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In 2007 – 2008, conservatives were apoplectic as they watched the mainstream media completely ignore Barack Obama's radical religion and pastor. They also ignored revelations that Rev. Jeremiah Wright posted the writings of a Hamas leader in his church's newsletter. If Mitt Romney is the Republican nominee for president, the opposite will be true. That same mainstream media will do an about face when it comes to vetting Romney's religion...

If I were president, on Day One I would issue an executive order paving the way for Obamacare waivers to all 50 states. The executive order would direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services and all relevant federal officials to return the maximum possible authority to the states to innovate and design health-care solutions that work best for them.

<p>Two potential candidates for the Republican presidential nomination have been described as “frontrunners”: former governors Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin. According to pollster Scott Rasmussen, they’re the candidates with the most supporters among likely Republican-primary voters: Romney has 24 percent, Palin 19 percent. Intrade, the prediction market, has them as the most likely nominees: Romney is given a 23 percent chance of winning, Palin 15 percent. Each of them has a claim to being “next in line”: Romney because he was arguably John McCain’s strongest rival for the nomination in 2008, Palin because she was his running mate.</p>

A highlight: Shortly after unlovable Mitt finished speaking, he was upstaged by Sarah Palin, who isn't even attending the conference. A Palin look-alike (a pretty good one, actually) entered the ballroom and immediately attracted a massive crowd. For a moment, everyone thought it was a surprise appearance by the one candidate all the (non-Ron Paul supporting) attendees are actually excited by.

Without having compared the hardcover to the paperback myself, I’m duty-bound to add a question mark to the headline. But his spokesman is quoted in the piece and didn’t push back hard against the allegation, so I assume it’s a fair cop. On what planet does he gain more by doing this than he loses? In the original hardcover, Romney tried to carefully distinguish between the Massachusetts [health-care] law and the national version that was nearing passage as he wrote.But the Massachusetts model has become Romney’s bête noire among conservatives, who loathe the national reform they call “Obamacare.” The rewritten...

(snip) Other Republican leaders such as Ron Kaufman, the longtime confidant to President George H.W. Bush, believe 2012 could be a banner year for the state GOP. He pointed to Brown’s upcoming reelection campaign, last November’s gains by Republican state representatives, and the possibility of having former governor Mitt Romney on the presidential ticket. "For us, it’s about getting the message out," said Kaufman, who added that GOP candidates would focus on the economy and their opposition’s record next year. "If you look at the last three speakers of the House in Massachusetts, they’ve all been indicted for one problem...

Mitt Romney became, on Tuesday, the first of the potential 2012 GOP presidential contenders to call for the exit of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak. Speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America," Romney said although President Obama should not publicly support Mubarak's removal, the time for it had come. "I don't know that I would say to the president, 'You should call for Mubarak's resignation,' " Romney said. "That, I think, flies in the face of a long history of friendship between he and our country and our friends, but it is very clear that [Mubarak] needs to move on and transition...

On the kick off to his "No Apology" book tour Mitt Romney is on message – refusing to apologize for the Massachusetts health care law that, like President Obama’s federal legislation, requires citizens to buy health insurance. “I’m not apologizing for it, I’m indicating that we went in one direction and there are other possible directions. I’d like to see states pursue their own ideas, see which ideas work best,” Romney told me. That stand seems to reject the advice of Karl Rove and others who say that Romney can’t get the GOP nomination in 2012 unless he finds a...

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is also a presumptive candidate for President in the 2012 election, which was a topic of conversation on The Tonight Show last night. Host Jay Leno opened the light, if not somewhat boring interview with questions about a potential White House bid, to which Romney replied, “If you ever see me sign up for a gig on Fox News, it’ll be a clear indication that I’ve decided to run for president,” adding “that’s not in the cards anytime soon, thanks.” It was a gentle yet pointed dig at the cable news channel who includes on...

Former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush named Mitt Romney as their favorite Republican for the 2012 presidential nomination. "If you asked me, who was the nominee be, I couldn't tell you. We like Mitt Romney. We know him well and like him very much," Bush said in an interview with CNN's Larry King. The former president then joked about his support, saying: "Don't want to kill him off." "He's a reasonable guy. A conservative fellow, which is good. But, no, I think he'd be a good president, a very good president," Bush said of the...

Bush says Jeb is still his personal favorite, but if it's not him, he likes Romney http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/130495-bush-42-names-romney-as-favorite-gop-presidential-contenderFormer President George H.W. Bush wants former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to be the GOP's 2012 presidential nominee. The elder Bush said that Romney would make a "very good president" in an interview with CNN's Larry King Monday night. Asked by King who his personal favorite in 2012 is, Bush said, "Well, I mentioned [my son] Jeb, but he’s not going to try. So, I don't. I don’t really. If you asked me, who will the nominee be, I couldn't tell you. We like...

I assume that you were particularly outraged by the headline there as I was when I stumbled upon it, so I will cut right to it.  Check out this story uncovered by the Daily Beast. "Developers of the controversial Park51 Islamic community center and mosque located two blocks from ground zero earlier this month applied for roughly $5 million in federal grant money set aside for the redevelopment of lower Manhattan after the attacks of September 11, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter." Read the full story here... and yes, its just as ridiculous as it...

The developers behind the proposed Ground Zero mosque have applied for about $5 million in federal grant money set aside for redeveloping downtown Manhattan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a new report. The application was submitted as a "community and cultural enhancement" grant, which is a program run by the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp. Developer Sharif El-Gamal discussed the grant proposal in recent closed-door meetings, according to The Daily Beast. The revelation that the developers have asked for this grant could reignite outrage about the mosque's proposed location.

NOTE: SCROLL TO BOTTOM OF PAGE FOR MORE CHARTS With the 2012 election rearing it's head, it won't be long before we start to see the candidates out and about trying to court your vote. It can be difficult access a candidate's position before they even announce to run , but with the 24 hour news media and constant internet access, it is now possible to weed through countless pages of information to determine some of the positions of the front runners. In an attempt to get some early prospective, we have spent the last week looking at information and...