I can't imagine it either. :)
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Posted on 10/24/2011 5:42:27 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
The Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s presidential forum unofficially marked a critical time for candidates in Iowa to start sealing the deal with Iowa’s ample number of social conservatives. It’s hard to say that some candidates won, while others lost. For the most part, all the candidates did well. Some just stood out more than others.
For an event that attracted scores of media and six presidential candidates, the most important people in the room were the activists who sat through the five-hour event. The Super Bowl takes less time if you don’t count parking, but even that event allows those in attendance to stretch their legs at halftime. That wasn’t the case on Saturday night.
In talking to a number of people after the event, the winners event were Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum. Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann did well too, but the other three shined. Herman Cain on the other hand was a disappointment.
Ordering the top three is difficult. I was looking for more than just which candidate could strike a chord with the audience. I was considering what each candidate needed to get of the event politically, which is incredibly important with the caucuses less than three months away.
Here is how I rank it. If you disagree, the comment section is all yours.
1. Rick Perry
Texas Governor Rick Perry did exactly what he needed to do on Saturday night. Perry looked and sounded like the conservative candidate many were excited about when he entered the race back in August. Gone was the unpolished candidate who we have come to know in the debates, and in his place was a relaxed, confident candidate who commanded the stage. Facing a roomful of more than 1000 social conservatives, the question that Perry needed to address was whether or not he was one of them. He gave the audience plenty of reasons to believe that they have a lot in common.
Perry did two things in his speech that were incredibly important. He touted his long list of pro-life, pro-family accomplishments as governor, but maybe more importantly, he shared his own personal testimony. As Perry bared his soul to the audience, the room fell silent. It was at that point that Perry captivated those in the room.
Perry’s pro-life accomplishments, including defunding Planned Parenthood, passing a parental consent law, and requiring women in Texas who are seeking abortions to have a sonogram, are impressive, but it was his personal testimony on Saturday night that may change Perry’s fortunes in Iowa because it will help build trust with social conservatives across the state.
Unlike the rest of candidates, Perry didn’t shrink away for taking issue with Herman Cain’s recent flubbing on the issue of abortion. Perry didn’t mention Cain’s name, but everyone knew whom he was talking about when he said, “It is a liberal canard to say I am personally pro-life, but government should stay out of that decision. If that is your view, you are not pro-life.”
Perry was the clear winner on Saturday night because he accomplished everything he needed to do.
Promote his pro-life, pro-family record: CHECK
Convince the audience that you are an authentic social conservative: CHECK
Make a personal connection with the people in the room: CHECK
Capitalize on your opponent’s recent problems: CHECK
Define yourself instead of letting your opponents or the media do it: CHECK
I’d have a spring in my step today if I was the Perry campaign in Iowa. Again, this was the candidate that many were expecting when he entered the race.
2. Newt Gingrich.......Continues
I watched the event and I do believe that when Herman Cain was speaking, Michele Bachmann was entering from the back and stopped to shake hands along the way before taking her seat. (I may have the speaker mixed up but she did do that). Not so good. If she was late, she should have quietly taken her seat.
btw -- have you seen this?
Pandering to illegals. Lol!
I’m sure you were a big supporter up to then ! Who’s your candidate now? Why don’t you just promote him?
Is that the best you have? Really? The truth hurts, shill. Deal with it.
I believe the author said the journalists were totally ignoring Representative Bachmann’s speech and presentation as they were bunched up in a frenzy trying to throw questions out to Herman Cain concerning his recent statements that have been in the news of late.
I had not realized Representative Bachmann had come in late.
This is some fancy tap dancing. It is time for the Cain people to come to grips with Cain's desire to have both sides of an issue.
He has no experience and by voting for him, we're voting for an unknown quantity.
Something funny about pandering to illegals?
My candidate is Hemran Cain, I don’t need to promote him, he’s doing fine promoting himself.
Well, I guess if you think pandering to illegals is not “put up an electric fence and kill ‘em”, Cain is your man.
Electric fence doesn’t go far enough. I’d also like landmines, auto target, auto fire machine guns, drones, moats, sharks, tigers, and dogs that shoot non-tiger stinging bees out of their mouths when they bark.
And yeah, Cain’s my guy, and from the looks of things, you and yours are outnumbered by the hearltess by a considerable amount.
If you somehow thought I was on the “Cain train” you only used your powers of assumption it would seem to me. I have yet to decide who the candidate with the least amount of negatives not negated by positives is. I can assure you that Perry’s attitude and record of working with Muslims was a complete deal killer for me. No amount of positives could negate that negative. Romney was a complete no go from the start, not even to be considered. Other than that all the candidates need to prove themselves.
Not me. I don’r believe Cain has ever had a pro-abortion thought in his head, Ever. I think the very idea repulses him to the core nd his entire history proves that.
I pinged you because you didn’t believe that perry would attack Cain...but he did. And this is a perry thread posted by an ardent perry supporter whom I respect, so I added no comment.
But please don’t think that I believe for even a nanosecond that Cain is in any way pro-choice. Nope. But a whole lot of people WANT others to believe that...including perry, bachmann, and santorum.
The “opt out” was a prior Legislature decision. The Governor’s EO made it easier to opt out by putting the request form for the opt out form online. Before, parents had to send in a letter requesting the form, with a lot of delay built in.
That provision remained part of the regulations after the EO was rescinded.
The EO also gave more publicity to the opt out provision than it had ever had. (Personally, I believe that’s why the Texas Medical Association didn’t support him.)
Private insurances, for the most part, won’t pay for non-mandatory vaccines.
The best thing the Governor could have done is just let the Department of State Heath Services quietly make the vaccine mandatory, under the authority long ago given to that Executive Branch agency by the Legislature. Instead, the Governor governed, and ordered the agency that he headed to do it.
He made a decision, followed through, and took responsibility for it.
He has said that if he had it to do over, he would have begun a conversation with the voters before the order came down. I’m proud that he doesn’t say he should have just whispered in the ear of some one at DSHS.
The idea was to get private insurance to pay for the vaccine, as it was already free of charge to every girl eligible under the Federal Vaccines for Children program. That included Medicaid, SCHIPS, Indian Health, and those who are not insured or whose insurance won’t pay for vaccines at all.
I can't imagine it either. :)
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I know Gov. Perry will be surging back to take the lead.
ROTFLMAO. Surging back from 2 percent. Man you are easy.
Meaningful doesn’t have to be going at each other like children on a playing field arguing over who gets the ball. Cain has had quite a few anti Romney ads. Most attack his ideas and past stances on things. Cain can get his point across in a very gracious way (he does this with Perry too, sometimes in the same ad). It’s resonating with people.
Cindie
A couple of idiots to whom I no longer respond have posted lies about Rick Perry.
One of them called him an open border candidate. He is not. Obama is an open border president.
One of them said his proposed gardisal vaccination did not allow for parental consent. It did.
Just correcting their lies for general information, not trying to get them to think. They brag about having no heart, but they also lack a brain.
I know. It’s difficult fighting the “kill the illegals” crowd, but it’s the right thing to do. The conservative movement can’t be taken over by the crazies.
“The fact that he even spoke to La Raza is good enough for you?”
Wow, I guess you don’t want the president to talk with world leaders with whom we disagre.
Very shallow viewpoint.
Perry did not suck up to La Raza, he tried to get them to understand our position on illegals.
Funny you didn’t copy and paste the part about the Klan.
Hmm
I don’t ordinarily respond to you, but I think conservative great grandma should call abuse on you.
The gratuitous insults that are permitted on some of these threads are beyond horrible.
And all of you come on Perry threads and begin your insults. Why don’t you go on Cain threads and play with your friends?
And why, if you feel Perry’s chances are neglible, as you claim, don’t you just go away and let him self destruct like you all say he’s doing?
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