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Subscribe to RSS“There’s an unusually high number of presidential flirts this year — that is, they say or hint that they might, but they probably won’t,” writes The Hill’s Heinze, singling out Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie.
BOLTON: Former UN Ambassador John Bolton is only entertaining a run for the presidency because of his “frustration at the lack of serious foreign policy thinking in the presumptive Republican field,” the Washington Post writes. “Although Bolton happily joins fellow GOP hopefuls in bashing President Obama’s response to the recent upheaval in the Arab world, that turmoil has revealed another political reality: The Republicans are all over the map.”
GINGRICH: At an event in Milwaukee to promote his documentary, Newt Gingrich told the crowd that “had he not left the House of Representatives in 1999 he wouldn't be in a position to make a run at the GOP nomination for president because now ‘I've had a chance to renew my energy and thoughts,’” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel writes.
HUCKABEE: Mike Huckabee and blogger Andrew Breitbart will headline the “Family Arena” show on May 1st in St. Charles, Missouri, the St. Louis Tribune writes.
“Mike Huckabee continues to generate the strongest favorable reactions from Republicans who recognize him, with a Positive Intensity Score of 26,” Gallup notes. “Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann follow, with Positive Intensity Scores of 20. Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain are at 19, and Sarah Palin is at 18.”
“Sources close to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee are denying reports that Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour is seeking an endorsement from him for the 2012 Republican nomination,” Fox News writes.
HUNTSMAN: Huntsman’s campaign in waiting tells The Daily Caller that it will avoid focusing resources in Iowa, citing “a huge disadvantage” when it comes to fundraising, infrastructure and time, according to a Republican strategist aligned with the campaign.
PAWLENTY: Pawlenty said he thinks the U.S. is headed for a double-dip recession. "I think we're headed for a double-dip. That's my personal view," Pawlenty said on Fox, per The Hill.
ROMNEY: Former New Hampshire GOP Chairman John H. Sununu, who was always expected to endorse Romney, is already arranging high-level private meetings for the prospective candidate, NH Journal reports. “According to more than one source, Sununu arranged a dinner meeting at the Bedford Village Inn earlier this month between Sununu, Romney, Romney’s wife and Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid... McQuaid was harsh on Romney during the 2008 New Hampshire primary. His paper endorsed Sen. John McCain and criticized Romney repeatedly.”
In an interview with Jonathan Gruber, an MIT professor with whom the Massachusetts health and human services department worked closely to develop then-Governor Mitt Romney’s health care coverage plan, the Washington Post writes that Gruber thinks it’s “sad” that Romney is running away from the plan, which Gruber says “gave birth to one of the greatest pieces of social legislation in our history,” President Obama’s health care reform legislation.
A survey of Republican heavy-hitters reveals that the majority of “Insiders” think Mitt Romney is the favorite to win the GOP presidential nomination, the National Journal writes. “’Romney still has fundamental advantages no one else has going into this race even with carryover questions from 2008,’ said one Republican Insider. ‘Probably the shakiest GOP front-runner in modern history, but it’s still his to lose,’ said another.”
SANTORUM: In an interview with a Laconia, New Hampshire radio station, Rick Santorum “said the Social Security system would be in mulch better shape if there were fewer abortions,” the AP writes. “He says the system has design flaws, but the reason it is in big trouble is that there aren’t enough workers to support retirees. He blamed that on what he called the nation’s abortion culture. He says that culture, coupled with policies that do not support families, deny America what it needs — more people.”
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“had he not left the House of Representatives in 1999 he wouldn't be in a position to make a run at the GOP nomination for president because now ‘I've had a chance to renew my energy and thoughts,"
Stop it Newt!..........Now that you're tired or can't run women, time to run for President!
Run Newt Run!
Newt is a great distraction and getting lots of money for his phony PAC that spents more than 90% of the money on Newts expenses before he ever announced a "possible" run. It is a great scam he is running. As long as it is Republican money being wasted on this guy I don't mind at all. Have at it Newt! Continue with the crazy talk!
I loved Newt's speech to the "Values" voters in Iowa last Saturday. In talking about his leaving wife # 1 for wife # 2 then leaving wife # 2 for wife # 3 he tried to explain it away by saying he's now "FOUND JESUS" is 67 years old and has a couple of grandkids. So what he's actually saying is he's too old to be out whoring around all the time like he used to.
The entire gang of prospective Republican candidates for 2012 is a joke -- a very bad joke.
The GOP has no serious candidates. Why, that’s because no one wants to waste their future chances at the Presidency. How many times has a loser come back and won the presidency? The number is five who actually ran for the Presidency and eight if you count VP candidates. In case you were wondering, who the last one was, it was Nixon... and before that, you have to go all the way back to William Henry Harrison in 1840! So if anyone thinks that a viable candidate is going to challenge Obama they are sadly mistaken. The GOP's nominee for 2012 will just be cannon fodder if you like the lamb led to the slaughter.
Santorum wants to follow the Madoff play book...and will take any opportunity to make his case that women should not be allowed to make their own reproductive decisions..If you are against having the right to choose - fine... DO NOT HAVE AN ABORTION...where is this minimally invasive government all the Republicans are all talking about???.... It seems to me that they are trying to stick their noses into the most private of our decisions...the Republicans are moving toward a Christian Nanny State.... with their interpretation of the Scriptures..
Now Santorum is saying abortion is what is wrong with social security. He said abortion has killed so many that there is not enough people to support social security. Does Santorum not realize that there is not enough jobs to employ the people that are here? This type of thinking is probably why he lost reelection a few years ago. A complete religious radical far, far right wing loser that will never be President.
I remember back when the anti smoking bills were working their way through Congress several Republicans floated the idea that if too many people stopped smoking that would mean more people living longer thus straining Social Security. I don't remember if Santorum was one of those but I wouldn't be surprised if he was. He's just another in the current crop of goof-ball Republicans running for president. The people in PA booted him out. He's a has been just like News.
Good thing we have primaries before the conventions. Also a good thing that we have the first amendment to separate the wheat from the chaff during the primaries.
If Rep. Santorum is right, and social security would be in better shape if more workers (population) were paying into it, then there are two corollaries: 1) it is a good program, but just needs to be restructured (so let's not do away with it). 2) if we allowed immigrants to be full fledged members of the work force, we would also not have problems with social security, so we should provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers, and we should allow the DREAM act. Finally, if we do desire a larger population, we must have "incentives," like health care (pre-natal care for mothers and health care for the whole family), a safety net for workers in troubled times (unemployment, WIC program) and good, accessible education and child care.
Without getting into the issue of a woman's control of her reproductive rights, anyone who is against abortion and feels that each life is a "gift" must be willing to back that up economically -- if our children (and unborn children) are most precious, we should allocate resources to them proportionately rather than slash and cut every program put in place to safeguard them.
kate - BS on the dream act unless the illegals (male and female) are required to serve a minimum of 4 years active military service stationed both abroad and domestically with an honorable discharge prior to any university education. Any failure to show that the individual fails to live up to the US established guidelines for good citizenship is gone. Let them earn the right to stay and be productive members of our society.
Women who want to pop out kids should pay their own way. Any incentives given should be conditioned on requiring the father to pay support and the mothers to undergo job training. 2nd generation welfare and beyond not allowed.
We already have unemployment benefits, WIC and COBRA + obamacare for kids, what more do you want?
Budgetary cuts are required to prevent insolvency in our government budgets. As revenues increase and our debt goes down at a sustainable rate, programs previously cut can be re-evaluated for new funding that can be sustained. Failure to create sustainable programs will only mean that everyone loses down the road.
American -- why shouldn't EVERYONE serve a minimum of 4 years of active duty before getting full rights of citizenship? Why shouldn't EVERYONE who fails to live up to guidelines for good citizenship lose rights? I would guess that most people who have attained citizenship here would do much better on any test of civics than native-born citizens.
As to your second point, "women who want to pop out kids" should be made to pay their own way. Okay but women who don't want to "pop out kids" shouldn't have to, then. So no regulation of contraception or abortion. My statement was in response to Rep. Santorum, who feels that there should not be any abortion. If there is no abortion, per government regulation, there must be support for children, per government regulation. If budget cuts must be made, they must be made in ways that reflect our stated support for the dignity of life. As for the federal deficit, why not have an annual "pay down the principal" fee added on to our taxes so that the interest on our debts does not spiral out of control and so that our children and grandchildren don't face the mountain of debt we keep saying we don't want to give them. We pay now, so they don't pay later.
kate
You make too much sense. Prepare to be shouted down by your opponents,...
Keep posting!
That's the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, not Tribune.
Comments like this are just hilarious . I sometimes don't know whether to laugh or cry. America may be on the decline but its not because of the reasons that people think it is.
The main reason is the inability for Americans to take their vote seriously and vote for serious candidates. Rep. Santorum is one of our Congressional leaders? ( really ??? ). We have got to stop voting for candiadtes based entirely on popularity. This didn't work well in High School and still doesn't.
Second, we need some SERIOUS term limits on these jokers so they can have their say and then go back to private practice and work like the rest of us.
If abortion is the reason that we don't have enough people paying into Social Security, then I have a quick-fix suggestion for him: Why don't we take the 20 million illegal aliens - legalize them and force them to pay into Social Security ?
Problem solved or are those the wrong kind of people?
Yeah that's it! Abortion is the reason! Wow another light bulb moment from the man from Pennsylvania! It couldn't be that the money we put in goes into the Treasury's General Fund with the rest of the taxes instead of it's own private account there ol' Ricky now could it? The man's an idiot! Talk about a one trick pony!
Should be an interesting primary season next year.
I cannot believe Santorium thought about it before saying it. No one - I mean no one - could be that stupid. That is dumber than anything coming out of Bachman or Palin's mouth. Wow!
Run Bolton run! I am the eggman, they are the eggman, I am the Walrus goo goo boo joo.
Please Run, Sarah and Michelle. This would be so entertaining.
I'm glad Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum is focusing on something sensible.
Huntsman: Who's Huntsman?
Breitbart headlining at a "Family Arena" show? Since when is lying a "family" value?
The Huckabee/Breitbart show was reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch -- there's not a St. Louis Tribune. (Also, Family Arena is the name of the venue -- no need for quote marks.)