Romney's Response to President Obama's "Doing Fine" Comment - Video

See, I don't think what President Obama said was a "gaffe".  He believes with every fiber of his being that the government is suppose to provide jobs for people.  We know better.  

The Thrill is Gone - Obama "1st" Campaign Rally Not Such A Smashing Sucess

It is still early yet, but this is not a good sign.  I remember four years ago Obama did a campaign rally not too far from where I live and the traffic was horrendous for hours due to the large crowds.  Virtually every stop had overflow of people that couldn't get in.  If I remember correctly that particular stop was outside, so it had less restrictions on people allowed in.  


Take it away BB

Are We Satisfied? No! RNC's New Ad Using Obama's Own Words Video

That is what makes this video so effective, at least for those that are willing to listen.  Sadly, many still are not.

Christine O'Donnell Endorses Mitt Romney

Does this come as a surprise to you?  It doesn't to me.  From day one when this woman came onto the national scene I have not liked her nor did I trust her.  I took a great deal of flak for saying so.  Maybe I wasn't so far off.  The true blue Tea Party darling (whom they never bothered to vet before they jumped on her bandwagon) picks the least conservative of the crew we have left.

“It was not an easy decision because I too think any of our candidates would make a great president and a great candidate going against Barack Obama,” O’Donnell said. “But I think there are certain tie breakers and I know that in making my decision I might be hurting some people but I think infrastructure and executive experience are important, and for that reason I’m endorsing Mitt Romney.”

Would Huntsman make a good president too?  She has previously stated this:

“I hope the fact that I stood up to the liberal establishment within my own party gives me the bona fides among conservatives to say this,” she said. “I find the tone and nastiness of some of the things circulating around the Internet about Romney extremely offensive.

What things are those Christine?  The fact that he burdened the people of his own state with the highest insurance premiums in the country? Or maybe that hospitals there are going broke due to the mandates and the lack of funding.  Could it be that people in MA now have an average time of 23 days to get a doctor's appointment.  Do you find it offensive that people are reporting that RomneyCare funds abortions and illegals?  I know I do.

Christine has offered to go out and stump for Gov. Romney.  Oh my, what a treat.  I wonder if she will advise Romney to leave more than $1 million in the campaign coffers like she did.  Of course he doesn't then file for the next elected office so he can use that money like she has done.

Christine, why don't we call this what it is?  A blatant attempt to get a seat at the table of a Romney administration, because you will never get elected to any office in Delaware on your own with your constant cries of being victimized and your somewhat casual relationship with the truth.

H/T to The Other McCain. 

Language Matters

As we mature we can see things from a different perspective that we just don't possess as a younger person. We bring our past experiences as we age, or at least we hope. I have been thinking a great deal about these experiences of late. As a younger person I wasn't comfortable in my own skin and couldn't always express my thoughts very well. So remembering my past experiences even when I was young was a good way for me to put my thoughts together. Here are some of the things that I have experienced and witnessed.


I traveled a great deal outside of the U.S. when I was younger. Mostly Europe, but I spent some time in the Middle East. I also travelled to a few countries that were just lifting the veil of communism. I saw brutality out in the open, but was most surprised the reaction to the other people out in the streets when this brutality had taken place. They basically just ran away. As an older person I have a better understanding of geopolitics and it isn't all that surprising due to the fear that these people lived with on a daily basis. Ending up in jail in Egypt could very well cost you life and limb in the most literal of senses. The population didn't dare talk about overbearing police in public. There was no cable news shows to talk to.

I remember when I came home from Israel I almost got down on my knees and kissed the American ground I was standing on. Israel is a beautiful country and I have been back several times since my teenage years. I love it there, but I would never live there. The everyday very real threat of war and violence is a great deal for the mind to wrap itself around. At least for me. And by far Israel was the safest and most free country that I visited in the Middle East.


Life and career went on. It included doing fundraising for politicians. Even a presidential campaign. The 2004 George W. Bush re-election campaign (yeah you can partially blame me). I learned so much during that campaign. I never worked so hard, learned so much, or had such a feeling of accomplishment on election night. We won against many barriers. The CBS lies so close to election day, an unpopular war, and a media that hated the President.


One of the most important lessons I learned from this experience is that a presidential election is won by a relatively small number of independents in a handful of states. Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri are some of the usual suspects. These voters don't normally pay a great deal of attention before September or October. They are generally not primary voters and a healthy percentage of them only vote during a presidential election years. They vote mainly on kitchen table issues and are very turned off by the extremes on both sides of the aisle. In some ways the presidential campaign comes down to a personality contest. Which person do you want showing up in your living room over the next four years. ridiculous to me, but for some reason not to them. This is not to say that negative campaigning doesn't work, obvious since both sides do it, it does work. If it didn't you would hear it anymore. But, campaign realize that there are lines that they cannot cross without running the risk of losing more voters than they would pick up. It is control tested to death. Campaigns spend a great deal of money doing the research.


The electorate also doesn't want to be lied to, at least not in terms of short-term. It seems that Americans still want to hold onto the notion that Medicare and Social Security are not in real trouble, but basically speaking they want to believe that a politician is capable of telling the truth, saying what they mean, and meaning what they say. What they don't want to hear about is FEMA camps for the masses, forged and or missing birth certificates, and that we are now living in a police state.


As the presidential election campaign season is gearing up I have become increasingly concerned of some of the rhetoric and hyperbole that is out there. The independents aren't going to buy into it and more than they bought into the far left claims of Bush's fascism and the police state he had created during his first term in office. It is more than likely these claims helped get him elected by swaying some of the independents away from the candidate that they associate with those claims. Even if that politician isn't using those terms themselves, guilt by association is alive and well in presidential politics.


Our society is open enough that we see images from around the world of real cases of a police state. We all saw the video of the young woman in Iran being murdered for showing up at a protest. The images of Tiananmen Square are now iconic. The images that we see of America are of average citizens showing up at tea parties across the country. Not one single arrest and no citizens being stopped at getting out their point of view. We have no curfews. We have free and (mostly) fair elections. We all witnessed the peaceful exchange of power in the House of Representatives in January. Not things that normally happen in a police state or FEMA camps.

By jumping on the crazy train of hyperbole and sheer exaggeration we get a one way non stop ticket to the acceptance speech of Obama's second term. Not an acceptable outcome as far as I am concerned. An outcome that will not allow this country to recover from the over-spending and choking over-regulation that is killing growth in this country. Presidents become even more ideological in their second terms, no elections left and they have the freedom to create their "legacy". history back this up.


This is not to say that we don't talk about the over reaching government. We talk about in terms that people relate to in their own lives and own life experiences. It is no accident that you never heard a high-ranking republican saying that Obama was born in Kenya. It would be political suicide with independents. They will not elect someone who they believe are part of the lunatic fringe. Campaigns spend a small fortune on messaging and testing that messaging for a reason. Language matters.

Hope Isn't Hiring - RNC Answers Obama Re-election Rollout

They did a good job with this. 

Pawlenty's Response to Obama's Re-election Kick Off

Pawlenty wasted no time getting out there about the official announcement of President Obama's re-election filing.  I think this is effective, but I don't think it will get the same play that Obama's video will.  If you want to see Obama's video, click on over to Another Black Conservative, he has a very good write up about it. 

Fox News Panel on Election 12

Will Obama be re-elected? 

The American Dream is Under Attack - We Are Fighting Back Herman Cain at CPAC

I am telling you, I love this man.  This is just audio, but I can find a full one that will give you both audio and visual.  You need to hear this speech. 

Now, tell me why I shouldn't love this guy.  Again, he is a long shot.  But for now, I don't see many better options out there. 

Why Gravitas Matters

There is much talk about the political “elite” vs. the everyday person. While it is certainly true that some, if not many, of our elected officials aren’t what they should be, but the question we must ask ourselves is do we really want the person next door as our President or the Speaker of the House?


We are starting to gear up for a presidential election, the entire house of representatives, and 23 members of the senate. These people will have a great deal of control over the lives of everyday Americans. They will make choices on appointments to our highest courts, possibly decide if we will declare war on another country, make choices about our debt, our spending, and how we are to deal with the rest of the world. These are major decisions that take a certain amount of “gravitas”.

I have been told for the majority of my life that I am intelligent. I got good grades in school. During college I worked almost full time and still handled a full class load. I didn’t have much of a life, but I managed to graduate with honors. I was determined to become only the second person in my family to get a college degree. I did this without any financial support from my family and had to pay back boatloads of money in student loans when I was finished. There are many things that I am very capable of. I have a background in direct mail fundraising. I have been on print inspections and have found minor mistakes that the printers told me that virtually no one else would have noticed. I can get several million pieces of mail into mailboxes around the country every month very easily. You may not realize it but it takes a great deal of coordination and skill to get this done accurately and on time. I am well read and I keep up on both national and local events. But, there is no way that I am capable of being President of the United States (a great relief to some, I am sure).

Take my next door neighbors for example. One of which owns a restaurant, a very successful restaurant at that. He works very hard and is a great neighbor, he has helped me out on a few occasions. Running a business like that takes a great many different skills to make it a success. But, he is pretty unaware of what goes on “inside the beltway” even though he lives 20 minutes away from the White House. He isn’t the type of person who pays a great deal of attention to government events. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think he votes. I have another neighbor who I firmly believe beats his wife; either that or she is the most accident prone woman I have ever met. She constantly has fresh bruises and funny stories of how she fell or bumped into something. They have two kids who are strange to say the least. One of which is the class bully. Now, to people who don't see them every day they seem like a nice family; live in a nice home, have a good income, all the trappings of the average American life. Another one of my neighbors is just plain mean. They never speak to anyone else and are constantly calling the police to complain about one thing or another. I am sure by now they have personal relationships with some of the cops. The rest of us just ignore them, and I wonder if anyone would be willing to help them during an emergency. I know I would be tempted not to. My point is are these the type of people I want running our country?

Our country needs people who are dedicated to helping the country and fellow Americans. There are plenty of people who make wonderful legislators; they are smart and they are dedicated. But, the truth is that most people realize that they don’t want the job of President. The decisions that are made in the oval office can sometimes be of life or death. Do you move troops into harms way? How do you handle the loved ones of fallen soldier? You are on call 24/7 for four years straight. Every president ages in what seems like warp speed while in the White House. Your family lives in a fishbowl, every mistake that they make may end up on the front page of the newspapers. How you dress, what you read, what you eat, where you vacation all get analyzed down to the most minute of detail. This takes a person of special character.


The rigors of running for public office is sometimes overly harsh. Do we really need to know some of the things that get reported? Probably not. But, we do need to know if they can handle the job. Can they survive the pressure cooker that is the White House? If they can’t handle the campaign, they can’t handle the job. We get upset about politicians that speak to us in talking points instead of speaking from their gut or their heart. The problem comes when someone is always speaking from their gut they will sometimes make a mistake, that mistake then turns into a major headline and is all over the blogosphere for days on end. They can no longer talk about the issues, they are talking about the gaffe instead. The other question that arises from someone who always is speaking from the heart for me is that person going to govern with emotion over fact? We all know that the two can be mutually exclusive at moments. There are reasons why the first family is protected. The very last thing we would need as a country would be a president making policy choices when their loved one is being held captive. They would be acting as spouse/parent as opposed to acting as president. Of course that is an extreme example, but it is still something to think about. In many ways we need someone who is going to take everyday emotion out of certain decisions. We need to know that this person can think on a macro level instead of a micro level, and emotions tend to be on the micro level. The family next door probably leads a life like yours. Your first thought is first and foremost your family. While that makes you a good parent and spouse, does it lend itself well to the presidency?


We need to think long and hard about wanting the “everyday person”. Because what we need is someone who capable, competent, intelligent, savvy, and willing to not only make the hard choices, but to stand by them as well. The world is a dangerous place; look no further to the protests in Egypt. We may end up with another Iran in a matter of days or weeks, The Muslim Brotherhood could topple the government. We have major decisions to make in this country regarding our national debt and how to handle entitlements moving forward. We cannot allow the presidency to turn into a popularity contest. While that is true on a certain level already, but I personally don’t want the class president, I want the most competent person. I want the person who will stand and make the tough choices, stand by a set of beliefs, and do what is right for the future of this country. I don’t want my next door neighbors. Take a look at your neighbors and ask yourself if they are who you want. Once you do that, then ask yourself if you still believe that gravitas doesn’t matter?

Mike Pence Running for Governor of Indiana

Mike Pence has decided against running for the GOP nomination for president next year.  Instead he will be running to replace Mitch Daniels as Governor of Indiana.  I am a huge fan of Mike Pence, so to me this is bad news, as I don't live in Indiana. 

Pence is very well known in conservative circles and is highly regarded.  I read an article earlier today that called him the consummate statesman.  I have seen him speak on several occasions and he describes himself as "I am Christian, A Conservative, A Republican; in that order".  Anyone that is in the pro life movement knows they have no better friend. 

I ran into the congressman a few weeks ago and told him that we needed him to run for president.  Shockingly, he didn't listen to me!!  Pence would have been able to bridge the gap between the republican establishment and the grassroots activists, so him not running is a big blow. 

I can understand his decision.  He will have an relatively easy time winning the governorship and the presidency will be a much bigger hill to climb.  The upside of this is of course he will have some executive experience in 5 or 9 years if he chooses to run then.  Winning the presidency from congress has only been done once, so this makes much more sense. 

The question now becomes who else can bridge the establishment and the activists?  I don't know of one.  Do you? 

This will be probably be the only time in my life that I am going to say this; I wish I lived in Indiana.  Nothing against Indiana, but I am not a heartland kinda girl, I prefer the big city urban areas. 

Good Luck to you Congressman Pence, you will be missed in the congress. 

Some Presidential Nuggets - Senator John Thune

The watch is on for which candidates will be throwing their hats into the ring for the GOP presidential nomination.  A name that gets kicked around a bit, but isn't among the top tier is John Thune.  Thune pulled of a major upset when he beat Senate Majority leader Daschle in 2004. 

Thune has a record of a fiscal conservative, but has come under the ire from parts of the Tea Party when he originally stated he wouldn't back the earmark ban.  By the time the vote came around, he did indeed back the ban.  To me this was a major sign that he was seriously considering a run.  While there are legitimate arguments of why a ban on earmarks are a bad idea, most of the Tea Party activists are not interested in supporting someone who makes them. 

Senator Thune has been putting out feelers in New Hampshire about fundraising prospects and has made two appearances in Iowa in the past week.  The first primary and caucus states, which with a good showing can propel a lesser known candidate to a good showing in the primaries.  This is what happened to Mike Huckabee, although he didn't end up getting the nomination but no one thought he would come in second when he started.  One difference being that Thune already has $7 million in the bank, far more than Huckabee would have started out with.  That money could by some ad time that will get his name out there and help with the all important get out the vote effort. 

Thune will make an interesting candidate, he has solid conservative cred on many issues and will help keep the debate to the right.  Which in the Tea Party climate that is what is going to be necessary in order to come out on top in the primary contest.  My biggest issue with Thune is that he is a career politician, who hasn't really had jobs outside of the government, he served under Reagan at the Small Business Administration, was the executive director for the Republican Party in North Dakota, and served as the State Director of the Railroad among a few other positions before running for Congress. 

Herman Cain Announces his Exploratory Committee for President

He is going to make it interesting that is for sure. 

Some More Presidental Hopeful Nuggets

We can glean a little something about the pack of republicans that will be vying for the presidential nomination in 12 by who will be speaking at CPAC at the end of next month:

Gov. Haley Barbour
Amb. John Bolton
Herman Cain
Gov. Mitch Daniels
Congressman Newt Gingrich
Congressman Ron Paul
Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Gov. Mitt Romney
Senator Rick Santorum
Senator John Thune

Are all confirmed speakers as of this morning. 

Gov. Palin and Congressman Pence have yet to confirm.  Palin would not speak at the conference last year due to Birch Society, as they have had issues of racism in the past.  I am not aware if Birch will be joining in on the conference this year or not, nor do I think that it matters as they are almost a non entity at this point in time anyway.  Missing CPAC would be mistake for any presidential hopeful, as this is THE conference for the conservative grassroots movement, especially with all the young people that are attending.  The young are generally the ones with more time on their hands to volunteer for the get out the vote ground work.  If you can get the younger activists to help it will go a long way to help you in winning a national election.  It will be interesting to see if Pence and/or Palin will be making an appearance.  Congressman Pence really doesn't have much a reason to miss it as he will be in the DC area on least one of the days anyway, as congress is in session. 

10 Years Later - President Bush Wins

It has been 10 years since the Supreme Court ruled on Bush V. Gore.  The case that made George W. Bush the 43rd president of the United States.  Much has been made of this case and at the time many thought it was the Supreme Court that was deciding the election.  Of course this isn't true, but it did cast a shadow over the Bush presidency that never really went away.

Now, I didn't vote for President Bush in 2000.  At that time Virginia was solidly red as far as presidential elections went, so that freed me up to vote my conscience.  I had issues that I couldn't get passed and didn't allow me to pull the lever for President Bush the first time around.  To be honest I don't remember who I voted for, and it is possible that I just left that blank.  I have done that before and I am sure that the occasion will arise that I will do it again. 

So much of narrative of what happened during this election is completely false and has continued for the past ten years.  The decision that really ended the election was a 7-2 decision not 5-4 that many people think that it was.  The decision that really ended it was about Florida using different sets of standards in order to do the recounts.  (Bush V. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board) Which clearly violates the constitution on the grounds of equal protection under the law.  Vice President Gore and his legal team wanted to use different sets of standards depending on which county you lived in.  He cherry picked heavily democratic counties for the recount and tried to change the rules on what constituted a legal vote.  Federal law requires that the law for how a vote is to be counted must be in place before the election takes place.  In Palm Beach County the law before the election was that "dimpled" chads couldn't be counted as a legal vote.  Yet, Gore and his legal eagles somehow convinced the Florida Supreme Court that they could be; hence a protracted and illegal recount.  One that still showed him as the loser.  Unable to accept this decision, Gore kept pressing forward which then led to the 5-4 decision that most people remember. 

Another big misconception was the job of Secretary of State Kathleen Harris.  She followed the letter of the law, as much as many tried to make her out as some sort of evil character hell bent on illegally handing President Bush the presidency when he didn't deserve it.  That simply is not the case.  Florida law requires the timeline of when the vote must be certified and she followed it.

The final electoral vote count was 271 to 266.  Florida counting as 25 of those.  Another thing that many on the left seem to leave out of the equation is the small pesky little fact that Gore lost his home state of Tennessee, which has 11 votes.  So, had Gore won his home state he would have Florida never would have mattered.  It wasn't Florida that gave President Bush the win, it was Gore being unable to win his home state that cost him the presidency.  Had Florida declared the state to Bush before Tennessee was announced it wouldn't have become the issue that it did.  Florida was the last ditch attempt to hold on after the news that he lost his home state had been announced.  Personally, I think if a candidate for president can't win his home state he doesn't deserve to be the title of President of the United States.  The one thing that was very enjoyable to watch during that time was the left championing states rights.  They certainly aren't interested in them now.  The reality is that even when the AP sent people to do recounts after the election had been called even they found that Bush did indeed win the count in Florida by the narrowest of margins.  As much as the left may detest this, President Bush won the presidency fair and square based on the electoral college.