Category: Newt Gingrich

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Black people Newt Gingrich Politics Republican Rick Santorum United States

Poverty In America – More Whites In Poverty Than Blacks

 Edward Wyckoff Williams writes: The leaders of today’s Republican Party are expert storytellers. When it comes to manipulating racial stereotypes for political gain, they are akin to animation artists of the 1920s: coloring the lines in black and white.

Last Thursday Newt Gingrich told a crowd of senior citizens in New Hampshire, “The African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.” Rick Santorum was even more egregious, claiming he doesn’t “want to make black people’s lives better by giving them other people’s money” (although he later claimed that he never intentionally said “black”).

Gingrich’s latest offense comes only weeks after he received widespread criticism for saying that poor children should work as janitors and clean toilets. He specifically made a point of addressing “inner city” youths — which has become conservative code for black and brown people everywhere, from the South to the coasts, the suburbs to the metropolises, regardless of where they actually live.

The report states;

Of the 46 million people living in poverty in America in 2010, the U.S. census revealed that 31 million were white. Ten million were black. Of the 49 million people without health insurance coverage, 37 million were white; 8 million were African-American. The face of poverty in America is overwhelmingly white, but as a 2009 study on children in poverty [explained], the white American poor, especially those in rural areas, are “forgotten.”

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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics South Carolina

Romney Holds Small Lead Over Gingrich In South Carolina

With just days to go before the South Caroina prmary begins, new polling shows some good news for Gingrich and some bad news for Romney, as conservative Republicans still questions the moderate record of Mitt Romney.

The former Massachusetts governor’s lead is so small in the Palmetto State that he’s essentially tied with Newt Gingrich, according to a poll conducted for The Augusta Chronicle by InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research. Romney’s 23 percent and Gingrich’s 21 percent fall within the 3.6 percent margin of error. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who came in second in the Iowa caucuses is in third place in South Carolina with 14 percent, while Texas Congressman Ron Paul, the runner-up in New Hampshire, is effectively tied with him at 13 percent.

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Citizens United Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics presidential Republican Rick Santorum South Carolina

Apres-Primary Musings: Mitt Can’t Conquer the Mountain

We are not impressed.

If Mitt Romney can’t muster over 40% of the vote in a backyard state against a field of sub-par candidates with extreme positions on the issues, then he’s not ready yet for his curtain call. Yes, it certainly was a good day for Romney, but not as good as his victory speech would indicate.

He’ll win the nomination, but two things are abundantly clear. The first is that Romney still hasn’t galvanized his party as a candidate, and the second is that Republican enthusiasm is turning out to be somewhat of a myth.

Let’s get to the numbers.

Here’s what I said would happen (left) and here’s what actually happened (right):

Romney      38%        39.4%

Paul            19%        22.8%

Huntsman   16%       16.8%

Gingrich      11%         9.4%

Santorum    10%         9.3%

Roemer         3%         0.4%

Perry             1%          0.7%

As in Iowa, not bad. I seem to have underestimated Ron Paul’s reliable support and overestimated Buddy Roemer’s, but I don’t think I was alone.

If present reports are true, all the candidates are moving on to South Carolina where the PAC-men will be gobbling up money and air time in their quest for Romney’s scraps. This will be Citizens United writ not on the main stage, but as regional summer stock theater. Millions of dollars that otherwise could be spent on more significant pursuits will be sucked down the rabbit hole of ego and vanity. That’s the new democracy at work, and we’d all better get used to it because when the campaign moves to Broadway in the fall, there’s going to be an ad war like no other.

South Carolina is the last stand for Huntsman, Santorum and Perry to be sure unless any of them pull wild upsets and finish in the top 3, and above 20%. Gingrich could stay in if he’s in the top 3 because he now has PAC money and Paul and his minions will stick around for the duration. Romney can claim the nomination with a dominant performance, over 40%, but 30% will be enough to make him inevitable.

Follow the march to the south at facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives.

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Mitt Romney MSNBC Newt Gingrich Politics Republican republican debate Rick Santorum

Republican Debate – A Record Flip Flop For Romney – Video

A Republican debate happened yesterday and Romney stood above the fighting fray, walking away with little or no real attacks on him or his record.

A Republican debate happened today, and things were much different, as Romney took swings from Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman.

But Newt Gingrich took to the floor with one clear goal in mind. He wanted the audience to know the truth about Romney and his SuperPAC’s attempts to derail his candidacy with negative ads. Romney had previously said that he knew nothing about the actions of the PAC, or who they were. But today, he flip-flopped on that claim too.

Watch below, as Romney claimed he hadn’t seen any of the ads Gingrich was talking about, only to turn around and perfectly describe the ads he didn’t see.

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Iowa Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Republican Rick Santorum

Republican Debate – To Romney’s Delight, The Losers Attacked Each Other

With the Iowa primaries over and Mitt Romney crowned the winner by an apparent technicality, the expectation was that his fellow competitors would use whatever avenue they had available to show why they are more deserving of the Republican nomination. That perfect avenue presented itself last night in yet another Republican debate, but the other five Iowa primary losers on stage were more satisfied with fighting each other, instead of distinguishing themselves from Willard.

The former Massachusetts governor was subject to the first attack of the night but that early fire was quickly overshadowed by testy exchanges between Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich.

It’s been more than three weeks since the Republican presidential candidates have been on stage together. The last time they gathered,

Gingrich led in the polls and Michele Bachmann was still in the race.

It was a different scenario at Saturday night’s debate, sponsored by ABC News and Yahoo News.

Romney, who virtually tied Santorum in the Iowa caucuses and holds a double-digit lead in the New Hampshire polls, was expected to be a target.

He wasn’t.

There was one early attack.

Meanwhile, Romney stood idle by with a smile on his face.

How dumb was this strategy to attack each other instead of the leader? After the debate, one of ABC’s political analysis observed that Ron Paul was on the attack – going after Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich – but did not lay one finger on the leader Mitt Willard Romney. This insight led to the conclusion that Paul was like a puppet on a string. “I’m sure if you rip open Paul’s shirt,” he said, “you’ll see one of Mitt’s sons at the control.”

If you are trying to win your party’s nomination, but are too scared to use a debate to point out Romney’s non-existent record, then you have no business running for the most powerful office in the nation.

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Newt Gingrich Politics

No More Mr. Niceguy. Gingrich Attacks Willard

Mitt Willard Romney and his secret PACS have used every dirty trick in the book to go after his fellow Republican Presidential challengers. His challengers, on the other hand, have mostly concentrated on attacking each other rather than going after Willard.

Oh, how times have changed. Yesterday, Newt Gingrich suggested teaming up with Rick Santorum to defeat Willard, saying, “I don’t think Romney can get much above 25 percent.”

“You take [Rick] Perry, [Michele] Bachmann, Santorum, Gingrich, you get a sense of what a small percentage Romney really represents,” Gingrich said, including himself in the “conservative” field in contrast to Romney and Ron Paul. Paul, according to Gingrich, is “a different kind of person and I don’t know how you would characterize his votes.”

And now this – an ad from the Gingrich campaign, calling Romney “timid.”

Its on folks! Romney has awakened the sleeping dog that is Newt Gingrich. Question now is, just how bad will his bite be?

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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Planned Parenthood Politics

Newt Gingrich To Mitt Romney – Liar Liar Pants On Fire

The only time in Newt Gingrich’s political career that he decided to go clean and not destroy his opponents with negative ads caused Gingrich to be demolished by negative ads against him. In the month of December, Gingrich went from leading the Republicans with 26% to barely polling ahead of Rick Perry with only 13% of the Republican voters.

After trying to walk the straight and narrow path, Gingrich today showed a glimpse of how he built his political career – through being down-right nasty, calling Willard Romney a liar!

Tired, frustrated and irritated, by his own account, Mr. Gingrich heartily agreed when a television interviewer asked him Tuesday if he was calling Mr. Romney a “liar” in claiming to be a conservative.

“Here’s a Massachusetts moderate,” Mr. Gingrich said, whose “Romneycare” health plan when Mr. Romney was governor of Massachusetts included taxpayer-paid abortions and put a Planned Parenthood official on a state health  board — red-cape issues for social conservatives.

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Iowa Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Rick Santorum

Presidential Polling Report: Special Iowa Edition

And you thought the holidays were over. Having the Iowa caucuses so soon after the new year is a great gift for political junkies and opens what should be an expensive, long, important and uniquely-American national election season. That Iowa and New Hampshire take all of the attention so early is an unfortunate quirk of the system and will provide us with untimely candidate exits and lots of wasted money.

If you’re new to the process, or just can’t believe this is how we elect our president, here’s how the Iowa caucuses work.

And now onto the analysis and predictions.

The poll that everyone is talking about was released on Saturday: The Des Moines Register’s poll of likely caucus attendees.

The poll, conducted Tuesday through Friday, shows support at 24 percent for Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts; 22 percent for Paul, a Texas congressman; and 15 percent for the surging Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania.

But the four-day results don’t reflect just how quickly momentum is shifting in a race that has remained highly fluid for months. If the final two days of polling are considered separately, Santorum rises to second place, with 21 percent, pushing Paul to third, at 18 percent. Romney remains the same, at 24 percent.

“Momentum’s name is Rick Santorum,” said the Register’s pollster, J. Ann Selzer.
Another sign of the race’s volatility: 41 percent of likely caucusgoers say they could still be persuaded to change their minds.

Rounding out the field, in results from the full, four-day poll: former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 12 percent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 11 percent, and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, 7 percent.  

Based on the results of this poll, one scenario stands out to me. If Romney wins, it gives him great momentum heading into New Hampshire one week from today. Assuming he wins that, we could see full carnage among the challengers. Bachmann will either drop out of the race or her supporters will go to another conservative candidate, probably Santorum if he comes in second in Iowa. A fifth place finish for Perry would also lead many of his supporters to Santorum. Jon Huntsman will also leave after losing in New Hampshire, with his supporters moving to Romney and perhaps Gingrich. In any event, a conservative will emerge as the main challenger to Romney. That will become the main story through South Carolina and Florida later in January. If it’s Santorum, it will represent one of the great come-from-behinds in a long while.

It’s hard to say that a Santorum win immediately sets him up as Romney’s most viable main challenger. He’ll need to quickly establish a presence in South Carolina and Florida, which takes money and ground game, and he doesn’t seem to have much of either. He can, as can Gingrich or Paul if they place highly in Iowa, bypass New Hampshire or at least pass it off as Romney’s backyard and focus on the states where there are more social conservatives. Gingrich could spend more time in New Hampshire and claim a moral victory. I’m not putting much faith in a Paul victory after Iowa.

The 41% of Iowans who could change their mind are the wild cards in this race. If they decide that Romney is most electable, he’ll win a resounding victory and the race will be all but over. If they stay with one or two of the conservatives, then the race gets more interesting and probably lasts a bit longer. A stronger Gingrich showing than fourth makes him the main competition, but I don’t see it. Mainly because the thought frightens me a bit. Nothing scientific about that.

A PPP poll released on Monday shows

Ron Paul at 20 percent, Mitt Romney at 19 percent and Rick Santorum at 18 percent on a survey for which PPP reports a margin of error for each candidate of +/- 2.7 percent. Running farther back are Newt Gingrich at 14 percent, Rick Perry at 10 percent, Michele Bachmann at 8 percent, Jon Huntsman at 4 percent and Buddy Roemer at 2 percent. PPP interviewed 1,340 likely Republican caucus goers on December 31 and January 1.

Santorum again seems to be the recipient of a late surge and is the second choice of 14% of respondents, the highest of any of the candidates. His personal approval rating of 60% is twice his disapproval rating. heady stuff for someone who lost their last election.

The rest of the polling can be seen at RealClearPolitics.com

Both NBC and the Rasmussen poll have Romney, Paul and Santorum in that order, which supports the Register poll from the weekend.

And here’s a nice chart from Polls and Votes

My pick for the results are as follows:

Romney 26%

Santorum 24%

Paul 21%

Gingrich 15%

Perry 8%

Bachmann 5%

It’s always more fun when you stick your neck out (like Louis XVI and his lovely wife Marie), so make your prediction in the comments section. Remember that in order to complain about the process, you have to commit to it.

As always, you can follow the action here and at www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives

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Iowa Iowa caucuses Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Republican

Newt Gingrich Now Thinks He Can Win Iowa

Just yesterday, Newt Gingrich concluded that he may not win in Iowa. Today, same Gingrich, different conclusion.

“I’m here to tell you when you have 41 percent undecided in The Des Moines Register poll, if each of you in the next 24 will talk to everyone of your friends and if each of you will go to the caucus and will make the best possible argument for nominating an experienced conservative with a national record of achieving things, we may pull off one of the great upsets of the history of the Iowa caucuses.”

Tonight we’ll know the truth as Iowans head to the polls today. Results are expected sometime after 8pm.

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Iowa Iowa caucuses Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Rick Santorum

Newt Gingrich – “I Don’t Think I’m Going To Win.”

Gingrich is slowly coming to his senses. He is finally admitting that he has absolutely zero chance of winning tomorrow in Iowa.

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa — Newt Gingrich said Monday that he doesn’t expect to win tomorrow’s Iowa caucuses in a bow to his sinking poll numbers in the state.

The former House Speaker, who led in polls of likely Iowa caucus-goers as recently as early December, sought to lower expectations for his showing tomorrow night.

“I don’t think I’m going to win,” Gingrich told reporters during a press availability. “If you look at the numbers, that volume of negativity has done enough damage. But on the other hand, if the Des Moines Register was right and 41 percent [are] potentially undecided, who knows what’s going to happen.”

“Whatever I do tomorrow night will be a victory because I’m still standing.”

Sure!

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Barack Obama Iowa caucuses Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics presidential Republican Rick Santorum

The Top Five Mitt Romney Tantrums of 2011

There’s an attribute that goes hand in hand with someone who was being born into riches, and that is the need to always get their way. They will throw temper tantrums even if they’re wrong, just to be heard. It is always their turn to talk, even if it means shouting you down in the process.

Mitt Romney is the perfect example of this. Born with a gold spoon in his mouth, Romney will never learn how to be humble and allow others to voice their opinions. The DNC just released this video showing the top five moments in 2011 when Romney had to have his way. Something they call, the “Mitt Fit.”

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Barack Obama Iowa Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics

Crocodile To Newt Gingrich: I Want My Tears Back Please

Remember the Democratic primaries in 2008 when Hillary Clinton choked up and almost came to tears? Conservative pundits practically crucified her,  accusing her of trying to pull a political sympathy stunt to win the New Hampshire elections and possibly the White House.

Mrs. Clinton went on to win in New Hampshire a few days later, but the White House eventually went to Barack Obama.

So what, I wondered,  will the Conservative talking-heads say now that Newt Gingrich – a one time leader of the Republican presidential field, who now trails Mitt Romney and Ron Paul – has opened up the water works?

Speaking at an event in Iowa, Gingrich was asked a question about his deceased mother from Frank Luntz, a pollster and close friend of Gingrich. As if on cue, Gingrich faced reddened as he mentioned that talking about his mother made him  “teary-eyed.”   He blubbered on a bit more and then came the water works as he exclaimed how she loved to sing in the choir and embarrassingly admitted that she made him sing in the choir also. How cherubic he must have been in those days.

We all know that talking about one’s beloved deceased mother can stir up a lot of emotion, but coming from Newt Gingrich – a man known for trying anything and everything possible to win a political race, a man who’s demonstrated time and time again that honesty is not his forte… one can’t help but wonder how many practice sessions were needed to make this moment just right for television.

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