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Subscribe to RSSThe AP fact-checks the GOP field and the president’s new film: “Rick Santorum says oil drillers in the Gulf of Mexico are being slammed by ‘worse and worse and worse’ delays in getting federal approval even as gas prices go through the roof. Actually, the wait for permits is getting better and better. Newt Gingrich boasts that small donors are powering his Republican presidential campaign. In reality, one deep-pocketed financial angel and other big money people have been doing loads of heavy lifting, too.
“The claims of the Republican presidential rivals are not getting the exposure they once did, ever since the crackling series of debates drew to a close. But in smaller venues or turns on TV, the assertions still fly, as do exaggerations, oversimplifications and outright mistakes. So, too, on the Democratic side. A polished new film from President Barack Obama's campaign, out Thursday night, pushes the gauzy hero worship beyond what has really happened in recounting the auto industry bailout and recovery.”
ROMNEY: Romney was on FOX again, per GOP 12. He dismissed Gingrich’s claim that he could get $2.50 gas and said there would not be a brokered convention. “Look, we're not going to go to a brokered convention," he said. "One or the other of us among the three or four that are running is going to get the delegates necessary to become the nominee. As it gets closer towards the end, it's going to be clear we've got someone who's in the strong lead. The states that remain will vote for that person and that person will get the delegates and become the nominee."
“Mitt Romney has repeatedly argued that no rival can catch up to him in the delegate race, making him the inevitable Republican nominee,” The Hill writes. “But in the convoluted delegate soup that candidates must navigate, another potential outcome has emerged: that Romney himself will come short of securing enough delegates to earn the nomination.”
Romney denied that there’s any kind of deal in the works with Ron Paul or that he has had any conversations with him on the subject.
Chris Christie campaigns with Romney in Illinois today. The New York Post said it was a “last-minute scheduling,” and “Romney wasn’t even planning to campaign in Illinois until Monday.”
Yesterday was the (real) first day of the NCAA Tournament but Romney’s not filling out a bracket. "I'm not plugged in well enough this year to do that," he said.
SANTORUM: “[W]hile many pundits believe a Gingrich withdrawal would allow the conservative vote to coalesce around former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and defeat former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the data is less clear,” the Boston Globe reports.
This AP story ran in the Miami Herald: “Santorum was forced to repeatedly clarify remarks he made Wednesday, when he said English would have to be the ‘main language’ for Puerto Rico to become a state.” Santorum said, “"I never said only English should be spoken here. Never did I even intimate that," Santorum told local reporters gathered in El Capitolio, the island's Capitol building. "What I said was that English had to be spoken as well as other - obviously Spanish is going to be spoken, this would be a bilingual country."
Message Un-discipline… “Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has been busy in Puerto Rico, meeting with the island’s Governor, evangelical and political leaders, and even enjoying an ‘helado de coco’ in the streets of Old San Juan with his family,” NBC Latino reports. “But it is going to take more than some coconut ice cream to take the heat off his recent comments that Puerto Rico would have to make English its main language if it ever wanted to become a state. ‘I think Santorum put his foot in his mouth, or ‘metió la pata’ as we say in Spanish,’ says Dr. Juan Flores, a professor of Latino Studies at New York University. ‘It’s just a way of turning the whole country off, no matter what their political stripes or preferences,’ he adds.”
And: “A former Puerto Rican senator and pro-statehood supporter, Oreste Ramos, said Santorum should no longer count on him as a delegate after hearing of Santorum’s ‘English’ comments.”
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Hurry up feasty
Ummmm...state?
We need a brokered convention this year and probably WILL have one. That is IF the the GOP can restrain themselves from committing MORE voter fraud for Mitt. (and thats a big IF the way this election is going)
Having seen how the establishment tried to deny Ron Paul a win in Maine, through various shenanigans, I wouldn't imagine Republican primary voters would have much confidence in Mitt's "victory."
A brokered convention would be just another nail in the coffin of the GOP's hopes for a victory in November. Who would trust the choice of the GOP kingmakers after this travesty of a primary race?
Is it safe to say Santorum won't win Puerto Rico?
I think it's safe to say Santorum won't win the mainland Puerto Rican vote either.
He won't win among women voters. He won't win among LGBT voters. He won't win the vote of anyone who believes in the constitutional separation of church and state. He won't win teachers or parents who believe in public education.
All together, that's the majority of the population.
Santorum won't win, period.
For that, we can all thank his god.
He's out with "metio' la pata" disease.
It's probably safe to say the reason Mitt hasn't picked any of the NCAA teams is that he doesn't have any basketball OWNERS as friends....
BYU is without the Jimmer, so Romney is lost on college hoops this year.
His well-oiled machine forgot to pick one for him.
Mitt is too chicken to make an NCAA choice for fear of offending all of the other regions. He's also afraid of Rush. Please tell me if he is afraid of twerps like Rush, how could he conceivably become a viable world leader?
Give it a rest with this phony class warfare BS about Romney.
Obama has many millionaire friends in sports...the Steelers owner Rooney gave so many donations, he bought an Ambassadorship....also some NBA players, who are filthy rich and clearly part of the "1%'.
what's the matter Bob- playing the "class warfare" card is only a RepubliCON issue?
Christie is looking for a cabinet position. He'd also be on Romney's short list for running mate, but in the end wouldn't get picked, I don't think. Christie would highlight Romney's second biggest problem. When you get down to it, Christie is more New Jersey than Republican-brand conservative himself, and having two on the ticket with Northeastern country club socially liberal instinctive allowances (kind of an "I don't care what the unwashed do, so long as it doesn't impact my bottom line" line of thinking) would be too much for the GOP. Now Christie doesn't come across as the country club type himself, but he's with them on that seeming indifference to those issues - and probably couldn't be the governor of NJ if he wasn't.
So it would be easier to name him to a cabinet position than highlight Romney's second biggest problem. Romney's first biggest problem is the suspicion he lies like a rug when it comes to his second biggest problem.
Christie would have a hard time fitting himself into a cabinet position.
What is his appeal to the GOP anyway? I don't get it.
Snookie-land is an ugly mess of a state, so how does Christie get on the short list? He belongs on the fat list.
Ever since I saw Christie shut down the ex-Navy Seal who argued with him at a town hall, I have crossed him off the list of GOP candidates with a future. I suppose you could say he'd fill the VP role, of being an attack dog, but talk about losing the women's vote. Christie is too much like Rush Limbaugh - and women hated Rush, even before the Fluke controversy.
Christie would just be another tea people GOP Koch republican failure, just like Perry, Palin, Trump, McConnell, McDonnell, the governor of LA., the governor of MS., the list goes on and on the tea people GOP Koch republicans keep trying to find a candidate that is not nuts. The thing is the sane candidates are sitting on the side lines waiting for the tea people Koch republicans to destroy the party then they will come in and rebuild it, then we will be a great two party country once again.
Amy--not to mention how utterly rude he was to the woman who asked him why he was so against public education while sending his own kids to private school. Such heavy-handed techniques may play well in Jersey, here on the West Coast....not so much!
"We have met the enemy, and he is us!" Pogo by Walt Kelly
M0-681343
You can add our Gov. LePage to that list. Last night I read he is trying to defund Maine Public Broadcasting, which is bad enough, but what rankles is the language he uses, the attitude of contempt he carries. He can't just say "we can't afford this" he has to sneeringly call it "corporate welfare," etc. Everything is a battle with him, and people are getting sick of the rancour.
nurse-1006475
That bullying attitude undercuts whatever point Christie thinks he has to make. A politician who can't interact civily throws up all kinds of red flags.
You guys view the guys on the other side too much through your side's prism, I think.
When you do that, you make it harder to understand what's going on. That's why I don't like parties. It's kind of a "this is your brain... this is your brain after 30 minutes of partisan politics" kind of thing.
Christie's attraction for Republicans is, first, he's governor of a blue state with a bunch of electors, and second, his reputation for not sugar coating things and not talking in circles around issues. Christie may be unpolished at times, but he's pretty good at getting his point across, without wasting an audience's time, and without having to retract, clarify or otherwise explain come the next day.
That said, my personal guess is he wouldn't wear well on the campaign trail. And I think he senses that, too. The door was certainly open for him last fall, with all the draft Christie stuff going on then.
Too true Kaybeetoys, gotta chuckle on that one :)
Paul - I think you are right. The electorate is emotional and partisan.
And vested in their arguments.And we can be played so well because of it.
The politicians themselves and the party hierarchies have only one goal in mind - keep their jobs and retain as much power as they can. That's why they can twist so well on issues and jump in bed with the opposition (it's not the opposition if they can further your goals)
Romney is your typical Wall Street big investor.
He's good when he has time to analyze things and decide if he should buy, sell, or avoid it.
The President of the United States doesn't have that simple life. It's not as simple as buy, sell, or avoid. Things change by the minute. Every week a new unexpected crisis comes up.
Romney can't even handle unexpected issues in a debate, what is he going to do when North Korea comes up one morning, followed by Iran in the afternoon, China in the evening, India trade while he sleeps, tsunami the next morning?
Sorry, but nothing in this guys past shows he knows how to improvise, adapt, and overcome quickly.
Romney reminds me of the General who was good in school, good in times of peace, but when he is in a combat leadership roll, he loses battle after battle (costing thousands of American lives) because he can't doesn't understand the real world.
Even if Obama has friends of the 1%, he won't harm his American People! He's not wishy-washy like the Mex. Republican Corporate Puppet! He doesn't have to because he tells it like it is, like it or not! That's why he is a leader and NOT A CORPORATE PUPPET!
This primary is like a Marx Brothers movie.
As a long-time Marx Brothers fan, I can tell you that Mitt, Rick, Newt, and Ron are not sophisticated enough to compare to Groucho, Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5lU52aWTJo