Couldnt think of a more apt comment for our current president. More applicable to Obama than Newt wouldnt you think? Why dont we talk about the state of the economy in Illinois Fiesty? How are Obama's economic policies playing out in our home state? Wasnt it wonderful when that Engineering firm of 250 employees wanted to move their headquarters to Illinois and discovered how long it takes Illinois to pay its own bills and the state of economic mess so they moved to Indiana instead? How are those state revenues coming in with the 60% tax hike and GDP growth but revenues down? Fiesty, you must have something good to say about Quinn and those big tax breaks to those evil corporations. Why did he do that when Backhouse keeps saying how awful those tax breaks were that Walker gave companies in Wisconsin or that the federal government gives multi national corps. Fiesty you must have an opinion. Lets let Obama run on his economic policies and he can then point to Illinois and say see what a great job I did when I was a state legislator and look how its turned out.

Newt is a legend in his own mind. Go home Newt. Find a big ol' rocken chair and reminisce about the past. The days of grumpy old, arrogant white men are coming to an end.

Congrats on a good campaign Newt!

Please continue to speak out against the radical progressive ideals that threaten our great nation.

James O'Keefe please keep up the great work you are doing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5p70YbRiPw

Great stuff! Makes you wonder how much fraud actually goes on.

Time to check ID's!

Red-herring for a lost cause Rob.

Can't Win an Election? Rig it. That's the Republican way!

What's worse, the fact that you spew this drivel or the fact that you believe it?

Rim,

All statists indicate that less than 1000^th of 1% of voting is fraudulent. Not enough to influence the outcome of any election.

Shouldn’t we be doing everything possible to make it easier to vote, not harder?

Many of the expansions like no excuse to be able to file absentee were done to save the State money and cut down the long lines at the polls. With the expansion of availability to vote the percentage of Registered Voters casting votes has gone up – is that a good or bad thing?

True Americans should be finding ways to expand access to vote not ways to restrict it. Only people that do not believe in true democracy would want to restrict people’s right to choose our leaders.

About a dozen states are actively considering legislation that would make voting much more difficult for college students, minorities, the elderly and the disabled. In some states, like Ohio, it is estimated that close to one million people would be affected by these changes.

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/05/10711/voter-suppression-bills-sweep-country

Can't Win an Election?

Not sure what you mean. The 2010 elections were the biggest congressional Republican landslide victory in decades! Wait till the general. That one's gonna be an even bigger bloodbath. Time for Obama to pack his bags.

Kirk gets a special mention for double deflection----away from comments about Newt and Republicans by attempting to slam both the President and the economy of the state of Illinois, neither of which are in any way related to this topic. Nice try, Kirk.

Statists = the belief that, for whatever reason, a government should control either economic or social policy or both to some degree.

I think you wanted statistics, although your sentence does make Freudian sense.

I'm amazed that FR is ignoring the politically highly charged Trayvon-mania news that the special prosecuter is not going to bring the case before a grand jury. The FR lefty liberals will be rioting in the virtual streets from the comfort of their keyboards.

Amazing how voters since our country was founded elected our Presidents, those in modern times elected Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush without a peep from the right-wingers whining about voter fraud. Elect President Barack Obama, and voting suddenly is one giant fraud despite the fact that when the states passing the laws are asked to produce evidence of voter fraud in their state, they have none to back up the claims. For all those who so willingly accept the premise the voter fraud exists, it's your vote they're after, too. It's just a matter of time before they find another nonexistent problem to fix which further limits our right to vote. Mock the comments regarding ALEC and their efforts to restrict voting among other things at your own peril.

What's worse, the fact that you spew this drivel or the fact that you believe it?

Wait till the general. That one's gonna be an even bigger bloodbath. Time for Obama to pack his bags.

Rob in MA,

I think you answered my question. Thanks!

Dennis,

The voter ID laws that are the results of ALEC agenda for the tea party state officials to beat the drum about a manufactured issue.

Here in MN , our governor vetoed the ID law sent to him. so the GOP legislature has put it on the ballot as a constitutional amendment! But the amendment is just to give the next legislature until Jun 2013 to come up with a plan!!!

Nothing about how much money this will cost, how it will really work, what would be the cost for those who don't drive to get an ID, which type of id would be approved, what about absentee ballots......

The GOP/ALEC folks have gone crazy with our state constitution as a way to by pass our Dem governor. It is a sign of their failure and these tea party folks will lose control of our state legislature in Nov.

Amazing how voters since our country was founded elected our Presidents, those in modern times elected Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush without a peep from the right-wingers whining about voter fraud.

I think there were a few peeps about the Kennedy election.

Northstar - thanks for the information. Once you mentioned ALEC being behind this voter fraud ID garbage,it all makes sense.

If ALEC gets it's way, only corporations will have rights. Very scary.

I'm amazed that FR is ignoring the politically highly charged Trayvon-mania news that the special prosecuter is not going to bring the case before a grand jury. The FR lefty liberals will be rioting in the virtual streets from the comfort of their keyboards.

Sanford Police Department closed because a bunch of "students" decided to block the entrance.

This isn't the time for the cops to go soft. If the rabble rousers commit crimes arrest them. Don't let the situation get out of hand. And for christ sakes don't shut down the police department. Lock the trash up!

Rim,

And thanks to the latest SCOTUS ruling for the trivial
crime of unlawful assembly they can all be strip searched.

You must be so happy for all of our freedoms

don't do the crime if you can't do the time (or don't appreciate a cavity search during your time)

Joe in Albany: "I'm amazed that FR is ignoring the politically highly charged Trayvon-mania news that the special prosecuter is not going to bring the case before a grand jury"

Already covered elsewhere on MSNBC:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46994422

"The FR lefty liberals will be rioting in the virtual streets from the comfort of their keyboards."

Why is that? Apparently his parents and their lawyer are fine with it - or were you just trying to stir up trouble on a slow campaign news day?

"Angela Corey, the special prosecutor investigating the killing of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, announced today that she was skipping the grand jury and will continue with her own investigation. In fact, sources are telling WFTV in Orlando that an arrest of Zimmerman could happen as early as this week. All this must have Trayvon’s parents breathing a sigh of relief.

Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for Trayvon’s parents, never wanted the case to go to a grand jury."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/why-no-grand-jury-in-killing-of-trayvon-martin-is-a-positive-sign/2012/04/09/gIQAkE1H6S_blog.html

Rob in MA: "Sanford Police Department closed because a bunch of "students" decided to block the entrance.

This isn't the time for the cops to go soft. If the rabble rousers commit crimes arrest them. Don't let the situation get out of hand. And for christ sakes don't shut down the police department. Lock the trash up!"

Also already covered elsewhere on MSNBC:

"The city says the protest will have "minimal effect" on police and fire officials' response to emergency calls.

"The city of Sanford hopes the actions of the students will be as peaceful and orderly as the previous rallies and marches have been. We want to be accommodating to all our visitors providing they act in a manner that is respectful to the people of the city," City Manager Norton Bonaparte, Jr. said in the statement."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46994625/ns/local_news-orlando_fl/t/sanford-police-close-headquarters-amid-dream-defenders-protest/

By the way, Rob, the article also indicates that the students you referred to as "trash" and "rabble rousers" walked 40 miles to Sanford from Daytona Beach - where they could have presumably been enjoying alcohol and wet t-shirt contests for spring break instead of marching 40 miles for something they believed in.

What have you done lately for your beliefs, Rob?

Steeler fan--guilty as charged definitely a deflection similar to the voter ID issue brought up by Dennis. Not sure if my deflection is a criticism unless those are questions that cant be answered by Fiesty. I am sure she has good answers that would turn into a positive campaign defense for Obama and Illinois. I just want to hear it.

As for voter ID laws, I love all the silliness as I would love to have Obama or any other democratic candidate for office use this concept as a campaign platform issue. The concept that voting is not important enough to need an ID to ensure credibility is such a losing issue for the democrats. Maybe its because I live in Illinois where dead people still vote, the democratic machine provided Kennedy the presidency in 1960 here and voter fraud is considered a way of life, so I am just cynical. But when someone tries to say with a straight face that voting is somehow less important than buying a beer, making a credit card purchase, boarding an airplane, driving a car I dont see that really getting much traction. Yes, I know someone will point out their elderly grandmother who doesnt have an ID and all of these other code words for disenfranchised people that seem to have no ability to get a free id. But really, get real, if anyone has the ability to actually show up at a voting booth and we are trusting them with the ability to read the voting card and vote, they should be able to find someone to get an ID. I dont care about the statistics for voting fraud, thats no different than me quoting the statistics on the number of black kids killed by white kids, it surely doesnt stop any of you about worrying about racism when it happens.

And thanks to the latest SCOTUS ruling for the trivial
crime of unlawful assembly they can all be strip searched

Approval rating for the Supreme Court is up 13 Points in reaction to that ruling and the thorough review by the court of obamacare.

America no likey obamacare.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

(I tried to yell it, but FR wouldn't let me.)

Joe in Albany: "I'm amazed that FR is ignoring the politically highly charged Trayvon-mania news that the special prosecuter is not going to bring the case before a grand jury"

Already covered elsewhere on MSNBC:

_____________________

Yeah, I know that. But, with FR ("The place for politics") ignoring a major development in such a politically charged case, you have to wonder what they're hiding from.

And what is the "special prosecutor" afraid of with putting her evidence of her proposed charges before the ordinary citizens of a grand jury in order to get an indictment??

Something stinks here.

Either she doesn't believe she has the evidence to get an indictment the usual way, before a grand jury, or she is a control freak thaat will do anything to win, even if justice gets shredded in the process.

Dennis, Columbus, Ohio, and others -- Agreed. I can never get a direct answer from a conservative about the Citizen's United ruling. The reason for this is that conservatives are cool with loss of liberties and freedoms they stupidly think will not affect them. As long as the right-wing activist judges in the Supreme Court find in favor of Dubya contrary to the popular vote, then it's okay. But had this been the other way around, OMG!

Yet these hypocritical right-wingers claim that religious freedoms are being lost. This Sunday's Meet the Press was crazy.

The Mormon from Idaho talked about Orrin Hatch and Harry Reid as an example of how religion is not an indicator of policies, yet went on to say that it would be absolutely unacceptable to have a Muslim run for POTUS. What if a Muslim candidate had the same policies of Paul Ryan? In fact, what's the difference between Sharia Law and Santorum's positions?

Then Billy Graham's daughter also talked about how there should not be a religious test for POTUS, yet said an atheist would be absolutely unacceptable as a candidate. Once again, what if the atheist had the same exact positions as far-Right Teabaggers?

Then there was the Catholic priest who was whining about loss of religious freedoms due to health care reforms and insurance coverage of contraception, and David Gregory neglected to ask the priest how he felt about laws against polygamy in front of the Mormon from Idaho -- to get some real, honest discussion going.

And of course, David Gregory appointed himself to represent the Jewish faith, and though of course the Christians on the panel identify with Jews more than Muslims or athiests, the fact is they would NOT support a Jewish candidate (say Lieberman) over a Christian, and within Christianity the reality is they don't support a Mormon over other denominations. So maybe Gregory skirted the matter to save his own neck while out-numbered?

Teapublicans, especially the religious zealots, are all a bunch of bigots, including racists, and for that matter sexists (I doubt they would support a female for POTUS), and hypocrites to the point that had the panel not been tightly controlled and PC it might have been more like the Jerry Springer show.

Enough with the right-wing hypocrisy -- Obama/Biden -2012!

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

(I tried to yell it, but FR wouldn't let me.)

__________________________________

Having a tough Monday, AM??

Just be happy you aren't Angela Corey's spokeswoman!!!!!

Dennis, Columbus, Ohio, and others -- Agreed. I can never get a direct answer from a conservative about the Citizen's United ruling.

_______________________________________

Hey, MORON, what part of the plain text of the First Amendment do you not understand: "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech,".

Now, I know lefty liberals would like to believe the Constitution REALLY says: ""Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, except for corporations and anyone else the lefty liberals would like to muzzle".

But, it DOESN'T.

Don't like that?? Then try Article V that the founders put in for people like you.

Newt saw this coming months ago , but ....

Obama's record high , unstoppable , economy crushing , rocketing upward , credit down grading , almost $16 trillion , Greece like debt ....

Is the biggest war on women , children and families ....

Since cave men ....

Joe -

Having a tough Monday, AM??

LoL Albany, what was your first clue?

Just be happy you aren't Angela Corey's spokeswoman!!!!!

Believe me, I am. But have you considered the possibility that she sees this as a slam-dunk?

At least, I hope that's the case.

But have you considered the possibility that she sees this as a slam-dunk?

___________________________

As I understand it, she is taking a first degree murder charge off the table because FL law requires a grand jury indictment for that charge. Maybe she is trying to take the easy way out??

Today's Shemp Mathews Wiffleball, and Da Rev.Al's Comedy Hour. And that horse's ass, Mr. Ed Show should be Hillaryous!!!!!

True Patriot - agreed that Sunday's Meet the Press was crazy. The thing that always gets to me is how the Catholic bishops insist that Obama is attacking their religious freedoms and they are being forced to go against their conscience and provide contraception to their employees in spite of the fact that Obama changed the requirement so that they don't have to do any such thing. And not one of the news hosts points that out to them when they whine about it. How can they claim Obama is waging a war against religion when he bent himself into a pretzel to accommodate them? They forget that they don't have any more right to force their religious views on all the non-Catholic employees and students served by their organizations than the government has to force them to go against their conscience. I thought Obama's solution was a pretty good way to accommodate both sides of the issue, but he doesn't ever seem to get any credit for it.

If she's taking Murder 1 off the table, hopefully it's for a good reason.

If she goes to trial on Murder 1, the defense will move to eliminate any lesser-includeds. There's no way she'll ever convict on Murder 1. Therefore, Zimmermann goes free.

I probably would do that, too.

Heartlite, The bigger Catholic Institutions are self insured. Based on that pretzel Obama twisted himself into to accommodate them, how can the insurance companies pay for the contraception when there isn't one? Explain how Obama reacted to that Pretzel logic? Oh that's right , he hasn't because there is no way to crawl out from under that bag of pretzels.

And if that's true, then it does beg the question of why he didn't know better.

Just like the severability clause.

Rocco-2976776 -- If you read my post above, then you would see the point about government having the right to make laws of the land such as making polygamy illegal. Labor laws in regard to insurance coverage are the same thing, and are NOT infringement on religious liberties.

Religions cannot do what ever they please, whether animal sacrifice or denying a child medical care and blood transfusion, or not getting drafted to go to war -- and in this case discriminating against employees who are not members of their religion or against the female gender. This precedent, along with insurance requirements for religious institutions has been around for a long time. This is fake outrage against the president and "Obamacare" as a way to undermine progressives and take us back to the Dark Ages.

There is NO war on religion. The only problem we have is people like you who can't do a little independent critical thinking. What does exist is the War on Women, and class warfare, for which there is so much evidence as to be mind-bending that conservatives are blind to that as well.

Turn off FOX Noise, Hate Radio, and stop reading NewsMax and those chain Emails -- Come out of the right-wing propaganda machine into the light!

That's what I love about Newt,Jody. His overpreening ego.(wink)

All the Republicans seemed to confuse the "Anybody but Romney" sentiment with actually supporting them.

Newster really does think he's wonderful. When I listen to the republican pundits chatter away about Romney and how he'll be able to pivot to the center and win the voters once they know his real views, ala' Etch-a-Sketch, they sound as delusional as Gingrich. The only reason Romney is winning the GOP nomination is the rest of the candidates, minus Huntsman, were clowns with Romney prevailing as the circus ring master.

Well said Jody.

Does this mean Newt isn't going all the way to Tampa?

Seems the current Governor has a few issues with his predecessors too, but of course when it comes to the President he is always blameless. Probably voted "Present".

Previous legislators and previous governors even awarded taxpayer funded health insurance benefits to themselves and 82,000 retirees, where 90 percent of them pay nothing on their insurance premiums. This lack of fiscal accountability has cost us dearly today."

—Gov. Pat Quinn, Feb. 22, 2012

Fancy, Illinois Governor's will always serve 2 terms. One in office and one in jail. That is the corrupt environment Obama cut his teeth in and can't get away from today. Corn Husker Kickback, Louisiana purchase come to mind on how corrupt Obama is due to his Illinois/Chicago experience. Talk about spending, Illinois is now 83 billion in debt on state pensions and another 23 billion on Health Insurance liabilities. Is it any wonder that Obama has added 5 Trillion to the debt?. Look where he can from. It is all he knows

FAncy this too--thats almost funny. I have been accused of alot of things but never that. I live in Illinois so I am living Obama's economic policies everyday. This isnt about Ryan or Blago its about overall policy. Illinois is a guinea pig state for the big government, high tax, union dominated democratic machine politics in which Obama learned his craft and dominates his ideology in the White House. This isnt about being a state senator in which he voted present virtually everytime so he wouldnt have to actually run a congressional or presidential campaign on his liberal views or record, this is about his overall fiscal policy that we have a track record in California, Illinois and NY as to whether these policies actually create economic growth. Why dont you answer the question for me and tell me what you think?

I think Illinois, California and New York all pay more into federal coffers than they take out.

The facts back me up on it.

This means, on average, that they are wealthier per capita than other states.

So...

short of complaining about union thugs or whatever boogeyman the RNC has pointed you at this week, what's the problem again?

Either those 3 states have more rich than others (they don't, maryland leads per capita), or they have a larger middle class which is floating the poor states to the south and mid-west. Or perhaps there's a third explanation which one of my illustrious friends from the other side of the street would love to point out to me.

Which would, sadly, prove that Union wages ensure a large middle-class base, which the republicans are only too happy to steal from for their own districts while simultaneously decrying the hand that feeds them :)

So in other words you somehow want to take the position that the wealthy contribute more from those states (remember they pay all the federal income tax) so that means their economies are not a mess? That makes no sense. The GOP is stealing what from thier own districts? What nonsense are you talking about? So you are coming to the conclusion that the wealthy who pay 90% of all federal income taxes (payroll taxes dont count because they are your contribution to your future retirement account and pay for social security spending) are paying for the government assistance paid in other states. First in order to accurately look at those statistics, you would have to eliminate most entitlement spending because social security and medicare go to states heavy with seniors. You have to compare revenue to welfare or true government assistance programs and I think if you do that your facts dont back you up as california leads the pack with NY second. Why not focus on the economic policies in those states and how that applies to national policies and lets compare notes, as your assumptions lead us nowhere.

No, it's a little thing I like to call 'redistribution of wealth'.

The Republicans are masters of it.

They 'redistribute' the wealth from pay-or states (California, New York, Illinois), to pay-ee states (mississippi, louisiana, Arkansas, etc).

Nor is it the rich who are paying much, my man. Re-check your figures, it's the middle-class.

And, btw, the 'pay-or' states also have more medicare and social security recipients since their average lifespan is longer.

Sorry if you've boughten into the entire Republican 'fiscal responsibility' act, or their 'Unions are the enemy of the working man!' act, or the 'Republicans are self-sufficient' act.

They lied to you.

I, humbly, ask you to allay your personal viewpoints as I doubt the truth dovetails with the narrative you've endured throughout your lifespan.

Sources:

Lifespan by state: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_life_expectancy

State allocation of public funds:

voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/mapstatestaxes.gif

teknishan--sorry dude but I am a Clinton fan and havent bought into anything but whats called fiscal responsibility. You really have gone over the edge if you think the middle class are paying anything. First you completely ignored my comments and deflected into a different direction. You are correct that California, Illinois and New York are higher wealth states because of the urban areas and very high standard of living. Have seen what a house costs in California? But where you make your mistake is who is paying and for what. It has nothing to do with lifespan but where they are located. For example, Florida, Nevada, Arizona if you count social security and medicare into the government outlays, receive huge amounts from the federal government but the seniors dont pay as much tax because they are retired and are wealthy in assets not income. Second, you really dont want to act like the wealthy dont pay all the federal income tax revenue do you? Come on go to Irs.gov and look it up its not even close. You cant count payroll taxes because remember you get that back as its your contribution to your future retirement plan remember?

So in order to do what you are attempting accurately, you need to control for and eliminate the receipt of social security and medicare as a receipt of federal funds, you also need to look at it on a percapita basis. I am not anti union on a private company basis but definitely anti union as a government employee. There is no need for government employees to be represented by a union negotiating with the politicians in which they voted into office. Thats a joke.

So dont make assumptions about me and do some more research before you spout off democrat talking points.

Amen to that