Newt Gingrich’s big applause line in the South Carolina CNN debate is coming back to bite him.

When moderator John King opened the debate with a question about allegations that his ex-wife made in an interview. Gingrich fired back, saying that his campaign offered several friends familiar with the situation to rebut ABC’s interview, but that the network refused to talk to them.

That wasn’t really true, his campaign now says.

Gingrich’s spokesman R.C. Hammond has told CNN that the only witnesses it offered to ABC were Gingrich’s two daughters from his first marriage. Not exactly the scores of “personal friends” that Gingrich promised as character witnesses in the debate, and promised again in a follow-up interview with King.

Mitt Romney came down against Gingrich’s treatment of the media, and John King in particular, in an appearance on FOX News Wednesday, The Hill reports.

“It’s very easy to talk down a moderator,” Romney said. “The moderator asks a question and then has to sit by and take whatever you send to them. And Speaker Gingrich has been wonderful at attacking the moderators and attacking the media.”

Ultimately, the legacy of Gingrich’s big moment might not matter, as Gingrich’s South Carolina boost seems to be shrinking fast. Already the conservative media is uniting to sink Gingrich’s campaign, and new polls show that Gingrich is rapidly losing his lead in Florida.

Source: Business Insider.

My Two Cents: Three stories on how corrupt Obama’s DOJ is in a single day, before lunch! Yep, that’s that transparency Obama promised. I might have to write an article about the DOJ. End Two Cents.

*Taken from Reason.

The federal government is in the midst of a crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries across the state of California.

This is despite repeated claims from President Obama and his Department of Justice that theywould not devote federal resources to circumventing state medical marijuana laws.

“The law has been hijacked by profiteers who are motivated not by compassion, but by money,” said Melinda Haag, one of California’s U.S. Attorneys, at a DOJ press conference on October 11, 2011.

Aaron Sandusky, owner of G3 Holistic, a group of medical marijuana dispensaries in California’s Inland Empire, is one such target of the DOJ’s crackdown on medical marijuana “profiteers.” The DOJ sent him a letter promising to shut down his operations within 14 days. And they followed through.

CONTINUED..

*Taken from Wandering American. Several videos at the link to reference points made in the article.

Lied about the Federal Reserve:

I don’t know if he lied or if he really had no clue about the organization in which he was on the Kansas City Board of Directors as Deputy Chairman from1992-94 and Chairman of from 1995-96. He said that there was no need for the Federal Reserve to be audited in December of 2010 but then a PARTIAL audit in June 2011 revealed over$16 TRILLION worth of unreported loans. That’s just more than the current national GDP of the entire United States.

Does Herman Cain know about this? Of course he does. Even when confronted with this data, as seen at the Oct. 11th GOP debate by Ron Paul, he was still resistant to more audits. Why? Why would he possibly be against looking for illegal loans, the same kinds of loans that got us into this financial crisis? If there is an explanation then I’m sure it’s one his supporters won’t want to hear.

CONTINUED..

My Two Cents: I figured I’d repost all these since everyone is ooohing and aaahing over Bill O’Reilly’s new book about how great Lincoln was. I bet these facts were omitted. End Two Cents.

PART I: The Racist

Abraham Lincoln is greatly regarded as one of the greatest, if not THE greatest president in United States history. Much of that is due to the fact that Lincoln’s side, the Union, won the Civil War and thus freed the slaves. Lincoln has been heralded as a hero to black Americans and all Americans in general. He is seen as the one man who stood up against the racist roots and traditions within our country and shattered them, leading for equality b … Read More

via TheSwash.com

PART II: The Tyrant

A month ago, I wrote a blog titled “The Lincoln Myth, Part I: The Racist”, which can be found here. I caught a lot of flack in my personal life because of it and many of my liberal friends, and even some conservative ones, found the article hard to swallow, even though it was primarily made up of quotes directly from Lincoln himself. Well, in the wake of that post, I figured I’d write a follow up analyzing the tyranny that Lincoln practiced. I am … Read More

via TheSwash.com

PART III: The Liar

If you haven’t gathered from my previous articles in this series (here and here), former president Abraham Lincoln was pretty much a docuhebag that has been deified by twisted history and liberally biased propaganda mills, better known as universities and public schools. I have mapped out Lincoln’s road through tyranny and his history of racism. Now I may be shattering the foundation of the earliest Lincoln myth that children are taught in the af … Read More

via TheSwash.com

*Written by Rob Rimes.

This debate was awesome! No, it wasn’t necessarily the best as far as content and hammering home runs but it was by far the most entertaining. There were fights, poking, prodding and almost a few punches thrown in. In fact, I have never seen Mitt Romney turn so red. It was great and the best part was that the three candidates I like the least looked like the biggest bitches of the night. How so? Well, let me break down the debate and expose the little hoes for their little hoe actions while the adults and misfits in the room just stared on in gleeful excitement of what should have been a few campaign implosions. Of course there aren’t any implosions because the media has to continue to prop up their golden boys.

To start, we are given Anderson Cooper as the moderator of the debate. I like having one moderator and I like Cooper much better than throat-gurgler John King and the man with the coolest name ever Wolf Blitzer. Coop did a good job at keeping the debate moving, probably better than any moderator on any other channel. He also stirred the pot in a good way to get the trio of prima-donnas worked up just enough to make for great television. My hat, if I were currently wearing one, would be tipped for Mr. Cooper.

The debate started off with the generic introductions. Santorum came out and waved to the crowd like a dork dick. He used his kids for an early cheap pop from the crowd and came off as a lame ass. Bachmann was smiling so wide that you couldn’t see her eyes. She was dressed like a cast member of ‘The Love Boat’. Ron Paul referred to himself as the “champion of liberty”, which he is compared to this bunch. Cain said he’s a problem solver and Mitt said he was as well. Mitt’s already jacking for beats. Perry calls himself an “authentic conservative not a conservative of convenience.” Ex-Democrats are funny. Newt then steps up and just lets us know that he’s up in the house in rabid honey badger form!

Hey, there’s no Jon Huntsman! Oh, that’s because he is boycotting Vegas because of some early primary drama or something. It’s pretty goddamned stupid to boycott a pivotal debate when your numbers are so dismal but whatever. In any event, this was Jon Huntsman’s best debate yet! Santorum was also supposed to boycott but apparently he doesn’t stand by what he says. He should have because he failed in this debate and looked like a total fucking bitch. In fact, let me break down Racquetball Rick’s performance at the Las Vegas debate.

Rick Santorum, the poster boy for Penn balls, starts off his portion of the debate jumping in on the 999 bashing. He claims that Cain’s 999 Plan is not good for families. Rick Santorum isn’t good for anyone, plain and fucking simple. Santorum also squeezes in some time to suck the peepees of Romney and Perry when the discussion of job creation comes up. Santorum is a panderer who knows he will lose and is trying to butter up the golden boys in an effort to get a job when his teaching gig at the tennis club is over.

However, just to set himself apart in a wasted no-win effort, Santorum drags the Romneycare skeleton back out of the closet. When Mitt dismisses it and promises to kill Obamacare no matter what, Santorum has a meltdown and acts like the biggest bitch ever; I think his water must’ve broke! In fact, Santorum talks over Mitt and runs down Mitt’s time to respond and when the time runs out, Santorum gladly taunts Mitt by saying, “You’re out of time Mitt!” Wow, what a fanciful tactic employed by such a worthless maroon. This would not be the only time Mitt faced some heat. All this did though was make Santorum look like a bratty child and it hurt his run for the White House.

Santorum, the time thief, then gets into a spat with Rick Perry which is also a waste of time since it is between these two. He goes on some pro-relgio-family rant that no one is paying attention to. Santorum is asked if what religion a candidate is is important. He responds with values, values, morals, morals, family, family, faith, faith, Jesus, amen. When the issue of military spending comes up, Santorum promises not to cut a penny and says that it is the president’s job to protect the people. If that’s true, Obama better step in homie and protect you from yourself because every time you open your mouth it is like witnessing career suicide. And that’s basically it for Santorum.

Where’s Gary Johnson?

The next candidate I should examine is Michele Bachmann. Like Santorum and Huntsman, I can’t believe she is still in this race. I guess performing in Vegas for the GOP crowd with Wayne Newton in your corner is a potential campaign booster but I doubt it will matter here. In fact, it really doesn’t. Bachmann just does her Bachmann schtick and unless she is giving out free concert tickets like she did in Iowa for straw poll votes, she’s pretty much a non-contender at this point.

Somehow, Bachmann was lucky enough to get the first question from Anderson Cooper. She used this opportunity to jump right into bashing Herman Cain’s 999 Plan. She went as far as to say it could become 90-90-90. Yeah, that’s pretty extreme lady, even for the federal government. Scare tactics, even ones that carry some truth, eventually backfire. Bachmann goes on to explain, from her POV, that the 999 Plan is just going to open the door for a VAT tax. She’s not necessarily wrong here. It amazes me though that Bachmann has 5 years more experience in politics than Herman Cain does. He’s so smooth and calculating while she just feeds into my worst media-manufactured fears about her.

At some point during the debate when others are talking, Bachmann keeps calling out “..Anderson, Anderson, Anderson..” like Mr. Cooper is one of her 9,743 foster kids. She goes on some generic “repeal, repeal, repeal” spiel and tells us to visit MicheleBachmann.com. I guess she’s running a special Tea party Beanie Baby sale or something. With her weird cruise director-style frosted white shirt and crazed look, I can’t help but think she looks like a piece of fascist angel food cake.

When it comes time to talk about illegal immigration, Bachmann admits that not only does she want to build a fence, she wants to build a double fence! Whoa! Lady that’s crazy! I thought you were a “fiscal conservative”? Isn’t a double fence essentially two fences? And aren’t two fences twice as expensive as one fence? Maybe the fence store is running a two-for-on special on fences this week. If that’s the case, I guess she can somewhat claim the title of “fiscal conservative” but realistically, even one fence is expensive as hell.

Other Bachmann highlights are that she says she will enforce English as the language of America. Not sure how she’ll enforce it but it sounds like something a neocon would say right before putting a gun to your head. Bachmann says she is concerned about magnets. Apparently, those pesky illegals get stuck to them and we can’t get them off. Bachmann also says that she spends most of her time talking to moms. One has to wonder if they are real moms or her alter-egos. She’s stealing a page from the Palin playbook with her mom comment but at least she didn’t call them grizzly bears or bullfrogs or whatever. Bachmann goes on to sell us on the Iran charade about them wanting to eat our kids and blast us with bombs they don’t have. Bachmann has no real answers to any real questions except the one about Israel. She basically says she’ll throw money at them which gets a cheap pop from the crowd. Closing out the night Bachmann says she is the “most different” candidate from Obama on the stage. Nope, Ron Paul is lady. You’re just shit smeared on burnt toast.

Next up is Captain Boring a.k.a. Rick Perry. This guy is dry, humorless and a horrible wordsmith. Between the long pauses and the staring off into space, Perry’s verbalized thoughts were incredibly hard to follow. He has no substance, just very boring talking points and a haircut.

Rick Perry also jumps on the anti-999 train, as it is the popular thing to do. He goes off on Cain about his plan even though he has no plan of his own. As he says at every debate, his plan is “on the way”. After the 999 exchange, Perry goes on some sort of energy speech/rant that gets some applause. I think they were just clapping because he finished a thought albeit somewhat sluggishly. It was hard to follow what he was saying as it was about as coherent as my drunk Uncle Seymour singing Klingon opera over Soulja Boy beats.

Perry claims that Texas has one of the best medical systems in the world which brings up the discussion about creating magnets for illegal aliens. This discussion almost turns into an all out war between Perry and Romney. Perry claims that Romney knowingly hired illegal aliens to work in his mansion, which sets Romney off. Romney tries to argue back but Perry, like Santorum, talks over Romney trying to sabotage his defense and use up his time. Romney gets angrier and angrier and visibly turns red. The Mormon fire is burning inside! However, the Texas fire is burning too! Both guys take some low blows and some cheap shots and no one really cares about the substance, we just want to see a fight. Man, I wish they would’ve started swinging so it would kill both of their campaigns. Then again, people would probably applaud it and both would skyrocket in the polls. Where I stand, these guys failed miserably, as did Santorum. My three least favorite candidates looked like a trio of whiney emotional tools.

Other Perry highlights include him calling for a virtual defense program over a fence. He also mentions that drones are being trained. I guess he thinks drones are people. Aw.. that’s kinda cute. Perry is a special fella. Perry goes on to punk out Bachmann on her double fence talk however it backfires as all his two-year-old bitching is getting him, at this point, is boos. One good thing Perry does say though, is that we need to seriously look at the issue of foreign aid and that we need to defund the UN. Perry then claims he made Facebook, eBay and Caterpillar or something like that. He did work for Al Gore so I can see where those sort of delusions may have come from.

Looking at Mitt Romney’s performance is tedious. Yes he looks presidential and he even acts presidential considering that the last handful of them were pandering thieving lying douches. In fact, he is also a copycat as he goes right after Cain’s 999 Plan to kick off his side of the debate. Mitt and Herman exchange blows and their argument does nothing to convince me that either is right in their stance.

Apart from the War of the Haircuts between Mittens and Perry, there weren’t many Mitt highlights. He spent most of his time defending himself while being talked over. He also turned a weird shade of red a few times. However a few notable things were that he pimped out states’ rights and he showed that he has more catchphrases than the Rock. He also tried to educate Ron Paul on foreign policy but this was like watching a preschooler telling a surgeon how to do open heart surgery. Mitt did have a great diss though when he equated Perry’s experience as governor to a college football coach that has lost 40 games.

Newt Gingrich was somewhat of a savior for the debate as Anderson Cooper usually went to him after the children in the room were having a spat. Newt in his cool, calm and collective way worked the room like a goddamned mastermind and once again shined and earned the respect of those watching. As I’ve said several times, I do not fully agree with Newt’s policies but goddamn he’s a leader and a fucking statesman. I used to loathe this guy and he has won me over which is damn near impossible to do once you’ve made it on my shit list. Newt has done just that though and I love watching this guy debate. He’d eat up Obama like a Kid Cuisine. If Ron Paul wasn’t in this race, I’d probably vote for Newt. Unfortunately, Gary Johnson, my second choice, gets no respect and he can’t gain momentum without being invited to the debates.

Newt also gets involved in the 999 debate and says that there are a lot more complexities to the plan than Herman Cain is letting on. I agree. Newt gives Cain props for bringing us something real to discuss and look at but he can’t fully support the idea. Newt goes on to call out Romney as a big government stooge with his Romneycare plan. Mitt then rebuttals Newt with a lie about Newt and Newt quickly checks his ass like Wolverine backhanding a stray cat. Newt don’t care! Newt don’t give a shit! “Watch out”, says that bird!

Herman Cain, who surged after the last debate, had a pretty weak performance in my opinion and I believe it is because his lack of political experience is finally showing. As the debate started with everyone attacking his 999 Plan, he really did nothing to defend it. He continually told everyone that they were wrong, regardless of their information. He told everyone to read the plan and to do their own math. Sorry brother but this isn’t going to fly. You can’t keep telling people to read it, you have to educate the people first and get them passionate about it. If you don’t have the ability to defend your plan without just brushing off criticism as being wrong, then no one will care. My biggest fear is that Cain really has no rebuttal because all the critics are right. By how this has been handled by Cain himself, I’m siding with the critics. Besides, everything they’ve said, I’ve thought about myself before this debate. After reading the bill, I can’t find anything in it to correct or even soothe these concerns. All Cain really gives us is talk of “apples and oranges”. He seems to get really flustered by all the haters and his tone changes a bit with each candidate who doubts him. As pimpalicious as Cain can be, he showed signs of having thin skin.

Getting away from the 999 issue, Cain tells us that we need to repeal Obamacare and look at revisiting bill HR 3400 as a way to help solve the issues with health care in this country. I’ll have to read up on that. Cain also mentions that we need to promote our path to citizenship in an effort to help alleviate the illegal alien issue. Cain owns up to flip-flopping on TARP. He’s had many other economic follies however. Cain says the anger of the Occupy Wall Street Movement is misdirected yet he takes a bullet for the Federal Reserve again. Cain is a minion of the Fed, that much is clear at this point. This spawns into an argument with Ron Paul about the tyranny of the Federal Reserve, which I’ll touch on in a bit.

Cain tells us he will not negotiate with terrorists under any circumstances which contradicts something he said in an interview earlier in the day before the debate. Cain closes out the night by pimping his skills at running small companies. I never knew that Coca-Cola, Burger King, Godfather’s Pizza, Pillsbury, Nabisco, Whirlpool and Reader’s Digest were small companies. Surprising, because I see them everywhere.

Ron Paul probably had his best debate yet. He starts by calling the 999 Plan dangerous and that we need to replace the income tax with nothing! Hell yes! He says that he promises to cut $1 trillion dollars in his first year! Oh hell yeah! I bet “fiscal conservative” Bachmann dropped a turd in her ‘Love Boat’ digs when she heard that. When asked about an alternative to Obamacare, Paul says there needs to be no alternative and that individuals should be allowed to opt out of government medicine if they want to. I can dig that. Ron Paul points out that as soon as the government becomes involved in anything, lobbyists line up.

Ron Paul calls for us to examine the real reasons why illegal aliens flock to America and that we have to end these incentives and promote citizenship. He points out that in a free society the group mentality would dissolve, there would be no more “us versus them”. Herman Cain cuts in to tell us that 999 will give Latinos the American dream. Ron Paul talks about securing the border but shows us our own folly when he informs the clueless pack of non-liberty candidates that they are more concerned with the Afghanistan-Pakistan border than the United States-Mexico border.

On the Yucca Mountain issue, Ron Paul calls for states’ rights and says that no state should be forced to be the other 49 states garbage dump. In this case, Nevada would be made the United States’ nuclear waste dump. This is an issue that gets brushed under the rug, as the only people it really effects is the people of Nevada.

The next big Ron Paul moment came at the expense of Herman Cain when he was compelled to educate Fed insider Cain on the reality of the Federal Reserve, which he willingly took another bullet for. In reference to Occupy Wall Street, Paul tells Cain that we need to take the anger to the Federal Reserve and that we need to understand bubbles and their origin. Paul tells Cain to not trust the government and to put his trust in the marketplace. True words from a real man.

Ron Paul then feels the need to once again educate the candidates and the people watching on the difference between military spending and defense spending. He warns that we are spread too thin all over the world and that we are overextending our resources. He says that we’d be safer if we weren’t in so many places. On foreign aid, Ron Paul refers to it as a system that steals from the poor in a rich country (the United States) and gives to the rich in a poor country. He talks about how our foreign aid makes Israel dependent on us and it prevents them from fully standing on their own two feet. Ron Paul’s shocking honesty is met with gasps because the truth hurts like a motherfucker.

In the end, this was a pretty good debate. The lovers quarrels were entertaining and Anderson Cooper ran a smooth show. Cooper also gave a fair amount of time to everyone for the most part. I felt that Ron Paul was on more of an even playing field with the golden boy candidates and everyone really got their say in about most of the topics. CNN certainly stepped their game up and it was kind of refreshing.

Anyway, this was like the 37th debate and I know we have several dozen more so it is going to be a long road for all of these candidates. I will say this though, it is time for Santorum, Huntsman and Bachmann to drop out. You’re wasting our time and without you there the top tier guys could get more time to hash some shit out. I know, I know.. you’re still in the hunt. You can’t back out yet, you’re all just on the cusp of going from 3% to 4%. Besides, who am I, or anyone else for that matter, to ask for any favors. Ah well, guess I’m stuck watching the preliminary card before the real fight.

Grading Scale:
Grade A+: Ron Paul
Grade A-: Newt Gingrich
Grade C-: Herman Cain
Grade D: Mitt Romeny
Grade D-: Rick Perry
Grade F: Rick Santorum
Grade F: Michele Bachmann
Grade I: Jon Huntsman
Grade I: Gary Johnson

*Written by Rob Rimes.

Keeping up with all these debates is fucking tedious! I feel like this is an ongoing weekly drama except the excitement is nonexistent and the cliffhangers are lame. I know I have bitched about the media’s obsession about Chris Christie and all the other hypothetical candidates but shit, apart from Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, these people are like a triple-dose of Ambien washed down with a mason jar full of cheap 100 proof swill. Although this debate was pretty damn good.

To add to the excitement, we got Mr. Excitement himself Charlie Rose hosting this damn thing! Mr. Rose put me to sleep the whole fucking night and other than the fact that he is ancient and I guess a legend to some, I can’t gather why Bloomberg or the Washington Post put this guy up there as the master of ceremonies. I partially blame those pesky Thundercats for luring Mumm-Ra out of his tomb. Fuck you Lion-O, fuck you.

The one refreshing thing is that this particular debate has three major differences than all the other debates thus far. First, the entire debate is focused on economic issues. Second, the candidates will be allowed to ask each other questions in the last hour. Third, there are no podiums; the candidates are all sitting around what Charlie Rose refers to as “the kitchen table”. Unfortunately Herman Cain didn’t bring pizza for the whole family.

Now I’m not going to break this down play-by-play like the last several debate recaps, I’m just going to give you the rundown of each person and highlight a few of the memorable moments. Certain things for me shifted in this debate, most notably Herman Cain falling from my graces as my 3rd choice. He is now at the bottom of the barrel and Newt has moved to third. My first is obviously Ron Paul and my second is Gary Johnson. Speaking of which, where the fuck is Gary Johnson?! Once again, homeboy gets the fucking shaft! He shined last debate and had the joke of the night (albeit stolen from Rush Limbaugh) but damn it he’s earned his spot on that stage, especially if they’re going to invite Santorum and Huntsman to all these damn shindigs.

To start, lets visit the golden boys Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. I’ll break down Perry before Mittens because I love stepping on Perry’s withered Texas nuts. This debate provided him with the platform he needed to get back in the hunt. Fortunately, he fell flat again. Granted, Perry didn’t do as bad as he has done in previous debates but it was like he was sitting this one out. I think he was asleep. His performance was so boring that I literally heard crickets with Texas accents. I fucking shit you not.

Perry essentially recycles his failed tactics of his previous debates and feeds us a bunch of talking points that wouldn’t hold up to any real fact checker. In fact, most of these taking points have become redundant and even though they have been debunked and exposed as lies debate after debate, Rick Perry keeps on shoving them down our throats. It’s fucking moronic and we are all wise to it. He’s losing support because even the shitcocks who were worshipping his prune nuts earlier in the race are now waking up and seeing the skewed reality of this wretched brown-eye’s schtick. Then again, there are still some shitcocks doing a jig for this tyrannosaurus dick.

The best piece of egg that landed on Perry’s face was when he was confronted about his economic plan. Well folks, three months into this fucking thing and Perry doesn’t have a plan. He can’t even explain what his plan is going to be. He promises to have one shortly but apparently, while he’s sinking in the polls, he doesn’t see the importance in at least presenting something to attempt to keep his ass afloat. Rick Perry is a big saggy bag of “epic fail”.

Some other things about Perry are that he deflected the question of his party allegiance by saying that he switched from Democrat to Republican at a younger age than Reagan. Sure dude, take shots at a dead pres. Perry also said he wasn’t in favor of Cain’s 999 Plan. Perry also makes a statement that he would skirt legislation if he needed to. Yep, sounds like a dictator to me. Also, he keeps reminding us that governments don’t create jobs but he keeps taking credit for a million fictitious jobs he “created” in Texas. Between all his “um”‘s and long pauses Rick Perry goes to a magic place. Unfortunately for us, we aren’t invited. I just wish he’d stop blanking out in the middle of debates and stay focused. Shit dude, we only need you up there for two hours. Perry is a cancer, plain and simple.

Now Mr. Mittens continued to work his way into the hearts of the heartless, as he didn’t falter or fall from his stance and may have even gained some points as he stayed above the bickering and successfully sold himself as more important and larger than the other candidates at the table. Now I’m not sucking his Mormon dick, I am just calling it how I see it. I’d prefer it if he failed. Dude’s just got his shit together and every time he shows up to one of these things, Aquanet stock surges.

Out of the gate, Mitt reminds us that we need a president that is a leader. No shit dude, what else would we need, a president that’s a pecan log? Mitt goes on to pimp his 59 point plan which is something he must have stolen from a vehicle inspection chart. In fact, Herman Cain called out Romney and asked him if he could name all 59 points. Mitt said that some things just aren’t that simple. Yep, that’s a big government answer.

When Mittens is asked if he would give us another Wall Street bailout he basically said that bailouts are bad but won’t say if he will or won’t. Mitt never answers anything. Oddly, Mitt is incredibly sweaty or the lights make him look sweaty and glazed over. Good thing he’s not gross like Nixon or he’d be fucked in this election.

Romney goes on to channel Milton Friedman but fails miserably. I laughed out loud, kind of like every time I watch the 1990 series of Friedman’s “Free to Choose” and see the introduction from Arnold Schwarzenegger. Why do neocons embrace free market principles yet never seem to truly understand them?

Mitt bitches about China and says they are playing us like a fiddle while wearing an American flag pin on his lapel that was probably made in China. He promises not to cut defense and not to raise taxes. Mitt claims he started Staples and Sports Authority in the same way that Al Gore claims he invented the Internet. In the end, Mitt gives us nothing but that’s how he stays on top. Well, that and his hair.

By the way, before the debate, Mitt gained the endorsement of NJ Gov. Chris Christie. Welcome to my shitlist Christie.

Next up is that other Mormon, Jon Huntsman. Truthfully, I don’t know how or why this guy is still in the race. It boggles my fucking mind but as long as he is still breathing I have to keep watching him like a hawk. This debate he reminds us of how awesome he was in Utah, a state no one can fact check because no one knows anything about it. He tells us we need to regain our industrial base but doesn’t tell us how. Okay, I’m going to tell you all that we need to have a prosperous country but I’m not going to tell you how. Huntsman also tells us that his flat tax plan brought Utah to the moon. He then disses Cain’s 999 Plan and asks if it is a pizza deal. ROFLMAO! I find it funny because I’ve said the same thing countless times. Damn it, I should be mad because Huntsman bit my joke.

Huntsman tells us that he plans on phasing out corporate welfare and subsidies. He also claims that he will bring forth more aggressive trade laws. Huntsman also disses Romney by pointing out that his state Utah was number one in job creation while Massachusetts was number forty-seven under Romney. Oh snap! Aaaaand that’s about it for Huntsman who had all of about three minutes of screen time.

The other big loser of the GOP field Rick Santorum or Sanscrotum or whatever his name is was present at the debate too. Santorum, fresh off of the racquetball courts jumped into the debate by telling us he wants to drill Pennsylvania! Damn you horn dog go get’m! I wonder if he means the dudes too? There is that rumor you know.

Anyway, Santorum didn’t bring much but he also punked out Cain on his 999 Plan and he even got some audience participation by getting folks to raise their hands whether or not they disagreed with certain aspects of Cain’s plan. When people actually started participating, Santorum got so excited he had a seizure on national television. In fact, he ruined his jacket sleeve by continually wiping the foam from his rabid mouth. Santourm then says something later on about how a president once drove an exploding truck. I don’t know what he meant but it sounds like a fucking great movie idea! I nominate Nick Nolte to play the lead. The only other thing of note to come out of Racquetball Rick’s foamy mouth is that we can’t have limited government without families or something lame like that. Whenever Sanscrotum talks, I wince.

Woohoo! Now we’ve got supermom Michele Bachmann who is wearing pearls the size of ox testicles! Right from the beginning, Bachmann’s got that look in her eye: that same look my Aunt Eustice gets when she loses her teeth in the couch. She immediately informs us that Dodd-Franks are 2 for $5 at the Piggly Wiggly. She also mumbles through stories about Obama mumbling. She is also wearing a flag pin on her and luckily she pinned on the right flag. I think I’m being hard on her but I just can’t take her run seriously anymore. It’s not because she is a woman, it’s because side-by-side she makes Rick Santorum look like he’s smarter than a 5th grader.

Bachmann also jumps down Cain’s throat about his 999 Plan. It’s as if all these candidates are threatened by the black dude who has been whipping their asses since he conquered Florida last month. Bachmann calls the plan a tax plan and not a jobs plan as well as a pipeline for Congress to implement the treacherous VAT tax. She also gets all religiotarded and says that if you flip 999 it is the 666 Plan. Oh Jesus.. literally.

In her head, Bachmann is creating the 333 Plan because she finds “3″‘s to be cute and precious. Before finally leaving us, she has to remind us that she has mothered thirteen dozen kids. I could make a lewd comment about that but c’mon, it wouldn’t be gentlemanly to diss the genitals of any non-male candidates. She closes out the debate by saying, “The more we can do to love people the better off American society is.” That is an actual quote. I think she read it on a poster she saw while buying crystals at the Moon Goddess Emporium. She then looks wildly around and sniffs because apparently a Cinnabon distracted her.

The heaviest hitters of this debate are all that’s left now: Paul, Cain and Gingrich. Starting with Gingrich, I want to say that each debate that goes by, he gains more respect from me. Not because I agree with his stance on things but because he’s got Godzilla sized testicles and he refuses to be pushed around or surprised by the moderators or the other candidates. Newt will take your “gotcha” questions, cut them into small little sharp pieces, stick them to his taped up fists and then punch them up your ass! Newt is the fucking honey badger of the debate! Newt don’t care! Newt don’t give a shit! Newt just ate a fucking cobra AFTER getting bit in the face! His staff quit like months ago! Newt don’t give a shit! Newt doesn’t care! For the record, I once saw Newt eat bees.

To kick off his onslaught, Newt first breaks down the differences between the Tea Party and the misguided Occupy Wall Street movement. He then calls for the firing of Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner. He also calls for transparency of the Federal Reserve. I almost pull out my checkbook. Newt then has some colorful rhetoric about head shots and severed limbs. Newt just owns every moment he is given. I half expected him to stand up on Charlie Rose’s kitchen table, drop his pants and shit little Chuck Norrises!

Now I want to talk about Cain and Paul simultaneously because as the debates move on and on, we are coming to understand that when it comes to economics, these guys are polar opposites, especially in regards to the Federal Reserve. Ron Paul, as you all should know, is the one guy who has been taking a baseball bat to the Fed’s nuts for years now. Herman Cain on the other hand is a Fed insider and a former director from the Kansas City branch. Cain’s true colors didn’t really show until this night. I was always highly skeptical of him but his judgment about how to handle the Fed either shows complete ignorance, which I find to be impossible considering his former position, or it shows that he doesn’t want the Federal Reserve to be fully exposed to the public. I’m pretty sure it is the latter.

One of the most shocking moments of the night is when a moderator asked Herman Cain that if he could appoint any former Federal Reserve chairman to head up the Fed now, who would he choose. Cain quickly responded with Alan Greenspan! Is Cain not a true student of economics? Does he not know about inflation? Does he not get how this works? Or is it an attempt to kiss some ass because Greenspan was his former employer and Cain might need a reference if he doesn’t get the White House gig.

Ron Paul quickly jumped in and explained that Greenspan was a “disaster”, as we all should now. I mean, Greenspan was the precursor to Ben Bernanke. Ron Paul went on to state that the best chairman of the Fed was Paul Volcker, not that he was even good but Volcker at least understood the mechanics of inflation.

Ron Paul points out that Herman Cain was against an audit of the Federal Reserve because he said that we would not find anything and that it was a waste of time. Being an insider he should know, right? Well, Paul also points out that when we were able to execute a partial audit a few months back that we discovered a mountain of questionable acts and tyranny. Paul also pointed out that Cain called Ron Paul supporters and those who want to audit the Fed “ignorant” and “stupid”. Cain lied and said he didn’t say that. Well, he did say it. For the record, Cain recently called Ron Paul a “grumpy old man” when he was on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’. Cain hates Ron Paul and his supporters because if they dig up enough dirt on the Fed, some might stick to Cain himself.

When pressed on the Federal Reserve further, Cain says that he has been “misrepresented” on the issue of the Fed (apparently by himself) but that it was secondary because his focus is on his 999 Plan. Dude, I got 999 Plans but Cain’s ain’t one!

It seems like the mainstream media has now taken to Cain, he’s like their sleeper candidate now that Perry failed and Christie didn’t jump in. Not only did he get the first question of the debate but his 999 Plan monopolized the entire two hours. Luckily there was enough criticism from most of the other candidates and the moderators to start to really open the door on it. I was pretty fucking tired of hearing “nine nine nine” every three seconds of the debate. The main and most obvious problem I see with the plan is what prevents Congress from turning it into the 23-23-23 Plan? C’mon, like they aren’t going to touch it and fuck it up. I also don’t believe the bullshit that it is a stepping stone to the FairTax, as stepping stones have never worked in Washington. All Cain can say against the naysayers is that their “assumptions are incorrect”. Cain also admitted that he doesn’t buy beer, which means he just lost the support of my entire social circle.

Herman Cain really disappointed me beyond belief. My fears of him being a typical neocon in Tea Party clothing have not faded. In fact, I’m now feeling the need to really dig deep on Cain and to look into his past. Maybe I’ll start with archives of his radio show, which I never listened to. I have a feeling he jumped on the Tea Party bandwagon and was probably more of a big government guy before the grassroots revolution took shape. I mean, he supported TARP, he supported Romney and he is trying to protect the Federal Reserve.

With Gary Johnson getting absolutely no respect, there is really only one choice and his name is Ron Paul. To back anyone else is ridiculous at this point. One thing I can say to all you Ron Paul naysayers out there is that at least I don’t have to make excuses for my guy. I don’t have to defend him. I also don’t have to continually justify his stance because it has never changed. These are all things you have to do with any other candidate that was in this debate. Stop wasting your breath and stop wasting your time.

This debate was one of the better ones, all things considered. The game definitely changed for me and a lot of true colors came out. Bachmann, Santorum and Huntsman proved that they are in over their heads, Perry proved once again that he can’t debate, Romney did Romney, Ron Paul brought the realness, Cain showed us that he was NOT his brother’s keeper an Newt ate a fucking cobra! I wish all debates were this awesome. Newtie Badger don’t care!

Grading Scale:
Grade A: Ron Paul
Grade B: Newt Gingrich
Grade C+: Herman Cain
Grade C-: Mitt Romeny
Grade D: Rick Perry
Grade D: Jon Huntsman
Grade D: Rick Santorum
Grade D: Michele Bachmann
Grade I: Gary Johnson

Video – Cain vs Paul on the Federal Reserve:

My Two Cents: Since when do presidential candidates hold press conferences in Staples? End Two Cents.

*Taken from Yahoo News.

Not everyone needs to go to Disney World to have fun in central Florida.

After one of Herman Cain’s strongest showings yet at a Republican presidential debate Thursday, and two days with conservative activists in the state, he won the “Presidency 5″ straw poll in Orlando over the weekend, beating Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the front-runner in the primary race, by more than 20 points.

While straw polls are not scientific and their results can be poor indicators of whether a candidate will  win a party’s nomination–the latest actual Florida poll put Cain near the bottom–they can help spark some momentum, especially for lower-tier candidates. For Cain, a 65-year-old businessman, mathematician, author and radio host from Atlanta, Georgia, his straw poll win could well be the high-water mark of his campaign. And by his own admission, the path that brought him this far wasn’t an easy one. The morning before the straw poll, I met Cain for coffee in a hotel near the convention center that hosted the debate and straw poll. As we discussed the early phase of the Republican primaries, he told me that before coming to Florida, he had nearly called it quits on two occasions.

“The thing that I’ve learned about myself in this campaign–because I’ve never had this happen to me before on a single challenge–is that I’ve gone to the brink, ready to pull the plug, but came back, twice,” Cain said. “I’ve only had two days where I personally felt, should I pull the plug? For different reasons. That’s how frustrating a campaign can be.”

CONTINUED..

*Written by Rob Rimes.

There’s been too many debates this month! I’m not necessarily tired of writing about them but a little break would be nice. Hell, I can’t even imagine how tired the candidates must be from all the travel to and fro, as well as all their other events and straw polls sprinkled in between all the televised debates and interviews. In any event, the wear and tear showed in this particular debate. Not to say it didn’t have it’s good moments but everyone seemed to have a little less fire this round and it kind of came and went with a bit of a whimper.

This debate was held by Fox News and Google, which was awesome because typically Fox News has the best debates. Their quality is higher and their shows are just put together like a well-oiled machine. This time was no different except for a few things and the inclusion of Google added an interesting new twist to the debate. Google spent time collecting questions from the candidates from the general public using several of their online services. Many people sent in videos via YouTube which was really cool, as other YouTube users got to vote on which questions were the best. This format was pretty refreshing and well-executed.

One great thing about this debate is the fact that Gary Johnson was invited! I’ve been bitching about his apparent exile from the debates with the princess-like fierceness of a scorned little girl but now I can turn off my diva mode and enjoy the fact that the lesser-known libertarian in the race was given a platform to shine. I would really like to see Thaddeus McCotter in the debates too, as I haven’t even heard from this guy at all yet. Let everyone have the opportunity to shine! As Billie Jean said, “Fair is fair!”

Fox News of course goes to Rick Perry first, Bret Baier says that everyone else has outlined their economic and job plans but that Rick Perry hasn’t clearly defined what his plans are. Rick Perry diverts the question very quickly and says that his plan is coming. M’kay dude, you’ve been in this race for almost two months and participated in about four debates and your team hasn’t prepared an official plan or even a statement on one of your most important platform points?

Fox News then goes to Mitt Romney in an effort to give the two golden boys the advantage right out of the gate. Mitt talks about job creation and cites his awesome business record. He promises to cut taxes for the middle class while promising to protect them. When questioned by the moderators where the income line is for what Mitt considers to be rich, he can’t answer the question or at least refuses to.

Megyn Kelly is beautiful.

A question from an audience member last debate that went unanswered by Jon Huntsman is now recycled and given to Michele Bachmann. That question was “How much of my paycheck should I be allowed to keep?” Bachmann, who is wearing a shirt so red it makes her look like an apple with a creepy head on top, doesn’t really answer the question either. She basically says that your money is your money but then says we have to give some of it to the government. Um.. so which is it lady?

“Mr. Racquetball” Rick Suckscrotum is asked about his thoughts on a possible federal right to work law. He says a bunch of crap and no one listens. Newt then steps in and says that there should be some sort of business training program attached to unemployment benefits. Yeah, sounds expensive buddy! Who’s going to pay for it? I can only assume it’ll be ME! Fuck that, how ’bout no benefits and thus no training program? I mean, is this training program going to be run by the government? One can only assume the answer to that is “yes”. Therefore, how can we be assured that such a program, which will be expensive, will even be effective? Maybe Newt has a lot more faith in the federal government than I do. This idea is stupid lame.

Herman Cain comes into the debate like, “Yeah! Nine nine nine motherfucker!” His plan sounds interesting, I still need to read it but since he has been pimping the plan, there has been no mention of the FairTax. What’s going on dude? You were like a FairTax champion! Cain does have one of the best lines of the night however when he disses Mitt for being a fan of the current tax code. Mr. Cain tells Mitt, “That dog won’t hunt!” Touché Mr. Cain, touché.

Romney has no comeback for Cain, he just reminds us that the middle class is hurting. A middle class that cannot be defined as he can’t figure out where the income line is for those who are considered rich.

Ron Paul finally gets into the debate and kicks it off by telling us he will veto any bill that violates the 10th Amendment. Oh hell yes! For those not in the know, which should be none of you, basically Ron Paul will not allow the federal government to overpower state and local governments. Ron Paul is a firm believer in states’ rights and on his watch, he will fight for them.

The other libertarian candidate Gary Johnson gets some airtime for the first time since the very first GOP debate way back in May. Gary Johnson immediately promises several things. He vows to submit a balanced budget, he promises to veto bills that are wasteful and unconstitutional and he also pimps out the FairTax with colorful flare. Uh oh, Mr. Cain someone’s tugging at the FairTax fan base while you’re mum about it in favor of you’re 999 Plan.

The next part of the debate goes on forever and is just about unbearable to watch. Mitt Romney and Rick Perry go back and forth over and over, quoting each other’s books while trying to throw each other under the proverbial bus. This is a yawnfest and just bad television. Mitt disses Perry, Perry rebuttals with a diss, Mitt rebuttals with a diss, Perry rebuttals with a diss, Mitt rebuttals with a diss and we’ve got a broken record where the moderators are allowing these two shitcocks to purposely take shots at each other in an effort to monopolize the TV time. It was a clever ploy and it was seemingly obvious that Fox News and these two candidates were in on it. Maybe I’m getting too conspiratorial here but why else would the moderators turn this into a two man tennis match, ignoring the other seven on stage, just so that these primadonna boy toys could reenact a spat from “Girls Behaving Badly”.

Huntsman is up next after that long ass lovers’ quarrel. He tries to channel Ronald Reagan as I tune out and try to channel a pint of PBR. He does call for tax reform and an end to ObamaCare as well as Dodd-Frank.

Cain is asked that if he had to eliminate at least one government agency, which would it be. Cain says the EPA because they are wasteful, tyrannical and they drastically need to be reformed. He wants to break apart and rebuild the EPA from scratch. Personally, I was hoping he would say the Department of Homeland Security but I feel that Cain subscribes to the fear-mongering. I mean, he supports the War on Terror, so why not the tyrannical offspring of the PATRIOT Act as well? I’d like to personally question Cain on DHS and TSA and where he stands on both agencies.

Gary Johnson gets more airtime and promises to cut government spending by 43%. He also promises to abolish the Federal Department of Education. Man, if this guy starts picking up steam, he’s going to piss off a lot of people on the left and the right. I support that. Ron Paul backs up Gary Johnson and says he wants government out of education completely. He opposes No Child Left Behind and feels that people should be able to opt out of it.

Rick Perry is for school choice but then switches the subject to call out Mitt again which turns into another dick wagging contest. I take a break and go off to make a fajita and grab another beer. During the homoerotic exchange, another candidate starts to speak up about all the time Fox News is wasting on the Perry-Romney lovefest but Bret Baier actually says that he wants to give Mitt Romney more time. C’mon Bret! You don’t want to join the fray with those two queens do you?!

Michele Bachmann wants local control of education with strong parental involvement. She also reminds us of her 12,749 kids. Herman Cain wants to cut all the strings between government and education. He wants to empower the students. Get the federal government out! Huntsman steps into the argument but he was so boring I played solitaire until he finished talking.

The next big topic is immigration. Bachmann is for states’ rights on the issue and is pissed at Obama for suing Arizona over what they thought was best for their state. Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney support E-Verify (read about it here if you don’t know what it is). Newt also wants English as the official language of America. Odd, as far as I know, it is. Mitt slams Perry (surprise! surprise!) for allowing illegal immigrants to collect up to $22,000 a year in tuition paid for by the state. Perry and Mitt then go into another spat to monopolize the limited TV time. Rick Santorum jumps into the bitch and whine session trying to wedge himself back into the debate. Somewhere in this petty immigration argument Rick Perry actually says, “You put boots on the ground. You put the aviation assets on the ground.” Uh, what? Don’t you want aviation assets in the air? It must’ve just been a Bush-like mistake. Oh no, wait.. he said it again and then again. Perry must snort sea monkeys.

The conversation shifts to Israel, the Middle East and the War on Terror. Mitt says that he doesn’t want “an inch of space between friends and allies”. He then goes off on Obama’s shitty treatment of Israel and Netanyahu. Herman Cain says that, “If you mess with Israel you mess with America.” Rick Perry wants to make India an ally to help us deal with Pakistan. Rick Santorum wants MORE troops in Iraq! No really, he wants more troops in Iraq! Newt Gingrich says he is willing to go through our foreign aid program and eliminate aid to those who aren’t our friends, especially those who are outspoken against us. It’s always “us versus them”. Newt then gets all fear-mongerish with talks of WMDs and whatnot. Gary Johnson says that we need to promote liberty and peace through free trade; I agree. Johnson is for opening up free trade with Cuba and supports flights from America to Cuba. Bachmann retorts by calling Cuba a terror sponsor. Um.. so is U.S. foreign policy lady. Huntsman wants to bring the troops home. Santorum cries more and mispronounces Afghanistan as “Afghanistein”, as if the country is either a giant metal beer mug or the Middle Eastern version of Frankenstein’s monster. Huntsman then says something awesome when he tells the other candidates that “Only Pakistan can save Pakistan”, as in it is a country’s job to find it’s own path and to map out it’s own destiny, it is not America’s job. Amen homeboy, amen.

As the debate starts to come to a close, we learn that Bachmann opposes the idea of a national church, which was a fucking strange question by the way. Rick Santorum opposes gays in the military and gets loud applause for his stance, proving that my fellow Floridians are fucking idiots. Good jobs fucktards, keep living up to the worst qualities the left says you GOPers possess. Ron Paul, going against the GOP grain, says that abortion is a state issue not a federal one. Fuck man, everything is really a state issue, the federal government just wants to strangle everybody.

Herman Cain then tells us the story about his cancer and how he feels he wouldn’t have beat the narrow odds had he gotten cancer with Obamacare implemented. His story gets a ton of applause from the crowd and even though it was really in-circumstantial to the debate, it won Mr. Cain a shit ton of brownie points and a huge straw poll victory in Florida following this debate. In any event, Cain’s story does add an aura of badassery to his already solid character and charisma. As I’ve said many times, I differ on several things with Cain but I personally like him and out of all the candidates he is my number three (although there is no number four or anyone else after Paul, Johnson or Cain that I would vote for).

Bachmann is questioned about her remarks that the HPV vaccine causes mental retardation. Bachmann says she never made such a statement. Well she did make the statement but to be objective she was paraphrasing what she claims a mother told her about her daughter who was on the vaccine. No kudos for Bachmann for not at least paraphrasing a doctor. Her whole comment could be bullshit and was just an irresponsible thing to say either way. Bachmann flips the script quickly however and reminds us about the connections between drug giant Merck, who made the vaccine, and Rick Perry, who tried to force vaccines on the children.

Perry then tells us a sad story about why he used the tactics he used. However, after the debate it came out that the story he told actually happened AFTER he used his executive order powers to force little girls to be vaccinated. Perry is a fucking scumbag liar! But somehow, way too many of you fucking morons out there are still supporting this devil in hair gel. Rick Perry said he “erred on the side of life.” Fuck you dude, you erred on the side of fucking greed.

The Lyin’ King Perry then touts his fictitious record again but at this point, anything the guy says is probably a lie. He then gets into it with Romney again in an attempt to monopolize even more time. Sorry homies, just because I’m all for gay rights doesn’t mean I want to see you two fuck each other in the mouth 69-style while your testes slam into each other’s noses. While there is a market for that, this is supposed to be a family friendly show!

The two highlights after the gay porn romp, is when Ron Paul tells the other candidates that they basically suck because he is the only one who foresaw and understood all the recent bubbles that burst. He then calls for an end to the Federal Reserve and a new era where free markets can rule supreme again. Gary Johnson drops an awesome joke about how his neighbor’s dogs have created more shovel ready jobs than Obama. This got thunderous applause but at the same time, that very joke was used earlier in the day by Rush Limbaugh. Johnson said his staff gave him the joke and he didn’t realize it was Rush’s. Realistically, who gives a fuck? Jokes are meant to be told and passed on. Gary Johnson once again pimps out the FairTax really hard. At least someone’s mentioning it, right Mr. Cain?

The moderators then officially close out the debate by asking all the candidates who they would pick out of their colleagues on stage as their VP running mate. What a waste of time. I won’t bore you with the lame details. In the end, this debate was subpar and not much came out of it, except for Herman Cain somehow evolving into a rockstar after dominating the Florida Straw Poll.

Grading Scale:
Grade B: Ron Paul
Grade B: Herman Cain
Grade B-: Gary Johnson
Grade C-: Newt Gingrich
Grade D+: Jon Huntsman
Grade D: Michele Bachmann
Grade D-: Rick Santorum
Grade D-: Mitt Romney
Grade F: Rick Perry
Grade I: Thaddeus McCotter