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Subscribe to RSSPolitico: “A presidential primary favorite is emerging among the ranks of congressional Republicans: none of the above. Interviews on both sides of the Capitol have revealed widespread concern about the lackluster quality of the current crop of candidates and little consensus on who Republican senators and House members would like to see in the race.”
BACHMANN: Michele Bachmann will make two stops in Iowa today as part of a lecture series organized by conservative group The Family Leader, the AP reports. Ron Paul will also speak at a Family Leader event at Dordt College, rescheduled from earlier due to poor weather.
BARBOUR: Speaking at the Spartanburg GOP convention, Haley Barbour praised House Speaker John Boehner’s steady positions during this round of the fight over government spending cuts, the Spartanburg Herald-Journal writes. “‘Compromises don't usually get people to stand up in their chairs and do flips,’ Barbour said. ‘I thought Boehner did very wisely. He took this as far as he could go. He made real savings, real cuts. And now, he's ready to move on strategically to the debt ceiling.’”
Barbour was mum on whether he thought Florida should be punished if it goes forward with an early primary, the St. Petersburg Times writes. “‘I'm going to run in the Florida primary whenever they have it,’ Barbour said, declining to give a yes-or-no answer. ‘And I'm going to run in the Florida primary if I run for president. I'm going to run to win the Florida primary whether they have any delegates or have as many delegates or twice as many delegates or no delegates. So it's up to Florida, what they want to do.’”
DANIELS: The Washington Post profiles Max Eden, a Yale senior who started an initiative to draft Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to run for president, and notes some of the other politicians for whom draft campaigns have been set up. “The Draft Daniels movement may be furthest along, but at least a dozen groups have set up Web sites and are circulating petitions to draft various candidates into the 2012 race, from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and his father, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.).”
HUNSTMAN: Jon Huntsman has added another primary-state commencement speech to his agenda, according to Fox News. Huntsman will give the graduation address at the University of South Carolina on May 7, having already RSVP’d to Southern New Hampshire University’s commencement on May 21.
PALIN: She praised Donald Trump’s “investigation” of President Obama’s birth certificate: “More power to him. He’s not just throwing stones, you know — from the sidelines. He’s digging in there. He’s paying for researchers to know why President Obama would have spent $2 million to not show his birth certificate. So more power to him," she said on FOX, per The Hill.
PAWLENTY: “Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty won the straw poll vote of conservative activists at this year’s Pennsylvania Leadership conference,” PoliticsPA writes. “Among the 189 votes in the first ballot, Pawlenty outperformed Tea Party-linked businessman Herman Cain who came in second, and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, third.”
Pawlenty will appear at International Market Square in Minneapolis on May 18 for a “VIP event,” Fox writes, suggesting it could be the day the former Minnesota governor formally announces a presidential bid.
Republican presidential candidates like Tim Pawlenty, who became the first candidate to ever announce an exploratory committee via Facebook message, are looking to recreate, and try to surpass, President Obama’s success with online fundraising and social networking in 2008, the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes.
ROMNEY: The Hill notes that Mitt Romney has no public events scheduled for next week, and that the only engagement on his public calendar is an appearance in New Hampshire at the end of April for a summit hosted by Americans for Prosperity.
Perhaps a reason for the empty schedule: Democrats in Massachusetts and neighboring New Hampshire plan to celebrate Tuesday’s fifth anniversary of Massachusetts’ universal health care law with mock birthday parties in honor of former Gov. Mitt Romney, who passed the law in 2006, according to the Boston Globe.
SANTORUM: Santorum won the straw poll at the GOP convention in Greenville County, South Carolina on Saturday, Politico reports.
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I'm trying to wrap my head around this birther nonesense. Since Trump came in second among Republican primary candidates in a recent poll, it's obvious this smear campaign against the President is a winning strategy. It makes me really sad, but politics is like that: ugly, stupid, venal, and irrational. I just wish that God, or the ghost of George Washington, would reach down from heaven and smite the Republican Party for taking that tack. No chance of that, it's just one more slander in a long line of Republican campaigns.
Seems like somebody is worried. I'm happy to hear that you think God only supports Democrats. You're a hoot Amy, you really are.
Let me help you. Obama was born in Hawaii, all agree on this. But his cynical handlers refuse to release a birth certificate document in the vaults of an Hawaii agency. Even leftist Chris Mattthews cant understand why they dont release the document.
The reason is for cynical political purposes, so lame moonbats can prattle on about "birthers' and "racism". It is ugly, venal and stupid of Obama's handlers to spin this stupid issue.
Well, no, obviously we don't all agree on this or we wouldn't be having this conversation...nor would we be subject to the rantings of "The Donald".
...and, if we all agree that he was born in Hawaii, why would we need to see his birth certificate?
Bob-1887910
You are spreading lies. The birth certificate has been released. The birth announcements have been provided. It isn't the "moonbats" who are keeping this alive, since Donald Trump is all over the airwaves swiftboating the President on his birth. I will never vote Republican again. I am ashamed I ever voted for a Republican. The Republican Party doesn't just attack the President - they attack the foundation this democracy was built on. It's not about Obama, it's about honor in opposition, about honesty in the political process.
I don't think Amy is saying God sides with the Democrats, he is on the side of truth. But now that you mention it Jesus rode a donkey not an elephant.
haha, that's a good one Forrest.
"or the ghost of George Washington, would reach down from heaven and smite the Republican Party for taking that tack"
I wish there was far less emphasis on it as well. There is too much incompetency in Mr. Obama's administration that needs to be highlighted, but all too often, the birth certificate rides to the top of the wave.
There is SO much there that would fill books, but as long as people keep bringing up the birth issue, the real issues will never be dealt with either.
Of course, let's face it, it was the supporters of Mr. Obama who played the race card even during his campaign for president.
And let's also not forget that one of the Left's very own brought up the birther issue first: Hillary Clinton. So in point of fact, it isn't George Washington who needs to smite the Republicans for taking that tack. One of the Kennedys should probably have that honor with a good smack to the head of Mrs. Clinton.
Why not list Ron Paul here? He's been to Iowa and New Hampshire half a dozen times in recent months, is committed to being in the May 5th GOP debate in SC, raised far more in campaign contributions than anyone you listed here last quarter, won the CPAC straw poll the last two years, and has finished fifth or better in just about every national poll that includes him. But you left him off the list of potential candidates? Why?
You also left off former NM governor Gary Johnson who has been campaigning all over the country for the last year and a half.
Unfortunately this seems to be a recurring theme.
Anybody that believes this birther nonsense is not qualified to hold any public office. For somebody that keeps telling anybody that will listen how smart he is Donald Trump has been a spewing fountain of stupidity. Every time I see Trump I think of Fess Parker as Daniel Boone, It is hard to take somebody seriously when they are campaigning for president wearing a raccoon skin hat. We have not had anybody in public office that wears a coonskin cap since Davey Crocket.
Donald Trump knows that President Obama was born in the United States. He is just playing to the birther racist, who no matter what proof is placed in front of them will go along with the person who backs their crazy talk.
I have been informed that it is not a coonskin cap, it is his hair!
Ah, the ol' "racist card" being played once again by the Left. It's old. Very old.
This country runs on a document that is known as the U.S. Constitution. It's very specific as to the qualifications for being president.
Even WITHOUT the birth issue, Mr. Obama is a complete and utter failure as president. Carter looks like a genius compared to Obama. The trouble of course is that any time any derogatory remark is made toward Mr. Obama, the person making the comment is automatically charged with racism. That's a pretty good system, which only works if you're a person of color.
Poor Jimmy Carter. Had he been black, he would be viewed as a genius and possible rocket scientist today. Oh well...who could have known that if a candidate's supporters play the race card DURING the campaign ("This country will NEVER elect a black man!!!") and said supporters continue to play the race card throughout his term as president, then said candidate can do and say just about anything he wants to do and say because he's become "fire" proof.
I will take Allen West any day over every other candidate out there for the next president! He's a true American. He's a decorated military vet...oh, and he's black.
Did John McCain release his birth certificate before he ran for President? He wasn't born in the US......Why aren't people outraged at this....suppose he won - would there be all this consternation about where he was born?
Because Hillary, Obama & Claire Mcasckill introduced and passed a senate bill declaring John Mccain an American citizen. Look it up. Quite a coincidence wouldn't you say, that his direct opponents supported a bill ensuring the best man to lose didn't get booted out of the race? Mccain was the Manchurian Candidate, O was chosen by the invisible power brokers. It's all a dog & pony show.
BECAUSE John McCain was born on a U.S. Military base, which makes him a natural born citizen. Why don't people like yourself actually know what the U.S. Constitution says?
Give me a freakin' break if I hear that question one more time.
I can easily ignore the Obama birth issue. He's so incompetent that he makes Jimmy Carter look like a particle physicist. Yet, there are so many lefties who worship the man, he can do no wrong.
Ron Paul 2012. Get it right this time.
I am waiting for Ron Paul's decision to run for president.
Ron Paul has about the same chance as Rue Paul.
RON PAUL
2012 The Time Is Now
Why is Ron Paul not listed? He has won more polls and collected more money than ANY of the other candidates. Based off that information, Ron Paul has more of a chance than any other candidate -- unless MSNBC is trying to choose the candidates for the American people.
You wouldn't do that, now would you?
The problem with Ron Paul is that we don't need another professional politician in the White House. Ron Paul has been campaigning for as long as i have been alive, and his funds are in his PAC, not his campaign fund.
Where is Herman Cain, who has a much higher positive intensity score? Why is his name left off many polls, even where Ron Paul is mentioned?
Why wasn't Ron Paul included in this list? He's anti-war, has already raised a lot of campaign money this year (more than anyone else), and has consistently fought for liberty his entire career.
Stop marginalizing Paul and start treating him like the viable candidate that he is!
Oh, please. Yet another grim chapter from the never-ending Gothic horror tale, "McCain, or the Modern Prometheus" by Mary Shelley.
John McCain created a Frankenstein's monster when he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. You could see it all unfolding when they were on the campaign trail: McCain (ostensibly the main candidate) and his wife Cindy would walk out onto a proscenium stage - and there would be good ol' Sarah, downstage of everyone, front and center, waving, waving, waving, while McCain stood there looking like a collapsing soufflé.
Behind Sarah Palin's pose is just more pose. Like so many public figures on the modern American political scene, she earns her bread and butter by tapping into fear - but, as is the case with Trump, her blind ambition is no laughing matter: it makes her very dangerous.
(Posted earlier on cbsnews.com)
The list of "Gross Odd People" (GOP), and "Really Not Competent" (RNC) talking about running for President in 2012 is real joke. These are the "Super Spewers," who represent the social, and cultural ignorance that exists among the Tea Beggers. The spewers of the "Crazy Conservative Crap" (CCC) have no chance of beating President Obama in 2012. The President would rip them to poltical shreds in any debate in 2012, and then continue their poltical destruction on the campaign trail. "Trampy Trump" thinks that our President is not an American Citizen! Wow! This individual is truely ignorant! The mental illness continues with "Bitchy Bachmann" who is so hateful, and uneducated on so many topics. Then there is "Nutty Newt," who is so two-faced, that he thinks he is actually clever. In Wisconsin, our nation has observed how "Whacky Walker" is destroying unions, and the Middlle Class. In Congress, our nation has seen the economics of greed sponsored by "Richie Rich Ryan!" In the background we have "Puppet Palin" the puke of politics spewing the "Bonehead Birther" theme. Again! Yes America! These are the GOP/RNC clowns. Now performing under the big tent at the traveling "Carnival of Clowns" coming to a town near you. "Hey! Hey!! Ho! Ho! The Party of No has got ot go!!
Wow, you're amazing! You DO realize that the same can be said about many in the Democratic area? Should we take a poll of just how many ultra-rich Dems there are who have made "public service" their personal form of welfare?
"Tea Beggers?" Absurd. We simply want to pay fewer taxes to pay for all the social programs that the Dems seem to favor.
Want to kill your unborn child? No worries, the overtaxed Americans will pay for it! Want to get free medical pot? No problem! How about free this or free that?
If you're so progressive, then wouldn't it be far better to move to a country where Socialism is already all the rage? It doesn't work there by the way either...
You've spewed enough hatred in your rant to show what you're really like. But go ahead and continue to point out the speck in other people's eyes.
The more I listen to "progressives," the more loony I realize they are...thanks for proving it.
Gosh wait...am I to understand that Mr. Obama LIED to the Speaker of the House? No way! Mr. Obama would NEVER do that! Oh wait...this is the same Mr. Obama who has skirted the U.S. Constitution any number of times. It's the same Mr. Obama who has said that the U.S. would primarily have an advisory role in Libya. This is the same Mr. Obama who calls the military war in Libya a "kinetic military procedure" so he does not have to call it a war and would then be impeached for doing only what Congress can do.
Yep...sounds like the same Mr. Obama to me. He's lied from the beginning and it appears to be his native language.
modres, stop talking bs. If you actually read the war powers resolution act you would have seen that the President only has to inform (which he did) Congress of any military action. He then has 60 days to have Congress vote for approval of military action or a declaration of war. If not, after the 60 days he still has another 30 days to get the military out.
Not only that, have you heard of senate resolution 85, voted for unanimously in the senate on march 1, 2011, where they called for a no fly zone being imposed over Libya (you know what has been done).
Not only that, our constitution says we will honor all treaties. The UN is a treaty, we are part of it, the UN voted for this, and as a member of the UN we agree to be a part of this.
So exactly where has he skirted the Constitution? Agree or disagree, but because you disagree with the action doesn't mean he did anything illegal or "skirted" the constitution.