I don't have a dog in this fight, but...

[Lamplighter]

For the past several days the talking heads of the news media have done nothing
in the way of reporting issues or positions of the GOP candidates.
Instead it is all about polls and the horse race in Iowa.
Who is ahead in the polls ? Who is "surging" today ? Blah, blah, blah...

Romney thinks he's ahead, so he is out cracking jokes while his family does his campaigning.
Paul thinks he's ahead so he is taking his son on a bus ride thru Iowa.
Santorum thinks he's ahead, so he has the Duggar family out campaigning.
Huntsman is taking it easy until New Hampshire.
Perry is taking it easy until South Carolina.
Cain is taking it easy until his wife fixes dinner.
Bachmann thinks she is Margaret Thatcher.

Maybe one of them will be the GOP candidate for President in 2012.
... Mitt Happens !

[classicman]

Here ya go Lamp ...
Candidates lay out plans to trim federal debt

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by classicman

Here ya go Lamp ...
Candidates lay out plans to trim federal debt

That link is only what the candidates, themselves, are saying.

No follow up questions or interpretation of impact or feasibility, etc

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by classicman

Bwahahahahahahaa!! !!! !!!!

I would pay her NOT to endorse me.
OTOH, CNN lost a few more credibility points having her on and thinking anyone is interested in her opinion.

It's not about credibility, silly. It's about ratings. Just ask FNC.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

That link is only what the candidates, themselves, are saying.

Of course it is. What would you expect at this stage?

No follow up questions or interpretation of impact or feasibility, etc

Gee really? And this was done with every other candidate from every other election? C'mon. They at least said something and acted like they have plans or thoughts or something...
Its better than all the other BS we've been hearing about lately.

Not that it matters IMO, this will be a landslide win for O. None of these people have a shot in hell at beating him.

[TheMercenary]

President Obama today made an unprecedented “recess” appointment even though the Senate is not in recess – “a sharp departure from a long-standing precedent that has limited the President to recess appointments only when the Senate is in a recess of 10 days or longer,” according to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
It turns out that the action not only contradicts long-standing practice, but also the view of the administration itself. In 2010, Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal explained to the Supreme Court the Obama administration’s view that recess appointments are only permissible when Congress is in recess for more than three days. Here’s the exchange with Chief Justice John Roberts:

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: And the recess appointment power doesn't work why?

MR. KATYAL: The -- the recess appointment power can work in -- in a recess. I think our office has opined the recess has to be longer than 3 days. And -- and so, it is potentially available to avert the future crisis that -- that could -- that could take place with respect to the board. If there are no other questions –

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Thank you, counsel.

Speaker Boehner called the appointment an “extraordinary and entirely unprecedented power grab,” and noted that the position “had not been filled for one reason: the agency it heads is bad for jobs and bad for the economy.”

[classicman]

Seems like a lot of whining to me. This is not unprecedented at all. How many did GWB jr make? What was unusual in all of this was the R's attempting to act like they were in session when they really were not. Just more procedural wrangling IMO.

[ZenGum]

This is the mock-the-stoopid-Republican-candidates thread.

There are plenty of sling-shit-at-Obama threads.

Carry on.

[Lamplighter]

USA Today
1/7/12
Perry returns to the Republican race

Tonight's debate in New Hampshire features a candidate who's been missing in action: Rick Perry.
Perry's absence from the campaign trail has not helped him public opinion polls.
He barely registers in New Hampshire surveys.
And three recent polls in South Carolina show Perry at between 2% and 5%.

StLouisToday.com
AP
January 7, 2012
Huntsman: 'Sane Republican' ready for his moment

After sitting out the Iowa caucuses and investing all his hopes in this state,
Huntsman has struggled to find a voice that resonates with voters.
The former Utah governor is proud to announce that he's no longer
"the margin-of-error candidate _ in New Hampshire, at least.

But he'll need to do far better than that for his campaign to continue after Tuesday's primary.

Politico
JIM VANDEHEI and MAGGIE HABERMAN
1/7/12 7:01

Debate night undercard: Good Newt vs. Bad Newt

Newt Gingrich faces, to use one of his favorite terms, a transformative question in the next 48 hours:
Can he claw his way back into this race without letting Bad Newt completely out of the box?

Hyperbole is his oxygen, and the man takes a lot of very deep breaths.
The hyperbole is a hoot for Republicans when it’s directed at Obama or, just as good,
at the media in debates in defense of fellow Republicans.
<snip>
But it can be cringe-inducing when it’s aimed at those fellow Republicans instead.

And besides all that:

The GOP candidate for President may be determined by a single driving question...

Nashua Telegraph
By STACY MILBOUER
Friday, January 6, 2012
Amherst 9-year-old reveals GOP presidential candidates’ superhero alter egos

Ari, a fourth-grader at Clark/Wilkins Elementary School,
began asking the question to presidential candidates during
the summer at Amherst’s annual Fourth of July parade
– notorious for attracting Uncle Sams on stilts and campaigning politicians
Dad, Darren [Garnick], recorded it all with a hand-held flip video camera.

[Griff]

NPR seems to be applying their own limited vision to the race, instead of reporting. I awakened to the Iowa results and heard #s 1,2,4,5,6, and 7 listed. I don't know if Paul is supposed to get disappeared again or if someone missed the removed from blacklist memo. Then yesterday they were beating up the Tea Party folks for not voting their self-interest by looking for a small government candidate. They simply don't get that the TPer's and a lot of us frankly are still pissed about bailing out banks and businesses whose behaviors were about to be punished by the marketplace. Now instead of breaking up to big to fail businesses we will get further pretend regulation and will protect business from competition and build stagnation. We missed an opportunity to demolish some very corrupt business models but instead we subsidize them. At least we can still buy a Chevy Suburban.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by Griff

<snip> At least we can still buy a Chevy Suburban.

That's the best BAZINGA I've seen this year.

[Griff]

thanky

[classicman]

[classicman]

Why Jon Huntsman has no prayer ...

I was criticized last night by Governor Romney for putting my country first.
He criticized me for serving my country in China while he was out raising money.
Like my two sons who are serving in the United States Navy, I want to be very clear:
I will always put my country first.

[ZenGum]

And cut the pious baloney, Mitt.

!!