* 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 »

UPDATE: Despite his vow, yet again, to run a positive campaign, Newt’s this-ain’t-no-damn-concession speech stank. Newt BOMBED. To quote Bret’s panelist, the exceedingly sharp A.B. Stoddard, “This will be remembered as one of the most remarkable moments of the entire 2012 election, primary and general. He came out and wandered in minutiae about petty complaints, about a game he should have been prepared for. He has been staggered and stunned and shocked over the back and forth with Mitt Romney. … He was in the weeds. It was a very, very strange event. And it was to announce a new positive campaign, by the way.

BRET BAIER: Twenty-two minutes, I think. (I love Baier’s quiet irony.)

STEVE HAYES: This is what flailing looks like. This was not a pretty performance, I think, by Newt Gingrich. ….

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(P.S. I am loathe to disagree with my man Charles Krauthammer, but he was wrong to call it a stump speech, although I do understand Charles’s imperative, as a psychiatrist and D.C.-based commentator, to eschew emotional responses. Unencumbered by professional and D.C.-societal (a la Ben & Sally) constraints, I can state that Mitt had me logically and emotionally. In short, I never imagined that Mitt Romney would excite me, but — and who knew — he has.)

The first caucus returns are already trickling in, with many more @ at around 7 p.m. Here’s some background from a Reuters/Yahoo story. It’s so nice, for once, to see the Pacific time zone in a news story.

It’s lookin’ good for Mitt.

Two polls taken this week in Nevada showed the former Massachusetts governor with a lead of 20 points or more over top rival Newt Gingrich after recapturing his front-runner status with a convincing win in Florida on Tuesday. …

He has stressed his business background as a cure for the ailing economy in Nevada, … Read the rest »

OK, I admit I am on an anti-sexism kick these days. So when you watch the big game on Sunday you will be accosted by this little gem.

Read the rest »

Ah Obots. You are having verbal orgasms, ecstatic over the “news” that 240,000 jobs supposedly were created in January 2012. Hope and change is back. You are now ready to declare victory and vindicate the pathetic economic policies of the Obama Administration. Just one little problem–look at the actual damn numbers.

I realize you kool aid drinkers assume that I hate Obama so much that I will refuse to give him credit where credit is due. Well, that just shows what a complete moron you are. I really do want the economy to turn around. I really do want more people going to work. There is no partisan benefit in my mind from having people shut out of the economy. So please take a close look at the numbers.

Let’s start with the fact that you need to create 141,000 jobs a month just to keep pace with population growth. That is not my opinion, that is a fact. Okay?

We will look at both seasonally adjusted and non-seasonally adjusted numbers and will compare January 2011 with January 2012.
If you want to do this for your self just click HERE and check the appropriate boxes and hit “retrieve.” Read the rest »

The Obama Administration and the Department of Defense have been worrying for more than one year that Israel will attack Iran and try to destroy its ability to produce enriched uranium. DOD officials were convinced last summer that Israel would do something in September 2011. That perceived deadline came and went.

Now we have Panetta telling David Ignatius of the Washington Post:

Panetta believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June — before Iran enters what Israelis described as a “zone of immunity” to commence building a nuclear bomb. Very soon, the Israelis fear, the Iranians will have stored enough enriched uranium in deep underground facilities to make a weapon — and only the United States could then stop them militarily.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t want to leave the fate of Israel dependent on American action, which would be triggered by intelligence that Iran is building a bomb, which it hasn’t done yet.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak may have signaled the prospect of an Israeli attack soon when he asked last month to postpone a planned U.S.-Israel military exercise that would culminate in a live-fire phase in May. Barak apologized that Israel couldn’t devote the resources to the annual exercise this spring. Read the rest »

The world waited breathlessly for the announcement that would surely change the political landscape of America for years to come!  The man whose words we all hang on, waiting for direction in our lives, was about to make a major political announcement!  Yes, The Donald will make an endorsement for one of the Republican candidates running for president.  Then everyone will finally know who to vote for!!  Yay!!

As of early afternoon on Thursday, there were plenty of headlines claiming Trump was going to endorse Gingrich. Another set of headlines said he was endorsing Romney. Still another batch of headlines said he was going to endorse his hairpiece. OK, I made up that last one. So sue me.

Read the rest »

Can you imagine having this amazing experience? Do stick with the whole video–it will make your day.
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This clip from The Fugitive, featuring a confrontation between Tommy Lee Jones and Harrison Ford sums it up:

Seriously. You’re upset because I’m trashing Herman Cain? Mr. Serial Adulterer who claimed to be a great businessman but couldn’t organize a campaign?

You’re upset because I trash Newt Gingrich? The consummate Washington insider who became wealthy by trading on his Washington contacts and now wants us to believe that he’s an outsider? Read the rest »

Sarah Palin removed any lingering doubts that she is a serious political force or deep thinker this week by pandering to the Newt Gingrich camp. She’s not stupid. Hell no. But she is like Newt Gingrich–no principle but making money. Now understand, I don’t begrudge her taking her moments of fame as McCain’s eye-candy VP to cash in. But if you are going to do that cut the political act that you are some kind of Mama Grizzly pursuing a pure conservative political dream.

I was one who defended Palin back in the day. I thought she got a bum rap and was not properly served by the McCain team. But then she bails on her term as Governor of Alaska. Why? To run as President? Hell no. She did her bus tour, however, as a shrewd move to drum up publicity for herself.

Leave it to the so-called ultimate outsider to play a tough inside game and become a multi-millionaire in the process. Read the rest »

Fox News Network is revealing its first exit findings right now – 6:01 p.m.

Read the rest »

In the real world, there never is the “right” candidate. Why? Because they don’t exist.

I think I came to this realization only recently. What can I say? And since I have a lot of years on my tires, it apparently takes a long time to figure out that all of my crushes (asexual) on presidential candidates were just that. Crushes, in which objectivity and rationality don’t have a role. Some of my candidate crushes that I am proud of: Robert F. Kennedy, George McGovern, George H. W. Bush (never the son), Bill Bradley and then reluctantly Al Gore, Howard Dean, and HILLARY CLINTON but then proudly John McCain. Then there are embarrassing candidate crushes: Richard Nixon (only against JFK – hey, I couldn’t even vote and the only adults I knew were Republicans!), Jimmy Carter, Ross Perot (wasted vote), John Kerry. Now, having lost Jon Huntsman, I am coming ’round to Mitt Romney, with honest enthusiasm and respect for his many skills and work ethic — uh, he’s had a real job 40+ hours per week — hell, probably some 100-hour weeks! — unlike some people.

I just saw a poll on MSNBC that showed Newt Gingrich with 51% Unfavorability and Mitt Romney with 49% Unfavorability. Newt’s 51% I can see because he is a low-class bum with a poison tongue. But Mitt’s 49%? Well, I believe that’s Toxic Newt’s doing too. Newt is consumed with destroying Mitt, calling him ugly names, especially “Liar.” Newt adopted the anti-Republican, far left’s anti-wealth spiel (even though Mitt earned it all with work and brains). I pray that Mitt can lower those unfavorabilities, and soon. But that’ll require silencing Gingrich. Where are Don Corleone and Tony Soprano when we need them? Read the rest »

Women have come a ways in the last century, but the media can’t take any credit—usually quite the contrary. And look what Lego is doing to address the aspirations of women—Going backwards.
Read the rest »

Who knew that CNN’s Don Lemon had it in him. Lemon, the anchorman’s anchorman, invariably appropriate, nary a hair or word out of place, and therefore, to this viewer, usually a boring snooze.

Damn, Don Lemon. Was that really you?

Read the rest »

I was just surfing the newsy websites, looking to see what’s going through the heads of the pundits and bloggers, when I can across an interesting headline: “Newt Gingrich Campaign Leaking Hot Air Ahead Of Florida Primary, GOP Insiders Say.” OK, looks interesting, I thought as I mindlessly clicked the link without noticing where it was taking me. Then I saw the domain name: Huffingtonpost.com!

Oh, well, might as well read on.  I haven’t read anything on this blog in a long time, so I may as well see what Obots have to say.  It didn’t take me long to see that this was no longer the blog I knew from 2008 or even 2010.  Something had changed!

Starting with the main article, here is part of what I read:

WASHINGTON — What happened to Newt Gingrich? Less than a week after Gingrich’s stunning triumph in South Carolina, air is leaking from his momentarily front-running campaign faster than a parade balloon’s after Thanksgiving.

Besides the obvious fact that the new combat-enabled, armored-up Mitt Romney clobbered Gingrich last night, are there other reasons? Yes, based on conversations with Republican and campaign insiders here and in Florida: Read the rest »

Ah, poor little Newt. That mean man Mitt Romney is clubbing Newt like a baby seal chased by a crew of hungry Japanese fishermen. Here is Newt today on Jake Tapper’s ABC program:

So Newt wants to make this campaign an issue of character. REALLY? When it comes to truthfulness and honesty, what planet is Gingrich living on? Gingrich running on character is like Bill Clinton running on sexual abstinence. Read the rest »