In last night’s debate — a frightened, desperate Mitt Romney sought to slow down Newt Gingrich’s “ass” momentum, and the former House Speaker tried on a new role — front-runner. Here are POLITICO’s six takeaways from the NBC/National Journal debate: [ READ MORE ] [ SEE VIDEOS BELOW ]
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The esteemed Richard Cohen Notes: “I do not mean that Newt Gingrich — the one who is a virtual Michelin Man of grandiosity, pneumatically overstuffed with self-references and appeals to the political gutter. I do not mean the man whose public life has been as chaotic as his private one (and vice versa) and who is capable of the most sinister simplicities, such as the time he suggested that Susan Smith would not have murdered her two children had Republicans been in power. This Gingrich is a Rorschach test: If you don’t think he’s nuts, you are. [ READ MORE ]
“From the bottom of the polls to the top of the pack, businessman Herman Cain won a surprise victory at the Republican Party of Florida’s nationally watched presidential straw poll Saturday in a sign that frontrunner Rick Perry is in deep trouble.
Cain’s landslide victory, with 37 percent of the vote, exceeded the combined total for Perry and Mitt Romney, who only garnered 15 percent and 14 percent, respectively” — MiamiHerald.Com
It could be argued that a non-binding straw poll is meaningless, but the results of this poll are devastating for Texas Governor Rick Perry.
Mitt Romney’s name appeared on the ballot, but he basically shunned the event, but Perry expended a lot of money and energy wooing the 3,000 delegates. Perry was crushed by a candidate with a meager war chest and low name recognition. I hope Herman Cain enjoys his moment in the spotlight, pigs will fly and fancy French restaurants will serve pizza before he becomes President of the United States.
Perry’s humiliating defeat comes after a series of awful debate appearances. Perry is no longer seen as the Second Coming of Ronald Reagan, but as a Dan Quayle clone.
The other big loser last night was Rep. Michele Bachmann, she received about 1 percent of the vote, she’s toast. The aura of her Ames straw poll victory has completely dissipated, and she’s nothing but a sideshow.
The pressure on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to enter the presidential race is bound to increase. If Christie joins the presidential fray he will quickly become the flavor of the month, but too much of Christie leaves a sour taste.
“Pornographic magazine publisher Larry Flynt offered $1 million on Thursday to anyone with proof of ‘an illicit sexual liaison’ involving leading Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry.
The offer by the politically left-leaning Flynt targeting Perry was similar to past efforts by the Hustler magazine founder to embarrass public figures he dislikes.” — Reuters
Political guru James Carville famously said: Drag a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you will find. If there are any skeletons in Perry’s closet for a cool million they will come out dancing.
Governor Rick Perry loves to pray and quote scripture in public, I wonder if the governor puts his Bible away and gets freaky in private? We may soon find out…
Larry Flynt has enjoyed success using this tactic to out hypocritical politicians. In 1999, then-incoming Speaker of the House Robert Livingston resigned after First Amendment hero Flynt claimed to have uncovered proof of an affair by the married Republican.
Perry is doing such a good job knocking himself out of contention, that he may be dead meat by the time Flynt uncovers any dirt.
“Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann on Tuesday called on President Obama to block Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from speaking at the United Nations – a violation of long-standing international treaty obligations. [ READ MORE ]
At this juncture the Republican presidential nomination process is a two-man race between former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry.
Desperate to get back into the conversation Bachmann has recently made reckless statements that serve only to solidify her reputation as a goofball. During the most recent debate, Bachmann called the vaccine to prevent cervical cancer “dangerous.” Bachmann isn’t a physician, and she should stop playing one on TV. Real doctors blasted Bachmann for spreading lies, they emphasized that the vaccine is safe and has saved the lives of many young girls.
Now Bachmann is trying to curry favor with supporters of Israel by urging President Obama to block Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from speaking at the United Nations. Not only would that be a violation of international treaty obligations, but if Obama followed her advice he would be acting as reckless as the dictator from Iran.
The United Nations is the perfect forum for President Ahmadinejad to speak, unfortunately most of the UN members would applaud his anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Bachmann is out of her league running for president, and she’s not helping her cause by making inflammatory statements. I know you can’t pray the gay away, but for her sake I hope you can pray the stupid away.
By: Harold Meyerson Like Poe’s purloined letter, the Republican plan to heist the 2012 presidential election sits before us in plain view. And going Poe one better, it is perfectly legal. Rigging the already anti-democratic electoral college should not become the way to win the White House, says Harold Meyerson
The first part of the strategy has been unfolding for months. Since the 2010 elections brought Republicans to power in numerous swing states, officials in many of those states have made it harder for minority, poor and young voters to cast their ballots. GOP governments have been curtailing early voting (in Ohio and Florida) and requiring voters to produce official photo-identification cards (in Wisconsin). In South Carolina, the poll tax lives again: Voters who want an official photo-ID card must present a passport or a birth certificate, neither of which can be obtained for free.
Recently a new ploy has emerged, focused on the electoral college. In Pennsylvania, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R) has proposed changing the way the state’s electoral votes are tallied in presidential elections. (A state’s electoral votes reflect the number of its U.S. congressional districts, plus two more for its Senate seats.) Instead of having all of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes go to the candidate who carries the state’s popular vote, as is the long-standing practice in Pennsylvania and 47 other states, Pileggi wants to apportion those votes by congressional district.
Since Bill Clinton carried Pennsylvania in 1992, the state has gone Democratic in every presidential election. In 2008, Barack Obama carried Pennsylvania with 55 percent of its popular vote, thereby winning its 21 electoral votes. But if Pileggi’s plan had been in place, John McCain would have been given 10 electoral votes by virtue of winning 10 congressional districts. Obama would have been awarded nine for the nine congressional districts he carried, plus two for carrying the state’s popular vote.
The 2010 Census reduced Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation from 19 to 18, and the Republican legislature and governor have drawn new lines intended to create GOP majorities in 12 of the 18 districts. Under Pileggi’s plan, Obama could carry the state in 2012 — by winning huge majorities in heavily Democratic Philadelphia — and still lose the majority of its electoral votes.
Tom Corbett, Pennsylvania’s Republican governor, has said he’ll support the Pileggi plan. Other swing states that came under GOP control after 2010 could adopt their own versions: Thus Obama could carry Michigan, thanks to strong support in Detroit, or Ohio, as a result of big numbers in Cleveland and Columbus, and still lose most of those states’ electoral votes.
Ultimately, what Pileggi’s plan does is extend to the states the electoral college’s bias against popular-vote majorities. The electoral college, after all, was created out of a compromise so that Southern whites wouldn’t be outvoted by Northerners in the House of Representatives or in presidential elections. The compromise was to tally slaves in apportioning congressional districts among the states, and then award the presidency to the winner of the states’ electoral vote, not of the nationwide popular count. In 2000, Al Gore won half a million more votes than George W. Bush, but through the magic of electoral-college apportionment and a Republican Supreme Court, Bush won the White House. Under this new Republican scheme, candidates who win a state’s popular votes could still lose the majority of its electoral votes.
Considered in tandem with the drive to reduce voting among minorities and low-income citizens, the emerging Republican opposition to popular-vote democracy makes long-term strategic sense. With each year, the nation’s population and electorate become less white, even as the Republican Party becomes more and more a white folks’ party. As minorities and the poor tend to cluster in cities, in heavily Democratic congressional districts, apportioning a state’s electoral votes by congressional district creates an opportunity for GOP electoral gains even though the party’s share of the popular vote is waning. By contrast, a number of states controlled by Democrats (most recently, California) are trying to scrap the electoral college by conditionally pledging their electoral votes to the winner of the nationwide popular vote; the shift would take effect if and when enough states to elect a president go this route.
It may be that the 2012 presidential election ends in a landslide victory, no matter how the electoral votes are apportioned. But suppose a Republican wins only by virtue of vote suppression and plans such as Pileggi’s. There would be no basis to challenge the legality of the winner’s claim. The same cannot be said of his legitimacy. And if Rick Perry or Mitt Romney takes office solely by virtue of such anti-majoritarian chicanery, Democrats should not hesitate to challenge his presidency — based as it is on flouting majority rule — at every turn. They should refuse, for starters, to confirm his Cabinet appointments.
Rigging the already anti-democratic electoral college should not become the way to win the White House.
About The Author: Harold Meyerson — is an OP-ED Columnist for the Washington Post — His is generally viewed as the most liberal voice on the Post op-ed page.
PLAYLIST: Republican Election Fraud — How They Steal Elections
Like Poe’s purloined letter, the Republican plan to heist the 2012 presidential election sits before us in plain view. And going Poe one better, it is perfectly legal. Rigging the already anti-democratic electoral college should not become the way to win the White House, says Harold Meyerson
