Rick Santorum: Presidential Candidate and Blatant Racist

When I saw the comment on my Facebook page today, that Rick Santorum said that he didn’t want to “make black peoples’ lives better” I assumed that he was being quoted out of context, because no one in the 21^st century says that. Not anymore anyway.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Here is a clip of the statement from CBS News:

Rick Santorum, presidential candidate Rick Santorum is a racist.

But since he’s in Iowa, and since he hasn’t a snowball’s chance in H-E-Double-Hockey sticks of garnering a single African-American vote, and couldn’t care less about the effect of these words in Iowa, a 91% Caucasian state, Rick Santorum is in his comfort zone and can say what he really thinks.

Know which ethnic group collects the most welfare? Whether it is actual welfare or food stamps or Medicaid or Medicare? Taxpayer-supported government benefits?

White people.

African-Americans collect a disproportionate amount of welfare as a percentage of that ethnic group, but in raw numbers their numbers are dwarfed by white people.

A president is a president of all the people. A president doesn’t single out a subset of Americans and accuse them of raw and rapacious laziness for not getting out there and working for a living. A president knows that the ills and, yes, past racist policies of our society have contributed to this trend. A president understands this.

Rick Santorum is no president.

Election 2012 Begins Tomorrow

The only things you hear on the news, besides the latest gaffe by Rick Perry that is, is who is going to win the Iowa Caucus which officially kicks off tomorrow evening. And with that, Election 2012 is officially here.

The Iowa Caucus is just about the strangest thing there is not only because of the process but because Iowa, apparently, does not represent the cross section of American thoughts and politics. It is a really odd state. Results in Iowa practically never reflect national trends and that seems to be the case this year.

Feature a state caucus that threatens to name Ron Paul as either the winner or the one who comes in 2^nd (a good sign for Iowa, as opposed to practically everywhere else). Still, I expect Dr. Paul’s numbers to go as polled.

Paul’s following, a Libertarian-leaning group, is exceptionally loyal because they are so doctrinaire – as Paul is. They are not persuadable. So don’t count them in as part of the 41% of potential caucus-goers who say that they could change their minds when they are at the caucus.

At that rate, 41% decided, but changeable, and 49% undecided at this point, the Iowa Caucus is truly anyone’s to win.

My best guess is that Mitt Romney will pull it off with 40 plus per cent simply because of the super PAC dollars being poured into Iowa, immersing the media markets with anti-Newt ads. That and enough Iowans will finally be persuaded that Romney has the best chance to put up a fight to challenge the Goliath that will become the Obama campaign.

Paul will get his 22%. The polls are consistent from week to week and, frankly, you either love Ron Paul or hate him (or he scares the bejesus out of you).

Santorum will come in 3^rd with numbers in the high teens. Evangelicals love Rick Santorum and while there is a greater than the 24% (on a national average) proportion of evangelical voters in Iowa, they are going to split their vote. Santorum will get the lion’s share.

Then in the low teens will be Perry and Newt. It still amazes me that there are Iowans who are still considering Rick Perry as a viable candidate.

Spread the rest of the votes out there in the very low sub 10% among the rest. There will be lots of people crossing the room away from the gangs with the low numbers.

So that’s my best guess, but with this caveat – it’s Iowa.

Perry: English is the National Language

As the curtain comes down on what is inevitably the last few days of Rick Perry’s bid for the highest elected office in America we get treated to yet one more “Perryism.”

English should be declared the national language of the United States of America.

It came up yesterday at an Iowa town hall as Perry opened up the floor to questions. This is when a local brainiac got up and stated that he thought English should be the official national language.

“That’s a statement. That’s not a question,” responded Perry, and then added “and I can agree with it.”

This has come up for a vote on prior occasions. In 2006 the Senate voted to adopt English as the official language, only to have that part stripped out of the immigration bill. In 1795, it is said that German lost by one vote as the official language, but I think that is mostly urban legend.

There is no official language, and it’s for a good reason. We are a nation of immigrants. 47 million Americans speak another language than English. Adopting English as the official language is the ultimate racist message.

But I guess the point to be made, if there is one to be made, is this: what makes Rick Perry think he speaks English?

Federal Oligarch in a Robe (Judge) Says No to Perry

Yesterday a federal judge rejected Governor Rick Perry’s request for an emergency court order to require the Virginia Board of Elections to place his name on the Virginia primary ballot.

Barring any changes, only Mitch Romney and Ron Paul will appear on that primary ballot, both campaigns being able to produce the 10,000 valid signatures that state law requires.

You know, there are reasons for these “overly burdensome” requirements. It keeps candidates that aren’t really serious about running for president off the ballot. You know, candidates like Perry, Santorum, Gingrich, Bachmann and Huntsman.

And no, we’re not done with this. Not yet

The judge left it open for consideration, setting a January 13^th date to hear arguments.

The deadline for primary ballot printing in Virginia, however, is January 9^th.

So what’s the point? Why schedule a hearing after the ballots have already been printed? You’re going to just love this. If the judge finds that the Perry arguments are sufficiently valid, and declares Virginia’s election law unconstitutional, allowing Perry, and I suppose Newt Gingrich, on the ballot, the judge can order that the state reprint the ballots.

Isn’t that nice? Every county in Virginia gets to reprint enough ballots for every Republican voter. Now in 2008 McCain got 1.7 million votes so it is safe to say that that is a working estimate of the number of voters that will need primary ballots. And having researched it, paper ballots are specialty items to print and run about 30 cents per ballot in printing costs. That adds up to a little over $500,000 to reprint the ballots with Perry’s name on it.

That is, Perry not only is using a federal court to overturn a state law, if he succeeds he is going to cost the state another half a million dollars to get on the ballot.

Virginians should be “Fed Up” with Rick Perry by now.

Perry Gets Gotcha’d

Watch this Talking Points Memo video showing Rick Perry being quizzed on how he can be in favor of small government in light of his opposition to the very famous 2003 landmark Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas.

It is obvious that Perry had forgotten what that case was all about, yet when the case was decided, Perry, as governor of Texas, railed against the decision.

The decision struck down Texas’ anti-sodomy law that barred homosexuals from this sexual act, but not heterosexuals. Perry decried the decision at the time, calling the Texas law, a heavy-handed intrusion of government into the private bedrooms of Texas “appropriate,” and calling the Supreme Court Justices “nine oligarchs in robes” (even the 3 dissenters apparently).

And more recently in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (no relation) the dissenting opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, penned by Antonin Scalia, was used by Judge Vaughn Walker in his 2010 ruling that California’s Proposition 8, outlawing same-sex marriage in that state, was unconstitutional.

And yes, Perry was perfectly right in labeling the question as a “gotcha question” because he sure was.

Gotcha’d, that is.

Perry Faces First-Ever Election Loss

CNN and Time have come out with a fresh new poll of likely caucus-goers in Iowa and likely primary voters in New Hampshire. Conducted between December 21 and 27, it clearly shows that Rick Perry has about as much of a chance of placing in the top three of either races as a gnat’s chance in a hailstorm.

And this in and of itself is historically significant because Rick Perry has no experience in losing an election - he never has before. But this time, on the national stage, Rick Perry is not only poised to lose but lose badly.

In Iowa, the poll shows Rick Perry in a consistent 4^th place trailing Romney, Newt, and Ron Paul. In New Hampshire, however, Perry is dead last getting a mere 2% of voter support.

That he is doing so well in Iowa, compared to New Hampshire is not too surprising considering the fact that the Republican political machine in Iowa is led by none other than Jesus Christ Himself.

These people are True Believers, and as such lack facts. Lack analysis. Lack facts.

Take for example the audience reaction to Perry’s claim that “every barrel of oil that comes out of those sands in Canada is a barrel of oil that we don’t have to buy from a foreign source.” This earned him a loud round of enthusiastic applause.

Because these people, these voters, aren’t aware of the fact that buying oil from Canada is exactly the same as buying oil from a foreign source.

Because Canada is a foreign country.

So the only reason Rick Perry is still in 4^th place in Iowa is that Iowa voters are collectively dumber than a bag of hammers and don’t really deserve all the media attention that they get every 4 years.

Perry Files Lawsuit to Get on Virginia Primary Ballot

Failing to gather the 10,000 signatures that Virginia state law requires of all presidential candidates, Rick Perry has filed a lawsuit in federal district court to force himself on the Virginia primary ballot.

Now there normally would be nothing wrong with the above statement if the name Rick Perry were not used in it. Insert the name Newt Gingrich, a big government Washington insider conservative and you have a winner. But Rick “Tenther” Perry? Rick Perry is apparently not so “fed up” that he doesn’t see the exquisite irony in his running to the feds to force a state to alter the way it runs its own elections. In his own state he decries the justice department meddling in its Voter ID law and redistricting. But Virginia is, apparently, infected with some resident evil that prevents its electorate from being able to choose him.

The campaign released a statement citing the reasons for the lawsuit via the Austin American-Statesman:

“Virginia ballot access rules are among the most onerous and are particularly problematic in a multi-candidate election. We believe that the Virginia provisions unconstitutionally restrict the rights of candidates and voters by severely restricting access to the ballot, and we hope to have those provisions overturned or modified to provide greater ballot access to Virginia voters and the candidates seeking to earn their support.”

Onerous. 10,000 signatures.

Heck, Perry could have given each and every one of his security detail a few petitions each and gotten the job done.

Heck, Perry could have called up one of his political cronies and gotten the job done just as they did in 2010 when they helped the Green Party get on the Texas ballot by gathering 92,000 signatures.

But no. Instead Perry ran to the feds for some relief and filed another frivolous lawsuit.

You know, this just underlines something that I have been saying about Rick Perry for months now. Rick Perry is neither conservative nor liberal. Rick Perry simply has no core principles at all except the ones that help Rick Perry.

Arpaio Stumping for Perry

Politics make strange bedfellows and there are no stranger bedfellows in the GOP presidential race than Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Arpaio is in Iowa as I write this, along for the ride on Perry’s final bus tour of the state before its Tuesday evening caucuses.

Now one thing that is obvious is that Perry hopes to use Arpaio’s anti-immigrant mojo to cover up the fact that he has gone on record, both in debate and in the press, as being soft on illegal immigration. His support of the DREAM act and his scoffing at the need for a border fence are strikes one and two against Perry in the cold, cold hearts of anti-immigrant Iowans.

But here’s the thing. This is having an opposite effect, at least in the press. The story in the press isn’t about how Arpaio and Perry agree on illegal immigration, it is about how much they disagree.

Arpaio hasn’t weighed in on letting the sons and daughters of illegal immigrants attend college without having to pay put-of-state tuition – a major part of the DREAM Act but my guess is that he would take a dim view of such a thing, especially now, since he has been charged by the feds of using discriminatory tactics in stopping and questioning Hispanics.

But what is clear is that Arpaio and Perry do not see eye-to-eye on a border fence, something Arpaio has made very clear that he wants, but something Rick Perry doesn’t think is necessary.

So while the intent in having Arpaio along for the ride is transparent and clear, the SNAFU in all of this is that the emphasis has become the contrast between Perry and Arpaio’s divergent opinions on illegal immigration.

That is, Perry is making it obvious to anti-immigrant Iowans that he is not their man.

Fractured Logic

Shaking my head this afternoon after reading an article in the Austin American-Statesman published last Friday. It must be fun being a Texas Republican because you get to operate under a system of logic that is so fractured it looks like a disassembled jigsaw puzzle.

Attorneys from the Texas Attorney General’s office are making arguments before the DC federal district court on why Texas’ new House, Senate and Congressional district maps are not discriminatory toward its minority populations. They argue that it was not the intent of legislators to discriminate against minorities. It was, however, their intent to discriminate against Democrats.

From the Austin American-Statesman:

”In arguments before the court, state lawyers denied any intentional racial bias. They explained that because Republicans control the Legislature, it was only natural that they drew maps that would benefit Republican candidates. The Texas attorney general's office said the reason Hispanics are not the majority in more districts is because most Hispanics vote Democratic, not because of their ethnicity.”

So that makes it OK.

It’s like the guy who recently stole my credit card explained to me that he really didn’t have anything against me and didn’t want to upset me or bring me any trouble, he just needed to get some free stuff.

So that makes stealing, whether it is a credit card or a vote, OK.

‘Tis the Season

Christmas tree

Chestnut

Lawn light

Wassail

Nutmeg

Holly

Ribbon

Turkey

Shopping

Candy Cane

Poinsettia

Reindeer

Snow

Bell

Yule Log

Caroling

Wreath

Tinsel

Card

Stocking

Mistletoe

Mince Meat Pie

And…

And…

“A Christmas Story” 24 Hour Marathon!!!!

You’ll shoot your eye out.

DOJ Rejects South Carolina’s Voter ID Law

Now with today’s announcement from the Department of Justice that South Carolina’s recently-passed Voter ID law, a law that requires voters to possess a photo ID, is discriminatory toward minority voters – a violation of the Voting Rights Act – I have to wonder when the other shoe is going to drop.

The other shoe being Texas.

Because if anything, Texas’ voter ID law is even more restrictive than South Carolina’s.

Texas and South Carolina share a common heritage in having Jim Crow laws on the books, laws that were meant to keep minorities off the voter rolls. The Voting Rights Act specifically targets the states that has them, and any changes that they make to their voting procedures must be precleared by the Department of Justice before they can be enforced.

Now here’s the thing. Indiana has a Voter ID law that passed muster in the Supreme Court. Indiana requires its voters to present a valid photo ID in order to vote.

Indiana was on the side of the North in the War of Northern Aggression (as the Civil War is known here in the South). So Indiana isn’t on the list of states whose voting laws need to be reviewed by the DOJ.

Making me wonder when someone here in the South is going to challenge the entire validity of Section 5 of the VRA – the meat of the law really – under the theory that it violates equal protection. That is, what’s OK in Indiana isn’t so OK in Texas, or South Carolina.

Texas Counties Say April 3rd Primary Date is Too Soon

Will there be enough time to put a primary election together next year? Well in this post a few days back I kind of alluded to the fact the tight schedule that the courts have signed on to could be blown if district courts and the Supreme Court drop the ball and fail to come to their various decisions by the end of January. We would be truly cooked.

And now, as it turns out, according to county governments that have filed objections to the April 3^rd primary date, that date is too soon. Assuming that district maps are in place by February 1^st, there is just not enough time to prepare for the election and this could result in massive confusion as voters try to figure out where they vote.

From the Texas Tribune:

“The court based the April 3 date on having a map in place by Feb. 1. But the counties say that wouldn't leave them enough time. The court would give them only two weeks to prepare voter registration certificates that take six to seven weeks to prepare, the groups said.”

“‘If voter registrars are required to mail inaccurate voter registration certificates in order to meet the deadline set by the Court, there is likely to be much confusion among voters. And voter confusion leads to voter disenfranchisement.’”

And the assumption that maps will be in place by February 1^st is the optimistic scenario.

You know, if there are going to be errors made and votes suppressed because of this fiat by the Supreme Court, maybe June 5^th is a more reasonable primary date. By that time, Rick Perry is certain to have dropped from the race for the nomination, and if a presumed nominee has not emerged by that time, Texas Republicans can all vote for the obvious choice to run against President Obama: Ron Paul.

An Early Christmas: Congress Passes Extension of Payroll Tax Cut

In a thoroughly stunning reversal, House Republicans, who were taking a public beating for their steadfast refusal to pass a 2-month extension of the Bush payroll tax cuts, caved in to the public pressure and passed the bill by unanimous consent.

This was a mechanism where no one could go on the record opposing the bill. If there was one objection a roll call vote would be in order, and Republicans that oppose the tax cut would have to go on record.

And again, at the heart of the problem in getting this measure passed, we find the TEA Party: perennial opponents of anything that might just help this country pull itself out of a financial crisis. TEA Partiers have become the petulant children in congress who have just received a severe scolding from both sides of the aisle. President Obama summed it up nicely in his speech before a crowd of supporters yesterday:

“I mean, has this place become so dysfunctional that even when people agree to things, we can’t do it? It doesn’t make any sense”

Senate Leader Harry Reid was gloating, I think, when he added these words upon hearing the news that the House had passed the bill:

“I hope this Congress has had a very good learning experience, especially those who are newer to this body. Everything we do around here does not have to wind up in a fight. That isn’t the way things need to be. People wonder why the approval rating of Congress is so low. I don’t wonder. It seems that everything we’ve done this last year has been a knock-down, drag-out fight. There is no reason to do that.”

Now the problem is that this issue is not resolved. The problem is that all we have accomplished is a postponement. But that may just be the silver lining in this very dark cloud. Because we are postponing the argument into next year, next year during primary season when everyone is starting to pay attention. If Republicans and TEA Partiers start making the same sorts of noises they were making between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when most people aren’t paying attention, people are going to start to take notice.

Ron Paul’s Timeline Doesn’t Add Up

Take a look at this CNN video of CNN’s Gloria Borger’s interview with Ron Paul as she asks them about “incendiary” material that appeared on a newsletter that bore his name.

He not only flat out denies writing the articles but claims that he wasn’t even aware of its existence until 10 years after it was written. But did you catch it? He later says that “…and it’s been going on 20 years that people have pestered me about this.”

So which is it? Ignorant of the very existence of letters written 20 years ago when people were pestering him about them? Not even aware of them until 10 years ago?

How does that add?

Taxpayer Money Supports Rick Perry’s Campaign

You’ve heard all the stories about how Rick Perry brings his own security with him – Texas State Troopers – on his out of state trips while he is campaigning. The costs are associated with plane fares, accommodations and meals while the governor is stumping in Iowa and Maine. This despite the fact that presidential candidates each rate a security detail from the Secret Service.

Word is that these costs have totaled $397,714 for the month of September alone.

But that’s not the full extent of what Texas taxpayers have been asked to fork over so that Rick Perry can continue to embarrass himself, and the state, in his futile attempt to gain the Republican presidential nomination. Today I read that whenever Perry goes out of state, like now, the Lieutenant Governor, David Dewhurst, becomes the acting governor, and gets an additional $410.96 as compensation for being acting governor. At 78 days so far this year, that amounts to a whopping windfall of $32,054 payable to the lieutenant governor.

Who is a millionaire in his own right by the way.

OK so it’s not double-dipping because Dewhurst is required to reimburse to the state his lt. governor’s pay, but the astounding difference in pay - $142,800 to be exact – means that taxpayers get back $19 of the $410.96. So his net is $30,570.

Still, the party that claims to be fiscally responsible seems to be the same party that continues to feed at the public trough while teachers, policemen and firemen are told to do more with less.

Happy Winter Solstice

Today is the shortest day of the year: winter solstice.

Here in the middle of North America, winter solstice will arrive tonight at 11:30 PM.

The sun set today, sinking below the horizon the farthest south that it ever does. It then appears not to move for a couple of days. Then on the 3^rd day, December 25^th in some parts of the world, it starts back north, each day successively sinking below the horizon further and further north.

Bringing back longer days and warmer days.

The Romans had a 3-day festival to celebrate this. They called it the Festival of the Invincible Sun.

EPA Releases New Mercury and Air Toxics Standards

It’s about a month late from its original release date deadline, but today the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled its new rules for emission of mercury and other toxins, rules that were demanded by the 1990 Clean Air Act, but rules that have been delayed from being issued by Congress for over 20 years.

The Republican-led congress even tried to do this again by passing the TRAIN Act last September. Passing along party lines by a vote of 233-180, the act hadn’t a chance of passing in the Senate, nor would it be signed into law by President Obama.

But now for the first time we have rules governing emissions of mercury and arsenic in the air, especially from coal-fired power plants.

Like the one that sits on Smithers Lake in Fort Bend County.

It, like all of the other coal-fired power plants in the nation, which all combined emit up to 48 tons of mercury every year, will soon come under these federal rules which will be enforced in 2016. That amounts to 855 gallons of elemental mercury dumped into our air every year.

And you can bet that there will be a hue and cry about these “job killing” regulations from mercury-breathing Republicans. But suffice it to say, these rules have been much-anticipated by these power plant companies.

But according to this article, there is existing technology that can reduce emissions by 90%, and the local plant in Fort Bend County is already making plans to modify its coal-fired units.

And the best part? The best part is that we can now point to yet another accomplishment of the Obama Administration. An accomplishment that previous administrations (including Bill Clinton’s) were unable to get done.

For Senate: Sanchez is Out Sadler is In

Politics in Texas is anything but boring. Not only do we have a primary election coming up that is completely fluid, where you may or may not be living in the district that you are filing for, we also have a fluid Senate race.

Fluid in the sense that you never know who is going to hang around for the finish.

Witness the fact that a couple of days ago former Army General Ric Sanchez announced he was not going to be in the primary, and that spurred former State Rep Paul Sadler to toss his hat into the ring.

Sanchez was a big name, they were telling me. And he had the creds as a conservative Democrat, someone that some people in the Democratic Party think might have a fighting chance against a Republican in Red Texas.

And he’s Hispanic.

But the campaign never caught fire, chiefly, I think, because the Democratic base failed to get really excited about the guy.

And then his house burned down.

So he got out.

Seeing his opportunity, Paul Sadler, again not a guy with statewide name recognition, stepped in. From East Texas, Sadler is known for his time chairing the Public Education Committee. He lost in a runoff bid for the Texas Senate in 2004 and has since been working in the field of alternative energy.

Sadler will face two others in the April 3^rd primary, Sean Hubbard and Daniel Boone. Yeah, I know, ol’ Dan’l won’t have a problem with name recognition, being one of the Heroes of the Alamo. I visited both of their campaign websites. Dan’l is a retired Air Force officer who has several businesses in and around Canyon Lake. Sean, who is about 12 years older than he looks, is actually qualified to run for Senate (I think) as the minimum age is 30 years.

So this should be an interesting one to watch, especially because we have a new guy with name recognition much like we had before with the perennial candidate from Universal City, Gene Kelly. You remember Gene Kelly. The candidate that Barbara Ann Radnofsky had to beat in a runoff election in 2006.

Coincidentally, Gene Kelly was also a retired Air Force officer.

Heads Need to Roll in Perry Campaign

Rick Perry’s handlers are not watching the store it seems. They let the Texas governor release an email statement on the death of Korean dictator Kim Jung-Il, but instead of getting the name right, the governor commented on the passing of Kim Jung, Jr.

That is Kim Jung II.

That’s right, this guy who is running for the office of king of the world doesn’t know the name of the president of a potential nuclear power.

And no one on his staff caught it either.

It’s OK to make gaffes when you are onstage under the hot lights and there is no one to hold your hand. You can have your oops moments in that situation and no one will be to blame. But when you issue a statement on email, maybe it should be proofed, especially given the history of getting things wrong almost all the time.

No, someone needs to lose his or her job over this.

It’s either that, or we Dems seem to have a mole in the Perry camp.

Ron Paul Leads Poll in Iowa

In a recent survey taken over the weekend Public Policy Polling has found out what a lot of us were beginning to suspect: Iowa caucus goers are bat-guano crazy. Ron Paul, the poll says, is at the top of the polls in Iowa.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

“Paul now has the vote of 23 percent of 597 likely Republican caucus voters, according to Public Policy Polling, in a survey taken from Dec. 16-18. Mitt Romney is close behind at 20 percent, while Gingrich as slipped dramatically to 14 percent. Fourth place is a dead heat between Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and Rick Perry at 10 percent. While Jon Huntsman is gaining traction in New Hampshire, in Iowa he's only got 4 percent of the likely voters. Gary Johnson comes in at 2 percent.”

So The Newt is the latest in a long list of front runners to have the trap door opened under his feet and he gets replaced by perennial presidential candidate – on either the Libertarian or Republican Party ballots – Congressman Ron “Dr. No” Paul.

The timing couldn’t be more perfect for Paul. The average residence time of any given front runner (and there have been 5 now) in Iowa is about 3 weeks, and here it is December 20^th, just 2 weeks shy of the Iowa caucuses.

Know what this means?

It means that if this polling trend holds Iowa caucus-goers will have just voted their state into oblivion. The RNC, I hear, is going to take a very dim view of the importance of Iowa’s continued presence in early primary/caucuses if the winner of their caucus is the much-maligned in his own party, Dr. Ron Paul.

Know what this also means?

It means that the Republican Party has officially fractured into two entities: Mainstream and TEA Party.

When McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running-mate he made the Obama victory an easy one. When voters pick Ron Paul as their nominee they will make the 2012 Presidential election a gift to Democrats.