Categories
Politics

Rick “Oops” Perry Gets It Wrong… Again

He was giving a speech in Louisiana, but he told the crowd that he was in Florida.

The exchange;

“There are many other states that embrace those conservative values, the approach that we’ve taken over the years… I’m in one today in Florida. You look at South Carolina, you look at Florida.”

“You’re in Louisiana!” an audience member shouted.

“I know,” Perry responded. “And I said that. I’m in one of those states that reflect those today in Louisiana,” he deadpanned, drawing audience laughter and applause.

“You got that,” another individual said.

“I got that,” Perry replied. “But I’m from Texas, so let’s start there.”

Oops!

Categories
Politics Texas

Even Texas Republicans Want Rick Perry Out

A new PPP Poll found that Texas voters- even Republicans- have had enough of Rick Perry.

PPP’s newest poll finds that only 31% of voters think Perry should seek reelection next year, compared to 62% who think it’s time for him to step aside. He’s among the most unpopular Governors in the country, with only 41% of voters approving of him to 54% who disapprove.

Perry could face great peril in a primary challenge next year. Only 41% of GOP primary voters want him to be their candidate again, compared to 47% who think it’s time for someone else. And in a head to head match up with Attorney General Greg Abbott, Perry leads by only a 41/38 margin. What makes those numbers particularly worrisome for Perry is that Abbott only has 59% name recognition at this point with primary voters. Among voters who are familiar with Abbott- whether they like him or not- he leads Perry 55/33. That suggests the potential for things to get worse for Perry if Abbott does indeed go forward with a bid.

Categories
Barack Obama Democratic Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Rick Santorum White House

So, You Say You Wanna Be President

Word is out that VP Joe Biden is looking to throw his hat into the ring for president in 2016. Not for nothing, but if I were to go with the present mood of the country, I’d have to say that Hillary Rodham Clinton (Stop! We all know she’s running lol!) stands a better chance of becoming the Democratic nominee than the beloved Joe. And it won’t be because Mrs. Clinton is the better politician, or the more experienced legislator or even better liked than Biden. It’s what she isn’t that’s more likely than not going to give her a clearer shot as successor of the Obama Administration.

I don’t think the country has experienced this much diversity since John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the first Irish Catholic American to hold court in the Oval Office. That major feat seems like small potatoes compared to the election of a Barack Hussein Obama to the White house.

Thirteen years into the 21st century and America is slowly showing signs of embracing its diversity, the main reason why its so attractive to others born outside its perceived borders. Whichever way you may wish to see it, for better or for worse, President Obama and his Administration have successfully ushered in The New Vanguard in American politics.

THE ERA OF THE ‘NEW VANGUARD’ IN AMERICAN POLITICS

In the 2009 appointment of his Cabinet members, Obama’s choice of seven women (including Hillary as his Secretary of State), nine racial and ethnic minorities and only eight white men among its 21 members–whose overall age averaged 54 years–made his the most diverse Cabinet in history according to political analysts. It’s predicted that his new Cabinet selections, once completed, will also reflect more accurately what America looks like today.

As it should.

It doesn’t help the resistance to this change, that Americans–particularly the young voters who came of voting age within the last ten years or so–have witnessed the slow, embarrassing decay and deterioration of an antiquated Republican Party. It offers such a clear juxtaposition of how we no longer want our politics to look and act as opposed to what we do want.

Virtually unknown, seemingly untainted and un-corrupted by Big Money lobbyists, grass-rooted, youthful, innovative, broad-minded, humanist, energized and unafraid…these are the adjectives being applied to NewPolitician_5.0!

And just to be fair, Clinton and her people should not consider her a shoe-in for the candidacy in four years (remember how that worked out in ’08? Not so good.) There are quite a few politically aspirant stars out there who have cut their teeth on this new political vibe and are looking to go supernova in the American political galaxy. Gays and Lesbians, Latinos, Asians, young white and black men and women, the secular, the handicapped, Little People and even Mormons!…anyone can step up to the plate at any inning and upset her whole game, hoping for the opportunity to represent America, as seen through their eyes. Whether they’ll be the political trailblazers that these difficult times call for, well–only time will tell.

As it should.

Categories
Health insurance Planned Parenthood Politics Texas women

Rick Perry Eliminates Health Insurance for Poor Women in Texas

Thanks to a decision by Republican Governor Rick Perry, 130,000 low-income women in Texas just lost their health insurance coverage. A bill that was recently signed into law by Rick Perry, disqualified Planned Parenthood from receiving federal grants thus, ending the Medicaid program that provided necessary health benefits to the poorer residents of his state.

The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Thursday that it will cut off all Medicaid funding for family planning to the state of Texas, following Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) decision to implement a new law that excludes Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid Women’s Health Program.

Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations (CMSO), wrote Texas health officials a letter on Thursday explaining that the state broke federal Medicaid rules by discriminating against qualified family planning providers and thus would be losing the entire program, which provides cancer screenings, contraceptives and basic health care to 130,000 low-income women each year.

“We very much regret the state’s decision to implement this rule, which will prevent women enrolled in the program from receiving services from the trusted health care providers they have chosen and relied upon for their care,” she wrote. “In light of Texas’ actions, CMS is not in a position to extend or renew the current [Medicaid contract].”

The federal government pays for nearly 90 percent of Texas’ $40 million Women’s Health Program, and nearly half of the program’s providers in Texas are Planned Parenthood clinics. But the new law that went into effect earlier this month disqualified Planned Parenthood from participating in the program because some of its clinics provide abortions, even though no state or federal money can be used to pay for those abortions.

Categories
Politics presidential

Another One Bites The Dust – Rick Perry Suspends His Campaign

You may choose to call what Rick Perry had a “campaign.” I like to think of the whole episode as his oops moment. Whatever it was, as of today, it’s no more

Rick Perry ended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and endorsed Newt Gingrich this morning, saying he saw “no viable path forward” after his dwindling support took him from front-runner status to dead last.

Perry entered the GOP race as a breath of fresh air to many conservatives who hoped for a suitable candidate to oppose Mitt Romney, but after a few bad debate performances and bad finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, he sank in the polls, and his supporters began to give up.

In South Carolina, Perry was polling in last place, in single digits, before the primary on Saturday.

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics Republican Rick Santorum United States

It’s Capital, Not Capitalism

Mitt Romney has said on the campaign trail that an attack on him is an attack on capitalism. Aside from being a self-serving, disingenuous, mendacious statement (which is enough, don’t you think?), it also shows how shallow and dangerous the Republican party has become.

Romney’s career at Bain Capital is a touchstone for his presidential aspirations, and his success at convincing American voters that it makes him qualified to be president will decide whether he wins in November. As of this moment, I would say that this particular venture is off to a rocky start.

Polling for President Obama’s PAC is showing that anti-Bain rhetoric is a winning issue for him. Rick Santorum is saying that Romney can’t win based on his Bain experience. Rick Perry called out Bain as “vulture capitalism” (and this is officially the last time that anything Rick Perry says will be quoted in the Farmer blog). Newt wants Romney to stop the “pious baloney.” The attacks have continued at such a pace that conservatives are rushing to defend Mitt and capitalism itself.

They must really be worried. After all, the GOP has fought for the last year to defund social services such as Planned Parenthood, enact cuts to education, redesign Medicare so seniors will actually have to pay more, and demonize people who are on unemployment benefits as lazy. Their candidates want to deny law-abiding children of illegal immigrants a shot at the American Dream, obliterate the Federal Reserve, go back into Iraq, make abortion illegal even in cases of rape or incest, oppose full civil rights for gays, keep taxes low on the wealthy so the rest of us have to make do with less, and allow banks and financial institutions to continue to do what got us into this recession in the first place.

But don’t mess with capitalism, mofo.

As usual, they have it all wrong. The questions about Bain Capital and venture capitalism are not about the future of our financial system. The problem is the function of that type of business in the American system. Venture firms do play some positive roles in the economy by either rescuing companies that might otherwise go out of business or by scooping up bargains due to bankruptcies. The makers of Twinkies recently went back into bankruptcy for the second time and I, for one, would like some venture firm to resuscitate it.

The negatives, though, are compelling. These firms have a reputation for chopping up companies into parts and selling them off to make money, and as a result people get laid off and towns suffer. They are seen as paper-pushers whose only concern is for profits and bonuses, not for actually building something. And they’re seen as being cold, calculating, number-crunching entities that don’t care about the effects of their work, only the results. They are ruthless in their Darwinian cruelty, but criticism of their tactics is about capital, not capitalism. Has Bain engaged in this type of behavior? Yes, yes, and yes.

The Republican Party has bet its success on a combination of Cold War-era baiting and big lies, as if their candidates are the only ones who can fix the financial problems created by their ideology. In the end, that strategy will fail because it ignores the fact that more people are not siding with the wealthy (though they don’t always blame them for the inequality). Romney’s defense of capitalism is laudable, but by aligning himself with the 1%, he’s left himself open to the withering attacks not only from his right flank, but from a full frontal assault that’s coming from Obama and the Democrats.

Join the debate at facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives

Categories
Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Rick Santorum

Judge Rules Against Rick Perry And Other Republican Candidates In Virginia Lawsuit

Judge John Gibney heard the case brought by Rick Perry and the other Republican candidates who joined the law suit, and he made the decision. Perry and the other candidates will not compete in Virginia. They knew the rules and did not do what was necessary to get their names on the ballot in a timely fashion.

“They knew the rules in Virginia many months ago; the limitations on circulators affected them as soon as they began to circulate petitions,” he writes. “The plaintiffs could have challenged the Virginia law at that time. Instead, they waited until after the time to gather petitions had ended and they had lost the political battle to be on the ballot; then, on the eve of the printing of absentee ballots, they decided to challenge Virginia’s laws. In essence, they played the game, lost, and then complained that the rules were unfair.”

The decision means Perry, as well as Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman, will not appear on the ballot in the state’s March 6 primary.

Categories
Politics South Carolina

Is Rick Perry Delusional Or Is He Just a Fool

Rick Perry got a massive 5% of the votes in Iowa, then lastnight in New Hampshire, 1% of voters still chose Perry, although he didn’t compete in the state. But instead of doing what other famous quitters like Sarah Palin and now Michele Bachmann have done and gracefully bow out, Perry still think there is hope for the corpse that is his campaign.

“South Carolina is the next stop,” Perry said in his statement. “I have a head start here, and it’s friendly territory for a Texas governor and veteran with solid outsider credentials, the nation’s best record of job creation, and solid fiscal, social and Tea Party conservatism.”

The latest polls from South Carolina show Perry in fifth place with 5 percent support. Romney places first in those polls.

Well, we never accused him of being a math wizard, but someone should advise Mr. Perry that 5% support does not equal a “head start,” nor does it signal “friendly terrority.”

Categories
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.

Categories
Barack Obama democrats Mitt Romney Politics Republican Texas

President Obama Beat Republican Candidates For Hispanic Vote

Hispanics are slowly becoming the largest voting block in the American political system. Hispanics are also a group of people highly despised by the Republican party – a party that has embraced an anti-immigration, anti Dream Act, “build the darn electrified fence now!” mentality. So it is no surprise that this group have been an ardent supporter of President Obama.

The Poll…

The survey, conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center, revealed a general-election weakness for Republicans among an increasingly influential voting bloc — with former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry each winning less than one-fourth of the Hispanic vote in hypothetical matchups against Obama.

Obama leads Romney by 68 percent to 23 percent and Perry by 69 percent to 23 percent among Hispanic voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5.2 percentage points for the sample.

But have no fear. The Republican party are also well verse in the art on pandering.

With just a few more days before the Iowa primary begins on January 3rd, don’t expect any promises to the Hispanic community as the Republican candidates are still focused on pleasing their Teaparty base. But after this primary season is over, we expect nothing less than some baseless promises from the GOP nominee. Don’t be surprised the nominee offer open borders and amnesty, and free health care for all the undocumented people in this country.

Categories
Abortion Iowa Mike Huckabee Politics Rape

Attention Attention: Rick Perry Is Now Against All Abortions

Rick Perry, one of the Republicans trying to win his party’s nomination to run against president Obama in November 2012 has had a change if heart. He once believed that abortions should be allowed in the case of rape and incest, but not anymore.

What caused Perry to change? We’ve come up with two reasons

  1. Voting in the Republican primary starts in a few days, and Perry’s new anti-abortion stance will go a long way in getting a few more Christian conservative gets.
  2. A television show changed his mind.

Tuesday, at the last leg of a four-stop bus trip across southwestern Iowa, Perry was asked a question by a local pastor about his abortion views, noting that the candidate had recently signed a pledge to oppose abortion in every situation and asking whether Perry had changed his mind.

Perry replied that he had. “You’re seeing a transformation,” he said. Recently watching an anti-abortion film had persuaded him to alter his view, he said.

Categories
Newt Gingrich Politics Republican

Rick Perry Does The George Bush – Ask Court To Put Him On Virginia’s Ballot

Hey, if it worked in the 2004 presidential election, when George Bush got the courts to hand him the presidency on a platter despite what the electorate said, why not try it again?

That was what came to mind, as I read about what one of the Republican candidates are trying to do in Virginia. Rick Perry has filed a lawsuit, demanding that the courts put him on the ballot.

“Virginia ballot access rules are among the most onerous and are particularly problematic in a multi-candidate election. We believe that the Virginia provisions unconstitutionally restrict the rights of candidates and voters by severely restricting access to the ballot, and we hope to have those provisions overturned or modified to provide greater ballot access to Virginia voters and the candidates seeking to earn their support.”

Perry was unable to get the required amount of signatures necessary to be included in the Virginia Republican primaries, and apparently, he’s not happy.

Exit mobile version