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Subscribe to RSSLITTLETON, N.H.-- New Hampshirites living south of the White Mountains would have been hard pressed not to cross paths with Mitt Romney Wednesday, in some form or fashion.
There he was, up bright and early, at the Stage Restaurant in Keene. Romney was already on his second major television interview of the day by 9:00 a.m., while patrons sipped coffee and tried not to spill it and gaggles of press packed the tiny diner.
"If we knew at the time of our entry into Iraq that there were no weapons of mass destruction, if somehow we had been given that information, why, obviously we would not have gone in," Romney told NBC's Chuck Todd on MSNBC's "Daily Rundown" this morning, generating just one of many headlines to come.
Four interviews and fewer than four hours later it was lunch time, and the former governor and his wife were passing out slices of pizza and cracking jokes in Newport. Romney ordered his pizza Hawaiian style, but with olives, and left a tip at the counter.
"Hope we find it," Romney said of his pie, keenly aware of the crush of reporters and patrons who would forever block his path back to the counter.
Whether he ever ate the pizza may remain a mystery. Romney next showed up carrying sandwiches - dozens of them - for the press trailing him on this four-day, blitzkrieg tour of the state considered a must-win for his presidential ambitions.
Passing out subs with abandon, Romney kidded about the reluctance of some reporters to accept a simple sandwich.
"What are guys eating back there? Filet mignon with some brie, is that it back here? What's going on?" The former Massachusetts governor said, before mocking another famously patrician politician from his home state. "This is the John Kerry bus, back there, I'm sorry."
From there it was on to cutting steel with lasers like a movie villain in Hanover (complete with stylish eye protection), and serving Spaghetti to dozens of supporters at a VFW in Ashland to round out the day.
Get all that?
Somehow, between the food, the bus packed with surrogates and friends (New Hampshire's own Sen. Kelly Ayotte, former Gov. John Sununu and Former Sen. Judd Gregg tagged along for much of the day) and yes, the hand-shaking with voters, Romney's campaign remembered: this trip is business. The high-visibility, high-intensity schedule is meant to shore up support for Romney in a state most political observers believe he must hold, particularly if he falters in Iowa, or if his poll numbers in South Carolina and Florida continue to lag far from striking distance of the current front-runner, Newt Gingrich.
With a constant crush of cameras and national attention at every stop, Romney kept the news media busy, churning out story after story.
The multimillionaire Romney told NBC News he didn't intend to release his tax returns, even if he were to become his party's nominee.
"Never say never, but I don't intend to do so." Romney told NBC, bouncing along in his tricked-out bus.
Then there was the payroll tax cut fight, which Romney tried to stay largely above, managing to ding the President on an issue that has largely devolved into a battle between house and senate Republicans.
"Leaders are involved in the process, as opposed to standing back and just criticizing the people who are in the process. The Democrats have the majority in the Senate. This is not just a Republican matter, this is Republicans and Democrats," Romney said in Keene. "The president should've been working with his leaders in his own party and he should've been reaching across the aisle to find among Republicans those who he thinks could come to common position with the Democrats."
Romney also stoked the flames in his burgeoning battle with Newt Gingrich, warning the former speaker that the stinging ads aired in early states by a Super PAC supporting Romney was just the beginning of the negative onslaught to come.
"If you can't stand the relatively modest heat right now, wait until Obama's hell's kitchen shows up," Romney said. "Obama is putting together a billion dollars, he's going to be attacking us day and night -- he's already attacking me."
That brought a retort from Newt Gingrich, also campaigning in the state, later in the day.
"I'll tell you what. If he wants to test the heat, I'll meet him anywhere in Iowa next week, one-on-one, 90 minutes no moderator, just a timekeeper." Gingrich told NBC News. "He wants to try out the kitchen? I'll be happy to debate him anywhere. We'll bring his ads, and he can defend [them]."
But Romney was already past the kitchen by then - making his only non food-related stop of the day at Hypertherm, a steel cutting business in Hanover, where he praised the ingenuity and skill of the workers there, and defended his record at Bain Capital, when a voter questioned him about layoffs.
"The truth is this, the business I was in, called Bain Capital, we invested in over 100 different businesses. Some of them didn't work. Some failed. Some ultimately laid off individuals and some of them went out of business," Romney said, before spinning the question around into a prelude of a possible future democratic attack against him. "I know the Obama administration will try and put free enterprise on trial. And guess what? That happens."
By the time Romney was serving meals a few hours later and fifty miles down the road at a VFW hall, the news had largely been drawn out of the day, like blood being taken. There was nothing left to give in Ashland, except spaghetti, well-wishes for the holidays, and stories from Olympic heroes past meant to warm the heart on a night so icy, some supporters called the campaign just to be sure the event wouldn't be cancelled.
If some New Hampshirites failed to see Romney today - either on TV, in person, on traveling the winding back roads of New Hampshire in his enormous blue and white bus, fear not. Tomorrow is another day, with seven more stops in the North Country, and at least one more network television interview.
By then, surely, every resident of the Granite State will have had their own run-in with Mitt Romney.
If not, he'll be back. Of that you can be certain.
Mitt Romney has been the on-again/off-again GOP frontrunner all year, and for him, there's no state more make-or-break than New Hampshire. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.
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Keep going Mitts, talk your self right out of the candidacy!!!
With Bain Capital, you did nothing but kill jobs, sure you brought companies back from the brink, but got a clue? the government is NOT a business!
You can't just cut it up and sell off the bad parts, and the government does not operate at a profit.
All your rich profile business acumen will do you NO good when it comes to negotiating with congress.
Get a clue will ya for a change. Go join the democrats, some day you might be elected to dog catcher.
When the media is talking about "Shoring Up" your campaign, you think you are winning, and this is in the state where you are considered strongest? Get a clue, you are done.
His business acumen served him pretty well in Massachusetts. Balanced budget, cut taxes 19 times. Took care of a 3 billion dollar deficit and left a nearly 2 billion dollar rainy day fund. By the way, I think he understands that government is not about profit since he didn't even take a salary while running the state.
Maybe you are the one who needs a clue.
Egilman - get a clue,
He killed some jobs to save/generate a greater number of jobs in the long term. Would you rather businesses went totally bankrupt and everyone lost their jobs?
Don't you think with so much experience in his line of work he would know what businesses need to succeed so we can turn this economy around? Obama certainly doesn't - his economic advisory board is a mess, he doesn't know how to promote innovation and jobs, but simply throws stimulus money wherever. He's just really good at politicking.
Romney took failing businesses and turned them around, don't you think he could do the same with a failing country?
Look Egilman, as Romney famously said, "Corporations are people too"
So when he says "WE THE PEOPLE" he means the corporations, not Americans.
I don't know why you complain.
I'm just hearing real desperation now against Romney. No one can find
anything wrong with the guy so they must make up stuff. It must mean Romney is
way up again in the polls and with his odds of winning the Presidency.
Romney has stated that he's a big boy and he can handle the unfair smear
campaigns that Obama's hell kitchen wants to put people through. I have to
admit if I were to have to create the perfect candidate to beat Obama, that
candidate would look a lot like Mitt Romney.
Go Mitt Go! 2012 & 2016 for an American Century
All right Boys,
you wanna know why Mitts will never be a republican president?
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dMcjJEXt9To
Take a good look at that and tell me if that is a republican or a democrat talking.
If it waddles and quacks like a duck, it's a DUCK!
If it walks and talks like a progressive, it's a DEMOCRAT!
The conservative base will never forgive him for this and singlehandedly destroying the republican party in Massachusetts.
Seems to me like I've already gotten a clue to the truth. ;-0)
I wonder where Romney's shiny new bus was made...
shhh...I heard the president has two of them and flies around on air force one with thousands in tow...just watch faux news for idiots for the facts...
so who is your candidate??
The conservative Club for Growth points out a whole lot of inconsistencies in Romney's real record in Massachusetts: Under state law he had no choice but to balance the state budget, so how did he do that?? He RAISED $259 MILLION dollars in 2004 alone. He proposed an SUV tax ( shot down by the legislature) --his tax "loophole" closures were almost halved after business got together and pressured those reversals-- There's a REASON conservatives don't trust him and that the flip-flopper charge sticks. he has changed his positions on key issues not once but several times depending on how the wind was blowing--
Well...Mickey...we all know where Obama's shiny buses were made, right?
Romney goes with the wind which ever way the wind blows so goes Romney Romney's attack adds are the worst may be the worst in the history of politics in OUT RIGHT lies , documented verifiable evidence that they are lies , Even the Left leaning news media is appalled by the magnitude of these lies
THE QUESTION do we really want another liar as president
You are referring to Obama??
Oh and I came across this little news trinket...
'www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2011/dec/20/lie-year-democrats-claims-republicans-voted-end-me/
Yes I am sure he is talking about Obama liar-in-chief!
Romney's bus was made in Ohio. thats right OHIO. And he was absolutely a conservative as Governor. What he did in Mass as a republican was nothing short of amazing given his 85% democratic legislature.
Romney sidesteps tax dispute; Gingrich dives in:
Mitt Romney refused to be pinned down Wednesday on how Congress should break an impasse that threatens to raise taxes for 160 million workers -- the latest pressing policy debate the Republican presidential hopeful has sidestepped. Rival Newt Gingrich, in contrast, castigated Congress for "an absurd dereliction of duty."
Every now and then Newt slips and says the truth. Right-wing social engineering is a favorite.
Romney needs to retire to that mult-million mansion he's building in California. He has no earthly idea what the middleclass is all about and certainly will never be addressed as "Mr. President".
The current President certainly is not in the middleclass either
true. but unlike mitt, he wan't born with a silver spoon and shows us how even the middle class can rise up to the top.
CRinCali - How is that again? Through corrupt Chicago politics?
Nope through plain smart and hard work...(you too can write a book and launch a successful presidential campaign without a millionaire daddy...but you can expect a lot of derision for it.) Don't ya just hate it when that happens?
Republican's need to remember the old saying ( watch what you wish for you might just get it ). They want deficit reduction, come January 1 2013 they will get $6.2 trillion worth of cuts. $1 trillion dollars they agreed on just to raise the debt. ceiling. The $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts the super committee couldn't agree on ($600 billion in defense cuts and $600 billion in non-discretionary spending cuts ) and the $4 trillion in Bush tax cuts that expire on that same day. That all totals to $6.2 trillion and President Obama doesn't have to do anything but sit back and watch them go in to effect. Obama played the Republican's like a real pro and they didn't even see it coming.
Tax increases aren't cuts.
Slaughtering part of that bloated pig you Democratic clowns have created in Washington would be cuts.
The other MSNBC article detailing how Medicare forks out billions to any two-bit thief that tries to scam them shows what pathetic, useless imbeciles you leftwing stooges are.
You and your garbage government programs, run by neanderthals, into the ground.
Let's have some cuts. 6.2 trillion sound great, as a start. End Medicare, end welfare, end Social Security, and refund all the tax dollars that pays for those things to the taxpayers.
Medicare fraud is a regulation/oversight problem, and your anger should be directed at rich doctors who are the ones doing the scam. Welfare was already ended.
Social Security is not bankrupt or a ponzi scheme, but actually a very successful and popular program. If people did not pay into safety nets such as this via FICA with-holdings, we would need welfare again.
If you want to cut something that is bloated, look at the Dept. of Defense and in particular Homeland Security. But most of all, for those conservatives who are nostalgic for the old days, when we go to war "we all need to do our bit" as they used to say, starting with paying our taxes.
No, my anger is directed where it should be, you stupid, idiotic Democrats and your garbage programs run by neanderthals.
You spend $460 billion a year on Medi-Scare and you don't have enough money to control costs? Shoot yourself.
You suck at managing anything.
Social Security is garbage. It is not successful. It was supposed to cost taxpayers 3% of their income after 1948. Today it costs 6.6%, which your employer has to match, meaning you get less in raises, and it's still going bankrupt.
It's even worse for any self-employed person starting out, trying to get his/her own business going, now that SS taxes have ballooned to 6.6%, employer and employee. The self-employed guy has to pay both, on SS and Mediscare, so he pays 16% payroll taxes, before he even pays a dime in income tax.
You guys suck at doing this period.
Remove your massive mistakes from our government, and give all taxpayers an instant raise...of their own money coming back.
I forgot to mention that people who work as brokers investing for people, are put up against a wall and shot when they get the kind of garbage returns on investment that we get for all the money we and our employer put into Social Security our whole lives.
Oooooo the risky stock market that all rich Democrats and most middle class ones too, put their own money into. ooooooo so risky, the Dow's quadrupled since the 80's, I'm scared.
Er, but uh, no you can't invest in the stock market, or bonds or real estate or anything that would you make you hundreds of thousands of dollars richer in retirement than SS because uh...it's a....social insurance system...uh from the 30s...so uhhh, sorry you're stuck with it.
Thanks DemocRATS.
chesty...i guess all those investors loved their returns in Oct 2008. You sound like a single, bitter old man that wants others to be just as miserable as himself. Sorry, to disappoint. I am too happy not worrying about my "quadrupled" investments. Maybe in your next life you'll be born a happier individual that is not swayed by the whims of the stock market or a democratic presidency.
Chesty...the reps suck even more...they can never find any waste fraud or abuse in a nearly 1 Trillion dollar a year security apparatus...the 700 billion a year in defense spending alone puts your concerns about medicare to rest...hey wasn't it Bush and republicans who were in charge when 911 happened? Doesn't that make them the most incompetent bunch of boobs ever?
Chesty: You make sure you're first in line in giving back that "unearned" social security now, right? Even a near depression and the loss of billions of investment dollars can't shake your faith in your ability to earn your way to riches in the stock market with your retirement dollars. I'm sure you're now way too busy counting your millions to worry about retirement funds. Here on planet earth, we don't need any more proof that the markets are not infallible and that wall street is no place for those who cannot afford risk. You and your let em eat cake party have proven your incompetence at governing over and again with your failure to understand basic economics. No thanks. We're not going back (and thanks to this field of mental and moral midgets vying for the Republican Presidential nomination, there's not much chance of that.)
I am uncomfortable with all the negative advertising Mitt and his PAC are doing against Newt. I support Romney, but this just looks BAD.. Mitt, please win on your merits, not by trashing the other candidates.
It's easy to make look Newt bad. Romney or Paul is better than Newt.
Romney is more of an idiot than I thought. Take, for example, his claim that had we but known there were no weapons of mass destruction, we wouldn't have invaded. That's way too charitable to George W. Bush. That cretin was planning to invade Iraq before 9/11, and he spent a year villifying Saddam to prepare the public for war. He twisted intelligence and put us at war for his own reasons. Bush is a traitor and a war criminal. And Romney is just another Bush apologist.
Romney's attempts to divorce himself from Romneycare are pathetic. As a Republican in a normally Democratic state, he did something good for his people, but now that he's in the grip of the maniacs, he's unequivocally against Obamacare, which was modeled after Romneycare. The man has no longstanding principles, only opinions pitched to the right audiences to get elected.
So, we're beyond the mendacious pizza clown, Bachmann self-destructed long ago, Perry is daily embarrassing himself, Johnson became a Libertarian, Paul has his revolutionaries poised to go down hard, and now it's down to the serial wife cheater who had to pay $300,000 to rescue his ethical bacon and the born-wealthy flip flopper supremo who can't climb above 24% in the conservative primary season.
Obama 2012!
Liberal Republican Mitt Romney and his former staffer pals running his PAC are lying scum, and are out there saying Gingrich supports abortions and trying to paint him as what Romney is.
Gingrich, unlike Romney, has always been against abortion, and the incident Romney is distorting is that Gingrich did not believe in forcing women to carry children in the very rare cases of pregancies due to rape.
Romney is a lying scumbag, and so are his faux-rightwing pals.
Do not put this liberal piece of trash in as the Republican nominee. Nominating Romney would guarantee a return to a liberal majority on the Supreme Court, and ensure that Democratic policies will be followed for the next decade, whether or not Romney won.
There sure are some paid Gingrich trolls on here this evening. You can tell, because they're pushing one Republican candidate at the expense of the other. Not normal Repub/TP behavior.
The paid lying is being done by the liberal puke Romney and his crooked staffers with their PAC.
Watch the lying ad they did on Gingrich and abortion, a farce coming from abortionist Romney who bragged about what an abortionist he was in a debate with Ted Kennedy in 1994, and his pack of scum now have the balls to say Gingrich "supports abortion" because he did not want to outlaw women who were raped having the right to an abortion, in that very rare case alone.
This guy is a fake, phony, flip-flopping coward with no spine, no guts, and no rightwing beliefs at all. And I guess his pals want to add "liar" to that mix as well.
I think the newt abortion thing comes from one of newts hos...and there is also some gay orgy stuff too..(not that there is anything wrong with that).....but since newts "your guy"...you must not be a "Christian" conservative....thats ok ...most of newts supporters are either pussy whipped or a little feminine themselves
Geez, Romney is seemingly a man of character and the Teabaggers still hate him. I think Teabaggers would have no problem supporting a certain dictator of Germany if they thought he would debate Obama well....
Tea Party = the Classic Failed Experiment
How's that 63 seat loss the Tea Party hung around your neck sitting with you these days?
Oops you lost the House for at least another dozen years, just like 1995-2006. What a shame.
Even good ole Newtie could only muster up 54 takeaways when he beat your brains in in 1994.
Might be dancing on that grave a bit early there...take a second look at the tbag numbers now...approval ratings are in the gutter and plummeting...didn't take long for real Americans to figure you had nothing at all to do with fiscal responsibility.
THE constitutional Democrats are leaving the democrat party , Records show they are going independent , The tea party is mostly independent , The Tea party is growing , where oh where are they coming from ,
THE TEA PARTY represents a constitutional government against a socialist communist government ,
NOT REALLY that hard to figure out why constitutional democrats are leaving the party ,
My experience with Teapublicans is that they've never read the Constitution, let alone actually understood it. The only unifying goal of the "tea party" is "Cut my Taxes and leave me alone", they don't particularly like the portions of the Constitution that permits Congress to raise taxes.
BTW, there is nothing in the Constitution that actually prohibits a "socialist communist government", but that doesn't matter, as we do not and never have had a "socialist communist government", nor does either party want one. But the Teapublicans have a peculiar definition of "socialist" and "communist", basically anything they dislike gets labeled that, even when the label makes no sense.
WE W O N ' T G e t F O O L E D AGAIN NO NO
................R O N P A U L ................2012
Johnny
your post makes the most sense i have seen on this vine so far
Ron Paul 2012
Nope, no way, never gonna happen.
America does not need any more loons in office. (he's always entertaining though).
Romney is to weird... like that crazy uncle who tries to get you to sit on his lap ..just creepy !
2008 Mitt: I was for the war in Iraq then and am for it now. 2011 Mitt: If we knew in 2003 what we know now we would never have invaded Iraq. President Mitt: What should I lie to the American people about today? What country should we invade today that we should or should not invade based on my mood later?
Hey jungleboogie, corporations are full of people and they, the people are important. You are sadly mistaken if you think otherwise. And Leroy, Romney is successful. How do you correlate that with not being qualified to be president. You go to Harvard and obtain two degrees simultaneously and I suspect you will earn a lot of money too. What a stupid criticism. And CR in Cali, you check your facts. George Romney did not give handouts to his children. They worked and served and earned their way. Not like the people on welfare looking to Obama to pay their bills.
Corporations are full of people is not what the man said. he said Corporations ARE people. That's a little dificult for normal people to swallow. Check your facts. In this country, "let em eat cake" isn't a governing philosophy--no matter how much one tries to make it all about class warfare.
Mitty, are You and the Dinosaur "Whore" media crying UNCLE already to DEFEAT in Iowa?? Oh Yes..i forgot, Iowa does not matter any longer in the GOP Nomination since Ron Paul is #1 in Iowa. You and your Globalist minions of the NWO are a bunch of pin-head Scum!! The Governor of Iowa, crying like a little 3yr old baby claiming that his great State of Iowa had been damaged because Ron Paul was leading. What a MORON..i hope he does not represent the State of Iowa...if he does, You are a sad bunch indeed!! RON PAUL 2012 Ciao
Obama will turn America into a dictatorship and we the people will not be allowed to vote in 2012.
Jeffrey, please explain to my how Obama will go about doing this. I am really curious. Oh and by the way....you're an idiot.
to mr parks....your wife-sister-cousin called...she said after you eat your second breakfast your uncle needs you for some "tickle fun"
uh Jeffrey: loosen that tin foil hat and open a window. Fresh air will do ya some good, bud...
If there is a Presidential candidate out there that wants to crush the status quo... someone who poses a serious challenge to the existing corrupt establishment, then let's put him in, only this time with a Congress and Senate full of his supporters!
His battle will put his life at risk.
who would that be...no one stands behind anyone..its all me,me,me..the GOP hates newt...the baggers hate romney...and the rest get ignored...so whos your guy
"Obama should have been working with Democrats in the Senate to see what they could agree on with the GOP, instead of reaching across the aisle to find Republicans that could agree with Democrats." Does he actually understand what he is saying? Does he understand that the Senate voted 89-10?
This from the AP:
This country has enormous potential ... to balance the budget, as we did for four years when I was speaker," Gingrich said on Fox News.
In fact, the national debt went up, not down, during the four years Gingrich was speaker. In January 1995, when he assumed the leadership position, the gross national debt was $4.8 trillion. When he left four years later, it was $5.6 trillion, an increase of $800 billion.
As for annual deficits, he did not preside over a four-year period of balanced budgets. In the 1996 and 1997 budget years, the first two years he influenced as speaker, the government ran deficits. In 1998 and 1999, the government ran surpluses.
Newts a toad...NO ONE is backing him ....its all RON PAUL or romney or of course Obama....I dont know where these polls are finding all these pussy whipped newt supporters....but they arent here in Colorado...at least the men out here know a man minds his own business...no matter what party affiliation..and they also realize you could buy a much better looking ho than calista for 500,000.00..she is pretty ugly
Anyone would be better than Obama! Obama has lied( look up Obama's lies) anyone that lies about their mother! Catering now to the EPA for votes and money. What happen to shovel ready? we could have that now with the pipeline putting thousands of workers to work. Speaking of work-just read Obama's friend Jeffery Immelt (Job Czar) has sold us out! GE is planning to move its 115 yr. old x ray division from Waukesha, Wis. to Beijing. GE will invest 2BILLION in China and train more than 65 engineers and create 6 research centers. This is the same GE that made $5.1 BILLION in the U.S. last year but paid NO taxes-the same company that employs MORE people overseas than it does in the United States. I guess the president FORGOT to tell him WHICH COUNTRY he was suppose to be creating JOBS !!!!! If this not a lack of leadership, I don't know what is!!! Everyone should have JOB CZAR like that !!! Out with Obama and out with the czars in 2012 !!!!!!!
Talking about presidents, I came across this article written and researched by Arlen Williams when Obama first ran in 2008 on his life and career. By his own words and family Obama was raised in a radical family. With no father in Hawaii he was mentored throughout his teens by Frank Marshall Davis, a man famous in COMMUNIST circles, with a large FBI file. From there Obama was on to New York and Columbia University (Bill Ayers was a neihbor there too) then Chicago (where Ayers returned). Obama writes of attending SOCIALIST conferences and reading Marxist books. He was trained in and TAUGHT the insurgent METHODS of "Rules for Radicals" drafted by cynical, "transformational Marxist", Saul Alinsky. Thesis: lie, cheat, steal, etc., while making those with American principles live up to impossibly high standards of institutional altruism, so that we and our LIBERAL Goverment fail in ridicule, paving the way for the "egalitarian state." Preach "CHANGE" and gradually build an ACTIVIST ARMY motivated by self interest, for a crescendoing revolt. Obama became a member of the Marxist "New Party" in the 1990's while maintaining membership in the Democratic party. Very interesting resume'. Hope we don't have anymore like that!!!!!! The article goes on with more information- VERY INTERESTING ! Everyone should look it up and read it!!! Wake up America!!!! Titled: Barack Obama's Career Path Toward an American? Presidency. Also google "Politically Drunk on Power"-resume' on there.
common sense should tell you, romney couldn't beat mccain in the republican primaries...how on earth will he beat obama in a general election...these righties are crack pots, only few of them are smart...your best choice is jon huntsman and you hate his guts...what a bunch of idiots? obama is going to have a walk in the park over romney and sent him bankrupt if he's the nominee..
ted kennedy chew him up in 94. mccain handed him an early drop out in 08. do righties really believe this flipflopper stand a chance with obama? you think he's hiding from the cameras now? wait till axelrod defines this flipmode and present all his cunny deeds to the american people...he will hide under a tree.
obama vs. trump and michelle bachmann or obama vs. herman cane and rick perry....the president vs. two brain frozen idiots or two lunatics