Skip the corn dogs

The Iowa State Fair is underway and the Presidential candidates will be expected to gaze at the butter cow, speak from a hay bale stage (and get heckled) and eat all sorts of fried food. From  what I  can see from a quick google search most of them have been enjoying a pork chop on a stick.That's a shame but they were warned:

CBS: On the food front, there is one resounding warning call: avoid the corndogs. At this typical Americana event, food is king, and everyone will talk about the food the politicians eat. The media will also take photos of the candidates as they eat.

WaMo:  I’d say Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry would agree.

Well that advice will disappoint a lot of wise guy bloggers who would post pictures like these:

It's also  probably a good idea to skip the ice cream:

Just stick with the beer:

Rick Perry in town today

Texas  Governor Rick Perry will be at the Wilkes-Barre GOP
Victory Center (34 S. Main St.) Saturday, November 3, 2012, along with GOP Senate candidate Tom Smith.  The event begins at 10am.




Joe Biden's visit got washed out by the storm but the Big Dog will be in Scranton Monday. TL: Former President Bill Clinton will be in Scranton Monday on the campaign trail, according to Democratic Party sources. Details to follow.

In another iteration of Lucy teeing up the football Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will also be in PA over the weekend.  PoliticsPA has the details.

MB:

In 2008, John McCain visited Pennsylvania the Sunday before the election, but Obama won the state.

In 2004, George W. Bush visited Pennsylvania the day before the election, but John Kerry won the state.

In 1996, Bob Dole visited Pennsylvania the Friday before the election, but Bill Clinton won the state.

In 1992, George H.W. Bush visited Pennsylvania the day of the election, but Bill Clinton won the state.

Charlie Brown never kicks the ball.

South Carolina exit polls

I got an email from a friend a few minutes ago saying that Newt Gingrich will win the South Carolina primary with 40% of the vote based on his/her glimpse of the exit polls. We will see.

This certainly has been a strange week in the weirdest presidential campaign seasons I have ever seen. On Thursday one story kept stepping on the other. It turns out that my favorite GOP candidate, Rick Santorum, actually won Iowa. Mitt Romney was still dodging the tax return question when asked if he would follow his father's honorable example he said "maybe." Texas Governor Rick Perry dropped out and endorsed Newt Gingrich. Newt previously said that John Bolton would be his Secretary of State so maybe he would appoint Perry as Ambassador to Turkey.

To top it off Newt turned a question in the debate about an interview with his 2nd wife who said he was a 2 timing shit who wanted an open marriage into an attack on the media. The crowd ate it up because Republicans are always the victim of some media conspiracy.

The thing I'm looking at tonight is the Herman Cain vote. It was too late for Stephen Colbert to get on the ballot and write-ins are not allowed so a vote for Cain is a surrogate vote for Colbert. I'm enjoying the mischief.

You Tube weekend

The New Hampshire primary is Tuesday and if the polling can be believed Mitt Romney is headed to a blowout win and he is leading in South Carolina. This thing could be over before the Florida primary on January 31st. Rick Santorum doesn't have the time, organization or money to capitalize on his strong Iowa finish and Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry will help split the not Romney vote. Jon Huntsman is betting everything on New Hampshire but even if he does well he will have the same problems as Santorum going forward. Ron Paul probably has the money and devoted following to stick it out to the end so Romney has to very careful with him. If he pisses of Paul he may mount an independent bid so I expect Paul to get a vote on a few planks of the party platform which almost nobody reads or takes serious anymore. We will see if that will be enough to appease him.

Back to the YouTube thing.

Via The Dish I love satire





Our local canine community is reminding me why I could never vote for Romney.

Mitt Romney abused the family dog


He put the dog on the roof of the car! What kind of an asshole does something like that? The dog was literally scared shitless. And to top it off he later gave away the dog.

Rick Santorum wins Iowa

CNN 120,900 votes

Santorum 29,944 25%
Romney 29,926 25%
Paul 26,182 21%
Gingrich 16,210 13%
Perry 12,574 10%
Bachmann 6,064 5%

Update: When I called it a night Rick was ahead by 18 votes. The final tally is Romney 30,015 Santorum 30,007. Michelle Bachman dropped out today and Rick Perry dropped out last night but changed his mind today.

Paul Begala: "I would have never guessed Rick Santorum would be so happy about two men being tied up together...So while the winner of Iowa in terms of expectations is Santorum, the story is the man he basically tied: Mitt Romney. Not to put too fine a point on it, but when you can't beat the Man-on-Dog guy, who lost his home state by 18 percent, you stink. You really stink."

Waiting for the Iowa results

The Presidential general election is sometimes described as the the Super Bowl of American politics so tonight we start the playoffs. The conventional wisdom is the Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and our very own Rick Santorum will finish in the top 3 with Newt Gingrich, Michelle Bachman and Rick Perry possibly looking at the end of their White House hopes.

Like the rest of you political junkies who read this site I await the results then on to New Hampshire.

This guy doesn't like some of the descriptions of his state.




D.B. Echo said...
Check out the cow at :30! From the same mold as Three-O-Nina!

Santorum surging in Iowa

In the latest PPP in Iowa my favorite presidential candidate Rick Santorum (R-VA) is now in a dead heat for the lead of the also rans. Ron Paul has 23 percent, Mitt Romney 20 percent, Newt Gingrich 14 percent. Fourth place is a tie between Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry at 10 percent. Polling in a caucus state is not as reliable as it is in a primary but it bumbs along the horse race narrative.

I've worked in many election campaigns where it was hard enough to identify your voters and convince them to take 15 or 20 minutes out of their day to vote let alone try to get people to show up for a 3 hour meeting. Newt has been dropping like a rock in the surveys and I have been reading that he doesn't have much of an organization in Iowa. Ron Paul is surging and has an army of volunteers and dedicated followers that matters. If there is a blizzard on January 3rd he will win going away. Romney is spending big in the state hoping for a 1-2 punch with a 1st place showing followed by a win in New Hampshire.

Santorum has been working the state hard and yesterday he got the backing of two so called family values leaders. Rick has an organization and has visited all 99 counties.

Two Iowa conservative Christian leaders this morning endorsed Rick Santorum for president

One of them, Bob Vander Plaats, asked Bachman to drop out of the race. This thing is so much up in the air that it is not inconceivable that Santorum could be the surprise of the night finishing 3rd or better.

Yesterday Santorum reminded me why he is my favorite Republican candidate when he said:


HP: "They talk about income inequality. I'm for income inequality. I think some people should make more than other people, because some people work harder and have better ideas and take more risk, and they should be rewarded for it. I have no problem with income inequality."

He then launched an attack at President Barack Obama. "President Obama is for income equality. That's socialism. It's worse yet, it's Marxism."



TP: A recent poll found that Americans’ fears about income inequality are growing, with two-thirds of likely voters saying the middle class is shrinking, and 55 percent saying that income inequality has become a big problem for the country. Santorum, evidently, thinks more of the same is what they need.

Just for fun


Adultery Dating Website Ashley Madison Endorses Newt Gingrich:


Extra-marital dating website AshleyMadison.com has erected a billboard of serial adulterer and presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich in Bucks County, Pennsylvania that reads: “Faithful Republican, Unfaithful Husband. Welcome to the AshleyMadison.com Era.”

They really wanted Herman Cain.

Do the Republicans want to win the White House in 2012?

I've been an observer of Presidential politics since shortly after I learned how to read but I've never seen anything like this pre-primary season. Serious candidates like Mitch Daniels and John Thune took a pass then Tim Pawlwnty dropped out after the Iowa straw poll after losing to Michelle Bachman.

Donald Trump was leading the polls in the spring peddling birther nonsense then his bubble burst when Bin Laden was killed and he decided to go back to his TV show. Texas Governor Rick Perry was cheered for executing people and raised a bunch of money but couldn't speak in complete sentences and had a memory lapse. Then it was pizza guy Herman Cain who was sunk by an allegation of a 13 year extramarital affair after being accused of sexual harassment. Cain dropped out Saturday and the Borowitz Report translates his statement:


But before I go, let me share with you my final thoughts on my campaign. After months of crisscrossing this great land of ours and participating in over three hundred televised debates, I am being disqualified because of an extramarital affair. And that raises the following question: are you fucking kidding me?

I mean, let’s get real. I never heard of Libya. I didn’t know whether that CNN dude’s name was Wolf or Blitz. And my only training for running the #1 nation in the world was running its #8 pizza chain. Yet none of that, I repeat, none of that disqualified me. In fact, I was the front-fucking-runner, as long as I kept my 9-9-9 in my pants. (I have no idea what I meant by that — I just like saying 9-9-9.)

But here’s the part that really kills me. You’re kicking me to the curb because I was messing around, and instead you’re going with… Newt Gingrich? I repeat: are you fucking kidding me? Oh, I know what you’re saying: you love Newt because he’s an “intellectual.” Well, Newt Gingrich is the intellectual of the Republican field the way Moe was the intellectual of the Stooges.

Now the front runner is Newt Gingrich who is an ideas man. Most of them are bad like having grade school kids work as janitors. Now he talks about bipartisanship after poisoning the atmosphere in the 1990's.

Every Word Matters: Using 'Keywords' as a Political Tactic

Gingrich's negative words for Democrats

"Anti-flag, anti-family, anti-child, anti-jobs, betray, coercion, collapse, consequences, corruption, crises, decay, deeper, destroy, destructive, devour, endanger, failure, greed, hypocrisy, ideological, impose, incompetent, insecure, liberal, lie, limit(s), pathetic, permissive attitude, radical, self-serving, sensationalists, shallow, sick, they/them, threaten, traitors, unionized bureaucracy, urgent, waste"

Now Trump is back in the news saying he will be the moderator of a Newsmax debate about a week before the Iowa caucus that has some Republicans balking . Newt doesn't have a ground game and even if he wins an early contest or 2 it's hard to see him lasting in a contest with Mitt Romney. Andrew Sullivan said that Romney makes plastic look real.

Back to my original point. I really don't think that the Republican media machine want's to see President Obama defeated. It would be bad for ratings for FOX News and Rush Limbaugh if they didn't have a Democratic President to beat up. Not to mention what it would do to their book sales.

It's Rick Santorum's turn to be the flavor of the month

The race for the Republican Presidential nomination continues to be a search for an alternative to Mitt Romney. It's been one flame out after another.

First it was Michelle Bachman winning the Iowa straw poll who's understanding of American history confirmed that our school systems are failing. Then Governor Rick Perry's inability to speak in complete sentences in the debates burst his bubble and shamed his English teachers. Nobody wants another Texas Governor that murders the English language. Next was pizza guy Herman Cain who is mired in sexual harassment charges and seems to think that his ignorance of foreign policy is a plus. Right now Newt Gingrich is topping some polls but was paid over $1 million by conservative boogie man Freddie Mac and is haunted by his past events like serving divorce papers to his 1st wife when she was in the hospital recovering from cancer and being forced to resign from being Speaker of the House because of ethics issues. Not to mention the Tiffany's thing.



So that leaves former PA Senator and Virginia resident Rick Santorum who is banking on a good showing in Iowa to keep his campaign alive until he drops out after South Carolina or Florida. He is only polling 3% in Iowa but polls in a caucus state don't always predict the outcome. Iowa Republicans are known for their religious conservatism and his hawkish foreign policy stances play well. Santorum has always been a consistent abortion opponent who wants to turn the clock back on gay rights and thinks starting a war with Iran is a good idea feeding off the end of times Israel can do no wrong fundamentalism.



His camp is actually touting an interview with Glen Beck of all people. Beck was kicked off FOX News for being even to nuts for them. He also said that Penn State shouldn't go to a Bowl game and Sarah Palin disagreed "It's not the players' fault that they have a perverted former assistant coach," she told Fox News host Greta Van Susteren. "I would like to see the players not suffer more than they have suffered."

Flavor of the month

I remember the last time around in the Republican nominating process when some of my Republican friends thought Fred Thompson was the answer to their prayers because they were unhappy with the field especially front runner John McCain. That worked out well.

This time many of the true faithful want an alternative to next one in line , Mitt Romney. Michelle Bachman created a buzz for a bit even winning the Iowa straw poll until Rick Perry got in the race and stole her thunder. Now Perry is fizzling out after his less than stellar debate performances losing the Florida GOP straw poll to the pizza guy.

So now the hope is that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will get into the race despite his previous statements like "short of suicide, I don't really know what I'd have to do to convince you people that I'm not running. I'm not running." The blunt talking Governor telling people to
"get the hell off the beach." as Hurricane Irene was bearing down and telling Washington to get it's act together after the disaster

“You want to figure out budget cuts, that’s fine..You’re going to turn it into a fiasco like that debt-limit thing where you’re fighting with each other for eight or nine weeks and you expect the citizens of my state to wait? They’re not gonna wait, and I’m going to fight to make sure that they don’t,” Christie said putting the Tea Party-driven House on notice that its slash and gut politics will not be tolerated.

He also defended his choice of a Muslim as a Judge saying "Sharia Law has nothing to do with this at all, it’s crazy!"

Yep, he will go far in this atmosphere.

Rick Santorum wins Pennsylvania Republican straw poll for President

Capitol Ideas is reporting from the Pennsylvania Republican State Committee meeting where all the buzz is about the plan to blow up the way the state will allocate it's Electoral College votes in the Presidential election and the brewing civil war that has pitted the legislature against the state party leadership worried about down ballot races and the Republican US House members who are worried about getting reelected. I would usually expect cooler heads to prevail who would keep the winner take all system but in this crazy atmosphere anything can happen.

pawatercooler.com has the results of the straw poll that for some reason doesn't attract as much attention as the one in Iowa.

In the interest of fair and balanced coverage that Fox News has pioneered I decided to put up the unofficial Gort42 campaign photos of some of the candidates. Please send pics of the candidates if you have better ones.

Former PA Senator and long time Virginia resident Rick Santorum topped the poll with 138 votes out of 388 tallied. The horse race coverage people like percentages so that is 35.5%


Mitt Romney came in 2nd with 98 or 25.5%. The dog that he strapped to the top of his car for a 12 hour ride didn't have a vote.

Flavor of the month Texas Governor Rick Perry got 71 votes of the faithful (18.3%). If he signs a few more death warrants he may increase that percentage.




Ron Paul continues to be the Rodney Dangerfield of this race, no respect at all. 21 votes



Jon Huntsman may be the most qualified guy in the race after being Governor of Utah and Ambassador to China. He even speaks a foreign language that probably disqualifies him with the English Only Crowd. In today's Republican Party that is a handicap. Look for him 2016. Tom Ridge endorsed him. 18 votes.

Herman Cain. 16 votes.

Newt Gingrich is someone I sometimes liked when he was talking ideas instead of his scorched earth policy of partisan warfare. 14 votes.

Last in the poll was Michelle Bachman.

ALex said: Only 12 for Michelle Bachmann? Maybe that anti-vaccination insanity had a stronger effect that I thought.

Whoever wins the Republican nomination has to run against this guy. 0 votes.

GOP debate tonight

Watching the talking heads show today the big question seems to be will Texas Governor Rick Perry be able to to speak in complete sentences if he bothers to show up at all. If he skips it I can't blame him because Texas has a wildfire outbreak which is more important than a talkfest in California.

Perry's budget cuts didn't cause this catosrophe but it didn't help responding to it and want's federal aid.


Rick Perry slams feds for slow fire aid, after huge cuts to quicker state response

W]hile Perry complains about the feds’ response, he and Texas lawmakers have also been called to task for huge cuts to state firefighting resources passed earlier this year. The two-year budget that took effect last Thursday includes a 75 percent slash to volunteer fire departments — from $30 million to $7 million — and a one-third cut to the Texas Forest Service.

These GOP candidates should really stay away from corn dogs:

Ames, Iowa looking over it's shoulder

With all the attention on the Iowa straw poll my friend Dave Baloga decided to get a head start and organized his own.


At the Jonathan Balaster Memorial Summer Picnic on Aug.13th, 2011 we conducted a straw poll of potential (age 18 or older) voters and the results were compiled before anyone had known the Iowa straw poll results. There were 120 attendees and many children. It was a mixed political attendance with the majority Republicans, many Independents and an unknown number of Democrats.


The results of the Luzerne County GOP straw poll:

Rick Perry – 23 votes
Michelle Bachman – 15 votes
Rick Santorum – 12 votes
Mitt Romney – 11 votes
Newt Gingrich – 7 votes
Herman Cain – 7 votes
Ron Paul – 3 votes
Sarah Palin – 2 votes
Tim Pawlenty – 1 vote
.

I know this is a small sample but people who go to these events are the hard core Republicans who actually work in campaigns. I'm surprised that Santorum only got 12 out of 77 votes. Maybe they're still mad at him for endorsing Arlen Specter.


Ames, Shmames – Rick Perry Wins Luzerne GOP Straw Poll