total (with 94 percent of the vote counted) was 584,929. The entire Democratic field, in a hard-fought contest, garnered only 596,089 votes. In other words, an awful lot of people turned out to support the governor and his reforms in an election he was sure to win anyway.


Jeez, maybe the people of Wisconsin don't want to be slaves to public-sector unions after all.  Maybe they don't think Democratic officials fleeing their duties while mobs occupy the capitol is what "democracy looks like".   How...unexpected.

A closer look:

In an election in which Walker ran essentially unopposed, Walker garnered about 15,000 more votes than Falk and Barrett combined. Republican voters had absolutely nothing to vote for, and yet they turned out in droves to send a message.


What's going to happen in November, when they actually do have something to vote for (or even against)?

And as Barack Obama prepares to "evolve" his position on gay marriage (only Republicans "flip-flop"), he seems ready to cede the great state of North Carolina, which he won by a whisker in 2008.  Residents voted 61%-39% last night to effectively ban gay marriage, and this was the lead photo & caption  in the local dailies:

Dr. Patrick Wooden Sr. pastor of the Upper Room Church of God In Christ and his wife Pamela Wooden celebrate early returns that show strong support for Amendment One during an election night party at the N. Raleigh Hilton on Tuesday May 8, 2012.

Not quite the stupid, intolerant rednecks the Left warned you about, are they?  Oh, what to do, Barack, what to do....!

Too bad you already left a deposit on the 2012 convention in Charlotte, NC - but then again, you do have a lot of other people's money...can you move it to Madison, perhaps?

Not sure if thousands of out-of-towners in garish dress screaming "gay marriage now!" is going to warm the hearts of the people who just said no thanks, not here...in fact, they might even view it as a bit disrespectful, you know?   Might even give them extra incentive to come out to vote in November, just...not for you.

All this, while the president is humiliated in West Virginia.  The stark omens of a Carter-esque defeat are there for all to see.  Fortunately, the president is too self-involved to notice, and the media continues to flatter his majesty, keeping him blind to the rout on the horizon...

Arby's Bans Conservatives

Via Twitchy:

You may recall that yesterday, Arby’s announced via Twitter that it would no longer advertise on Rush Limbaugh’s show. Conservatives were not at all happy – and they got very vocal about it.

Well, as it turns out, Arby’s has begun blocking conservatives who have tweeted complaints....Has a company Twitter account ever blocked its customers for complaining before


I'm sure Arby's must have a brilliant business model hidden in the back of the safe, if they feel they can alienate about 50% of the American people and still stay afloat.  I mean, it's not as if the American people have a choice of where to go out for a quick bite right? Not every town has a Burger King, McDonalds, Taco Bell, White Castle, Sonic, KFC, Jack in the Box, Hardees, In-N-Out, Carls Jr., Whataburger, Five Guys, Steak n' Shake, Subway, Quiznos, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, Boston Market, Krystal...

Well, actually, my small town in Jersey has almost all of those.  And the rest are within driving distance. So why would I eat at a restaurant that tells me to sit down and STFU?

You would think that corporate ownership would see a certain trend with businesses or brands that go out of their way to insult conservatives.  How did all those anti-Bush, anti-war Hollywood movies go over?  What happened to Oprah after endorsing Obama?  Why did Rosie O'Donnell, once the "Queen of Nice", fall so far from her perch?  Why is the New York Times becoming increasingly less relevant than the Huffington Post (even on the Left)?  Why is MSNBC the least-watched news channel in the nation?  Why are even the over-hyped Jon Stewart Show and Colbert Report getting beaten the ratings by "Pawn Stars", "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives", "Family Guy", "American Dad", and barely - barely! - eking out a win over "Robot Chicken"? (Stewart does, Colbert doesn't, BTW...)

Nothing in common there, folks.  But if I had any stock in Arby's parent company, I'd be dumping it right around now.  Just saying...


UPDATE:  The final offense:  Arby's ownership group is named "Roark Capital" (get it?), and its home page is splashed with artwork inspired by The Fountainhead.  Is "Roark" aware of what Arby's is up to?  Or is their Randian front an example of what Daniel Patrick Moynihan called "boob-bait for bubbas"?

Mitt Romney, And The "Electability" Myth...

This blog has not endorsed a primary candidate in the Republican primary, although we retain our original crush on Rick Perry, maintain a healthy respect for Michelle Bachmann (we love her, but we're not in love with her) and stand by our utter and complete disdain for Newt Gingrich.  And we view Mitt Romney with caution, wondering what's really behind that plastic-fantastic facade and slick haircut.

Over at Legal Insurrection, Professor Jacobson has been furiously waving the caution flags the last few days, trying to warn the party faithful that the Romney Train - gaining more and more passengers - could be heading full-speed for a brick wall, with the every-smiling visage of Barack Obama (and his $1B war chest) painted across it.  A few links:

We will pay the price for giving Romney a free pass

Don’t fall for Operation Psych Out

Romney's electability is overblown

It's the last one that I think is the key - if "electability" were a real thing, a radical liberal from Chicago would never have stood a chance in the primary, nor would a right-wing nut from California won the presidency in 1980.  It's about the party putting forward a candidate that best reflects their values, and then sending him out across the country to convince others that his plan of action is the right course for America.

And what record of "electability" does Mitt Romney have, exactly?  To answer that, I am reprinting a post from August 31st of this year:

Would You Start A 5-18 Pitcher In Game 7 of the World Series?

Because in 2012, we'll be well into a double-dip recession, the Arab Spring will have devolved into open warfare with Israel, and there will be social unrest in America.  And this time, it may not be simply senior citizens yapping at their congressmen at town halls.


And into this mess, when we need most a strong performance to help lead us from tyranny to triumph....we can choose one of the following starting pitchers for Game 7 :

- young upstart Michele Bachmann, more of a successful minor league player with a good inside fastball but questionable savvy, 

-Solid veteran Rick Perry, who's career indicates he can get it done irregardless of what dire circumstances surround him,

- or a lifetime 5-18 pitcher, who has spent most of his career pleading for a chance to get into the Big Game.

That losing pitcher is....Mitt Romney.  The 5-18 record represents his record in elections.  Jonathan Last on how The Man With No Constituency cannot seem to get it done, no matter how hard he tries, or how much he spends.

 

Let’s revisit Romney’s campaigns:

1994: MA Senate Republican primary: Romney 82%, John Lakian 18%

1994: MA Senate general election: Ted Kennedy 58%, Romney 41%

2002: MA Gubernatorial Republican primary: Romney runs unopposed

2002: MA Gubernatorial general election: Romney 50%, Shannon O’Brien 45%

2006: MA Gubernatorial primary: trailing in polls for the general election to Deval Patrick—a guy who’d never run for anything before—Romney declines to seek reelection. I’ll count this as a loss; you might be more charitable.

2007: Presidential primaries: I won’t go state-by-state, but here’s the breakdown: Romney won only three states where the vote was a straight-up primary. Each of these wins was in a place where he had enormous legacy advantages: Michigan, where his father had been governor; Massachusetts, where he had been governor; and Utah, which is overwhelmingly Mormon. (He also won 8 caucus states, though the organizing rules there are much less indicative of electoral strength.)

On other side of the ledger, Romney lost primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, California, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, and Maryland. (He also lost a bunch of caucus states, but we won’t count those against him since we’re discounting his caucus wins.)

Which means that in the 2008 cycle he went 3-16.

Combine that with the rest of his runs and you get a 17-year career average of 5-18. I don’t think you could find any other figure in politics who has run this far below the Mendoza line and still managed to get taken seriously as a presidential candidate. In fact, the only reason Romney gets taken seriously is his money. Strip away the $500M treasure room and the willingness to blow large chunks of his kids’ inheritance, and he’s Ron Paul without the ideological moorings and grassroots support....

Last goes further, pointing out that in his signature victory - governor of Massachusetts - he only received 49% of the vote, and that he blew $7 million running against Kennedy only to lose by 17 points.

This line is brilliant:

It’s funny that Romney’s line of attack on Perry seems to be that Perry is a “career politician” because he’s been in elective office since 1984. Well, Mitt Romney would have been a career politician too, if only voters would have let him. He’s been running since 1994. His real gripe about Perry is actually, “Hey, that guy wins all the time! No fair!”


So back to baseball.  Game 7 of the World Series, and you're the manager.  Do you put in the guy who has never -  ever - lost a game, or the loser with a laundry list of excuses and gripes, coming off of a 3-16 season?

That's not a decision I feel comfortable with.  Not unless all my other starters are unable to lift their pitching arms.  So when the clamor begins to get aboard Train Romney, let us do it with trepidation, and be sure that rather than our first choice, he is our last resort...

Republican Win In Old Bridge, New Jersey Holds National Lessons

I'm so giddy, I need to show the results again:

Old Bridge
Mayor One 4-Year Term
Patrick M. Gillespie (D)* 4,505
x Owen Henry (R) 5,057

Old Bridge
Council-At-Large Three 4-Year Terms
Edward Testino (D)* 4,160
John F. Gillick (D) 4,121
Kelly Ellis-Foster (D) 4,104
x Brian J. Cahill (R)* 5,232
x Eleanor "Debbie" Walker (R) 5,035
x James H. Anderson (R) 4,955


A surprise in Old Bridge and a narrow victory in Franklin highlighted Tuesday’s election results.

It was a sweeping victory for the Republicans in Old Bridge.

Republican mayoral candidate Owen Henry received 5,330 votes, defeating Democratic Mayor Patrick Gillespie, who received 4,780.

The Republicans also will take control of the Township Council. Republicans James H. Anderson, Eleanor “Debbie” Walker and incumbent Brian J. Cahill defeated Democrats John F. Gillick and incumbents Kelly Ellis-Foster and Edward Testino.

Henry said the Rebublicans are thrilled with the election results.

“The Democrats have been in control for 14 years and now the Democratic octopus has been broken,” Henry said... .The residents came out and spoke loud and clear. We had a tremendous amount of support....

“We were on the right side of the issues and ran a clean campaign and I think people saw that. We came with a simple message that we were business people and would take a commonsense approach to government. I am ecstatic and honored to be part of the process.”


What lessons can be applied nationally here?

-Voters understand the facts - perhaps the biggest issue in the campaign was the recent vote by the Democratic mayor and Council to give full pension and retirement benefits to any municipal employee who works a mere 15 years for the Township, down from 25. That's a bribe to the municipal employees that will come out of the townspeople's pocket, and everyone knew it. Pensions as an electoral game-changer? Uh-huh...

-Thuggery doesn't scare off honest Americans. You can shatter windows, abuse women, and engage in childish vandalism as the Old Bridge Democrats did, but it is a useless tactic against a free and strong people. Worse - it is counterproductive. Are national Republicans still too scared to tie the Democrats to their beloved "Occupy" movement yet?

-inspire the grassroots. I am a grass root. So root, that I have no dealings with my local Republican party whatsoever. I just talk to my friends and neighbors about the importance of voting and why I vote Republican, and how their choices affect their own lives. Personally, I likely got 10-12 people to the polls, maybe more. A lot in an election decided by 500 votes.

-Jon Corzine must -  must -  be tied to Barack Obama. He's electoral poison here.  Listening to the radio call-in shows last night, New Jersyans voiced overwhelming disgust with their former governor, with more than one Democrat coming out of the closet on the air to admit they had voted for Chris Christie and were glad. Wanna win New Jersey in 2012? Remind the voters what butt-buddies Corzine and Obama were. That's worth a few points in the polls, I guarantee it.


Which is why, if the Republicans nominate a wishy-washy compromiser to run for President in 2012, one who is afraid to point out the thuggery of the Left, one who vows not to tear down the system but to work within in, one that does not excite the ever-growing Republican base - Obama could win re-election. Without a clear, distinct choice, folks will go for the one they know - the one that carries their party affiliation.

The national Republican party ought to look at my little town in Jersey to see how it is done...

More "upset" Republican victories in Jersey here and here...

Old Bridge, New Jersey: A Clean Sweep For the Republicans!

Facism fails in Old Bridge - Read it and weep, you tax-hiking, brownshirted bullies :

Old Bridge
Mayor One 4-Year Term
Patrick M. Gillespie (D)* 4,505
x Owen Henry (R) 5,057

Old Bridge
Council-At-Large Three 4-Year Terms
Edward Testino (D)* 4,160
John F. Gillick (D) 4,121
Kelly Ellis-Foster (D) 4,104
x Brian J. Cahill (R)* 5,232
x Eleanor "Debbie" Walker (R) 5,035
x James H. Anderson (R) 4,955

Every single key Township Democrat tossed out of their office, on their ass.

I love my little town in Jersey...

Jon Corzine: As Destructive In the Private Sector As He Was In New Jersey

After leaving the state broke and bankrupt with his leftist economic illiteracy, he is now doing the same to investors (aka "suckers") at MF Global Holdings:

Shares of MF Global Holdings, the outfit Jon Corzine took over last year, dropped 40 percent yesterday after its biggest-ever quarterly loss as a public company. Corzine has tried to transform the broker into a global investment bank that manages money for customers and provides capital services for companies. In the past 12 quarters, the company has turned a profit three times, and shares are down 70 percent this year.

And investors are fleeing Corzine the way citizens fled New Jersey:

Some customers are moving money away from struggling futures brokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd, according to hedge funds, rivals, and analysts, though the extent of the outflows is unclear.

Any substantial departures will likely put further pressure on MF Global Chief Executive Jon Corzine, a former New Jersey governor and former head of Goldman Sachs, to sell all or part of the company.

MF Global, whose shares slumped 15.9 percent on Thursday and have lost more than 60 percent of their value this week, had been trying to transform from a brokerage that mainly places customers' trades on exchanges into an investment bank that bet with its own capital.

But its bets on bonds from euro zone countries have gone bad, prompting regulators to press it to boost capital and one rating agency to cut the company's debt rating to junk status.

Three brokers at rival firms said they were signing up customers who were formerly at MF Global, and Patrick O'Shaughnessy, an analyst at Raymond James in Chicago, said his conversations with customers indicate there have been "significant departures."
There are rumors, too, that Corzine might get the boot sooner rather than later.  A one-termer, so to speak, just like this loser was in New Jersey.

But maybe MF Global was never on the up and up to begin with.  As I reported in August, there were some strange doings afoot with MF & Crooked Jon.

The New York Times:

MF Global is planning to sell five-year notes on Tuesday with an unusual twist: the notes will pay an extra 1 percent in the interest rate “upon the departure of Mr. Corzine as our full time chief executive officer due to his appointment to a federal position by the President of the United States and confirmation of that appointment by the United States Senate prior to July 1, 2013,” according to the offering. The higher possible rate reflects how important investors consider Mr. Corzine to be to MF’s prospects and pays them taking the risk that he might leave.

My question was:

Is Corzine really on the short list, as this disclaimer seems to imply, or is this just flypaper for suckers, luring them to think IMF Global must be all that as their CEO could likely be the nation's next Treasury Secretary?

Well, to be fair, there were plenty of rumors of a possible quid pro quo agreement between Barack Obama and Jon Corzine.  Crooked Jon was appointed as one of Obama's top Wall Street money "bundlers", and supposedly would be first in line for the coveted treasury spot, should Obama get re-elected, or need to fill the position even sooner.

But apparently, Corzine couldn't even convince his fellow crooks to pony up for man on top of the Syndicate, as Obama's Wall Street donations have dropped dramatically.  Of course, the "Occupy" movement - endorsed by the president - is having a dampening effect as well.

So to sum up - who has Jon Corzine screwed over in the last 18 months?

-The entire sate of New Jersey, which he left a fiscal shambles

-Investors in the MF  Group, thinking the CEO would eventually become the Treasury Secretary, and thus give their portfolio "most favored nation" status,

-The President of the United States, who trusted him to be a to fundraiser in what looks to be a challenging re-election campaign (and that's me being polite)

I don't think Crooked Jon has got a lot of friends left anymore, and has made some powerful enemies to boot..  Who's left for him to rob, besides innocent children and drunken call girls?

And I would put neither class past him...

"Occupy Wall Street" Protest Chick: Hot, Or Not?

Ah, I'm just f*cking with you. This is the face of the Wall Street protests:

Just what every boy wants to bring home to mama: A rage-chick with oversized horn-rimmed glasses and an arm-length tattoo of what appears to be a decapitated ballerina, holding her own head, while blood spurts from her neck like water from a hydrant. Yummy. That'll look classy and just as chic when she's 40, no doubt.

Conservative protest chicks are just so much hotter...and they smile more, too:

Meanwhile, this crowd of half-wits, dimwits, and nitwits got p'wnd by the Occupy Wall Street organizers:

While hundreds of people have camped out overnight in the plaza during the two-week old sit-in for social change, an online announcement that Radiohead was en route jammed the plaza.

"I actually think it's kind of ridiculous," said a dreadlocked 20-year-old who identified himself as Pigpen. "The only reason 500 people are here is because they think Radiohead is going to be here."

Organizers were red-faced.

"I got hoaxed," said Patrick Bruner, who has been e-mailing on behalf of the Occupy Wall Street protesters. "Radiohead was never confirmed. Completely our fault. Apologies. "

When you are reduced to arguing that it's not about Radiohead....well, doesn't that kinda mean you've lost the argument?

Awesome: NYPD Delivers A Good Old-Fashioned Hippie Ass Whompin'...

"We're seeing an absolute erosion of our civil rights," said 23-year-old student Patrick Bruner of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

 "....We had no weapons, just our voice.

 "....This is my first protest to fight against the ruthless corporations."

 Oh, jeez, this shit again? At least the hippies of the '60's were railing for handouts during a relatively prosperous period. These douches are demanding "redistribution" during a never-ending recession, one exacerbated by a president who shares their ideology.

And while these videos below were posted as proof of the "atrocities" of the NYPD, looks to me as if the officers on the scene were simply intent on nipping a protest-turned-violent in the bud. And if some 21st-century hippies have to get face-planted in the concrete to make that intention clear, well...that's not a bug, that's a feature.

Like this punk. "Arrested for talking to a cop!" is the title, but you can see "Sam Quinn" at the 5-6 second mark pushing against the cop, and confronting him again seconds later. This ain't Great Britain, pallie:




Now here, the, ahem, "peaceful" ladies doth protested too much. And were clearly pushing back against the police. Scream all you want, girls, but you had that face-full of Mace coming...





Oh, Eric Cartman, where are you when we need you?

(Stone and Parker's commentary here is priceless, by the way...)





And if the title of this post sounds familiar, well, yeah..it's a quote from another law officer who knows how to use his baton, Chief Clancy Wiggum of Springfield:

...Chief Wiggum notices Lou spinning in a chair, laughing and holding a bottle of juice.

 

Wiggum: "Lou. Lou! Are you all right?"
Lou: "The electric yellow has got me by the brain banana."
Wiggum: "I ... see."

[Wiggum grabs the bottle from Lou, dips a fingertip into the juice, and has a taste.]

Wiggum: "My God, it's nothing but carrots and peyote!"
Eddie: "Damn longhairs never learn, Chief."
Wiggum: "It's time for a good old-fashioned hippie ass-whomping!"


Sorry, I'm having too much fun with this one...Wiggum has a long history of animosity towards hippies...

“That’s right. She’s got the ‘munchies’ for a California cheeseburger.” – Chief Clancy Wiggum

Would You Start A 5-18 Pitcher In Game 7 of the World Series?

Because in 2012, we'll be well into a double-dip recession, the Arab Spring will have devolved into open warfare with Israel, and there will be social unrest in America.  And this time, it may not be simply senior citizens yapping at their congressmen at town halls.

And into this mess, when we need most a strong performance to help lead us from tyranny to triumph....we can choose one of the following starting pitchers for Game 7 :

- young upstart Michele Bachmann, more of a successful minor league player with a good inside fastball but questionable savvy, 

-Solid veteran Rick Perry, who's career indicates he can get it done irregardlessof what dire circumstances surround him,

- or a lifetime 5-18 pitcher, who has spent most of his career pleading for a chance to get into the Big Game.

That losing pitcher is....Mitt Romney.  The 5-18 record represents his record in elections.  Jonathan Last on how The Man With No Constituency cannot seem to get it done, no matter how hard he tries, or how much he spends:

Let’s revisit Romney’s campaigns:

1994: MA Senate Republican primary: Romney 82%, John Lakian 18%

1994: MA Senate general election: Ted Kennedy 58%, Romney 41%

2002: MA Gubernatorial Republican primary: Romney runs unopposed

2002: MA Gubernatorial general election: Romney 50%, Shannon O’Brien 45%

2006: MA Gubernatorial primary: trailing in polls for the general election to Deval Patrick—a guy who’d never run for anything before—Romney declines to seek reelection. I’ll count this as a loss; you might be more charitable.

2007: Presidential primaries: I won’t go state-by-state, but here’s the breakdown: Romney won only three states where the vote was a straight-up primary. Each of these wins was in a place where he had enormous legacy advantages: Michigan, where his father had been governor; Massachusetts, where he had been governor; and Utah, which is overwhelmingly Mormon. (He also won 8 caucus states, though the organizing rules there are much less indicative of electoral strength.)

On other side of the ledger, Romney lost primaries in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, California, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, and Maryland. (He also lost a bunch of caucus states, but we won’t count those against him since we’re discounting his caucus wins.)

Which means that in the 2008 cycle he went 3-16.

Combine that with the rest of his runs and you get a 17-year career average of 5-18. I don’t think you could find any other figure in politics who has run this far below the Mendoza line and still managed to get taken seriously as a presidential candidate. In fact, the only reason Romney gets taken seriously is his money. Strip away the $500M treasure room and the willingness to blow large chunks of his kids’ inheritance, and he’s Ron Paul without the ideological moorings and grassroots support....

Last goes further, pointing out that in his signature victory - governor of Massachusetts - he only received 49% of the vote, and that he blew $7 million running against Kennedy only to lose by 17 points.

This line is brilliant:

It’s funny that Romney’s line of attack on Perry seems to be that Perry is a “career politician” because he’s been in elective office since 1984. Well, Mitt Romney would have been a career politician too, if only voters would have let him. He’s been running since 1994. His real gripe about Perry is actually, “Hey, that guy wins all the time! No fair!”


So back to baseball.  Game 7 of the World Series, and you're the manager.  Do you put in the guy who has never -  ever - lost a game, or the loser with a laundry list of excuses and gripes, coming off of a 3-16 season?


It's a no-brainer.  Just like our choice should be in 2012...