You are browsing the archive for Romney.

Who was the biggest liar last night? Gingrich or Romney?

January 27, 2012 in 2012 Elections

Romney wins by a landslide for having told the most whoppers.  In other words, Romney is the biggest liar of them all by virtue of sheer volume.

- Romney lied about not voting for a Democrat if there was a Republican on the ballot — He voted for Paul Tsongas in a Democratic primary in 1992 in the same election where President George H.W. Bush faced Pat Buchanan. [SOURCE WIKI]

- He lied about telling us that he never said  his Massachusetts health care plan was a model for the nation — the truth is that he’s often said it was.

- Romney claims that his great personal wealth is an asset to help America but he is not investing in America.  He has millions in offshore tax havens.  Such tax havens cost American taxpayers about $100 billion a year. [Source]

- Romney lied about saying that he would not kick all the illegal immigrants out of the country. He has more than once, even during this debate season, said that if he were elected that he not only would he kick them out, he would veto the Dream Act.

- Romney once again falsely accused Obama of saying “nothing” about the Palestinians launching rockets into Israel during a 2009 speech to the United Nations. [Here is a quote from Obama's 2009 address to the United Nations:  "We must remember that the greatest price of this conflict is not paid by us. It’s not paid by politicians. It’s paid by the Israeli girl in Sderot who closes her eyes in fear that a rocket will take her life in the middle of the night. It’s paid for by the Palestinian boy in Gaza who has no clean water and no country to call his own."]

- Romney does not give a rat’s ass about the Latinos.  He even tried to make it sound like his father was a Mexican last night LOL.  Romney’s father was born in Chihuahua Mexico in 1907, the son of  USA Mormon missionaries.

Note: In my opinion, no candidate can say out of one side of his mouth that he is for the Latino community and then out of the other side of his mouth say that he would veto the Dream Act if he were president.  Under the Dream Act,  young undocumented immigrants who have lived most of their lives in the United States and graduate from U.S. high schools would be eligible for a conditional six-year “path to citizenship” if they earn a college degree or serve two years in the military.  Romney has said that he would veto this bill .

Another important point that the latinos of Florida especially should understand is that people migrate to other countries illegally under duress and in a matter of life and death for one of three main reasons:  1) war and/or the threat of a dictator such as Castro; 2) Unfair trade agreements that push people off their land such as NAFTA an unfair trade agreement that decimated the mexican corn farmers who could not compete with the heavily subsidized US agribusinesses such as ADM and Cargill; 3) Crop failure because of climate change.  People should not be castigated for trying to survive.

________________________________________

Thus, when it comes to volume, Romney wins.  However, if the lie(s) are to be measured by magnitude + the depth of psychopathic calculation and intent to deliberately deceive victims,  then Gingrich may hold the record for his lie that he balanced the budget

Yes Gingrich, with the assistance of a Republican Congress and Bill Clinton did balance the budget–on the backs of the working people of the USA.  They “balanced” the budget by dipping into Social Security funds.  [More details of that here.]

Of course, even Ron Paul left off the fact that while the majority of the working class pay Social Security tax on 100% of their income, the investor class don’t pay a dime of Social Security tax on amounts above $106,000 that they earn.

________________________________________________

Speaking of Mitt’s Pseudo Latino Father, Newt gets a black mark for missed opportunity last night. Newt Gingrich is tying the wrong person to Saul Alinsky in his bizarre attacks on Barack Obama. BuzzFeed found old pictures of George Romney meeting with Saul Alinsky to discuss the grievances of the urban black poor.  [By the way, Saul Alinsky’s “crime” is helping the poor to organized their communities. Saul Alinsky has been compared to Thomas Paine as being “one of the great American leaders of the nonsocialist left.”   MORE

Photos of Willard’s dad fraternizing with Saul Alinsky.

_________________________________________

One thing is certain:  the tales of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox pale in comparison to the tales told on the campaign trail.

Proclaim the Queen!

    Gingrich better hope that he wins SC with a knockout today

    January 21, 2012 in 2012 Elections

    If it is not:  ”.  .  . And the Winner by a Knockout is Gingrich!”

    it will be:

    Romney wins by 8 votes!

    then 10 days later after the Florida primary :

    Oops looks like Gingrich won South Carolina by 34 votes.

    Because if the votes are close, the Republican leadership who have anointed Romney in their “quiet” rooms will likely pull the same trick on Gingrich that they pulled on Santorum in Iowa and declare Romney the winner in order to manage impressions.

    They knew within 24 hours after the polls close in Iowa that Santorum had won.

    It is nothing but nonsense to think otherwise.  Those who think that it took over a week to count 121,503  votes . . . are more susceptible to BS than most Americans.

    They wanted to manage impressions for Romney in New Hampshire.  They wanted him to look like a winner.

    However, such behavior makes Romney even more unpopular with the voters than he already is.  No one likes a guy born with a gold spoon in his mouth getting preferential treatment in a contest to nominate a president.

    Proclaim the Queen!

      Romney is in for a crippling fall from grace in South Carolina

      January 20, 2012 in 2012 Elections

      And what makes anyone think that he will fare any better in Florida than he did in 2008?

      McCain 36%; Romney 31%; Giuliani 14.68%

      This year it will be:

      Gingrich 37%;  Romney 30%;  Paul 15%

      And this report from Rasmussen came out BEFORE Gingrich won the last Republican SC debate in the first five minutes.

      Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has now surged ahead of Mitt Romney in the final Rasmussen Reports survey of the South Carolina Republican Primary race with the vote just two days away.

      The latest telephone survey of Likely GOP Primary Voters in the state finds Gingrich with 33% support to Romney’s 31%.

      Proclaim the Queen!

        Watch the full 28 minute video of the Bain Capital Story while you can.

        January 12, 2012 in 2012 Elections

        Here is the Link.     http://www.webcasts.com/kingofbain/

        ___________________________________________________________

        It is almost certain to be yanked within the next 24 to 48 hours because it is quite possibly the most  truthful dramatization of predator capitalism that has ever been produced.

        I hope that it does not escape the notice of his ardent fans that Ron Paul is the only one who has defended what private equity firms like Mitt Romney’s do.  Ron Paul calls it the “American Way”, part of our “free enterprise system”.  If it is, then it’s a part that should go.  No rich guy like Romney, born with a gold spoon in his mouth having a father who is CEO of American Motors, should be able to buy up companies and then destroy them for his profit and the profit of his investors.

        Predator capitalism is NOT the American Way and those who think that it is damn sure don’t represent the 99% who have been fired and lost their jobs because men like Mitt Romney came to their town.

        I hope this wakes up a few of the 99% to the true ilk of Ron Paul as well.

        ___________________________________________________

        GO AHREAD REPUBLICANS, HAVE AT IT.  

        Try to defend private equity companies who buy up companies, run them into debt, fire the workers and the sell off the assets in a fire sale as “the American Way.”

        No, I’m not defending Democrats either because I have no doubt that at least 44% of all members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans alike (the multimillionaire class) have made millions as investors in these predatory corporations who have been second only to the too-big-to-fail banks in destroying the economy of our nation.

        And as for the Democrats in Congress, if you think that you are getting a free ride, you can let go that fantasy right now.

        The 44% of Congress who are multimillionaires are no different from Mitt Romney.  These people are all cut from the same cloth.  Even their kids cut their sharks teeth on Wall Street.  Chelsea Clinton, for example, straight out of college worked for a predatory financial corporation on wall street.  No doubt mom or pop helped to land her job with American Capital Group, an investment firm focusing on distressed securities and private equity with regional teams focusing on “opportunities” in the United States, Europe and Asia. The firm operates as both a private equity and a hedge fund.  Do you think that anyone of the three Clintons don’t know how a private equity firm makes its money?  It’s the “American Way” all right–the “American Way” for the rich.

        Then there is Rick Perry’s son.  In February of 2007, Perry’s son, Griffith, went to work for UBS, one of the two largest financial firms consulting with Rick Perry over the possible sale of the Texas Lottery.

        Proclaim the Queen!

          What does a South Carolina Primary look like?

          January 8, 2012 in 2012 Elections

          “. . .Not like a Sunday School!”  It is Nasty, Nasty and more Nasty

          South Carolina Republican primary voters in 2008 were overwhelmingly protestant, conservative and religious. Exit polls showed nearly two-thirds attended church at least once a week and seven in 10 believed abortion should be illegal.  Ironic, isn’t it, that the  primaries of a such a religiously-defined demographic have a reputation for being so nasty but  they do. In fact, they even boast of it.  A Republican official from SC was recently quoted:  “If you like your politics to be Sunday-school nice and polite, this isn’t the place for you,” said Republican strategist David Woodard, who teaches at Clemson University in South Carolina.”  Source LOL  They even use their religion in metaphors to define their meanness. Now that’s about the level of a skunk in some parts of the country.

          South Carolina’s unemployment rate of 9.9 percent – higher than the national average and worse than all but seven other states.  Some say this could make voters more receptive to Romney’s pitch that as a former businessman he knows how to create jobs.  I say it won’t after a week of Newt telling the good people of South Carolina the truth about Mitt Romney and his Bain Capital.  He is not a job creator.  Romney is a job cremator. Once they learn all about what Bain Capital is, Romney is a cooked goose.  Perry actually has the best record for job creation of all the candidates.  Unemployment in Texas is 8.4% an unarguable fact which is likely to sound pretty good to the folks in South Carolina.

          Newt  could finish at the top of the heap for South Carolina.  Perry could be second and Romney third.  Ron Paul and Rick Santorum will be somewhere near the bottom of the heap.  Santorum might surprise me, but I doubt it. Catholics are almost as suspect as Mormons in South Carolina.  Huntsman, an unknown Mormon, will be at the bottom of the heap.  Even with his anti-abortion stance, Santorum is a Catholic yankee running in a state that is 4% Catholic and very fundamental protestant.

          All bets are off for South Carolina.  If we were strictly profiling it by the books,  Perry would have the best chance for a win in South Carolina: He is white, protestant, and from a poor rural background (South Carolina ranks 13 in the USA for rural population) and unlike Romney, he does have a history of creating jobs.  He is a match–at least on paper.  AND he has millions of dollars backing him from the same people who bankrolled the swiftboat ad campaign against Kerry.   His stance on immigrants doesn’t mean much for the folks of South Carolina (and in Florida it could even be an advantage).

          If he can just stop saying ignorant things like calling Obama a ‘socialist’, he might make it.  I know it sounds crazy as hell, but so did the idea of George Bush and look what happened there.  We had that imbecile for two terms.  South Carolina is Perry’s last ditch chance as it is for Gingrich.  It will be very interesting to see what these two.  We don’t have to wait long for Gingrich, his first whack at Romney comes tonight with the Bain Capital ad.

          _________________________________________________

          In the final analysis what does the Republican South Carolina Primary mean for the majority of Americans?

          It means almost* nothing.  The outcome of the South Carolina means nothing.  The outcome of any of the Republican primaries means nothing in terms of who wins. Regardless what the cat drags up as the nominee for the Republican Party and/or whether  he or Obama wins the  election in November–if either party is able to get a candidate elected nothing of any significance (unless its’ more of bad) will happen to the people of the USA unless we change the faces in Congress.  Anyone who expects some different outcome after the last 20 years of their demonstrated history is a fool.

          *Almost — because the ads on Bain Capital on mainstream media in South Carolina that the Gingrich campaign promise to roll out tonight (Jan 9) could possibly educate the American public regarding how private equity corporations make their money (destroying jobs and running up debt).  They will be one more chink in the armor of corporate greed.  Such an ad will do a great deal more than harm Romney’s campaign.  It may become a shot fired–not around the world, but in the foot.

          ______________________________________________

          In the final analysis, what will make a difference?  Answer:  The following action and in this order of importance.

          1. Replace the majority of the House of Representatives with 99% people who do nor derive their wealth from their investments in publicly traded stock.  We can do this by November of 2012.  We can.

          2. Replace the President of the United States with a non-Democrat and a non-Republican–a person who better represents the 99%.  The leadership of BOTH parties is corrupt to the core.  Currently, in my opinion, the best person for the position of president is Jill Stein.  We do this, this year if the people will unite.

          3. Replace the majority of the Senate with 99% people who do nor derive their wealth from their investments in publicly traded stock.  This will likely not be accomplished in 2012 simply due to the staggering of their terms.  One way to speed that up is if the other 8 states with the ability to recall federal officials will follow Montana’s example. If so, we might be able to recall 18 senators even BEFORE the election.  Then with those up for election we could conceivably end up replacing close to half of them.  However, the difference in cost between running a Senatorial race and House race is usually quite different AND the larger the state the more cost involved.

          _____________________________________________________

          The first critical factor in the elections of 2012 is changing the majority of the House of Representatives to members of the 99% who do not personally profit from the current Congressional legitimized crimes of Wall Street Institutions.  These are the people who make the laws.  Little will change until they do.  Since some may not be exactly clear as to exactly who I mean: These “institutions” include private equity or Hedge Fund Groups; and financial corporations such as Goldman Sachs or any of the too big to fail banks; any war contractor corporations such as Lockheed Martin or General Electric; any mining companies (such as those Ron Paul owns stock in); natural gas or oil companies who have a proven record of ignoring the safety of their workers for profit time and again (BP is an example that comes to mind here).  And there are others.  Go here for a fuller, although not complete list.

          Even if the 99% were to lose in the Presidential and Senatorial  races, if the people win the House, we could make massive changes to business as usual.

          Imagine a House that writes bills that are limited to 25 pages and one topic.

          Imagine a House that does not take money from professional lobbyists.

          Imagine a House that does not even talk to professional lobbyists

          Imagine what a different world with a Congress that actually represented the 99%

          It is possible and we can make it happen in 2012.

          ________________________________________________

          Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!

          Note: This quote was not written by Goethe, but by a Scottish Mountaineer by the name of William Hutchinson Murray (1913- 1996).

          However, Goethe said something of equal importance.  This quote is from his Faust;

          “Now at last let me see some deeds!”

           

          Proclaim the Queen!

            Mitt Romney “wins” with 8 votes.

            January 4, 2012 in 2012 Elections

            A Few Facts:

            Rick Santorum spent $500,000 on his campaign in Iowa. Mitt Romney spent $10 million.  Santorum tied Romney as they each will receive 11 electoral votes.

            40%  of Iowans claim to be evangelicals and thus no surprise that Huckabee, another underdog, won in Iowa in 2008 with 40% of the vote. In 2012, the evangelical vote was split among three very strong evangelical candidates: Rick Santorum (25%), Rick Perry (10%)  and Michele Bachmann (5%).

            The only reason that Romney had a decent showing in Iowa is that the evangelical vote was split three ways among Santorum, Perry and Bachmann. There is no way in H that those who voted for Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann would vote for Romney, a Mormon.  Perhaps 1% of Bachmann’s supporters would vote for Ron Paul, but most of her and Perry’s votes would have gone to Santorum.  Without them,Santorum would be leading with close to 40% of the vote in Iowa.  Romney would have been smoked.

            Santorum was the last candidate on top. Unlike the other candidates, he was not seriously vetted by the pundits, and the other candidates paid little attention to him.  They were too busy backbiting each other:  Romney against Perry. Gingrich against Romney, etc.  Santorum got a free ride. None of his wacky past was brought to light.  You can expect all that to change beginning tomorrow.

            What will happen next?

            The Republican future nominee depends in part on what the supporters of Rick Perry do.  He is in control of millions of dollars and votes.  He said tonight that he is returning to Texas to reassess the situation.  When/if Perry lets go his presidential ambitions, the majority of his supporters and their money will likely go to Santorum, a Bush neocon–not to Mitt Romney.  The same will be said of Michele Bachmann’s supporters although up to 50% of them may go to Ron Paul.

            Santorum’s message is the only message that is populist and inclusive of the Working Class and this is significant.

            This is a big deal.  His speech tonight was brilliant.  He tied his anti-abortion ethics to those of the working class speaking inclusively:  Everyone deserves a chance.  He spoke directly of rebuilding the manufacturing base in the USA.  Unlike other Republican leadership, he did not refer to workers as lazy or suggest that this mess is somehow their fault.

            _______________________________________________

            But the Biggest Hurdles that Rick Santorum faces are his own personal and political history.  Will the people wake up to the truth that Santorum is a shyster just like the rest of them?

            • In 2006, Santorum faced damaging stories that he enrolled five of his children in an online “cyber school” in Pennsylvania, for which the Penn Hills school district was billed $73,000, despite the fact that all the children lived in Virginia.
            • Santorum has frequently stated that he does not believe a “right to privacy” exists under the Constitution.
            • He has described contraception as “a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.”
            • Santorum is a supporter of the War on Terror  and shares the views of neoconservatives and the Bush doctrine in regards to foreign policy. He says the war on Terror can be won and is optimistic about the U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan for the long-term.
            • Santorum nevertheless voted against the Lautenberg amendment, which would have closed the loophole that allows companies like Halliburton to do business with Iran through their foreign affiliates.
            • In February 1, 2008, Santorum said he would vote for Mitt Romney in the 2008 Presidential Republican primary race, stating: “If you’re a Republican, if you’re a Republican in the broadest sense, there is only one place to go right now and that’s Mitt Romney.”

            Rick Santorum is not for “big” government intrusion–unless of  course he is talking about the bedrooms and personal decisions of individual Americans.  Then it’s just fine.

            Rick Santorum is not for “big” government intrusion–unless of course he is talking about spending the American taxpayer’s money on pre-emptive invasion of  sovereign nations who have no WMDs and not a ghost’s chance in hell of threatening the USA. Then it’s just fine.

            Proclaim the Queen!

              Economic Solutions are Tied to Political Action by the 99%

              January 2, 2012 in 2012 Elections

              Most of my readers understand all that follows at an intellectual level.  However, sometimes it takes reducing complicated factors down to their lowest common denominator to reveal the sheer absurdity of a situation.

              The economy that we currently have in the USA and the world is a Wall Street corporate economy that benefits the few–20% at the most.  Today in the USA 1 in 2 Americans live in poverty.

              This corporate economy is based on the principle that labor is cost and cost is bad (thus workers who ask for living wages are “bad”.)  Anything to cut cost is justifiable–even so far as murdering workers who oppose corporate domination and non-living wages by encouraging workers to organize.

              This corporate economy is based on the principle that the lion’s share of profits do not stay in the local economies where the goods and services are created by the workers.  Instead, it is sent to the location of the headquarters of the corporation where the lion’s share of the profits are distributed to the preferred shareholders of that corporation–the members of the 1%. The distribution system of the wealth to the wealthy is Wall Street and it is a system that the majority of our elected officials not only support, but also participate in.  These people only spend a tiny percentage of their wealth.  The majority of it they horde and invest in other large corporations who are following the same economic principles.

              It is indeed the modern day version of the old serf economy where the workers gave the lion’s share of the end-products of their work (goods, crops, tools, etc.)  to the elite who ignored the poverty and misery that they were creating. Today that same willful blindness exists among the elite who tend to blame the poor while refusing to look at their own part in creating and continuing to maintain the current state of economic inequality.

              This is the situation, but it does not have to continue.  We the people can change it.

              ______________________________________________________

              ILWQ COMMENTS ON CHANGE

              1. Realize that Wall Street is a system that only works for a few–20% of the population at the very most (and that’s a high estimate).

              2. Realize that you are not going to change this modern day serf system as long as the people who are in control of our law-making are millionaire Wall Street investors.  How dumb is that to expect a Wall Street investor to represent a citizen on Main Street who works for a living.

              3.Realize anyone who is invested in Wall Street has a direct conflict of interest with all local economies–and that includes your local economy.  The Wall Street system is bleeding Main Street to death and has been for at least 30 years–drip, drip, drip.

              4. Realize that Democrat or Republican/Tea Party membership makes no difference.  Both parties are Wall Street corrupted to the core.  You will not have significant change by voting for members of either party.  Their leadership are all Wall Street investors and over 44% of them currently in Congress are Wall Street multimillionaires who profit from this corrupt system that exploits the majority.

              For one example: Romney, the Republican candidate likely to carry Iowa is one of the biggest Wall Street jerks of all.He made much of his fortune via hedge funds.   He even mocks the people on Main Street.  We even have a photo of Romney and a bunch of his hedge fund pals clutching money in their fists as they posed for a photo in the 1980′s.  If the people in Iowa are smart, they will stay home from the primary caucus tomorrow and spend their time looking for a non-millionaire, non-Wall Street invested candidate who is neither Republican nor Democrat.

              _________________________________________________

              Understand that politics down to and including the local level must be swept clean of Wall Street Influence

              It’s not just our national level that has been polluted by Wall Street influence.  Our local level politics suffer from the results of Wall Street influence as well.  If you wonder why there are so many  empty store fronts in your local downtown, you don’t have to look any further than your local city councils, mayors and Chamber of Commerce for your answer.  In municipalities across the nation, leaders have sold out their communities to Wall Street by offering outrageous tax breaks and even paying incentives to have Wall Street corporations locate in their communities.  The result of these tax breaks and other incentives to Wall Street has been erosion of the tax revenues to support, schools, roads and other infrastructure support for the community.  And also higher taxes for the individual citizens of the community who foot the bill as usual for rich Wall Street freeloaders.

              The only way it will stop is for voters to start asking candidates:  Do you own Wall Street stock?

              and if the answer is “yes”, then look elsewhere for a candidate who is not a Wall Street investor.

              As long as Wall Street investors are in charge of our Congress, we will not have a democracy that works for the majority.    It’s called “conflict of interest.”   What do you think that your elected officials will support–legislation that puts money in their pockets or legislation that will benefit you but not be so profitable for them personally?

              If you want the answer to that question, all you have to look at is the across the board increase in net worth of our Wall Street Congress over the past three years as millions of Americans have lost their jobs and homes.  This increase in Congressional net worth is directly related to legislation that they have and have not passed–legislation that benefits Wall Street investors to the detriment of the Main Street majority.

              Proclaim the Queen!

                At last the truth about the Tea Party “Movement”–popularity limited to Republicans

                October 31, 2011 in 2012 Elections

                Unlike the Tea Party group, the members of the  Occupy Wall Street Movement are quick to tell you that they do not support either party.  In fact at a recent Occupy Dallas  rally, a speaker who identified himself as a Tea Party member got booed off the podium–the same would have been said of a person who identified as a Democrat or a Republican.  Few of the people that I’ve talked with at the Occupy Dallas site plan to vote for either the Democrat or Republican candidate for president.

                The Tea Party Polled only 30% support from Independents and more people from the general electorate oppose than approve the Tea Party.

                A recent Pew Center poll shows that the Tea Party is popular within the Republican Party, but losing support within the general electorate. “… more [people polled] say they oppose the Tea Party movement than support it (44% vs. 32%) … the balance of opinion among independents toward the Tea Party is much more negative: Just 30 percent support the Tea Party movement while 49 percent are opposed.”

                An article from TruthOut reports that “. . . The Tea Party’s inflexible strict “conservative” ideological litmus test is not translating well in the Republican presidential campaign as evidenced by the Tea Party-backed candidates that entered the race with such promise and hype only to wilt under the hot lights of public scrutiny. ”

                For the moment, it appears that Rick Perry has also fallen to the same fate as Bachmann.  However, thanks to his chameleon ability to change political horses in midstream and latch on to whatever is the political flavor of the moment, Perry will go on to not only survive, but to win the nomination.  Republicans will pick the horse most likely to win and that will be Perry–simply by virtue of the coalitions that he has already sewn up: most evangelical votes; most Latino votes; and most rural America votes.  Cain might capture close to Perry in the evangelical vote arena, but he loses big time to Perry in the Latino and rural America arenas.  Romney?  He loses big time in the evangelical arena, big time with the Latino votes, and big time with the rural America coalition. The Republican have not other choice than their “snowball’s chance in hell” candidate Rick Perry.

                Proclaim the Queen!

                  Here comes snowball’s chance in Hell Perry

                  October 26, 2011 in 2012 Elections

                  Perry got his foot back in the door in Ohio

                  Sources on the Internet report that Romney went by a Republican phone bank that was trying to raise support for Ohio’s anti-union bill and refused to say outright that he supported it.  Instead, he offered some vague comment about supporting the Republican Party of Ohio.

                  That’s the opening Perry has been waiting for.  The Republican version of the comeback kid is on his way back. Perry issued a statement to CNN saying that he supported Governor Kasich for fiscal responsibility and job creation in Ohio.  [Do you see the strategy?  Perry doesn't talk about anti-union. Being FOR something is a much stronger position than being against something.  America wants solutions--not complaints.  Perry opposes Romney by appearing to be the one who stands for job creation and fiscal responsibility.  Who can argue with that?]

                  All it takes for Perry to steal a lead is just a crack in the door and he will wedge his foot in and before you know it, he is the biggest elephant in the room. He has done this at least 10 times in his long career. As I’ve said before, Perry is the only one of the R candidates with snowballs chance to win because of 1) he has the Latino vote (Texas is the only state in the Union with a version of the Dream Act, Perry has criticized the border fence and his fellow Republicans for being hard-hearted to Mexicans. All they have from Obama are broken promises.) 2) he has the evangelical vote and 3) he is rural Americas native son.

                  Proclaim the Queen!

                    Why Rick Perry is a Contender and Likely Winner

                    October 20, 2011 in 2012 Elections


                    Regardless the fervor with which the old guard neocon wing of the Republican Party have tried to beat life into tired old political horse Romney, that old horse is not stirring. As for Herman Cain, he is but a flash in the pan who,  like Romney is oblivious to the importance of the Latino vote, and thus they both badger Perry about his support of the Latino community making Perry look all the better to Latinos. Perry has even gone so far as to call the other Republican candidates “hard-hearted” in their stance on immigration.

                    A chart from the Pew Foundation shows an accurate picture of the top three Republican contenders and you can see they there are all in the same range. Although Perry is in a downward trend at the moment, that can change at any moment–just ask some of his opponents from former races.  Also in the last 10 days since the chart below was created, Cain has begun a downward trend in the general direction of that 25% mark.

                    These three rather lackluster candidates will all eventually settle to the same 25% range of public approval and positive news coverage. Perry, the master of winning when the order of the day is low expectations, will eek by with the Republican nomination for President just like he eeked out a 39% win for governor of Texas in 2006 when he was up against Carol Strayhorn, Kinky Friedman, and Chris Bell.

                    In addition to his ability to stir the base as shown by his once 40% rating, Perry also has the best chance of capturing the most of the Latino votes–a critical requirement for capturing the presidency in 2012.  In fact, Perry has a better chance of capturing Latino votes than President Obama.  Perry signed the Texas Dream Act into Law. Perry has been critical of the border fence as a solution. And Obama?  He has not only broken every one of his promises to the Latino community, his administration has broken all records for deportations.  Thus far in 2011 over 400,000 migrants have been deported.

                    According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the nation’s Latino population grew to more than 50 million, more than double its size in 1990, and up 46.3% since 2000. It is also the nation’s youngest ethnic group. The median age of Latinos is 27, while for non-Hispanic whites it is 42 and for non-Hispanic blacks it is 32. Among Latinos, a majority are bilingual.  The Latinos form a huge and important voting block in the USA.

                    Univision, the largest Spanish-language network by far, continued to grow, reaching audience sizes that compete with the three major English-language broadcast networks (ABC, CBS and NBC). In 2011, it also announced the launch of a 24-hour Spanish-language news station. Univision is now the fifth-largest network in primetime audience in the United States. It is notable that none of the leading candidates helped their case with Latinos when they recently threatened to boycott Univision:  Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman, Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann have boycotted a proposed debate on Univision in January. Perry missed his chance on that one.  He should have kept his pie hole shut.  I don’t know what he was thinking.  I guess he wasn’t, but thinking has never seemed to be one of Perry’s strong points.  Yet, somehow he just schleps along and manages to win elections.

                    ________________________________________

                    IFLW Comments

                    There are those who say:  ”Oh but Texas is different. This is a national race.”   I say:  If you think that the voters in Texas are any different from any other Red state in the Union, you need to stop drinking that kool-aid.

                    In fact, if you travel to the rural areas of ANY state in the union and you are going to see exactly the same voter profile that you see for the rural voters in Texas.  Perry is the native son for most of rural America.  Of all the candidates he is the most likely to capture the most of the necessary Latino votes.  Of all the candidates he is the most likely to capture all of the evangelical votes. Of all the candidates he is most likely to capture the majority of the rural vote.  And that is why, unless some wonderful alternative rises to take his place in the next two months, Rick Perry will eek out the Republican nomination for President.

                    By the way, if you want to know why the Republicans captured the House in 2011, it was because they captured the rural vote.  The majority of the seats they captured were from rural districts.  I don’t think the deciders in the Republican Party will be forgetting that reality when they pick the nominee to push.  It’s obvious that they were hoping for Romney, but given that he has not risen to the occasion with the base, they will run the horse most likely to run the race–Rick Perry.

                    Proclaim the Queen!