Friday’s Frivolities
Witch’s Will For A January Morning
My Pick Of The Litter Today
Newt wipes out
By Jennifer Rubin
Newt Gingrich got slammed in the debate by a remarkably invigorated Mitt Romney, an impressive Rick Santorum and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, who really wouldn’t let him get away with much.
Romney was clearly on his game, ready to swat down Gingrich. He vigorously defended his success in business and skewered Gingrich on his carping about his capital gains. He tied Gingrich to Freddie Mac and wouldn’t let go, making it clear that Gingrich was a cheerleader for the entity that contributed mightily to the financial crisis.
When Gingrich accused him of investing in Freddie, Romney pointed out that they both had investments in mutual funds which held Freddie bonds.
On Gingrich’s loony moon colony, he was restrained but emphatic that this was fiscally irreponsible. He gave a very succinct and smart answer on the need to equalize the tax treatment for individually-purchased and employer-provided health care insurance.
When it came to talking about his wife he lovingly explained his wife Ann’s fight against MS and cancer. This was a better, sharper, more aggressive candidate than we have seen to date. He very likely sealed a victory for himself in Florida, where he is already leading.
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/newt-wipes-out/2012/01/26/gIQAbfMJUQ_blog.html
All About The Debate:
Jacksonville Debate: Two Winners, One Loser
JACKSONVILLE, FL – We had two winners tonight: From a ‘micro’ perspective, Rick Santorum was terrific and narrowly won the evening. On a macro level, Mitt Romney came awfully close to winning the debate outright, and just owned Newt Gingrich during three dramatic exchanges. Because Newt didn’t have a particularly strong showing, the political inertia stays in Romney’s favor heading into Tuesday. Here’s my instant review of each candidate’s debate performance:
Mitt Romney – The former Massachusetts reportedly worked with a new debate coach ahead of tonight’s tilt, and it showed. He was aggressive, sharp, and focused. He also repeatedly bested Newt Gingrich in direct confrontations. Early in the evening, he thumped Newt over his heinous (and subsequently pulled) “anti-immigrant” radio attack ad. It was a Democrat-style attack, and Romney smartly invoked Marco Rubio’s strong statement denouncing it in jumping down Newt’s throat. Newt tried to double down, and in a pronounced shift from South Carolina, the crowd turned on him. Romney finished off the exchange with an effective “eleven million grandmothers” line, mocking a Gingrich trope. He also prevailed in a second important segment, firmly defending his private sector record, refusing to apologize for his wealth, and scolding Newt for belittling his income as not really earned. Finally, while on the offensive against Newt (again, much more effective than his previous defensiveness), Romney hit the former Speaker on his lucrative connection to Freddie Mac. When Newt countered that Romney had invested in Fannie and Freddie, Mitt cooly explained the concept of a blind trust (anyone with a 401K should understand this), and pointedly remarked that Newt had done the exact same thing. Checkmate.
Other highlights included Romney’s excellent answer on Israel and a very strong closing statement. There were lowlights, too. Rick Santorum dismantled him on Romneycare with persistence and precision. Romney lost the exchange and erred in saying that Santorum shouldn’t get “upset” over the issue. Actually, yes he should. Yes we should. We’re talking about people’s lives and health — that’s deeply personal, and it matters. Did Romney sleep through the healthcare townhall meetings in 2010? Also, Romney looked silly claiming that he didn’t know about an ad that he approved, and the phrase “my trustee” isn’t exactly going to play with a lot of voters. As the forum wound down, National Review’s Rich Lowry suggested that Romney clinched the win and probably the primary.
More: http://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2012/01/26/jacksonville_debate_two_winners_one_loser
Debate Takeaways: Gingrich Loses Groove, Romney Gains Ground
1. Newt Gingrich has lost his groove. After dominating two debates in South Carolina, he has misplaced his timing in Florida. All night, he seemed like a power hitter in a slump: he lunged at change-ups and stood frozen at fastballs. Whether he tried confrontation or conciliation, Mitt Romney constantly beat him to the spot. Though Gingrich received more enthusiastic applause from the HLN crowd when he was announced than any other candidate, his attacks on Romney drew little response from the audience (the one exception was when he accused Romney of profiting, through his investments, on Freddie Mac and the housing crisis in general); Romney’s responses, in fact, generally elicited more applause. And when Gingrich tried to take the high road, deriding moderator Wolf Blitzer’s question about Romney’s finances, the former Massachusetts governor still whacked him for failing to repeat on stage criticisms he has made on the stump. It got worse: Under assault from both Romney and Rick Santorum, the lunar space colony that Gingrich has talked about seemed not visionary but fanciful and impractical. Romney had his own share of awkward moments (when he denied knowing about an ad that he provided the voiceover approval for and when he also denied knowing about the investments in his trust). But on almost every direct encounter with Gingrich, Romney came out ahead.
Romney counter-punched effectively and seemed to catch Gingrich by surprise with his forceful responses. Gingrich, who rode debate success to victory in South Carolina, faltered. His performance will likely not be enough to help him reverse the momentum Romney has recaptured.
Last debate before Florida sunk Gingrich
Tonight’s Republican presidential debate on CNN was the last one before the Florida primary as well as the last one for almost a month. That made it critical for New Gingrich, the man whose candidacy has largely depended on success in debates to do well tonight. But instead of another triumph in which he was able to use attacks on the moderators and his rivals, Gingrich came out flat. While there is little doubt that Rick Santorum did the best of any of the candidates tonight and Ron Paul had a few good jokes, the real winner was Mitt Romney who attacked Gingrich relentlessly and with good effect.
Gingrich’s poor performance not only undermines his argument that he would trounce Barack Obama in debates but also squandered what might be his last chance to turn the momentum of the race around. Gingrich’s usual trick of turning on the moderator flopped. So did his attacks on Romney. Along with Gingrich, Romney took a pounding from Santorum but even that worked to his benefit. Any votes Santorum gains in Florida will be at Gingrich’s expense. The Jacksonville debate may have sealed Gingrich’s fate in Florida and perhaps the entire race.
Romney came out strong taking Gingrich to task for his attacks on him and then followed up by taking the former speaker to task on his connection with Freddie Mac. Gingrich then attempted to deflect a Wolf Blitzer question about his attacks on Romney’s finances back on the moderator. But, unfortunately for Gingrich, Blitzer would have none of it. The result was that he was made to look foolish while Romney took him further to task. That was a pattern that repeated itself throughout the evening as Gingrich missed opportunities to make points at his rival’s expense and never was able to seize a moment and get the boisterous crowd behind him. Instead it was Romney who got more applause for his aggressive focus on Gingrich’s weak points including his latest “grandiose” idea: a moon colony plan that he denounced as a blatant pander.
More: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/01/26/last-debate-before-florida-sunk-gingrich/
Stories/Articles You Might Find Interesting – or not
Unhinged lefties heckle Governor Walker during Stat of the State speech
There’s so much good news to report out of Wisconsin, I don’t know where to begin. I suppose this is as good a place as any:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is ahead in his likely recall election even as his campaign raises — and spends — millions of dollars in expectation of a tough race later this year. According to a new Marquette Law School poll the governor leads Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, a likely candidate, 50 percent to 44 percent. He leads former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, the only declared Democratic candidate, 49 percent to 42 percent margin, former Rep. David Obey 49 percent to 43 percent and state Sen. Tim Cullen 50 percent to 40 percent. Democrats started targeting Walker last year, when he spearheaded controversial legislation limiting collective bargaining for public employees. Under Wisconsin law, Walker was not eligible for a recall election until January of this year.
By all means, lefties, please pour more cash into this race. The Washington Post story quoted above focuses heavily on Walker’s fundraising and political spending in anticipation of the recall election, yet ignores the massive money game on the other side. For instance, Democrats outspent Republicans by nearly $3 million in their failed attempt to re-take the Senate via recall elections last year, and the Left is re-filling its coffers to take out their prized bete noir in 2012. Even so, Wisconsin Democrats and their media allies are outraged — outraged! — that Walker has raised a pile of cash, some of it from (gasp) out of state, to beat back the sore-loser recall movement. Badger State taxpayers should be reminded that much of the money being used to attack their chief ally in Madison flows from government sector unions, which is to say, from them. This is the game government unions play. Their members’ paychecks are extracted from public funds, and a portion of each paycheck (prior to Walker’s reforms) went directly into the unions’ pockets. This was mandatory and automatic. Those unions, in turn, donated generously to Democrats to protect their interests. Democrats, in turn, steadfastly opposed any Republican effort to break the vicious cycle — even going so far as to flee the state to block votes. This nasty little anti-taxpayer racket carried on until Wisconsin Republicans displayed the political will and fortitude to break it up — even in the face of menacing hoards and death threats.
As we’ve described before, Walker’s reforms are working. Christian Schneider of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute documents the success:
The unions’ battle against Walker’s reforms has rested on the argument that the changes would damage public services beyond repair. The truth, however, is that the reforms not only are saving money already; they’re doing so with little disruption to services. In early August, noticing the trend, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that Milwaukee would save more in health-care and pension costs than it would lose in state aid, leaving the city $11 million ahead in 2012—despite Mayor Tom Barrett’s prediction in March that Walker’s budget “makes our structural deficit explode.”
The collective-bargaining component of Walker’s plan has yielded especially large financial dividends for school districts. Before the reform, many districts’ annual union contracts required them to buy health insurance from WEA Trust, a nonprofit affiliated with the state’s largest teachers’ union. Once the reform limited collective bargaining to wage negotiations, districts could eliminate that requirement from their contracts and start bidding for health care on the open market. When the Appleton School District put its health-insurance contract up for bid, for instance, WEA Trust suddenly lowered its rates and promised to match any competitor’s price. Appleton will save $3 million during the current school year.
At the outset of the public-union standoff, educators had made dire predictions that Walker’s reforms would force schools to fire teachers. In February, to take one example, Madison School District Superintendent Dan Nerad predicted that 289 teachers in his district would be laid off. Walker insisted that his reforms were actually a job-retention program: by accepting small concessions in health and pension benefits, he argued, school districts would be able to spare hundreds of teachers’ jobs. The argument proved sound. So far, Nerad’s district has laid off no teachers at all, a pattern that has held in many of the state’s other large school districts. No teachers were laid off in Beloit and LaCrosse; Eau Claire saw a reduction of two teachers, while Racine and Wausau each laid off one. The Wauwatosa School District, which faced a $6.5 million shortfall, anticipated slashing 100 jobs—yet the new pension and health contributions saved them all. The benefits to school districts aren’t just fiscal, moreover. Thanks to Walker’s collective-bargaining reforms, the Brown Deer school district in suburban Milwaukee can implement a performance-pay system for its best teachers—a step that could improve educational outcomes.
More Obama allies funding anti-Romney ads to help Gingrich in Florida
Recall the Arabian proverb that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”? That is certainly true in politics as practiced by Democrats. Democrat-linked groups are pouring money into Florida to help the candidate they would prefer run against Barack Obama: Newt Gingrich.
First it was the union for government workers. Now Obama’s favorite union is stepping up to the plate. The Service Employees International Union has made big ad buys in Florida to bash Romney. Brian Mooney reports for the Boston Globe:
Complicating matters for Romney, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees union has launched a $1 million ad campaign in Florida attacking him on the theme of “corporate greed.” Nearly $100,000 of the buy is on the Internet. Meanwhile, the Service Employees International Union and the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action intend to spend more than $100,000 on Spanish-language radio ads accusing Romney of having “two faces” when it comes to the Latino community.
What should this mean to Republicans? Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul knows what is going on-even if many Republicans may not:
“The last thing that President Obama and his cronies want is Mitt Romney as an opponent — which explains their ‘all hands on deck’ approach for their strategy to ‘kill Romney,’ the same way they engaged in a campaign of personal destruction against Hillary Clinton,” Andrea Saul, a Romney campaign spokeswoman, said.
Democratic allies are making such early and big buys for one reason — and it has nothing to do with the general election in November. Their campaign is focused on interfering with the GOP primary. I have written about this before.
The Obama campaign has a dream candidate — aside from Obama himself. That would be Newt Gingrich.
Something To Think About
Why is it that no one appreciates the value of constructive criticism more thoroughly than the one who’s giving it?
President Opts For Small-Ball Demagoguery
by Charles Krauthammer
Once upon a time, small ball was not Barack Obama’s game. Tuesday, it was the essence of his State of the Union address. The visionary of 2008 — purveyor of hope and change, healer of the earth, tamer of the rising seas — offered an hour of little things:
• Tax-code tweaks to encourage this or that kind of behavior (manufacturing being the flavor of the day).
• Little watchdog agencies to round up Wall Street miscreants and Chinese DVD pirates.
• Even a presidential demand “that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.” Under penalty of what? Jail? The self-proclaimed transformer of America is now playing truant officer?
It sounded like the Clinton years with their presidentially proclaimed initiatives on midnight basketball and school uniforms. These are the marks of a shrunken presidency, thoroughly flummoxed by high unemployment, economic stagnation, crushing debt — and a glaring absence of ideas.
Adding Up To Nothing
O’s fast talk on the economy
by Charlie Gasparino
Three years after the Hope and Change president took office, Hope turns out to mean high taxes and lots of regulations, and Change consists of celebrating the government’s takeover of General Motors and belittling technological progress that destroys some jobs even as it creates others. The Great Uniter is all about class warfare.
Such was President Obama’s latest State of the Union Address.
At times during the speech Tuesday night, it was hard to hold a straight face. Here he was, telling us first how bad things are because of vast income inequalities that he wants to address through higher taxes on the rich, but also how much better things have been since he’s been elected, with 3 million jobs created in the last 22 months.
More: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/adding_up_to_nothing_8K1eBN3afYXNELupfK8tRL
Senators Shy From Obama Filibuster Reform
President Barack Obama’s call for a sweeping overhaul of Congressional ethics and procedure has little chance of becoming reality in an institution adverse to change and built to benefit from its rules.
In his State of the Union address, the one-time Senator proposed that the Senate approve a version of the “nuclear option,” which would end filibusters of presidential nominations. Obama said nominees should get an up-or-down vote after 90 days, regardless of whether they could garner the 60 votes needed to overcome a procedural blockade.
“A simple majority is no longer enough to get anything — even routine business — passed through the Senate,” Obama said. “Neither party has been blameless in these tactics. Now both parties should put an end to it.”
The call to end the filibuster is not new, and executing the change remains improbable.
“It seems so obvious and clear until you get into it, then you find that getting the necessary votes together [to change the rules] and holding them through this process is more difficult,” said Senate
Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), before noting his understanding of why Obama would want to pursue it.
“You turn on C-SPAN for classical music because you’re not getting business out of the Senate,” Durbin added. “Three days or four days at a time on every nomination? Come on, I mean the reality is that doesn’t work for any president.”
But the Illinois Democrat did not fully endorse the 90-day limit as the right solution. He said it was unlikely that Senate Democrats would bring nominees to the floor and force a days-long filibuster standoff with Republicans.
Even Obama himself was opposed to making such a drastic move when he was a Senator in 2005, when then-Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) contemplated forcing a rules change.
Image of the day from the animal kingdom:
Maybe I should just let “this” bird alone.
What’s Going On In The World?
Fear may save the euro, but not necessarily Europe
Quote For Today:
The cruelest lies are often told in silence. ~Adlai Stevenson
