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Jan 31, 2012 6:41:13 AM

Newslinks for Tuesday Jan 31: Florida voters decide today

Final Romney-Gingrich attacks before Floridians vote today

  • Screen shot 2011-05-25 at 10.09.51""He has been flailing around a bit trying to go after me for one thing or the other," Romney told supporters in a last-day stop in Dunedin, outside St. Petersburg. "You just watch it and shake your head. It has been kind of painfully revealing to watch."" - CNN
  • "A defiant Newt Gingrich closed a rally Monday night by predicting “a decisive victory tomorrow” and slamming his favorite targets: the news media, GOP presidential rival Mitt Romney,  President Barack Obama and Goldman Sachs." - WSJ
  • Nate Silver predicts Romney will have 44% of the vote to Gingrich's 29%. Santorum should marginally beat Ron Paul into third.

Nearly 600,000 cast early votes in Florida - WSJ

Romney and Gingrich describe the first month of their administrations

Romney Newt"[B]oth men said one of their first acts would be to repeal President Obama's health care law. Gingrich said he also would ask Congress to remain in session before his swearing-in to repeal the Dodd-Frank overhaul of the financial services industry and the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate governance law... In addition to Obama's health care law, Romney said he would give licenses to companies that have been approved for drilling for gas and oil on federal lands as well as issue an executive order saying that unions are not required to work on government projects." - National Journal

  • Gingrich: I won’t debate Obama if the moderators are reporters - Hot Air

Romney appears to abandon entitlement reform

"At a campaign rally in Florida Monday evening, Mitt Romney told the crowd: "We will never go after Medicare and Social Security." Romney's remark is already causing some conservatives to despair that he is throwing entitlement reform under the bus in order to pander to seniors." - Weekly Standard

  • Arthur Laffer: Newt's flat tax would do a lot more to attract capital, spur growth and reduce compliance costs - WSJ

Thomas Sowell accuses Romney of incorrectly attacking Gingrich

C-Home-Mitt-Newt-fight"Among the claims going out through the mass media in Florida, on the eve of that state's primary election, is that Newt Gingrich "resigned in disgrace"... His resignation was not due to those charges and occurred much later. Do the Romney camp and the Republican establishment not know this, a dozen years later? Or are they far less concerned with whether the charges will stand up than they are about smearing Gingrich on the eve of the Florida primaries?" - Thomas Sowell for TownHall

  • "Mitt Romney has again mangled the facts about the ethics investigation of former House speaker Newt Gingrich and the circumstances surrounding his resignation." - Washington Post
  • However, Gingrich got his facts wrong on Romney's record regarding Kosher nursing home food in Massachusetts - Commentary

Sen. Jon Kyl urges an end to negative attacks and warns against a long, drawn-out race

Screen shot 2011-05-30 at 1.45.28 PM"“I’m concerned that if we don’t have a nominee earlier rather than later it could” hurt the GOP, said Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who is unaligned in the race. “But maybe part of it depends on how they conduct themselves, and if they continue doing what they’ve been doing the past week, it probably wouldn’t be the best thing for the Republican nominee who eventually wins.”" - Politico

As candidates battle in Florida, Rick Santorum to watch from Las Vegas

Screen shot 2011-12-29 at 11.03.34"A Nevada Tea Party-cum-conservatives group run by Sharron Angle’s old boosters, T.R.U.N.C., is hosting Santorum for a Florida Primary results-watching party Tuesday night at the Santorum campaign’s Nevada headquarters... The event is doubling as a way to find and build an army of canvassers and callers to promote Santorum in the few days that remain before Nevada’s GOP caucuses on Saturday." - Las Vegas Sun

Ron Paul is trying to attract the Mormon voteAmerican Spectator

Fred Barnes says Jeb Bush is staying out of the 2012 race - for now - for three reasons

Bush Jeb

  1. "[H]aving not endorsed a candidate, Bush could emerge as an acceptable compromise nominee in the unlikely event there’s a deadlock between Romney and Gingrich at the GOP convention"
  2. "Second, he could play a unifying role as a vice presidential choice of either Romney or Gingrich.  It’s significant he’s from Florida, a state that President Obama won in 2008... With Bush on the ticket, winning Florida would be all but assured. "
  3. "Third, Bush could play a kingmaker role in the Republican presidential race." - Fred Barnes for Weekly Standard

It is now technically impossible for a new challenger to win the GOP primary - Salon

George Soros: There’s not much difference between Obama and Romney - Hot Air

Ouch. Rick Perry’s campaign burned through MILLIONS in the final quarter of 2011

Screen shot 2011-07-25 at 12.16.47 PM"Texas Gov. Rick Perry burned through the bulk of a once-sizable campaign war chest late last year in what became an increasingly desperate attempt to right his listing — and ultimately doomed — presidential campaign, federal financial disclosures released late Monday show... Perry’s campaign had more than $15 million cash on hand in early October. By the year’s end, that dwindled to less than $3.77 million." - Politico

House GOP closer to vote on making English the official language

"Spurred by Republicans running for the White House, GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill are moving closer to a vote that would make English the official language of the United States.  Republicans believe a vote on the bipartisan measure would put the Obama administration on the defensive. President Obama voted against the effort when he served in the Senate." - The Hill

Jonah Goldberg: Liberals are using a confrontation between Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and Obama to make cheap racial points - LA Times

David Brooks: Over the last 50 years, America's rich and poor have become segregated from each other - with terrible consequences

Screen shot 2010-12-14 at 15.55.45"Roughly 7 percent of the white kids in the upper tribe are born out of wedlock, compared with roughly 45 percent of the kids in the lower tribe. In the upper tribe, nearly every man aged 30 to 49 is in the labor force. In the lower tribe, men in their prime working ages have been steadily dropping out of the labor force, in good times and bad. People in the lower tribe are much less likely to get married, less likely to go to church, less likely to be active in their communities, more likely to watch TV excessively, more likely to be obese." - David Brooks for the New York Times

And finally... A sing-off between Romney and Obama - BuzzFeed

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Jan 30, 2012 7:01:34 AM

Newslinks for Monday Jan 30: Romney keeps pressure on Gingrich as he hopes for knockout Florida win

Romney maintains attacks against Gingrich, determined to win big in FloridaRomney-2012-blog-photo-mitt-town-hall-new-hampshire

  • "But instead of stepping back and refocusing on President Barack Obama - as he did in Iowa when it became clear that Gingrich had lost - Romney is ratcheting up his rhetoric and continuing his attacks until the very end." - AP
  • "He reprised his criticism of Mr. Gingrich’s work as a consultant to mortgage giant Freddie Mac, which paid the former House speaker $1.6 million. And Mr. Romney even managed to needle Mr. Gingrich for his complaints about audience behavior at recent debates." - WSJ
  • "Mitt Romney's nearly certain victory in Florida's Republican primary on Tuesday wouldn't guarantee him the GOP nomination, but political experts agree it would make it far more likely that he'll be the last candidate standing at the August convention in Tampa." - Washington Examiner

Newt pledges to take the nomination "all the way to the convention"

Newt"A pugnacious Newt Gingrich reiterated his intention to stay in the Republican presidential primary “all the way to the convention,” telling reporters Sunday morning that he believed that “this is going to be a straight-out contest for the next four or five months” between him and Mitt Romney." - Wall Street Journal

  • "Gingrich is making the case that Romney can’t get a majority at the convention, his small circle of advisers are already eyeing favorable states in March and April and those close to the former back-bench bomb-thrower are testifying to his legendary perseverance." - Politico
  • "Ron Paul vowed today he'll stay in the GOP race through the national convention in Tampa and defended his decision to campaign in Maine while his rivals are focused on Florida." - USA Today

VIDEO: Herman Cain endorses Newt Gingrich at Palm Beach County event

Gingrich doubles down on claim to President Reagan’s legacy -

REAGAN RONALD"Newt Gingrich linked Mitt Romney to Wall Street malfeasants, compared himself with Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, and stridently attacked President Obama — all at one campaign event here Sunday afternoon." - The Hill

  • "“I am, in fact, the legitimate heir to the Reagan movement, not some liberal from Massachusetts,” Gingrich said on Sunday. He noted that Reagan’s son Michael will be campaigning with him on Monday, “which should tell you how false the ads were earlier this week by Romney that suggested I wasn’t a Reagan Republican.”" - LA Times

New polls have Romney solidly leading Gingrich in Florida

  • Screen shot 2011-05-25 at 10.09.51"A new Rasmussen survey in Florida shows Mitt Romney leading Newt Gingrich by 16 points, 44% to 28%, with Rick Santorum at 12% and Ron Paul at 10%. A forthcoming We Ask America poll in Florida shows Romney ahead by 22 points." - Political Wire
  • Nate Silver gives Romney a 97% chance of winning
  • Polling in key swing states: Only Romney polls ahead of Obama, Obama leads Paul and Santorum by 7%, and Gingrich by FOURTEEN percent - USA Today
  • It's better to think of Florida as five different states than just one  - Politico

Rick Santorum’s daughter hospitalized

Screen shot 2012-01-02 at 12.06.00"On Thursday and Friday, some of us... were speculating over whether or not Senator Rick Santorum would be remaining in the hunt for the nomination when news broke that he was returning to Pennsylvania from the campaign trail in Florida. Now it’s very likely that the news was somewhat different and far more disconcerting. Reports are coming in that the Santorums’ youngest daughter, Bella, has been hospitalized." - Hot Air

  • Rick Santorum’s daughter improving - Politico
  • With Santorum off the trail, surrogates help keep campaign alive - LA Times
  • "Rick Santorum... has canceled all remaining events in Florida and instead will begin a push towards the western primaries and caucuses to be held in early February." - CNN

Michael Barone: This three-way contest has given Romney the time and reason to develop better skills as a candidate

Screen shot 2011-02-14 at 12.53.53"The race so far has given Romney the opportunity to develop the political instincts that he might have obtained from going door-to-door for votes or interacting with lowly colleagues in a caucus as his three rivals have. His performances in the two Florida debates show he is making some progress. Not enough to be the ideal nominee, perhaps, but maybe enough to beat an incumbent with serious weaknesses, as well as some strengths." - Michael Barone for TownHall

Why hasn't Jeb Bush endorsed any candidate?

Bush Jeb"Mr. Bush has made clear in television interviews and in conversations with friends that he is troubled by the sharpening tenor of the race, particularly on immigration. He voiced his concern directly to Mr. Romney, two people close to him said, urging him to moderate his oratory and views to avoid a collapse of support among Hispanic voters in the general election." - New York Times

Juan Williams: 2012 GOP should think about the poverty, unemployment and the hopelessness that pervade minority communities The Hill

Muslim Americans unsure whether to support Obama or the GOP - Roll Call

John McCain condemns SuperPACs

McCain John"Sen. John McCain on Sunday attacked super PACs and the Supreme Court ruling that unleashed them on the 2012 presidential race. "I condemn them on all sides," the Arizona Republican said of super PACs on NBC News's "Meet the Press," "and I condemn the United States Supreme Court for their naivety in the Citizens versus United (sic) decision, which is an outrage."" - Politico

Paul Ryan slams Obama's sloganeering and election campaigning

"House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said that Obama uses the rhetoric of the right to make a case about fairness and equality, but produces policies that lead to "crony capitalism" and result in giving the government more power." - Fox News

Many Texas Republicans would oppose Rick Perry running for re-election as Governor - Houston Chronicle

David Frum: Ten years later, the content of the 'Axis of Evil' speech stands up to scrutiny - Daily Beast

  • Joe Biden admits he told Obama not to launch raid to kill Osama bin Laden - Toby Harnden

Jeb Hensarling eyes financial panel chairmanship - Politico

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Jan 27, 2012 7:00:31 AM

Newslinks for Friday Jan 27: New Florida polls and debate performance put Romney back on top

ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK

Drudge Report, National Review, American Spectator, Ann Coulter all attack Newt - Politico

WATCH: Romney attack ad enlists Nancy Pelosi to raise fears about risky Gingrich

An increasing number of Republicans now describe Gingrich as something akin to political plague - National Journal

Bob Dole, the Republican presidential nominee in 1996, took a big swing at candidate Newt Gingrich on Thursday, saying a Gingrich nomination will sink GOP contenders across the country - WSJ

Screen shot 2012-01-27 at 10.20.24

Romney paints Gingrich as mentally unstable - Washington Post

What they’re saying about Gingrich’s not-so-great grasp of his own history with Reagan - HotAir

The latest FOUR polls have Romney leading Gingrich in Florida - RCP

  • Obama leads Romney by 6% in latest WSJ general election poll BUT leads Gingrich by -E-I-G-H-T-E-E-N- points.

"MITTZKRIEG" - How Daily Caller interprets Romney's aggressive debate performance

Screen shot 2012-01-27 at 10.08.44

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 - Jennifer Rubin

Romney wins latest debate say vast range of commentators - Byron York | Henry Olsen | John McCormack | Jonathan Tobin | Erick Erickson | Rod Dreher | Rich Galen | Michael Falone

Newt Gingrich turned in an oddly passive debate performance that left his supporters scratching their heads and illustrated his unpredictable and even whimsical style - Politico

"Mr. Gingrich seemed to be playing for a draw. He passed upon several opportunities to push back at Mr. Romney, despite being expressly presented with opportunities to do so — on health care, on Ronald Reagan’s legacy, on immigration, and on Mr. Romney’s personal finances among other issues." - Nate Silver says passive debating has hurt every candidate who's tried it.

  • Gingrich arrived with no plan - David Frum
  • When Newt hears the cheers of a right-wing crowd, he comes to life. But without the applause, he deflates. In Jacksonville, he was like a Macy’s balloon on Thanksgiving afternoon - Michael Tomasky

Santorum reasserts himself with attacks on RomneyCare - RCP

  • Romney, Obama healthcare mandates one and the same, claims Santorum - LA Times (Support for ObamaCare falling again - Washington Times)
  • Santorum is the "adult in the room" - Robert Costa for NRO
  • NPR agrees that Santorum matters, noting his attack on Romney's healthcare plan, his attack on flat tax fantasties and his ridiculing of Gingrich's moon base plan. 

Screen shot 2012-01-27 at 11.04.47

WATCH: Gingrich says he wants an American to get to the moon before the Chinese. Ron Paul says he wants to send politicians there.

RubioRubio may not be endorsing but he's clearly favoring Romney - Andrew Goldman

Rubio comes to Romney's defence after Gingrich had likened him to Charlie Crist - Politico

Romney appears to give more to charity than he pays in tax and he gives more than any other presidential candidate - Commentary

Nonetheless... doubts persist about Romney

  • Mitt is the last WASP - Rich Lowry
  • "The Romney camp lives in terror of deviating from the months-old script... Successful politicians absorb the signals and change up. Not Mr. Romney. If politics were evolution, the governor would still be swimming in the primordial soup." - Kimberley Strassel for the Wall Street Journal

Ten days after dropping out of the GOP race, erstwhile candidate and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman has accepted his next job: chairman of the Salt Lake City-based Huntsman Cancer Foundation - MSNBC

House Conservatives focus on battles ahead in three day Heritage Foundation retreat - Roll Call

Obama's testy exchange with Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer on runway undermines his claim to want bipartisanship - Washington Post

KrauthammerKrauthammer and Brooks critique Obama's "small" agenda

  • "What Obama offered the nation Tuesday night was a pudding without a theme: a jumble of disconnected initiatives, a gaggle of intrusive new agencies and a whole new generation of loopholes to further corrupt a tax code that screams out for reform. If the Republicans can’t beat that in November, they should try another line of work." - Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post
  • "This election is about averting national decline. The president is making a mistake in ceding the size advantage to the Republicans. The Republicans at least speak with epic alarm about the nation’s problems. They are unified behind big tax and welfare state reforms that would purge Washington and shake things up. The president is making a mistake in running a Sunset Boulevard campaign: I am big; it’s my presidency that got small." - David Brooks in the New York Times

Obamanomics = Mercantilism - Ross Douthat

"Equality and freedom have often been trumpeted as the key words in the lexicon of liberal democracy. But they are too abstract and they won’t play in the political arena. Everyone understands fair, and fair is the word Obama should be uttering again and again and again." - Stanley Fish for the New York Times

Polls are finding that Americans seem less upset by the existence of income inequality than by the perception that federal policies unfairly favor the rich - Andrew Kohut for the New York Times

Americans see Iran as top threat to peace and security - Weekly Standard

Tales of atrocities from my visit to the Congo - Mike Gerson in the Washington Post

Is Yahoo News more anti-conservative than the New York Times?

The Yahoo News headline: “Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice.” It is just one of thousands of examples of the sort of headwinds that conservatives fight against every day - PowerLine

And finally... The Economist informs us what's it's like to be on the receiving end of the campaign emails.

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Jan 26, 2012 7:00:50 AM

Newslinks for Thursday Jan 26: Gingrich and Romney trade blows on immigration ahead of final Florida debate

Gingrich tries to woo Hispanics in Florida, calls Romney "anti-immigrant"

Republican debate 20th

  • "The leading Republican candidates spent Wednesday appealing for the votes of South Florida’s Hispanic voters, with the campaigns of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich skirmishing over an advertisement that branded Mr. Romney as anti-immigration. The Spanish-language radio advertisement by the Gingrich campaign called Mr. Romney “the most anti-immigrant candidate” in the field." - New York Times
  • "Rejecting Newt Gingrich's charge that Mitt Romney is anti-immigrant, [Romney] responded... saying Wednesday that his main rival is pandering to Latino voters in next week's Florida presidential primary." - LA Times
  • "Romney, asked later about the ad and Gingrich's criticism, said in the candidate forum, hosted by the Spanish-language network Univision, that such attacks were "unbecoming" for a presidential hopeful." - CNN
  • "Mitt Romney allowed Wednesday that he wouldn’t mind if voters regarded him as the Mexican American candidate ... The Republican made the tongue-in-cheek remark during an exchange with a TV interviewer for Univision... who raised the question because of the Mexican heritage of Romney’s father." - LA Times
  • Sen. Marco Rubio refutes Gingrich's claims that Romney is a moderate like Former FL Gov. Charlie Crist - Jennifer Rubin

After Newt surge, Romney seems to have steadied the polls in his favor. Now Romney leads Gingrich by 8, leads big amongst Hispanics

Screen shot 2011-05-25 at 10.09.51"A Times-Union/Insider Advantage survey out Wednesday has Mitt Romney with a 40-32 lead on Newt Gingrich, a significant swing in less than two days. No other candidate polled in double-digits. The Insider Advantage numbers had Romney up in almost every demographic, including a 66-34 lead with Hispanic voters, one of Florida’s most important blocs." - Florida Times-Union

  • Florida polls: Romney runs better than Gingrich against Obama - National Journal
  • "Polling released within the past 24 hours suggests that Mitt Romney may have stopped and possibly reversed Newt Gingrich’s momentum before the Florida primary on Tuesday." -Nate Silver
  • "There are signs that the Newt Gingrich bubble may be bursting. Let’s hope so: the walk down the memory lane of the 1980s and 1990s, not to mention Newt’s current transgressions, is getting hard to take." - Power Line

Newt Gingrich pledges to build a colony on the moon during his presidency

  • Gingrich May 2011"Gingrich, who has long held a fascination with space exploration and has talked extensively about further missions to the moon, Mars and beyond, committed for the first time to pushing aggressively for such programs if he wins the White House." - Washington Post
  • "My issue with Gingrich isn’t that the goal is unworthy... but that message discipline on spending is desperately needed if the GOP is going to convince voters that our fiscal crisis is as dire as it is. How do you tell seniors that we need to start cutting Medicare if you’re busy telling space contractors to get cracking on moon igloos or whatever?" - Hot Air
  • Newt in 1996: Let’s build a real Jurassic Park - Daily Caller

Ouch! What Ronald Reagan wrote about Gingrich in his diaries

Screen shot 2011-02-06 at 18.16.54"Newt Gingrich has a proposal for freezing the budget at the 1983 level. It's a tempting idea except that it would cripple our defense programs. And if we make an exception on that every special interest group will be asking for the same." - Ronald Reagan's diaries, quoted at Weekly Standard

  • If you want a second Obama term, vote for Newt - Ann Coulter

Stuart Rothenberg: Newt Gingrich is Barry Goldwater II

"His populist message makes conservatives feel good, much as former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean’s angry message of change resonated with Democrats in late 2003 and much as Goldwater’s “in your heart, you know he’s right” message won over conservatives almost 50 years ago. Republican grass-roots conservatives unquestionably are angry... They might be so angry that they are willing to overlook Gingrich’s character flaws — character flaws they would scream about in a liberal Democrat." - Rothenberg Political Report

Karl Rove imagines the thoughts of David Axelrod - WSJ

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: Four ways Republicans can win Hispanics back

  1. Screen shot 2011-01-14 at 11.12.45"[W]e need to recognize this is not a monochromatic community but, rather, a deeply diverse one. Hispanics in this country include Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans and many others. Some came here 50 years ago to make a better life; others came last year."
  2. "[W]e should echo the aspirations of these voters. The American immigrant experience is the most aspirational story ever told. Immigrants left all that was familiar to them to come here and make a better life for their families. That they believe this is possible only in America is the best expression of American exceptionalism I know."
  3. "[W]e should press for an overhaul of our education system. Republicans have the field to themselves on this issue. Teachers unions and education bureaucrats have blocked Democrats from serious reform — it will happen only with Republican political leadership. "
  4. "Republicans should reengage on [immigration]. Start by recognizing that new Americans strengthen our economy. We need more people to come to this country, ready to work and to contribute their creativity to our economy. U.S. immigration policies should reflect that principle." - Jeb Bush, for the Washington Post

Obama snubs Republican Gov. Jan Brewer on campaign trip to Arizona

"Gov. Jan Brewer met him at first stop of his five-state campaign swing with a hand-written letter asking him to visit the state’s southern border, which is a hotbed of illegal immigration and drug trafficking. But Obama suddenly turned cold, claiming that her Nov. 2011 book mischaracterized their previous White House meeting in June 2010. He then quickly walked away." - Daily Caller

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker leads Democratic opponents in polling for his recall election

Walker Scott"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." - RedState

Bachmann to run for re-election in House - USA Today

House GOP to offer health reform 'replace' plan after SCOTUS rules

Screen shot 2011-01-20 at 11.02.45"A top House Republican on Wednesday said GOP lawmakers will put forward an alternative to the health care reform law after the Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the law. ... Pitts said he personally anticipates that the court could strike the mandate but is unlikely to strike the entire law. He said House leadership is looking to the timing of a likely court decision to make its case against the Democrats’ signature health reform law." - Politico

Taxpayers still owed $132.9B from bailout - Fox News

Timothy Geithner says a second term unlikely at Treasury - LA Times

Gabrielle Giffords leaves Congress - New York Times

And finally... Ron Paul action figures

"This week, Ron Paul’s SuperPAC, RevolutionPAC, launched an innovative and unique fundraising idea: Ron Paul action figures. For $94.95 (plus $7.50 for shipping) supporters can purchase a fun-sized version of his or her favorite politician. The action figure is 12 inches tall and has talking capabilities to voice his best Ron Paul catch phrases." - Houston Chronicle

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Jan 25, 2012 6:40:33 AM

Newslinks for Wednesday Jan 25: Obama targets America's wealth creators in Left-leaning State of the Union

Screen shot 2012-01-25 at 08.50.25

Full text of speech | Video highlights | New York Times factcheck and analysis.

Did you think you had heard Obama's words before? 'You have' blogs The Weekly Standard.

Screen shot 2012-01-25 at 11.32.26The GOP response gets the thumbs up

WATCH: Obama didn't create America's economic problems but he has made them worse, says Mitch Daniels in official GOP response to SotU

  • Full text of Daniels' response - Fox
  • At NRO, Michael M. Uhlmann thinks Daniels' speech offered a template for how Republicans should defeat Obama - reasonable, serious but also witty.
  • The American Spectator was also impressed with the Indiana Governor's response.
  • Even Andrew Sullivan is positive: "It was that rare event when the GOP response surpassed the actual State of the Union. It was what a sane Republican critique of this presidency would be. It began with a grace note on Obama's courageous assault on bin Laden and the quiet dignity of his family life - avoiding the personal demonization of a well-liked president. There were several shrewd and helpful criticisms of his own side."

WATCH: Herman Cain delivers Tea Party Movement response to State of the Union, accusing Obama of "class warfare", "more excuses" and "little ideas"

Obama styles himself as the crusader against the wealthy and economic injustices

  • "Cranking up the volume on the populist message that the wealthy should pay higher taxes, Obama said the goal of economic equality was a return to American values and “the defining issue of our time” - The Hill
  • "Mr. Obama's laundry-list of initiatives—steep tax increases on wealthier Americans, fresh investigations into the mortgage crisis and support for domestic manufacturing—was aimed at buttressing a re-election message that posits him as defender of Americans beset by inequality in the tax code and broader economy." - WSJ
  • Obama Urges Tougher Laws on Financial Fraud - New York Times
  • It was a blue-collar State of the Union speech, aimed at the swing voters the president needs to woo - Doyle McManus at LA Times
  • Mitch Daniels: "“No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant efforts to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others” (Quoted by WSJ)
  • Obama's re-election campaign doubles down on class-war demagoguery - Michelle Malkin at TownHall
  • "Barack Obama’s State of the Union is all about letting you know that government is going to do everything for you and when it can’t keep its promises, it will take from the successful and give to you" - RedState

Other SotU in brief:

  • Obama makes repeated jabs at dysfunctional Congress - Roll Call
  • Obama talks up natural gas development in State of the Union speech - LA Times
  • State of the Union address barely mentions health care reform law - Politico
  • Boehner hosts Keystone pipeline supporters for speech - Washington Times
  • Gabrielle Giffords arrives at SotU to thunderous applause - Politico

DouthatEditorial reactions to SotU

  • "The address made plain what has been increasingly obvious for some time. After flirting with the role of the reasonable centrist after his party’s defeat in 2010, President Obama has decided to run for re-election as a full-throated liberal populist." - Ross Douthat
  • NPR agrees; when facing re-election Clinton moved to the center, Obama is moving to the Left.
  • "There were some nice patriotic touches, a passel of small proposals, and old ideas like soaking the rich in President Obama’s State of the Union Address. But mostly the speech consisted of an effort to make a big deal out of not much." - Fred Barnes
  • "All the tax increase he could stomach would not make a dent in the debt without meaningful entitlement control. In a line worthy of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, he hollered to cut defense and to instead nation-build at home. Eliminating the entire defense budget wouldn’t do the trick, given the rate at which he spends money." - Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post
  • "State of the Union speech is full of soaring rhetoric but skips over some major challenges" - Washington Post

"The problem isn't that Mr. Romney is paying too little, but that Mr. Obama wants everyone but his voters and green business cronies to pay too much" - WSJ editorial

  • Mitt Romney might consider ending a tax break that helped the former Massachusetts governor accumulate his fortune... but later in the day the Romney camp tried to step back from the suggestion - WSJ
  • Romney didn't pay enough tithe to Mormon Church - Daily Caller

Pelosi NancyPelosi: I know something about Gingrich that ensures he’ll never be president - HotAir

Nate Silver: Gingrich now favorite to win Florida - New York Times

Gingrich now enjoys the support of 52% of Tea Party voters - Weekly Standard

Republicans focused on House and Senate races are growing anxious that former Speaker Newt Gingrich might win the GOP presidential nomination - Roll Call

"Democrats can’t believe their luck!" - Left-winger Markos Moulitsas is enjoying the GOP bloodbath - The Hill

Abrams: Gingrich undermined Reagan

REAGAN RONALDElliott Abrams points out on NRO, Gingrich is fraudulent to present himself as a Reaganite: "As a new member of Congress in the Reagan years — and I was an assistant secretary of state — Mr. Gingrich voted with the president regularly, but equally often spewed insulting rhetoric at Reagan, his top aides, and his policies to defeat Communism. Gingrich was voluble and certain in predicting that Reagan’s policies would fail, and in all of this he was dead wrong."

John McCain joins chorus who believe record-breaking number of debates is hurting GOP - USA Today

Democrats enjoy 11% lead over Republicans in a generic ballot question asked to registered voters - Hotline

And finally... Obama wants you to think he's like Reagan but the Wall Street Journal compares Reagan's economic recovery with today's...

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Roughly one out of eight Americans who presumably want to work, and were working before 2007, can’t find work today - Spengler

Capitalism will be rescued by more competition, not more of Obama's government red tape - PowerLine

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Jan 24, 2012 6:02:55 AM

Newslinks for Tuesday Jan 24: Romney takes Mitts off in video attack on Newt, but dogged by his own tax affairs

Romney now has the support of 29% of Republican registered voters to Gingrich's 28%, according to Gallup - USA Today

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VIDEO: New Romney ad hits Gingrich has someone who "cashed in" on America's housing crisis

Mitt Romney paid $3M in taxes in 2010 - USA Today

Romney paid a 14% Effective Tax Rate for 2010 on $21.7 Million in Income - WSJ

  • Obama paid 25 percent of his gross income in federal tax, compared to Romney’s 13.7 percent - Politico
  • "The fact that someone like Romney could amass a fortune in the hundreds of millions of dollars while paying a lower rate than people of lesser means is one symbol among many of how badly the code is broken." - USA Today
  • The Romneys gave away $7 million in charitable contributions over the past two years, including at least $4.1 million to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Washington Post
  • "There’s no headline from this debate that will obscure the news out of the release of his tax returns Tuesday" - Politico
  • "Tuesday morning’s headlines out of the Romney tax returns are likely to be plenty uncomfortable for the former Massachusetts governor: by any measure he’s a very, very wealthy man." - Politico

They say Romney is the establishment candidate but the establishment is slow to endorse him...

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- More via Nate Silver

  • "Romney remains a tremendously weak frontrunner, whose strengths don’t compensate for a style that leaves conservatives cold and a background that will leave him open to attacks across a variety of Democratic-friendly fronts in the general election." - Ross Douthat
  • "Mitt Romney was born and raised in Michigan and has ties to Utah. Yet he chose to make his career, both in business and politics, in Massachusetts. Nearly every political problem Romney has today, at least those involving his policy positions, stems from that one decision." - Byron York

Meanwhile, Gingrich’s former firm releases Freddie Mac contract - Washington Post

Romney on FoxRomney levelled a searing attack against Newt Gingrich’s character and raised pointed questions about his ability to lead - New York Times

  • "Romney wasted little time before laying into Gingrich on an array of potential vulnerabilities in advance of the Jan. 31 Florida primary, including a challenge to Gingrich’s conservative bona fides on the environment, his condemnation for which he later apologized of Paul Ryan’s entitlement reform plan as “right-wing social engineering,” and his consulting work on behalf of failed mortgage giant Freddie Mac." - RCP
  • "unlike Gingrich’s memorable moments from the two South Carolina debates, nothing in Monday’s debate seems likely to alter the race in Florida in any serious way, either by boosting Romney or slowing Gingrich’s momentum." - Weekly Standard

Romney advocates 'self-deportation' for illegal immigrants - LA Times

  • Defeat in SC will be good for Romney if he now discovers passion - George Will in the Washington Post
  • Ten suggestions for Romney to get back on track, beginning with DON'T PANIC - The Hill

Now it's Santorum's turn to take aim at the mainstream media - WSJ

  • Santorum misses opportunity to emerge between Mitt/Newt scrummage - NRO
  • Santorum fails to correct woman who says Obama is a Muslim - Joe Klein

Cantor EricHouse Majority Leader Eric Cantor said a quick end to the presidential primary battle would be best so the GOP can unify around the nominee - Roll Call

Stephens and Gerson see support for Gingrich as a desire for excitement

  • Voters instinctively prefer the idea of an entertaining Newt-Obama contest—the aspiring Caesar versus the failed Redeemer—over a dreary Mitt-Obama one - Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal
  • "Currently many conservatives are exercising not just their franchise but their imaginations. They picture a debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, and they yawn. They envision Gingrich going after the president, the media and the fundamental failures of liberalism — and their pulses race. But Republicans need to imagine just a little further — electing a president with no history of prudence." - Mike Gerson in the Washington Post

Jonah Goldberg at the LA Times reaches similar conclusions: "For whatever reason, Romney seems like a creature put on Earth to blend in with the humans and report back what he finds. He clearly likes earthlings, and they in turn find him pleasant enough, and surprisingly lifelike. Occasionally he finds the right words, but he rarely connects them to the right tone. This dearth of convincing passion in the front-runner makes the passionate base of the party want to look elsewhere — even to Newtzilla."

"Mr Romney's challenge is to talk conservatives down from the ledge without worsening his position by insulting them for climbing up there with Newt in the first place" - Economist

Jonathan Tobin is perplexed that some people are still wanting a new candidate to emerge

"Anyone who really wanted to be president and thought they could win has already jumped in (and in a number of cases they have also already jumped out again). The only realistic possibilities for the Republican presidential nomination are named Gingrich or Romney." - Commentary

Republicans choose Mitch Daniels to respond to State of the Union - New York Times

  • "There is much to admire in Barack Obama the man. But his presidency, especially on the domestic front, has been a bitter disappointment to almost everybody—perhaps above all to those who most desperately needed help from the government he led." - David Frum at the Daily Beast
  • "If President Obama is really serious about restoring American economic dynamism, he needs an aggressive two-pronged approach: More economic freedom combined with more social structure; more competition combined with more support." - David Brooks in the New York Times

Eric Cantor calls for replacing defense cuts one year at a time, if necessary - The Hill

House GOP: Medicare reform on 2012 agenda... but "scaled back" - Washington Times

Walker ScottWisconsin Scott Walker's reforms are saving money, which unions cannot forgive - WSJ editorial

Chris Christie made a point of advertising that he’s nominating the first openly gay member of the New Jersey State Supreme Court along with the court’s first Asian-American - WSJ

Sen. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican who captured President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat in 2010, faces a difficult recovery from a stroke - WSJ

Thoughts on yesterday's March for Life - Michelle Malkin

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Jan 23, 2012 6:52:42 AM

Newslinks for Mon Jan 23: Romney attacks Gingrich as DC insider who had to resign "in disgrace"

VIDEO: "I think Newt Gingrich has embarrassed the party, over time," says Chris Christie, "Romney never has"

Christie says he'd consider being Romney's VP - The Fix

C-Home-Mitt-Newt-fight

GOP contest could be lengthy fight - USA Today

Romney attacks Gingrich as DC insider who had to resign "in disgrace"

"I don't think that the people of this country are going to choose as the next president of the United States a person who spent 40 years in Washington as a congressman and a lobbyist." Quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

And MSNBC has this from Romney: "I've had the experience of leadership. Now Speaker Gingrich has also been a leader.  He was a leader for four years as speaker of the House. And at the end of four years it was proven he was a failed leader. And he had to resign in disgrace. I don't know if you knew that. He actually resigned after four years in disgrace. He was investigated under an ethics panel and had to make a payment associated with that and then his fellow Republicans, 88 percent of Republicans, voted to reprimand Speaker Gingrich. He has not had a record of successful leadership."

Gingrich leads Romney by 8% in Florida, according to a poll conducted after South Carolina result - RCP | Before SC, Romney had 14.7% average lead

  • Romney still favorite but all bets are off if Gingrich wins Florida - Nate Silver

Gingrich: Yes, the establishment SHOULD be worried about me

"“The establishment is right to be worried about a Gingrich nomination,” he said. “We are going to make the establishment very uncomfortable. We are going to demand real change in Washington.”" - New York Times

Gingrich's victory is further sign of declining power of GOP establishment - Timothy Carney for the Washington Examiner

106-Gray__2_Jennifer Rubin writes a letter to the GOP's big beasts and urges them to stop Newt

"The voters in their infinite wisdom have just given a huge boost to perhaps the only GOP candidate who could shift the spotlight from President Obama to himself, alienate virtually all independent voters, lose more than 40 states and put the House majority in jeopardy." - Washington Post

The unlikeable Newt

"Mr. Gingrich's biggest problem is that more voters say they dislike than like him. In a recent Fox News poll, 56% said they had an unfavorable view of him, versus 27% favorable. That's a net unfavorable rating of minus 29%, compared with a plus 5% for Mr. Obama and plus 7% for Mr. Romney." - WSJ editorial

Mitt Romney to release tax returns Tuesday - Washington Post

"Mitt Romney said Sunday that he will release his 2010 tax returns this week so that he can put behind him an issue that he acknowledged is causing a big distraction for his campaign." - Fox

Romney would have been more competitive in SC if he'd released his tax returns earlier - HotAir

Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital problem is real and Republicans are asking: Why wasn’t the GOP frontrunner better prepared to handle it all?

Screen shot 2012-01-23 at 11.50.39

- Politico

"The country is thinking more skeptically about wealth and privilege in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street protests. Romney has not adjusted." - E J Dionne for the Washington Post

Mitt’s problem isn’t that he’s rich. It’s that he can’t seem to relate to voters who aren’t - Paul Begala for the Daily Beast

"Mitt Romney cannot get the votes of those who think we need to reform and reduce the power of Washington, which I venture to say is a sizable portion of the base." - Red State

  • Romney Fails to Connect to Voters Even in S.C.’s ‘Monied Burbs’ - WSJ
  • Mitt’s generalities are awfully condescending: The finely calibrated inoffensiveness is kind of offensive - Mark Steyn at NRO

Romney still has bigger financial warchest and has recruited Perry's top fundraisers - WSJ

SanctitySantorum emphasizes pro-life credentials while Obama celebrates Row V Wade anniversary - Washington Times

"I am disappointed that President Obama, who rightfully fights for civil rights, refuses to recognize the civil rights of the unborn in his country. I am disappointed that the other three Republican candidates in this race for president simply check the box. The unborn need leaders who will stand for life; so does the soul of America." - Rick Santorum in the Wall Street Journal

  • Santorum questions conservative credentials of Romney and Gingrich - LA Times
  • Florida is neutral turf, says Santorum, and a better test than NH or SC - USA Today
  • Santorum's Florida stump speech offered nothing specific to state - CBS

A Defense of Negative Campaigning - Michael Barone for NRO

Boehner John Blue ShirtHouse GOP hopes to focus on four issues in 2012: the Keystone XL pipeline, domestic energy production, infrastructure spending and tax reform - Politico

Or NPR's take: House GOP's 2012 Mission equals Unity Against Obama

GOP will revive Keystone deal that Obama killed - Washington Examiner

"If Democrats can make the presidential election into a choice between the president, whose job approval is in the mid-40s, and House Republicans, with a job approval hovering around 10 percent, Obama would have a solid chance of winning a second term." - Roll Call

Experts say tax reform will take backseat in Obama’s State of the Union address - The Hill

  • Obama WILL focus on manufacturing jobs - Daily Caller
  • "Democrats and Republicans alike also expect Obama to roll out moderate-sounding initiatives and rhetoric that echo some GOP positions on energy, taxes, spending and regulations. But they disagree on how sincere the White House effort will be." - Roll Call
  • Tuesday's State of the Union speech is Obama’s last prime-time address before September - National Journal

President Obama has given up on doing the White House job

"Obama is in full-time campaign mode. And it’s only January. This week the president sets off on a three-day campaign jaunt through five different states. Last week he held four Manhattan fundraisers and took a trip to Disney World." - RNC Chairman Reince Priebus for Fox

Obama's re-election hopes hinge on Hispanic vote - TNR

Gabrielle Giffords resigning from Congress - Washington Post

Screen shot 2012-01-23 at 11.28.36

Watch her moving resignation video.

Conservative commentators answer the question: “What does the left get right?” - Thomas B Edsall for the New York Times

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Jan 22, 2012 5:01:46 AM

Your guide to the best commentary on Gingrich's big win in South Carolina

NEWT WINS SOUTH CAROLINA

Screen shot 2012-01-22 at 08.53.43

Graphic from USA Today. The Washington Examiner has the detailed results.

THE BIG THING

"For Mitt Romney, the South Carolina primary was not just a defeat, though it was most emphatically that. It was also where his campaign confronted the prospect it had most hoped to avoid: a dominant, surging and energized rival." - New York Times

"The story of the Republican race for months has been the search for an anti-Mitt, a non-Romney, a single candidate who conservatives could unite around. It is now possible, but by no means inevitable, that Gingrich has the momentum to become that candidate." - BBC

THE MESSAGE OF THE EXIT POLLS

  • "In all three nominating contests so far, at least a plurality of voters have said the economy and electability were important factors. In Iowa and New Hampshire, such voters backed Mr. Romney. But in South Carolina, they backed Mr. Gingrich." - Wall Street Journal
  • "Fifty-two percent of the South Carolina primary electorate said that the recent debates were one of the most important factors in deciding their vote. Of that group, Gingrich beat Romney 47 percent to 24 percent." - Washington Post
  • "Two-thirds of voters interviewed in exit polls said they made their decision on the basis of the two South Carolina debates, where Mr. Gingrich exploited racial resentment and hatred of the news media to connect with furious voters." - New York Times
  • "Gingrich took a full 45 percent of those who described themselves as “very conservative,” compared with 23 percent for Santorum, 20 percent for Romney and 10 percent for Paul. Gingrich also won among voters who said they were “somewhat conservative,” while Mitt Romney came in first with “moderate or liberal” voters." - Politico

GINGRICH'S VICTORY

Gingrich Newt logo

  • "Thanks in part to strong performances in televised debates, he has scored a victory in the largest state to vote so far in the GOP nominating process, after weak finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire." - Wall Street Journal
  • "South Carolinians don't like elitists. They don't like nice guys. They like candidates who can hang at the bowling alley or the barbecue. And they like fighters. So, it shouldn't come as any great surprise that Newt Gingrich dropped the hammer on Mitt Romney." - Daily Beast
  • "The South Carolina electorate didn’t vote for a person or a platform; they voted for a personality — the fiery, combative, MSM-hating Newt. They want the GOP nominee to charge at the president, throw around the term Alinksyite, push back at John King and Juan Williams, and shout out the absurdity of Barack Obama as president and the destructiveness of his combination of epic incompetence and awful ideology." - Hugh Hewitt for NRO
  • "It is very hard to understand how Gingrich’s “message” (more like a Google thought cloud: “boo elites, religious bigots, food stamps”) won in South Carolina" - Jennifer Rubin
  • Gingrich's surge has been "generated almost exclusively by the politics of ressentiment" - Ross Douthat

Romney on FoxROMNEY'S WEAKNESSES

  • Romney's muddled responses to questions about his tax returns hurt him - Politico
  • "Romney's fall in the polls in South Carolina was dramatic and lightning-quick, as Gingrich surged in the last few days before votes were cast. Analysts attributed the former House speaker's rise in part to a well-received debate performance Thursday. But Romney also suffered setbacks, including the news that updated vote totals showed he had in fact lost Iowa's caucuses to Rick Santorum. He also struggled to answer repeated questions about his tax returns, which he eventually said he would release in April." - CNN
  • "His recent debate performances were as abysmal as Mr Gingrich's were stellar. When questioned about his wealth, he stuttered, twitched and stammered, for no good reason. He did not get rich robbing banks; he got rich by being good at his job, and if, as he said tonight, Republicans celebrate success and prosperity, he has nothing to apologise for." - Economist

ROMNEY BEGINS HIS FIGHTBACK

  • "The South Carolina primary winner, he said, was just as guilty of using the “weapons of the left” as Barack Obama — and won’t have a chance against the president in a general election." - Politico
  • Romney to Gingrich: Release Freddie Mac documents - USA Today
  • Romney supporters insist GOP won't nominate "serial adulterer" - LA Times
  • Fred Barnes at the Weekly Standard insists Romney needs a big idea to enthuse conservatives. 
  • At NRO, Larry Kudlow welcomes Romney's attack on crony capitalism: "The issue of crony capitalism should be front and center in this campaign. President Obama defends his cronies instead of the so called 99 percent. That’s his contradiction. Big Labor, Big Business, and Big Green Energy are collections of cronies with big jobs, big salaries, and big privileges. Nothing to do with the 99 percent."
  • Ten things Romney needs to do to beat Gingrich - Toby Harnden
  • Only Ron Paul has bigger negatives among Republicans than Gingrich - CBS
  • Another Gingrich self-destruction is likeliest to save Romney but the GOP establishment is panicking - Paul Begala at the Daily Beast

Charges from rival Republican candidates that he's a closet moderate don't hold up - Doyle McManus in the LA Times

Santorum largeSANTORUM FAILS TO EMERGE AS CONSERVATIVE ALTERNATIVE TO ROMNEY

  • "Santorum will have to answer questions about whether he would drop out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination in favor of former House speaker Gingrich." - Washington Post
  • Santorum vows to focus on social as well as fiscal issues, unlike Gingrich - The Hill
  • Conservative Christians determined to stop Gingrich, raise money for Santorum - RedState
  • "Harking back to his roots as the grandson of a coal miner, he told enthusiastic supporters that he was the candidate who would speak for conservative blue-collar voters.  “Those are the people in America who are being left behind,” he said. “Those are the folks in America who neither party has a voice for.”" - LA Times

Santorum's 3rd place in SC confirms Dana Milbank's argument that religious conservative leaders are losing influence - Washington Post

ON TO FLORIDA

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  • "Mitt Romney will join in two Florida debates next week after waffling about whether he would show." - HotAir | WSJ
  • "Newt has the momentum going into Florida, which is bigger in terms of delegate count than the first three combined" - Rod Dreher
  • "Indeed, even if Gingrich is able to pull off an upset in Florida, the primary calendar heading into February still favors Romney. Nevada will be the next state to vote, and given its large Mormon population it will almost certainly go for Romney." - Daily Caller

After three different candidates win the first three contests Bill Kristol wonders if another candidate might yet run - Weekly Standard

Commentary fears Obama will be big winner of long campaign: "As long as Republicans are tearing each other apart rather than focusing the public on President Obama’s failures, they will not be laying the groundwork for victory in November."

Christie sets ambitious agenda in New Jersey amid 2016 speculation - Fox

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Jan 20, 2012 7:00:08 AM

Newslinks for Friday Jan 20: Rick Perry leaves the race, as Newt Gingrich pulls ahead of Romney in S.C.

GOV. RICK PERRY WITHDRAWS FROM 2012 RACE

RickPerryWithdraw"Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped out of the Republican presidential race on Thursday, two days ahead of the South Carolina primary, and endorsed Newt Gingrich in an apparent effort to stop Mitt Romney from winning the nomination." - Daily Caller

"Perry explained today that he came to the conclusion that there was "no viable path to victory...in 2012." While undoubtedly true, given his sagging poll numbers, aides — and Perry himself — are looking at another run in 2016 or 2020." - BuzzFeed

  • "Perry has not come out of the mid-single digits in South Carolina for weeks, and his debate performance on Monday was good but no game changer.  The question for Perry was why he bothered to continue at all after his expensive poor showing in Iowa and his non-entity status in New Hampshire and South Carolina." - Hot Air

Final debate before South Carolina vote

Republican debate 20th

  • Six takeaways: Newt Gingrich hit a question about his marital failings out of the park; Mitt Romney seemed ill-prepared for a question on his tax returns; Rick Santorum had a very good perfomance; Gingrich is prone to making grandiose statements; Ron Paul was ignored for large chunks of the debate, and small, four-man debates make for a much more detailed discussion - Politico
  • "Newt ... while he performed well, he failed to outshine his competitors. Mitt Romney, in particular, was just as effective as Gingrich, at times more so, as when he accepted responsibility for being successful. My guess is that Romney won the South Carolina primary tonight." - Powerline
  • "Newt needs to commune with his dictionary: He “owns” the word “grandiose,” applying it to himself in a self-congratulatory way. “Grand” is good (often), “grandiose” is bad. Newt the intellectual should know this." - Jay Nordlinger for National Review
  • "Considering the extended discussions of health care overhauls and unreleased tax returns, Mitt Romney had a tough night in the final debate before Saturday’s primary." - Weekly Standard
  • A+ for Newt, B for Romney and Santorum, and a C- for Paul, according to Mark Halperin

Gingrich delivers show-stopper at beginning of South Carolina debate

Meet Newt 9"Newt Gingrich turned his contempt for the media into one of his strongest performances yet. When CNN Chief National Correspondent John King opened the debate with a question about open marriage, following an interview by Gingrich's ex-wife that he had sought one, the Republican chastised him. "To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine," Gingrich told King, the moderator of the debate. Gingrich's response elicited loud applause from the audience." - CNN

Newt leads South Carolina polling

400px-South_Carolina_counties_map"Newtmentum is back, per Public Policy Polling: The company's second of three daily tracking polls, released tonight, shows Newt Gingrich in first place in South Carolina with 35 percent and Mitt Romney 6 points behind at 29 percent. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul were tied for third with 15 percent each." - Politico

  • "Mr. Gingrich has gained ground in the polls more than Mr. Romney has lost it. Two days ago, our forecast had Mr. Gingrich with 22.6 percent of the vote, so he has gained about 11 points since then. Meanwhile, Mr. Romney’s projection has declined less than 3 points — to 33." - Nate Silver

Gingrich paid just under $1M in taxes for 2010 - USA Today

Herman Cain reappears

Screen shot 2011-10-29 at 7.55.57 AM"The retired pizza chain executive... thrust himself back into the spotlight Wednesday with an "unconventional" endorsement in the GOP primary race. "Here is my unconventional endorsement," he said... "Not a candidate seeking the nomination, not someone that's not running. My unconventional endorsement is the people. We the people of this nation are still in charge."" - LA Times

  • Herman Cain will deliver Tea Party response to the State of the Union - The Hill
  • Colbert and Cain to join forces at South Carolina Rally - New York Times 

Was yesterday the most eventful day of the whole campaign?

"It was a day of split-screen viewing and almost hourly recalibration. Iowa Republicans declared former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) the new winner of their Jan. 3 caucuses, erasing Mitt Romney’s eight-vote victory. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who had one of the largest donor networks of any candidate, quit the race and endorsed former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who was gaining momentum but faced new challenges as an ex-wife accused him in two interviews of asking for an “open marriage.”" - Washington Post

David Brooks: Money didn’t make Mitt Romney. A legacy of persistence and dogged determination did.

Screen shot 2010-12-14 at 15.55.45"Is Romney a spoiled, cosseted character? Has he been corrupted by ease and luxury? The notion is preposterous. All his life, Romney has been a worker and a grinder. He earned two degrees at Harvard simultaneously (in law and business). He built a business. He’s persevered year after year, amid defeat after defeat, to build a political career. Romney’s salient quality is not wealth. It is, for better and worse, his tenacious drive — the sort of relentlessness that we associate with striving immigrants, not rich scions." - David Brooks for the New York Times

Charles Krauthammer: If Obama wins re-election, it will be because of the self-destructing Republican field

Krauthammer"Suddenly Romney’s wealth, practices and taxes take center stage. And why not? If leading Republicans are denouncing rapacious capitalism that enriches the 1 percent while impoverishing everyone else, should this not be the paramount issue in a campaign occurring at a time of economic distress? ... in a stroke, the Republicans have succeeded in turning a Democratic talking point — a last-ditch attempt to salvage reelection by distracting from their record — into a central focus of the nation’s political discourse." - Charles Krauthammer for the Washington Post

  • "None of these issues has been answered or explained at any length, and all are good news for the Obama campaign, whose 2012 themes will center on the rich versus the rest." - Peggy Noonan in the WSJ ($)

Key message from House Republican retreat: blame Obama

"With South Carolina’s primary heating up, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) opened the party’s annual Congress of Tomorrow retreat by homing in on President Barack Obama, saying that 2012 will be all about him... Members are being instructed to keep everything they do in Congress framed as a referendum on Obama... Boehner said the party would have a renewed focus on “oversight of administration policies that are getting in the way of small-business job creation,” a sign they’ll use their agenda to jab at the president’s initiatives." - Politico

Justice Department coordinates suits with ACORN's Project Vote - Washington Examiner editorial

PIPA on life support -- is SOPA next?

Screen shot 2010-12-24 at 12.45.27"Capitol Hill’s effort to crack down on Internet piracy was hanging on for dear life Thursday after Senate leaders gave the green light to abandon ship following the Internet backlash led by Wikipedia, Google and other sites this week. The signs of distress came from the top, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released Democrats from casting their lot with the PROTECT IP Act during a procedural vote scheduled for Tuesday." - Politico

Hollywood liberals annoyed at Congress and Obama for not passing the legislation

  • "[F]ormer Sen. Chris Dodd is threatening to cut off campaign funds to President Obama's re-election effort because of anger over the White House appearing to side with tech companies in a bitter fight over anti-piracy legislation... Dodd fired off a warning to Obama -- his former Senate Democratic colleague in this election year -- "don't take us for granted."" - Fox News
  • "Hollywood made a power play last year to return to its Washington glory days, hiring an inside man as its new face in town – former Sen. Chris Dodd. But in his first big test as Hollywood’s top lobbyist — the battle for a pair of anti-piracy bills backed by the entertainment industry... those bills are on life support." - Politico

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Jan 19, 2012 6:58:06 AM

Newslinks for Thursday Jan 19: South Carolina is Newt's last chance

South Carolina is Newt's last chanceMeet Newt 9

  • "“If I don’t win the primary Saturday, we will probably nominate a moderate,” [Gingrich] said Tuesday, alluding to Romney. “And the odds are fairly high he will lose to Obama.”" - Politico
  • NBC poll: Newt Gingrich gains ground on Romney in South Carolina
  • CNN/Time Poll: Race for South Carolina tightening
  • "Have the tea partiers found their man to challenge President Obama? The leader of South Carolina’s chapter of the Tea Party Patriots says they have — and it’s Newt Gingrich." - Daily Caller
  • Nate Silver examines the polling evidence for a late Gingrich surge

Interview with Newt's ex-wife to air on ABC?

"ABC plans to air an interview with Marianne Gingrich Thursday night on Nightline,  after the second and final debate before the South Carolina primary on Saturday. Ms. Gingrich was married to the former House speaker for 18 years. After they divorced, Mr. Gingrich married his current wife, Callista, with whom he had an extramarital affair." - WSJ

  • "If the interview does air tomorrow, how hard will Santorum and Romney go after him at the debate over it? Santorum’s desperate to have social conservatives unite behind him, but this is an awfully messy attack to try with the, er, “Chevrolet” sitting in the audience in front of him." - Hot Air

South Carolina roundup

  • 400px-South_Carolina_counties_map"Mitt Romney's campaign on Wednesday sharpened its attacks on Newt Gingrich, portraying the former House speaker as an unreliable and bombastic leader" - Washington Examiner
  • "Now it's Rick Santorum's chance to step in the "I-hate-capitalism" cow pie that Newt Gingrich has just managed to step out of." - American Spectator
  • GOP hopefuls tout abortion stances at 'personhood' forum - The Hill
  • "Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry also criticized Romney's past shift on the abortion issue, seeking to raise questions among South Carolina's powerful evangelical voting bloc." - CNN
  • Evangelical activists praise Santorum, rip Romney for 'homophilia' - LA Times
  • Female turnout critical in South Carolina primary - Washington Times

Media attack Romney for his tax situation Romney-2012-blog-photo-mitt-town-hall-new-hampshire

  • "Although it is not apparent on his financial disclosure form, Mitt Romney has millions of dollars of his personal wealth in investment funds set up in the Cayman Islands, a notorious Caribbean tax haven." - ABC News
  • "Romney is not, in fact, the richest recent presidential contender. That honor goes to John Kerry. Do you remember ABC, or any other news outlet, running stories like this one – ”Kerry parks millions in Cayman Islands,” or Switzerland, or whatever – in 2004? No, I don’t either." - Powerline
  • 10 reasons why Mitt Romney is in big trouble over his taxes - Toby Harnden

Karl Rove: It's time for Romney to talk about his record at Bain

Rove"Bain invested in struggling or stagnant companies needing both money and management assistance... Without entrepreneurs like Bain willing to pony up with cash and expertise, many of these companies would still be struggling, stagnant or dead with all jobs lost. The temptation for Team Romney will be to avoid this fight now and wait for Mr. Obama to raise it. But Florida is the place, and early February the time, to set the record straight. Doing so will not only deliver a body blow to Mr. Romney's most aggressive GOP competitor; but it will strengthen him for the coming battle. However nasty the GOP primary has become, it is a stroll in the park compared to what lies ahead." - Karl Rove for the WSJ ($)

Rick Perry will quit - but will he be a hero or a spoiler to the anti-Romneys?

"Rick Perry will quit. He knows it. I know it. You know it. The question is whether he will quit before Saturday’s primary and help someone else win as a hero and king maker, or will he quit next week and see Mitt Romney win with Perry serving as the spoiler, keeping either Gingrich or Santorum from winning." - Erick Erickson at RedState

Rick Santorum may have won Iowa

"There are too many holes in the certified totals from the Iowa caucuses to know for certain who won, but Rick Santorum wound up with a 34-vote advantage. Results from eight precincts are missing — any of which could hold an advantage for Mitt Romney — and will never be recovered and certified, Republican Party of Iowa officials told The Des Moines Register on Wednesday." - Des Moines Register

Polling shows a Ron Paul third-party candidacy would more-or-less guarantee Obama re-election

  • "The Pew Research Center finds 44% of registered voters would support Obama, 32% would back Mitt Romney and 18% would get behind Paul in a three-way race." - USA Today

VP watch: Sen. Portman to endorse Romney - Washington Examiner

Congressmen rush to drop piracy bills as websites go dark

Screen shot 2010-12-24 at 12.45.27"The unprecedented online demonstration against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) — epitomized by a black censorship bar plastered over the Google logo — spurred a rush for the exits on Capitol Hill as lawmakers rapidly withdrew their support for the legislation. ... GOP Sens. Roy Blunt (Mo.), Orrin Hatch (Utah), John Boozman (Ark.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.) dropped their support for the Senate version of the anti-piracy legislation, and Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), who leads the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, said the legislation should be put on hold." - The Hill

  • "[T]he other side of this is that the biggest supporter of SOPA/PIPA is the Motion Picture Association of America, headed by former Democratic Senator Chris Dodd. You might think that a Senate career that ended with a series of scandals would blunt Dodd's influence, but you'd be wrong; Hollywood maintains a strong grip on the Democratic Party." - American Spectator

Republicans and Democrats equally to blame for standing of Congress - Washington Examiner editorial

House rejects debt ceiling hike in largely symbolic vote - LA Times

Obama administration rejects Keystone Pipeline

Obama-smiling-flag"The Obama administration will announce this afternoon it is rejecting a Canadian firm’s application for a permit to build and operate a massive oil pipeline across the U.S.-Canada border, according to sources who have been briefed on the matter." - Washington Post

  • "President Barack Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline on Wednesday handed Congressional Republicans a rallying point, with Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) warning, “This is not the end of the fight.” “All options are on the table,” Boehner said when asked whether he would look to include pipeline language in a conference committee’s deliberations to extend a popular payroll tax cut." - Roll Call
  • "By blocking the Keystone pipeline and destroying as many as a half million American jobs, Barack Obama has handed the Republicans a club with which they should beat him, and Congressional Democrats, nonstop from now until November." - Powerline
  • Obama treats Canadian friends like enemies - Michael Barone at the Washington Examiner

Obama's first re-election TV ad defends energy record

Solyndra"Pushing back aggressively at his critics, President Obama’s reelection campaign is launching its first television ad campaign of the race Thursday with a spot that defends his ethics and energy policy. The commercial fires back at the conservative organization Americans for Prosperity, which started its own $6-million ad campaign this week attacking the Obama administration’s support for the failed solar energy company Solyndra." - LA Times

Obama rejects GOP field's foreign policy attacks

"“I think Mr. Romney and the rest of the Republican field are going to be playing to their base until the primary season is over,” Obama told TIME’s Fareed Zakaria during a White House interview that will appear in the next issue of TIME magazine. “Overall, I think it’s going to be pretty hard to argue that we have not executed a strategy over the last three years that has put America in a stronger position than it was than when I came into office.”" - TIME

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