Tag: 2012 elections (Page 4 of 6)

Cain train gets derailed

December 3, 2011 / Gerardo Orlando

The Herman Cain candidacy had become a joke over the past several weeks. The allegations of sexual harassment took their toll, the the alleged affair probably hurt him even more, but his utter lack of knowledge of the issues made all of this personal stuff a sideshow.

Herman Cain is a radio personality, and he ran his campaign like one. He wasn’t serious about the issues. Instead, he had a bunch of handy slogans that appealed to the angry right. When he was pressed on specifics, he usually answered with more slogans, or just said he would sit down with smart advisers and come to a decision.

He mocked the notion that he needed any working knowledge of foreign policy issues, and simply offered contempt for those who would actually take the time to study these sorts of things. This caught up to him, however, when he looked like an uniformed fool in the face of a simple question about his Libya strategy. Unfortunately for the Herminator, this pathetic exchange with the uncomfortable long pause was caught on tape.

His 9-9-9 plan got plenty of attention, but he was utterly incapable of explaining it. He seemed to not understand how adding a 9% national sales tax would result in a huge tax increase on the poor and the middle class. When the notion finally sunk in weeks later, Cain meekly offered a 9-0-9 plan for the working poor.

Sex scandals will destroy most politicians, and Herman Cain is no different. Ginger White came across as a believable woman as she didn’t seek the public eye. Rather, she came forward when a local TV station threatened to expose her affair with Cain.

Cain of course tried to paint the media and the Democrats as the villains, but he had nothing but his charm to fall back on. By the time he “suspended” his campaign today, Cain was plummeting in the polls as evangelical voters started to abandon him.

Today’s announcement was classic Herman Cain – all fluff and zero substance. He announced his “Plan B” decision to suspend his campaign yet fight on for the issues (slogans) he cares about. Cain is probably in for a rude awakening as the media will start to ignore him again. Losers and quitters don’t get much press. Just ask Sarah Palin. She was a media sensation as long as she was a potential candidate. Now she’s just another shrill commentator. Sure, she has a following and can generate news, and Cain will probably get enough press to help him sell some books and book some paid speeches, but the frenzy will end.

The Herman Cain reality show is over.

Conservatives, Policy, Republicans

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Ron Paul goes after Newt Gingrich

December 1, 2011 / Gerardo Orlando

Newt Gingrich is quickly becoming the GOP frontrunner as Herman Cain implodes and Mitt Romney continues to be . . . Mitt Romney.

I’ll have more on Newt later, but Ron Paul is going after Newt with a scathing video. Basically, Newt is just as much a flake as Mitt Romney as he’s flipped and flopped all over the place. But Newt is also a right wing icon so maybe he’ll get more of a pass. Frankly, when you look at the field, who else can conservatives turn to?

That said, the video titled “Serial Hypocrisy” is very tough and it shows areas where Newt is vulnerable. In terms of effectiveness, however, I’m not sure why the Ron Paul team added clips in there from MSNBC. That isn’t going to sway conservative voters and there’s so much material to work with. Maybe Fox News has been ignoring some of the payoffs Newt has been getting from Freddie and Fannie along with the health care industry.

Conservatives, Policy, Politics, Republicans, Video

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Huge surprise – Romney flips on immigration

November 28, 2011 / Gerardo Orlando

Romney’s chronic flip flops have been well documented. Last week he went after Newt Gingrich on immigration, but it turns out Romney once held the position he is now criticizing. What a shock.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who charged Republican presidential primary rival Newt Gingrich with proposing “amnesty” for certain illegal immigrants, took a nearly identical position in a 2006 Bloomberg interview, saying some foreigners who entered the U.S. illegally should be allowed to remain and gain legal status.
Romney, who at the time hadn’t yet declared his first presidential candidacy for 2008, told reporters and editors in Bloomberg News’s Washington bureau that the 11 million immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally “are not going to be rounded up and box-carred out.” Law-abiding people who pay taxes, learn English and don’t rely on government benefits should be allowed to “get in line” to apply for citizenship, he said.
“We need to begin a process of registering those people, some being returned, and some beginning the process of applying for citizenship and establishing legal status,” Romney said during the March 29, 2006, session.
The comments contrast with the position Romney took last week when he challenged Gingrich’s assertion during a televised debate that the U.S. should have a “humane” immigration policy that allows some people who entered the country illegally long ago, have no criminal record, and have family, civic and religious ties to stay and get legal status. Romney called the approach “amnesty” and a magnet for illegality.

Romney is a joke. I sometimes think he’ll be the easiest opponent for Obama as he has become a caricature of the spineless politician. I guess he looks good to some next to the current, pathetic GOP field, but he has avoided interviews with major news organizations, even FOX News, as he seems to be afraid to answer questions about previous positions. It’s hard to imagine how he can do that in a general election.

Conservatives, Policy, Politics, Republicans

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Herman Cain does his best Rick Perry immitation

November 15, 2011 / Gerardo Orlando

Rick Perry took a lot of grief last week for his brain freeze during a debate. I didn’t bother posting it as Perry’s gaffes keep coming at a remarkable clip.

As bad as that was, Herman Cain tops it with his painful pause during a question about Libya. Watch the video and then ask yourself who could possibly support this guy for president.

Conservatives, Policy, Politics, Video

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Conservatives vs Mitt Romney

November 9, 2011 / Gerardo Orlando

The scathing attacks on Mitt Romney from prominent conservatives are intensifying. While the GOP establishment rallies around Mitt as they survey the confederacy of dunces that make up the Republican field of candidates, conservative writers are stating the obvious – that Mitt Romney is basically a fraud who will say anything to get elected.

George Will unloaded on Romney last week, expressing disdain for Romney’s multiple positions on practically every issue dear to conservatives.

Yesterday, Erick Erickson from RedState.com lamented that Romney will be the death of conservatism.

Mitt Romney is not the George W. Bush of 2012 — he is the Harriet Miers of 2012, only conservative because a few conservative grand pooh-bahs tell us Mitt Romney is conservative and for no other reason.
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Mitt Romney is going to be the Republican nominee. And his general election campaign will be an utter disaster for conservatives as he takes the GOP down with him and burns up what it means to be a conservative in the process.
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Mitt Romney will be the nominee because the other candidates, right now, are a pretty pathetic lot.
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You’d think that given the economy, jobs, and the present angst about the direction of the country that the GOP would have an easy path to victory. You would be wrong.
You forget the electoral college. The vote is coming down to a handful of states and Barack Obama still maintains the advantage of incumbency and not terribly terrible polling in those swing states.
Mitt Romney, on the other hand, is a man devoid of any principles other than getting himself elected. As much as the American public does not like Barack Obama, they loath a man so fueled with ambition that he will say or do anything to get himself elected. Mitt Romney is that man.
I’ve been reading the 200 pages of single spaced opposition research from the John McCain campaign on Mitt Romney. There is no issue I can find on which Mitt Romney has not taken both sides. He is neither liberal nor conservative. He is simply unprincipled. The man has no core beliefs other than in himself. You want him to be tough? He’ll be tough. You want him to be sensitive? He’ll be sensitive. You want him to be for killing the unborn? He’ll go all in on abortion rights until he wants to run for an office where it is not in his advantage.

I don’t blame conservatives for rejecting Romney. I think the conservative movement has lost its mind with the unbending, extreme positions we’re seeing all around the country, and I do believe that some level of pragmatism has to be considered, but Romney is a joke.