The tea party seems to be on its last legs in a state where two years ago the movement was as energized as anywhere in the country.

In a Winthrop University poll released on Tuesday, just five percent of South Carolinians consider themselves a member of the tea party. More surprisingly, just 11 percent of state Republicans and independent voters who lean Republican consider themselves part of the movement.

A year ago, over 28 percent of Republican voters and independent-leaning Republicans identified themselves as part of the tea party.

“I’m not surprised,” said Allen Olson, founder of the Columbia TEA Party. “We’ve pretty much been maligned. We’ve been attached to the libertarian faction, so-to-speak, and they’ve been trying to use the tea party to push their agenda.”

Olson still considers himself part of the movement, but he left the group he founded and endorsed former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich after being disappointed with Rep. Michele Bachmann, the presumptive tea party candidate.

The state’s “real” tea party, Olson said, differs with the libertarian faction on property rights, police protection and laws against drunk driving.

“Their agenda has absolutely nothing to do with the tea party,” he said. “They are being branded as an extremist organization, which they are, but that’s not the real tea party.”

CONTINUED at The Daily Caller.

*Written by Tho Bishop.

Romney’s inevitable nomination is slipping through his well-manicured fingers. While the media has been telling us for months that no one has a shot against Prince Willard’s well funded political machine, it is clear that the voters are less impressed. After defeats in Iowa, South Carolina, Nevada, Missouri (even though Missouri really doesn’t count delegates until later), Minnesota and Colorado, and a victory in Maine that required some Chicago-style shenanigans to edge out Ron Paul, Romney is now fighting off Rick Santorum for the lead in national polls.

This article, however, isn’t about the Santorum surge; nor is it an analysis on why Mitt is having difficulty connecting with Republican voters (the latter being the key factor to the former.) Instead let’s discuss the potential consequences of an intensely contested primary battle ending with Romney falling short of the 1,144 delegate threshold.

Let’s talk about a brokered convention.

Since the last brokered convention was the infamous Democratic Convention of 1968, many Americans may not be familiar with the concept or what could emerge from such an event.

During the first ballot at the Republican convention, the state elected delegates are required to vote for whomever they are pledged (though, as Paul’s campaign understands, caucus delegates enjoy a bit more leeway). After that though? All bets are off.

Now it is possible that Romney, after losing the nomination by a few votes, could simply convert some Gingrich or Santorum pledged delegates and then seal the deal. That, however, depends upon genuine interest in Romney being the nominee. If we can take away anything from his primary difficulties, it is that Romney has done little to excite the Republican base.

What about Santorum or Gingrich? If Gingrich wasn’t so personally disliked, he would potentially lock up the nomination outright. Santorum on the other hand, terrifies many outside of a specific demographic of Republican voters.

This is why it is important to point out that a brokered convention does not limit delegates to choose between those currently seeking the GOP nomination. In 1968, for example, the Democratic nomination went to Hubert Humphrey, the serving VP who did not participate in a single primary.

So who in the broader GOP could benefit?

People are quick to respond with Chris Christie. Consider, however, that the governor not only refused multiple attempts to jump into the primary contest, but has played bulldog for Romney throughout most of the campaign. This will immediately make it difficult to win over Newt backers and, combined with some of his social views, won’t endear him to Santorum delegates.

Mitch Daniels? Another executive who opted against entering the race months ago, Daniels has so far been hesitant to subject his family to the hardships of national political exposure. While people, to say nothing of politicians, always have the ability to change their mind, I think it is unlikely in this Hoosier’s case.

Though I don’t fully understand the bizarre obsession many establishment Republicans have with Jeb Bush, I do think they are right to look south towards Florida. The candidate best situated to emerge from a brokered convention is Senator Marco Rubio.

Though some may bristle at nominating a young, inexperienced senator with a razor thin record of accomplishment, demographic-conscious Republican strategists dream of the GOP electing the first Latino President. He could also be unique in creating an energized, united front amongst the three establishment candidates. Remember that Rubio worked with Newt on his book 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida’s Future, shares Santorum’s Catholic faith and defended Romney during the Florida primary. Rubio would be rewarded for staying out of the endorsement game.

If he harbors any Presidential aspirations, Rubio will never find a better opportunity to act on them. He would be going against an unpopular administration and have the enviable position of being spared the long, exhausting process of primary politics. To those who would question whether Rubio, who showed no interest in running for the nomination before, would suddenly take the nomination, look at the calendar. A traditional primary run would have sacrificed the opportunity to do anything in the Senate and forced Rubio back into the electoral game roughly four months after a difficult and expensive senatorial contest. An August nomination spares him almost two years before diving back into campaigning.

The scenario above is still very unlikely – but unlikely describes the GOP nomination process to date. One thing that can’t be questioned, however, is the appeal Rubio has with a large section of Republicans, both in the establishment and the grassroots. At a time where friction has never been higher between these two classes, I believe Rubio can unite and inspire quite like no other GOP figure can.

That potential should not be overlooked.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

While I was driving back home from the 2012 Libertarian Party of Florida Convention and Presidential Debate in Orlando, the rest of the country (or just those few who care) were watching the results of the Maine caucuses. It was a toss up as to who would win between Ron Paul, who had been campaigning there for weeks, or New England’s favorite Michigan-born son, Mitt Romney. Despite the projected performances, I found myself pretty much scared shitless that Rick Santorum would help display the insanity of many conservative Americans once again and run away with another state. Thank God that his streak of three was ended this past Saturday. Although he finished third, he only walked away with three delegates. Gingrich laughably walked away with nothing, as once again, he fell flat on his face in another state. If Newt hadn’t won South Carolina a few weeks ago, racking up twenty-three of those twenty-five delegates, he’d be out of this race. He’s still in second place however but Santorum is only one delegate behind him after the last four states and Ron Paul is still on everyone’s heels. It’s a very close race for second place but in all honesty, after a few more states, Newt should be in last and on his way out – leaving Paul and Santorum to battle it out in the delegate race to catch up to Romney.

So where does that leave the top half of the field in Maine? Well, the finish was quite controversial actually. The official announcement is that Romney won Maine with less than 200 votes over Ron Paul. The race was incredibly close and in essence was a virtual tie. I mean, when Romney won Iowa and then it was announced that Santorum had in fact won the state, Ol’ Mittens himself called it “a tie”. So with Paul being so close to Romney, I am calling it “a tie”. Unfortunately though, Romney walked away with nine delegates to Paul’s seven. So why is this controversial?

Well, I don’t think that there is a single state so far that hasn’t been suspected of voter fraud. I’m not trying to stir the pot here but the validity of these primary elections has come into question at every stop on the 2012 campaign trail. Oddly, almost every time that eyebrows are raised, Romney seems to be the benefactor. In Iowa, votes were lost or missing and Mitt just edged out Ricky Boy. In the end, the votes magically re-appeared and Santorum got the win. In New Hampshire, zombies were found voting, as many dead people casted votes for Mr. Romney. Mittens won that state. There were claims that the dead voted in South Carolina and in Florida; Romney won the latter. Nevada was also suspected of voter fraud, which got a lot of publicity last week from various news sites. Who won Nevada? Well, it was Romney. Follwoing Nevada was the trifecta win of Rick Santorum in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado. I’m of the firm belief that if Santorum won, there has to be foul play involved – I mean, people aren’t THAT crazy, right? Maybe those steering this suspected corruption decided to throw the guy a bone, as it couldn’t really hurt Mitt in the long run and they didn’t want their tinkering to be obvious. Besides, Santorum rising up amongst the ranks, only makes Romney a stronger candidate as Santorum scares the everliving crap out of anyone that isn’t a creepy bastard like the fascist big government Bible thumper himself.

Following the announcement of Romney’s victory, many Paul supporters were upset. Some were heard shouting “Liar!” while others shouted “How many dead voted?!” It was a grim display and Paul supporters had a right to be pissed off based off of the fact that the road to the White House has been littered with what appears to be some very serious attempts and successes at electoral corruption. In fact, it was pointed out that the caucuses in several counties were shut down and not counted. Washington County, a place were Paul was projected to do extremely well, was one of the counties whose votes weren’t counted. Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton suggested that the Romney people were instrumental in the cancellation of certain caucuses. Benton said:

It’s not completely insidious, but they knew we were going to swamp it up there.

According to Politico:

The state GOP said that the caucuses were cancelled due to inclement weather.

Also worth noting is that there are 505 municipalities in Maine and just 420 have caucused thus far. So there are nearly 20 percent who haven’t even voted yet! Yet, Mr. Romney has been declared the winner with less than 200 votes over Paul! The fish in Maine are stinking like something gross and unnatural right now.

After Maine was awarded to Romney, Paul’s campaign manager John Tate sent out an email where he trashed the mainstream media for jumping the gun and announcing Mitt Romney as the winner when only 84 percent of the vote had been counted and there were only 194 votes separating the two men. Tate wrote:

The national political establishment and their pals in the national media will do ‘anything’ to silence our message of liberty. Tonight you saw dueling examples of how much the establishment is scared of Ron Paul and his message of liberty. The truth is, Ron Paul will win the most delegates out of Maine tonight. In fact, he will probably even win the ‘beauty contest’ Straw Poll the media has already called for Mitt Romney – even before all the votes have been tallied. In Washington County – where Ron Paul was incredibly strong – the caucus was delayed until next week just so the votes wouldn’t be reported by the national media today. Of course, their excuse for the delay was ‘snow.’ That’s right. A prediction of 3-4 inches – that turned into nothing more than a dusting – was enough for a local GOP official to postpone the caucuses just so the results wouldn’t be reported tonight. In fact, if you were watching one major network, they cut off their telecast of Ron Paul’s speech right when he began mentioning this fact.

Tate was referring to MSNBC cutting off Dr. Paul in the middle of his post-Maine speech. Tate’s email continued:

This is MAINE we’re talking about. The GIRL SCOUTS had an event today in Washington County that wasn’t cancelled! And just the votes of Washington County would have been enough to put us over the top. This is an outrage. The truth is, there is no length to which the GOP establishment won’t go. There is nothing the mainstream media won’t do.

Take all that for what you will but Mr. Tate makes some solid points. The fact of the matter is that the GOP and the mainstream media are going to continue to use their dirty tricks to push this man out of the race and whether you are a Paul supporter or not, that alone should sicken you. The choice of who to elect should be ours and ours alone. It shouldn’t be dictated to us and a winner certainly shouldn’t be announced under these sketchy circumstances. Yet, somehow, these crooked bastards continue to get away with their shenanigans time and time again! How much longer do we have to wait before the Internet overtakes television and the mainstream media’s establishment propaganda is swallowed up by the truth brought forth from the ever-growing alternative media industry? The time is coming but it will be too late this election. If only we could rely on people to educate themselves and not wholeheartedly sponge-up the misinformation being poured into them daily. If we truly are a nation of sheep, it’s time to steer the herd over the cliff because there is no saving us. However, if we are a nation of free thinkers that can make our own decisions and embrace personal responsibility, we might just have something left to keep fighting for. Either way, this is all coming to a head quite rapidly. It was Bob Dylan who said, “The times they are a changin’.”

Ron Paul’s full uncut speech after Maine announcement:

*Written by Rob Rimes.

I am certainly not happy with the results of the Florida primary. My home state and current place of residence was a big disappointment for those of us that are educated enough to understand what true freedom really entails. For those living in a black hole, Mitt Romney won with almost a majority vote, Gingrich came in second with Santorum in third and Paul in fourth. It just goes to show where the heads of most Floridians are at, which isn’t a good place. Luckily for me, I was at a friend’s house watching this on CNN because if I had been watching Fox News, I probably would’ve broke my TV due to all the blatant Romney love going on over there. At least the mostly liberal CNN crew didn’t seem to have much of an emotional investment in this nickel ‘n dime kabuki theater. So with Romney running through Florida like Wilt Chamberlain’s cock, we’re all left with a little something sticky on our faces – if you know what I mean?

The problem with this godforsaken state is that to the victor go the spoils and in this case, ALL the spoils. Second place doesn’t get you dick in Florida. Shit, I’m talking an awful lot about male genitalia. Anyway, there are 50 delegates in the State of Florida. If you win the primary, you get them all. In other states, delegates are handed out based off of a candidate’s performance. So second, third and even fourth place can walk away with some delegates and make out okay. This fucked up way of doing business is a major problem and it also gives the winner, in this case Mr. Romney, an unfair advantage. Let me give you the rundown of how this has worked out in other states compared to Florida.

In Iowa, Rick Santorum won with Romney in a very close second and Paul in a fairly close third. All three men got 7 delegates and Newt Gingrich walked away with 2. There are also 3 undeclared delegates based off of Rick Perry dropping out of the race. You see, even though Santorum won, he has the same amount as Romney and Paul. In reality, Iowa was virtually a three-way tie. Now New Hampshire was won by Romney who walked away with 7 delegates followed by Paul with 3. There are 2 undeclared delegates due to Huntsman finishing third and dropping out right after. South Carolina is almost as stupid as Florida, as Gingrich won and got 23 delegates while Romney, who was in second, only got 2. Santorum and Paul didn’t get crap for their efforts. In Florida however, Romney got 50 delegates and that’s all she wrote; everyone else got dicked. So after Florida, the delegate tally is as follows: Romney has 85, Gingrich has 27, Paul has 10 and Santorum has 7. Essentially, any of the candidates could’ve ignored the three previous states and pushed hard in Florida over the last month and walked away being first place nationally just by winning this one state. Florida, at this stage of the game, takes every candidate but the winner out of the hunt, at least that’s what it looks like to the casual viewer.

There are 46 more states and even though the Florida winner is light-years ahead of the competition at this point, the road is still going to be a long one. I don’t think that anyone can really be written off until Super Tuesday comes and goes. Besides that, some of the biggest states haven’t even voted yet. The guy that is able to capture either California or Texas or both, is going to be the big kahuna in this race, as far as I’m concerned. Considering Paul is loved in Cali, where he wins straw poll after straw poll, and that he is from Texas, he could very well earn a fuckload of delegates from these two states. With him getting the jump on the competition by campaigning everywhere that isn’t Florida, Paul may pull some power moves that shift this thing in his favor.

The reason Paul wasn’t campaigning in Florida is because of their “winner takes all” delegate system. Since he was pretty sure he wouldn’t get first place, he decided to go elsewhere, where he could actually walk away with delegates. This is unfortunate, as I, a Paul supporter and Floridian, wanted nothing more than to go to an event, see my guy and yell “End the Fed!” at the top of lungs. I never got the opportunity to do this though because my state has a stupid fucking rule that needs to be abolished immediately. I mean, how can Florida expect candidates to give a shit about the state if you aren’t going to throw them a bone even if they don’t come in first in this demographically diverse melting pot of sheep who vote for the candidate with the best hair and fanciest lapel pin?

I shouldn’t be surprised by the shitty Florida result. Our Tea Parties are full of Romney and Gingrich supporters who scream about liberty and hand out free pocket Constitutions. Truth is, they have never apparently read one or tried to really understand it. If they took that leap and really grasped what was written within the pages of those little books they give away like Halloween candy, Ron Paul would’ve crushed Florida. As I have stated before, too many people treat the Constitution like the Holy Bible and only pay attention to the parts that benefit them. Conservatism is like Christianity, as it is just jam packed with so many denominations that you can’t even define what it truly is anymore. I guess in Florida, the most common form of conservatism is the kind that is weak, scared and full of shit. I guess my fellow Floridians support war and wasteful spending; that’s what their votes are telling me.

In the end, if this trend continues into the other states, Obama will win the race and be re-elected for four more years. Ultimately, as much as it pains me to say, I don’t see this going any other way. There is that part of me though that refuses to give up and will continue to support Ron Paul till my last breath, even if the people continue to vote the other way. The establishment status quo just isn’t working folks but you sure as hell keep voting for it. Just do us all a favor and stop complaining, especially since you are the root of the fucking problem.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

I’m still hungover from the South Carolina results, then again seven big cans of Foster’s Premium Ale before bed last night might be a contributing factor in how I’m feeling right now. Regardless, I’m still pretty pissed off about the stupidity of 87 percent of South Carolinians and am hoping that Florida, my home state, gives us some better results. Unfortunately, Gingrich is killing it in the polls right now but at least Rick Santorum is in last place and not Ron Paul. However, as with all these pivotal stops on the campaign trail, the numbers will shift and things will change. I just hope that my state shows Ron Paul as much love as New Hampshire did. Where I live locally, I have seen more Paul signs than any other candidate, especially in front of big local businesses. A well-known seafood joint in town has huge Paul banners in front of it and since it is on a major road and probably feeds over a thousand people per week, hopefully these loyal regulars will jump on board. Then again, my pocket of Florida certainly doesn’t represent the whole state and I do know that some of the local Tea Party leaders are endorsing everyone but Paul. That just goes to show how shit the whole Tea Party thing has become, at least in Southwest Florida.

Apparently the Paul fans are out in droves, which is always a good thing if you actually love liberty. Just yesterday they bumrushed a Rick Santorum event in Coral Springs, turning it into a sign waving war. Why anyone would want to go to a Santorum event other than to antagonize him is beyond me. The Daily Caller did a good job of covering the event, as most of the mainstream media ignored it. In their story, they quoted a Paul supporter who said, “I would have stayed in the same spot if it wasn’t for people coming up right in front of me and putting their signs in front of me. I wasn’t really going for anything specific. I just wanted to vocalize and say — ’cause I knew there would be other conservative here — I wanted to make sure they knew that Ron Paul was still in the running.” One of the seven irritated Santorum supporters interrupted the interview and said exactly what you’d think an uneducated Bible-thumping Santorum supporter would say, “(Ron Paul supporters) are usually known as being somewhat on the fringe, a little bit on the nutty side just like Ron Paul himself.” Wow, what a jab! What is this, 2008?! The only reason a Santorum fan can call Ron Paul nuts is because you’d have to be certifiably insane to be behind Santorum. Santorumites are like crazies locked up in the asylum trying to convince the doctors that they’re the ones who are nuts.

Mitt Romney, who lost some steam after Iowans re-tallied their votes and took away his victory and after losing to Gingrich in South Carolina, came out and suggested that Newt Gingrich was a criminal. Now considering that Newt has been all over Mitt regarding the whole lame ass Bain Capital issue, it is only natural for Romney to put Gingrich on blast for his involvement with Freddie Mac, who caused the housing crisis. With the media saying that unemployment and immigration will be the big issues for Florida, Mitt’s pushing of the Newt-Freddie Mac alliance could shift the discussion towards the bursting of the housing bubble. Since Florida was one of the biggest states hit by the crisis, tapping into this issue right now might prove successful for Romney and detrimental for Gingrich. Then again, both of the weasily bastards have been so dastardly the last few weeks that this all may just backfire. It could blow up in Romney’s face or it could just turn into pointless bickering between the two and open the door for Ron Paul (fingers crossed). With Gingrich pressing the issue about Romney not releasing his tax info, Romney returning and asking Gingrich to release the info on his dealings with Freddie Mac is completely justified, in my honest opinion. In the end, Gingrich can’t run and hide from this if he is accusing Romney of the same thing. Now if Newt does drop the info and there is nothing incriminating, Mitt will have to release his tax info or face extreme scrutiny from the other candidates and the media, which will in turn bring a strong level of distrust in the voter. Politics is a fucking game and these guys are taking some pretty big risks but it’s crunch time! Truthfully, I don’t trust either of them as far as I could kick them.

Now Ron Paul has come under some scrutiny, which is understandable, about not being in Florida on the night when the primary is decided. I find it disheartening to a degree that the guy I’ve supported and donated a lot of money to won’t be on hand, somewhere in the Sunshine State, to give another fabulous post-primary speech but when looking at how Florida operates, I don’t really disagree with Paul’s decision. First of all, it is incredibly expensive to run a statewide campaign in Florida without a real payoff unless you finish first. You see, Florida has the strange rule where the “winner takes all” in regards to delegates. Basically, if you come in second, even if you are just a few votes behind, you are awarded zero delegates! It’s a pretty fucked up way of doing business in my opinion. Also, Florida is the first state on this journey that has closed primaries. Therefore, only Republicans can vote in the primary. Unlike Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Ron Paul can’t pull in the votes he’d get from either independents or Democrats who may be sick of Obama. In all honesty, this is the only reason why my voter registration card says “REP” on it. In a few weeks, I’m switching it back to the Libertarian Party. The bright side of this situation is that Paul will indeed increase the amount of votes he got in the state just four years ago. In 2008, he only walked away with 3 percent of the votes in Florida. As with all the other states that have voted thus far, it can pretty much be expected that Ron Paul’s numbers will multiply significantly and in the end, this race is about the message. As long as Paul stays in the hunt, the message will grow.

As with every stop on the campaign trail, Florida will be really interesting to watch. I hope my state does the right thing and votes for the guy who truly represents what conservatism is supposed to be about. Most likely the state will hand their delegates over to Gingrich or Romney. I just hope my guy gets a strong finish in second but will probably wind up in third place. If Paul ends up getting in the fourth and final spot, not only is this country doomed but his chances of recovering will be incredibly hard. If Florida fails, Paul’s best chance at shocking the world will come on Super Tuesday in March.

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 Jack Hunter.

Last night’s results in South Carolina were not a rejection of Ron Paul. They were a rejection of Mitt Romney. Last night’s results in South Carolina were not an embracement of Newt Gingrich. They were an embracement of someone who was not Mitt Romney.

South Carolina’s results were also an embracement of something more base and emotional that many GOP voters are obviously hungry for.

When South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson yelled “you lie!” at Obama during the President’s State of the Union speech in 2009, he became a hero to conservatives—not for any specific policy stances or political positions, but simply for yelling at the president. They liked that Wilson challenged Obama.

When Newt Gingrich dressed down CNN’s John King at the beginning of Thursday night’s debate, he became an instant hero to many conservatives. This gave Newt a resounding victory in the South Carolina primary. Most pundits and probably even Gingrich himself would not disagree with this analysis.

But like Wilson, Newt’s newfound popularity is not based on any of his particular policy stances or political positions. It’s personality-based. In fact, when you examine Gingrich’s actual record andrhetoric, you find a mountain of material that proves Newt to be anything but conservative.

Gingrich won South Carolina handily because he berated the media—which conservatives rightly see as often being in cahoots with Obama. Gingrich won because conservatives want to challenge Obama. Conservatives don’t see this sort of fight coming from Mitt Romney.

Conservatives will also come to no longer see it coming from Gingrich. When looking at the actual issues Obama and the Democrats will undoubtedly challenge the Republican nominee on, Gingrich stands far closer to Obama ideologically than he stands against him. Newt is going challenge this President on ObamaCare? Obama will accuse Gingrich of being for the individual mandate before he was against it.And Newt was. The same is true of Romney. Challenging this President on TARP and the bailouts? Newt supported those too. So did Mitt. Cap-and-Trade? The same. And the list goes on.

If Republican voters want a nominee willing to yell at the President, then Gingrich is unquestionably their man. But if GOP voters want a candidate whose limited government philosophy represents a full-throttle, scathing critique of Obama, the Democrats and modern liberalism—there is only one candidate.

Newt Gingrich is surly. Great. Ron Paul is substance. Newt Gingrich can yell. Fantastic. Ron Paul can go the distance.

Indeed, according to most Americans only Romney and Paul can actually defeat Barack Obama in a head-to-head battle. Only one of the candidates who can beat Obama is conservative. Only one candidate offers the American people something that is truly distinct and a vast improvement over what the Democrats offer.

Yelling at Obama is not a philosophy and will not suffice. This President must be defeated. Paul vs. Obama will offer Americans a choice between the big government status quo and limited government constitutionalism—the most distinct and real choice in modern political history.

Gingrich cannot win the White House because he doesn’t have independent support, his negatives are far too high and his arguments are far too shallow. There is an inherent danger in mistaking articulation for wisdom. Barack Obama is a prime example.

Ron Paul can win the White House—and so can conservatism.

Source: Ron Paul 2012.

*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 Rob Rimes.

Here we are again in South Carolina with the last debate in the state before they hold their primary election. This version of the ongoing shit show was put on by CNN. Unfortunately they brought back the throat gurgling champion of Dorchester, MA Mr. John King himself. Unlike last time however, we weren’t subjected to Mr. King’s guttural throat interruptions and in all honesty, he was pleasant to watch this time around.

Now be forewarned, the majority of this debate consisted of pointless bickering and while I did enjoy the bloodshed, the Santorum-Romney-Gingrich ménage à trois was more annoying than entertaining and for the most part it pushed Ron Paul out of the debate several times. I wish John King had been a bit more pro-active in squashing some of these squabbles, as it created an atmosphere of elitist shitcocks stealing the spotlight from the only sane man on stage. However, even with this issue, Ron Paul was not stopped from pulling off on of his best performances to date. When the man had time, he fucking shined. His smack downs to Rick Santorum were also the best jabs of the night and proved that Paul can battle it out with the establishment Neanderthals when need be.

It was a good night for Ron Paul, in fact he got the loudest ovation during the introductions which was refreshing considering how the South Carolinians treated him during the last debate. I’d like to say that the crowd was great and they really won over my support for South Carolina, as I was about ready to hire a witchdoctor to curse the everliving shit out of that state just a few days ago – following the last shit show. I guess it was just the people of Myrtle Beach that sucked because the Charleston crowd was a beast when it came to cheering for liberty and sanity.

The first question went to Newt Gingrich and it was about his ex-wife, who came out earlier in the day saying that he was a monster that ended their marriage because she wouldn’t give him permission to cheat. Without even answering or addressing the concerns brought up by John King, Newt brushed it off to a loud ovation. Gingrich said that he was “appalled” at the media for promoting this scandal and extremely upset that the subject kicked off the debate. As he continued to bash CNN and John King for their “despicable” actions, the crowd shot up to their feet! Honey Badger don’t give a shit! Newt finally addressed the issue after a long-winded smack down and said that the story was false and claims that he offered real witnesses to ABC that would debunk the story but apparently they weren’t interested. He went on to say that companies like ABC are just out to bash the GOP and protect Obama as he tries to get re-elected.

Now I understand Newt’s frustration and do agree with his feelings about the media but he was really just acting like a cornered dog – snapping at anything he deemed a threat. Whether the incident happened or not, it was well over a decade ago and the fact that the media and his ex-wife are bringing this story out now just shows that they are only out to hurt him. Frankly, as I’ve said before, I don’t care what a politicians dick does; I just care about how they lead and the decisions they make.

In an effort to save himself from looking like an ass, John King asks the other candidates their thoughts on the issue. Santorum skirts around giving a real answer and just mumbles about morals, leadership and Jesus. Romney says “Let’s get to the real issues.” Ron Paul warns about the corporate run media and how they can shape public opinion.

Ron Paul is then asked about whether or not we need the federal government to set up specific plans to help solve the unemployment problem. Paul says that we need sound currency and for the federal government to get out of the way. He calls for a near zero percent income tax and for regulation to be reduced in order to help create more jobs. He explains that we need to get rid of our excessive debt and malinvestments. He adds that the government shouldn’t be bailing people out and that they need to just stay out of everything. He says that they should focus on enforcing contract laws and bankruptcy. On the same subject, Newt says that we have to eliminate Dodd-Frank. He also talks about tapping into offshore natural gas, as that industry could create tons of jobs. He adds that we should look at overhauling the Corps of Engineers.

King switches the discussion over to Romney and Bain Capital. I’m so tired of this damn subject. Newt claims that Bain’s business model destroyed companies. Romney, like a fucking coward, diverts the whole issue and goes back to talking about job creation. Mittens blames Obama for using crony capitalism which is just a soulless attempt at getting cheap pops from the crowd. He then rambles about unimportant nonsense but throws “capitalism” around for even more cheap pops. It gets to the point where all I hear is “Capitalism!” “Capitalism!” “Capitalism!” “Capitalism!” and applause. Santorum jumps in and says that he “..still believes in capitalism.” Man, this guy is funny! He then tells stories about Iowa just so he can make an Iowa connection and brag about how it came out earlier in the day that he actually won Iowa and not Romney.

Ron Paul is asked if the federal government should help veterans get jobs, as statistically the unemployment problem hits vets the hardest. Paul says that he is concerned about soldiers coming home and trying to adjust to regular life again. He says that the vets do need help especially in regards to health. He talks about how veterans traditionally get shortchanged. He also talks about helping them with their mental health, as the suicide rate for veterans is very high.

Santorum is asked the same question as Paul. He feels that there should be special preferences for veterans. He then turns that into a rant about Obama wanting to cut the military and says that it is “disgusting”. On the same subject, Romney says that while he was governor of Massachusetts he helped vets with college and job training. This isn’t about you asshole. He then spins it into typical Romney rhetoric and finishes by saying he will build a military so strong, no one will dare test us. What about people who like challenges Mr Romney? Someone will always test it. Gingrich then talks some smack about Ron Paul which turns into him calling for a transition program for veterans, which is essentially the same thing Paul was suggesting.

On Obamacare, Mitt Romney says that an executive order won’t kill the bill. He says that we have to go after a complete repeal. He adds to his point that the American people need to stand strong and united in order to influence Democrats to help end Obamacare. Mitt then says that he will replace Obamacare with his own program. Huh? Wait.. what? Mitt claims that he will protect people and give them insurance options. He then says that he’ll help save health care with “free market principles”. Oddly, none of this sounds like “free market principles”. All Romney proposes to fix government intervention into health care is a different form of government intervention into health care. Government intervention is the opposite of free market.

Continuing on with the health care portion of the debate, Newt Gingrich tells parents to vote for the GOP candidate because they’ll create an environment that’ll get kids out of the house and off of their insurance plans. Santorum disses Romney and starts a Romneycare rant. Ricky Boy then starts dissing Gingrich for being in favor of individual mandates. Rick then talks about how he was the author and architect of a private health reform project that no one but him was interested in. Romney responds to Santorum saying that Romneycare wasn’t a government run system. He then points out that people in Massachusetts still approve of Romneycare 3-to-1. Mitt also claims that insurance rates dropped under his plan. Ricky Boy jumps back in and says Mitt’s facts are wrong and then reveals that Romneycare was the model for Obamacare! Dude, that’s like really old fucking news. Romney and Santorum then go back and forth for what seems like forever on Medicare and Medicaid.

Gingrich then jumps in, making it a three man dick-wagging contest. He calls Santorum “mildly lazy”. He then says that he led the charge against Hillarycare and that he was the guy that helped Rick Santorum try to gain traction with his private health reform project. He then challenges Obama to a Lincoln-Douglas style debate, which causes Santorum to make fun of him for suggesting that without having yet earned the GOP nomination. They then go back and forth as John King tries to bring Paul, the only doctor on stage, into the health care debate.

Ron Paul admits that the likelihood of repealing Obamacare isn’t good. He then talks about how he practiced medicine before government got involved and describes how well it worked back then. Paul points out that Santorum, regardless of his claims, expanded government control over health care based off of his policies. Paul then gets into the massive spending on the military and talks about how if we can bring that down, we’d have more to use elsewhere, even though he plans to attack the budget on every front.

Rick Santorum is asked about Newt Gingrich’s recent comments that called for Santorum to drop out of the race. Ricky Boy looks kind of hurt by the question, poorly shrugs it off and says that grandiosity is Newt’s style. He then points out again that he won Iowa and had twice as many votes as Newt so Newt should STFU and GTFO. Ricky Boy then claims that he was 2-0 going into South Carolina, which is a blatant lie. Then, comparing himself to Gingrich, says that he is steady and solid and even if he isn’t charismatic and doesn’t have good soundbites he is still a top tier candidate. Santorum basically said, “Hey, if you didn’t know my faults, here they are! Vote for me! Lulz!”

Gingrich then immediately gives us a Reagan name drop, as well as a Jack Kemp name drop. He goes on to describe his record versus Santorum’s and says that Rick isn’t qualified to be president. He adds that we need real leadership that can take on big projects and makes it known that Santorum can’t carry the ball at that level. Ricky Boy snaps back, getting personal, saying that under Newt, the House of Representatives was “undisciplined”. He then says that Newt doesn’t have the courage to stand up against rival leadership. Newt then lists off all the shit he did that he feels is bad ass, in an effort to prove that he is a rebel.

Continuing with the pot-stiriing bullshit, John King asks Romney about him calling Gingrich an unreliable leader. Mitt diverts the question in typical Mitt fashion and instead, talks about how the spat between Newt and Rick is why we need “a guy that’s lived in the streets to run this country.” By streets he means inside of the gated community. Romney filibusters for so long he pauses, looks at Newt and literally asks him “where are we at?” because he can’t even remember the original question and apparently can’t follow his own train of thoughts. Mitt comes back though and takes a shot at Newt saying that if he and Reagan were so tight, why is he only mentioned once in his diary.. oh snap! Gingrich doesn’t even flinch, he just name drops Reagan again, ignoring Mitt’s comment about them not being homies. Suddenly everything starts to fall apart on stage and we are stuck in another long-winded three man dick-wagging contest. There was almost some full-on full frontal fencing between the three swashbucklers.

The issue of releasing tax returns is brought up. Ron Paul says that he is afraid to release his as he’d feel embarrassed to have his income compared to those of the other men on stage. Paul jokingly points out that he isn’t a fat cat like the dick-wagging three amigos who are ballin’ outta control. Romney says he will release his taxes in April when he is done with them. Hasn’t this motherfucker heard of Turbo Tax? It’s January and I’ve got my taxes done already. That shit only took twenty minutes! Romney then wastes everyone’s time to ramble about Obama playing golf while Americans are out of work. He then bitches about the pipeline and Obamacare and doesn’t seem to realize that other people need to answer the tax question. Gingrich says that if there is nothing to hide, then Mitt should release his tax info. Newt adds that he released his earlier in the evening. Santorum says that his taxes are on his computer at home and that he hasn’t done them yet, as he’s been campaigning. When asked exactly when and how he will release his tax info, Mitt says that he doesn’t know and gets greeted with a chorus of incredibly loud boos. However, South Carolinians are apparently gullible as Mitt quickly adds that he “..won’t apologize for being successful”, which causes them all to cheer. I think these people have serious ADD.

Santorum and Paul then get into a spat. Ricky Boy starts by saying he would cut corporate taxes in order to allow us to compete with our foreign rivals. Paul comes in and says that you have to create the right conditions to bring companies back to America. He explains how free trade with China actually helps the American economy, contrary to modern conservative bullshit. Paul then points out that Santorum has damaged the economy by not supporting “right to work”. Santorum snaps back saying that he would support it as president. Sure you would now dicknose because you’re pandering to the people!

The hot button issue of the week, SOPA and PIPA, come up. Just the mention of SOPA gets the crowd fired up to where they boo loudly and uncontrollably. Gingrich is questioned about it first and he responds to King saying, “You’re asking a conservative about the intellectual interest of Hollywood?” In typical fashion, Newt’s clever one-liner got a lot of applause and cheers, however it is just a clever one-liner and pretty soulless as it offers no substance and doesn’t answer anything. Truth be told, whether he’s a conservative and Hollywood is liberal doesn’t matter. Artists have a right to own their own property and not have it infringed upon. Newt doesn’t care about the rights of who he perceives as his enemy however. Now I am not saying this in support of SOPA and PIPA, I vehemently oppose those laws; I am just pointing out how empty Newt’s one-liners are. After his big soundbite, he looks a little befuddled, like he has no idea what all this SOPA and PIPA talk is. He does finally add that laws already exist that allow companies to sue those who infringe on them.

Romney says that Gingrich is right and adds that the SOPA and PIPA laws are too intrusive and too expansive. He feels that these laws would have a “depressing impact” on the Internet and all of the industries attached to it. Romney wants more effective laws to bring the digital pirates to justice and says that these laws aren’t going to do that.

Ron Paul tells us that he was the first Republican to come out and oppose the law. He then says that the bills will not pass but that everyone should be vigilant as similar laws will come back up in the future. Paul feels that the Republicans have been on the wrong side of the issue. He then says that freedom and the Constitution bring people together and this is a great example of it due to the strong opposition to these laws all over the Internet.

Santorum says that he doesn’t agree with the law but then goes on a tangent about how the Internet isn’t a free zone where people can just trample on the rights of others. What the fuck does he know? His computer is powered by musk turtles. Santorum, who is talking against SOPA and PIPA, as the crowd hates it, still thinks that there should be a law like it. He then asks, “Who on the Internet said ‘anything goes’?” Shut up fucktard.

The debate then shifts to illegal immigration and border security, which these fucking guys have talked to death every single debate. I honestly lose interest and find myself staring into an empty bottle of bourbon that was used to wash down the twelve pounds of sushi I ate just a couple of hours prior. I snap out of my sushi-bourbon coma and hear Newt talking about modernizing visas, Ron Paul talking about how taking care of the needs of illegals hurts our schools and hospitals and then I get distracted by porn on the other television.

Gingrich and Romney argue over pro-life shit for quite some time and then Santorum jumps in making it round three of the GOP dick fencing competition. John King steps in after this abortion debate has raged on forever and goes to Ron Paul in an effort to change the subject. The crowd immediately erupts with boos as they are not happy that, once again, the only doctor on the stage was left out of a medical portion of the debate.

Ron Paul, on abortion, says that laws won’t correct the morality of people. Santorum jumps on his shit and says that he only has a 50 percent “right to life” voting record, responding to what he thinks is an attack on him by Paul. Ron Paul laughs and tells Ricky Boy that he is “too sensitive” as he wasn’t referring to him in his comments. Paul then goes on to explain how bullshit his 50 percent “right to life” voting record is, as he follows the Constitution and his record with that is 100 percent. Paul further explains that these “right to life” laws should be handled at the state level and that is how he has always voted. Santorum just stands there like a dork dick with his bitch tail between his bitch knees.

The debate ends with a segment where the candidates are given time to beg the South Carolinians for their vote. They all say what they have all been known to say over the course of this primary adventure and I don’t feel like wasting time typing out the details. This was a pretty good debate, there have been better ones and worse ones. Ron Paul’s time was limited due to the gay three-way the other candidates were having but Paul utilized the time he had brilliantly and really pulled off one of his best performances. Paul was the real winner here and Gingirch, although I don’t like many of his answers, also did well after having a really shitty day due to his ex-wife. Santorum sucked per usual and Mitt just looked like a sack of crap. Mitt getting booed made me giddy inside.

Grading Scale:
Grade A+: Ron Paul
Grade A-: Newt Gingrich
Grade D: Rick Santorum
Grade D-: Mitt Romney