Thursday’s Thumps And Bumps
Witch’s Will For A January Morning
My Pick Of The Litter Today
Marco Rubio gets off the bench
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) stepped into the fight for the Republican primary vote in Florida on Wednesday, lending his star power to help Mitt Romney beat back an attack on his immigration stance.
Rubio, who has pledged neutrality in the race and is considered the odds-on favorite to be the GOP’s vice presidential nominee, chastised Newt Gingrich’s campaign for airing a Spanish-language radio ad that labeled Romney “the most anti-immigration candidate.”
“This kind of language is more than just unfortunate. It’s inaccurate, inflammatory and doesn’t belong in this campaign,” Rubio said.
Gingrich’s campaign quickly withdrew the ad, a testament to the junior senator’s pull with Republicans in the state and across the country.
link: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/206659-marco-rubio-gets-off-bench-supports-romney-president
Stories/Articles You Might Find Interesting – or not
Rubio rebuffs Gingrich
Newt Gingrich is as clueless as he is presumptuous. Yesterday, he trekked around Florida comparing himself to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Mitt Romney to the party-switching milquetoast Charlie Crist. Rubio was having none of it and in a rare moment decide to intervene in the GOP presidential race. He put out a statement: “Mitt Romney is no Charlie Crist. Romney is a conservative. And he was one of the first national Republican leaders to endorse me. He came to Florida, campaigned hard for me, and made a real difference in my race.” Boom.
Rubio’s nod certainly is welcomed by the Romney camp. Rubio continues to distinguish himself not only in the Senate but also in the party at large. His video response to the president’s State of the Union address confirms that, like Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), he has become a prominent antagonist of the president.
Gingrich’s misstep — in essence, forcing Rubio to comment on the race, in which he pledged neutrality — is not unlike Gingrich’s suck-uppery regarding former U.N. ambassador John Bolton. Gingrich declared Bolton to be his choice for secretary of state; Bolton shortly thereafter robustly endorsed Romney, citing his “executive temperament.” Gingrich apparently overestimates his appeal among named conservatives.
A prudent, well-organized candidate would reach out to figures in advance of his statements to make sure he’s not going to get embarrassed. But Gingrich is neither prudent nor well organized. Moreover, he believes his own spin and assumes others share his distorted view of himself and reality.
The Marvelous Meekness of Merely Mitt
As Republican and Democrat insiders cheer Washington’s own Newton Leroy, not-politician and outsider Mitt Romney keeps on keeping on, with purpose and now with what Fox News describes as a fire in his belly. He is merely doing what he has done so many times before in business and in politics: what’s right. He is, as Jonah Goldberg comments, “an honest, smart and decent man” attempting to lay the foundation for national success and a change of course, back to America the exceptional. But he’s not a politician, he’s not Beltway Newton Leroy, and although “that speaks well of him as a human being,” corruption and not humanity is what Washington is all about, and the media establishment is joining Beltway Republicans and Democrats in piling on.
Now the left comes at him from the right in the person of Newton Leroy, who is what so many in Washington are: a mouth, not a soul; and a performer, not a believer. Mitt doesn’t stir the soul. That’s the knock by media looking for a show. True, he sees himself as fighting for “the soul of America,” but with belief and purpose and organization and results, not pat answers and clever sound bites, theatrical put-downs and wash-and-wear conviction. He has never awed Sen. John Kerry (D-France), as did Washington’s Newton Leroy, by rousing cheering lefties with a call for a federal takeover of all private energy companies to combat man-made global warming. Instead, he remains centered and calm and directed, a throwback to a time when ordinary men did extraordinary things. He is a supremely human being, a marvelously meek human being…merely Mitt.
There is little about him that excites. Unlike Barack Obama, he will never have insider David Brooks of The New York Times run a practiced eye below his belt and declare him a candidate for presidential sainthood. Nor will broadcast commentators like Chris Matthews look at him and discover a tingle, a “thrill going up my leg” at the thought of him as president. No, unless you find sexy such things as organization and results, competence and rock-solid belief in the inalienable and God-given rights of the individual — better to go with Newton Leroy, who is Obama light, white, and Republican.
Mitt? Well, Mitt is merely Mitt: a decent man who loves his wife and children, a man who turned the great advantages of family wealth and first-class education into extraordinary wealth and jobs for a multitude of others. In Perry-speak (remember him?), he is all cattle and no hat, a man who is meek in the actual biblical sense of the word. Throw aside the modern mistranslations, and biblical meekness recalls the heroes of both Old Testament and New Testament, those who walked boldly but quietly with confidence and conviction, tight with God and firm in belief. Mitt as David? No, there are no giant Philistines in sight — but this week in Florida, he is on his way to slaying a giant Beltway baloney. He has, as investor and National Review columnist Larry Kudlow put it, “the right stuff,” the “[t]ough stuff.”
And so Mitt is outraged, and it comes from the heart: “I know we’re going to get hit hard by President Obama,” he thunders, “but we’re going to stuff it down his throat[.]“ It is not the faux outrage of Newton Leroy, for whom “all the world is a stage” and he is a Beltway playah, a Washington-bred pit bull willing — in private and in public — to bite anything or anyone to advance Newton Leroy. No, Mitt Romney is outraged because “the failed leadership” of Barack Obama and the media and political elites who pursue personal power and wealth at the expense of freedom and opportunity for all reflects “the worst of what Europe has become.”
Merely Mitt. And so a bit ago, while “pit bull, pit bull, pit bull” jetted off to Hawaii for an Obama-style tour, his Tiffany’s-bejeweled third wife in tow, Mitt did what he has always done, in business as in government, as a candidate and as a family man: make stuff happen. That’s why a college professor in a Starbucks in the boonies of southwestern Virginia watched as a casually dressed young man worked his way from table to table, gathering petitions to put Merely Mitt on the ballot in the Republican primaries. Why, he was asked, are you doing this?
“Because there’s a job to do,” the young man answered. “Mitt put us here to do the job.”
So utterly Mitt, so merely Mitt. While the pit bull snarls, the Tiffany’s jewels glitter, and Washington applauds…he’s Larry the Cable Guy with a relatively inexpensive suit and a whopper of a portfolio: git’r done!
Link: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/01/the_marvelous_meekness_of_merely_mitt.html
Gingrichonomics added up equals nothing but budgetary dysfunction
Newt Gingrich, unexpectedly, has become a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. He won the South Carolina primary and is now the front-runner in some polls nationally. He has been debating well, shaking off criticism of his personal life and doing his best to bolster his reputation as an ideas man.
Regrettably, on economics, where the country could use some fresh thinking, his ideas are a mixture of the alarming, the implausible and the banal.
On monetary policy, the former House speaker has called for a more transparent Federal Reserve, which we applaud. But he has also spoken ominously about creating a presidential “Gold Commission” that would “look at the whole concept of how do we get back to hard money.” And he insists that Representative Ron Paul, the author of “End the Fed” and a rival for the nomination, “has been right for 25 years” when it comes to central banking, something that would surprise most economists.
Geithner doesn’t expect Obama to ask him to stay if he wins election
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, the last member of the Obama administration’s original economic team, said he doesn’t expect to remain in office if the president is re-elected.
“He’s not going to ask me to stay on, I’m pretty confident,” Geithner said in an interview with Bloomberg Television yesterday in Charlotte, North Carolina. “I’m confident he’ll be president. But I’m also confident he’s going to have the privilege of having another secretary of the Treasury.”
Evidently Geithner aka Turbo Tax Timmy, is aware that his exiting would be a plus for Obama. Must suck to be him.
Gingrich lost his crowd pleasing groove in Tampa
Like a stand-up comedian whose routine suffers without echoes of laughter egging him on, Newt Gingrich was a candidate without cadence Monday night when he found himself searching hopelessly for the secret weapons that have proven crucial to his season of strong debate performances: moderators to scold and audience members to energize.
In front of a small, sedate crowd comprised primarily of rank-and-file spectators rather than die-hard activists, Gingrich found himself on the defensive from the opening bell against a barrage of blows from Mitt Romney over everything from his work at Freddie Mac to his abrupt departure from Congress.
In past debates, Gingrich has employed humor, hubris and humiliation to deflect incoming criticism and reverse the rhetorical momentum, rallying the crowd to his cause with a sharp remark to a rival or stinging rebuke of the moderator. But there was no such outlet for Gingrich in Tampa: NBC’s Brian Williams asked the audience to stay quiet and steered clear of any John King-style confrontation; and most of Gingrich’s internecine attacks seemed to land with a rhetorical thud.
It didn’t take long for his frustration to surface. During one memorable exchange with Romney over the details of his consulting work in Washington, a noticeably flustered Gingrich stood shaking his head while Romney denounced the former speaker’s alleged conflicts of interest. When it came time for Gingrich’s rebuttal, he responded with moments of silence that seemed an eternity, searching for the caustic comeback that would not come.
More: http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2012/01/gingrich-lost-his-crowdpleasin.php
Something To Think About
Why do we pay extra attention to what actors say when all they do is pretend for a living?
Obama’s lofty speeches
By Peter Wehner
It’s stiff competition, but arguably Barack Obama’s chief courtier in the press is Jonathan Alter. Consider this analysis from a recent op-ed he wrote on five myths about Obama:
3. Obama is an effective public speaker.
Obama’s lofty speeches during the 2008 campaign led even his detractors to admit that he is a gifted orator. Some critics try to minimize his skill by saying he relies on a teleprompter–a ridiculous charge considering that he often writes big chunks of his speeches and often speaks off-the-cuff.
That said, there are few examples of Obama’s speeches actually moving popular opinion. That’s because he speaks in impressive paragraphs, not memorable sentences. He is allergic to sound bites, and that keeps him from effectively framing his goals and achievements.
The roots of this allergy may lie in his famous Philadelphia speech on race in 2008, which followed the revelations of incendiary comments by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The speech lacked memorable lines, but it was a big hit. I believe it convinced Obama that the public could absorb complex ideas without bumper sticker lines. He was wrong.
James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal, whose daily take on events is very nearly indispensable, summarizes Alter’s argument this way: “So it turns out Obama is an ineffective public speaker because the public lacks the intellectual acumen to appreciate the brilliance of Obama’s speeches.”
All of this got me thinking about some other bumper-sticker lines in American history we could have done without. For example:
- “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
- “With malice toward none, with charity for all.”
- “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
- “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
- “I have a dream.”
- “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall.”
The mistake Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy, King, and Reagan made is in failing to understand that the public could absorb complex ideas without these bumper-sticker lines. (These sound bite artists unfortunately succumbed to the temptation to use memorable sentences to mask their shallow arguments and unimpressive paragraphs.) Obama, on the other hand, employed sophisticated and complicated phrases to articulate his public philosophy – phrases like “yes we can” and “hope and change.” Against such eloquence, Abraham Lincoln never stood a chance.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/01/25/obama-lofty-speeches/#more-781951
Gingrich rise is triumph of style over substance
On the eve of Newt Gingrich’s landslide victory in the South Carolina primary, CNN’s Erin Burnett let the former speaker expound on the success of his “kick the moderator” debate strategy.
“I think there’s something going on here that’s very deep,” Gingrich said. “People want a leader who’s forceful. … Part of it is, you know, if I’d said ‘The color is blue!’ — it’s the forcefulness. … That delivery, that clearness is as important as the specific topic,” he explained.
Watching the interview, I had a disturbing thought: Has Newt Gingrich become self-aware?
I’ve never heard a better explanation for the former speaker’s ability to cloud conservatives’ minds. How, after all, did a man who’s the very model of a Beltway-consensus influence-peddler convince Tea Party voters he represents “real change”? It’s the “forcefulness,” stupid!
Unfortunately, what’s going on here is not “very deep.” Gingrich’s rise represents the triumph of rhetorical style over substance. In a way, it’s the ultimate tribute to Barack Obama.
The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein asked a good question on Sunday: “What are Newt Gingrich’s big ideas?” “I’m at a loss to name even one,” he admitted.
Gingrich has an enviable rep as a one-man think tank, but in his wilderness years, he made a sweet living as a “forceful” pitchman for utterly conventional center-left policies: Medicaid expansion, the individual mandate, cap and trade, “clean energy” subsidies, and the like. Newt does a great impression of a red-state firebrand, but when it comes to policy, “the color is blue.”
That’s not to say that Gingrich has never had an unconventional idea. This is a guy who bragged in a 2005 GQ interview that “I first talked about [saving civilization] in August of 1958″—when he was a rising sophomore in high school.
Some of Gingrich’s big ideas are charmingly batty. Given his worries about global warming, Newt has probably abandoned his 1984 plan for “a mirror system in space” that “could affect the earth’s climate by increasing the amount of sunlight.”
But the Trekkie zeal remains, judging by one of my favorite recent headlines: “Gingrich Said Freddie Mac Could Be Good Model for Mars Travel” (Bloomberg, Dec. 2, 2011).
Some of Gingrich’s other fancies are less charming. The candidate who’s warned of a “gay and secular fascism” sweeping the country has an impressive authoritarian streak of his own.
As Klein notes, in 1996, Gingrich had the “big idea” of instituting the death penalty for anyone who brought more than 2 ounces of marijuana into the United States.
Today, Gingrich condemns the Stop Online Piracy Act as censorship, but in 2006 he supported empowering “federal judges who’ve served in combat” to shut down “jihadist” websites.
This December, he advocated sending U.S. marshals to arrest activist judges who rule against religious displays in public schools (maybe combat-hardened jurists will get a pass).
more: http://reason.com/archives/2012/01/24/gingrich-rise-is-triumph-of-style-over-s
Obama and Governor Brewer spar over her book
When President Obama landed in Phoenix on Wednesday, he was greeted with sunny skies and a kerfuffle with Republican Gov. Jan Brewer.
After welcoming the president upon his arrival, Obama told Brewer he didn’t like the way he was characterized in her book, ‘Scorpions for Breakfast,’ the governor told reporters traveling with the president.
At one point in the tense conversation on Wednesday, Brewer pointed her finger at Obama and at another time, they were talking over one another, according to a White House pool report.
Obama appeared to walk away from Brewer in the middle of their conversation, according to the pool report.
“I said I was sorry he felt that way but I didn’t get my sentence finished,” she said. “Anyway, we’re glad he’s here. I’ll regroup.
Obama walked away while the Governor was still speaking? How rude. Not to mention that his majesty Obama was guilty of not showing “Noblesse oblige“. 
2012 Florida Republican Primary
Florida GOP Primary: Romney 39%, Gingrich 31%, Santorum 12%, Paul 9%
Mitt Romney has jumped back ahead in the fevered Florida Republican Primary race with his support back to where it was before Newt Gingrich’s big win Saturday in South Carolina.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Florida Republican Primary Voters, taken Wednesday night, shows Romney with 39% support to Gingrich’s 31%. Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum earns 12%, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul runs last with nine percent (9%). Four percent (4%) prefer some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided.
U.S. Financial worries rival 1992
Worry about job loss up to 34%
PRINCETON, NJ — Americans’ worries about maintaining their standard of living (51%), or being able to pay medical bills (43%) or losing their job (34%) in the next 12 months are among the highest Gallup has measured in the past 20 years, on par with the levels seen in 1991 and 1992.
link: http://www.gallup.com/poll/152180/Financial-Worries-Rival-1992.aspx
Image of the day from the animal kingdom:
Find the “real” Corgis.
The State Of The Union Is Angry
Obama has long had very poor approval ratings among independent voters, which ought to make him easy to defeat. Obama’s angry appeal is not going to win over unhappy independents. The great imponderable is whether Gingrich’s anger would put them off and thereby neutralize Obama’s–or, to put it another way, whether independent voters are fed up enough with Obama to respond to Gingrich’s angry appeal the way Republicans do.
What’s Going On In The World?
Iran set to turn off oil supply to Europe
The European Union embargo on Iranian oil will only come into effect in six months, but the leadership in Tehran wants to act first: Exports to Europe are set to be halted immediately. It is a move which could mean added difficulties for struggling economies in southern Europe.
It’s a move which has tit-for-tat written all over it, but one which could nonetheless have a serious impact: The Iranian government wants to present a bill to parliament this weekend calling for an immediate halt to oil deliveries to Europe. The move, with most reports citing the Iranian news agency Mehr, has come about in response to the EU agreement to impose sanctions against Iran, which were announced earlier this week.
The sanctions banned any new contracts for buying oil from Iran, but allowed existing deals to continue until July in order to give countries time to find other sources. But that process is now at risk after the latest move from Tehran, a step the Iranian government had already threatened.
“If this bill is passed, the government will be forced to stop selling oil to Europe before the actual implementation of their sanctions,” said Emad Hosseini, spokesman for the Iranian parliament’s energy commission, reportedly said. The bill is set to become law on Sunday.
The EU sanctions allow for oil deliveries from Iran until July 1. Any pre-empting of this timescale by Tehran could prove problematic for countries like Italy, Greece and Spain, who would need to urgently find new suppliers.
China, meanwhile, a major importer of Iranian oil, has also criticized the EU sanctions. The Xinhua news agency quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday as saying: “To blindly pressure and impose sanctions on Iran are not constructive approaches.”
Link: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,811507,00.html
Quote For Today:
Why don’t they pass a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as good as Prohibition did, in five years we will have the smartest people on earth. ~ Will Rogers
