Mitt Romney has won the Indiana, North Carolina and West Virginia presidential primaries.

The trio is certain to push Romney closer to the 1,144 delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nomination, handing him 100 or so delegates of the 288 he still needs.

None of the outcomes is a surprise. Romney faces no serious challenge to the Republican nomination.

Even the candidate himself is essentially ignoring Tuesday’s primaries. Romney has been spending the day campaigning in Michigan, where he castigated President Barack Obama as an “old-school liberal” whose policies would take the country backward.

Source: The Toledo Blade.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

Yesss! This absurd presidential race has finally come close to an official end! Newt Gingrich, like Rick Santorum two weeks prior, has dropped out of the race. It couldn’t have come at a better time for the man who looks like the 60-something version of Chucky the killer Good Guy doll. Considering that Mitt Romney swept five out of five states last night, Newt knew his days were numbered and decided that it was best to step out of the Romney steamroller’s way and to stop embarrassing himself. Don’t get me wrong, I like Newt as a personality and he brought some real fire to this long-winded and nearly endless contest. He was a good contender for the establishment neocons who pretty much dominate the Republican Party and whether you love him or hate him, he would’ve really been a thorn in Obama’s side if they had gotten the chance to debate. Granted, Gingrich like his neocon counterparts wouldn’t be that far off from Obama on most issues but their bouts would have been entertaining nonetheless and there most assuredly would’ve been a lot of low blows, illegal headbutts and busted faces. That’s a dream match us boxing fans won’t get to see.

Now with the man named after a slimy amphibious lizard creature out of the way, this is truly a two-man race now. Dr. Ron Paul still refuses to go away quietly and thank fuck for that. Frankly, Dr. Paul is going to now soak up all the delegates Mitt Romney has missed on his quest for the American throne. Can Paul win? Not at this point but his strategy of delegate collecting is working. I was doubtful about it but he outlasted everyone but the dominate frontrunner and now has the opportunity to excel further in an effort to take his message of liberty to an even higher level.

Unfortunately for Ron Paul, I don’t think that the media gives a shit (surprise! surprise!) and the people just aren’t listening. The Tea Party isn’t really partying anymore and even if they still gave two shits, they’re brains have been replaced with neocon-flavored slushy. The anti-Romney non-party-affiliated Tea Party is now unified behind the Republican Party candidate. Personally, I am fine with that though, us true Dr. Paul supporters saw that ship sinking as soon as Sarah Palin showed up to the party and spiked the tea. I’ve already tackled most of these points however and it should be apparent to everyone that the Tea Party has pretty much always been the Republicans’ grassroots machine even though it claimed vehemently that it wasn’t. What’s that old saying? Oh yes, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn’t exist.” Well, the greatest trick the Tea Party ever pulled was to convince its members that they weren’t establishment Republican sheep. It doesn’t matter though, they don’t care either way whether they’ve been fully exposed or not. Honestly, even if they were down with the rhetoric they espoused, they still weren’t hardcore enough for me. As far as I am concerned, fuck’m all – bring the anarchy! Why wait for the shit to really hit the fan, let’s tear shit up now and get to rebuilding. It’s time to tear this elephant-sized band-aid the fuck off!

Sorry, I’m just completely fucking disgusted and tired of waiting for America’s slow death.

So this is where we are at. He have Romney and Obama going head-to-head with Paul and Johnson somewhere off to the side trying to remind us all why we are completely fucked. Romney’s wins in Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island were just five more bitter nails in the coffin that is sealing away liberty, freedom and prosperity. Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama are just standing there with shovels waiting to start burying the American Dream under six feet of worm-filled dirt. If that doesn’t anger you and make you wake up to the fact that we are going to lose big this year, then you are one of the bumbling fools that handed them the shovels to begin with.

Now Newt Gingrich, who was one of the half dozen or so anti-Romney candidates that really isn’t all that different from Ol’ Mittens, has now come out and endorsed the man who was his rival over the last ten-to-twelve months. Newtie Booty told the GOP faithful that it is time for the party to unite and stand strong behind Mitt Romney so that “Anybody but Obama” can take the White House in November. I love how all the establishment candidates who were the Tea Party’s antithesis to the other establishment candidate are all out supporting him now. Well, all of them other than Rick Santorum who is still swimming in a sea of his own infantile tears and anal juice because he just can’t stop licking his baby bitch wounds. That man couldn’t fade into obscurity any faster. Hopefully he never returns to the fold and I can one day laugh when VH1 features him on an episode of the future show “I Love the 10′s”.

Back to Newt. He’s gone, the world is better off and now he can sign whatever big contract he wants to star on whatever large mainstream media outlet that will compete for his services. He’s too charismatic and sharp to just disappear and I’m sure we will see the man on our screens for years to come. Honestly, I am fine with that. I don’t agree with him on a great many things but I don’t find him offensive or stupid, as I find most of the other GOPers who have already fallen like a herd of fainting goats. I honestly wish Newt the best and I like him being in the public eye. I once really disliked the man but he was a great debater and if there is any truth to how he feels about the Federal Reserve, he can’t be all awful, right?

Then again, there are a hell of a lot more negatives than positives with this guy, so fuck everything I just said. Fuck Newt, fuck Romney and fuck the establishment for once again turning their backs on the one guy who could get us out of this mess and actually beat President Obama. It’s been a long race thus far but we’re finally on the last leg of this marathon.

Now we’re left with Godzilla versus King Kong. Whoever destroys America first is the winner!

Mitt Romney laid claim to the fiercely contested Republican presidential nomination Tuesday night with a fistful of primary triumphs, then urged all who struggle in a shaky U.S. economy to “hold on a little longer, a better America begins tonight.”

Eager to turn the political page to the general election, Romney accused President Barack Obama of “false promises and weak leadership.” He declared, “Everywhere I go, Americans are tired of being tired, and many of those who are fortunate enough to have a job are working harder for less.”

The former Massachusetts governor spoke as he swept primaries in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York, the first since Rick Santorum conceded the nomination.

“Mitt Romney is going to be the nominee, and I’m going to support the nominee,” the former Pennsylvania senator said on CNN. He added he intended to meet on Wednesday with the winner’s aides.

Romney, speaking to cheering supporters, in New Hampshire, said, “The last few years have been the best Barack Obama can do, but it’s not the best America can do.”

CONTINUED at NY Daily News.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

I haven’t written as much as I’d like to in the last month. My real job has been insane and sucking out a lot of my creative energy the last several weeks. On top of that, I find it hard to stay motivated as the 2012 primaries draw to a close and my guy is in last place out of the four remaining candidates. I guess all this heathen can do is act religious and pray for a brokered convention and then a miracle. Fat chance, I know but there really isn’t much else I can do to bring Ron Paul to the big dance. I guess Plan B a.k.a. Gary Johnson is the next card to play but realistically, as I’ve stated before, this is such a long shot that I have to pretty much accept the fact that Johnson won’t even get invited to the debates and Romney will win the GOP nomination and most likely go on to lose to Barack Obama who will stop at nothing to rape the Constitution harder than he did before he had to worry about re-election.

Romney has racked up victories in Puerto Rico and Illinois as well as Guam and the Virgin Islands. Keep in mind however that Ron Paul really won the Virgin Islands yet the Republican establishment changed the rules so that Romney magically walked away with the most delegates. Not bad for a guy who didn’t finish first as the guy who did only got one delegate.. yes, one! Paul also potentially won Maine but the votes from several counties weren’t counted and Romney was awarded that state with only a few hundred votes separating him and Paul. Missouri has also been a haven for Paul supporters the last few weeks as he is taking over that state, yet the media ignores it, the establishment and police have been caught on multiple occasions manipulating the caucuses and they are still only talking about Santorum’s beauty pageant win a month ago where no delegates were handed out. The true caucuses that actually award delegates in Missouri haven’t handed out their delegates yet. The fact is, the media ignores the fraud and foul play even though it is practically wide out in the open. This is a disgusting and careless travesty that is all a part of a bigger plan. That plan is control – control by a giant duopoly two-party system that will do absolutely anything it can to hold on to it’s power: that same power that controls and manipulates the mainstream corporate media as well.

So as I sit at my dinner table, which has been converted to my writing desk, chewing on some terrible lo mein and sipping on a bottle of Hibiki 12-Year-Old Japanese whisky, I find it absolutely perplexing that after all the rhetoric, the hatred, the money spent and the time wasted – this country is only going to continue down a very dark path. It really doesn’t matter who wins between Obama or Romney and hell, Rick Santorum would probably be the worst president ever. What matters is the fact that America has failed once again and I am just sick of it: disgusted really.

With the mainstream media showing blatant bias and blatant irresponsibility in reporting accurately, there is nowhere for true Americans to turn to for fact-based reporting other than the Internet, which they are trying effortlessly to censor and control, mind you. With the Republican establishment on the national and many local levels playing dirty pool, it only proves to me that not only is the political system broken beyond any sort of reasonable repair, it is also just a predetermined game being played out by unknown decision makers who are shaping the world regardless of how any of us feel about it. When our angry voices fall on deaf ears and we are seemingly powerless to change anything within a perpetually tyrannical system, it may be time to break down that system and start over. At this point, this country may just need to completely fail and fall in shambles. Maybe it is true when that old adage states, “Things have to get worse before they can get better.” Maybe this is all beyond saving and America does have to crash and burn. I’m not opposed to that idea and truthfully, it probably needs to happen and is going to happen regardless of what any of us try to do about it.

Our greatest president Thomas Jefferson once said, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” Maybe this is what’s happening. It’s been over 200 years since those words were expressed and that’s a long time for the tyrants to get their claws into liberty’s flesh and tear it to shreds. Figuratively speaking, the tyrants drew first blood yet we, as the patriots, continue to take their abuse while kidding ourselves that our vote will change something. Sure, we’re all pissed and we all talk a big game about what we are going to do but so far, big picture-wise, we haven’t done anything to truly upset the establishment and regain order. How can we when the establishment fully controls the order and our votes and voices are often times casted aside through blatant voter fraud, establishment hijinks and a pen that has been held in several hands that were quick to sign off on executive orders?

The answer, in it’s simplest form, is that we must remain positive and vigilant. We must question everything our leaders tell us and hold them accountable. Even if our votes don’t matter, the people will always outnumber their masters and throughout history, it has been the downtrodden, sick-of-it-all masses that have torn down the castles and palaces of tyrants and taken their freedom back. I don’t think that the revolution needs to be a violent one, we’re beyond that unless of course the tyrants fully turn on us, which isn’t far-fetched thanks to the PATRIOT Act and the NDAA. However, we need not stoop to that level unless it comes to defending our lives, our families and our property. What I’m saying here is that the fight must go on, the message must continue to exist and grow and when there is an opening, and there will be – there always is, we must act. It’s the people who shape the world, not the few tyrannical schemers sitting fat atop the tree of liberty pruning its branches.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

We have finally reached the final primary debate of the 2012 election cycle. There were three more scheduled but one was cancelled by MSNBC – who were hosting it, another was cancelled after three of the four candidates pulled out and the third one is highly questionable due to the fact that a dozen states or more will cast their votes before its date. The only way that that debate will still happen is if the race is still close between two candidates and they have the balls to go head-to-head. Considering that Romney will undoubtedly be one of those two men, consider at least one half of that equation to be nutless. No matter what happens after this, this is the final debate before Super Tuesday, which is the most important day in this primary race.

This debate was hosted by CNN, who does the best job in my honest opinion. The moderator for this round was John King, who I have given shit in the past. I wish CNN would hand the reigns over to Wolf Blitzer and just let these debates be his deal but I guess they feel the burning desire to keep pushing John King on us again and again. Why can’t they let Erin Burnett host one of these things? She’s pleasant to listen to, incredibly easy on the eyes and it would save us all from having to stare at a bunch of dickheads (Ron Paul excluded).

So here we are in Mesa, Arizona where everyone apparently loves Mitt Romney and hates Rick Santorum, as Ol’ Mittens got a huge ovation and Ricky Baby got dead silence, which in most cases is worse than boos. It’s funny how that went down, as CNN’s pre-game show spent a lot of time trying to convince their viewers that Santorum is a real contender for the presidency of the United States not just the presidency of the Southeastern Allegheny County Catholic Racquetball League. Whatever, the fact that homeboy is center stage is maddening enough, as it just proves the insanity of America, since enough of us have voted for this fiscally irresponsible fascist bastard regardless of the fact that he is a well-documented hypocrite and an incessantly whiney dork dick.

Now I’m going to just cover a few of the highlights of the debate, as this just played out like a rerun of a show that you’ve already seen nineteen times. There wasn’t much in the way of new material provided by the candidates. This was basically just a refresher in all the issues they have already talked to death over the last year. To be completely honest, I just couldn’t sit through this thing without being bored shitless at parts. Even my 750 ml bottle of 10 Cane rum wasn’t enough to keep me focused on the job at hand, that being the need to take extensive notes in order to write this very critique you are reading now. I apologize for my lack of interest but I also don’t want to bore you with the same superfluous details I’ve already covered multiple times.

So the first 8 minutes of this broadcast gives us no questions to the candidates. Instead, CNN decides to do the national anthem, which is a time waster. If that came off as offensive, get over it! They haven’t done the national anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance at most of these things, so why start now? Why not do it off camera before the debate, so we can just get down to quality time with the candidates at 8:01 instead of 8:09?

In addition, they wasted time going through the typical introduction spiel. If you don’t know who these guys are by now, you should probably just stay away from the voting booths. Ron Paul owned the intro section though by calling himself “The Defender of the Constitution!” and “The Champion of Liberty!” If anyone else said this, it would be a dick move but Paul ain’t lying, he knows that he is the only real candidate on that stage and everyone else is faking the funk. Santorum’s intro was dumb as hell as he just said some bullshit about our troubles being the Middle East. Romney said some garbage about restoring America, which is Ron Paul’s catchphrase by the way. Gingrich basically said, “Fuck the Saudis let’s make our own gas!” At least they all get to sit down during this debate; their legs must be tired after about two dozen of these two-bit shit shows.

So here we go, time’s been wasted but we finally get a question. Some old dude from the audience asks the candidates, “What are you going to do to bring down the debt?” CNN, already spending the hour before the show building up Ricky Baby, goes straight to him to kick things off. Santorum says that he has a plan to cut spending, taxes and all that other jazz. He gets the sheep to cheer regardless if his claims are true or not. He says that he will shrink the budget and then brags about how he has always fought spending. Okay, that is complete bullshit, as has been proven time and time again, not just by the writings of myself but through countless reports and studies done by watchdog groups and Mr. Santorum’s opponents throughout this long race. He calls for a time limit on all forms of welfare and then goes on to praise the Paul Ryan Plan. Man, Mr. Ryan gets just as much airplay these debates as the candidates themselves and Ronald Reagan.

Mitt Romney is asked if he sticks by his claims that Santorum is not a conservative. Mittens talks about Ricky Baby’s love for bacon a.k.a. pork. He also mentions that Santorum voted to raise the debt limit a whopping five times! Romney claims, that as a business man, he has lived a life full of balanced budgets. He goes on to explain that he will divide up all government programs and look at them line by line to determine if the benefit is worth the cost. He promises to send most of the programs back to the states and declares that government workers shouldn’t be making more than the taxpayers who pay them. Of course, starting by asking Mitt about his negative comments regarding Santorum was just to start a heated exchange between the two, which just allows them to monopolize the time per usual.

In fact, Santorum gets an obligatory response but makes himself look like a total moron with thin bitch skin. He whines about Mitt saying that the Massachusetts governor admitted that he too would have voted to raise the debt ceiling. He also says that he never raised taxes but Romney did in Massachusetts. He admits to voting for No Child Left Behind but said that he regrets the decision. Of course he does, now that he has been continually put on blast for it! Racquetball Rick then takes a cheap shot at Romney and says that he has adopted Occupy Wall Street rhetoric because he talked about raising taxes on the top one percent.

Mitt of course gets his obligatory response, as Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich sit off to the side battling each other in Words With Friends until John King acknowledges them. Romney more or less accuses Rick Santourm of being full of shit, as if that’s any sort of surprise. Romney reminds the people that Santorum was a pivotal part of a Congress that grew government exponentially. While this is seemingly valid, pretty much every Congress since the Woodrow Wilson era has grown government exponentially. As Mitt bashes Rick, the cheers get louder and louder. This was certainly a pro-Romney crowd; the Arizonans in attendance were like famine-afflicted great whites chomping at the piss-soaked boxer-briefs of Mr. Santorum.

Gingrich gets in the discussion and uses his time to boast about how, as Speaker of the House, he led the charge in bringing four consecutive balanced budgets to the table. He then makes a big deal about how this debate is on Washington’s birthday. I guess Washington is the new Reagan in Newtworld. He goes on a tangent about opening up federal land and offshore areas to bring forth more energy options. He then states that his policies will save America $500 billion per year. Sorry bro, Dr. Paul is going to cut a trillion dollars in year one and Gary Johnson is going to top that with $1.4 trillion! Newt needs to up the ante if he is going to live up to his honey badger persona.

John King finally gets to Ron Paul but just asks hom a question about Santorum. What the hell man, CNN really wants to give a lot of airplay to the GOP’s resident Catholic. Don’t get it twisted though, it’s not because they like him, it’s because they know he’s an embarrassment and has no chance at beating Obama, so they want to push him and get him over enough just to ensure that their liberal buddy gets re-elected. Anyway, King asks Paul about his attacks on Santorum, as one of his ads called him “a fake”. When asked why he ran the ads, Paul simply says that Santorum “..is a fake.” The crowd goes nuts, as Paul lands a killing stroke on the religio-fascist bag of weasel testicles. Santorum just sits there nervously with his dork dick smile and tries to cut in on Paul but is cut off by boos. Paul says that Santorum is a classic example of someone who does things in office that contradicts the rhetoric they used while campaigning. He calls Rick’s record “bad” and adds that when someone claims that they are going to be fiscally conservative when they never have been in the past, shows that they don’t have any credibility. The crowd explodes for Ron Paul.

Santorum responds by saying that there was some “study” done that compared him to other senators and that it ranked him as the most fiscally conservative. He even refers to himself as a “hero” that took on “tough issues”. He claims that he was a “leader” that took on “Social Security”. He then says that some other “study” ranked Ron Paul 145th as a “real conservative”. Is it just me or do these studies sound like complete bullshit? Did one of Ricky Baby’s kids do these studies for their 3rd grade political science project?

Waiting for the crowd to stop booing, Ron Paul responds to Santorum by saying that comparing yourself to other members of Congress is a cop out; Paul gets cheers. Ron Paul blasts Rick’s “studies” by reminding everyone in the room that he always votes for the least amount of spending and taxes. He then adds that conservatives have gotten to this point where they are quite pleased with wasting money over seas and that if they were actually real conservatives, they wouldn’t vote for things that perpetuate that madness.

Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum get into another bitch spat and this time it is over earmarks. Eventually, after a bunch of wasted time, Santorum diverts the attention to Ron Paul and essentially accuses him of being the king of earmarks. Paul explains,as he has in the past, that if his constituents are going to be robbed through taxation, he is going to fight to get their money back anyway that he can. He says that we need to vote against spending and we need to fix the corrupt earmark and taxation systems. In fact, in his own words, Dr. Paul says, “Getting rid of earmarks simply gives the executive branch 100 percent control over the funds. What we need to do is vote against the spending bills.”

The debate carries over to the subject of bailouts then contraception and then illegal immigration. None of it is all that interesting and most of it has been discussed to death. The only other real notable thing to come out of this debate is this quote from Rick Santorum, who was defending himself from attacks by Romney and Paul on his atrocious voting record:

While yes, I voted for a large appropriations bill that contained items I didnt like, I counteracted it by adding another program that I did like to it.

Holy Jesus on a Frisbee! This guy doesn’t just put his foot in his mouth, he eats his whole goddamned shoe and probably most of his foot! The best part about this whole debate is that Rick Santorum looked like absolute crap! He came in with all this fanfare and high hopes with the media on his side but in the end, he couldn’t bring it in primetime. This was the most watched debate on cable this year and my personal favorite punching bag of the GOP field got hit hard from both sides but ultimately proved to be his own worst enemy. Santorum burned under the bright lights and magnifying glasses like an ant on the sidewalk in the hot Mesa sun. If this debate wasn’t the nail in the Santorum coffin, then Americans really are as stupid as the rest of the world thinks we are.

Grading Scale:
Grade B+: Ron Paul
Grade C-: Mitt Romney
Grade D+: Newt Gingrich
Grade F-: Rick Santorum

And here’s a video of that soft thin skinned bitch Santorum shaking Paul’s hand like a f’n douchebag:

Yet more evidence of voter fraud has emerged, this time in the wake of Saturday’s primary in South Carolina, where it was reported that at least 953 votes had been cast by people who were listed as dead.

The Associated Press reports that South Carolina’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, has notified the U.S. Justice Department of potential voter fraud in the Palmetto State this weekend.

“In a letter dated Thursday, Wilson says the analysis found 953 ballots cast by voters listed as dead. In 71 percent of those cases, ballots were cast between two months and 76 months after the people died. That means they ‘voted’ up to 6 1/3 years after their death.”

Wilson has asked the State Law Enforcement Division to investigate the situation.

In addition to stories that have emerged from both Iowa and New Hampshire in the past few days, the revelations once again suggest that voter fraud has become a common occurrence throughout the country.

The same situation occurred last week in New Hampshire, where the State attorney general also raised questions over possible voter fraud.

The Union Leader reported that activists obtained ballots as dead people because they weren’t ID’ed.

One activist posted video of himself walking into New Hampshire Polling locations during the Presidential Primaries, and asking for the ballots of deceased residents. The man had obtained the names from local obituaries.

“The names of the deceased were both Registered Republican and Democrats And in almost every case, saying a dead person’s name, we were handed a ballot to cast a vote.” wrote the activist on his Youtube channel.

None of the allegedly fraudulently obtained ballots was actually cast.

Watch the video:

Associate Attorney General Richard Head confirmed his office had learned about the possible fraud on election day and immediately began investigating. “That investigation is ongoing,” he said. “Based on the information received on Election Day and the information on the video, we are undertaking a comprehensive review of voting procedures with the Secretary of State,” the report states.

In Iowa, the results of the January 3rd Caucus have been completely glossed over, despite major questions arising from the vote.

Following the declaration of Mitt Romney as the winner, GOP officials in Iowa recounted the votes and changed the decision, naming Rick Santorum as the victor. However, votes from at least two precincts were lost in the process, and the tallying wasn’t even properly certified.

Both Mitt Romney’s and Rick Santorum’s vote tallies were altered, but no mention was made whatsoever of Ron Paul’s total, despite the fact that he finished a close third, in what was essentially a three way tie.

During the caucus, multiple accounts emerged from voters in different precincts suggesting that the number of votes did not correspond to the number of Iowans they had counted at the polling station. In addition, for the first time ever, the Iowa GOP decided to change the final vote count to a “Secret location”, citing non specific security concerns.

In total, eight different precincts in Iowa showed signs of fraud that included missing votes and stories that changed every time someone challenged them. Writer Jeffrey Phelps points out that the official caucus website in Iowa publicly states that the caucus results can never be officially certified.

Returning to South Carolina, another story emerged over the weekend that has potential vote fraud implications.

As South Carolina reporter Brandon Turbeville reports, Sevier Precinct President Christopher S. Lawton “noticed a series of situations that were either in direct opposition to State voting laws, or, at the very least, highly questionable.”

Lawton arrived at the Pickens County elections office to witness the vote certification in person, as per State law, but was told he could only witness the tabulation on a projector in the council chambers, not in the room where the actual counting was taking place.

“[They were] very unfriendly and appeared agitated at my presence. When I got my wits I went back and declared State law allowed me to witness all aspects of this process. I was told there was little space and [to] stand out of the way and not be talking on the phone.” Lawton stated.

When Lawton noticed that hundreds of votes had already been added to candidates names before official counting had started, he was told that the votes had been brought in early in the morning, when no one was watching.

Eventually, after witnessing several more anomalies, confusing situations concerning voting machines, and drawing attention to broken security seals on ballot boxes and Mr. Lawton was asked to leave the secured counting room.

Read the full account here.

——————————————————————

Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, andPrisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.

Source: Prison Planet.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

I’d hate to knock a whole state but man, what the fuck was South Carolina thinking? After a few debates and weeks of campaigning, the Palmetto State finally held their presidential primaries. After the smoke cleared, the sinister grin of Newt Gingrich was all anyone could see. The scariest part about all this is that South Carolina has a history of picking presidential candidates. Since 1980, the results of the South Carolina primaries have been game changing. In 1980 the winner was Reagan, who went on to win the presidency. In 1988 it was Bush I, who also won the presidency. In 1996 it was Bob Dole, who won the nomination but ultimately lost to Bill Clinton. In 2000 it was Bush II, who won the presidency. In 2008 it was McCain, who won the nomination but lost to Obama. So if history is any indicator, Gingrich will be the Republican nominee to go head-to-head with Barack Obama this fall. Then again, there’s a first time for everything and chances are, this is just some ridiculous coincidence.

Before we got to Iowa, we were told how important it was. We were also told the same thing about New Hampshire. Initially, Mitt Romney won both those states but after those genius Iowans realized that they forgot how to count right, they declared Rick Santorum the winner, thus solidifying his position as the frontrunner. But wait, Mitt won New Hampshire, which we were told made him the frontrunner. Now Newt has won South Carolina and we’re told that means he’ll be the nominee. Man, all this bullshit is confusing. I mean, how can you say that any of these men are the frontrunner? Each one has only won one state out of fifty and there are forty-seven that still have to vote. The problem is, all this rhetoric is just media hype – trying to shape the public opinion while capitalizing on weekly ratings spikes. Right now, this race is anyone’s game, except for Santorum because even if he did win the nomination, he’d get slaughtered by Obama. The truth is, South Carolina will eventually be wrong. You can buy into this weird Palmetto State and media hyped superstition all you want but statistically the tide will eventually turn.

So Newt Gingrich won South Carolina (40 percent), Mitt Romney got second (28 percent), Rick Santorum got third (17 percent) and in what is a showing of how unintelligent South Carolinians are – Ron Paul got fourth place (13 percent). The results of this primary prove unequivocally that South Carolina is for statists. Then again, looking at this primary situation as a whole, maybe something odd is going on. Now it is no secret that I am a Ron Paul guy and truthfully, I don’t want to come off as a sore loser. In fact, I have been of the belief that Mitt Romney was going to win this thing since before anyone even announced their bid last year. The problem is, Paul has gotten the shaft so far and based off of everything I’ve seen, it’s hard to understand why. Let me explain in more detail.

To start, Ron Paul was favored to win Iowa going into their archaic caucuses but to everyone’s surprise and shock, Rick Santorum rose from his bottomless pit and took the state by storm. Santorum, who had used up all of his resources in that state, still hadn’t made enough of an impact to even put a dent in Iowa. However, when the votes were tallied and then tallied again because the state admittedly fucked up, Santorum was the winner. Romney was in second and the projected favorite, Dr. Paul, was in third ahead of Gingrich and Perry. How did Santorum, an almost unknown candidate with no real support, win Iowa? Between the ballots being collected and counted at a secret location behind closed doors as well as the fact that there was already alleged fraud with the “dead voters” and the fact that they changed their results two weeks later makes this whole process look sketchy. I’m not saying that Paul won the state but shit just doesn’t add up.

In New Hampshire, Mitt Romney was the hands down favorite and in the end, he came through and won the state with Ron Paul not too far behind in second place. Huntsman won third place and then dropped out to support Romney. Gingrich and Santorum were both at the bottom with Rick Perry who dropped out not to long after these results. Thankfully, Santorum was knocked back down to Earth and Newt Gingrich had two bad finishes in a row. Leaving New Hampshire, Mitt Romney was the frontrunner with Ron Paul right on his heels. It had become a two-man race and frankly, I still believe it is, regardless of South Carolina’s results. However, let’s look at that situation.

The South Carolina portion of this journey is also pretty odd. In the first debate in Myrtle Beach, rude South Carolinians were booing Ron Paul and his explanation of the “golden rule”. Oh, how very Christian of them! The second debate in Charleston was quite different however. The other three candidates, as well as the media, tried to limit Dr. Paul’s time and when this was apparent, the crowd went apeshit and booed for Paul to have a chance to answer some of the questions that they weren’t giving him. If anything, this gave Paul supporters some hope that the game was changing in the Palmetto State. The tip of the iceberg came when each of Dr. Paul’s events in the state were packed full of thousands of enthusiastic supporters. No other candidate traveling the state could compete with the level of love Paul was generating. Elsewhere, just a day before the primary results in South Carolina, Newt Gingrich had to cancel an event due to complete lack of interest. In fact, here’s what was reported in the Associated Press:

Newt Gingrich has cancelled a campaign appearance in South Carolina because of poor attendance.

The Republican presidential candidate was scheduled to speak to the Southern Republican Leadership on Friday. But a campaign spokesman told reporters that he would no longer be appearing due to poor attendance.

There were just a few dozen people in the audience at the College of Charleston’s arena, where the event was taking place.

The weird thing about this is that primary elections are typically decided by the enthusiasm as of a candidate’s supporters, as most people don’t even bother voting in primaries. The fact of the matter is, Ron Paul has the most enthusiastic supporters of any candidate I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. Theoretically, he should be killing these primaries, especially against douchenuggets like Rick Santorum. Yet somehow, this enthusiasm doesn’t seem to be enough to really tip the scales. However, how do people like Gingrich and Santorum, who have little to no enthusiastic support, keep on getting these life-preservers thrown to them to keep them afloat? Who’s throwing the life-preservers and where are they getting them from?

Is there a conspiracy? Who knows? You have to admit that this is all strange though. The truth is, even though Paul finished last in South Carolina and all his critics are pushing for him to exit the race, it doesn’t really change the fact that in his loss he still had some success. As he said in his speech after the primary, his campaign racked up four-to-five times more votes in South Carolina than they did just four years prior. So in that short time, Ron Paul’s message has grown 400-500 percent! The real reason why he is running is to promote the message of freedom and liberty and even though he finished last, the fact that the message has grown so much is a huge success! It’s not just in South Carolina however, Ron Paul’s message is growing at an alarming rate everywhere he goes. He might not have won any states yet but he has opened the eyes of more and more people and in the end, even if he doesn’t get the nomination, people will be more aware and more vigilant. Hell, the door for Rand Paul might be opened pretty wide come 2016 or 2020.

Well, at least 13 percent of South Carolinians are okay in my book. The other 87 percent just voted for statists however and as far as I am concerned, they probably shouldn’t bitch about Obama so much when the person they voted for isn’t too far from being of the same progressive mold. Hell, if they checked the box next to “Rick Santorum”, their vote went to someone worse than our current king. It’s funny though, these Christian South Carolinians have picked their choice for president and it is a man who cheated on his first wife with his second wife who he cheated on with his third wife and then used the daughters of his first wife to convince the world that his second wife was lying about his third wife. That may have been a hard sentence to follow but Newt’s dick is a tricky motherfucker and getting his kids to lie for it is even worse. Considering this is so confusing may have just caused the South Carolinians to shut down and throw their vote away. I mean, if Miss South Carolina 2007 is any indicator of the best the state has to offer, they’re all screwed in that state.

Here’s a refresher, in case you forgot about Miss South Carolina:

Dumb as fuck.

Newt Gingrich will upset Mitt Romney to win today’s South Carolina primary, according to ABC News projections based on exit poll data.

Rick Santorum will place third and Ron Paul will be fourth in the race.

Gingrich won an overwhelming majority of counties in the Palmetto State, with only a handful going to Romney.

In his concession speech, Romney congratulated the former House speaker but not without some underhanded jabs.

“When my opponents attack success and free enterprise they are not only attacking me, they are attacking every person who dreams of a better person. He’s attacking you, I will support you I will help you have a better future,” Romney said, hinting at a new line of attack that the campaign is likely to adopt going into Florida.

While Gingrich was never mentioned after Romney’s opening line, a good chunk of his speech referred to the former speaker.

“The Republican Party doesn’t demonize prosperity. We celebrate success in our party,” he said. “And let me be clear, if Republican leaders want to join this president in demonizing success and disparaging conservative values, then they’re not going to be fit to be our nominee.”

The enthusiastic crowd chanted “We Need Mitt! We Need Mitt!” as he spoke.

Even though they trailed far behind the top contenders, the bottom two candidates showed no sign of dropping out.

“This is the beginning of a long hard slog,” Texas Rep. Ron Paul said to cheers.

Santorum categorized the race as being “wide open.” “Join the fight,” he said to applause.

Gingrich trailed Romney by double digits just days ago. But that changed quickly after Gingrich’s fiery performance in Thursday’s night debate. The former House speaker was able to turn his biggest liability — accusations by his second wife, Marianne, that he wanted an “open marriage” — into an asset, drawing two standing ovations for assailing the media for bringing up the allegations.

The debate performance, in which Romney struggled to answer questions about his tax returns, injected fresh momentum into a campaign that, up until earlier this week, was overshadowed by Romney. Nearly two-thirds of Republican voters today cited debate performance as at least a somewhat important factor in their vote today and they favored Gingrich over Romney by a vast 49-23 percent, per exit poll results.

The late surge worked in Gingrich’s favor. More than half of South Carolina voters decided whom to support in the past few days, according to exit polls, more than in either Iowa or New Hampshire and a much larger number than in 2008. Those voters went overwhelmingly for Gingrich by 43-23 percent.

Gingrich’s win today is a significant blow to Romney, who lost two races this week. Rick Santorum was declared the winner in Iowa after a voting error had handed that title to Romney.

Romney’s front-runner status in South Carolina evaporated quickly as the former Massachusetts governor was hit hard on his reluctance to reveal his tax records. The controversy over Romney’s experience at Bain & Co. also hurt him in the Palmetto State. Twenty-eight percent of voters saw it as a negative, a substantial number, especially when looking at the lower-income voters, among whom Romney got virtually no support.

Romney poured more money than any other candidate into South Carolina, outspending Gingrich $1.9 million to $640,000. The two candidates’ super PACs spent roughly the same amount — nearly $3 million each — in the Palmetto state on ads and mailers. But Romney was unable to sustain his lead.

Romney, 64, has said he will release his tax records in April despite calls from his rivals to do so immediately. Gingrich, 68, released his Thursday. The former governor, however, revealed that he paid a 15-percent effective tax rate in 2010, which is considerably lower than other Americans with comparable wealth. The lower tax rate was, in part, because Romney makes much of his money through investments and speaking fees rather than employment.

South Carolina is an important race in the Republican primaries. No candidate has ever won the GOP nomination for president without winning South Carolina since 1980, when it became home to the nation’s first-in-the-South primary.

The evangelical vote was crucial in today’s primary, more so than in Iowa and New Hampshire. Six in ten GOP voters in South Carolina were evangelical Christians, compared with 57 percent in Iowa and 22 percent in New Hampshire, according to exit poll results. More than one-third of the South Carolina Republican electorate also described themselves as “very” conservative and voted mostly for Gingrich.

As in Iowa and New Hampshire, the candidate attribute that voters were most concerned about was who could defeat President Obama in November, and even these voters favored Gingrich over Romney.

Concerns about the economy ran deep in South Carolina, where the unemployment rate is above the national average. Exit polls showed that nearly eight in 10 voters were “very” worried about the direction of the economy, and one-third reported a layoff in their own household in the past three years.

The South Carolina Republican Party predicted a higher-than-normal turnout in today’s primary. Turnout appeared to be mixed and varied throughout the state. It was, however, particularly heavy in Greenville, South Carolina’s most populous county that has a history of favoring socially conservative candidates and voted in favor of Gingrich today. In 2008, Romney received only 17 percent of the votes in Greenville, a county that Mike Huckabee carried.

With Gingrich, Santorum and Romney all claiming a lead in one early state, analysts say the race is wide open.

The next Republican contest is in Florida, Jan. 31, where Romney has already poured millions of dollars on television advertising and on-the-ground efforts.

ABC News Emily Friedman, Gary Langer and Elizabeth Hartfield contributed to this report.

Source: ABC News.

*Written by Tho Bishop.

Giving us another example of what happens when you mix ego and poor primary performance, the major story going into the South Carolina primary is the new line of attack being employed by Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry on Mitt Romney. Failing to win over voters by attacking Romney’s record as governor, the pair has turned their sights on Romney the CEO. While Rick Perry has introduced us to “Vulture Capitalism”, Gingrich is employing a 22-minute film criticizing Mitt’s time at Bain Capital, depicting Romney as “worse than the evil banker in “It’s a Wonderful Life.””

This approach has appeared to backfire with the conservative base.

Though their critiques on Bain Capital seem more appropriate coming from Chicago, Perry and Gingrich’s underlying instincts are correct. The primary, insofar that it is a referendum on the establishment-favorite, has little to do with Governor Romney, whose only real noteworthy achievement is the despised Romneycare. No, the candidacy of Mitt Romney is based entirely on his history in the private sector. It is his success as a CEO that allows him to claim he is the one candidate who understands “the real economy”.

Unfortunately for the country, Romney’s economic literacy is the biggest myth of the primary.

It would be too easy to highlight the fact that Romney subscribes to the same flawed belief that “fair and affordable housing should be a right, not a privilege,” a major contributor to the environment that created the disastrous housing bubble (after all, he said that as Governor, and Candidate Romney is nothing like Governor Romney). Instead, let’s take a look at one of Candidate Romney’s favorite topics: China.

If you have tuned in to any of the GOP debates, you should already know that he is not a big fan. On the subject of trade policy, his website highlights a plan on “Confronting China,” including the aggressive action of labeling the pseudo-Communist nation as “currency manipulators.” He goes on to criticize the Obama Administration’s “acquiescence to the one-way arrangements the Chinese have come to enjoy.” America, he believes, must be we must be “willing to say “no more” to a relationship that too often benefits them and harms us.” To anyone who would argue that there are benefits to our current relationship with the Asian power, you are being “played like a fiddle.”

As such, it is interesting that one of his top economic advisers is Harvard professor Greg Mankiw.

In 2009, Mankiw took to the New York Times to criticize the Obama Administration for threatening much of the same policy his candidate now advocates. In what would be a fitting response to Romney’s accusation of “cheating”, Mankiw writes:

“Like many economists, I cringe whenever I hear the term “fair trade.” It is not that I am against fairness — who is? — but the word “fair” is so amorphous in this context as to defy definition. Most often, the slogan “fair trade” is little more than a rallying cry for protectionism.”

Protectionism? From the man who believes he is the only one who can save capitalism from Barack Obama? Adam Smith is rolling in his grave.

But what of China’s “currency manipulation” Professor Mankiw?

“Perhaps the oddest thing about [the criticism of currency manipulation] is that [the] complaint seems out of date. The yuan-dollar exchange rate has moved considerably in recent years. After a long period of completely fixing the exchange rate, China allowed its currency to start moving in July 2005. Since then, it has appreciated by 21 percent.” (Since this article was written in 2009, it is worth noting the information is not out of date. The Chiense yuan hit an 18-year high in April of 2011.)

So according to Romney’s own expect, his major claim against China is a complete fabrication.

A cynic may argue that Romney doesn’t believe any of the baloney he preaches about China. That he is using our economic rival as a scapegoat for a public looking for someone to blame for their economic pain. This would contradict a POLITICO report that “Romney is dead serious about…putting new tariffs on Chinese imports,” but information from unnamed insiders isn’t always reliable.

So we must conclude that either Romney doesn’t fully understand the trade policy he advocates, or Romney is a demagogue not above misleading the American people to win an election. Sadly even the latter explanation doesn’t defend the governor from Mankiw’s criticism:

“Directing attention to the China currency issue amid a worldwide recession and growing fears of depression is more than a distraction. It is downright counterproductive.”

If we are to brand Romney an economic expert because of his success in the private sector, how does the GOP defend itself from the criticism of Warren Buffet? Or Bill Gates? Being a good President is different than being a savvy CEO. The failure of Romney’s opponents to credibly attack Romney’s credentials in the economy is the reason Romney’s candidacy has the strength it does today. Interestingly, the candidate who is criticized for “crank economic theory”, almost as frequently as Romney is praised for his understanding, is the only one in the GOP field who identified the housing bubble years before it crippled the US economy – Ron Paul.

Florida’s delegates to the Republican National Convention are getting snubbed in their own house, after the national GOP decided Wednesday to ramp up penalties on the state for holding an early primary in violation of party rules.

Though Florida is hosting the party’s national convention in Tampa later this year, a Republican National Committee panel voted unanimously to give the state’s representatives second-class access to the whole affair.

Under the resolution, the national party will make sure Florida’s delegates have poor seating and poor hotel options — as in, hotels that are not close to the Tampa Bay Times Forum, the convention venue. According to an RNC official, the delegates will also be limited in the number of guest passes they can hand out.

The Rules Committee voted for the sanctions Wednesday, and the RNC official said no further action is needed to carry out the punishment.

“They will be penalized with reduced guest passes, reduced priority seating on the floor and hotels further away,” the official told Fox News.

A Florida Republican official claimed the national party still has to take one more step to finalize the penalties, but suggested there would be no hard feelings going into November. The official said the state party will “do nothing but (commit) ourselves to making sure that a Republican wins the state of Florida.”

The latest penalties would come on top of the hit the Sunshine State already took to its delegate count.

The state is expected to lose half its 99 delegates as a result of its decision to hold the Republican presidential primary on Jan. 31.

Under RNC rules, Florida was not supposed to hold what’s known as a “winner-take-all” primary before April. That’s a primary in which all the state’s delegates are awarded to the winner, as opposed to one in which the delegates are awarded proportionally.

The very beginning of the 2012 primary calendar is also supposed to be reserved for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Florida’s decision to get in on the early primary action follows a similar move in 2008, and a similar punishment by the RNC.

Leonard Curry, chairman of the Florida GOP, said in a statement that he’s hoping to move forward despite the new penalties.

“I understand why today’s vote took place and we will continue to work to protect Florida Republicans’ interest at the national convention,” Curry said. “With today’s action, I hope that all Republicans can move together, unified and committed to the most important goal we have — the election of a Republican president in 2012.”

When the state party first announced the date in September, Curry said the early vote “properly reflects the importance Florida will play on the national stage.”

A true swing state, Florida, with its 29 delegates to the Electoral College, is considered essential to win the general election. Barack Obama won the state in 2008.

Source: Fox News.