As Governor, Romney followed the Santorum doctrine on abortion

It’s another Republican primary debate tonight, this time in South Carolina…

Governor Mitt Romney has by far the highest performance in every answer he’s given, but all the others except Ron Paul (who has plateaued on how good or not he performs at these things) did exceptionally better than they have been in these things. Rick Perry would be the frontrunner right now if he was as smooth and competent 5 months ago as he was tonight.

Romney has never had a bad debate though. He has owned everyone who attempts to attack him in every one of these things and tonight had the closest call but he still won at the last second. What happened was that Rick Santorum complained about a commercial against him by a Pro-Romney PAC (Political Action Committee) and was whining to Romney about it being inaccurate. The reason it is “whining” and not a legitimate complaint is because Romney has nothing to do with the ad other than existing and being in this race for people to support. Candidates are not allowed to communicate with PAC’s. It would be illegal for Romney to tell any of the PAC’s supporting him “hey, don’t say this” or “hey, you know what you should say about Santorum?…”.

So the complaint from Santorum is stupid on its face but it gets better/worse: –actually, wait — before I tell you how it got better slash worse, I’ve got to point out that Newt Gingrich made this same whiny complaint to Romney in a previous debate and got the same 100% legitimate and accurate answer. Newt was mad over attack ads against him by Romney’s PAC, scolding Romney for not (illegally) telling the PAC to remove the ads. So what happens? Newt’s PAC releases a 28 minute documentary attacking Romney as an evil corporatist who – gasp – made MONEY (iknowright? hideous) while other people – doublegasp – failed to. The response was that it received 4 Pinochios from the same source Gingrich used to whine about the negative ads against him. Romney brought this up at the debate, calling the “documentary” the “biggest hoax since bigfoot” but failed to use the 4 Pinnochios fact. Okay, so back to Ricky Dicky Santoramos:

The ad misstated Santorums position on allowing felons the right to vote and he asked Romney if he believes felons should be allowed to vote. Romney does not even support PAC’s and neither do I (they only exist because of limits on money to candidates. if you remove those limits then candidates can run their OWN ads and be personally responsible for the content within them instead of PACs doing it), but he answered the question and said he does not believe violent felons should be allowed to vote. AH-HA! sez Le Santorum…because when Romney was governor in Massachusetts, the state had a law allowing felons to vote and Romney didn’t change it. So Santorum thinks he has a gotcha on Mitt and to me in the audience it appears that way as well… Except Mitt replies with his usual surgeon like precision and skill and casually diced that charge to peaces and threw it in the trash. The response: Romney had an 85% Democrat legislature that would not allow him to change that law so he picked his battles wisely and didnt press it in his short 4 year term as Governor – HOWEVER – long as you wanna bring up contradictory actions to ones beliefs – was it not you, Mr Santorum, who just minutes ago on this stage (this isn’t a quote, i’m role-playing Mitt while re-telling this story from a half hour ago) told us all that it was a noble thing you did in the senate by voting AGAINST a right-to-work law (that means that no one would be legally forced to join a Union to have a job) despite being pro right-to-work? The reason you said you voted against it despite supporting it was that your state voted against similar legislation so you wanted to accurately represent it as its Senator… okay. fine. so why are you being such a dumbass hypocrite and not applying that same standard to me, Mitt Motherfkkn Rom-nay, biatch? *applause*.

And the same goes for the rest of you conservative dopes that keep calling Romney such an untrustworthy flip-flopping unprincipled core-less manipulator because the dude, over time, came to YOUR position on abortion: the guy operated under the same philosophy Santorum did, but changed his mind IN YOUR FAVOR… Santorum believes in right-to-work laws but refused to vote for a national one because his state of Pennsylvania was against them. fine. Mitt Romney was personally pro-life his whole life, but thought he could reconcile that belief with keeping choice within the law and ran for senate in 94 (lost) and Governor in 2000whatever (won) on the promise to not change the current law on abortion. So the 2 men had the same principal. No excuses for you evangelical bigots who are looking for excuses to hate on Romney and call Rick Santorum your principalled savior of ideological purity. Romney did you one better though, because when legislation came to his desk as governor that would allow the destruction of embryos after conception, Romney was like “holy balls yu guyz. I can’t sign this thing… shits KRAZY, yo” (again, a paraphrase), rejected it, wrote an op-ed in a local newspaper explaining his official political position and how it reflects what was in his heart and mind but stays true to his promise to his state and thats the end of it. The floop is your problem with the guy?

1) You shouldn’t have one, cuz your argument essentially is “He kept a promise to the people who voted for him. He was persuaded to OUR position  -AND – he didn’t further the advancement of abortion law in the most liberal state in the union”.

2) Who are you gonna vote for instead? Gingrich, who supported the same individual mandate on healthcare (for the nation, not just for 1 super liberal state) that Obama put into law and Romney never supported, ever? Rick Perry, who thinks you “have no heart” if you don’t give the children of illegal aliens special privileges such as college tuition? or Rick Santorum? – who is a hypocrite that defends his own history of voting in opposition to his stated political beliefs in order to accurately reflect and serve his constituency but attacks others for doing that exact same thing – but in a better way than he did.

Get with it, conservatives. The more you stupidly attack your best candidate, Mitt.0 Eagle-Claw Rombot the 2nd – the more smart people like me who are paying attention like him and realize how dumb you are.

Teebow Haterz

Michael Medved wonders whats up with the Teeb totolitarians:

The NFL is generously stocked with forgiven felons, including millionaire wife beaters and dog killers. So how did a clean-living quarterback with deep commitments to charitable service and miraculous last-minute victories become the most controversial player in the league?

The answer of course, is his perfection:

It’s easy to see why legions of loyalists lavish love on 24-year-old Tim Tebow, who leads his underdog Denver Broncos in a crucial playoff game against the New England Patriots on Saturday night. Yet other fiercely focused fans feel no hesitation at expressing their contempt and loathing for a remarkable athlete whose behavior on field and off exemplifies the values of hard work, fearlessness and concern for the downtrodden.

Being awesome and building a picture perfect life for yourself plus religion in your life makes people hate you. It’s why a lot of people hate Mitt Romney, as Medved also mentions:

Mr. Tebow, on the other hand, not only reminds the public of the conversionary ambitions of most evangelicals but also displays the intimidating perfection of what might be termed the “Mitt Romney Syndrome.” On New Hampshire primary night, the beaming appearance of the Romney clan made one of my friends physically ill: “All those handsome, perfectly controlled, wealthy, teetotalers with their gorgeous wives—I wanted to vomit. There was something unearthly about it. Like some weird superior race on the planet Krypton.”

In the same sense, most males look at Mr. Tebow and see a virtuous rebuke to our own limitations and imperfections. If we were 24, single, supremely athletic, enormously wealthy and adored by millions of young women, how many could still wear Tim Tebow’s “purity ring?”

Win a Cruz!

Ad placement fail or win? This full page ad appeared next to a news report of a sinking italian cruise ship:

Some details from the disaster:

Mr Metcalf today revealed that at the time of the incident, his daughter was told by superiors to put on her cocktail dress and tell passengers the problem was only an electrical fault.

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘Luckily she ignored them, because being one of the last five people off the boat she would have been stranded there with a dress on and without a life-saving vest.’

Mr Metcalf also said the dancer revealed that the captain had abandoned the ship in the early stages of the evacuation, leaving his staff onboard.

‘Since the captain had left there was nobody, so everybody was left to their own devices hence some of the chaos, so obviously the crew took it upon themselves and decided in the absence of the captain to organise and try and help people.’

One dancer told of the moment she realised something was drastically wrong – while she was trapped in a box during a magic show.

Rosalyn Rincon, from Blackpool, said items from the stage suddenly fell on top of her.

More news from the sinking via these headlines courtesy of the Drudge Report:

Rescue effort off Italian coast halted as cruise liner shifts…

Minn. couple among those missing…

‘EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF’…

A loud bang, then panic…

UPDATE: 6 Dead, 16 Missing; Captain Held…

‘I saw captain drinking in bar’…

Did ‘showboating’ cause disaster?

IT WAS LIKE THE TITANIC…

Red Wine health research claimed to be fraudulent

Oh, about red wine being healthy for you? er. Never mind.

Dipak K. Das, who directed the university’s Cardiovascular Research Center, studied resveratrol, touted by a number of scientists and companies as a way to slow aging or remain healthy as people get older. Among his findings, according to a work promoted by the University of Connecticut in 2007, was that “the pulp of grapes is as heart-healthy as the skin, even though the antioxidant properties differ.”

I kept meaning to buy resveratrol in pill form because of these studies but somehow never got around to it because it was either too expensive in a store or any one of a series of hiccups with my Amazon.com ordering.

Well…

The university said an anonymous tip led to an investigation that began in 2008. A 60,000-page report — the summary of which is available at bit.ly/xkyS4A — resulted, outlining 145 counts of fabrication and falsification of data. Other members of Das’ laboratory may have been involved, and are being investigated, the report continues.

Oy…

Starving at the Playground

I guess this ad is creative or something but to me it just rings a loud “no shit”. It’s asking “Would you care more if it happened on you’re own doorstep?” and…duh. We literally wouldn’t be able to function if we absorbed all the pain and horror of every sick and dying child across the globe. wtf? No shit things impact us more when we’re in closer proximity to it.

But on the other side: it’s a cool photoshopping of a skeletal kid in an urban playground, so I guess that’s cool enough for a post…

Gringrich is in this Primary solely for himself at this point

I warned you people…

Gingrich’s party of one:

Yet Gingrich also pioneered the politics of personal destruction, as well as the politics of personal pique. Once again, he feels that his proper seat on Air Force One has been denied. So he attacks Romney from the right on abortion and from the left on Bain Capital. The only unifying principle — the only cause that is clearly served — is the emotional impulses of the man himself. He fights not for any brand of conservatism but for Newtism, which is more important to him than any party or ideology.

Gingrich recalls another impressive, flawed political figure. I have in mind a Southerner, attracted to big ideas, fascinated by management theories and scientific paradigms, prone to grandiosity and moralism, capable of both insight and bullying, leading through the cultivation of constant alarm. Al Gore was also transformed by defeat, which coincided with an “assault on reason,” a failure of “rational analysis” and the “shocking decay and degradation of our democracy.” The political failure of a figure so large required cosmic explanation. Gore’s opponents became “digital brown shirts” and “un-American” and a “renegade band of right-wing extremists” who had “betrayed the country.” Grievance merged with self-importance. It is easy to imagine Gore delivering Gingrich’s words: “If you want to smear people who are trying to think, fine.”

Newt Gingrich is becoming the Al Gore of the Republican Party — but with one large difference. By accepting the role of vindictive prophet, Gore appeals to a subset of the progressive coalition — the sort of people who find Keith Olbermann fair and balanced. (Gore, in fact, employs him.) Whatever Gore’s flaws, he is the leader of a cause.

It is currently difficult to discern any cause in the Gingrich campaign apart from Gingrich himself. He is the party of one — one world-historic leader, supported primarily by one billionaire. This is not a movement; it is the prosecution of a feud. Like Samson, Gingrich is willing to pull down the temple around him. But, in this case, it is not the Philistines who suffer. It is Republicans in the rubble.

C-Span Caller: “Does Mitt Romney have a big Penis?”

I usually find prank calls into shows that allow live calls to be lame forms of amusement but this one is kindov noteworthy

During an early morning appearance on Wednesday, Jan. 11, Chairman Wayne MacDonald of the New Hampshire Republican Party fielded caller questions, including one from a prank caller named “Dan,” who claimed to hail from Portsmouth, NH.

“I used to be an assistant to the Portsmouth city manager and part of my job would be to help prepare for the primaries, so I know a little bit of what Chairman MacDonald is going through,” the caller began. “A very little bit, I know you have a big job today sir.”

Leading into his question, “Dan” continued: “My question in regard to how turnout will affect the eventual results. Mr. Chairman, do you believe that Mitt Romney has a big penis?”

This was really insulting and inappropriate. the dude has 5 sons and a hot wife. of COURSE he’s got a big penis. wtf, caller? jelly much?
ROMNEYS PENIS 2016!

Tim Tebow Teased. Team Triumphs Tremendously

Idk sports things but lately the name Tebow has been inescapable in popular media.

Gregg Doyel says “Go ahead, make fun of Tebow’s corny enthusiasm” cuz it works.

The Broncos won seven of the next eight. And they won those games in startling fashion, the defense holding opposing offenses in check, keeping games close enough for Tebow to pull them out in the fourth quarter. That happens once or twice, it can be written off in the locker room as a fluke. When it happens damn near every week?

People believe.

They believe in Tebow in Denver, believe in a way that wasn’t supposed to happen. His intangibles, the enthusiasm and charisma that made him so successful at Florida, weren’t supposed to matter in a league where money talks and rah-rah stuff walks. But it matters in Denver. For how long, nobody knows. Maybe this is a once-in-a-lifetime season, the Broncos swept up in the emotion of so many unlikely comebacks. Maybe the cold cynicism of professional football returns next season.

Maybe not.

Tebow isn’t going to change. Hours before Sunday’s game, with temperatures in the upper 20s, he was on the field, playing catch with members of the country band Rascal Flatts. The only teammates out so early were the kicker and punter, and everyone else was wearing hooded jackets over their uniforms. Tebow was in a tank top. It was silly but sincere, just like the way Tebow refers to his sport in shorthand. “Playing ball,” he calls his million-dollar job.

Tebow’s enthusiasm for football is childlike, and his teammates have bought into it.

“Tim has a presence about him that I’ve never been around before,” cornerback Andre’ Goodman said earlier this season. “I’ve played with some Hall of Fame players before that weren’t close to the aura that this guy has.”

This wasn’t supposed to happen, but it did. It’s happening still. The Broncos play the corporate New England Patriots on Saturday, and they can’t win that game. But then, they weren’t supposed to beat Pittsburgh. Even playing at home, against a depleted Steelers team whose quarterback was limping on a sprained ankle, the Broncos were nearly 10-point underdogs. How did they pull off the upset? There are football reasons, I’m sure. Break down the tape. See for yourself.

Dear Atheists: History revision is not necessary to the argument

After seeing this getting applauded by like-minded people, I figured I should comment:

The truth is that America was not founded on the 1797 treaty of Tripoli and that the country wouldnt exist if not for the Judeo Christian values of every one of its founders with no “actually, so&so was just a deist” exceptions.

Jefferson wanted the seal of the US to be the Jews leaving Egypt for christ sakes. Stop using these arguments that rely on the readers ignorance. Just cuz religion is silly and that we have a secular government that doesnt take into account religious dogma doesnt mean we should rewrite history to remove religious influence.

The country is not “in any sense” not based on Christianity – it is in “some sense”. That should be good enough for both sides.

Praise Bieber & may his love continue to guide us.