Presidential candidate and former Penn senator Rick Santorum arrives on stage to speak to 39th Conservative Political Action Committee Feb 10, 2012 Wash, DC. MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty

The Romney campaign crack-up is undeniable even to those in the party who prosper in denial.

Rick Santorum’s boom is fresh and delightful; however the demands of the national campaign and the accompanying scrutiny will drain Rick Santorum of his already limited humor. Am told that Rick Santorum’s nickname in high school was “Rooster.”

Am told that the Romney campaign will now nuke Santorum with the usual facts about his less than consistent voting record for two terms in the Senate. Romney counts on resentment to eliminate his rivals. Read the rest

Democrats and Republicans are largely an unprincipled lot who care only about holding power and reaping the rewards that come from being in charge. No? Then how do you explain the Democrats sudden enthusiasm for using U.S. military Special Ops forces and the President’s own death squad? Surely you’ve heard the Democrat talking points extolling the fact that Obama has killed more terrorist overseas, including Bin Laden, than his predecessor, George W. Bush Of course those same Dems wanted to haul George W. before the World Court and try him for the war crime of putting presumed terrorists in Guantanamo. Imagine the conniption fit on the left if Bush had ordered the killing of American citizen Anwar al Awlaki? But when their guy does it, “no problemo.”

Which brings us to the new crises involving Syria and Iran. Who is the terrorist threat we should be most concerned about? When George W. Bush was in office it depended. Prior to September 11 the Bush Administration told the FBI not to blame Bin Laden/Al Qaeda for the bombing of the USS Cole. Source for this? Ali Soufan’s book, BLACK BANNERS. Then came the attacks of 9-11 and Al Qaeda was temporarily on the front burner.

Getting Bin Laden and destroying Al Qaeda remained a priority for Bush until January of 2002. At that point the emphasis had shifted on going after Saddam Hussein and Iraq. We were told we absolutely were facing a smoking mushroom cloud if we did not act against Saddam. Did anyone in the Bush Administration tell the public that by attacking Iraq we would be empowering Iran? Read the rest

Now I know for sure that Republicans want President Obama to be re-elected and are doing everything in their power to help him in his quest for a second term. Why else would anyone give the odious ex-Senator Santorum air time, or votes? Apparently, he just moved into second place nationally, the latest flavor of the month in the “anybody-but-Mitt” category.

A few weeks back, we had to listen as Santorum compared gay marriage to polygamy, and now this “conservative” who loved to spend taxpayer money, and grub earmarks along with the best of ‘em, is reviving his socially conservative street cred with a new spate of vague, sexist remarks.

According to Politico, in an interview with CNN’s John King, Santorum stated:

“I want to create every opportunity for women to be able to serve this country. . . but I do have concerns about women in front-line combat. Read the rest

This post exists primarily because we need an Open Thread. But it does give me an excuse to say to Larry Johnson: “You’ve got Rick Santorum nailed as lacking executive experience. And WTG for calling out Little Ricky for his earmark addiction.”

Since, for inexplicable reasons, Romney and his staff don’t publicize Mitt’s impressive list of accomplishments, I finally read his bio at Wikipedia. Have you noticed that Modest Mitt mutters “the Olympics,” but adds not a word to explain what he is referring to? Mitt’s supporters say “Mitt saved the Olympics,” as if we’re supposed to know what they mean. SO! Which Olympics did Mitt save? How did he do it? What was so great about what he did? When I read the Wikipedia’s account, I finally knew what Romney did to save the 2002 Park City Olympics from ruinous scandals and budgets suffering massive coronaries.

Last night, Mitt, for the very first time, told us a tender family story. Read the rest

Santorum is a joke. Conservatives backing this guy prove once and for all that they are not serious people. What qualifies Santorum over Obama? Both were Senators with minimal accomplishments while in office. Both are lawyers with minimal legal experience (although Santorum had more success as a lawyer than Obama). Both are good family men whose children adore them.

But there are some differences. Santorum insists he is the authentic conservative though he had no qualms about backing that other great Republican conservative, Arlen Specter. Santorum loved to do earmarks. That’s another authentic conservative principle. Right?

Part of me hopes that Santorum gets the nomination. Why? Only after he gets thoroughly crushed in the general election and helps the Dems take back the House of Representatives will the so-called conservatives like Santorum finally sit down and shut up. Read the rest

For the purpose of having a 100% analytical discussion, we must eschew blanket statements such as “I don’t trust Romney” or unverifiable remarks such as “Romney can’t win.” Assertions are welcome but must be backed by evidence ranging, for example, from persuasive objective arguments along with facts and/or verifiable history.

Above all, let’s endeavor to make this an analytical discussion not influenced by our personal feelings about Romney, i.e. whether or not we like him or think he can win. We begin our chat together with the indisputable fact that, to date, Romney has far more delegates, that Romney has millions and millions more in both his campaign war chest and in the Super Pac funds that create advertising for his candidacy, and he has, all set to go, highly organized and staffed campaign sites in all 50 states. Not one of the other three candidates (Gingrich, Santorum or Paul) comes close to matching Romney in the number of delegates, amounts of money, or ability to activate the already-established teams of staffers and volunteers — these are “givens” that we need not waste our time discussing.

Those “rules” in place, let’s begin, with the devastating losses by Romney last night fresh in our minds:

(1) Why, yesterday, did Romney lose so badly in the three states — Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado — especially since he had just won Nevada on Saturday, crushing his opposition, and the week before, in Florida where, as they say, “he kicked ass”? Read the rest

Since I don’t have photos of Betty Grable, or my area’s Irrigation Festival Queen, here are screenshot clips of Politico’s homepage as of 11 p.m., 02-07-12:

Update: 3 Colorado’s GOP announces Santorum the victor, via CNN.
Update: 1 Romney is now ahead of Santorum in Colorado – slim lead, reports Wolf Blitzer. May be a long night. Update: 2 Btw, CNN is doing a great job of covering the returns, better than Fox, I must say. (Here’s my POV: Fox’s coverage is always compromised by sticking with the regularly programs (O’Reilly, Hannity, Van Susteran) — is it written in their contracts? — who insist on doing segments completely unrelated to the night’s breaking news. Fox’s apparent inability to break with O’Reilly et al. also badly affects their post-debate coverage. Fox assembles a terrific analytic panel run by a REAL reporter, Bret Baier, but Baier’s panel is lucky to get 5-8 minutes before Fox is compelled to switch to the mediocre, one-note ramblings of Hannity. That’s when I switch to CNN, which outclasses Fox in all respects with its superbly planned coverage of each primary return. Only Van Susteran is up to the job.)

Don’t we have the coolest-est president in the history of ever?  You’d never see Ronald Reagan or other so-called “adult presidents” working so hard to be “cool!”

I mean look at him! Wearin’ his cool Ray-Ban shades, jacket slung over his back.  Posing just like they taught him at GQ.

And now he’s got black hair again, singin’ some Al Green for three seconds.  What an achievement for the LOTFW!  I’d like to see Newt Gingrich sing like that!  Seriously!

I wonder how many hours he rehearsed that one line.  Read the rest

Evan Newmark worries about consumer spending with witty Spencer Jakab.

POTUS re-elect needs the consumer to get involved in the recovery. This will increase the growth of wholesale jobs, transportation and manufacturing jobs, that we saw in the January jobs numbers.

The housing crush remains the unknown. Watching consumer sentiment also, because it moved down for January, from 64 back down to 61. Wrong direction. Read the rest

Just when you thought the Republicans were strapping a nuke to their ass and lighting it off, along comes Barky Obama with one of the most astonishing, boneheaded, politically stupid stunts EVAH!! His administration is trying to bully the Catholic Church and the Bishops ain’t going to put up with it. Obama has crossed a line. You need to read two articles out tonight on this debacle.

The first comes courtesy of the Weekly Standard. Penned by Jonathan V. Last, Obamacare vs. the Catholics, provides a pithy, succinct and biting analysis of Obama’s idiocy:

On the last weekend of January, priests in Catholic churches across America read extraordinary letters to their congregations. The missives informed the laity that President Obama and his administration had launched an assault on the church. In Virginia, Catholics heard from Bishop Paul Loverde, who wrote, “I am absolutely convinced that an unprecedented and very dangerous line has been crossed.” In Phoenix, Bishop Thomas Olmsted wrote, “We cannot​—​we will not​—​comply with this unjust law.” In Pittsburgh, Bishop David Zubik wrote that President Obama had told Catholics, “To Hell with your religious beliefs.” Bishop Daniel Jenky of Peoria asked his flock to join him in the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, which concludes: By the Divine Power of God / cast into Hell, Satan and all the evil spirits / who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.

It was a remarkable moment, in part because despite their stern reputation, most Catholic bishops are not terribly conservative. They tend to be politically liberal and socially cautious. If they were less holy men, stauncher conservatives would call them squishes. Real live conservative bishops are so few and far between that whenever one appears on the scene, such as Philadelphia’s Archbishop Charles Chaput, he’s seen as a vaguely threatening curiosity. You can tell when a bishop is conservative because you will hear him referred to as “hardline” or “ultra-orthodox,” so as to mark him apart from the rest of the herd.

But that’s only a taste. Obama didn’t stop there. He tried to shutdown the First Amendment rights of Army Chaplains. Read the rest

Witnessing tempers flare on this blog of late, I am forced to reflect on the obsessive nature of a political junkie. I am speaking of myself, by the way. Glued to the news and anywhere from 12 to 15 websites in an effort get to the truth, it is easy to grade every gaffe, broken promise and prior act of a politician and decide such a person is scum, not worthy of support.

Yet I fear the search for an ideal is a romantic one, borne of a need to vent, as I used to do, via the safety of a blogger’s alias and a computer keyboard. No one will meet all my expectations. No candidate is going to agree with me on every issue. Even the best of public servants fall down, fail, misrepresent — and yes, sometimes, they even change. I grant you these days there are not many who deserve our praise, but I cannot reject someone simply because I do not agree with everything they do.

I started writing for No Quarter nearly four years ago, an enthusiastic Hillary supporter, fighting for her to get the nomination, or at least a place at the Convention where delegates could vote for the person they were justly elected to represent. I also wanted Super Delegates to vote their conscience without the Pelosi/Reid/Dean arm-twisting they had perfected during the campaign. Let the chips fall where they may. I did not get my wish.

I then witnessed this blog, one of the few that was firmly in Hillary’s corner, lose readers who supported her; or watch supporters become ex-supporters, in a rage that she dared to stay on and serve the administration, and Party, that had betrayed her. I had my own mixed feeling about this, but to this day, I am grateful she stepped up to serve her country in an effort to temper President Obama’s naive foreign policy. Read the rest

Check out the NY Times report today regarding our future in Afghanistan:

The United States’ plan to wind down its combat role in Afghanistan a year earlier than expected relies on shifting responsibility to Special Operations forces that hunt insurgent leaders and train local troops, according to senior Pentagon officials and military officers. These forces could remain in the country well after the NATO mission ends in late 2014.

The plan, if approved by President Obama, would amount to the most significant evolution in the military campaign since Mr. Obama sent in 32,000 more troops to wage an intensive and costly counterinsurgency effort.

Under the emerging plan, American conventional forces, focused on policing large parts of Afghanistan, will be the first to leave, while thousands of American Special Operations forces remain, making up an increasing percentage of the troops on the ground; their number may even grow.

This is the best strategy going forward in terms of tactics but does nothing to address strategy. Why? Read the rest

Do I need a hearing aid? Oh, and give me Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, K.D. Lang, Nat King Cole, and the many other greats who know how to sing the words in a song, not beat by beat, but phrase by phrase. Madonna sang the words like bifurcated strips of words that bore no relationship to the preceding or following words. Which means that the phrases in the song didn’t connect to convey their meaning. Which means that the song didn’t make much sense. …. Read the rest

Got your attention? Well, read on. News today is that Gingrich is planning to hold a press conference after the Nevada caucuses wrap up. This comes as the National Enquirer hits the stands today with the blaring headline, NEWT GINGRICH’S WIFE, LESBIAN SHOCKER.

Oh oh. Remember when the National Enquirer reported that John Edwards was screwing around and had a love child? So ask yourself, would the National Enquirer risk a lawsuit by making a false, unsubstantiated claim against the potential First Lady?

Is this why Newt is going to hold a press conference? Fold his tent rather than put his family life under further scrutiny?

I don’t think this kind of allegation, if true, necessarily is disqualifying. If it is false Newt may become the owner of the Enquirer. If this story catches legs then Newt is toast with the Christian right. My issue with Gingrich remains his lack of competence, not his wife’s sexual preference. How can you trust someone to be a competent President when he fails to meet the basic requirements to be on the ballot in Virginia, Missouri or Arizona? Read the rest

* Bumped Up  *

Newt. The new synonym for “boor” or “lout.” Typical self-centered asshole. Did he have the grace to call Mitt Romney and congratulate the former Massachusetts Governor for his victory in Florida? Oh, hell no. Did Mitt call and congratulate Newt when the latter won in South Carolina? Oh, HELL YES!

But that is not what reveals Newt for the all-consuming narcissist that he is. It is what he did not do for Rick Santorum. It is Newt’s fundamental lack of compassion for actual people. He can pretend he is rooting for the poor or the sick, but what does he really do? Let’s ask the Rick Santorum camp:

“Gingrich has been trying to push us out, and people find it offensive,” Brabender says. “We’re not going to tell him to get out of the race; that’s a personal decision.”

The timing of Gingrich’s comments — they came around the time Santorum was tending to Bella, his hospitalized daughter — inflamed the fractious relations between the two campaigns. “The mere fact that he was doing it smells of political opportunism and people found it problematic and troubling,” Brabender says. Read the rest