Category: News

Wanna Bet? Romney Puts His Money Where His Mouth Is While Perry Wimps Out.

Texas Governor makes a false claim and is called on it, but somehow the person who called him on it is the one whom pundits are saying made a “gaffe”.

In the 94q3542p59876394867th debate last night in Iowa, Texas Governor Rick Perry repeated a false attack against former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney that conservatives who dislike Romney for being too sensible just can’t stop lying about. Here is FactCheck.org‘s summary of it:

Perry once again falsely accused Romney of writing in his book “No Apology” that he wanted to impose his state’s health care plan at the federal level.

Perry: I read your first book, and it said in there that your mandate in Massachusetts, which should be the model for the country — and I know it came out of the reprint of the book, but, you know, I’m just saying, you were for individual mandates, my friend.

Romney: You know what, you’ve raised that before, Rick. And you’re simply wrong.

Perry refused an offer from Romney to bet $10,000 as to who was right. In fact, Perry is wrong and Romney is correct. As we have written a couple of times before, the book was revised and this line was removed: “We can accomplish the same thing for everyone in the country.” But the phrase “the same thing” refers to the goals of the state law: “portable, affordable health insurance,” not the controversial individual mandate or the entire law. Romney saw the Massachusetts plan as a potential model for other states, if they so choose, but not as a federal mandate.

So Romney “bet” Perry $10 thousand dollars over the issue and Perry declined. “Bet” is in quotations because there are two types of betting: 1) a gamble on what is only a possible outcome and 2) a challenge to a claim of fact. To Romney, it is the latter and to Perry it is the former. In other words: Perry would be gambling if he took the wager because he knows he might be wrong since he didn’t read the book and is only going on what his handlers keep giving him despite multiple news sources reporting that the shit just ain’t true. To Romney, there is no gamble because he wrote the book and knows Perry is saying something false.

So the reaction after this is that Perry is being a douche by not correcting the record AND not accepting $10,000 to his failing campaign just to prove what he keeps saying at these debates, right?

Nope: the media attack line is that Romney made a blunder by offering the bet.

Kathie Obradovich says that “Romney bet was one of his worst debate moments”

But Perry really made his mark when he successfully goaded Mitt Romney into one of the worst moments he’s had in a debate so far. Perry challenged Romney on a passage in his first book, claiming an early edition said the Massachusetts health-care program should be a model for the national plan.

Romney disputed the claim and when Perry persisted, he jokingly offered a $10,000 bet. Perry didn’t take the bet, but he won the point. Romney was casually offering the equivalent of about one-fifth of the average median income for an Iowa family. Romney’s privileged background was driven home later when the candidates were asked whether they’d ever had to cut costs in their own family budget.

“I didn’t grow up poor,” Romney said, and noted that if voters are looking for someone who did, they’ll have to vote for somebody else.

That line sounds rhetorical, but evidently there are a shit-ton of morons looking for someone who “grew up poor” to be their nominee.

This is not Romneys worst debate moment, it is everyone who thinks this is an issue at all whatsoever’s worst debate moment. Whether its the casual observer at home or the educated and experienced political pundit or anyone in between – they all have no excuse for not knowing better.

Ed Morrissey on Hot Air, a conservative blog, continues the Leftist stupidity:

Romney, however, made the gaffe of the evening when he attacked Rick Perry, of all people. Until now, Romney has been very careful not to punch below his class, but Perry got under his skin and Romney ended up going after Perry on Gardasil all over again. He didn’t do it well, either, and when Perry attacked Romney over statements in his book regarding health care, Romney tried to intimidate Perry by challenging him to bet $10,000 over the issue. If Romney wanted to make himself look rich, arrogant, and clueless, he could hardly have done a better job. When was the last time someone challenged you to a ridiculous bet in order to intimidate you out of an argument? For me, I think it was junior-high school.

What the hell? There is no one running for president that does not have $10,000 of disposable funds to risk, but as I said: If Perry actually read the book (which he didn’t) and it said what he claims it says (it doesn’t) then he’s not risking anything. So why is someone calling them on it a bad thing, again? Oh ya. Because Romney has made a lot of money in his life and is more of a millionaire than the other millionaires on the stage and that’s bad because not everyone in America has made millions so they don’t want to be reminded that the person who might lead their country was more successful than them. This is stupid with stupid sauce poured all over it.

At least one guy gets it:

You may not have heard: Romney laid down a bet with fellow candidate Rick Perry for a cool $10,000 (or what Newt probably spends on lunch every week) during a recent debate. Doesn’t Mitt know that candidates, no matter how successful they may be, must always act as if they mow their lawns and eat curly fries at diners on Friday nights. If not, the electorate will be deeply insulted.

This kind of rhetoric is nothing new for Republicans. During the 2008 primaries, Mike Huckabee noted that “Mitt Romney looks like the guy that fires you.” This assessment was backed up by then-candidate John McCain, who, we soon found out, understood as much about the economy as Meghan McCain.

If you get rich working in finance, there’s a good chance you did something wrong, right? And Mitt, well, Mitt is heartless. Mitt worked for Bain Capital. Mitt was part of the private equity firm that salvaged poorly run, bloated businesses — sometimes through “painful” cuts and firings. There are honorable ways of getting rich (peddling political influence and/or writing books), and then there’s the Wall Street way. Newt, no less of a flip-flopping careerist than Romney, sold his political connections for wealth rather than create any.

The only reason to criticize this moment is if one is trying to find a way to confirm what they already don’t like about Gov Romney.

If someone lies about you in public, you can only say “nuh uh” back and forth so many times until one side is willing to put something on the line to prove their case. Romney manned up and was right. Perry pussed out and was wrong.

There was nothing wrong with this debate moment.

Newt and Callista Gingrich are BadNewsBears

You Republicans who support Newt Gingrich over Mitt Romney are high on mushrooms made of meth that were dusted with cocaine and had weed sprouting out of them.

Not cuz Newt is crazy evil or anything like that, and not even because he looks so…. ug… like that. but because you’re tripping balls on this “not socially conservative enough” bullshit. If that’s your litmus test then Santorum’s your guy. Oh, you don’t want him? Then you have no one.

I understand you people giving him a shot and a fair look. but it’s too late for that now. It’s obvious you’re only going for him as a Mitt alternative and that’s stupid. He doesn’t differ with Mitt on anything that matters, has all of his weaknesses x2, none of his strengths except for debate performance and isn’t nearly as electible.

There’s no in between on Newt support: his supporters are either super politically educated policy wonks who are blinded by how fascinating his Presidency could be and ignoring how impossible his candidacy would be – and then there are the people at the other end of the spectrum who just think he’s a safer bet to not instate mandates, and protect fetal babies or something. Idk. But the point is: y’all are freakin nuts.

Ya’ll better get your shit together fo reel. This is what makes independents like me think you’re nutty and dangerous.

From NewtCantWin.com:

This combined with the fact that Newt is now on his third wife will give the media and the comedians more than enough fodder to turn Newt into a complete joke. The fact that his third wife has a bad case of “crazy eyes,” talks like a Stepford wife, and controls him to the point where he had a huge line of credit to Tiffany’s (a story which also has a damaging lobbying element to it) already has the same lefty comedians who destroyed Palin practicing for Newt. (Note the reference in that comedy bit to his fake Twitter follower “scandal,” which will also help cement the “this guy is a joke” narrative.)

Callista may be a great person for all I know, and if Newt was a Democrat none of these things would fair game for the media, but, sadly, this is not the case and the reality is that she would be a significant liability.

At Citizens United productions (run by Gingrich sycophant Dave Bossie, who was fired by Republicans on the Whitewater investigation for manipulating tapes to make the Clintons look bad) it was well known when I worked for them that Callista Gingrich was a complete nut who controlled Newt to the point where she forced him to put her in his movies despite the fact that she was horrible on camera. (Interestingly, Newt’s tendency to switch positions based on who is paying him is illustrated through his evolving stance on the issues related to the much misunderstood and largely bogus Citizens United Supreme Court case.)

Then, of course, there is the issue of his first two wives. Yes, the story of him serving his second wife divorce papers on her death bed is a myth but as we have learned from the assassination of Palin, media created myths still have lots of power to destroy a candidacy.

But the media won’t even need to dredge up that old storyline because, unfortunately for Newt, his second wife is still very much alive and has been VERY outspoken about exactly why there is “no way” Newt will ever be president.

When you have ex-wives, they better at least still endorse you, especially when you are a Republican running against a media darling like Obama. Should Newt be nominated, the media will make sure that every American will know what his second wife thinks of him.

Which leads to one of the biggest problems Newt would have in a general election: the gender gap would be massive.

Newt would have more than three strikes against him with women. First, a majority of women already vote for Democrats on a good day and they still tend to like Obama personally. Second, at least one of his multiple ex-wives doesn’t think he should be president. Third, his appearance and demeanor obviously don’t exactly appeal to the majority of women.

These are legit points that only the willfully blind and brainwashed-against-Mitt can ignore. Newt is not going to win and the longer you drag out this nonsense in the primary, the longer you are hurting yourselves, Republicans.

Stop being so immature, ignorant, and foolish. Newt has redeemable qualities as a human being but not as a presidential nominee.

Michelle Duggar loses baby, mullet

Item:

An Arkansas woman who stars on the TLC reality show “19 Kids and Counting” has suffered a miscarriage after announcing she was expecting her 20th child.

Jim Bob Duggar said in a statement that he and his wife, Michelle, were told at a doctor’s appointment Thursday morning that she had miscarried. He says she is resting comfortably at home and asked for privacy.

Reminder: Energy doesn’t come in a can

I never bought into the idea that chemicals and caffeine in a can was “energy”, but I’m not religiously opposed to the consumption of the beverages claiming to pump you up, either. Do whatever. It’s just another brand of soda to me. Just beware of the effects…

But the caffeinated energy drinks don’t appear to provide the purported benefits and can cause problems, including serious medical complications, says a review of the scientific literature published online today in Pediatrics.

The paper is already drawing criticism from the beverage industry, which says energy drinks have no more caffeine than a cup of coffee and aren’t widely used by kids and teens.

Steven Lipshultz, chair of pediatrics at the University of Miami School of Medicine, and colleagues reviewed 121 scientific studies, government reports and media sources on energy drinks — different from sports drinks, vitamin waters and sodas.

Energy drinks usually contain 70 to 80 milligrams of caffeine per 8-oz. serving, more than double many cola drinks. Energy drinks also may contain guarana, a plant that contains caffeine, taurine (an amino acid), vitamins, herbal supplements and sweeteners.

Surveys show that 30% to 50% of teens and young adults consume energy drinks, but “we didn’t see evidence that drinks have beneficial effects in improving energy, weight loss, stamina, athletic performance and concentration,” Lipshultz says.

And the research shows that children and teens — especially those with cardiovascular, renal or liver disease, seizures, diabetes, mood and behavior disorders and hyperthyroidism — are at a higher risk for health complications from these drinks, says Lipshultz, a pediatric cardiologist.

There are also claims that energy drinks send thousands to the hospital each year:

There’s been a big spike in the number of people who need emergency medical attention after they guzzle popular caffeinated energy drinks, according to a new government report.

The report shows a more than a tenfold increase in the number of emergency room visits tied to the use of these drinks between 2005 and 2009.

In 2005, 1,128 ER visits were associated with the use of energy drinks compared to 13,114 in 2009. That number peaked in 2008 with more than 16,000 ER visits linked to energy drinks.

Read the full article above for what seems to me to be an effective rebuttal from the drink makers. Still though, they’re not generally advised by health professionals and young people specifically  are recommended to not partake:

The National Federation of State High School Associations says caffeinated energy drinks can raise the risk of dehydration, heat illness, and irregular heartbeat in young athletes. The recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics says that caffeinated energy drinks have no place in the diet of children and adolescents.

Some energy drink labels warn that children and pregnant women should not drink them. There are numerous energy drinks on the market, containing caffeine, carbohydrates, sodium, sugars, and supplements.

In the case of pre-teen and teenage athletes using energy drinks while playing competitive sports, the caffeine can increase the heart beat, which is already beating rapidly because of intense athletic activity.

“For a lot of these there’s a large amount of caffeine in them. Folks know that a couple of cups of coffee can make you feel jittery, sometimes make your heart race. Well, if you’re adding even larger amounts of that and going into competition, having your heart race, skipping beats, setting up for problems one cant’ tell what may happen as far as with your cardiac status, particularly with the extra stresses they might be going through with competition,” said Children’s Hospital emergency room physician Dr. Dee Hodge.

Dr. Hodge points out that since energy drinks are considered nutritional supplements they aren’t tested or regulated by the Food and Drug administration for purity of content or potential interactions with medication.

The real way to get energy is through proper nutrition combined with that night time thing we do in our beds (no. the OTHER thing).

Private Island home with a Moat

A moat around your sanctuary is super-badass and a private island is basically the biggest moat you can get – but what about a private island with a moat?… Now we’re talking “dinosaurs with lasers” level of Awesome.

Of course, being a moat isn’t the intended use of the feature (it’s really just a wave barrier), but don’t kill the dream! Meh, besides, it’s overpriced anyway.

This newly listed private island is nice, but not worth the $12 million asking price for it’s size and location.Or maybe the exact opposite: it’s worth that much because of it’s size and location?

Idk. But a lot of Caribbean islands with large sandy beaches and structures already on them sell for just a few million – but they’re an hour boat trip into the ocean, while this little blip is only about a quarter-mile off the shore of Marathon, Fla.

So I suppose the appeal is privacy without being too far away (less than a mile) from the continental United States. The home is built onto a coral reef and sits 15 feet above the “blue, blue sea, offering 360-degree views”. It has a dock and a helipad, though they both seem like a hassle for a place that is just a quarter mile away from shore unless there is a helicopter docking station and/or a marina nearby. The best setup would be to own one of the houses on the coast nearby and then just boat out to your private island party-house (or guest-house to keep your in-laws at a pleasant distance?). Ug. alright. fine… I’ll take it.