1. Election News
Romney’s VP pick is Paul Ryan
RNC was held last week, DNC will be held this week
Clint Eastwood talked to a chair holding an invisible Obama
Paul Ryan (widely regarded as honest, straight talker) gave speech with many inaccuracies, out of context remarks and outright lies
Michelle Obama gave an awesome speech. Ann Romney gave an ok speech.
Chuck Norris and Gena Norris posted a video on YouTube urging people to vote Romney - Gena quoted Ronald Reagan “We will preserve for our children this last best home of man on earth or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness.”
Romney and Obama + Biden and Ryan are reportedly preparing for debates - first presidential debate will be Oct. 3rd, focus on domestic policy; VP debate will be a week later, foreign and domestic policy
1. Election News
Rick Santorum suspended campaign on Tuesday
Did not endorse Romney - has said Romney is an unworthy standard-bearer for the GOP
“We will continue to go out and fight and defeat President Barack Obama.”
“We were winning in a very different way. We were touching hearts.”
Over and over again we were told, ‘Forget it. You can’t win.’”
Santorum would have needed 80% or remaining delegates to win nomination before the national convention in Florida in August
Santorum’s delegates can support any candidate they wish (in most states) and Gingrich has already begun trying to appeal to them
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Gingrich says he will stay in the race to help the party build a solidly conservative platform
Said his lack of funds is no reason to get out of the race
4. Election News
Delegate count: Mitt Romney-660; Rick Santorum-281; Newt Gingrich-135; Ron Paul-51
Need 1,144 delegates to win Republican nomination
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Romney’s campaign pulled a sharply negative ad against Santourm which was supposed to air April 24th
Santorum cancelled Monday’s campaign events after daughter was hospitalized (Trisomy 18)
Spokesman Hogan Gidley - “We appreciate the outpouring of support and prayers. The prayers worked, she’s doing much better.”
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Obama has announced opposition to marriage amendment which will be on the November ballot in Minnesota
Would restrict marriage to only opposite sex couples
Kristin Sosanie - “It would single out and discriminate against committed gay and lesbian couples - and that’s why the President does not support it.”
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As likely GOP nominee, Romney will be far behind Obama once he clinches the nomination - must raise money for general election, hire more people and sent them to critical states, hone message to resonate with more voters
As incumbent, Obama has advantages - well ahead on fundraising, organization and broad pitch to voters
Romney must figure out how to achieve unity with a base that has resisted his candidacy
6. National Organization for Marriage memos show that they tried to split the Democratic Party base by pitting African-American and Latino communities against LGBTQ communities
(Do they not realize there are LGBTQ of all races?)
Documents are from 2009 - part of a two-pronged legal challenge of Maine’s financial disclosure laws - still unresolved: whether NOM has to release the names of donors to successful 2009 campaign to ban gay marriage in Maine
Quotes from memos:
“The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks - two key Democratic constituencies.”
“Will the process of assimilation to the dominant Anglo culture lead Hispanics to abandon traditional family values? We must interrupt this process of assimilation by making support for marriage a key badge of Latino identity…a symbol fo resistance to inappropriate assimilation.”
Strategy also called to portray Obama as a “social radical” and create negative view of gay marriage by linking it to pornography and sexualizing of children
2. Rick Santorum got trolled
Two men attended a Rick Santorum rally and in the middle of his speech, yelled “mic check” to make people look at them and then started making out - booed by the crowd and removed by security
Timothy Tross and Ben Clifford wouldn’t reveal whether or not they were gay, saying Santorum’s stand on gay rights was the important issue
6. Election News
Game Change (movie) - changed nobody’s mind, but did have one disturbing point - columnist Frank Bruni said: “I’ve talked to a few seasoned political hands who maintain that no matter what you think of Palin, you should be disillusioned and alarmed by the breakdown of confidentiality among the campaign staff and consultants who had a responsibility to her and whom she had a right to trust.”
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Justice Department blocked Texas’s new law requiring a photo id to vote - said the rule would disproportionately suppress the turnout among eligible Hispanic voters
Under Voting Rights Act, jurisdictions that have a history of supressing minority voting must show that the change would not have disproportionate impact on minority voters
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Public Policy Poling released results of a survey done in Mississippi and Alabama over the weekend
Respondents were those who said they were likely to vote in the Republican primary
66% of Miss. respondents thing Obama is Muslim, 36% say they are unsure
45% of Ala. respondents thing Obama is Muslim, 41% say they are unsure
66% of Miss. and 60% of Ala. respondents say they don’t believe in evolution
51% of Miss. and 53% of Ala. respondents say they have a favorable opinion of Rush Limbaugh
Survey was done over the weekend while Limbaugh was facing widespread criticism for calling Sandra Fluke a slut and a prostitute
Survey also showed that Romney, Santorum and Gingrich are quite close in those two states - Ron Paul isn’t even close
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Mitt Romney turns 65 today and does not plan to enroll in Medicare which he has promised to reform if he is elected
95% of seniors choose to enroll in Medicare Part B which covers physician care - Part A covers hospital care, all seniors are automatically enrolled, but can choose not to use it
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Rick Santorum will be short on endorsements when he returns to his home state of Pennsylvania for April 24th primary
No major statewide Republican leader nor any of the five candidates campaigning to run against Bob Casey (D) for his old Senate seat have endorsed him
Republican strategist and former Santorum intern “All of these Republica officials basically sucked up to Rick Santorum when he was in power. Now that he’s out of power, he’s a liability, they don’t want anything to do with him.”
1. Election News
Washington Caucus on March 3rd results: Romney- 37%, Paul- 24%, Santorum- 23%, Gingrich- 10%
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Santorum- “I walked away from all the jobs that I had, all the money, that is, and we’re living, basically we’re spending down our savings, not necessarily the best thing to do when you have three kids entering into college in the next couple years. But this country’s worth it.”
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Obama to hold press conference on Super Tuesday (March 6)
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Latino voters favor Obama by a six to one margin over any of the Republican candidates, despite disappointment in handling of immigration issues - has 73% approval rating
Republican candidate approval ratings among Latinos: Romney 35%, Paul 13%, Gingrich 12%, Santorum 9%
However, in a head to head match up between Republicans and Obama none of the candidates received more than 14%
6. Capitol Hill hearing about religious freedom and birth control debate
Mandate that health insurers cover contraception
Panel was all-male religious leaders
Representative Darrel Issa (R), committee chairman said Democrats could not add Sandra Fluke because she is a student at Georgetown not a member of the clergy
Fluke would have talked about a classmate who lost an ovary because of a syndrome that causes ovarian cysts - Georgetown does not insure birth control, which is used to treat the syndrome
Also not invited: representatives from the Catholic Health Association (run by a woman and actually runs Catholic hospitals) and Catholic Charities - both said they support the president’s plan
Representative Elijah Cummings (D) said it was important to have at least one woman at the witness table because the issue involved health repercussions for women
Issa’s staff sent out a letter: “As the hearing is not about reproductive rights but instead about the administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience, he believes Ms. Fluke is not an appropriate witness.”
Fluke:”I can understand that [the issue] is connected to religion, but I don’t understand how you can have an open conversation without hearing from the women who have been personally affected by this.”
“It was staggering to sit there and feel like this panel of men was going to talk about my heath and women like me, it felt so very wrong.”
Rep. Cummings: “[the hearing] commits a massive injustice by trying to pretend that the views of millions of women across the country are meaningless.”
Roman Catholic Bishop William Lori - presented example of government forcing a Jewish orthodox owned deli to serve pork as a comparison
Fluke: “He spent his entire testimony talking about a hypothetical story. It was difficult to hear his testimony about a hypothetical story and not about the real stories, about the women in my story.”
1. Election News
Rick Santorum is courting Georgia voters - spoke in Cumming Sunday
Article had two dudes holding up signs, one read Santorum Palin 2012 (god help us) they had gelled hair though, no need to listen to them
Quotes from Santorum:
“America is different. The people who line up to come to America are not like the people who are very happy just to stay behind.”
“The rest of the world is ruled. The rest of the world’s governments believe that rights come from the government, not God.”
(I looked up his views on immigration because I suspected he was being disingenuous, this is what I found)
Opposes benefits for illegal aliens (emergency room care, shelter from abusers etc.); supports a border fence; critical of granting amnesty; as President would not act on immigration reform until southern border is secure; supports making English the official language; opposes granting in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants
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Rick Santorum is now the favorite of the right wing
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Labor organizations appear to be supporting the Democrats again after months of Republican attacks on collective bargaining rights
Fun fact: Labor unions can also do independent political spending as a result of the 2010 Citizen’s United Case
