IF you'd rather NOT be pinged FReepmail me.
IF you'd like to be added FReepmail me. Thanks.
*****************************************************************************************************************************************************
Posted on 10/12/2011 10:28:47 AM PDT by shield
After yet another debate in which mainstream media figures got to ask gotcha questions of Republican presidential candidates — Karen Tumulty dishonestly trying to pin Solyndra on Rick Perry, and Charlie Rose wagging his crooked finger while trying to use Ronald Reagan against…Rick Perry — we’re being asked to ponder a question: Is Rick Perry finished? The question begins with Byron York, hops over to Big Government and Hot Air, and lives on the political breeze.
It’s a strange question, and far too early given the calendar and Perry’s own history of waging comebacks. The debates prove nothing at all about principle or leadership or how any of the candidates would behave in office. They emphasize glibness, even sophistry. And they give the media moderators far too much power. Rick Santorum simply hasn’t earned relevance to the discussion equal to any of the candidates ahead of him, but he tends to get as much if not more air time. Gov. Perry’s answers, particularly on the Reagan trap and on the worth of the principles a president takes to the office regardless of his campaign plans and bromides, were perfectly fine, but haven’t generated post-debate chatter. The latter, in fact, should be the test by which we evaluate the candidates — not whatever plans they put out in campaign papers, which we all know won’t survive contact with Congress, but by what they have done with their power. What are their records? With whom do they surround themselves? Who are they, really? And how will they wage a campaign?
The debates have shown us that Herman Cain in intriguing, and infuriating to the left’s race industry. The former Democrat (he switched parties in 1986) would be more than a handful for the rigidly ideological and mostly incompetent Barack Obama. But we didn’t really need the debates to tell us this. Cain’s competence and principles are self-evident. Spend five minutes with him and you can’t help hoping he does well.
Likewise, Gov. Rick Perry’s long record is evidence enough that he thinks clearly, governs from principle and knows how to lead. We didn’t need the debates to tell us this. On paper, he is the closest analog to Reagan in this race: Successful governor of a large state, Democrat who switched to the GOP out of sincere conviction, a core conservative who can campaign skillfully and defeat whatever Democrats come his way because he knows what makes them tick. He can raise money, lots of it, and he can wield social networks like few others. Spend a few minutes with him and he can inspire you to appreciate your liberty. The debates, if anything, have shown that not everyone is equally good at everything. Jon Hunstman is arguably the better debater, but would anyone argue that he’s a better governor or a stronger leader? Other than Huntsman himself?
And so we turn to Gov. Romney. After five straight years of campaigning and untold number of debates, the campaign remains Romney vs. everyone else. The sheer number of candidates to his right helps him, as they divide the conservative spoils. In a true three-way race, he might well fall into third behind both Perry and Cain. But it’s not a three-way race, and the debates have served to show that Romney, ever the Cylon, has a plan and will ruthlessly stick to it. He says he is a conservative but his record says otherwise, with advisers who crafted RomneyCare moving on to craft ObamaCare, and other advisers who went on from stints working for him, to stints running the Obama EPA’s mad drive to strangle the energy sector. What are Mitt Romney’s governing principles? I honestly have no idea. And that’s troubling.
The debates haven’t told us what his principles are. He has managed to float above real scrutiny. The media moderators haven’t asked the right questions, or paid attention to the right things. They don’t have the basic knowledge to know how to get at conservative first principles. They play gotcha, and we Republicans let them, and form our opinions based on their antics. The Democrats would never be so stupid.
IF you'd rather NOT be pinged FReepmail me.
IF you'd like to be added FReepmail me. Thanks.
*****************************************************************************************************************************************************
They are simply applying Alinsky's Rules to fix the target, ridicule and destroy. Once more, we are letting our enemies define us and pick our candidate. It won't end well.
ROSE: All right. We'll be back -- take a break and be right back. Stay with us from Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSE: In order to take the pulse of America, we have partnered with LinkedIn. And they have some hundred 120 billion network professionals. And we've asked them to take part of this by giving us some polling that they have done.
But before I bring some of those results in, I want to take a look at a series of clips we'll show you in this segment, beginning with this one of a former president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONALD REAGAN, 40TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The single most important question facing us tonight is, do we reduce deficits and interest rates by raising revenue from those who are not now paying their fair share? Or do we accept a bigger budget deficits, higher interest rates, and higher unemployment simply because we disagree on certain features of a legislative package which offers hope for millions of Americans at home, on the farm, and in the workplace?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROSE: Let me go to the governor of Texas. Do you agree with the former president?
PERRY: Well, I think we are certainly talking about different times, because what I heard him say there, that he was willing to trade tax increases for reductions. And I don't think he ever saw those reductions, he just saw the tax increase. As a matter of fact, in his diary, he made that statement that he is still looking around for those reductions.
So, I mean, from the standpoint -- that is one of the problems that we have got in Washington, D.C. One of the reasons that I think Americans are so untrustworthy of what is going on in Washington is because they never see a cut in spending. They always hear the siren song of, you know, if you will allow us to raise taxes, then we'll make these reductions over here.
When the fact of the matter is, the issue is we need to have a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution. And the next president of the United States needs to spend his time passing a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution.
To ask or mention the INADEQUACIES of the debates is asking/mentioning the WRONG thing.
The word should be the STUPIDITY of the debates. For the candidates to submit to the “Gotcha” probing of avowed enemies is beyond ludicrous. To have the choice of clothes, haircut or hairdo, stance at the podium become the topic which the MEDIA uses to destroy you is beyond understanding, but ONLY if you are a REPUBLICAN.
The media sharks, waiting with bated breath for a candidate to mention the 51 states, the “intercontinental railroad”, or the wrong spelling of the word POTATO is an act of political suicide, if you are a REPUBLICAN.
In an earlier post this morning I listed those PRESIDENTS who would have been laughed out of politics in these days of TV debates and “gotcha” media assassins.
The media that puts on these debates, and that includes Fox News, are pimping for Mitt Romney and Cain. That’s as plain as day to see. They could could care less how liberal Romney is and how conservative someone else is. They have his smirking mugg on their News Channel every other day and Cain aint too far behind. And like the rest of the liberal media, they constantly put down Ron Paul because he not a neocon warmonger, like the vast majority of the republicans running.
I’m with you Perry did a good job last night. The panel tried to make him disappear but when he was ask a question he did very well.
Romney is the Establishment’s boy. It urged another left of moderate, Chris Christie to join the race to ensure the direction the country has been taking since 1986 or so.
There is only one in the race that can knock Romney out and it is Perry. Since, Cain is a Romney man he has no heart to do that and will not do that.
Have you read “Family of Sexrra” on the Bush Dynasty, by Russ Baker? Or “The Illuminati, Facts and Fiction”, by Mark Dice. Imperative reading today.
I’m a bit amused by the MSM today.
They were ready to spring on Perry’s performance but found nothing “bad” to grab and run with, so it’s being torqued to to, “he was wall paper,” etc. Which of course isn’t true but as far as their willing to go — except for the ones who suggest he should withdraw now.
This isn’t American Idol.
This is for someone who can govern.
Even though Perry was a poor performer last night I would not count him out. In fact at this point I would not count out anybody except Huntsman and Ron Paul. The simple fact of the matter is that nobody except the GOP elite leadership wants Romney. In fact I would say that most of us are desparately wanting almost anyone except Romney. Thats why Herman Cain is doing so well and now all the Newt is a RINO talk has subsided. Who wouldn’t rather take Newt than Romney? Cain than Romney? Perry than Romney? Bachmann than Romney? Santorum than Romney? At this point any of these others would make me happier than Romney. There was a reason we didn’t want Mitt in 2008. Nothing has changed.
Cain was my 2nd pick until he has stood with RINO Romney against the 10th Amendment Man, Perry. He lied about Perry’s record. Cain has nothing to stand on but his rhetoric rhetoric rhetoric no record.
On the nationally syndicated Laura Ingraham Show today, Gov. Mitt Romney once again told a tall tale about what happened at the Values Voters Summit. Audio here, the relevant part is about 7 minutes in. Ingraham asks Romney if he expects the press or anyone else to bring up his religion in an “underhanded” way.
ROMNEY: I know there are some people who make their decision based upon someone’s religion. And I’m not gonna change that, it’s a free country….But overwhelmingly in our country, the people who run for office have eschewed anything of that nature. And, you know, I think Gov. Perry was wrong to have as an introducer someone who said “Look, this guy you should vote for because he’s one of us and that guy Romney should be disqualified because he’s not.” And when that gets said and then when after that, Gov. Perry said “Hey, you know, that guy hit the ball out of the park,” the idea that we’re somehow, as political candidates, going to encourage the American people to make our selection based upon religion, that’s an idea that is entirely foreign to a nation which was founded with religious tolerance, religious plurality, religious respect. I think that’s the wrong direction for the country and not within our nation’s heritage.
Romney would have a point, if that’s how things happened. But it isn’t and by now he either knows that, or he should. At best, Romney is ill-informed, and at worst, he’s lying. We’re several days past the actual event, and Romney has used his fantasy version of the event twice now, so the possibility that he’s ill-informed is diminishing rapidly. He seems to be rejecting reality and substituting his own. But note what else he’s doing.
Romney is playing the victim card hard, while he is also trying to push Perry out of the mainstream of politics entirely — for something Perry didn’t say, wasn’t said where he could have heard it, and has repudiated. Romney’s behavior here is repugnant and he shouldn’t get away with it. Ingraham owed it to her listeners to deliver the facts on this, and failed.
This is the passive-aggressive Romney. He’s stuck at 25% and needs to dig in on this non-Perry issue to stay in the news. So he plays the victim while attempting to turn the screws on Perry. But all he does is look like George Romney’s little boy who will never become president, crying on Laura’s shoulder. Boo-hoo.
If he’s this sensitive about being Mormon (with the need for everyone to fall all over him in comfort and praise) it’s something people are going to pick up on. We don’t want another president with a chip on his shoulder and scores to settle moving into the White House.
I was thinking about the round table last night and it occurred to me that Perry made the calculation to sit back — do the date and not give any bait to the feeding frenzy.
Of course Romney wants the MSM to keep feeding on Perry.
No conservative could possibly vote for Romney. I would love to have heard what Laura Ingrahm had to say this morning, but local station is blanking it out here. So I suppose Hannity will not be available to me either. But Cain was on Michael Gallager this morning. I liked what I heard him say, “My parents raised me to believe in God, myself, and my country”. He is the real deal. That is why people like him. You cannot fake that. He knows what he has done wrong in the past, admits it, and then goes on to the next subject. After all, one cannot undo past mistakes. One must learn from them. He is an honest man. I wonder if he realizes how corrupt Washington is from the ground up! We need to replace every career politician, and incur term limits on Congress. Tough job with an anti-America media!
Romney must have not been pleased with the religion thingy not being brought up in the debate. Wonder who he ask to do that? And it didn’t happen.
What a great Q&A session.
Perry shines — I see now why all the “he flubbed the date” stories — it’s to suppress 9 great minutes of Perry wisdom.
Thanks!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.