Tag: Nomination

Is He The Only Adult?

There is enough silliness flying around the GOP nomination process……the GOP has Mitt, who cannot find the proper way to act or find a issue and stick with an idea or Bachmann, who is just plain crazy but all that much lovable and then there is Palin, who keeps them hanging on while cashing her checks and then the newest comer to the field Perry, Mr. Conservative as he likes to think of himself…..but is there an adult in the field?

Personally, I think that the only candidate that fits the bill would be John Huntsman….he is NOT polling very well and because of that the media is pretty much ignoring him in favor of the ones listed above….from my point of view, if I was a Repub I would be looking very closely at this guy……he seems to be a moderate Repub and is not falling into the Tea Party trap of bashing the Prez or such crap….he is not running to the Right in the primary season….at least for now.

His latest offering is one on tax reforms……

Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman will portray himself as the responsible fiscal conservative running for the White House as he announces a jobs plan that includes restructuring the tax-code to remove all loopholes, deductions and tax expenditures and eliminating the home mortgage deduction,Huntsman would eliminate capital gains, dividends taxes, and the Alternative Minimum Tax, and reduce the corporate tax rate to 25 percent. His plan calls for three individual tax brackets set at eight, 14 and 23 percent. The changes to the tax code would be revenue-neutral.

Like I said, if I was a Repub….but fortunately I am not……I do not agree with too many of his points…..I think that the corporate is fine where it is…..these business pay very little taxes as it is, why give them more?  individual taxes should be ONE bracket…everyone pays 10%…no deductions…just to mention a couple of my thoughts…….

But at least Huntsman is acting and talking like an adult….something sadly missing in the 2012 election cycle…..especially on the GOP side…….

One In, One Out

Saturday, all eyes were on Iowa…..all 6 of them…..it was the straw poll that the media had been waiting on and telling the American viewer just how important it was to the complete picture of the upcoming 2012 election…..first of all it is a worthless waste of time and resources…..about 1% or less of the population is involved in it…second, the people of Iowa are NOT representative of the thinking and feeling of the country…..other than those things it is just something to do while they wait for real news to come along…

For those that just have to know the out come of this brazen snooze feast…..Bachmann wins….Ron Paul is second and good old Pawlenty was third and the rest of the field duked it out for single digit results…..a thrilling down to the wire wet dream…..

One In!

While all the usual suspects were trashing the Prez and his policies….the darling of the radical right came a calling…….that is right!  Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has thrown his hat into the ring of fire….he announced his candidacy just before the straw poll was taken in Iowa while in South Carolina….now the GOP has a true “snake oil” salesman running for the nomination….and now the dissection of his record will begin and he will be exposed to the light of truth….the brainless now have their “savior”…… (let us pray)…..

One Out!

T-Paw as he is lovingly called in the mainstream media, had a pretty good showing in Iowa….he finished third….but after much deliberation he has decided to take a powder…He withdrew from the nomination process…..he saw the handwriting on the wall…Perry in and Bachmann leading the field now because of her win of a non-important straw poll….I guess since he could not persuade 1% of the population that he had good ideas that it was time to go home and plan another day….

I listened to each of the candidates in different interviews and you know I had to snicker……they point out a lot of problems and we do have a lot of them, but NOT one of these medicine show freaks has any idea how to fix the problems other than trashing the Prez….it will be humorous to listen and watch the upcoming GOP events to see if any of them actually have an idea that would be worth our valuable time as a voter…..I am sure there is one!  (but I have been mistaken in the past)……..

Can The GOP Survive?

This is a fun topic!  There are many pundits, on TV and print, that are trying to write off the GOP because of the rise of more radical Right wing politics, such as the Tea Party…….I have heard many, many people say that its time in the spotlight is waning……

A very smart analyst, Mark Halperin, see it all a little different……

Mark Halperin: “Despite the Tea Party, the Twitterverse and the multimedia dilution of traditional Republican authority, the old-school GOP rules the roost. Members of Congress, governors, big-time fundraisers, well-paid pundits and activist shoguns in early-voting states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina still have the loudest voices. Winning the party’s nomination without the backing of a majority of these groups is a nearly insurmountable challenge.”

“Some are resigned to supporting Romney as the best available option for a viable general-election challenge — especially those who fear the Michele Bachmann surge. Others want to see if Huntsman is for real, if Tim Pawlenty can muster enough dynamism to be the Romney alternative or if Perry will be as tough and determined a national candidate as he has been a Texas battler. It could be early winter — or even the spring of 2012 — before the establishment gets off the fence. They want to beat President Obama but still can’t figure out how.”

What do you, my reader, think?

IMO, the GOP will survive and for thew same reason that Halperin mentioned……the GOP allowed the TP to have its moment in the sun, so to speak, in the mid-term…..why?  A chance to win back the House….but the upcoming presidential election is too important to allow the right wing wackies have their way…..the GOP will return and support the mainstream Repub thought candidate….even if some of the far right candidates per chance win the nomination….they will be drawn back to the mainstream or lose financial support……NEVER fear…..the conservs will have their mainstream candidate in the next election…

Awkward!

We have all had those awkward moments in life…..you know like what to do with that free hand on a date…..or after sex when you bend over to get your pants and you fart….or when you are there to defend your thesis to a panel of hostile inquisitors because you are challenging conventional wisdom of the Founding Fathers…….we all have those moments, if not then you have NOT lived at all…….

Jon Huntsman has had an awkward moment……when he chose to announce his candidacy for the GOP nomination, he chose the very place the Reagan announced in 1980, a park in Jersey with the Statue of Liberty in the background….the problem is with Huntsman you could not see the statue and his head was framed by a tourist ferry….awkward!

It only got more so……the credentials issued to the press in attendance had the candidate’s name mis-spelled….John instead of Jon….awkward!

There is more……the press corps was to journey to New Hampshire for his speech in the Granite state…they were to fly on a separate plane……they were taken to the wrong plane….the one they were on was bound for Saudi Arabia…..awkward!

None of these will make or break his candidacy….just some minor bumps on the road to the nomination…just nice to see that even beautiful rich people can have awkward moments just as the rest of us humans.

Like I said…this is NOT a big deal….just shows that “Sh*t Happens!”….no matter how rich or dashing you maybe…..”Sh*t Happens”!

Kagan For SCOTUS

By now we all know who Pres. Obama has picked for the open position on the Supreme Court….just in case, it is Elena Kagan…..and immediately the Repubs have said that it is a disturbing choice or that she has NO litigation experience, she is the Solicitor General of the US, the top litigator in the government so that has a BS statement….what they are really pissed off about is that she has a short paper trail and it is one that the Repubs cannot use against her, with the exception of the recruiter thing.

If you recall back in the day when Sotomayor was in her hearings the Repubs were most concerned with activist judges…they are always concerned with activist judges unless they are conservative, then it is somehow okay for them to be opinionated……

But since Kagan has NOT worn a black robe she has NO trail that would be used to attack her on…..and since she has NOT been a judge, would not that make her perfect for the GOP to vote for, since she could NOT be an activist judge if she has not been a judge?

Just wondering…….it will be interesting to see how far the GOP is willing to go to defeat her and give Obama a loss in the political game…the one to watch will be Alabama’s Jeff Sessions….why?…..he was once nominated for a judgeship and did not make it….he has lots of animosity and will exact some small measure of revenge….

Who To Choose?

It is official!   President Obama’s search for a successor to Justice John Paul Stevens, who announced his retirement Friday, picks up where Obama left off last year.

Who will it be?  Who gets the nod?  Who?  Who?  Who?  It is time to change the complexion of the Court…and I am NOT talking about skin color….

USA Today is reporting on the leaders in this race for the seat:

Obama chose Sonia Sotomayor to fill the vacancy created when Justice David Souter retired. Three other candidates he interviewed for that vacancy remain possibilities: U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Chicago-based U.S. Appeals Court Judge Diane Wood.Among other legal figures likely in the mix, based on their credentials and backgrounds, are Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland, Attorney General Eric Holder and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who worked as an assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration.

All would most likely be good selection, but why do we need another judge?  Why not let someone who actually interprets the Constitution on a regular basis have a go?

My vote (for what it is worth) would be Jonathan Turley…..why?

He is a frequent witness before the House and Senate on constitutional and statutory issues as well as tort reform legislation. He lives in D.C. with his wife Leslie. He served as the consultant to the Florida House of Representatives on constitutional issues and also served as the consultant to the Puerto Rico House of Representatives on the impeachment of Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá. Professor Turley is also a nationally recognized legal commentator. Turley was ranked as 38th in the top 100 most cited “public intellectuals” in the recent study by Judge Richard Posner. Turley was found to be the second most cited law professor in the country. He was also ranked among the nation’s top 500 lawyers in 2008. (He was previously ranked in the top ten military lawyers as well as one of the forty top lawyers under the age of forty).

His articles on legal and policy issues appear regularly in national publications with over 500 articles in such newspapers as the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal. He is on the Board of Contributors of USA Today. In 2005, Turley was given the Columnist of the Year award for Single-Issue Advocacy for his columns on civil liberties by the Aspen Institute and the Week Magazine. Professor Turley also appears regularly as a legal expert on all of the major television networks. Since the 1990s, he has worked under contract as the on-air Legal Analyst for NBC News and CBS News to cover stories that ranged from the Clinton impeachment to the presidential elections. Professor Turley is often a guest on Sunday talk shows with over two-dozen appearances on Meet the Press, ABC This Week, Face the Nation, and Fox Sunday.

(Thanx to wiki for the bio on Turley)

I think he would be the perfect addition to the Court because he is intelligent and has experience in constitutional law…that would be a first for the Court….a person who actually works with constitutional law and understands it well enough to teach it to our future leaders……plus he is well known to Congress for his numerous times testifying and he is known by academia as a well versed teacher and interpreter of the Constitution……

Obama could do a lot worse, but he could do NO better than nominating Jonathan Turley to SCOTUS…..it is time to nominate for experience and not for connections…..

What Will 2012 Look Like?

Inkwell Institute

2010/12 Election Series–Part 2

Disclaimer:  This is my predictions alone on the course of the GOP primaries and will be effected by a lot of outside influences….I should not be help accountable if the field looks differently than I predict….stuff happens!

I know the Mayans have said it is over on Dec. 21st….but that is not what I am talking about……

At least the world of the GOP, that is……

There is has been lots and lots of talk about who will vie for the nomination of the GOP in 2012….the cool thing punditry is a lot like a blind date…you never know who you will get in the end (that was a play on words but an accurate description of politics).

If you follow the news then you have a good grasp of the usual suspects that will enter into the race to the nomination….if not names like Palin, Romney, Huckabee, Pawlenty, Gingrich and a host of minor players Barbour, Thune and the dark horse Lou Dobbs……

First, let me start with those candidates that will be just wasting money……Pawlenty, because he is a geek and the American public could care less about what his message is and then there is Thune…no not I tune……but Thune….he will go NOWHERE because NO one knows who the hell he is…..Dobbs…the American people are smart enough to spot a BS artist……

Now on to people that could have an outside chance at the nomination…..Gingrich and Barbour……but I do not think that either one will even attempt to gain the nomination….why?…..they are the only people in a party devoid of ideas that are smart enough to formulate a plan of attack……Both Barbour and Gingrich will stay on the side lines with the palys for the team….

Next, close but NO Cigar….Huckabee….he will make a good showing in a couple of early primaries but will lose his luster with the base…

As of today the two that stand more likely to win the GOP nomination for the 2012 election are Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney……  why Palin?  At this point in the process she has the Right in a dither she has a book, she has rock star appeal (which is good if you are a Repub and bad if you are a Dem) and yes,  she has a book (that some feel is a policy book….I want a hit off that joint)…depending on her popularity on FOX and her willingness to l;earn the issues she could well be the runner up in the nomination….

Okay Professor, who gets the nod and why?

Mitt Romney will be the nominee of the GOP to run against Obama…..he is politically sophisticated enough to handle the gig…he is good looking enough to carry the superficial……he has his own ideas that will carry some moderates….he can debate without trying to change the rules…..and he is not Palin…

So my prediction, right now, is that Mitt Romney will win the GOP nomination for the run in 2012 against Barack Obama…..

Palin/Beck For 2012

I tried….I swear I try to avoid posting on the Palin Saga….since she has NO experience past sign checks in Wasilla….she should NOT have the air time or camera time that she is receiving……but every time I try to move on past the manure pile….something always drags me back into the toilet…..

OMG!  The circus that was the last presidential election was not enough…..now we have Ms. Palin is on her whirlwind book tour….and then there is this:

Sarah Palin has suggested Fox News firebrand Glenn Beck could be someone she’d consider as a running mate if she makes a bid for the White House in two years.

“I can envision a couple of different combinations, if ever I were to be in a position to really even seriously consider running for anything in the future, and I’m not there yet,” Palin told the conservative news agency Newsmax.

This is just too rich to ignore…..do you recall the Rev. Wright circus?  If so, can you imagine the field day people will have with the crap that Beck spreads?  If you think that Palin has NO experience at being an effective politician, then Beck should scare the crap out of you.

She carves the spotlight and will do what she can to remain in the glow of media scrutiny…..media bites on whatever she says and reports and such and then she gets even more air time…..but is there a solution to the Palin saga?  You betcha! (he said with a wink)……IGNORE HER!……she will go away…when you give her the air of respectability you keep the teabaggers (HA…cannot say that without the sexual snicker) in the forefront of the political battle…they are a fringe……and the media does everything they can to marginalize any fringe movement….that is except the Palin Theater…..

For the sake of America’s political future……IGNORE HER!

The Circus That Is Sotomayor

Oh Hell–I was not going to get pulled into this debate because I think it is just plain silly–but after watching the hearing on Tuesday….I feel I must say something….anything.

What a crock of crap!  The Repubs are just playing silly!  They have nothing……and are trying to make something out of nothing.  They are failing…but that is nothing unusual…they have been failing since the 2008 election.  But they try…and try…and try….and each time they look more lame in the eyes of people with half a brain.

Okay on to the hearings…..my first reaction to Graham was…”you have got to be kidding”.  He basically told Sotomayor that she needs anger management;

“Now, let’s talk about you. I like you,” he said, to laughter from the audience. He then read anonymous comments from lawyers in New York who called Sotomayor overly “aggressive” and a “terror on the bench.”

This from the man that was the cheerleader for the angriest person in Washington, John McCain.  It is silly.  Beyond the shear absurdity of Graham’s comment, I want to know if Sotomayor was a man would that question or issue had been raised?

Then there was Kyl, whose job it was to bring up her “wise Latina” statement from 8 years previous to which Sotomayor responded:

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) asked whether Sotomayor would agree with President Obama’s statement that suggested there was space in judicial decision-making for “empathy” for certain disadvantaged groups. But Sotomayor flatly rejected that approach.

“We apply law to facts,” Sotomayor said. “We don’t apply feelings.”

She did an excellent job at bitch slapping the senator from Arizona saying that if he would watch the whole speech then he would see that she had a lot more to say that is being overlooked by the Repubs.

And then I got to watch the ranking Repub on the hearing bench, Sessions.  I have tried to see just what it is he is trying to do and the best I can come up with is….he is still pissed about being turned down as a judge in the 80’s and he just wants to get even.  This guy needs to go back to Alabama and get over himself.  Unfortunately, he came off as the stereotypical old white guy racist from the South.  Someone please tell him to shut up!

And there was a statement that about 80% of her decisions on the appellate court had been overturned by the Supreme Court…..someone needs to remind the Repubs that is what the Court does….that is why they are there…..Just another shot to the ass of the GOP…apparently they have NO idea what the Supreme Court does….or it is more important to attack a person than to get to the truth.

All in all she held her ground and answered each attack with truth and calmness.  She WILL be confirmed…the GOP is just doing what they do best….play games.

Sotomayor Gets Nod

Pres. Obama has nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the nomimee for the Supreme Court.  In case you have not heard,  she is a woman and a hispanic which if confirmed would make her an oddity in American history.

In the weeks to come you will hear all sorts of things about Sotomayor, both pro and con, as everyone tries to make a move to position themselves in the converstaion in the nomination process.  Of course, the “floating fat man” Rush has already started his attacks and they will most likely get louder and nastier.

I even heard a conservative call her a liberal activist judge….thinking……why is it the liberals are the only activists; those on the right are seldom called that…why?

I am sure that everyone interested will be gagging from the exposure when her vote comes up in the Congress.  We will even know her fav topping on pizza by the end of the process.  Sit back and enjoy the ride…it will be sickening at best!