Republican Primary

[ishii]

I’m not necessarily either a Santorum or Romney supporter, but at least the former HAS beliefs and convictions! (I know, so did Hitler and Stalin, as well as Obama.) I’m just not sure what beliefs Romney has exactly, and that is why, I think, instead of having broad appeal among conservatives, moderates, and liberals, he’ll wind up having less appeal across the political spectrum.

Oddly enough, Romney was considered a more conservative alternative to McCain in 2008.
Now he is the candidate whose conservative credentials is suspect. If you listen to his victory speech in Michigan you would hear criticisms Obama and solutions based on a conservative perspective. Of course the fear is that if elected he would govern as a liberal and disappoint.

Ishii

 

[Nec5]

Oddly enough, Romney was considered a more conservative alternative to McCain in 2008.

That’s not saying much, and it’s another example of the lesser of two evils giving you yet another one.

 

[rlg94086]

Oddly enough, Romney was considered a more conservative alternative to McCain in 2008.

Indeed. Santorum said Romney was the conservative candidate, when he was running against McCain and Huckabee.

 

[rlg94086]

From a practical perspective of getting a decent job, having a college education is probably NOT highly overrated, unless you’re a Bill Gates or a Walter Cronkite. From an educational perspective, it probably IS highly overrated, and I say this as a professor. However, it depends largely on the quality of the faculty and the motivation of the student.

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

Depends on what one studies. The current unemployment rate among the college educated is 5%.

A Bachelors in Art History or Philosophy maybe not so useful.

Overall, higher education, whether through a four year college, a vocational school, or aprenticeship is invaluable. I know that my kid is going to pursue higher education come hell or high water, unless she turns out to be dumb as a bag of hammers.

I never said that education was a waste of time. Education is priceless.

 

[He_Man]

I don’t understand you first sentence at all. But if I understand you second sentence correctly, I disagree with it. The church has spoken out on education by the very fact that they started Catholic school and universities. Or did I totally misread what you are saying?

The first part referred to Santorum’s comment being dumb as simply Jim’s opinion. That’s fine, but the Church has never said whether or not Santorum’s comment is dumb. Nor would it, or will it.

Secondly, the Church has spoken generally about the importance of education, at various levels. It has never said definitively “everyone must go to college.” It never will. This is not an area of faith and morals.

As such, this is not an area where Santorum disagrees with the Church. It is picking at nits to claim this somehow gives him non-Catholic positions, especially relative to Obama, who is on the wrong end of the Catholic spectrum on every serious issue, by and large.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

He Man

The first part referred to Santorum’s comment being dumb as simply Jim’s opinion.

To clarify, I never used the word “dumb.”

It was poor politics for sure to call Obama a snob, especially when it was Santorum who misquoted Obama to begin with.

That’s fine, but the Church has never said whether or not Santorum’s comment is dumb. Nor would it, or will it.

As such, this is not an area where Santorum disagrees with the Church. It is picking at nits to claim this somehow gives him non-Catholic positions, especially relative to Obama, who is on the wrong end of the Catholic spectrum on every serious issue, by and large.

It’s a sin to bear false witness against another person, accusing them of saying things he never said and then adding a personal attack on top of it, i.e. “what a snob,” as Santorum did.

Also, the Church believes there needs to be a seperation of Church and State.

This does not mean that a person doesn’t bring their beliefs with them into the job. It means the institutional Church will not control that politician’s decisions when it comes to running the office he/she was elected to.

Santorum, misunderstood JFK’s speech intirely it seems.

Jim

 

[_Abyssinia]

Mitt Romney wins Wyoming caucuses

“Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has won the Wyoming caucuses, CNN projects. Based on straw-poll results compiled and released by the Wyoming Republican Party, Romney won 39% of the votes cast in straw polls conducted at county-level caucuses… Rick Santorum came in second with 32% of the straw poll vote, followed by… Ron Paul with 21% and… Newt Gingrich with 8%.” - CNN

“Just more than 2,100 people voted in the straw poll portion of the caucuses, which has no direct bearing on how the state’s 29 delegates will be awarded. (The same was the case in other caucus states like Iowa, Colorado and Minnesota, it should be noted.) But a win is a win for Romney, who has now won seven of 12 states to hold contests thus far this year, including victories in the Arizona and Michigan primaries on Tuesday.” - Washington Post

Rick Santorum says Michigan loss was a “huge win” for his campaign

“Michigan “was a huge win for us,” Santorum told reporters after speaking to a crowd of about 1,000 at Temple Baptist Church here, many of them conservatively dressed students from nearby Crown College. “Don’t give Romney all the spin. We went into his backyard, he spent a fortune … and we came out of there with the same number of delegates he does. We are in great shape.”” - LA Times

Presidential candidates are making Syria a dividing line with Obama - Politico

Lack of funds and organization mean the Santorum camp is hoping Gingrich pulls out

“Top adviser John Brabender says Santorum’s future may depend upon Gingrich leaving the race. The former House speaker is showing no signs of bowing out, certainly not before next week’s Super Tuesday voting. “If we could ever make this where we have all the conservatives and tea party supporters behind us as one candidate against Mitt Romney, we’ll win the nomination,” Brabender said Wednesday” - AP

Santorum raises $9 million in February - [Kansas City Star](http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/29/3460307/santorum-raises-9-million-in-february.html)

 The Santorum camp is also aiming to attract more women: "Mitt Romney outperformed Santorum by large margins among women... Although Santorum sought to spin the Michigan results as a tie, it is clear that the contest revealed a significant challenge for him." - [

](http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...ing-campaign/2012/02/29/gIQAN6IJjR_story.html)
Newt Gingrich hopes to use home win in Georgia’s Super Tuesday primary to re-launch campaign

“Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that a victory in Georgia’s primary is a “key building block” his campaign must have to move forward, making clear his home state’s crucial role in his White House bid. Gingrich predicted during an appearance at the Georgia Statehouse that he will win the state’s contest.” - AP

[INDENT] "With his presidential aspirations riding on support in the Deep South, Newt Gingrich opened his final one-week dash to the crucial Georgia primary on Wednesday with a states' rights appeal laden with racial symbolism." - [LA Times](http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-gingrich-makes-states-rights-appeal-to-deep-south-voters-20120229,0,2342223.story)

A look ahead to Ohio

“Ohio has the largest delegate haul next week, and it also consists of the kind of blue-collar, Rust Belt voters that Republicans need to draw to win in November. So far, Santorum has a lead in the RCP poll average of about eight points, but that may change with the loss in Michigan among the same kind of voters. Santorum cannot afford another loss in the Rust Belt… Santorum will get a significant number of delegates from second-place finishes again, but without a couple of big wins, Romney will keep adding to his delegate lead and making the case for donors to get on the bandwagon now.” - Hot Air

“Public and private polling suggests the race here is a competitive fight between Romney and Rick Santorum. Quinnipiac University gave Santorum a 7-point lead over Romney earlier this week. Private polling conducted for Republicans outside the presidential race, and shared with POLITICO, showed Santorum up by 5 percentage points.” - Politico

 

[_Abyssinia]

Karl Rove: Santorum’s race will be over if he fails to win in Ohio

“Mr. Santorum is focused on Ohio, Tuesday’s key battleground with 66 delegates. Mr. Romney can afford a narrow loss there as long as he wins a solid plurality of all the Super Tuesday delegates. Mr. Santorum’s candidacy will realistically be at an end if he loses the Buckeye State, though he could linger for weeks. Even a win leaves him on life support unless he can also best Mr. Romney in Tuesday’s Southern contests, coming in first or second with Mr. Romney trailing in second or third place.” - Karl Rove for the WSJ ($)

Thanks to Gingrich and Santorum failing to qualify for the Virginia ballot, Romney has a big delegate lead going into Super Tuesday

“Because only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul are on the Virginia ballot, Romney — who we expect to sweep the Old Dominion — starts off with a big lead on Super Tuesday courtesy of Virginia. That built-in advantage will make it exceedingly difficult for Santorum to finish the day with more delegates than Romney. In fact, we expect Romney to win more delegates on Super Tuesday than Rick Santorum, probably many more.” - Larry Sabato, who has much more, including state-by-state analysis

GOP enthusiasm still outweights Dems’

“By 53% to 45%, Republicans, including independents who lean Republican, are slightly more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to say they are “more enthusiastic than usual about voting” this year. Republicans have consistently led Democrats in voting enthusiasm since last fall, but to varying degrees.” - Gallup Polls

What’s up with Newt Gingrich? Gallup’s daily tracking poll, for one thing - Hot Air

 

[rlg94086]

Sweep of Romney’s Michigan & Arizona Wins Hidden by Media Distortions

Subtracting the dubious Democratic votes from the totals both candidates actually received, Romney would have doubled his margin of victory—to a far more decisive 6.3 percent. Among self-described Republicans in the exit polls, Mitt did beat Rick by a comfortable 11 points—a strong indication that he didn’t count as the Michigan candidate with difficulty winning the party base. In Arizona, those who identified themselves as Republicans chose Romney over Santorum by a landslide margin of 22 percent, while Mitt simultaneously swept self-proclaimed conservatives by 17 points.

Democrats in the Grand Canyon State represented only 2 percent of primary participants, and therefore played no significant role in the GOP outcome.

Meanwhile, the twin primary wins for Romney also should bury the stupid claim that he can’t compete among Tea Party Republicans. In Arizona, 60 percent of primary voters said they “support the Tea Party movement” and Romney swept those votes, 42 to 33 percent. In Michigan, only 52 percent described themselves as Tea Party supporters, and they split their votes almost evenly (42 percent for Romney, 41 percent for Santorum).

 

[Swiss_Guy]

Also, the Church believes there needs to be a seperation of Church and State.

Depends what you mean by that.

 

[LisaA]

That’s not saying much, and it’s another example of the lesser of two evils giving you yet another one.

Neither Romney nor McCain are evil. To claim so demeans the word when applied to someone whose acts would earn that description.

As to Santorum’s comment, it wasn’t wise infer that every parent who hopes his or her child gets through college or every young person who aspires to a four year degree,is a snob. In effect that’s what he did although I certainly understand and agree that the liberal elite look down their noses at those without a degree…unless they are union members and then suddenly they are one with the blue collar contingent…

But make no mistake, Obama was not talking about technical school or trade school. He is a typical liberal elite who worships the god of higher education. He’s constantly talking about more Pell Grants and student loan support and something tells me he doesn’t mean Truck Driver School. In fact the Obama Administration has been extremely critical of various private schools that are of a more technical focus. The claim is that the graduation rates and employment rates are poor–and that may well be true. But if so the same standard should be applied to two and four year colleges. The statistics are abysmal.
Lisa

 

[Luigi_Daniele]

I would be very comfortable with Romney as our nominee (I am a Santorum/Gingrich guy). He is lightyears more conservative than McCain, for example.

 

[Nec5]

Neither Romney nor McCain are evil.

Then Obama isn’t either. Nor was slick Willy.

 

[ishii]

Then Obama isn’t either. Nor was slick Willy.

But their policies are evil.

Ishii

 

[_Abyssinia]

Romney 168, Santorum 86, Gingrich 32, Paul 19 - the latest delegate count before the Washington caucuses and Super Tuesday - WSJ

 "Mitt Romney is being awarded two at-large delegates in Michigan that will change the state's delegate allocation" - [USA Today](http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/03/mitt-romney-michigan-delegates-revise-/1#.T1CqY_Ef5LI)

Poll: Romney widens national lead over Santorum

“A new national poll released Thursday indicates Mitt Romney has expanded his lead over Rick Santorum and now holds an 11 percentage point advantage over the former Pennsylvania senator. Romney has the backing of 35% of registered Republicans nationwide, while Santorum comes in with 24%, according to results from Gallup’s latest daily tracking poll. The new poll reflects a reversal in the top two spots from a week ago, when Santorum came in first place with 34% and Romney had 24%.” - CNN

 "A new [Gallup poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/153047/Voters-Indicate-Tight-Race-Congress.aspx) finds American voters are currently split in their intentions to vote for the Republican or Democratic candidate in their congressional district, with 47% saying they would vote for each "if the elections for Congress were being held today."" - [PoliticalWire](http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/03/02/close_race_for_congress.html)

Romney leading Washington caucus polls

“According to a new PPP poll, there’s been a 16% flip between Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney in Washington state over the past few weeks, and Santorum is on the wrong side of the flip. Mitt Romney 37% … Rick Santorum 32% … Ron Paul 16% … Newt Gingrich 13% So why has Santorum slipped? His favorability numbers are way down. In just two weeks, they’ve fallen from +51% to +29%, while Mitt Romney’s numbers have jumped from +5% to +18%.” - The Hill

 Seattle Times supports Romney as ‘default choice’ ahead of caucuses - [CNN](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/01/seattle-times-supports-romney-as-default-choice-ahead-of-caucuses/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_politicalticker+%28Blog%3A+Political+Ticker%29)

Charles Krauthammer: Santorum has thrown his momentum away by focusing on social issues when he should have stuck to his blue-collar economic message

“He averred that John Kennedy’s 1960 Houston speech on separation of church and state makes him “throw up.” … As was his sneering at President Obama’s wanting to open college to all. Santorum called that snobbery and an attempt at liberal indoctrination… Finally, the less said about contraception the better, a lesson Santorum refused to learn…The result of these unforced errors was Santorum’s Michigan slide. His post-trifecta lead vanished. He forfeited a victory that would have shattered the Romney candidacy.” - Charles Krauthammer

 Santorum raises $9 million in February - [Kansas City Star](http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/29/3460307/santorum-raises-9-million-in-february.html)

The Santorum camp is also aiming to attract more women: “Mitt Romney outperformed Santorum by large margins among women… Although Santorum sought to spin the Michigan results as a tie, it is clear that the contest revealed a significant challenge for him.” - Washington Post

**Obama, GOP candidates focus on energy **

"Newt Gingrich on Thursday called on President Barack Obama to fire Energy Secretary Steven Chu, citing congressional testimony this week in which Chu said his “overall goal” was to decrease U.S. dependency on oil, not lower the price." - [Politico](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73501.html)

“Campaigning in [North Dakota], Mitt Romney pivoted to energy policy Thursday – accusing President Obama of standing in the way of good paying jobs and using his energy policies to reward campaign donors in industries like wind and solar.” - LA Times

“As rising gas prices are putting pressure on politicians to act, President Obama called on Congress to vote quickly to eliminate subsidies for the oil industry, returning to a favorite target the president.” - Chicago Tribune

 

[LisaA]

Then Obama isn’t either. Nor was slick Willy.

I don’t think I said that either. I maintain that Obama’s policies and his political philosophy have created evil results. He is clearly not simply pro “choice” but is militantly pro-abortion. Abortion is an intrinsic evil and anyone who promotes or encourages abortion is complicit in that act.

I don’t think Bill Clinton was evil…heck compared to Obama, he’s looking better all the time!

Lisa

 

[pnewton]

Neither Romney nor McCain are evil. To claim so demeans the word when applied to someone whose acts would earn that description.

They were not called evil. The evil in “lesser of two evils” refers to the choices that are made, not the people. It is a common phrase and there is no reason to defend the candidates as not being evil. No one said they were. And yes, I would say the same thing about Obama. Yet the choice of him as president presents some degree of cooperation with evil, that might well be less in other candidates.

 

[LisaA]

They were not called evil. The evil in “lesser of two evils” refers to the choices that are made, not the people. It is a common phrase and there is no reason to defend the candidates as not being evil. No one said they were. And yes, I would say the same thing about Obama. Yet the choice of him as president presents some degree of cooperation with evil, that might well be less in other candidates.

Yes my point exactly! However you probably don’t recall that the poster and I were engaged in a discussion about Marco Rubio and I made the point that sometimes we have to choose between “the lesser of two evils.” Of COURSE it was not meant literally but it was interpretation by that poster…whether sincere or just to extend the argument. It’s a good reminder for me to be careful about using such phrases since they can overstate the case.

Lisa

 

[rlg94086]

Went to my local caucus today, but I wasn’t able to stay for the whole thing. I cast my straw vote for Romney and waited while they figured out where to put everybody. HUGE turnout, and I’m hearing the same about other caucuses in our county.

It will be interesting to see the results. The Ron Paul contingent was certainly the most well represented. They had volunteers working the doors…“Are you a Ron Paul supporter? If so, go left…everyone else stand in the line at the right.” They all wore buttons or stickers and handed them out to the other Ron Paul supporters.