Republican Primary

[_Abyssinia]

It’s called the Democratic Party. If the GOP is superior to the Democratic Party, then what are they doing to help the poor and middle class? I don’t see them doing anything

What helps the poor and middle class? Jobs. Republicans have passed 15 Jobs bills in the House which would make way for job creation and economic growth that stopped in the Democrat controlled senate.

 

[didymus]

AP:

Paul says US `slipping into a fascist system’

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul warned the U.S. is “slipping into a fascist system” dominated by government and businesses as he held a fiery rally Saturday night upstaging established Republican Party banquets a short distance away.

The Texas congressman drew a couple thousand standing and chanting people to Kansas City’s Union Station as the party’s establishment dined on steak across the street at the Missouri GOP’s annual conference. Kansas Republicans were holding a similar convention in a suburb across the state line.

Paul staged his rally near the nation’s World War I museum, asserting that the U.S. got off track about 100 years ago during the era of President Woodrow Wilson, who led the nation through World War I and unsuccessfully advocated for the nation’s involvement in a forerunner of the United Nations.

“We’ve slipped away from a true Republic,” Paul said. “Now we’re slipping into a fascist system where it’s a combination of government and big business and authoritarian rule and the suppression of the individual rights of each and every American citizen.”

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

And thank God we got George in that one. Otherwise we might’ve had a catastrophe…

Ya, because the Prophet of Climate Doom would have been MUCH better.

 

[_Abyssinia]

End taxes on manufacturing to help restore U.S. economy

By Rick Santorum, The Detroit News

Michigan has lost 143,000 jobs since President Obama took office. Over a quarter of a million workers have left the labor force. Michigan’s official unemployment is more than 9 percent. In Michigan, as in the rest of the country, if you ask people whether they are better off than they were four years ago, the answer is no…

 

[_Abyssinia]

Why is Romney struggling in Michigan? Reagan Democrats.

“Blame the frosty homecoming on the Independent Voters Formerly Known as Reagan Democrats. Economically populist and socially conservative, these blue-collar, largely Catholic, largely unionized workers tend to swing. In 2008 they helped put Barack Obama over the top. In 2010 they returned to the GOP… As talk of his paltry 14 percent tax rate and “I like to be able to fire people”–style gaffes came to dominate the airwaves in January, Mitt’s unfavorable rating among working-class whites jumped 20 points nationwide.” - Daily Beast

 "It was no accident that [Santorum] had come here: Steubenville is home to precisely the combination of religious conservatives and blue-collar Rust Belt voters that Santorum is hoping will lead him to victory on Super Tuesday and beyond." - [Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-eastern-ohio-a-small-towns-past-is-intertwined-with-santorums-political-future/2012/02/20/gIQA1UexPR_story.html)

Poll: Mitt Romney not hurt in Michigan over stance opposing auto bailouts - The Hill

Despite polls, Romney confident of Michigan win

“The campaign has good reason to be skeptical of the media’s recent narrative of doom for Romney. A week ago, the worst poll for Romney… had him down 15 points to Rick Santorum in Michigan. Today, after adjusting its initial, less-than-realistic turnout projections, the same polling company has Romney down just four points. And given that Romney’s ads just went on the air in the middle of last week, there’s still plenty of time for his message to sink in and get him over the hump.” - BuzzFeed

"There are few outward signs that panic has set in at the Romney campaign — the delegate-by-delegate chess game has only begun — but concern is palpable among Mr. Romney, his allies and Republican Party elders" - [New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/us/politics/romney-goes-after-santorum-on-budget.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha24)

"Mitt Romney, struggling to shore up his support in the Midwest, again attacked Rick Santorum‘s spending during his time in Congress." - [WSJ](http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/02/20/romney-attacks-santorums-spending/)

Donald Trump hitting Michigan airwaves for Mitt - ABC

“What’s the prescription for a famously brilliant venture capitalist who has trouble connecting with blue-collar voters in his native state? How about bringing in a far more controversial venture capitalist who’s claim to recent fame is in firing people on national television?” - Hot Air

Santorum and Gingrich focus attacks on Obama’s religious liberty record

“Rick Santorum said Monday that Obama had been “particularly weak” in protecting religious liberty around the world and compared him to “tyrants” who want to limit the role of faith in their citizens lives.” - LA Times
“Gingrich also charged Obama again with waging a war on religion, something the former House speaker has said repeatedly since a controversy erupted over an Obama administration policy requiring religious-affiliated employers to provide free birth control.” - USA Today

But Ed Kilgore warns that the GOP shouldn’t put too much faith in the Catholic vote: “American Catholics are hardly monolithic, even on issues supposedly touching on the Church’s authority and teachings.”

Looking ahead: Santorum has big polling leads in Texas and Oklahoma - Hot Air

Romney tops January funding figures

“Romney raised $6.5 million in the month of January but spent nearly $19 million, leaving him with about $7.7 million in cash … Santorum raised $4.5 million in January and spent $3.3 million, leaving him with about $1.5 million in cash … Newt Gingrich raised $5.6 million during the month of January, but spent almost $6 million, leaving him with about $1.7 million in cash” - New York Times
"Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul raised $4.5 million in January, his campaign just announced. The Texas congressman ended the month with $1.6 million in the bank." - [USA Today](http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/02/ron-paul-raises-45-million-/1#.T0N6uvEf5LI)

 

[_Abyssinia]

Republican Presidential campaigns are becoming reliant upon SuperPAC money

“[O]ver all, super PACs backing the four leading Republican contenders raised $22.1 million in January, slightly more than the candidates themselves, and ended the month with $19.4 million in cash on hand, about $5 million more than the candidates had.” - New York Times

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson says he might give $100M to Newt Gingrich - Forbes

Sen. Rubio tops poll on vice presidential picks - USA Today

**Poll finds most GOP voters opposed to brokered convention** - [The Hill](http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/polls/211659-poll-finds-most-gop-voters-opposed-to-brokered-convention)

The price of a Romney endorsement: how Tim Pawlenty paid off his campaign debt

“According to Politic, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican front-runner, and his family members joined with several Bain Capital officials to assist Mr. Pawlenty in retiring his debt last year, federal records show.” - The State Column

Why did Obama tell Democrats SuperPAC fundraising is okay? Because the pro-Obama SuperPAC raised only $59K in January (and $50K of that was from one guy) - Politico

 

[LisaA]

When the state government won’t do its job, then the federal government sees fit to step in. Now, we could debate then what is the job of the state government. Should the state government institute healthy food programs in schools, or what role should it play in dealing with pollution? If we define a role, and it fails to live up to that role, then who else should do it?

Personally, I want the most efficient way of doing things being done, regardles of whether it is just spontaneous, or from Washington, or from Columbus. if federal school lunch programs improve children’s health effectively, then I do not care that it was the federal government that did it. It simply doesn’t bother me.

And some things, believe it or not, the federal government does better than any lesser governments, just by virtue of its position. That’s wy it monopolizes currency production, why it controls the armed forces. As for insurance, well, the insurance industry amounts to collecting and writing checks; or deciding who to write checks to, and who to collect them from. And it is no easier to manage an insurance policy of a person who lives in your zip code than a person who lives on the other side of the country, so being local isn’t reall yan advantage there. Also, the larger the insurance company (or the larger it’s pool of customers), the lower the per capita risk, and therefore the lower the premium. SO, theoretically, the ideal insurance company is the largest possible insurance company. So there is a reason for considering a single national insurance company. It could certainly be debated, though, whether the state itself should found a federal insurance company (much like it founded a national bank a long time ago) or if it should sponser a provate company’s monopoly, like what states do with energy companies.

The Federal Government has certain enumerated powers and if you look at them, they make sense…military for example is clearly something of a national interest and an area where only a large single bureaucracy makes sense. A National Highway system is another area so we don’t have huge variations in our roads from state to state.

OTOH how in the world would a federal program to monitor lunches in every school in America make sense? It’s neither within the Feds’ power nor within its realm of expertise to monitor areas best left to local or state governments.

You are partly correct about insurance. Yes the larger the pool, the more risk is spread. But the idea of a SINGLE payer means no competition, great opportunities for corruption and frankly tyranny. This is one of the great problems with Obamacare and it’s IPAB. An unelected ‘board’ determining what individual doctors are allowed to do for their patients! You really want your healthcare in the hands of the same people who brought you the DMV or the Post Office?

It is the COMPETITION that brings down insurance rates and helps keep them efficient. When I as an employer look at various plans for my employees, I go with the company that provides the coverage they want/need for the lowest price. If there were only a “one size fits all” plan for the entire country, it would be over the moon in price and inefficiency. Bureaucrats deciding what my employees need for insurance? I don’t think so!

Lisa

 

[pnewton]

Personally, I want the most efficient way of doing things being done, regardles of whether it is just spontaneous, or from Washington, or from Columbus. if federal school lunch programs improve children’s health effectively, then I do not care that it was the federal government that did it. It simply doesn’t bother me.

I agree with this, though I would clarify that I only want things done efficiently that are justly done, not doing things just to press one’s own opinion. Also, I see the federal government as a poor choice for efficiency in most endeavors, even the few they actually have moral ground for doing.

I note that here, as in the candidates, we still have Republicans promoting the role of big federal government in their own, different way than Democrats.

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

I agree with this, though I would clarify that I only want things done efficiently that are justly done, not doing things just to press one’s own opinion. Also, I see the federal government as a poor choice for efficiency in most endeavors, even the few they actually have moral ground for doing.

I note that here, as in the candidates, we still have Republicans promoting the role of big federal government in their own, different way than Democrats.

Like i have been saying, Republicans talk of “limited government” is all hot air. They believe in big government as much as Democrats. They just believe in THEIR version of big-government and it is just as regulating and tyrannical as the Democrat version.

 

[ProVobis]

The left almost went bananas that Obama didn’t immediately institute a single payer system. They threatened to derail his plan. Obama and his surrogates had to actually go out and explain that this new system was really a 2-step plan to get to single payer. Obama was smart enough to realize that more time is needed to condition Americans to get used to the idea (just as we’ve become used to abortion, divorce, gay sex, social security, etc). Yet, evil wanted it all right now and almost jeopardized a long term victory.

And the ironic thing with that is that under a single-payer system (read, government subsidized) abortions would have been prohibited by the long-standing Hyde Amendment whereas insurance companies can be forced (theoretically) to pay for abortions and anything else the Department of Health wants.

 

[ProVobis]

Santorum is going to need more than social issues to win. But, Obama is going to have a problem on his hands if prices keep rising and gas goes much higher.

Same thing happened in 2008 until everything crashed in September of that year.

 

[ProVobis]

You want to mint coins in your basement? Do you fancy that precious metal standards are safe, reliable, or something? Do you know why the Spanish empire collapsed? A big part of it was inflation. They were on the gold standard too.

A “gold standard” still allows printing of money which can end up with more money printed than the supply of gold. Removing the gold standard like Nixon did merely says “Take the printed money because we don’t have enough gold to pay you.”

IMO economists don’t allow the proper circulation of the existing money supply backed by hard assets. They all want money to be printed when things go sour and that’s exactly what distorts prices and interest rates. Not a free market.

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

A “gold standard” still allows printing of money which can end up with more money printed than the supply of gold. Removing the gold standard like Nixon did merely says “Take the printed money because we don’t have enough gold to pay you.”

IMO economists don’t allow the proper circulation of the existing money supply backed by hard assets. They all want money to be printed when things go sour and that’s exactly what distorts prices and interest rates. Not a free market.

If you don’t have sound currency based on something of intrinsic value, you don’t have a free market. It is as simple as that.

 

[pnewton]

A “gold standard” still allows printing of money which can end up with more money printed than the supply of gold. Removing the gold standard like Nixon did merely says “Take the printed money because we don’t have enough gold to pay you.”

IMO economists don’t allow the proper circulation of the existing money supply backed by hard assets. They all want money to be printed when things go sour and that’s exactly what distorts prices and interest rates. Not a free market.

Besides, I have always found that printing money in my basement is easier than minting coins.

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

Besides, I have always found that printing money in my basement is easier than minting coins.

Ben bernanke doesn’t even print it. He just types a few numbers in a computer and PRESTO!, billions of dollars of new currency. Its like magic.

 

[ProVobis]

Besides, I have always found that printing money in my basement is easier than minting coins.

You don’t even have to do that. Call yourself a bank and Bernanke will “lend” it to you at 0%. No need of fractional reserve either which lends and borrows at market rates.

 

[ProVobis]

Ben bernanke doesn’t even print it. He just types a few numbers in a computer and PRESTO!, billions of dollars of new currency. Its like magic.

I heard he can “print” $500 billion with one finger even. And if it ends up in Europe somewhere, so what, he can “print” another $1 Trillion for your pleasure. Thank you, Bush and Obama, for appointing this guy for the world.

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

I heard he can “print” $500 billion with one finger even. And if it ends up in Europe somewhere, so what, he can “print” another $1 Trillion for your pleasure. Thank you, Bush and Obama, for appointing this guy for the world.

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

 

[estesbob]

It’s called the Democratic Party. If the GOP is superior to the Democratic Party, then what are they doing to help the poor and middle class? I don’t see them doing anything

Creazting jobs by improving the economy and gretting rid of opressive regulations that stifles the growth of business.(like the health care bill). Working hard to break the dependency the Democrat Party has engendered among the poor.Democrat Party policy has led to massive illegtimacy and institionalized poverty among the poor. 70% of the populace now recives more from the govt than the taxes they pay. The government pays 100 billion in tax refunds to people who owe no tax., The sytem the Democrat Party put in place is a dsiaster, it doesnt woirk and it is bankrupting the country. Rather than wotking hard to impove this generation they focus on contracepting and aborting the next generation out of existence.

 

[estesbob]

AP:

Paul says US `slipping into a fascist system’

You can always depend on Paul for comic relief whenver the campign get too intense.

BTW-sounds like he gave his specch at the Liberty Memorialthat does indeed have a nifyty World War I museum. It is jhst across from KCs Massive union station. My Dad used to take us there to show us the bullet holes in the outers walls from the “KC Massacre”(gangsters) in the Thirties.