Obamaville March 26 - The Preacher Man and President

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Santorum borrows "Obamaville" for campaign video while raging against Romney

Today Preacher Man Rick Santorum released a new video about Obama called, "Obamaville" perhaps borrowing the name used by the Coltons Point Times regular political column for over two years.

Over the weekend the Preacher Man, who is starting to rage like John the Baptist on Prozac, took another step toward political oblivion when he said Romney was the worst possible Republican to run against Obama.  Now what kind of party loyalty does that indicate?  Once upon a time the party candidates pledged to support whoever won the nomination.

It seems in the modern world of politics, at least as far as the Preacher Man (Santorum) and the Professor (Gingrich) are concerned, the new model of candidate decorum is if I lose I'm taking you down with me.  Of course these loose cannons are being encouraged by Obama's gang from Chicago but neither see themselves as being used by Obama as they are above truth and reproach.

Obama Caught Promising Russia if they get him elected he will have more flexibility to cut deals

Then there is our President Obama who is over in South Korea and was caught on tape talking to outgoing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and telling him to remind newly elected Russian President Vladimir Putin that this is an election year and if they help him get reelected he will have much more flexibility after the election to work out a deal involving Syria, Iran and North Korea.

Of course foreign involvement in the American presidential election is illegal but such barriers never seem to bother the Obama gang.  Here at the CPT will pointed out weeks ago that Putin was the key to negotiating peace in Syria, Iran and North Korea and now was the time to encourage the Russian leader.  At least the Obama people seem to be reading the CPT but his effort to get help behind the scenes from the Russians toward getting reelected seems to go way beyond legitimate foreign policy to manipulating the American political system.

Fancy that, a politician manipulating the political system.  Obama has proven quite adept at that so one should not be surprised.  I also doubt Putin would be the least bit fooled into helping Obama get reelected.

Obama campaigns for Keystone Pipeline - maybe?

In yet another public relations attempt to deceive the public Obama was out campaigning last week and said he would speed up approval of the lower part of the Keystone Pipeline, the same pipeline he rejected a few weeks ago.  Of course Obama has no chance of getting reelected if he continues to  oppose the pipeline as gas prices have now reached $3.90 a gallon and it is not even close to the summer driving season.

When Obama took office gas was $1.84 a gallon meaning it has more than doubled during his watch.  On the more important diesel cost, which fuels all the over the road trucks and most of the buses in America, the cost was $2.27 when Obama was elected and now is $4.21, an increase of $1.85.

Of course the White House mouthpieces say no one can do anything about gas prices overnight so we can't blame Obama yet Obama blamed President Bush for the price increases when Bush was president and Obama a candidate.  Guess that is fair play to the Chicago gang.

More important, no one expected Obama to do anything overnight.  What we did expect is that with total control of the House and Senate when he first got elected, why didn't he do something during the three years he has already been president when Congress could not have stopped him?

Now he can't do anything until after the election because he made too many promises to the environmental activists who helped get him elected four years ago.  Watch for him to sell out the green movement if he gets reelected as political expediency has always been a more forceful policy tool than public good for this administration.

The energy independence movement and Keystone Pipeline are  positions advocated by the CPT since before Obama was elected the first time.  We viewed them as crucial in order to start the long process of actually doing something positive to reduce our foreign dependence on oil and our slavery to the energy futures market.

President Obama must decide whether he will cross the bridge toward responsible energy management or continue double crossing the bridge as he now seems to advocate.  We will see if he adopts the CPT positions of energy independence and lower gas prices or decides, once reelected, that he is free to finish killing off the oil industry and make the big green fat cats the new power brokers and privileged class.

That is the true result of his redistribution of wealth philosophy.  Take from the old rich to make his buddies the new rich.

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Obamaville March 14 - Primaries and March Madness - America's Entertainment

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International Negotiations American Style

For those of you who think we like to mix politics and entertainment, you got it right.  Last night was the pre-opening round of the NCAA tournament when those teams "on the bubble", yet another odd form of media slang, had to play to get into the tournament.

There were two NCAA games and four NIT games and March Madness doesn't even start until tomorrow.  Make no mistake, however, this is really big stuff, much more important than political primaries.

Why even UK Prime Minister David Cameron flew in and he and President Obama took a break from critical world affairs to run down to Dayton, Ohio for the night to see one of the NCAA play-in games.

Play-in games were an underhanded trick by the NCAA to allow more teams into the tournament without adding a huge number of teams, so four teams play each other for the right to play in the NCAA.  In truth it was a way to take advantage of the massive money made from tournament games.

Of course as the last teams to qualify they get the worst seeding so what does that mean to the winner of these games, they play the top seeded teams in the tourney in their next game. So Western Kentucky, after staging the greatest four minute comeback in NCAA tournament history, now has to face the top team in the nation, the mighty Kentucky Wildcats who are the concensus favorite to win the national championship.  The game is in Louisville.

By the way, as our two heads of state watched on Western Kentucky staged the greatest five minute comeback in NCAA history as they came from 16 points down to win 59-58 over Mississippi Valley State.

The next game in Dayton saw even more history made as BYU staged the greatest comeback in the NCAA history by coming from 25 points behind.  Previously, the largest deficit overcome was 22 points in 2001 when Duke fought back to beat Maryland 95-84 in the national semifinals.

Back to our leaders, we all know Obama loves basketball.  In fact it has been good for basketball and good for Obama politically.  But the Brits, well they have a little problem with strange games in the colonies such as basketball and leaders going out for a good time. Check out this fun report of the game by the London Daily Mail.

The London Daily Mail

Don't risk looking like a basket case, Dave

By Melissa Kite

PUBLISHED: 06:17 EST, 14 March 2012 | UPDATED: 09:52 EST, 14 March 2012

British Prime Ministers are good at many things, but high-fiving whilst eating hotdogs has never been one of them.

David Cameron did his best to look like he was enjoying all the slam-dunking action at the basketball, but this really isn’t our thing, is it? I mean, the only thing we Brits have ever put in a basket for cultural or leisure purposes is a piece of chicken.

Barak Obama invited Mr Cameron to watch Western Kentucky University take on Mississippi Valley State in the opening game of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men's Basketball tournament, known as March Madness, apparently.

At half-time, the pair were interviewed by Clark Kellogg of CBS Sports and Mr Cameron, an Old Etonian more used to cricket, rugby and The Eton Wall game, tried to pretend he was lovin’ it.

The Prime Minister said: “I'm enjoying it. It's fast, it's pretty fast and furious. It's hard to follow sometimes exactly who's done what wrong.”

Which is a bit like British politics, I suppose. One minute you’re a popular leader in an open-necked shirt hugging hoodies, the next minute you’ve got a fractious coalition to lead and just when you should be worrying about your Budget statement and an impending re-shuffle, you have to get on a plane to the United States and eat hot dogs in front of the cameras at a basketball match.

Asked if the President was helping him make sense of it all, Mr Cameron said: “He's giving me some tips. He's going to help me fill out my bracket.”

I don’t know what that means, but I’m guessing it’s not about the pair of them doing a spot of DIY shelf assembly.

It’s always the same when British Prime Ministers meet US Presidents. Remember the banter when Tony Blair hobnobbed with George W Bush at Camp David? There was some gobbledegook talked then about how they used the same toothpaste.

In the effort to be folksy and populist, to mingle British and American culture together to achieve a sort of transatlantic mateyness, something always gets lost in translation.

It makes you long for the days when world leaders simply held talks behind closed doors then gave a short press conference in the Rose Garden. At least we could understand what they were on about.

What about the political primaries?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.  Santorum was the surprise winner of both Mississippi and Alabama although I don't understand why the media was surprised since the two states are 80% evangelical and Santorum is the pride of the social moral majority issues.

A bigger surprise was how that liberal from Massachusetts, Mitt Romney, managed to split the vote with Preacher Santorum and Professor Gingrich.  Since Mitt also won primaries in Hawaii and Guam he actually finished third in the two southern states (just barely) yet still walked away with more delegates to the GOP convention.

So I guess the lesson this week is losing can still be winning in politics in America.

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Obamaville February 28 - No One is Running to be America's President

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What happened to patriotism and serving all the people all the time?

This is a really strange presidential election year as the president, presidential candidates, political parties and media remind us ad infinitum how the other guy can't win, is stupid, has no broad based support, no plan and no guts.

There was a time in America when a person running for president promised to do what was right for America, not just their own party and agenda.  Presidents Eisenhower, John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were the last of the Real American presidents.

Since then it has been all about special interests, special groups, special issues, and lots of money from more special interests representing special issues.  If you think the media is not under the same influence of special interests as the politicians, then look who is advertising on that TV station, running ads in the newspapers and magazines, or saturating the Internet with propaganda through more advertising.

Obama has the unions, Wall Street, environmentalists, teachers unions, Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Harvard and health care industries to protect.

Romney the financial institutions, the rich, oil companies and small business.

Santorum the evangelical Christians, conservatives who don't check his voting record, college drop outs, and the Catholics loyal to the Italian Vatican.

Ron Paul represents those who believe the best government is no government and to hell with all those foreigners.

Newt Gingrich, well who does he represent?  We know his publisher?  The intellectually constipated?  Conservatives right of Attila the Hun?  People who wear suspenders and belts? Those who don't get enough of Obama's ethereal vision of America?

Okay, then there are the political parties.  The Democratic party hates everything said by Republicans and the GOP feels pretty much the same about the Democrats.

The conservative media hate the socialist, communist, left leaning liberals while the liberal media hate the red neck, gun toting, war mongering fat cats who make all the money.

Unions hate whoever their labor bosses tell them to hate, mostly those blood sucking rich, while the rich hate the unions unless that union works for them.

Now that we know the opposing sides, the passion of the opposing sides, the special interests of the opposing sides and the single mindedness of the opposing sides, where does that leave John Q. Public, the six pack majority everyone claims to be helping?

Well, if you are one of us, then you are a red blooded American who cleans up everyone else's mess and just wants to be left alone.  In short, you are the forgotten American, the silent majority, the one who believes charity comes first and the one who can whip the ass of all those highfalutin people claiming to know what you need.

You know why the politicians, the president, congress and even the media get such low marks in the favorable polls?  Because the real Americans aren't paying any attention to them.  The silent majority knows they are corrupted with power, awash in money, rich with ego and speak out of both sides of their mouths pretty much all the time.

Come November the Real Americans, not the media or politicians, will decide who will do the least damage running our country for four more years, elect them, then go about their business largely ignoring them since Real Americans know better that to believe what they hear from the politicians or media and have much better things to be concerned about.

Real Americans use the gifts God gave them to help each other out, not the mandates from Washington.

Common sense is still practiced in Real America.  Do you think it can be found in the halls of congress?

If Real Americans need something they make it, fix it, create it, grow it and then they share it.

They understand, as Mark Twain said, that everyone is entitled to their silly opinions and Real Americans respect others' opinions, not hate them.

So far neither the President nor Republican candidates, nor the congress or political parties seem to care what the Real Americans think.  So there is no John Kennedy or Ronald Reagan to support.

But you know what, that's okay because the fools are those who think they know what is best for everyone else.  They are not the silent, six pack majority called the Real Americans who will never surrender their God given inalienable rights and freedom to those confounded fools in Washington.

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Obamaville - January 26 - The Last Florida GOP Debate Recap

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Thursday President Obama took off on a five state junket stretching from coast to coast.  It was his government financed non-campaign trip to critical campaign swing states in an effort to sell his non-campaign State of the Union message where he laid out his election campaign platform.  Duh???

Anyway, he's out of town so the Republicans held their 18th debate of this early primary season.  Don't forget, there are still 46 more states to decide.  I, for one, think we have reached the point of intellectual saturation and constipation from this many debates.  Doesn't the media have anything else to do?  Why aren't they covering some hard news instead of trying to manufacture political news?

Maybe half a dozen would have been tolerable by this point, but one and a half dozen seems like gross over-kill.  They may serve a psychological purpose in giving that good old liberal lame street media a chance to dig deeper and deeper in trying to find weaknesses in the GOP field, and they burn up GOP financial resources thus saving Obama campaign money.

But Obama is going to have a billion campaign dollars to spend!  That is like a federal stimulus program.  Only two presidential campaigns in history have cost more than $270 million and they were both his, which just proves the point we are getting the best politician money can buy.  He will spend $1.8 billion in two elections to win a job that only pays $400,000 a year, or $3.2 million over 8 years.

As for the Republican debate that took place.

There were two winners in  the last Republican debate before the Florida primary Thursday night.  First was Marco Rubio, the rising Republican star Senator from Florida as both front runners, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, said they are considering him a leading candidate for a higher position than cabinet if they win the nomination.

Now the only job higher than the president's cabinet is vice president, so there is a very good chance the Republicans will be the first political party in American history to nominate a Hispanic for vice president.  A background story I did on Marco Rubio a couple of years ago follows this story.

The second winner was Romney who clearly won the debate even though Gingrich and Santorum gave him plenty of jabs.  He countered their attacks, stood his ground, and firmly and decisively controlled the outcome.

Of course he has a few more answers and positions he needs to fine tune before he takes on Obama in September but he made a giant step forward in fulfilling the uncomfortable role of aggressor in the debate.

More important, he began drawing sharp contrasts with Obama on the issues Obama cannot defend like his handling of the economy, jobs, health care, housing and energy.  After three years in office the president has little to show and a lot to promise.

Ron Paul was much sharper this debate although the moderators continue to ignore him much of the time, especially when follow up comments are given.  Still, his jokes kept thing from getting too intense and when Wolf Blitzer, the CNN moderator, pressed him about the problem if he was elected that he would be the oldest president in history, Paul shot back, be careful with your question, we passed an age discrimination law in America and you are close to it, to the laughter of the crowd.

When asked about his medical condition he replied he was healthy enough to challenge anyone on stage to a 25 mile bike ride across the Texas desert.  There was much more laughter.

Rick Santorum gave his best and most passionate but his responses were too complicated for viewers, at least me, to understand while others flat out disagreed with the typical person watching the debate.  Though it was his best effort, one could sense that his hopes for winning this time are rapidly fading and he is turning his attention to laying the groundwork for a 2016 campaign.

Ron Paul has clearly won the admiration and respect of Romney and Gingrich.  As Paul continues to attract youth and Independents, he becomes a potential crucial ally to the GOP winner because Paul can keep votes away from Obama.

Since Ron Paul really has no illusion about winning the presidency and is committed to building popular support for his agenda for America, he will be a winner.  People are hearing and believing in his message of eliminating debts, deficits, wars and foreign aid.  His individual freedom and fear of a massive central government bureaucracy, which is pretty much what we've got, are resonating with about 20% of the voters across both party lines and with Independent.

Newt Gingrich seemed almost asleep on stage.  Gone were the rapier slashes and sharp barbs.  Last debate NBC silenced the crowd and Gingrich just doesn't make it with his one liners when there is no response from the crowd.  There were no excuses in this last debate, CNN allowed the crowd to respond.  It was far more entertaining, interesting and informative than the clinical and sterile exercise NBC gave us last week.

Yet the master debater and historian seemed stunned by Romney's attacks and counter attacks and never got into a grove with the audience.  If he was slipping in the polls before the debate he stumbled in this chance to recover.

All four candidates managed to get in some good discussion about President Obama and his failed policies and to identify a far different approach to government they supported.

Mitt Romney was far more at ease in this debate than previous ones and this time the attacks inspired him as his responses and counter attacks were pretty much effective.  In the end he was the clear winner no manner what those radical socialist liberal and radical right wing conservative commentators on network and cable news say.

Now it is a long ways to the Republican National Convention in August and to the 1,144 delegates the winner needs at the convention so a lot could happen.  The news media also seems to forget that by the end of the Florida primary next Tuesday we will have only heard from 4 out of 50 states.

The following is a reprint of my earlier story introducing Marco Rubio to my readers.  You should learn about this young man and his family because he may play a big role in the future of the nation.

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Rising GOP Stars - Marco Rubio, Cuban American Tea Party Patriot

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Highly regarded for his principled, energetic and idea-driven leadership, Marco Rubio won a three way battle for U.S. Senate fighting off numerous trips by Obama and leading Democrats and efforts to split the GOP vote in 2010. His humble and honest acceptance speech after the victory was one of the highlights of all speeches by candidates. Take a moment to listen to this 39 year old rising star.

In 1971, Marco was born in Miami to Cuban-born parents who came to America following Fidel Castro’s takeover. When he was eight years old, Rubio and his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where his father worked as a bartender at the Sams Town Hotel and his mother as a housekeeper at the Imperial Palace Hotel. In 1985, the family returned to Miami where his father continued working as a bartender at the Mayfair House Hotel until 1997. Thereafter he worked as a school crossing guard until his retirement in 2005. His mother worked as a Kmart stock clerk until she retired in 1995.

Rubio attended South Miami Senior High School, graduating in 1989. He attended Tarkio College in Missouri for one year on a football scholarship before transferring to Santa Fe Community College and then graduating in 1993 with a bachelor of science from the University of Florida. He continued his studies at the University of Miami where he earned his juris doctor, cum laude, in 1996.

From 2000-2008, Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives. During this period, he served as Majority Whip, Majority Leader and Speaker of the House, effectively promoting an agenda of lower taxes, better schools, a leaner and more efficient government and free market empowerment. Rubio also helped spearhead Florida’s congressional and legislative redistricting effort. He chaired the House Select Committee on Property Rights, which crafted national model legislation to protect private property rights following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Kelo v. City of New London decision that opened the door for eminent domain abuse.

During the two years prior to assuming the speakership, Rubio traveled around the state hosting “Idearaisers” to solicit Floridians’ input on ways to strengthen Florida. The 100 best ideas were compiled into a book entitled “100 Innovative Ideas for Florida’s Future” which served as the basis for his term. All 100 ideas were passed by the Florida House. Fifty-seven of these ideas ultimately became law, including measures to crack down on gangs and sexual predators, promote energy efficient buildings, appliances and vehicles, and help small businesses obtain affordable health coverage. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich hailed the effort as “a work of genius.”

In addition to these ideas, Rubio championed a major overhaul of the Florida tax system that would have eliminated all property taxes on primary residences in favor of a flat consumption tax. The effort garnered national attention, with Grover Norquist, president of the fiscally conservative Americans for Tax Reform, praising Rubio as “the most pro-taxpayer legislative leader in the country.”

During his legislative career, Rubio also promoted efforts to develop a world-class public school curriculum, increase performance-based accountability, enhance school choice and target the socio-economic factors affecting chronic academic underperformance. He is also widely credited for blocking the expansion of gambling in Florida and shepherding the passage of historic energy legislation based on market incentives rather than government-imposed mandates.

Since the end of his tenure as Speaker, Rubio has resumed his law practice as a sole practitioner. He has also served as a visiting professor at Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center, worked as Florida Chairman of GOPAC and as a political analyst for Univision during the 2008 election cycle.

He has also continued his community and civic involvement, serving on the boards of the Latin Builders Association and Alafit International, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting global literacy. He also remains engaged in the West Miami community where he served as a city commissioner prior to being elected to the state house.

Rubio and his wife, Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, have been married since 1998. They are the parents of four children: Amanda, Daniella, Anthony, and Dominic. They currently live in the working class city of West Miami, just four blocks from the home his parents moved the family to in 1985.
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Obamaville & GOP Primary Campaign

Obamaville January 17, 2012

With the presidential election just 9 1/2 months away and the South Carolina primary this weekend perhaps it is a good time to review the current state of affairs.

On the GOP side Romney is headed for the nomination although watch for Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry and Ron Paul to keep things lively for a few more primaries. None have a chance to catch Romney but the news networks are working overtime to keep them in the race both to damage Romney's position against Obama and to keep up the already rather dismal TV ratings.

Truth is Romney wins in South Carolina and Florida this month could end the contest.  No doubt Ron Paul will stay in, probably until the convention.  While Obama campaign leaders want Romney to be bloodied by Paul and the others, me thinks the Chicago backroom boys are miscalculating the Paul impact.

Truth also is Ron Paul is not costing Romney votes.  Paul pulls the youth (Democrats) and Independents and those are the two groups that gave Obama his narrow win in 2008.  The longer Paul stays in the more votes he costs Obama and the general election is already too close to call.

At least the primaries so far have seen Romney withstand a withering and blistering stream of attacks from his opponents, the Obama thugs, the news media and the Democratic pit bulls.

Conventional wisdom from the Democratic pundits and news media is Romney can't win the conservatives or Christian right therefore he is the best opponent for the billion dollar kid, our President Obama.

Do they really think the conservatives or evangelicals could embrace Obama over a Republican after the three year on the job training record of Obama?  The Obama boys from Illinois may know what makes Chicago tick, I mean the last two governors of that state are in jail, but they do a very arrogant and horrible job of reading Joe Six Pack.

As if the economy alone, yes Obama's economy, is not enough to toss the gang out of the White House and Congress, and the billion dollars Obama will spend to get re-elected is not insulting to the whole concept of democracy and free elections, they have bigger problems than Romney.

When Obama took office in 2009 crude oil sold for $36.51 per barrel and the cost of a gallon of gasoline was $1.85.  Just three years after he took control of the economy the price of crude oil is now $101.56 a barrel and gasoline is $3.44 a gallon.  According to conventional math that is a 278% increase in crude oil and 186% increase in gasoline in just three years. Some management of the economy.

That means the price of not just gasoline but everything derived from oil like cosmetics, plastics, fertilizers, and thousands of other items people use every day will continue skyrocketing right up until election day.  We won't be better off under Obama, we will be broke.  Of course he can blame that on Congress but Obama doesn't even have an energy policy for independence that Congress can vote up or down.

So besides the lack of much of anything in the record of the Obama team, the still sputtering economy, and in spite of the billion dollar campaign war chest built up by Obama while he was supposed to be governing, what else could go wrong for him?

How about a Republican National Convention surprise?  One of two things could happen at the GOP convention that could radically alter the election in November.  If Romney wins the presidential nomination as expected he could pick either Chris Christie of New Jersey or Marco Rubio of Florida for Vice President.

Christie would not just solidify the conservative and social conservative vote but would energize them with his no holds barred campaign and governing style and it has been a long time since we have had a leader like Reagan not afraid to stand up and fight for the people.

Rubio would seriously erode Obama's need to maintain the Hispanic vote in order to win, and he would also pull the conservative, evangelical and Tea Party voters.  Yet another potential powerhouse ally for Romney, both Christie and Rubio would also appeal to a lot of Independents.

So in spite of what the Obama campaign says there may still be a lot of surprises ahead for the those who think the White House is for sale to the highest bidder.