Conservative Blog & Republican News

Last night’s debate continued the knock-down-drag-out battle between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and had plenty of personal attacks that would send waves of joy up and down the spines of liberals. It was also filled with low-point moments for both candidates whose one-upmanship and personal failings were often met with glaringly obvious rebuttals. Example: Gingrich claiming Romney profited from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because his blind trust held funds that bought bonds in both entities. Romney fired back that his team looked into it, Newt’s portfolio grew by doing the same. Newt’s attempt at holding the final world was to point out that, yes, this was true but he didn’t profit as much as Romney so it was somehow OK. It wasn’t the only low moment but it was the one that lost me completely and made me realize the two are stuck in the mud and spinning their wheels with no way out.

When asked about the subject Ron Paul scored major points by essentially saying he didn’t care and that it was time to move onto real issues. Rick Santorum repeatedly tried to elevate the debate beyond the petty attacks, Newt joyfully tried to echo his calls for a few minutes to score points, then Romney baited Gingrich and it began anew with an onslaught between them.

I would be the first person to argue that there is some benefit to this kind of infighting in a primary. Dirty laundry is aired and rebuttals honed for the general. Similar attacks and disclosure filled the Democrat primary in 2008 and it did not stop their candidate from going on to win. I could also argue that had we experienced more vetting in that election we may have been spared the embarrassment of nominating such a flawed candidate in John McCain.

We moved long ago though from productive vetting to childish and ill-formed arguments and that is not just because our candidates are poor vessels as attackers but also because they are almost the exact same candidate. Nearly every attack is followed with “well so did you.” On every topic from the environment to health care reform to immigration their attacks against one another recall Michele Bachmann simply lumping the two together as “Newt Romney.” Meanwhile their fake outrage over the other’s sinister attacks and attempts to play victim are laughable and only serve to lower their credibility and stature.

I have plenty of issues with both Rick Santorum and Ron Paul but last night I found myself very easily putting those aside. The two rose above, made their case on a host of issues and put forward consistent visions. While each disagrees strongly with the other, they rarily lower themselves to personal attacks. Where they disagree there is true division that represents fundamental ideological differences between libertarians and the christian right.

While entertaining in a schadenfreude way last nights debate and the ensuring attacks between Newt Romney is an embarrassment for our party advanced by two similarly flawed candidates. If this is the best we can do for November, I fear we will lose.

You have to love hypocrites. Check out this report which says some of President Obama’s aides owe quite a bit in taxes.

A new report just out from the Internal Revenue Service reveals that 36 of President Obama’s executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back taxes. These people working for Mr. Fair Share apparently haven’t paid any share, let alone their fair share.

Previous reports have shown how well-paid Obama’s White House staff is, with 457 aides pulling down more than $37 million last year. That’s up seven workers and nearly $4 million from the Bush administration’s last year.

Nearly one-third of Obama’s aides make more than $100,000 with 21 being paid the top White House salary of $172,200, each.

Even more interesting is this “The report finds that thousands of federal employees owe the country more than $3.4 billion in back taxes. That’s up 3% in the past year.” You can see the IRS report here.

Newt Gingrich has been claiming large heaps of credit for working alongside Ronald Reagan to achieve a laundry list of big ideas from ending the Soviet empire to revolutionizing the economy. The problem, according to critics and the release of records, is that Gingrich’s version of history doesn’t quite jibe with recollections from the president himself, those around him or journalists who covered that period of time.

Check out Mark Shield’s Newt Rewrites His Reagan Connection in which the author writes the following:

At the Reagan presidential library this fall, Gingrich boasted of how “I helped Reagan create millions of jobs while he was president.” And after modestly acknowledging his own less significant role than Reagan’s, added, “We helped defeat the Soviet empire.” Unmentioned by Gingrich then, or in any of the 2,414 debates during this campaign, was his 1985 criticism of President Reagan’s historic meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev as “the most dangerous summit for the West since Adolf Hitler met with (British Prime Minister) Chamberlain at Munich in 1938.”

…Newt went to the House floor during the Gipper’s second White House term and declared the president’s Soviet policy a “failure.” Here is what Gingrich said: “Measured against the scale and momentum of the Soviet empire’s challenge, the Reagan administration has failed, is failing and without a dramatic, fundamental change in strategy will continue to fail. … The burden of the failure frankly must be placed first upon President Reagan.”

Meanwhile Elliot Abrams’ who was part of the Reagan administration writes in his piece Gingrich and Reagan:

As a new member of Congress in the Reagan years — and I was an assistant secretary of state — Mr. Gingrich voted with the president regularly, but equally often spewed insulting rhetoric at Reagan, his top aides, and his policies to defeat Communism. Gingrich was voluble and certain in predicting that Reagan’s policies would fail, and in all of this he was dead wrong.

During one of the recent debates Mitt Romney also pointed out that Gingrich’s claim of close Reagan ties did not make their way into the president’s diaries. Check out What Reagan Thought of Newt from Fred Barnes which includes the only mention of Gingrich in the diaries which contains a not-so-positive note of their meeting.

Last year I wrote about the hoopla over seating at The President’s State of the Union Address and discussed the reality that the address has become largely inconsequential. Last year President Obama devoted a great deal of time discussing how our nation should become less polarized. How did that work out?

I said then that “the SOTU has become the least influential moment of the president’s year” and I stand by it. There is little President Obama will say tonight that we haven’t already heard and little more that will actually come to pass. We have a lame duck president, a stalled Congress and an electorate far more interested in the Newt and Romney drama than in anything that will be said tonight. The theater with its pageantry will be a waste of taxpayers money and time and result in little that will solve our current problems.

The address is Constitutionally mandated but it doesn’t have to be delivered in person. Thomas Jefferson quickly ended that tradition choosing instead to write it down. His tradition continued until Woodrow Wilson revived the notion that it should be a delivered speech. We’ve suffered through the increasing theatrics ever since.

I likely won’t watch the address tonight, choosing instead to plow through my DVR’s filled hard drive of reality TV and last nights GOP debate. Obama will talk about redistribution of wealth, people will clap when the president cuts to some invited guest who has triumphed over adversity, half the room will sit while the other stands during the rest. Seen it, done it, time to move on.

Hot off a South Carolina Primary victory for Newt Gingrich the former Speaker may be headed for another GOP upset, this time in Florida, if the latest poll from Rasmussen is accurate. According to the poll Gingrich is currently leading rival Romney 41% to 32% with Rick Santorum running third at 11%. Romney previously held a 22% lead in Rasmussen polling.

Keep in mind that Florida allows early voting and Romney is said to be leading by those early voters, 14% of which have already cast their votes in the state. The Florida primary will take place January 31st.